ALMOND THURSDAY WORD
March 16, 2017

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

• Thursday, 3/16 - Bookwave Blast (Multi, 6-8pm)

• Thursday, 3/30 - Incoming 7th Grade Parent Panel (Egan Library, 7:00pm)

• Friday, 3/31 - Incoming 7th Grade Student Tour & Elective Faire (Egan, 8:30am)

• Monday, 4/3 - STEM Expo School Day Showcase

• Tuesday, 4/4 - STEM Expo Community Night (Multi, 4:30pm - 6:00pm)

• Monday thru Friday, 4/10 to 4/14 - Spring Break (NO SCHOOL)

• Saturday, 4/29 - LASD Junior Olympics (MVHS, 8am - 4pm)

SCHOOL MESSAGE

Please review the LASD Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) with your children.  Throughout the year, we have to review this with students at all grade levels.  Recently, we’ve had some breaches in appropriate use.  It is important for students to know that in order to keep every member of the Los Altos community safe in the online world, there is network technology that filters and scans all communications that are transmitted.  School staff are notified by our Director of Technology of “content alerts.”  

Here are two things to highlight from the linked policy above.

• District issued accounts are to only be used for educational purposes.  If you wouldn’t feel comfortable sending your teacher, your parent, or your principal an email - don’t send it to your friend.

• Non district accounts are NOT to be accessed on any school device.

The school staff have the usernames and passwords of every school issued account.  We will begin more actively monitoring use by “popping in” and scanning emails and digital documents.  We are doing this to ensure we promote a safe online environment for students.

One possible consequence of not following the AUP is a temporary freeze on the account, along with a temporary restriction from using technology at school.  We will still ensure that students are able engage in their learning by providing a non-digital alternative.

As our world becomes more technology laden, it is that much more critical that we all demonstrate ethical behavior in this digital realm.  These are the years for our children to learn how to make these types of positive choices.

PTA & SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS - NEW

TONIGHT!!! - BOOKWAVE BLAST

• Please join us for the 2017 Bookwave Blast.  The event will be on Thursday, March 16, from 6-8 pm.  Bring your family and peruse all of this year's books, be inspired by our guest author, Arree Chung, and take home your child's masterpiece! It promises to be a fun family evening.  Light refreshments will be served.  No author at your house this year?  You can still join us for the Blast.  This is an Almond Community event and all are invited to come!  Please complete the google form here to RSVP for the event, so we can plan accordingly.  ~ The Bookwave Team

• About the Author: Arree Chung makes picture books, but he did a lot of other things before finding his true passion.  Arree began his career in consulting where he made lots of spreadsheets.  Arree left the consulting field for an opportunity at Pixar.  At Pixar, Arree learned the secret to success: loving what you do.  To pursue his passion, Arree enrolled at the Art Center College of Design where he learned to draw, paint, and think differently.  In Steven Turk's Children's Book Illustration class, Arree discovered his love for creating children's picture books and the rest is history!  In the past decade, Arree has worked in the games industry as a Designer and Art Director.  Arree’s first debut picture book, “Ninja!” hits shelves June 3rd, 2014.  When Arree is not practicing his Ninja moves, you can find him playing basketball or riding his bike.  Here is a link to his website.  And, we will be raffling prizes for those coming to the event!

CELEBRATE LEADERS

Please take the time to type a student, staff, or parent leader's name and write a brief statement about what makes them extraordinary.  These will be compiled during the week of 3/27.  Please submit a different entry HERE for each leader (student, staff, parent) you wish to celebrate.

It's WoW! time again!

• Please join us for Almond's Walk-or-Wheel-to-school day next week on Wednesday 3/22. Make a special effort to walk, bike, or scooter to school on this day. Promote less car traffic near our school, better health for our kids and the environment, and community spirit!

• Participating children can pick up another colorful foot charm to add to the chains they have on their backpacks from November and January. (We will have some chains as well, for kids who couldn't participate before.)

• In addition, participating children fill out tickets before school with their first names and put them in their teachers' cans, for two purposes.

  • I count the tickets to determine which class has the highest percentage of participants, and that class gets the Golden Shoe Award for the next two months. Turn them in, or your class won't get credit! So far, Mrs. Hall and Miss Ohlund's classes have gotten turns with the shoe.

  • Also, the tickets are for a raffle; local businesses donated prizes which we will give to students at Friday assembly following WoW! Day.

• ** We will have three stations this month for taking tickets and giving out charms: the front and back bike racks and the rotunda (only for walkers.) Come early so kids aren't late to class! **

• Thanks for supporting your kids and our community!

$20K Matching Challenge Met!

Did you notice the growing arrow on the LAEF sign in front of our school? LAEF is pleased to announce that we just reached the $3.3M mark in donations! Thank you to the 57 families who contributed $24,774 to meet our $20,000 Matching Grant. With $386,690 to go to reach $3.7M, every dollar counts. That’s why we’re counting on another 224 families to donate at www.LAEFonline.org.

PTA & SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS - REPEATED

SPRING AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS AVAILABLE

• Time to look at the *new* offerings for the Spring Semester at Almond!

• What programs are offered ?  All of our old favourites are back again as well as **NEW** programs such as a new Ukulele & Guitar class and Skateworks is making a return to Almond.  The Hidden Villa off campus program is back as well!

• It’s easy to sign up!  To see all the offerings go to the After School Programs schedule on the Almond website. Sign up is easy through Activity Hero.

• We want to hear from you.  Thanks for all the feedback at the end of last year.  If you have comments or suggestions on great new programs you’d like to see offered at Almond please contact Jennel Massey.

REMINDER OF LOST & FOUND PURGE PROTOCOL

Starting with January, we will clear out the Lost & Found at the end of each month to keep it from getting ridiculously full.  Please put your child's name or at least a family name in your children's clothing and we will do our best to return it to you.  Remind your children to look in the Lost & Found regularly.  

FROM THE ALMOND OFFICE

If your student will be absent for any reason, there are two easy ways to inform the school office. You may call the  Attendance Line at 650-917-5454, or email us at almondsecretary@lasdschools.org. This ensures that we can account for all 543 students every day. Thank you!

LASD NURSE - Pertussis Booster for Students in grade 6

Students currently in 6th grade must have proof of a Tdap or Dtap (Pertussis or Whooping Cough) booster given after their 7th birthday (after 10th birthday is recommended) in order to begin 7th grade in August of 2017. Please provide a copy of your child’s immunization record to your school office as soon as possible!

Become a LIVING CLASSROOM docent... share your love of nature with kids!

• It's time to plant tomatoes, dissect flowers, explore the plants used by the Ancient Civilizations, and harvest and make yummy pretzels from the winter wheat the students planted last Fall!  If you like all those things and more, please consider becoming a Living Classroom docent!  LIving Classroom is looking for docents to help deliver hands-on garden-based lessons to the students of the Los Altos School District.  No experience necessary as we provide all the training needed!  Our Spring Docent Training will take place Monday mornings in March from 9 - Noon on 3/6, 3/13, 3/20 and 3/27.  Please click HERE to view our Spring Training Flyer which lists the locations of each of our trainings.  Apprentice-style training also available to those who can’t make our Monday morning trainings.

• Questions?  Email us at livingclassroom@lasdschools.org or call (650) 947-1103.  For more information about Living Classroom, please visit our website at