Notes from Oak

• Friday, November 1st- End of Trimester 1

• Monday, November 11th - No School- Honoring Veteran's Day

• Wednesday, November 13th- 8:45 am PTA meeting- Multi

• Wednesday, November 13th- Report Cards emailed to families

• Friday, November 15th- Reader's Parade for Kindergarten @ 10:00am on blacktop

• Wednesday, November 20th - Friday, November 23rd - 4th Grade to Coloma

• Monday, November 25th through Tuesday, November 26th- Parent-Teacher Conferences

• Wednesday, November 27th through Friday, November 29th- Thanksgiving Holiday Break

• December 1st - Festival of Lights Parade

Fire & Safety Assembly

Last week we held a special fire drill, which was a surprise to students and staff. The Santa Clara Fire Department came and watched our evacuation and emergency procedures. We passed with flying colors!

In addition, we held our every-two-year Fire Safety Assembly with our 3rd and 4th graders. Here are some of the highlights and great information about 8 Most Important Facts to remember to keep you safe, in or out of a fire.

1. Stop, Drop and Roll

2. Matches and Lighters are for adults to use

3. Wearing a Seat belt the proper way for safety

4. Pedestrian Safety- using traffic lights, signs and crosswalk markings

5. Smoke Alarms, testing monthly and changing batteries yearly

6. Creating an escape plan at your home

7. 9-1-1 How to call and learning the different reasons why to call

8. Helmet safety- how to wear a helmet, proper fit

Coffee with the Principal

Thank you to the parents who set up and shared all the yummy goodies for our Principal Coffee this week- Mellissa Sgroi and Jen Oku for coordinating and setting up the event! In addition, a special thank you to the parents and their excellent questions about Oak Avenue’s School Data.

It was a pleasure to share the work we are doing and how we are moving in a positive trend across the school. If you were unable to make it, here is my Google Slide deck to review.

One topic we discussed that is not included in the slides, was around learning as a journey and a process, not a destination or product. Many parents expressed concerns around the stresses our students are under around performance, self-comparison and lack of confidence during a productive struggle.

LASD strongly believes in a growth mindset. A child might not be at mastery YET in academics or behavior, but that is what school is all about, getting each child there in their individual development. I would rather have our children struggle in elementary than wait until high school or college to struggle. As parents, we need to model our own struggles, so our children know it is perfectly normal to struggle and not have things perfect.

Please let me know if you have any questions about our data or presentation.

Spooktacular

Thank you to students, teachers, and parents for organizing such a fun community event for our families this year. What a success!

Happy Halloween!

I hope all of our kids, teachers, and parent volunteers enjoyed a fun, spooky Halloween Party and costume parade today. It’s always fun to see the creativity in our kids’ costumes!

Hot Lunch Needs your Help!

Our kids rely on parent volunteers to serve them hot lunch every day. The hot lunch shift runs from 11:30-12:45 every day, and is one of the only volunteer jobs that pays! You will get a hot lunch credit with Choice Lunch for each shift you work. Whether you can volunteer once a month, or every week, or simply sub on an as-needed basis, we would love to have you be part of the team. Contact Kristin Morris (bergermorrisfamily@gmail.com) for more information.

Oak Directory

I have heard from many of you that you would like to see a paper directory. With the new online directory service, we will need to learn a new process for creating the paper directory. We need someone willing to tackle this project and learn the ropes. Kim Albright at the District Office is ready and willing to work with us to get the data we need in a usable format. If you love our paper directory and are ready to help make it happen, let me know!

And don’t forget to register for the new district online directory. Visit https://oak.classroomparent.com/ and click “Register” in the upper right hand corner.

Next PTA Meeting

Join us for our next PTA meeting on Wednesday, November 13 at 8:45am in the multi. We will have hot apple cider and fall favorites from our very own Oak Bakers. This is a great opportunity to understand what the PTA is doing, ask questions, and offer ideas. This is our last meeting until 2020, so we’ll see you then!

Coming Up

On December 11, we will be hosting an Oak Night at Linden Tree Books in Downtown Los Altos. A percentage of sales will be donated back to Oak. Stay tuned for more details on how to give back to Oak while doing your Holiday shopping.

Our Lifesavers this week are...

All of our wonderful room parents! Thank you for the time and energy you devoted to making sure our kids enjoyed a fun and exciting Halloween party, especially with the constraints of an early release day! Thanks to all of you:

Melissa Sgroi, Jessica Calvert, Alexandtra Kvasova, Kinnera Rao, Namrata Tholiya, Katherine Katz, Mark Millet, Heidi Ng, Kristin Coit, Claudia Garcia, Jen Oku, Rumi Bhattacharyya, Sarah Brown, Leena Faerber, Annie Peters, Angela Kristovich, Sara Payne, Moazzam Chaudry, Rajesh Shakkarwar, Janna Robson, Chrissy O'Sullivan, Sonja Commendatore, Paige Benion, Serena Hung, Aifra Ahmed, Isabel Gilbert, Claudia McCoy, Sabrina Hoelrigl, Anny Frehner, Harriet Yu, Andi Lorincz, Agnes Chang, Cindy Zinn, Jennifer Caringella, Gitta Vink

Sincerely,

Sara Payne

Oak PTA President

oakptapresident@gmail.com

Oak Apparel

OAK SCHOOL PTA ANONYMOUS SUGGESTION BOX

Double Your Donation

These past few weeks have been filled with all things Halloween, the most memorable for the 6th graders and their parents was the Annual Spooktacular! Thank you Oak Community for coming out in droves to so generously support this fun event and the 6th grade class!

The Spooktacular is a rite of passage and fundraiser for the Oak sixth graders: a leadership opportunity AND a moment of giving back that many look forward to for years. Do not underestimate the thought and planning that these children (and their parents ;-)) put into providing all younger students with a great afternoon. The funds they raised will go toward their end of year class party and class gift to Oak.

Congratulations to the whole sixth grade for a job well done! A special thank you to the 6th grade parent committee leads who put in countless hours of time, energy, and effort:

Anny Frehner, Gitta Vink, Karen Pereira, Dora Huang, Andi Lorincz, Ai Okada, Agnes Chang, Sarah Robinson, Amy Allebest, Ben Huang, and Chris Ernst.

We also want to thank our Haunted House Sponsors: Marta Wilde, Caroline Gupta, Harriet Yu, Ross Fernandes, Andi Lorincz, Jozsef Lorincz, Chris Ernst, Kimmie Marks, Ai Okada, Leon Shen, Sara Payne and Giliam Lo who worked with their group of 6th graders to prepare the spooky haunted house skits and were on hand day of.

Also a big thank you to our Carnival Game Sponsors: Elice Bui, Monique Edmonson, Gayathari Subramanian, Amina Zia and Zhe Wu for working with students to make carnival games so fun for all who played.

More thanks to our Super Spooktacular Volunteers - Suzanne Mello and her students, Marta Wilde, Kelly Spaulding, Koelli Mungee, Tina Hu, Wouter Vink, Caroline Gupta, Karen Ecklund, Brian Sohmers, Dora Huang, Ben Huang, Grandma Maria and Maki Eguchi.

Also a huge thank you to all of the parents who volunteered with set-up, day of activities and clean up! We know many of you were working at school and at home, giving the extra help to our kids to put together a Spooktacular they can be proud of. We and your kids are so grateful for your support turning their Spooktacular into the memorable event that it was!

A shout out to our sixth graders for providing goodies for the bake sale and many generous 6th grade families for their contributions to the Raffle.

Last but not least: Ms. Kliewer, Mrs. Cavanagh and Mrs. McNeil, thank you for supporting this lesson in creating magic!

Thanks again!

-Tara Williamson & Cindy Zinn

2019 Spooktacular Chairs

Dear Oak Parents,

I wanted to let you know about a new school-wide reading challenge I am launching at Oak School. This challenge involves every grade level in some capacity for the entire school year.

Each Oak Student will receive a reading log, which asks them to read either by minutes, various types of books or read in different situations. They will then scratch off one of the circles on the sheet for every goal they accomplish.

When the sheet is completed, students can return it to me in the library or in the office. For every sheet returned, your student will be contributing to a collaborative piece of art in the library.

I will give your student another sheet and they can continue this for the entire school year. One lower grade class and one upper-grade class with the most sheets turned in will earn a special party hosted by myself and Mrs. Attell.

Thank you for supporting this effort to encourage reading and trying new types of books.

Your Oak Librarian,

Mrs. Celia Forrest

Congratulations to our CFOs for helping to coordinate the fundraiser for victims of ​Hurricane Dorian. Did you see they were highlighted in the Town Crier? Check it out here!

You’re Invited to the Workshops!

After hosting three well attended charrettes where over 470 community members engaged in active discussion of facilities solutions, the Community Engagement for Facilities Project Team (“Project Team”), led by MIG, received over 50 ideas to help resolve our complex facilities issue. We invite the community to consider these options and indicate their level of support for each idea during the next stage of the public engagement process at upcoming workshops.

Please join us for

One of the below workshops:

Saturday, November 2

Open House: 9:00-9:30am

Workshop: 9:30-11:30am

Egan Multipurpose Room

OR

Monday, November 4

Open House: 6:00-6:30pm

Workshop: 6:30-8:30pm

Blach Multipurpose Room

Each workshop begins with a 30 minute open house for participants to review information. Both workshops will have the same format, so please only attend one workshop.

Thank you for actively participating in this important process. We have provided answers to the questions asked at the charrettes related to the ongoing facilities discussion here.

If you have any additional questions, please email us at communityengagement@lasdschools.org.

We’ve raised $2 million, but still need another $1.4 million to fully fund this school year. Thank you to those who have donated.

If you have yet to make your annual donation to LAEF, Donate or Pledge today and help fund teachers at your neighborhood school this year. The suggested donation is $1,200 per student or $120/month per student. Every donation of any amount is appreciated.

Once you’ve made your donation to LAEF, be sure to request a corporate match, if it’s available. Find out if your company offers corporate matching.

STEM Career Days

Interested in igniting young minds? We are looking for volunteers to help us plan the 4th Annual STEM Career Days at Egan and Blach.

STEM careers incorporate and extend beyond just science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The intent of this day is to give our 7th and 8th grade students an opportunity to learn about the different professions within the STEM field.

This school year, the event will be held on Feb 3 & 4.

If you would like to get involved, please email LASD STEM Coordinator Karen Wilson (kwilson@lasdschools.org) or Anjana Nagarajan-Butaney(anjana.nagarajan1@gmail.com).

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/Oakavenueschool/
Twitter: @OakPrincipal