Together, We Make Great Things Happen

There is a certain spark that happens when we collaborate on a project. Our staff, on their own, could not make big projects a reality. Parents, on their own, would struggle in the same way. The school division also has their own financial limitations. However, when all parties come together for a common goal, amazing things can happen for our kids. For several years, I have wanted to gift our students (and the community) with a special piece of playground equipment called… Read More

in: General

A Fresh Start

I hope the holidays have been a time of rejuvenation and reconnection with your kids, family and friends! These breaks are so important to recharge and prepare for the next part of the year. What we are doing as parents and teachers is not easy! It is challenging work, but it is also the best work in the world, in my opinion. We are doing our best to prepare the children for their future, while helping them deal with their… Read More

in: General

The Gift of Partnership

This Christmas I am extremely thankful for the gift of partnership. In June 2023, as we wrote goals for this school year, we wrote the following; “We will explore ways to include parents in our school community, so they have a stronger sense of partnership with South Oaks”.This goal was written because our PAC reported that parents were feeling disconnected from the school. The pandemic was difficult in many ways and it definitely kept parents very separated from school life. So,… Read More

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Safety . . . It Takes a Village

October is commonly known as “safety month” in school. This is the month that we teach students about fire safety, bus safety, personal safety, playground safety, etc. This is done early in the school year because safety is so important to all of us. In our school, staff recognize that when your child is with us, we are responsible for their safety. We do our utmost to maintain a safe environment for the students in the building, on the playground,… Read More

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Ready for Summer! Ready for Growth!

Summer is an exciting time of growth. Gardens are planted with much anticipation of the growth that will come. Farmers plant seeds in fields with the hope that crops will grow healthy and strong. We rely on this growth for our very existence! Over the past few weeks, much to our delight, we have also seen growth in our student numbers at school! We welcome the new students and families to our community! I can’t help but wonder if we… Read More

in: General

Thinking of Next Year

Next school year has potential to be a very unique school year! Here are a couple of updates that I want parents to be aware of . . . As some of you may have heard, South Oaks received some difficult news that we will see a reduction in staffing for next year. We are currently in the process of navigating what this will look like. Initially, this news was difficult to hear as we all want the best possible… Read More

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A Great Month to Read!

I am writing this on a day when schools are closed due to the extreme cold weather. It is very easy to get a little bored when we are staying inside due to storms and cold weather. This is why February is perfect for I Love to Read Month. Reading is the best activity when everything outside is frozen! However, a few other benefits also come to mind. Since mental health has become extremely important for us and our loved ones,… Read More

in: General

Language; the Key to Literacy

What do speaking and listening have to do with Literacy? This year, our staff had the pleasure of spending a day with a HSD Reading Clinician, Allison Aitken, to explore “Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness”, as these are important elements of language learning. What we learned was very important, and a little surprising, so I wanted to share this with all parents. Phonological awareness is related to the knowledge and skills kids have with oral language. Phonemic awareness is about the knowledge and… Read More

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A Productive Struggle

As we all know, there are plenty of struggles these days. At South Oaks, we are focusing on “pandemic recovery” of the academic gaps caused by COVID. We are also trying to attend to the social emotional recovery of our students from the pandemic experience. Recovering can be a challenge and it requires a lot of patience and hard work. Recently, I came across an article by Diane Benson Harrington called, “Productive Struggle; what it is and how to achieve… Read More

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Fruitful Partnerships

Several years ago, we began working much more deliberately at developing learning partnerships. The reason we are interested in partnerships and working collaboratively is because we can do more effective work when we engage the knowledge and skills of a larger group. A year ago, the South Oaks PAC initiated a partnership with Green Valley School’s woodworking department, to explore some ideas to enhance the playground for our students. We invited our parent community to do some fundraising and you… Read More

in: General