Points of Pride
Michigan School of Character
2022 State School of Character
National Blue Ribbon Award
VO National Blue Ribbon Exemplary School Profile
Official Michigan Green School
- Weekly School Recycling
- Butterfly Garden
- Powerdown PM's
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Earthday School Clean Up
Highly Qualified Staff
- Approx. 90% of staff have attained graduate degrees
- Staff is A.L.I.C.E. trained
- Some of our teachers' accomplishments include: NCSD Teacher of the Year, National Board of Certified Teacher/Occupational Therapist, International Fellowship experience, Oakland County Leadership ESL/Title III Professional Development Team, Cross Cultural Language and Academic Development experience, Gifted and Talented experience, Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) training, and Basic Life Support training.
Celebration of Diversity
- Annual student led Diversity Day
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Student demographics include more than thirty different cultures and nearly fifty different languages spoken from across the world.
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All staff is participating in ongoing Cultural Competency Professional Development facilitated by nationally recognized Diversity & Equity Consultant Dr. Jay Marks.
The School Improvement Process
The Village Oaks School Improvement Team is comprised of parents and staff. They meet monthly to analyze school data and make informed decisions to implement research based strategies to improve student achievement. Below are some of the successful features of our School Improvement Plan:
Research Based Instructional Strategies
To support the specific needs of our diverse student population our staff utilizes the following:
- Cultures of Thinking which include a variety of Thinking Routines that provide opportunities for all student voices to be recognized and valued. By implementing these routines we promote deeper thinking.
- Collaborative Instructional Approaches which may include: Professional Learning Communities (PLC's), team planning, team teaching, and team data analysis.
- Math Workshop--small group and individual instruction to meet the wide range of learning needs based on each student's skill level.
- Daily 5--the five tasks students choose between during our literacy block include Read to Self, Work on Writing, Read to Someone, Word Work, and Listen to Reading.
- C.A.F.E. strategies focusing on comprehension, accuracy, vocabulary and fluency. These strategies are done with a common language geared towards each student's instructional reading level.
Students as Leaders
- Leaderific Fridays--each Friday our entire school dedicates a block of time for student leadership development learning opportunities
- Villas--K-4 character development cohort where staff lead Seven Habits learning activities for each member of the school
- Playworks Junior Coaches
- Cross age buddies
- Lighthouse Leaders
- Sunshine Squad
- Service Learning Projects--food drives, Giving Warms The HEART Clothing Drive, beautify VO
Parents as Partners
VOICE (Village, Oaks, Interested, Citizens, Educators--PTO)
- Family Fun Nights--BINGO, restaurant nights, skate night, school dances
- Fundraisers--Spring Fling, Fun Run, Pizza Kits
- Teacher Support--luncheons, gifts, classroom supplies
- Fund School Assemblies
Leading with HEART
- Shiny Heart Awards
- HEART Talk Character Videos
- HEART Bucket Fillers
- Behavior Reflection Sheets