February 2017 Board Highlights
Oblock Junior High
Equations Tournament
On Thursday February 2, Mrs. Barker, AEO math teacher and fourteen members of the Oblock GATE program traveled to Woodland Hills for the 33rd annual Equations Tournament. According to Mrs. Barker, “Equations is a game played with 24 cubes containing numbers and operators. The cubes are shuffled to reveal the resources for that round. A number goal is set and students take turns placing the cubes into 3 categories: forbidden, permitted, or required. Students are challenged to find complex solutions to average goals. The game takes a lot of forward thinking, logic, and reasoning skills.” Congratulations to Oblock team Chloe Brown, Rudra Thakkar, Ellie Tongel, Alex Beiter, and Jeffrey Yan for finishing in 2nd place overall. A very special congratulations to Alex Beiter, Rudra Thakkar, and Chloe Brown for winning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place individual awards.
PTA Reflections Awards Dinner and Ceremony
On the evening of March 8th, many Oblock students will be honored for their hard work in the Reflections Program. There were a variety of categories in which students could have entered. The Plum Council of PTA at AE Oblock will acknowledge these students through a delicious dinner and awards ceremony afterwards. In the Literature category the following students were awarded: 1st Rachel Bunce, 2nd Nico Riccardi, and 3rd Gowri Warrier. In the Visual Arts category 1st place was Gowri Warrier and 2nd place Chloe Brown. In Photography 1st was Gowri Warrier, 2nd was Nathan Brown, and 3rd place was Molly Heiles. In the film category was Abby Tatton with first and Rachel Bunce with second. Finally, in the music composition category, Gowri Warrier won first, Michael Schorr won 2nd, and Ella Caruso won 3rd. Congratulations to all of these students on a job well done!
ESSPA Chess Tournament
On Friday, February 24, 2016, Oblock Jr. High hosted the ESSPA Chess Tournament in the library. There were 10 visiting schools, including over 40 students, plus a team from Oblock that consisted Gowri Warrier, Joey Panichella, Clark van Beek, Mark VanOrden, Rachel Bunce, Dylan Piel, Rudra Thakkur, and Robert Flemming.
Dental Presentation
Dr. Stepnick, school dentist, came to speak with the Oblock Junior High students on February 28. He gave a very informative presentation on the consequences of students not properly taking care of their teeth. The students were amazed at the pictures and seemed to walk away with much knowledge from the assembly.
Reading Hall of Fame
At the end of February, 89 students had achieved Reading Hall of Fame status. Another 127 are just points away at the All-Star level. At the Varsity level are 240 students and now we have 109 students who have made the Junior Varsity level. The goal is to have all students at the Junior Varsity level or higher by the end of the year.
Other milestones include 18 students with 300 points, including 7 students with 500 points. Great job students!