Tiger Time News
Summer 2022
Warm wishes to you and your family on Memorial Day. Our deepest gratitude goes to the fallen men and women who gave us a chance to make this world a better place.
“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” – Calvin Coolidge
Mrs. Pedevilla
Principal
Mrs. Pedevilla's News
Dear O.C. Taylor Families,
As our academic year draws to a close, we have much to celebrate and many happy memories. We have accomplished so much as a school community. We love our Tigers! Be sure and read, read, read this summer (see below about summer reading)!
Many thanks:
I want to thank you for the support of O.C. Taylor this school year during this year of reopening. We had many successes! Some of our children went on a field trip on a bus for their first time! We continued the great work of growing your children and preparing them to be servant leaders and lifelong learners.
There are countless people to whom I owe an expression of gratitude:
Parent-Teacher Association President, Executive Board, and all PTA members: Thank you, Tamaron Hunt, for serving as our PTA President this year. You have enthusiastically given so generously of yourself and your talents to make O.C. Taylor a better school. It has been a joy and a pleasure to work with you. Thank you to those who served as an OCT PTA Officer: Stephanie Wilkerson, Julie Odietus, Lindsay Harrison, Liz Payne, Jessica Rajian, and Challee Garland. To each person serving on the PTA Executive Board, thank you! YOU make a huge difference. Without your support and dedication, OCT would not be the school it is! I appreciate the many hours you put into your volunteer position. From our annual Rock Out all the way to Field Day, your events were well organized and brought our community together for children. All PTA members, thank you for joining the organization. Thank you for the many gifts and resources you bestowed upon our school. Our PTA supports every child's education! Thank you!
Campus Excellence Committee: Thank you to the following people for serving on our CEC: Tamaron Hunt, Scott Payne, Liz Payne, Ramon Castanuelo, Mendi Huffman, Stephanie Criner, Beth Vencill, Heather Potter, Whitney Arington, Mandy Welch, Tiffany Dagger Cummings, Suzy Pease, Cindy Rutter, Morgan Epperson, Kari Griffith, Allison Bailey, Kimberly Steele, and Stephanie Criner . This committee's work navigates our school. Your time helped guide us where we went and how we got there. Our Campus Improvement Plan was evaluated, and the committee will begin planning for next year in August.
Officer Zablosky and the Colleyville Police Department: Thank you, Officer Zablosky, for all you did for us, especially keeping our little Tigers safe. From watching our campus to running in our field day relays, we appreciate you spending time with us and getting to know the children!
O.C. Taylor Faculty and Staff: Thank you for all you do! You are the BEST! I am so fortunate and humbled to be surrounded by such passionate and committed educators. Your professionalism, positivity, and love of children are second to none. I appreciate you! We have the best careers possible and work in the best school possible. Thank you for loving one another as you do.
Parents: Thank you, parents, for all you do each day for your child. I also greatly appreciate your support of me and of OCT! Thank you for the kind emails, cards, and little gifts you and/or your child gave me and our staff members this year. Thank you for supporting our fundraisers. Thank you to our wonderful Homeroom Parents and Grade-Level Coordinators for all you have done this year, especially planning the two class holiday parties! Thank you, all, for your numerous donations to help other people and organizations. YOU have helped many people.
Dads' Club: Thank you to Scott Payne for leading our Dads' Club this year! Our Dads' Club coordinated the Turkey Drive that collected a record number of turkeys to donate to those less fortunate! The TWO real snow hills were such fun!! The Dads' Club hosted many fun events for dads and their kids. (See Dad Greeters below.) We are appreciative!
Students: To our stellar 5th graders, who are now officially 6th graders, we will miss you. You made an indelible mark on me and many others! Your leadership and kindness legacy lives on here at OCT. To all of our Tigers, thank you. Thank you for your loving and thoughtful hearts. May you all enjoy a much-deserved summer break!
Student Class Assignments for 2022-23
We have been working diligently on class assignments for next year. Our process for class placement is for the staff to meet in our Professional Learning Communities to discuss. The classroom teachers, OCT administration, counselor, and special teachers review these recommendations, make additional suggestions to accommodate needed professional support, and then the final approval rests with the principal and assistant principal. As we did this school year before Meet the Teacher in August, we are planning for our teachers to be calling home to let your child know he or she will be your child's teacher. Make sure the front office has a good phone number to reach you on the Monday before school starts. If you would like to give us input on your child's placement for next year, we invite you to write on this form. We do not take specific teacher requests. However, we do try to honor any students or staff that you do not want your child with. All forms are due no later than June 17, 2022.
As I come to the end of this long letter, I extend my thanks to the entire OCT community for the way you continue to support the OCT staff. I am beyond blessed to serve this school and community. I will miss you this summer! Please continue to read with your children every single day. This is a critical task in order for your child to not regress. We hope that all of you have a safe and wonderful summer! Details for activities for the 22-23 school year will be coming soon.
To the BEST of days,
Principal Pedevilla
Empowering our children today to create a better tomorrow!
Updates
Important Reminders
UPDATES
SUMMER ACTIVITIES: On top of reading daily, please click here for additional summer activities. Learning can be fun! Please model this for your child. Consider sitting down to make a plan or a schedule that includes daily reading. Have you ever created a Summer Bucket List? If a checklist stresses you out and makes you feel like that is one more thing to do, try creating a Summer Bucket Idea Board with ideas on PostIt Notes. When everyone finds themselves bored, go take a look at the Board to find a fun idea. Here are a few to evaluate: sample 1, sample 2, sample 3, and sample 4. Try creating one with your children! Try this Summer Bingo Fun that our OCT Specials' Teachers created.
SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE - As we wrap up the school year, the OCT PTA and I want to celebrate all the things we have accomplished at OCT! If you haven't already, we invite you to complete our final survey as part of our OCT PTA School of Excellence application. We truly feel our school has what it takes to receive this honor. We will get the results sometime in August. Thank you for your continued support!
STAAR AND STAAR EOC INDIVIDUAL - Results for STAAR and End of Course exams are expected to be available on June 16, and results for all other STAAR exams are expected to be available on June 24. Families will have new access codes for the texasassessment.gov portal posted in Skyward Family Access by those dates. In the meantime, parents and students can view preliminary results by logging into the student's Edugence account from this school year. To login to Edugence, students will need to login to "Classlink", select Edugence and then select "State Assessments" on the left side of the screen.
REGISTRATION FOR 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR: PLEASE register for the 2022-2023 school year if you have not already done so! By registering in Skyward, your child will be put on a class list for next year. This also helps us know how many teachers we need in each grade and helps us to hire the correct amount.
Registration is now open in Skyward. As a reminder, the primary guardian will need to complete the registration in Skyward Family Access. If you have forgotten your login and/or password, please click on Forgot login or password on the login screen and that information will be sent to your email.
Please note that bus rider registration will not be included in Skyward registration this year. If students need to register as a bus rider, they can do so by visiting www.GCISD.net/transportation after completing registration in Skyward. If you need additional assistance or have specific questions or concerns, please contact your campus directly. If you have trouble registering for the 2022-2023 school year, please contact your campus registrar or onlinereg@gcisd.net.
DON'T ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO LOSE LEARNING OVER THE SUMMER: The value placed on literacy in the home, time spent reading with children, and the availability and use of reading materials have been identified as important elements in children's reading success (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).
Please continue to have your children read each day over the summer months to prevent summer slide. A recent study of children in 3rd to 5th grades showed that students lost, on average, about 20 percent of their school-year gains in reading and 27 percent of their school-year gains in math during summer break. Younger children are prone to the most learning loss because they’re at a crucial stage in their development. James Kim, Ed.D., an assistant professor of education at Harvard University states, “Things like decoding, letter knowledge, and word reading skills are very susceptible to decay without frequent practice, as are math facts like addition and subtraction.” So, please help us by reading with your child.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES: Consider ordering school supplies from our OCT PTA! Our PTA loves offering this easy, breezy service to families so the students can have exactly what the teachers want/need for next school year. TONIGHT, May 30th, is the last day to receive the best pricing! https://www.educationalproducts.com/shoppacks/
School Code = TAY009 (3 letters/3 numbers)
School supplies will be delivered to your student's classrooms before the first day of school!
If you have any questions, please reach out to our School Supplies Chair, Jessica Rajian at octschoolsupplies@gmail.com
O.C. Taylor PTA
Tamaron Hunt
President / O.C. Taylor PTA
PTA News
WELCOME TO O.C. TAYLOR PTA!
NEW THIS WEEK:
FINAL THANK YOU!
I cannot believe this is the last week of school! It has been a pleasure to serve as PTA President this year. I hope that I, along with our PTA Executive Board and all our wonderful volunteers, have made a positive impact on each and every student and staff member at OCT. I love this school and it's bittersweet that I'll only have one more year here. I'm passing the torch to Stephanie Wilkerson as next year's President and have no doubts that she will continue making our school the very best! Thank you again for all your love and support! ~Tamaron
SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE
As we wrap up the school year, we want to celebrate all the things we have accomplished at OCT! If you haven't already, we invite you to complete our final survey as part of our School of Excellence application. We truly feel our school has what it takes to receive this honor. We will get the results sometime in August. Thank you for your continued support!
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
It's already time to order school supplies for next year! We love offering this easy, breezy service to families so the students can have exactly what the teachers want/need for next school year. Order online starting now - May 30th for the best pricing!
https://www.educationalproducts.com/shoppacks/
School Code = TAY009 (3 letters/3 numbers)
*School supplies will be delivered to your student's classrooms before the first day of school!
If you have any questions, please reach out to our School Supplies Chair, Jessica Rajian at octschoolsupplies@gmail.com
5th GRADE PARENTS!!
New facebook pages have been created for incoming 6th grade families going to Colleyville Middle School and Cross Timbers Middle School. To keep up with the latest and connect with other families, join here!
CMS: Future Colts Incoming 6th Grade Parent Group 2022-2023
CTMS: CTMS Incoming 6th graders
SAVE THE DATE!
HAPPY SUMMER!!
August 10, 2022 - PreK + Kinder Camp 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
August 11, 2022 - PTA Executive Board + OCT Staff Luncheon
August 15, 2022 - Meet the Teacher 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
August 17, 2022 - First Day of School
August 17, 2022 - BooHoo/Yahoo! Breakfast
If you have any questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out!
Tamaron Hunt
President / O.C. Taylor PTA
octaylorptapresident@gmail.com
https://octaylorpta.membershiptoolkit.com