Oaks Plus
The 2024-25 Winter Sports Season in a Nutshell
Take a look back at the 2024-25 Winter Sports season and congratulate our talented student-athletes on their phenomenal seasons!
March 21, 2025
The 1 Million Minutes Challenge is in full swing, and Oaks students are making amazing strides toward our ambitious goal of 1 million minutes of tech-free play! At the halfway point, they’ve logged an incredible 939,987 minutes, showcasing their creativity, connection, and commitment to unplugging. From designing dream playgrounds to cooking up family treats, the Oaks community is proving that screen-free fun is both joyful and impactful.
Our students’ enthusiasm is sparking new traditions and inspiring others. After hearing about the challenge, some entrepreneurial students set up lemonade and hot cocoa stands to combine their tech-free time with raising funds for the challenge! Students are stepping into their kitchens to help parents with dinner and even make their own sweet surprises that look like dinner but are actually cake. One family even decided to dedicate their tech-free time to cleaning up their neighborhood, while others are finding joy in the simple acts of practicing penmanship and playing cards.
In classrooms, students are collaborating in exciting ways. Fifth grade teacher Joe Garner shared that his students are creating bar graphs to track their daily screen-free minutes. Inspired by this, another 5th grade class joined in, setting up their own tracking board to celebrate each day’s progress.
Beyond the classrooms, our students are excited to share the countless activities that they are doing to spend time without technology such as playing sports and hanging out with their pets. Other activities include building forts and lego creations, making bracelets and Christmas ornaments, and even helping clean around the house!
Dream Playground Highlights
As part of the challenge, we asked students to design their dream playgrounds, combining creativity with a shared vision for future campus updates. Submissions included intricate treehouses, simple slides and soccer fields, and even (many) ziplines! These drawings capture our students’ dreams and might just inspire features in our upgraded playgrounds.
The Excitement is Spreading
The excitement is even spreading beyond our school! Recent media coverage has highlighted the importance of this challenge, showcasing how tech-free play fosters healthier habits and stronger relationships. Mirror Indy wrote a beautiful article that showcases how The Oaks has always valued tech-free learning environments while WRTV visited a 1st grade class during discovery time to see the benefits of tech-free play in action. There is growing recognition of the importance of limiting technology in children’s lives and we are thrilled to support our families in having that conversation within their homes as well.
With just over 60,000 minutes to go, the finish line is already in sight and the physical trackers at our schools are almost filled in! Our students are so excited to see the collective and campus progress update each week, and we can’t wait to see them all rise above the goal like the middle school campus has already.
Share this article
About The Oaks
Saturday School: A Tradition of Learning and Connection
Saturday School at The Oaks Academy is more than just a school day — it’s a cherished tradition where families, students, and faculty come together for a morning of learning, connection, and community. Through hands-on activities, engaging parent seminars, and shared experiences, this special event strengthens our partnership with parents and celebrates the joy of lifelong learning.
March 3, 2025
About The Oaks
Rooted in Mission, Rising in Impact
Generosity has always been the heartbeat of The Oaks Academy. Thanks to our donors’ support of Rooted & Rising: A Campaign for The Oaks Academy, we’re thrilled to share these updates on how we are improving The Oaks experience starting this year!
February 19, 2025