Greetings Vikings,

As the school year comes to a close, our minds and hearts are filled to the brim. It’s been a great year! Together we’ve learned much and shared experiences that will remain with us in the years to come. The strength of our community and wholehearted passion to make our school a wonderful place of learning for our children makes O.L.Smith a very special place.

We continued to  implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, a tardy policy, and many other policies that helped us support our students while communicating our expectations. In the classroom, we  had great success with the implementation of Formative Assessment, Differentiated Instruction, Content and Language Objectives,and Thinking Maps. The district continued to support us in our work  to pilot the Professional Learning Community in which teachers had additional time and the opportunity to analyze data, identify essential standards and collaborate on best practices. We still have work to do, but we definitely have a strong foundation in place that we are all proud of.

We had so many great events and activities sponsored by student led groups (and supported by caring and dedicated staff members and parents!) Student Council, Social Justice, PTSA, and NJHS, etc..   These activities and events helped improve the climate and culture at the student level. Students take pride in being Vikings and we are proud of them. We had an astronaut visit our school, four Roller Skating events, Field Day, The 24 Hour World Tour, an atrium make over, a school garden, various field trips and a lot  more great things happening. None of that could have taken place without the partnership we have between home and school! I have always said, and will continue saying, that it truly takes a village to raise a child.

Special thanks to all of you who have contributed in ways small, large and unimaginable! Thanks for getting your kids to school on time each day, for kind notes of encouragement that mean so much, for sending your kids with healthy lunches obviously packed with love, for making sure homework gets done… and turned in, for communicating with me when things needed to be addressed, for reaching out to ask questions when things didn’t quite seem right, etc…  Thank you for providing rich and engaging, well-rounded experiences for your children and knowing that education is about joy, wonder and fostering curiosity, along with the development of social skills needed to succeed. For these, and a million other things, we are truly grateful. Thank you for an amazing school year! I genuinely appreciate each and every one of you. Most of all, thank you for giving me the honor of working with your children.

To those of you who are leaving us for new places and adventures, we wish you all the best. Congratulations to our very capable 8th graders who are on to a new stage in their academic career!

For your planning, 6th grade orientation and schedule pick up is August 21st 8:30-12pm. Seventh grade schedule pick up is August 20 th; 8-10am and 8th grade schedule pick up is August 20th; 12-2pm.  The first day of school for students is August 26th and that will be a half day.

Until then, enjoy a fun and relaxing summer with your family! Please check my blog for the required summer learning for your student.

Sincerely,

Zeina Jebril, Ed.S.

Principal of O.L. Smith Middle School