Bobcat Strong Tracker

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• 2/2 - Global School Play Day
• 2/3 - Vaccination Clinic at Blach, 3-7pm
• 2/10 - Santa Rita to Egan articulation for parents - all parents welcome, 9 am, Virtual - link
• 2/14 - 3/2 - Santa Rita's Read-a-thon (stay tuned for more info!)
• 2/18 - STEM Design Challenge- details below

BOBCAT STRONG REGISTRATION: Please make sure to fill out your Bobcat Strong Registration Information (https://bit.ly/bobcatreg) so we have your most up-to-date information!

Dear Bobcat Families,

I have three important items to share with you this week so please see below for this noteworthy information.

Stay Bobcat Strong!

Mrs. Kelly Rafferty

- If your child is vaccinated, please provide your child’s vaccination records by emailing santaritasecretary@lasdschools.org if you have not done so.

Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPHD) and the California Department of Health (CDPH) recently altered their guidelines for COVID-19 to change the duration of isolation after a positive COVID-19 case to 5 days under certain circumstances.

LASD will be implementing this change per the below.

5-Day Isolation

Beginning January 26, students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 may qualify to return to school as early as Day 6 after isolation if they meet the following criteria:

1. Proof of a negative COVID-19 test (rapid antigen test is preferred due to the prolonged positive result from a PCR test)

2. Symptom improvement

3. Fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication

4. A completed LASD Return to School Post COVID-19 Positive Test form submitted by no later than 3pm the day prior to returning to school work

1. To return tomorrow, complete the form today by 3pm

5. After completing the form, you will receive a written email from LASD clearing your student to return to campus. You will need this email to check in at your front office upon returning to school.

Please note that if your student is currently isolating due to a positive test for COVID-19, they may be able to return to school as soon as Wednesday, January 26 if the above criteria is met.

When can a student return after being COVID-19 positive?

To return, a student must take an at home rapid antigen test on or after Day 5 of the collection date of the positive test. If the test is negative, please complete the Return to School form by no later than 3pm the day prior to the return to school. If the test is still positive on Day 5, you may continue to test daily until the student tests negative. If your student does not wish to test or continues to test positive, they may end isolation and return to school on Day 11 without proof of a negative test, as long as they are fever-free for 24 hours and symptoms have improved.

If you need an at home rapid antigen test, please contact your school’s front office.

Daily Symptom Tracker

At this time of increased COVID-19 cases in our community, it is essential to monitor your child for symptoms. Please be sure to fill out the OK to Reopen symptom tracker accurately and daily, including notifying the school site of any close contacts that have occurred outside of school.

Together, we can keep our schools safe and open. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Dear Parents of Incoming 7th graders,

We are looking forward to welcoming our new 7th grade families to Egan Jr. High for the 2022-2023 school year! To ensure a smooth transition from elementary school, we will host several opportunities to learn about Egan and changes to expect in Jr. High. Each presentation above will cover the same topics. Please see the important information below.

On February 9, 2022, at 6:00 PM ( join us here.), we will host families at our Incoming 7th Grade Information Night. While we typically only host parents at this event, please feel free to have your incoming student join you during the Zoom webinar. This night will offer an opportunity to hear from our Principal, Keith Rocha, Teaching Assistant Principal, Coni Cullimore, Academic Counselor, Melanie Hayes, and our School Psychologist, Jessica Farley. Additionally, incoming parents will be able to hear about the curriculum from staff members and learn about Egan’s FAQ from a student panel.

On February 10, 2-22 at 9:00 Egan will join Santa Rita parents - Parents of all ages welcome - Virtual - link

We are excited to launch LASD’s District-Wide STEM Challenge! Design a paper airplane that can carry the most amount (in coin value) of cargo and glides more than 10 feet.

Please bring your design to the playground at lunch on February 18. Please be sure to have your student's name and room number on the airplane!

Click here for full instructions.

Would you like to help our young aviators? We'd love to have some parents help us with this fun event! Please email Kelly Rafferty (krafferty@lasdschools.org) if you are able to help. Thank you!

• 2/1 - MVLA Parent Education Series with Rosetta Lee, virtual, 7-9 pm Register Here
  
• 2/3 - Mindfulness Parent Workshop, virtual, 5:30-6:30 pm Register Here
  
• 2/3 - Vaccination Clinic at Blach, 3-7 pm
• 2/10 - MVLA Math Night, virtual, 7-8 pm Register Here
• 2/10 - Virtual Santa Rita to Egan articulation for parents of 6th graders, 9am - link coming soon
• 2/14 - 3/2 - Santa Rita's Read-a-thon (stay tuned for more info!)
• 2/18- STEM Design Challenge

Blach Mobile Vaccination Clinic

LASD has partnered with Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and Safeway/Albertsons to provide convenient and free vaccination clinics.

When: February 3, 3-7pm

Where: Blach Multipurpose Room

Who: Anyone age 5 and older

Appointments are encouraged by clicking here, but walk-ins are also welcome.

District Testing

And MVLA district still offer walk up testing hours, no appointment needed, you just need to pre-register using the link.

Order Covid Testing Kits

The link to order your household’s free rapid antigen tests from the federal government is now live.

Please visit www.usps.com/covidtest to place your order.

Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of 4 free at-home tests from USPS.com. Here’s what you need to know about your order:

· Limit of one order per residential address

· One order includes 4 individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests

· Orders will ship free starting in late January

WHAT WE ARE DOING:

Our superstar 3rd Graders have been busy having fun while learning! They are currently working on an introduction to division, tracking characters across a story mountain in book clubs, writing literary essays, and learning about clouds!

MEET OUR 3RD GRADE SUPERHEROES!

Mrs. Middleton has been a teacher at Santa Rita for 16 years!! She is a Bay Area native and graduated from UC Davis. Some of her favorite things are knitting, Mexican food, gummy bears and salt and vinegar chips!

Ms. Johnson has been a wonderful part of the Santa Rita staff for 4 years. She graduated from North Carolina and earned her Master Degree in Reading Education from Vanderbilt. Mrs. Johnson has three brothers and a cat named Walter. A few of her favorite things include crafting, running and everything at Santa Rita!

FITNESS TESTING FOR 4TH/5TH/6TH GRADES STARTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2!

The California Physical Fitness Test (PFT) for all 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students will start on Wednesday February 2, and continue on Mondays and Wednesdays through the month of February (possibly longer, depending on weather). The main goal is to help students in starting life-long habits of regular physical activity.

It is mandatory that participation for 5th grade students is reported to the state of California. The Physical Fitness Test results provide one measure that students and their families can use to monitor overall fitness. Click HERE to learn more about what the PFT includes and metrics for evaluation.

HOW CAN PARENTS HELP?

1. Talk about the PFT with your child, and make sure that they are ready to do their very best. This should be a positive and informative experience!

2. Help to make sure that your child engages in 60 minutes of physical activity every day

3. Make sure that your child gets a 9-12 hours of SLEEP, and eats NUTRITIOUS MEALS

4. Please remind your child to wear ATHLETIC SHOES/ CLOTHING appropriate for movement and bring a WATER BOTTLE to school!

5. Please make sure that your child is prepared with medication if they have exercise induced asthma

*If your child is not able to participate due to injury or illness, please send a written note indicating what date they will be able to return to activity. There will be make up test days scheduled.

In addition, a huge thanks to all of you parents who have so generously donated to the Los Altos Educational Foundation, and to the LAEF for their support of the PE program here at Santa Rita!

INTERNATIONAL DANCES AND PRESENTATIONS 2022- WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Santa Rita's international week (week of March 21st) is returning in force this year! After two years of virtual events, we are excited to bring one of our most beloved traditions back, in person! For those of you who are new to the school or have never been to the international week events, this is a short video about it. We need YOUR help to make it happen, please scroll down for more details and ways you could help out!

https://youtu.be/8sdBaIZIUsk

International Dances Sign Up 2022

Calling all parents and students to share your cultural heritage with us!!! We have planned a week of in-person international dances, presentations and community events on March 24 and 25, 2022. We are looking for

1. Parents who can assist teachers and lead simple grade-level dances 3 times a week for 30 minutes after lunch from March 21 - 24, as well as provide guidance on the day of performance, March 25.
2. Parents who can teach small group cultural dance (please see video for dances performed in previous years as examples) during lunch break in March and guide students on Mar 25. Small group dances are open to students from 3rd to 6th grades. *All parent volunteers must be fully vaccinated.

If you are interested or want to find out more, please contact Alice Lee at email joy268@hotmail.com or Yang Liu at yang@santarita.org

GET INVOLVED OPPORTUNITIES

We are looking for lunch duty and crossing guards to help make lunch and walking home go smoothly. They are short shifts and a great opportunity to be on campus and be a part of the Santa Rita community!! For more information or to sign up email: volunteer@santaritapta.org

Lunch Duty:

M-F 12-12:45 pm

Crossing Guard Duty:

MTWF: 2:35-3:10 pm

TH: 1:20-1:50 pm

HEARING SCREENINGS

Hearing screenings are scheduled for grades K, 2nd, 5th and SDC on 2/8/2022. We are moving forward in a safe and efficient way to keep students safe while having their hearing screening completed. The Hearing screening van will be up to date with protocols and procedures set in place to keep our students safe, it is stated per Hearing Conservation Associates as follows:

• Test 5 students at a time.
• Clean headphones after every class.
• Spray Lysol upon use.
• Provide hand sanitizer for students on the way in and out of the van.
• Vans have individual booths for kids to sit while conducting the test.
• Will be airing out the van after every class.
• Tests lasts anywhere from 3 to 4 mins per group.

MINDFULNESS WORKSHOP

Join Mission Be, Mindful Education, for a Mindful workshop for Santa Rita Elementary parents

on mindfulness and simple strategies to improve your own and your child’s well-being. Come see us and take a self-care break where we will practice and learn how to reduce stress and increase our positivity through the power of mindfulness.

When: February 3, 5:30-6:30pm

Where: Zoom Click Here to Register

Who: Santa Rita Parents

LASD STEM CHALLENGE!

Task: Design a paper airplane that can carry the most amount (in $ value) of cargo and glides more than 10 feet. More details HERE

When: February 18

Time: Lunchtime

MVLA PARENT EDUCATION SERIES

Input for 2022-23 Speaker Line-Up

We hope you've enjoyed the information shared by the speakers we've had so far this year, including Ron Lieber, Michael Bradley, Colin Seale, and Jessica Lahey. Want to provide input for next year's line-up? Please let us know via this online survey!

Join us for an evening with Rosetta Lee - Teacher and Outreach Specialist

Implicit and Unconscious Bias: Bridging the Distance Between Professed Values and Daily Behaviors

Join us as we welcome Rosetta Lee, teacher and outreach specialist, who talks about the science of cognitive biases we all have and what we can do to mitigate them within ourselves and our organizations.

Tuesday, February 1, 2022 - 7:00 - 9:00 pm | Live Online

More information: English Spanish

Audience: Parents of middle school and high school students

Register: Register for this free event

Students have been enjoying a variety of art lessons this school year. For example, some 1st graders looked at paintings of families from around the world and then drew their own families.

Your donations to LAEF made this possible by funding the Los Altos Art Docent Program, along with funding teachers for STEM, computer science, PE, music, library, and mental health counselors. Thank you!

We still need $140K to reach our goal of $2.8M and fully fund this school year. Donate or Pledge to LAEF

Email: krafferty@lasdschools.org
Website: https://www.santaritaschool.org
Location: 700 Los Altos Avenue, Los Altos, CA, USA
Phone: (650)559-1600
Facebook: santaritaPTA
Twitter: @BobcatsSR