The Lions Roar

THE LION'S ROAR NEWSLETTER

OAK MIDDLE SCHOOL

January 28, 2018

In this Issue:

LAUSD WEBSITE

Oak Middle School Website

Oak PTA E-mail

HEAR US ROAR!

OAK MIDDLE SCHOOL WEEKLY UPDATE

Academics, Athletics, Activities and the Arts

SPOTLIGHT ON ADVANCED ART STUDENTS :

Advanced art students in Mrs. VanderLinden's and Ms. Squire's class learned to create beautiful pictures with micrography self portraits. Micrography is the Greek word for small writing. Artwork is created from text that forms an image when viewed from a distance. Black and white photos were taken of each student and they used these photos to create their own self portraits. With very fine markers, students used words to create their self portraits. Stop by our main office to see these beautiful works of art.

SPOTLIGHT ON EIGHTH GRADE CO2 CAR RACING: Our 8th graders can hardly wait for racing day to arrive. They have worked on building their CO2 cars from a small block of wood. Each car crafted with a certain design all with the purpose of winning the big race. This week, students put their cars to the challenge. At the conclusion of the races, students must calculate the weight of the car, the speed at which it traveled and the distance it went. The biggest phenomena of the day was discovering why the CO2 cartridge was cold after the race. Do you know why? Hint: when a substance changes from a liquid to a gas it requires energy.

Students prepared the cars for the launch

Mr. Beck managed the controls for the races.

SPOTLIGHT ON CAREER CAFE: Lunchtime has become a time for students to learn about careers. This week we featured Shannon Butterfield from the U.S. Coast Guard. The presentation was filled with amazing stories and adventures. Students were impressed by the rescue efforts during our recent hurricanes in Texas.

SPOTLIGHT ON HISTORY: Students in grade 6 are finishing up their studies of Egypt with Spy Reports and informative presentations to showcase their learning.

CONGRATULATIONS to our Oak Science Olympiad team. This weekend they competed at the Kraemer Middle School Invitational Science Olympiad. A total of 61 school teams competed and the competition was fierce! Congratulations to our team:

FIRST PLACE: MYSTERY ARCHITECTURE

SECOND AND THIRD PLACE: "ROAD SCHOLAR"

Our team placed 18th out of 61! Way to go team Oak. Special thanks to Mrs. Martin, Mr. Miko, Mr. Maya and Mr. Wheeler and all the science olympiad parent volunteers.

Congratulations: Our Oak Jazz Band has been accepted to play at the Monterey Jazz Festival for the second year in a row. Oak will be one of only six Middle Schools in the Country invited to play. Congratulations to Mr. Harrell and his Jazz Band students.

DID YOU KNOW?

DID YOU KNOW... The first day of school for next year is August 8th? Please make sure you check out the school calendar for next year as all schools in Los Alamitos will begin almost one month earlier.

Did you know.... Students were treated to an In and Out lunch from our Step It up fundraiser. Students traveled in first class bus/limo and dined to their hearts delight.

DID YOU KNOW.... Sixth graders in the wheel music had a chance to show off their new ukulele and drum talents?

HEAR US ROAR!

Erin Kominsky

Principal, Oak Middle School

ekominsky@losal.org

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT OAK THIS WEEK?

MONDAY (1/29) Last day for grading. New semester begins today!

TUESDAY ( 1/30): "The Talk" part 2 for parents and students

WEDNESDAY ( 1/31): Modified day dismissal at 2:00 p.m.

GATE pretest at 2:00

Operations Steering Committee meeting 6:30 p.m.

THURSDAY (2/1): School Site Council meeting 3:00 p.m.

FRIDAY ( 2/2): Reflections celebration MPR 7:30 a.m.

Winter Dance for students grades 6-8 3:15-4:45

Mr. Maya's last day of student teaching. Congratulations on finishing your science teaching credential!

PTA is looking for volunteers to be part of the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee is responsible for finding volunteers ti been the executive board for the next school year. The commitment is for about 6 weeks.

Registration Form

Please Print

Class Organizer__Oak Middle PTA__________Date _____________________________________

Parent’s Name:__________________ Child’s Name: ________________ D.O.B._____/_____/____

Address:__________________________ City/Zip:_________________________________________

Phone (Home)_______________________ (Cell/Work)____________________________________

Email _____________________________Dates attending (circle) 1/11-2/1/18 or 1/23-2/13/18

Please thank your PTA for subsidizing $50 of each registration for PTA members only. If you are not a member please make check for $125. Please return registration form along with payment to your school office attention to PTA: Stacey Butler ( julietvic@aol.com )

Cash $______ Check (made payable to The Talk Institute) !-------------------------------------------------.-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Talk Institute has been providing programs at Oak & McAuliffe for over 10 years allowing parents and kids to learn to talk “THE Talk” together. We build and support open communication between parents and their children by providing factual, age-appropriate information about sex and growing up in a fun, group environment. Class format includes mini lectures, videos, games, and role-plays to accommodate a variety of learning styles. We strive to supplement the school system’s sex education by providing detailed parental participation, the key to what makes The Talk Institute’s programs so successful and rewarding for families. We hope your family joins us!

“I enjoyed this class more than I expected. I learned a lot and you made it fun, and less awkward. I can’t thank you enough!”

— past McAuliffe child participant

“This class was INVALUABLE!! I can’t tell you how glad I am that I took this class with my daughter. AWESOME!

— -past Oak parent participant

Did you know there are 4 ways to shop and earn money for Oak this year? Last school year, you helped Oak and its PTA earn $869.28 by doing these 4 things!

BoxTops - Save, clip & turn in your BoxTops to the Office! There are 2 collections in a school year, first one is coming up soon!!

Office Depot – When you shop for supplies at Office Depot on Katella, tell them you are from Oak Middle School and they will donate 5% of your total to our school!

Ameci's Pizza - Our local Los Al shop gives Oak $$ back if you to cut out the AMECI CARES ABOUT OUR SCHOOLS icon on the pizza boxes and turn them in to the Office!

Ralph's Grocer - Follow these instructions to get your Ralph's card linked up to save for Oak!

1. Go to www.ralphs.com .

2. Click on Community > Community Rewards (Top center menu).

3. Scroll down the page to Participant >Enroll now

4. If you already have an account, click Sign In.

5. If you are new to Ralphs.com and need to create an account, click on Register (Top right Corner)

6. Do you use your phone number at the register? Call 800-660-9003 to get your REWARDS card number.

7. Once you are logged in, go to My Account (Top right Corner) scroll down to Community Rewards to Find Your Organization and search for OAK MIDDLE SCHOOL PTA (or our number 81838)

8. Under Select Your Organization, select the button next to OAK MIDDLE SCHOOL PTA

9. Click the Save Changes button to save your selection.

10. The City School will appear at the bottom of your Ralphs receipts. Double check the next time you go to the store.

YOUR PTA MEMBERSHIP MAKES A DIFFERENCE! JUST BY JOINING PTA, YOU SHOW YOUR CHILDREN THAT SCHOOL MATTERS AND YOU ARE INVESTED IN THEIR SUCCESS AND THEIR FUTURE.

Executive Board

2017-18

President

Nicole Nixon

Executive Vice President

Christina Sokol

1st VP (Ways and Means)

Jamie Tubbs

2nd VP Membership

Kristi Kirkendall

3rd VP Parent Education

Stacy Butler

4th VP Legislation

Lisa Berry

Recording Secretary

Marita Frank

Financial Secretary

Kahmissa Steenhausen

Treasurer

Monica Graham

Auditor

Elizabeth Ronnau

Historian

Cindy Welch

Parliamentarian

Marcy Ferguson

Purchase Oak Spirit click here On-line

Gear up to show your school spirit on Fridays!

Oak spirit wear is availbable for purchase or go to casswimshop.com search Oak.