Almond Thursday Word

Dear Almond Families:

Our STEM Expo last night was a success! Over the two-hour showcase, many of our students and families came by to share their projects and marvel at others’ work. We had projects covering everything from Roly-Poly’s to Hydropower to a working Solar Sombrero fan! Thank you to all of the students who followed their curiosity and put in the hard work, to the families that supported them, to the teachers that helped them along the way and to Ms. Alison Gentile, Ricky Hu, Grace Cho and other STEM Instructional Support teachers who helped make this event happen!

Yesterday we saw many students walking or wheeling to school for our Walk or Wheel to School day. Thank you to the families that participated and to Carrie Zeisler, who coordinated the event and the parent volunteers who helped greet students in the morning.

By the end of this week all of our students will have seen the age-appropriate videos below to help support them in using good handwashing habits and coughing etiquette. Please feel free to review with your own children to reinforce these behaviors at home and at school. You can also read more about how to stay healthy in the health bulletin below.

HANDWASHING: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/videos.html

TK-2nd https://youtu.be/qJG72sycQB8

3rd-8th: https://youtu.be/eZw4Ga3jg3E

COUGH ETIQUETTE

https://youtu.be/sLXzw6j9JVw

Here’s to all our students, staff and families staying healthy!

Raquel

Fri, 2/28, Egan Parent tour, 9:30am, Egan library, parents only

Mon, 3/2, Hearing Screening for grades K, 2, and 5

Thu, 3/5, Minimum Day, 12:15 dismissal, special dismissal time!

Sat, 3/7, Back to the 80's Gala and Auction evening

Wed, 3/11, Family Science Night, 6:30-8:00pm

Thu, 3/12, Author visit, Judd Winick, for grades 3-6

Wed, 3/25, PTA General meeting, 8:30pm

Wed, 3/25, BookWave Blast! 6:00pm, multi

Thu, 4/2, Open House, 5:00pm

Fri, 4/3, Minimum Day, 12:15pm Dismissal

Here is one of your last chances to hang out with your Almond community, 80's style! Reminisce about the 80's, enjoy amazing music and most of all, bid on one-of-a-kind totally rad auction items!

Ticket sales close THIS Sunday, March 1st. Buy your tickets now! Purchase Here!

Did you hear? The Almond YMCA Kids Place is offering FREE child care to any Almond students during the Gala/Silent Auction! Please contact Macie at the YMCA to take advantage of this generous offer! The phone number is 650-941-8102.

What is Family Science Night?

An amazing night of science exploration at Almond School! 30+ stations for children TK-6th grade to interact with everything from robotics to anatomy! We have 10+ new stations in addition to your favorite stations and experiences this year.

• Learn about 3D printing and see it in action.

• Float on a lazy river, fly alongside Arctic terns, relax under a sky full of stars and more - all in cardboard VR.

• Learn core concepts of engineering battling remote controlled robots.
  

• Navigate through a laser maze

• Make slime that glows
  

• Observe bats, bugs and much more!

Family Science Night is not a drop off event, children must be accompanied by adult.

Do you enjoy science or helping children explore and experiment? Please volunteer to run a table here (we provide everything you need including instructions.) We could also use help setting up the morning of the event after drop off. Questions? Dharti Dhami dharti@gmail.com, Melissa Bryant-Neal mbryantneal@gmail.com, Fereshteh Mahvar fmahvar@gmail.com

Almond is an amazing community of people, with active and caring families. We rely on this community to provide images so we can socialize and honor your achievements, and publish them in our yearbook. Please upload images to the yearbook: https://www.almondschool.org/Almondes/6662-Year-Book.html

We hope you had an enjoyable February Break! 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:

1. Separate the individual from others as much as possible and arrange for the individual to go home, and

2. 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.

The District Nurses will be doing Hearing screening at Almond School for all Kindergarten, 2nd and 5th grades on Monday, March 2.

If your child has a known hearing loss, please notify the Health Services Staff at 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.

We have a 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.

Our students just marked their 100th day of school. Now it’s your turn.

Donate now and help us reach 100% parent participation.

We still need to raise the final $330,000 to fund the 2019-20 school year.

Gifts of any amount are appreciated!

We welcome one-time donations, monthly donations, stock donations, and pledges.

Help fully fund teachers and staff at your school.

Living Classroom is in need of more volunteers! 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 mornings in March from 9-Noon (3/2, 3/9 & 3/16) at the Los Altos School District iLearn Studio located at 201 Covington Road in Los Altos. Our trainings are fun, educational and even includes breakfast! 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

Mondays 9-Noon 3/2, 3/9 & 3/16

Los Altos School District – iLearn Studio

201 Covington Road, Los Altos

*Can’t make Mondays? 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!

Support Almond’s Girl Scout troops through after school cookie sales!

Girl Scout cookie sales are a great opportunity for girls to learn about sales, communications, and financial responsibility. A percentage of sales help support troop activities.

Look for flyers for exact days & times for Almond troop cookie booth sales.

Most flavors are still only $5 box.

Gluten-free Toffeetastic and popular S’Mores flavors are $6.

And don’t forget to try the new Lemon Ups cookie!

Cash/check preferred but credit cards may be accepted (depending on troop).

For more information about Almond Girl Scout cookie sales, email: eulouie@yahoo.com.

Children in grades two through six who wish to learn basic drawing and painting skills may take a Kids’ Art Class led by the Art Docents of Los Altos at the Los Altos History Museum. Held from 9:30 – 11am, the class for second- and third-graders is on Feb 29, and fourth, fifth, and sixth-graders on March 7.

The classes are part of the program line-up for the Museum’s exhibition, “Gallery 9: Celebrating Art in Los Altos,” on display through March 8. The exhibition showcases the work of artists from Gallery 9 in Los Altos, a cooperative fine art gallery now in its 50th year of operation.

“This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Art Docents of Los Altos, a group that has done so much to foster art education in Los Altos schools,” said Exhibition Curator Dr. Amy Ellison. “We want to celebrate their accomplishments. The classes they are offering at the Museum are special because the docents will be teaching the kids skills using art that is in the gallery as examples.”

Fee for each class is $20 per child. Register at losaltoshistory.org/gallery/9

In March 2020, a very important event will take place: the U.S. Census. The census is a count of all people living in the U.S. and takes place every 10 years. It is simple and confidential to complete.

For the first time, you can respond online. You will receive a unique identifying number in the mail, which will allow you to fill out the online form beginning in March 2020! It will ask questions about your household such as how many people reside in your home, date of birth, race, and sex.

Here are some things you should know about the 2020 Census:

• The Census is important. The Census helps to decide how much federal money our schools will get over the next 10 years, and how much money our state will get for our parks, neighborhood improvements, public health, transportation, and many other programs and services.

• Your kids count! Make sure to count them when you fill out the census form in March.

• Your identity remains anonymous. Any personal information you provide on the census form is protected by law and cannot be shared with anyone or any other federal agency, regardless of your immigration status.

• The Census is safe. All the data collected through the census is protected under Title 13 of the U.S. Code. Records are confidential for 72 years by law. The U.S. Census will never share a respondent’s personal information with other government agencies.

What do you need to do? Complete the short and easy Census form online after you receive your unique identifying number in the mail. If you don’t have a computer at home, you can use one at a library or at a location in your community clearly identified Census Questionnaire Assistance Center.

For more information visit https://californiacensus.org.