The Weekly Wave

This was an amazing week that culminated in another wonderful Dolphin Cafe and School-wide Assembly. Assemblies are always a treat when we get to see our remarkable students in action. This assembly did not disappoint as our Student Council did a great job of introducing themselves and their positions and goals. I am in awe daily of our students’ abilities and growth and am glad we have these opportunities to share with all of you.

Friday night, a friend shared with me that John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, is getting a commemorative stamp from the United States Post Office. Beyond the ten national championships in basketball and my personal fandom and allegiance to the university, John Wooden has always been a role model for me. I was lucky enough to meet and speak with him a handful of times before he passed and each visit is a cherished memory.

I pulled one of Wooden’s books off my shelf and was reminded of his simple teachings and desire to have his players not be great players but great people. This is what I strive for with our students and why I repeatedly share with them to Be in the Right Place, at the Right Time, Doing the Right Thing. It is my belief that if we all do this in our lives we will be the best version of ourselves. It is my version of The Golden Rule.

An example of his simple teachings were “Two Sets of Three” that he learned from his father. The first is Never Lie; Never Cheat; and Never Steal. The second is Don’t Whine, Don’t Complain; and Don’t Make Excuses. As I reread, I realized that I have internalized not only those words but the thought behind them - be a good person; be an honorable person; be someone that counts on others and can be counted on by others. As I work with my team and our students I, of course, want our students to achieve academically but what I really want is our students to be the best people that they can be when they leave Short Ave.

As always, please be safe. And please enjoy the rest of your weekend.

See you Monday!

Mr. Lamb

12/04- Coffee With the Principal @ 8:20 am

12/5 - Teacher & Staff Cookie Swap @ 8:00 AM, office drop-off

12/9 - Winter Bazaar @11 AM - 4 PM, on the front lawn

12/08- Early Literacy Workshop @ 8:20am, in the library

12/14- Winter Program @ 8:30am, on the playground

12/18-1/05- Winter Vacation

Please join us for a special workshop on Early Literacy, led by our very own Ms. Hernandez and Ms. Lowry, on Friday, December 8th, at 8:20am in our Library. They will provide an overview of the foundations and fundamentals of early reading and offer strategies that you can use at home to support your emergent readers. See flyer below for more information. We hope that you can join us for this event.

SHORT AVE TEACHER & STAFF COOKIE SWAP 🍪

Our Short Avenue Teacher & Staff cookie swap tradition is happening this Tuesday, December 5th!

Please drop off your homemade or store bought cookies Tuesday morning in the office, as a token of gratitude to the teachers and staff that make our school so magical!

A sweet treat buffet for all teachers and staff will be set up, where they can fill bakery boxes with a selection of their favorite treats to bring home.

WINTER BAZAAR ❄️

December 9th, 11 AM - 4 PM, please join us at our Winter Bazaar fundraiser for holiday shopping. Located on the front lawn, a variety of local & artisanal vendors will be selling their goods. We will have food trucks, music, and a kids crafting table. A portion of all sales will go back to our school. Please come and enjoy our Winter Bazaar, this event is open to the entire community.

UPCOMING COMMUNITY DATES & EVENTS 🙌

12/04- Coffee With the Principal @ 8:20 am

12/5 - Teacher & Staff Cookie Swap @ 8:00 AM, office drop-off

12/9 - Winter Bazaar @11 AM - 4 PM, on the front lawn

12/08- Early Literacy Workshop @ 8:20am, in the library

12/14- Winter Program @ 8:30am, on the playground

12/18-1/05- Winter Vacation

1/08- Second Semester Begins

VOLUNTEER 👷‍♀️

As a parent, you play a vital role in shaping the education experience for your children, and we invite you to join us in making a difference. We are still looking for Event/Program Committees & Volunteers for YearBook & Hospitality. To sign up, please click here. Remember to see the Volunteer Section at the bottom of this newsletter for all the information to become an approved volunteer!!

BIRTHDAY MESSAGES ON THE MARQUEE 🎉

Do you want to have a birthday message for your child on the Marquee? It costs $25, and you can purchase this on our school store on the website, linked here. Be sure to put the date that you want the message to run, and check to make sure that your date does not fall on a weekend:) We will use first name and the initial of the last name if you would like. We ask that you give at least a full week's notice, but if you want a last minute message, please email Avril, at avrilstyle@gmail.com, and she will do her best to accommodate you.

SPIRIT WEAR RECYCLE/REUSE PROGRAM ♻️

Free, gently used Spirit wear is here!

We are collecting new and gently used spirit wear items that are still in good condition. Please leave your new or gently used spirit wear items in the spirit wear bin, located in the office. We will have this bin out at all spirit wear sale days for you to look through or have a peek at what’s in it in the office during the week and please feel free to take an item or two!

FOSA COMMUNITY MEETINGS 🙌

FoSA community meetings are held monthly and all are welcome to join!

They take place on the 3rd Thursday of every month, September*- June, and alternate between virtual (6:00 PM on Google Meet) and in-person (8:20 AM on campus). Meeting invites will be sent through FreshSchools.

* January 18th, 8:20 AM is our next FoSA Community meeting. This will be a an in-person meeting in Room 12.

FOSA ANNUAL BUDGET 📈

Are you wondering why FOSA asks for donations and where the funding goes? See FOSA’s updated 2023 Annual Budget here.

Thank you Short Avenue Community for always bringing your love and care to our school. Our children feel it, our teachers and staff feel it, we all feel it. Together, we can achieve anything! Thank you ❤️. For any other questions regarding our school community, or to get in touch with a FOSA board member, please reach out to fosaboard@friendsofshortavenue.org

Spring Semester After School Enrichment Info is STILL Coming!!!!

Please keep a lookout for an email from me through FreshSchools with ALL the info for Spring Semester After School Enrichment. Here is what I can tell you now!!

• Spring Enrichments will start the week of January 29th, 2024.
  
• It will be a 12 week session ending in late April or early May, depending on the no school holidays.
  
• We have some **new** classes coming, as well as some old favorites!!!
• Enrollment will open BEFORE the Winter Break, so if you are planning holiday gift shopping, please consider buying an Enrichment Class!!

LAUSD's Winter Acadamy on December 18, 19, & 20:

Website: https://www.lausd.org/winteracademy

Information regarding registration, sites, and a FAQ are available on the website. The host site for this year's academy will be Walgrove Elementary School.

Winter Academy enrollment portal link: https://enroll.lausd.net/winter-academy. Portal will close on November 13, 2023 to begin processing transportation requests and site assignments.

See the flyer below!!

Got Game Winter Holiday Camps:

Click this link for more info and to register

Social Media: Last week I posted on our Instagram and Facebook : A picture of our Regional Director Agnes Kamau's visit, a Reading Buddies post, a Winter Bazaar Post, a thank you to Abe's Muffins post for sponsoring our Dolphin Cafe, a photo of our new Student Council, a Coffee with Mr. Lamb reminder, and a Hooray "we made it to 1000 followers" reel!!!

***We are at 1000 followers on Instagram , we gained 2 new followers this week! Thanks to Ms. Hayes's family, we reached our goal to get to 1000 followers!!! If you don't already follow us, please do, it is a wonderful way to see what is happening on campus!

Parents,

Please make sure that you have registered for an account on the Parent Portal. The Parent Portal is is an online system that connects parents and guardians to their child's information. The website to register is: http://parentportal.lausd.net. Make sure to link your student(s) to your account. Please call the office if you need any help in obtaining your child's student ID # or any other assistance registering on the portal.

Do you have a younger sibling at home who you would love to come to Short Ave next school year? We are starting a SIBLING LIST, and ask that you please fill out this Google Doc, so that we have you all in one place! This list is for both our current neighborhood families with younger siblings, and our families on permit with younger siblings. To be eligible for TK/UTK, children need to have birthdays between September 2, 2019 and September 1st, 2020.

https://forms.gle/rUtjhx7CCyd1tbMS8

Please know that we have become VERY popular with our resident neighborhood families, and expect that Kindergarten for 24/25 will be very full. Resident neighborhood families are guaranteed a spot. But we do not know if we will have spots in Kindergarten for siblings on permit. We do anticipate being able to take siblings for TK from our current families on permit, but will most likely delay enrolling siblings until later in the spring when we have a better sense of our numbers. This is a change from last year, when we enrolled siblings in March with our neighborhood families.

Current Short Ave families do not need to take a tour, and we kindly ask that you leave tour spaces for new families. All enrollment and tour info is now on our website. For those families with friends who want to tour Short Ave, the tour RSVP will open November 1st, when a google doc to sign up will be on our school website. Families on permit with younger siblings will be at the top of the waitlist and will have priority over new families trying to enroll to Short for the first time.

If you have questions about this, please reach out to me at avril.lipsky@lausd.net

Student attendance is a focus for us this school year. It is important that your child is present and on time for school EVERY DAY. An accumulation of absences can negatively impact students both socially and academically. The school is working closely with the District to monitor student attendance and reach out to parents when students are consistently absent from school. While it is understandable that students might become sick throughout the school year, the goal is for seven or less absences between now and June. Family vacations should take place during school holidays and scheduled during school vacations. Additionally, doctors' appointments should be scheduled after school or during vacations, whenever possible. If your child is out because of an appointment, we ask that you bring a note from your doctor to the main office, or your child's teacher. Please let us know if your family needs any support in getting your child to school.

We are seeing an uptick in Covid cases now that we are all back to school. The District has provided new Covid Exposure Management protocols for the 2023-2024 school year. The new guideines are as follows:

• Individuals who test positive must stay home and follow isolation instructions for 5 days (Day 0 is the day an individual tests positive).
• Parents of a student who tests positive are strongly recommended to upload their test result to the Daily Pass.
• Individuals who test positive may be released from isolation on or after Day 6, provided any symptoms are improving, and they are fever-free for the past 24 hours without fever-reducing medication.
• Students returning between day 6-10 may unmask if they have two sequential negative tests taken at least a day apart.

If you need any Covid tests, you can pick them up in the main office or request them from your child's teacher.

Additionally, there have been a few cases of lice this week. Please check your child's head regularly and notify the school if your child has lice. It is best to keep hair pulled back to avoid any spread.

ALL Volunteers must watch this MANDATORY VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION, BEFORE volunteering on campus!!

https://bit.ly/ShortVolunteers

Are you interested in volunteering in your child's classroom, the library, or the garden? We LOVE volunteers and hope that you will be one!!

1. Please sign up through this LAUSD VOLUNTEER LINK!

2. Volunteers must have a negative TB test. New volunteers must have a recent negative test within 60 days of application. You must email your negative result to avril.lipsky@lausd.net so that they can be inputted into your application. You can get your TB test at CVS. TB tests for returning volunteers are good for 4 years.

3. Volunteers need to sign a Liability Waiver and the Commitment Form electronicallyin the application.

4. Please see the LAUSD Volunteer Page for answers to questions.

https://www.lausd.org/volunteer

If you are a RETURNING VOLUNTEER from last year, you still need to fill out the LAUSD Volunteer Application online at LAUSD VOLUNTEER LINK! We should already have your negative TB test. TB test's for returning volunteers are good for 4 years.

Becoming a volunteer can take a little time, but we promise you it is worth it!

Email: wlamb@lausd.net
Website: shortavenueelementary.org
Location: 12814 Maxella Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone: 310 397-4234