Dear OHE Families,

Now that we are in the middle of the holiday season, it's a good time to keep in mind the importance of school attendance. It's cold and flu season, so help kids remember to get lots of rest and wash their hands frequently. When planning family trips, try to utilize our long weekends and school breaks, such as winter break.

Even though December is a short month for school, there are so many events happening, including concerts, assemblies, and a MOD Pizza PTA Fundraiser! Our Robotics team is competing with other teams from around the region on December 8. Be sure to check out all the dates listed in this newsletter, as well as Parent Square and Social Media messages to keep informed.

It's getting colder each week, and we have so many coats in our Lost and Found! I remind students to check for their belongings every day, but you may want to stop by and look for yourself. All items left will be donated or disposed of during winter break. If you have any needs this winter, please reach out to us. We have several resources we can connect you with. This holiday season, I am most looking forward to spending time with my four grandchildren and my parents! I hope that you can spend lots of time with loved ones and do some relaxing over winter break.

Sincerely,

Christina Merritt, Principal

Oak Harbor Elementary

Dec. 4: Walk to School Day

Dec. 5: No School, Teacher Work Day

Dec. 6: No School, Teacher Work Day

Dec. 10: PTA Meeting

Dec. 12: Third Grade Music Program

Dec. 20: Ugly Winter Sweater Spirit Day

Dec. 20: High 5 Friday

Dec. 20: PTA Popcorn Party

Dec. 23 - Jan 3: No School, Winter Break

Jan. 6: School Resumes

We will have staff and local community members line up at arrival time (8:15 am to 8:40 am) offering high fives, fist or elbow bumps, and words of encouragement to students on their way into the buildings.

The High Five Friday is intended to allow community members to make connections with our students, build positive relationships, and gain a greater sense of friendship with students in our community. If you would like to volunteer to greet our students, please contact our office at 360-279-5100.

As the weather continues to get colder, please ensure that your student is dressed appropriately and prepared.

Please read the information below for details in the event of school closures and schedule changes:

We pride ourselves on getting students to and from school safely. Snow, windstorms, earthquakes, and power failures can cause disruptions for schools and families. During difficult times, we will do all we can to communicate information through appropriate channels. When weather, road, or school conditions result in a schedule change, we inform families through multiple methods, as appropriate. If schools are operating on a normal schedule, no notifications will be issued.

School closures and schedule changes are districtwide, even if your neighborhood is not severely impacted. Some areas of the district experience more severe weather and driving conditions than others. If your residential area has hazardous road conditions, please do not attempt to drive to school and notify your school of your situation.

As a reminder, no notifications will be issued if schools operate on a normal schedule.

Visit our Weather Delays and Closures page to learn how you may receive notifications.

The winter holiday season brings with it much more than wonder and merriment. Weeks and sometimes months of holiday shopping, traveling, food, parties, visits, and visitors can create enough stress to exhaust the most festive of us.

Children of all ages feel it, too, especially when their routines are interrupted with an overload of events that are often out of their control. The changes in schedule, though well-intentioned, can impact behaviors and moods.

“In general, we all do better with routines in day-to-day life,” said Dr. Mollie Greves Grow, a pediatrician at Seattle Children’s Hospital. “Structured routines, even during busy times like the holidays, help parents regulate the emotional and functional changes their children undergo as they develop. Routines help children know what to expect as they go through these changes.”

The mother of 5- and 7-year-old girls, Grow speaks from experience as well as expertise. She offers parents several tips and reminders to help foster a peaceful and joyous holiday season for the entire family.

To continue reading click here: https://www.seattlechildrens.org/wellness-and-health-news/7-tips-to-manage-your-childs-routine-during-the-holiday-season/

The North Whidbey Help House is offering special Holiday Food "baskets" for Christmas. These baskets contain a turkey and all the trimmings.

You can go directly to the Help House to sign up or reach out to Julie Stratton, OHE school counselor for a request form.

North Whidbey Help House

1091 SE Hathaway St

360-675-0681

Julie Stratton, School Counselor

279-5952

Dear OHE families, 

The year in Art has started off very well with students contributing to whole school murals with their individual self-portraits and autobiographical names while also creating individual projects which are showcased around the school. Grades 1-4 also created Salish Sea-themed ornaments for the Community trees down on Pioneer Way inside the Galleria, as posted earlier on our school site.  The 1st/2nd-grade hall has many line landscapes, pattern suns, and iridescent jellyfish. The TTK/Kinder Hall has colorful finger-painted giant mice and dinos, and a ceiling lined with rainbow windsocks. The fall has gone by in a flurry and I look forward to showcasing much of this art in our annual art walk at the end of April. 

Below is an outline of what each grade level has been engaged in so far this fall. In general, the main focus is on the elements of line, space, texture, and shape, with the principles of movement, balance, unity, pattern, variety, and repetition as integral to artworks.

TTK- practicing drawing family members with lines and shapes. Creating a thankful heart ( showing warm and cool colors) of family members.

1st - Pattern suns, using a ruler to measure and as a straight edge, using templates for shape, facial expression with line and shape, patterning, oil pastel watercolor resist. First grade is also exploring rubbing actual textures (also known as frottage) to make implied textures through the patterns revealed in rubbing.

2nd-4th Line Landscapes- exploring how lines and patterns ( made with line, color, and shape) can represent different parts or features of a landscape. Their works are impressive, and whimsical, A folk-art-like approach to describing a landscape with patterns in its foreground, midground, and background.

2nd has taken the texture-rubbing scavenger hunt and applied this to their creation of imaginary animals or creatures with various patterns (implying textures). They have showcased their creative writing skills in writing a short story about their frottage creature in its setting.

3rd grade have been exploring - Repousse and Chasing- tooling aluminum to create bas relief and actual textures through impressed patterns.

K-end of line unit and celebrations of line learning. 60-line rainbow windsocks are on display in the Kinder hall. Kinders have been most recently drawing straight lines to make a variety of star shapes,  near and far. Lastly, making a five-point cut star wrapped in foil and embellished with bright paint. The star art projects will also be celebrated and used as the sky in backdrops for 3rd-grade Musical.

Third grade Is currently working on drawing proportional bodies in action poses to express movement in an outdoor snow activity. Their bodies having fun in the snowy outdoors will be featured in their musical backdrops.

Fourth created the most amazing life-sized textured tissue eagles this year for their Veterans Day. These eagles are currently soaring and perched about the building, celebrating us as the amazing Eagles at OHE. Their giant poppies were a meaningful and bright accent to the display. The next project they create will involve symmetry in the drawing of Holiday cars! A seasonal favorite.

Thank you for supporting ART. I will be posting more updates and reviews in parent Square as the weeks progress. It has been a joy working with these creative students this fall.

Sincerely, Mrs. Gmerek

Email: oheinfo@ohsd.net
Website: www.ohsd.net/ohes
Location: 151 Southeast Midway Boulevard, Oak Harbor, WA, USA
Phone: 360-279-5100
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oakharborelementary