Notes from Oak
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Important Dates
Wed, Mar 18 - Hearing Screening Kinder/2nd & 5th Grades
Fri, Mar 20 - Jr High Principal Presentation to 6th Grade Students 11 am -Noon Multi
Sat, Mar 21- Oak Gives Back - Hope’s Corner Serving Meals in Mountain View CANCELLED
Sat, Mar 21 - Online Auction only; Spring Fling CANCELLED
Mon, Mar 23 - Pigeon Point/5th Grade Andreeva CANCELLED
Wed, Mar 25 - Pigeon Point/5th Grade Hokeness CANCELLED
Thurs, Mar 26 - Instrumental Quest - 4th Grade CANCELLED Music team will meet with 4th grade students in the spring and demonstrate the various instruments
Mon, Mar 30 - Pigeon Point/5th Grade Bautista CANCELLED
Tue, Mar 31- Report Cards sent
Thurs, Apr 2 - Walk/ Bike to School Day
Mon, Apr 6-10 - Spring Break- No School
Students in first grade working on their "ay" and "ai" words
Third graders testing our new outdoor was station
Sixth graders learning about the water cycle through a collaborative game
Principal's Message
Update on Oak Safety and Wellness
I wanted to let parents know we are doing extra cleaning and conducting classroom education on safe hygiene practices here at school. We have just added a handwashing station by the lunch tables and another one will be coming soon to be placed by the upper-grade portables. Please continue to encourage children to wash their hands and practice safe respiratory etiquette. If your child is sick, please keep them home until they are free of fever and symptoms.
With the new guidelines to limit groups of 250 people or more given by Governor, Gavin Newsome today, our daily flag salute and Monday/Wednesday Assemblies on the blacktop will be canceled until further notice. I will miss greeting students and families to start our day, however, I will be sure to visit them in their classrooms throughout the day. Students should line up where they normally line up at the end of recess. At the end of recess, some grades go directly to class, some line up in particular spots, please ask your child what their end of recess procedures is at Oak Avenue School.
Oak Parent Input form for 2020-2021
This form is OPTIONAL. Link here We take every child's needs into consideration when establishing classes. Our job is to ensure that classes are balanced by gender, academic needs, behavior, ethnicity, special services, etc.
NO SPECIFIC TEACHER REQUESTS WILL BE CONSIDERED. Teacher assignments to grade levels are not yet finalized for next year.
All input forms are due NO LATER than April 12 Thank you!
Emergency Preparedness Committee
Thank you to the following parents who were kind enough to join me on Saturday morning to inventory our Emergency Shed. We were able to gather critical information about what is expired so we can make plans to order and update supplies for our Emergency Shed.
In addition, we just finished our Emergency Safety Plan and it will be presented to the board on Monday for approval.
Stay tuned for our intruder drill coming to us on the first of April, More details will be coming to families in an upcoming newsletter.
Oak Avenue School Tours
Have you heard your neighbors talking about wanting to know more about Oak School? Perhaps a new family just moved into the area and they are looking at different school options. Maybe a neighbor has preschool-age children and they are inquiring about Oak School.
Please let families know Oak School is open for tours. Feel free to pass along my email address. I would be happy to set up a time to provide a personal tour and answer questions about the Oak School community. kattell@lasdschools.org
Health Bulletin
As a reminder, LASD is following federal and state guidelines related to the coronavirus outbreak. We ask our families and staff to follow all guidelines to keep students and staff healthy.
Anyone returning from mainland China should stay at home for 14 days and not go to school or work, or other public places such as the grocery store, or use public transit. They should also self-isolate from others in the same household. If a returning traveler has questions, they should call the Santa Clara County call center between 8 am - 5 pm at 408-885-3980.
Please review CDC guidance on returning travelers here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/risk-assessment.html
In the unusual event that a student or staff member who returned from mainland China prior to February 3, 2020, and who has symptoms of respiratory illness, such as fever and cough, AND became ill within 14 days after their departure from China,
Please take the following steps:
Separate the individual from others as much as possible and arrange for the individual to go home, and
Contact the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department during regular business hours (408-885-3980, M-F 8-5) for further guidance.
For more information, check out the helpful FAQs from Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
Precautions to Prevent Spread of All Infectious Diseases
At this time the health risk to the general public in Santa Clara County from novel coronavirus remains low, but schools can take common-sense precautions to prevent the spread of all infectious diseases. These precautions will be helpful to prevent the spread of other common illnesses such as influenza and gastroenteritis.
Encourage all students, parents, and staff to take everyday preventive actions:
Stay home when sick.
Remain at home until fever has been gone for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicines.
Seek immediate medical care if symptoms become more severe, e.g., high fever or difficulty breathing.
Use “respiratory etiquette:”
Cover cough with a tissue or sleeve. See CDC’s Cover Your Cough page (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/actions-prevent-flu.htm) for multilingual posters and flyers, posted at the bottom of the webpage.
Provide adequate supplies within easy reach, including tissues and no-touch trash cans.
Wash hands frequently.
Encourage hand washing by students and staff through education, scheduled time for handwashing, and the provision of adequate supplies.
Routinely clean frequently touched surfaces.
Separate sick students and staff from others until they can go home. When feasible, identify a “sick room” through which others do not regularly pass.
Encourage flu vaccine for those who haven’t had it this season to reduce illnesses and absences on campus (but won’t prevent coronavirus illnesses).
A note about face masks: face masks are most useful for preventing disease spread when they are worn by people who have symptoms. People are asked to wear a mask at doctors’ offices and hospitals if they are coughing or sneezing.
For the latest updates on Novel Coronavirus, visit: www.sccphd.org/coronavirus.
COVID-19 Info Sheet
Below is a link to a great information sheet on the Corona Virus (COVID-19).
It's important to note that the risk to general public still remains low and for approximately 80% of the population the disease is mild. Please continue to stress the importance of hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette.
https://www.mountainview.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=31921
PTA UPdate
Dear Oak Community--
Thank you to all who came in person or virtually to our PTA meeting yesterday. In this time of uncertainty, all of us on the PTA are working together and with Oak and LASD to minimize the disruption that the current Corona Virus Impact will have on our PTA activities. I know there are lots of questions and concerns, and we are addressing them as we have answers. With rapidly changing information, we are doing our best to keep you informed.
As of now, we are still planning on opening up bidding for online auction on Saturday March 21. For those who don’t want to wait that long, you will be able to purchase early bidding tickets. We are working out kinks in the website and having to redo our registration in light of our change, but will have things up and running as soon as we can.
Be on the look-out next week for our sidewalk raffle. We have lots of great prizes available. Your auction committee is looking for a way to conduct the raffle online as well so students who are self-isolating will still be able to participate. If you have any questions, please let us know!
Volunteer Hours Needed
We are so thankful to all of the parents that put in so many volunteer hours at Oak. So many events and activities would not be possible without your help. It is important that we log ALL of our volunteer hours.
If there are hours you did not sign in for at the kiosk in the office (including work done for Oak off campus), PLEASE go log your hours with this simple Google Form.
ALL VOLUNTEER WORK HOURS COUNT - driving field trips, committee work you do at home, planning meetings, working in classroom - be sure to log it all! Our Historian, Isabel Gilbert, needs to submit a report to the CA State PTA mid-April - so please log your hours by then. Thanks!
ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT OAK SCHOOL AND LASD?
For the past year, Tara Williamson has been Oak’s representative to the Superintendent’s Ambassadors Committee for Enrollment (SACE). This committee works to spread the word about how awesome LASD is as a whole, as well as each individual school.
As Tara graduates from the Oak Community this year with her daughter, we are looking for a new Oak Ambassador. Responsibilities would include reaching out to potential incoming families, marketing Oak through various channels, being available to answer questions to potential families, and discussing other ideas to showcase Oak.
The time commitment can be as little or as much as you have time for. Please contact me at oakptapresident@gmail.com if you are interested or would like more information.
Sincerely,
Sara Payne
Oak PTA President
Hearing Testing - March 18
The District Nurses will be doing Hearing screening at Oak School for all Kindergarten, 2nd, 5thgrades on Wednesday, March 18.
If your child has a known hearing loss, please notify the Health Services Staff (nurses@lasdschools.org) before the day of the screening. The nurse will mail a referral form and call the parents of students who do not pass the Hearing screening.
Volunteers Needed for Living Classroom!
With more teachers than ever before signing up for our fun and engaging lessons, we need your help to meet our lesson demand!
Please join us for our upcoming Spring Docent Training on Monday March 16 from 9-Noon at the Los Altos School District iLearn Studio located at 201 Covington Road in Los Altos.
Our trainings are fun and educational! The suggested time commitment is only 6 hours a month and, in turn, we invite you to join us for our docent enrichment events which include socials, hikes, garden tours, workshops and lectures. No experience or green thumb necessary as we teach you everything you need to know! Volunteering with Living Classroom is a great way to act locally to help nurture our future environmental stewards and care for our planet!
Living Classroom Spring Docent Training
Monday 9-Noon 3/16
Los Altos School District – iLearn Studio
201 Covington Road, Los Altos
*Can’t make Monday? Ask us about our apprentice-style training!
Click here to view and/or print our flyer!
RSVP/Questions? Email livingclassroom@lasdschools.org or call (650) 947-1103.
Check us out at www.living-classroom.org!
Who we are:
We are a dedicated group of trained volunteers who teach hands-on garden-based lessons to students in grades K-8.
Why volunteer?
Living Classroom is about more than just teaching students how to plant in the garden.
It’s about using the edible and native plant gardens at each school as living laboratories and engaging student learning in fun and relevant ways. Most of our standard-aligned lessons are interdisciplinary and tie into science, social studies and math curriculum.
Our hands-on lessons also get kids outside (green time vs. screen time), encourage healthy eating habits, and promote environmental literacy and stewardship.
Volunteering with Living Classroom offers a way for docents to act locally to help protect our environment and nurture our future environmental stewards!
You don’t have to have a green thumb to be an amazing Living Classroom docent. In fact, our
program is a great way to learn how to turn that black thumb into a green one!
Living Classroom docents enjoy ongoing educational programs, hikes, field trips, social activities and a wonderful sense of community. Just seeing the students smile and get excited when a docent arrives to give a lesson is rewarding and priceless!
The commitment is only 6 hours (3 lessons) a month and you can tailor the program to fit your interests and availability.
Thanks and we hope to see you in the gardens soon!
Living Classroom Staff
Caroline Chan
Program Coordinator, Living Classroom
Los Altos School District
(650) 947-1103 (office)
(650) 262-6497 (mobile)
It's the Last Week for Our Challenge Match
Donate to LAEF today and your gift will be DOUBLED!
The John and Liane Davila Foundation, the Field Family, and 2 anonymous LASD families have offered to match every dollar donated before March 15th, up to a total of $22,000.
Gifts of any amount are appreciated!
We welcome one-time donations, monthly donations, stock donations, and pledges.
Help fund teachers and staff at your school.
Every student's physical and mental health is a priority for LASD.
Your student is nurtured through caring teachers and staff at your
school, along with LAEF funded programs such as parent education speakers,
elementary school PE teachers, and CHAC mental health counselors.
Are you an experienced photographer?
We are looking for a parent or community volunteer who is willing to take photos for LAEF in the next few weeks. Please send email to admin@laefonline.org or call 650 559-0445 to learn more. This is a great opportunity to make a difference for our schools!
Oak Avenue School
Mission:
It is Oak School’s mission to ensure high levels of learning for all students. Every day we respectfully collaborate to develop confident, resilient, joyful learners who care about the Oak School community and become responsible citizens.
Email: kattell@lasdschools.org
Website: https://oakschool.org/
Location: 1501 Oak Avenue, Los Altos, CA, USA
Phone: (650)237-3900
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Oakavenuesch
Twitter: @OakPrincipal
