Dear OSES families,

Thank you to all the families that attended our Curriculum Nights this week. We cannot stress enough how important your support of the school, teachers, and your student(s) is to their academic and social growth. Our school days are finally settled, and I have already seen some amazing things taking place in the classrooms. If you were unable to attend your student’s curriculum night, please reach out to their teacher(s). Email is the primary means of communication between staff and families.

Please note that the school does not communicate through social apps or sites, however individual teachers may use various tools. For example, if a teacher chooses to use the app What’s Up, it is at their discretion. The official methods of school communication are school emails (@orlandoscience.org), school phone (407-299-6595), OSES Connect, School Messenger (Phone Blasts), Pik My Kid, Facebook, and of course this school newsletter.

Communication works for those who work at it. – John Powell

Sincerely,

Michael Singleton, Principal

Due to supply issues at the OCPS level, we do not know if hot or cold lunch will be served. Please be prepared to have either lunch until further notice.

Breakfast and Lunch will be FREE for the 2023-2024 school year

If your child has food allergies and will require a special meal from OCPS please click on the link below to fill out the special diet order form

Special Diets for Food Allergies - Orange County Public Schools (ocps.net)

Sixth grade students will be assigned an individual Chromebook this school year. OSES has started handing out Chromebooks to students that have paid the $60 Student Fee via School Pay. All paid students have received his/her Chromebook. If you have not paid, please use the link below. Students will not have the option to use a personal device as it does not include our campus Secure Browser and safety software. Contact Mrs. Carter (Cayce.carter@orlandoscience.org) with any questions.

Students have begun taking the first FAST Progress Monitoring assessment. Next week, grades 3-5 will test on Tuesday (8/29) and Thursday (8/31). Grades K-2 started testing on August 18th – classroom teachers will reach out with the exact dates and times. Please make sure your student arrives at school by 8:00 am. Students need a good night's rest and a healthy breakfast. Makeups for Grades 3-6 will take place after Labor Day. Your student’s results from PM1 are for informational purposes only, and you will be provided with information about how to access the results after the testing window is completed. Contact Mrs. Carter (Cayce.Carter@orlandoscience.org) with any questions.

First of all, Kindergarten wants to say a big thank you to all the parents who attended the Curriculum Night this last Tuesday. In Kindergarten this week we have been busy focused on making new friends, learning how to be responsible students at school in social studies, and beginning addition and subtraction skills in math! Students have begun learning about observation and the 5 senses in science too. We will have a lot of fun hands-on activities to look forward to coming up soon!

This week in Ms. Keene's 1st grade class, we have started acclimating ourselves back into being scholars and learning new things in all academic subjects.

In Social Studies, we have learned what a timeline is, how we can use it and began our creations of our own timelines. Giving a glimpse to our classmates about our past and how we came to where we are today.

For Reading, we have delved into learning the elements of poetry, finding the author’s purpose of a story, and finding the story structure of different genres of texts.

In Math, we have started our units in basic addition and subtraction. Students are learning new academic vocabulary such as addends, sum, difference, equation, fewer, and compare. They have loved using their unifix cubes and counters as manipulatives to help them in understanding problems in a hands-on approach. We should be taking our first common assessment sometime next week.

Bring in the engineers! This week in Science, the students became Rosie Revere the Engineer and created their own flying machine. They were given limited materials and 1 day to plan with their team. They absolutely loved watching their machine fly down the zipline! I was so impressed with how they collaborated and respected their teammates ideas!

Second grade is back in the swing of things. We are learning all about Theme! Lessons we have learned this week from reading: Be kind to others, Mistakes are how I learn, and have empathy!

In math, we are reviewing what we learned last year and adding onto that. Adding and subtracting with regrouping is one of the skills that students are working towards mastering.

Our fabulous third graders have been working hard and adjusting well to the new routines and procedures. This week we have worked on reviewing math and reading skills from last year. Next week we will begin working on our 3rd grade curriculum for both subjects. On Tuesday, August 29th, the students will take FAST PM 1 for reading and on Thursday August 31st, the students will take the FAST PM 1 for mathematics. Please make sure the students arrive on campus on time as we will begin our testing sessions first thing in the morning at 8:30am. 😊

Ms. Polejes’ class is already wrapping up their first topic on place value with decimals! To better our team work as a class and show mastery, we worked in groups using base ten blocks. They strategize to help them better visualize how each decimal can be represented.

Alongside our math lessons, we began working on our online Science Journals! This school year, we will be able to keep all our resources together and be able to showcase them at the end. They were able to discuss and record their observations in their journals.

In 5th grade we have been answering the question, “What circumstances push us to invent new things?” We have read about Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, and about the way penicillin was made! We started with centers this week and had a great time doing vocabulary choice boards, coming up with essay prompts, and starting to research making our own inventions! We have been working on the skills of author’s purpose, central idea, and summary. We will continue this next week by learning about wind energy and wheelchair design for sports!

In 6th grade we have been completing the first round of State F.A.S.T. testing this week. With ELA on Tuesday and Math on Thursday, the students have been working hard to show their knowledge at the start of the school year.

In ELA classes we’ve been working on reviewing figurative language and introducing newer terms to students' previous knowledge, like “allusion” and “assonance”. This helps us to better understand poetic form and the author’s purpose behind specific word choice and patterns within literature.

It is an exciting time here at OSES as our students embark on new digital adventures! Our kindergarteners have eagerly begun their exploration of mouse skills. Watching them navigate and interact with technology is a testament to their boundless curiosity and adaptability.

Meanwhile, our 1st-5th graders are diving into the world of typing with enthusiasm. Each grade level uses specialized typing programs tailored to their needs, ensuring they build essential typing skills at their own pace. They are diligently working on improving their typing skills, a fundamental tool for effective communication in the digital age. Each keystroke is a step closer to mastering this essential skill.

Stay tuned for updates on our students’ progress as they embrace technology and continue to flourish in their educational pursuits.

Being responsible means showing others that you take ownership of your actions. This includes staff, parents and students. Everyone following the rules and expectations of our school helps things run smoothly.

Here is a fun book to listen to with your child! The book is called My Magical Choices. As you listen, encourage your child to think of choices they can make to be responsible, calm, confident, fun, a good sport, forgiving, generous and more!

Students, I can’t wait to hear how you’ve shown responsibility! Fill in the Caught Being Responsible slide and send to Ms. Knight for a prize!

Have a great weekend, Orcas!

Join us in this Wonderful Adventure!! We are going to SPAIN (Madrid and Barcelona). The trip will be on June 20th, 2024, and there are payment plans available! Open to all students and parents at OSS.

Please Contact Ms. Ivette Bravo (Spanish Teacher) for more details! Ivette.bravo@orlandoscience.org

Any club openings will be listed on the sign up genius.

Hello families!

Please read carefully for all club reminders:

PICK UP: Please remember that you should not arrive on campus before clubs dismiss. Even coming 5 minutes early causes backups in our dismissal process.

• Building 1 (grades K-3) - clubs dismiss at 3:40 during the week and 2:40 on Wednesday
• Building 2 (grades 4-6)- clubs dismiss at 3:40 during the week and 2:40 on Wednesday

ABSENCES: Remember that 3 or more consecutive absences will result in a removal from the club. If you are missing club because of tutoring or sickness, email the club teacher so it can be excused.

If you want to withdraw from a club, please email alicia.greene@orlandoscience.org.

Attention 6th graders!

Turkish Olympiad club is looking for more 6th grade students! Club will be running on Fridays in Mrs. Dilek's room # 128 and more information will be shared when available!

Please contact Mrs. Dilek, Elif.Dilek@orlandoscience.org , if interested.

Brainfuse offers free online tutoring through the Orange County Library System to ALL students in Orange County Public Schools.

FREE live tutors are available every day from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Using Brainfuse, students can connect with a qualified tutor for expert help in a variety of subjects.

• • CAR LINE APP DOWNLOAD: ALL PARENTS MUST HAVE PIKMYKID DOWNLOADED. YOU WILL THEN BE ABLE TO ANNOUNCE YOUR STUDENT YOURSELF WHEN YOU ARE ON CAMPUS. It makes the line longer if you are showing your car tag and not using PIKMYKID. IF YOU MUST SHOW THE CAR TAG, PLEASE BE SURE YOU ARE SHOWING IT TO THE PERSON TAKING NUMBERS BEFORE YOU GET TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE so that by the time you get to the front of the line, your student will be waiting. AGAIN, makes the car line longer if you are showing your tag at the front of the line because people are then backed up behind you.
  • if you are having problems logging in or using Pikmykid please reach out to Nicole.Wallace@orlandoscience.org
• LATE ARRIVALS: Students can only be dropped off at the front office if it is AFTER 8:10 (class start time) & parents are with them as THEY NEED TO SIGN THEM IN AS A LATE ARRIVAL. PARENTS CANNOT LEAVE STUDENTS AT THE FRONT BY THEMSELVES.
• SCHOOL PAY: SCHOOL PAY was having technical issues with users attending Charter Schools. School Pay is letting us know it will be a few days before the issues are fixed. Please be patient. You do have 4 weeks to submit club payments. Another email will be sent out when it is fixed on their end.
• CLUBS: Clubs dismiss at 3:40pm and 2:40pm on Wednesdays. ARRIVE IN CAR LINE FOR CLUB PICK UP AT 3:45. (2:45pm for Wednesdays) to prevent congestion in the pick up car line.
• WALKERS: PARENTS must complete Walker Form before a student can be a walker. Walkers sign out at the front desk. WALKERS DO NOT GO INTO THE CAR LINE. THEY WALK OFF-CAMPUS.
• High school students picking up walkers must GO OFF CAMPUS, NOT TO THE CAR LINE.
• SKYWARD ACCESS: SKYWARD IS HAVING TECHNICAL ISSUES. If you are unable to access skyward parent access, be sure you have completed the emergency health form. (BACK PAGE HAS THE HEALTH CONSENT QUESTIONS) and they will be manually entered into Skyward. Another email will be sent out later once SKYWARD is fixed.
• Sibling Pick up: if you have both a highschooler and elementary schooler please take advantage of our new sibling pick up option where highschoolers wait between building one and two. DO NOT park at the high school and walk across Technology Dr as this results in causing the car rider line to backup.

The mission of Orlando Science Elementary School (OSES) is to provide a well-rounded education with special emphasis in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), while using research-based and innovative instructional methods in a stimulating learning environment. OSES is committed to the social-emotional learning and character development of all students.