Buenos dias familias,

Welcome to our OA Educator Appreciation Week at Oyster‑Adams. Throughout this week, we take time to appreciate the collective work of our educators. At OA, we believe everyone on the team is an educator—whether you teach math, support self‑regulation, or help keep our community spaces clean and welcoming. If you would like your students to honor the educators who have made a difference in your family’s life, here are a few simple ideas for the week. There is no expectation to do all of these and we encourage families to spread the love across many staff members who support our students every day:

• Mon: Draw a picture, write a thank-you note, or write apoem.  ​

• Tues: Bring a flower, make a flower, or draw a flower!  ​

• Wed: Bring your teachers' favorite sweet (for example, fruit,chocolate)!  ​

• Thur:  Bring an Office Supply your teacher needs!​

• Fri: Bring your teachers' favorite savory snacks (for example,pretzels, seaweed)!

Room parents, if you could help us out by asking your teachers and partner teachers their preferences and communicating out to families, that would be enormously helpful! Thank you all, your words and gestures—big or small—mean a great deal!

Our Bilingual Poets

This week (and every week) we highlight contributions to our school community from our faculty and students. This week we're celebrating our Team at Adams for the rich opportunities they bring into our community. Mr. Burch,  (Adams Librarian), and Ms. Hunter (5th Grade ELA) entered students into a city-wide poetry competition.

Oyster‑Adams scholars were recognized in the Junior League of Washington’s 27th Annual Youth Poetry Contest, a citywide competition that received 288 poems from more than 25 schools—nearly double the usual number of entries. Contest volunteers were deeply impressed by the depth, creativity, and craft of our students’ work. Congratulations to our student poets and honorees:

5th Grade

• First Place (tie)--Wilderness and Strawberry by Claire Boerstler
• Second Place (tie) – UN MUNDO MEJOR by Stephanie Mendoza and Lesliey Zelaya
  Also awarded a Superlative for Poetic Elements and Use of Language
• Second Place (tie) – Our World by Tighe Kavanagh‑Grogan
  Also awarded a Superlative for Theme
• Third Place-A Better World by Ziva and Edith

6th Grade

• First Place – Crossroads by Priya Shipler
  Also awarded Superlatives for Theme, Poetic Elements, and Organization
• Third Place – Rocket Ship by Ana Tessema
  Also awarded a Superlative for Theme
• Superlative for Organization – The Line Between Home and the Unknown by Lucia Tomich Grajeda and Gabby Ventura‑Andujar

These accomplishments will be celebrated at Planet Word in a ceremony with all the poets who submitted winning and superlative entries. Thank you for your continued support of literacy, creativity, and the arts. We are incredibly proud of our students.

The Oyster-Adams Post

Congrats to Sra. Palacios and the Oyster-Adams Post Crew for the lovely new edition of our Adams newspaper. Hit up the link and check it out! The articles in this edition are particularly insightful and creative. Highly recommended reading!

STEM Survey

We’d love your help! The OA Notre Dame STEM Fellows at Adams — Ms. Schuettpelz, Sra. Mazier, Ms. Santos, and Ms. Foley — are inviting you to take a quick 10‑minute survey designed to explore how STEM naturally supports and enriches our dual‑language program. Your responses are completely anonymous, and the Notre Dame STEM Fellows will use them to help shape a thoughtful, school‑wide blueprint for strengthening STEM teaching and learning at OA.  Thank you so much for taking a moment to complete this 3‑question survey. Your voice truly helps guide our work!: https://forms.gle/LqLTudasFWcajKtFA

Fiesta!

Our time-honored tradition, Fiesta!, is coming in two weeks. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Oyster campus for a day of community and fun, from 11 am – 3 pm on Saturday, May 16. Join Sr. Salvador and his amazing band for a performance, enjoy an onsite taco stand, a balloon artist, and a field full of carnival games.  Volunteers are needed so please take a moment to signup for a slot or two while the kids have fun enjoying all the activities! Check out the posting in the Enrichment section and click here to volunteer!

With pride and gratitude,

Carolina Brito