Date to Create 2024 was a major success! Thank you to all that were able to come to our Open House last night. For those interested, below is a link to a youtube video with highlights of our day!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLPzf_GQny4
April 3rd is School Para-Professional Day! Okoboji Schools depends on our amazing team of para-professionals in all of our buildings every single day. They are often the first smile a student sees as they walk in the door and they often spend more one-on-one time with individual students than anyone else in our district. They impact the lives of our students, teachers, and families in countless ways and we could not imagine our schools without them!
Thank you to all of our outstanding para-professionals today and every day!
Date to Create is only 1 week away! The countdown is on! We hope to see you there!
Date to Create is coming soon! Please come to OES for our Open House on April 4 from 5-7 to see some amazing creations from our students! You won't want to miss this one!
Our 1st graders finished up their Fairy Tale unit from our CKLA curriculum. To celebrate, they all got to dress up like a fairy tale character! Look at those amazing teachers and students!!
OES is VERY thankful for the bouncy houses last week as a celebration for great school-wide behavior! These were DONATED by Storm Lake Rent-All! Special thanks goes out to them for their generosity! See below for a link to their bouncy house rental opportunities! They also want everyone to know that if you pick one up on a Friday and keep for the weekend they still only charge for one day!
https://rent-all.com/product-category/party-event/entertainment/
We had an amazing assembly yesterday with Kayla from Rachel's Challenge! Our students were given the challenge to be kind to others, and to start a chain reaction! We plan to do just that and (here's a little teaser) we hope to show you some proof during Date to Create!
Be sure to head to the Pearson Lakes Art Center tomorrow from 5-8 to see some amazing art by students from Okoboji! More details on the flyer at the link below!
https://bit.ly/3wKoruv
***SAVE THE DATE***
Date to Create is one month away!!! Please come to OES for our Open House on April 4 from 5-7 to see some amazing creations from our students! You won't want to miss this one!
We are one week away from SPRING BREAK at OCSD! All OCSD school buildings will be closed and on break from March 11-15. Whether you will be travelling or staying local, we hope the time off gives all a chance to recharge and refresh for the last ten weeks of the school year!
March 1st is Maintenance and Operations Appreciation Day! Today we take a moment to thank Derek Chappas, OCSD Maintenance Director, and Tim Blair, OCSD Head of Grounds, for all of the hard work they do each and every day. Derek and Tim work tirelessly in ways seen and unseen to ensure our facilities and grounds are safe, operational, and in top condition to support the learning of all OCSD students.
Thank you, Derek and Tim!
February 22nd is National School Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Today we want to salute our Director of Transportation, Steve Clayton, and ALL of the outstanding drivers who get our students to and from school and activities every day safely! Through wind, snow, and rain, they always keep our kids safe and get them where they need to be to learn, perform, and grow! Thank you to all of these outstanding OCSD Bus Drivers!
Steve Clayton
Rod Blau
Tom Sporrer
John Walters
Pam Trosin
Daniel Clements
Michal Schoning
Michael Umscheid
Don Nolan
Aaron Sloan
Brett Simpson
Adam Quail
Brett Ferguson
Doug Otto
Heidi Wittrock
Tiffani Reese
Dennis Houseman
Do you have a child that is ready for our PK Programming next year? Or, do you have a child ready for KG that is currently not at Okoboji Elementary? If the answer is yes to either of those questions, please join us for our PK/KG Parent Night on Tuesday, March 19 at 6:00 PM! See the flyer below for more information!
The Okoboji High School Student Council will be hosting their 3rd Annual Inclusion Fair at Okoboji Middle School on Friday, March 1st from 6:00-8:30 PM. The fair includes activities and games, coloring, a bake sale, and more! Cost is $3 for kids 3-12 and $5 for those 13 and above. Kids under 3 attend free! All proceeds go to the Okoboji Special Olympics Team.
Make plans to come and join us in the fun while supporting these awesome athletes and students!
Today is National School Resource Officer Day! We are celebrating our SRO, Keaton Verner. Keaton has been a part of the Milford Police Department for several years and began his role as SRO for the Okoboji School District this year. Keaton works each day to ensure safety and develop positive relationships with students, staff, and families.
Keaton also serves as a great connection for increased partnership between MPD and OCSD. In his first few months in the role he has helped identify and lead training opportunities for our staff, informative assemblies for our students, and much more.
We are grateful for Keaton and all he does every day for our students, school, and community!
Yesterday was a fun day to be in first grade! We have been learning about volcanos and some high school students came to do volcanos with us!
We are all keenly aware of the tragic events that occurred on Thursday at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa. As a district, we stand with and grieve with the students, staff, and community of Perry. Parents and students should never have to feel unsafe at school or worry if their kids will come home safe at the end of the day. As we continue to process this situation, we want to share some of the proactive measures we have taken over the last several years and continue to use to prevent and respond to such a situation. I've attached a letter outlining some of the steps and programs we have implemented to ensure the safety of our students and staff.
Please read the attached letter for more information. You can access a clickable version of the letter at the link below. That version will allow you to follow the links for more information.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AcpSZtPvDQ0FEj6JGJLYhjhj2jlqVxT2/view?usp=sharing
Okoboji Community School District stands with the students, staff, families, and community of Perry as they walk through this terrible tragedy. Educators in Perry and across Iowa work hard every day to make school a safe place for kids to grow and flourish. We will continue to offer our support in any way we can.
Hug your kids tonight and every night.
Two of our very own have been nominated to be University of Okoboji Winter Games Cheerleaders! Congratulations to Katie Luinstra and TJ Simington for being recognized for this awesome community honor! It is well deserved! Voting opens today and closes by 5 PM tomorrow!
https://www.uofowintergames.com/cheerleaders/
Before break, our 1st graders learned about comparing and measuring and they were able to choose things around the classroom to measure. Some things were bigger than the cubes we had so we problem solved and worked with a partner to measure them! The kids had a great time measuring around the room.
