Good afternoon Tigers!

This week we celebrate our communal achievements alongside our families.

First off, we congratulate all the new families who were invited to our school through the OSSE lottery. ¡Bienvenidos a la guarida de los tigres! This season is bittersweet, because while we excitedly welcome new families, we also share in the disappointment of hundreds of families waiting for a chance to become brilliant bilinguals. For that reason, if you know that you will not be returning next year, please inform Elba Menjivar (elba.menjivar@k12.dc.gov) or Evelyn Irizarry (myrna.viera@k12.dc.gov). We would like to be able to inform future families on our waiting lists of their likelihood of enrollment, as many are eagerly awaiting news. If you are returning with us (¡wepa!) please see this link to confirm starting on April 1st.

Second, we would like to thank Alexandra Bicca, Hilary Benson, and Jodi Street for donating their time to bring the food drive to Martha’s Table this week. It was an important experience for the students, and we appreciate the support from the community. We needed several cars to bring everything that our student government at Adams collected the previous week!

Third, we thank the families who have been able to donate their time, skills as learning facilitators, and enthusiasm as cheerleaders at the STEM showcases at Oyster. Today I saw teams of families and students in 1st grade building suspension and truss bridges with recycled materials from home. The kids collaborated on the design of the first draft, and then families supported kids to build their bridges in less than an hour. We tested the bridge by adding books in small increments until the structure collapsed. We saw excitement, applause, and sometimes collective groans!

In 2nd grade, students had free choice in their group science projects. They modeled everything from Newton's third law to the movement of magma to a volcano's surface. I met grandmothers, aunts, parents, and so many members of our community who were able to be present today. Your presence in our classrooms is a genuine joy and gift for everyone! For more photos, see this link: STEM.

And finally, we want to thank Christine Miller and Jan Schuettpelz for bringing our debate team to victory. The last debate tournament of the OA season took place on Saturday at Cardozo. Our tigers were amazing! These competitions do not separate middle school and high school, so some of our students debated against high school students from other schools. The team has worked very hard this year in debate and it really showed in the results! Check out the final rankings of all our students here!

With joy and pride,

Carolina Brito, Principal