The latest announcements from the Principal and the PTO...

Dear Oak Hill Families,

I write to share with you some tidbits of information regarding teachers’ professional development work that impacts your children on a regular basis.

One of Newton’s  systemwide goals is to support high academic achievement for students by ensuring that “instruction cultivates curiosity and incorporates communication, collaboration, critical thinking and opportunities for students to create and invent.”

As part of our  efforts to get students to think deeply, creatively, and analytically at higher order levels,  teachers have been learning new strategies that help them make observations and gather evidence of student thinking. Thinking and understanding are invisible actions – they “happen under the hood, within the marvelous engine of our mindbrain.” (Perkins, 2007) In order to really know what students are thinking and understanding, we must ‘make student thinking visible’ to others.

Teachers have been experimenting with a variety of instructional strategies that require increased student-to-student interaction in pairs or small groups where students are asking and answering  questions of increasing complexity; sometimes thoughts are written and then shared orally. Teachers then circulate to listen in to these interactions to better gauge what each student understands or thinks. Groups will then sometimes share their ideas with the whole class to broaden the conversation.

How do we, as a school, know that these ‘making thinking visible’ strategies are occurring with the intended outcome? There are many ways to do this ….one way that Newton schools are getting feedback about their instructional practice is through  ’Instructional Rounds.’ In ‘Rounds, teams of educators visit classrooms throughout the school and look for evidence of student learning  as a result of a pre-identified instructional practice, such as ‘making thinking visible.’

Today, Oak Hill was fortunate to host over 50 Newton administrators who offered us feedback by visiting classrooms to find concrete observable evidence of  how we are ‘making thinking visible’ in classrooms.

This was an extraordinarily reflective and rewarding experience for all participants. Not only did today’s ‘Instructional Round’ offer us feedback about our instruction and anticipated student learning, participants  were also able to learn some new strategies to bring back to their own schools or curriculum departments.

Students benefit from ‘making thinking visible’ strategies because each child then takes part in the thinking and learning, versus sitting and listening while other students talk. ‘Instructional Rounds’ offer educators an opportunity to engage in collaborative professional development that zeros in on student learning and effective instructional strategy development.

As a possible conversation starter – ask your child(ren) if they recall visitors in 1st or 2nd period classes or did they see principals from their elementary schools? Can they share with you what they were learning or sharing during this class?

I hope this summary offers you a snapshot of some of the good teaching and learning work that occurs behind the scenes in our schools. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or wonderings.

May the February break bring you some moments of relaxation!

Warm regards,

Eva M. Thompson

Dear Oak Hill Families,

Last week, you may have noticed some errors on the school’s website calendar regarding parent coffees and early release dates. The city was updating all calendars and something went awry! Our apologies for any confusion.

Here are some important upcoming dates:

• Monday, February 6, Grade 6-8 Parent Coffee….join us!
• As a reminder, the winter vacation is right around the corner. There will be no school during the week of February 20-24.
• Be on the lookout for a letter in the US Mail providing you with your unique login password and directions for using the ParentConnect parent portal to view report card grades and attendance. Rotation class grades will be on the parent portal on February 10. If you want more information about the portal, go to the NPS webpage for a link to a video and a Q & A document: https://parentconnect.newton.k12.ma.us/Login.asp?LoginState=1

Note: You do not need to log in to view these resources, simply click where indicated.

Spring 2012 MCAS dates

• Grade 7 Only, Long Composition:   March 20
• Grade 6 Reading Comprehension:  March 22 & 23
• Grade 7 Reading Comprehension:  March 21 & 28
• Grade 8 Reading Comprehension:  March 26 & 27
• Gr. 6-8 Mathematics, 2 sessions:    May 7-22
• Gr. 8 Only, Science & Tech-Engineering, 1 session: May 8-22

If you are a football fan, enjoy the game!!

Best,

Eva M. Thompson

Dear Oak Hill Families,

The half year mark is upon us, which means that students begin new rotation classes (art, drama,  health, music, P.E.H.W., Tech Engineering) on Monday, Feb. 6. Grades for the first semester close tomorrow. Students have received their  schedules for their new rotation classes.

Report cards for rotation classes  will be  available online starting on February 10. Report card grades for full-year team classes (math, English, science, history/social sciences and world languages) will be available on March 23. What does online mean? Newton has adopted an online communication system called the “ParentCONNECT” portal. ParentCONNECT allows parents to easily access report card grades and attendance information. Early next week, you will be receiving a letter by US Mail that contains 1) your unique user ID and password and 2) directions for accessing the parent portal. Please keep this login information in a safe place and bookmark the URL address: https://parentconnect.newton.k12.ma.us/

At the secondary level, we will now eliminate paper copies of report cards. We will no longer send home hard copies of report cards so you must go online to access this information. For families without internet access, we will provide paper copies of report cards. Not only will this save paper, postage and time,  the portal offers parents instant access to report card grades and daily attendance records. We hope you find the parent portal to be a helpful tool. We look forward to your feedback as we unroll this new system.

Warm regards,

Eva M. Thompson

Dear Oak Hill Families,

One of Oak Hill’s goals is to “Create an environment where everyone feels safe, known, valued and part of the school community.”  While we do many things throughout the year to foster such an atmosphere, including our weekly small-group ‘Community’ experience, I’d like to tell you about two special days this week:

• On Wednesday, January 25, students will be encouraged to wear black in observance of Massachusetts “No Name Calling Day” to show their commitment to “Black Out Bullying,” which is a major theme of our community building.
• Thursday, January 26, will be an Early Release day (for secondary schools only).  Oak Hill students will be dismissed at 11:30.  Lunch will be provided in school.   There will be no late buses.  Students will spend Thursday morning in their Community groups and will engage in grade-specific activities that are being used at all four Newton middle schools to learn about hurtful and harmful language.

For all of us, engaging students in taking a stand against bullying and name-calling is a long-term commitment that will endure beyond this week’s activities.  Please read below to learn about the common messages that will be shared across all three grades for these special events this week: Continue reading →