The Howler: April 4, 2025

Happy Friday, Families!

We have had so much JOY at Ottauquechee School in the last week! See photos below for many examples of how teachers are using PLAY to create joyful learning opportunities for our learners.

Remember that this Tuesday, April 8 is an early release day. No school for PreK, and K-5 students dismiss at 12:45.

Have a great weekend,

Amelia Donahey

Principal

4/8: Early Release Day (no school for PreK; K-5 students dismiss at 12:45)

4/14 - 4/18: No School (Spring Break)

4/30: Picture Day; SPARK! Community Science Night, 5:30-6:30 (pizza at 5:00)

5/2: Better World Day - Families Invited, please save the date!

5/28: SPARK! Community Science Night, 5:30-6:30 (pizza at 5:00)

5/29: Save the Date! Spring Concert 5:30-6:30pm

Our current OQS Student Leadership group has 12 students in grades K-5. They have been working in mixed-age teams on two projects. One is gathering and creating materials to help anyone in school calm down and handle big feelings. Please see their poster below for materials needed to create Calming Jars and Stress Balls!

Their second project is to interview students and collect evidence in classrooms to better understand what types of learning help students build friendships and bring them the most joy.

Finally, as part of the calm down project, they also would like to gather foam blocks to add to the available materials in the Wolf Den. Here is there announcement about that:

1. We want foam blocks.

2. If you can get foam blocks that are all rainbow, that will be good.

3. And if you could get big blocks like 5 by 10 foot blocks.

4. And some 1 by 1 foot.

We have a growing group of OQS teachers and parents interested in launching a composting program. Click the flyer to learn more, and reach out to Amelia Donahey if you're interested!

Registration is LIVE for Garden Club and Finding Our Stride. Click the links below for more information!

Finding Our Stride (grades 1-5)

Garden Club (grades K-5)

Week 25: bell hooks - Feminism is for Everybody

To wrap up our month celebrating women, let’s take a moment to recognize one of the most iconic feminists, bell hooks.

bell hooks (1952-2021), born Gloria Jean Watkins, was an author, feminist, activist, and scholar. She chose to spell her name in lowercase to shift attention toward her ideas rather than toward her identity. bell hooks attended a segregated school up until college, graduating from Stanford in 1973. In her life, she created over 70 pieces of published work ranging from films to children’s books. She is best known for her groundbreaking work on the intersection of race, gender, and class, particularly in the context of feminism and social justice, and her emphasis on love as a tool for resistance and liberation.

There is a misconception that feminism means hating men or making life harder for white men and that feminists are just angry lesbians who want to be like men. hooks believed that, “feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” From this perspective, the problem is not men, it is sexism that both men and women are complicit in.

In her own words, bell hooks said,

"Masses of people think that feminism is always and only about women seeking to be equal to men. And a huge majority of these folks think feminism is anti-male. Their misunderstanding of feminist politics reflects the reality that most folks learn about feminism from patriarchal mass media."

“Visionary feminism is a wise and loving politics. It is rooted in the love of male and female being, refusing to privilege one over the other. The soul of feminist politics is the commitment to ending patriarchal domination of women and men, girls and boys.”

"If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency."

To hear some more of bell hooks’ wisdom, watch this 3 minute video of her conversation with Laverne Cox, actress and LGBTQ+ activist, about feminism. bell hooks and Laverne Cox Discuss "What is Feminism?" I The New School

Resources:

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/bell-hooks

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/the-revolutionary-writing-of-bell-hooks

https://www.plutobooks.com/blog/feminism-is-for-everybody-bell-hooks/

The Agency of Education created this Federal Updates page as resource for Vermonters. The website will be routinely updated as additional information becomes available. The Agency aims to be disciplined, thoughtful, and factual when evaluating and responding to changes in federal policy.

The Vermont Department of Disabilities Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) is seeking to better understand the unique needs, accessibility requirements, preferred communication methods, and areas where additional support is necessary for Vermonters who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or DeafBlind. If you, one or more of your children or family members have any level of hearing loss, please complete this survey

The Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network and the Upper Valley Farm to School Network invite you to gather in the Sharon Elementary gymnasium to connect, celebrate, and elevate what is happening in farm to school around our region. We are excited to reinvigorate our communities in the Upper Valley in the exciting place-based, farm to school world of school composting, garden-based education, taste tests, farm field trips, harvest of the month, local purchasing, and more! The gathering is 4-6pm, with an optional dinner at 6:00PM.

Join us to:

• Find support for your efforts and access resources
• Build connections with community members
• Learn from successes and best practices
• Strengthen our local networks
• Eat yummy local food!

All are welcome — we’re convening anyone who is interested in getting involved with farm to school programming in our region: teachers, students, farm to school coordinators, school nutrition staff, school administrators, farmers, families, and supporting organizations are all invited! Of course there will be free seeds, door prizes, and plenty of chances to mingle. Childcare will be provided on site. RSVP here.

Looking for quality programming for your child this summer? You can find a directory of summer camps in the area, with registration information, here: https://norwichvt.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=30011