From the Desk of Katrina Baughman, Otsego Elementary School Principal:

Otsego Elementary School is a great place to be! I can not express enough how thankful I am for our dedicated staff, caring students, and active parents.   Otsego is truly a family, and I am grateful to be a part of it!

We are looking forward to having a "normal" school year and getting back to the way things were prior to COVID-19.  We are also excited to make those things better based on what we have learned since then!  This is going to be a great school year!

This year we will be starting a new math program called Bridges.  We are excited to bring something new to our students that provides more hands-on, inquiry-based exploration of math in all domains.  This program focused on problem-solving and skill building and is composed of three distinct but integrated components:  Problems & Investigations, Work Places, and Number Corner.

Additionally, we will be using a new Phonics resource in grades K-3 call From Phonics to Reading.  This program will provide students with more in-depth instruction on phonics and the appropriate early reading skills for each grade level.

OES is excited to continue PBIS this year. As a district, we officially rolled PBIS out during the 2017-2018 school year.  PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports, and it is a framework for schools to provide consistent expectations across the building, common language the students understand, and instruction on how students are expected to behave. We are looking forward to continue improving our policies, procedures and routines to fully align with PBIS.

 This year we will continue the implementation of our Otsego Literacy Framework for our English Language Arts Curriculum. (A link to this document can be found on the right side of this page). For the writing portion of the Framework, we will continue to use the Ohio Writing Project (OWP).  This is an ongoing endeavor, and although teachers have had multiple trainings on this initiative, we will continue to participate in additional training sessions and opportunities. These frameworks have proven to be meaningful for students as we prepare them to be lifelong citizens and productive members of society, and we are excited to continue to see the growth in students as we continue implementation.

Our continued success is dependent upon communication. I welcome your input. Feel free to email [email protected] or call 419-823-4381 option 4 at any time you think I can be of assistance. I send a weekly update during the school year. Please contact me if you do not receive the elementary update on Fridays throughout the school year and would like to be added to the distribution list.

I am looking forward to another great year at OES!

Katrina Baughman

Principal