Family Update: October 3, 2025

This week, 5th grade started Austin's Butterfly projects. This is a classic and widely referenced educational example developed by Ron Berger of EL Education (formerly Expeditionary Learning). It’s not just a drawing project, but a powerful lesson in the importance of models, critique, and descriptive feedback (kind, specific, helpful) to drive student work toward excellence. Stay tuned for the student work currently in progress!

An ode is a lyrical poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, and each year our 6th graders write and recite a personal ode. The event was as energizing as ever, and this year was quite metropolitan - with topics including Brazil, Boston and Newbury Street! Thank you to all the families who attended, and to those who donated snacks. The students all did a super job, were loud and proud, and extremely supportive of one another. 

Also on a literary theme, Bingo with a Twist brought the fun— this month focused on “Book Bingo.” It was a celebration of cool book facts, and there were bookmarks for everyone in celebration of National Book Month. What will our “Bingo with a Twist” theme be next month?!

The Secondary School Fair was so well attended, with 26 of our 7th and 8th graders participating. More than 30 schools were present, and we gathered essential information about high school options as we kicked off the annual process of secondary school placement. It is a super exciting topic and we are truly grateful to Ms. Sanders for doing a spectacular job of keeping us supported and on track through the many steps along the way!

Karlee '25 and T’Asia ‘24 at the school fair. T’Asia was representing Providence Country Day, her high school.

Follow our regularly updated CALENDAR to see all events.

Calendar Highlights:

Our Family Service Saturday is tomorrow from 10-12. Sign up here. Tasks will include garden work, cleaning the building, moving furniture, prepping materials for staff, and more!

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Thursday October 9th is our all school birthday party to celebrate September and October babies. Reminders are in Friday Folders.

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Fall Festival is Thursday October 16th, 4:15-5:30pm and we hope you’ll join. Sign up slips are also in Friday Folders this week.

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Did you say summer?!!! Oh YES WE DID! Monday November 3rd, 5:15-6:15pm we are offering a Summer Program ‘26 Event. Mark your calendars now and stay tuned for details.

This week our resources section is dedicated to Digital Literacy and Well Being. What is that?!…

Common Sense Education offers free resources that “ready students for the possibilities—and pitfalls—of today's always-on world, from AI literacy to cyberbullying, screen time, and more.” We will touch on the topic in upcoming family workshops; this is a valuable preview and a resource to get us going!

Please check out the digital literacy and well being resources, and enjoy this gorgeous fall weekend.

Ms. Herman and the OSS Team

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Family Update: September 28, 2025