Dear Ocean Shore Families,
 
What a great night last night for Back to School Night!  As I mentioned, it is a dream come true for a school to look across the MPR and see it filled wall to wall with families.  Your presence last night matters greatly!  Standing together, I felt our connectivity and your investment in the most important thing for our future – our children’s education!  Thank you for your partnership, and willingness to engage at home and at school, providing another group of children with the world-class opportunities to learn in hands-on activities and experience learning with authenticity!  This is what makes Ocean Shore such a special place. 
 
You heard us speak of family engagement.  I wish to reiterate a powerful statement: 
 
“The most consistent predictors of children’s academic achievement and social adjustment are family expectations of their child’s academic attainment and satisfaction with their child’s education at school.”  - Reynolds, et, al.. 
 
Let’s continue our partnership to ensure our shared goals and expectations of success for your child thrive in this new school year!
 
Reflections: 
 
Over the summer, I received a message from a family that moved away.  At our first staff meeting, I read this to our teachers and want to share it with you.  I think this family captured the essence of our school and hope you find the same appreciation for their sentiment that I did! 
 
The decision to bring our family out to the Bay Area in 2017/18 for a year was a pretty scary one.  However we cannot believe how well it all went and how lucky we were to have two of our boys enrolled at Ocean Shore.  What the school gave our family is more than words can truly describe – friendships, opportunities, growth and awareness.  It is amazing what a difference a year or two has made in the lives of our boys.  
 
In one year, our oldest Ocean Shore attendee was transformed from a boy who fought the idea of moving to California to now being a young man who says he can make friends and be happy living or going to school anywhere.  Over the past year during our family trips back to California, he has looked forward to visiting the school, the community and the good friends that he made during his time at Ocean Shore.  This was an incredible transformation that will serve him well for the rest of his life. 

Our youngest) had two wonderful years at Ocean Shore (under the guidance of Virginia) and is developing into a very thoughtful, empathetic and confident young man.  We are proud of what he is becoming and we deeply appreciate the role that everyone at Ocean Shore has played in his development.  As they say, it takes a village to raise a child, and last year we certainly depended on that village.  That village has given our son more than we could have ever have dreamed of.  

Ocean Shore is so unique in welcoming students and families.  You have no idea how much that has meant to us...  Being open to parent involvement and being SO welcoming…was a tremendously important and positive experience in her life. 

What you have at Ocean Shore is very special and unique.  Hold it close, nurture it, fight for it and continue pay it forward – this community and particularly this school is an incredibly positive place that we are so glad to have been a part of.  This will always be part of us and we will always consider ourselves part of the Ocean Shore family.  You will be seeing us from time to time and we always look forward to coming through the front door and once again absorbing the feeling of being “back home” at Ocean Shore!
 
I love this call to action for our school!  Let’s do it! 
 
Updates
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Hello Ocean Shore Families! 
 
Welcome to the 2019-20 school year at Ocean Shore!  We are officially underway with the new academic year.  I would like to extend a special warm welcome to our new families.  Welcome home to your new school community!  We look forward to greeting you. 
 
What is the Weekly Message?
Each week, I write a blog about Ocean Shore.  You would not believe how much occurs in just one week at our school!  I love to share stories and memories about our kids, staff and community.  One of the best parts of my job is being able to walk from classrooms to our playground and soak in the entirety of our sweet school.  I notice things like the ways in which a new middle school girl stood by herself near the lunch tables on the first day, only to be swooped up by a group of other students eager to make friends with her.  I notice how students run to their previous teacher’s classroom at recess on the first day, eager to say hello from months spent apart over the summer.  This speaks to the strong relationships our kids build with their teachers.  Especially for family members who are not able to be on campus regularly, I hope this blog provides a window into a “day in the life of Ocean Shore School.”  I want to share my favorite part of my job with you each week in this blog! 
 
In addition to the reflections, this is the place you should look for important information related to updates from the office, critical dates for events and meetings at school and in the community, and other new information.  We are working to provide an efficient way of sharing the enormous amount of information being shared with you all week! 
 
Reflections: 
One of my favorite places to visit the first week of school is our kindergarten yard.  It is filled with new little faces, laughter and new friendships being formed.  It is precious!  When asking our new students what their favorite part was about their first week in kindergarten, they shared these answers….
 
“We don’t have naps!  No naps!”
“I liked chasing the kitty in the office.  When we went on the scavenger hunt to find it!”
“I like the outside time (recess)!”
“My new friend.”
“Now I go to the same school as my big sister!”
“I have a lunchbox!”
“My teacher.”
“Everything!”
 
And from a parent…
“Those teachers… they were a sight for sore eyes on the first day!  What angels!”
 
I encourage you to ask your child what the memorable moments of the first day of school were for them! 
 
I look forward to seeing you next week at Back to School Night on Thursday 8/29 starting at 6 pm for grades K-3! 
 
Important Information:  (CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO UTILIZE THE LINKS POSTED BELOW!)

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