TOL K-8 Family Newsletter

Happy New Year and welcome back! We hope you had a wonderful break. I look forward to this time between Winter and Spring Breaks; this is often a time of tremendous growth for our students!

One way we measure student growth is through iReady diagnostic assessments. Please be mindful of assessment dates coming from your student's teachers. Completing those assessments on time and independently can help us personalize learning to a higher degree. Thank you for your partnership!

We look forward to seeing you online tomorrow morning!

Ruth Schlattmann

TOL K-8 Assistant Principal

253-571-1523 (office)

1/10- K-5 asynchronous day (specialists and sped meetings still occur)

1/13- Kinder meetup @ TOL Office 1:30-3pm (RSVP w teacher)

1/14- Teen Time @ Moore Library 4pm RSVP

1/14- TOL Family Org meeting via Teams 6:30pm Join Link

1/15- MS Virtual Hang via Teams 11:30 Join link

1/15- 3rd Grade meet up @ TOL office 1-2pm RSVP w teacher

1/16- CANCELED Toolbox Lab meet up; we will have an alternate activity, stay tuned!

1/16- Tacoma Art Museum meetup 5-6pm- all TOL families welcome

1/17- Virtual Field Trip: Dr King Memorial 11:30am

1/17 - Deadline to complete the Choice Enrollment form for next school year if you'd like to attend a school that is not your neighborhood school or TOL.

1/20- No School MLK Jr Day- TOL offices closed

1/22-Success class meetup @ TOL office 1-3pm RSVP w teacher

1/24-6th Grade Field Trip Museum of Glass PERMISSION SLIP REQUIRED

1/27- 3rd Grade Field Trip LeMay Car Museum PERMISSION SLIP REQUIRED

1/27- 1st Grade meetup @ TOL office 1:30-3pm RSVP w teacher

1/29- 4th and 5th grade meetup @ TOL office RSVP w teachers

1/29- K-8 Virtual Field Trip via Teams: Lunar New Year Join Link

1/29- Teen Time @ Moore Library 4-5:30 RSVP

1/31- No School for 6-12th grade students (Semester Break), K-5 school in session!

(We are still adding to January and will repost as updates occur)

Student Calendar for 24-25.

Student Monthly Calendar for 24-25

Back by request are Musuem Meet ups! TOL likes to help families take advantage of Tacoma museums offering free admission on the 3rd Thursday of each month. Look for museum meetups on the monthly calendars! This month, we'll kick off this fun tradition with a visit to the Tacoma Art Museum on 1/16.

TOL staff will greet families near the entrance from 5-6pm. K-8 students must be supervised by their families. All ages are welcome! This museum offers free entry on 3rd Thursdays from 5pm-8pm.

Our usual 3rd Thursday Toolbox Lab meetup is canceled. (Our friends at the Toolbox Lab are moving. More details about the new Toolbox to come soon!) Instead, we will meet up at a different location on 1/17 for a makerspace.

Tacoma Public Schools is teaming up with the Tacoma Rainiers to host a jersey design contest for students in grades 3 to 8. Students can submit unique jersey designs to show what they love about Tacoma. They should use the Rainiers’ jersey template and submit all contest entries by Jan. 31.

The winning design will be replicated on jerseys that Rainiers players will wear during a 2025 game. The student winner will receive a jersey to keep, four Summit Club tickets to the 2025 TPS Night at the Rainiers, and throw out the first pitch at the game.

Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 14th at 6:30pm via Teams. JOIN LINK

At our last meeting, we discussed opportunities for enrichment around Tacoma for students of different ages. Thank you to those who contributed! Click the button below to preview the list. If you have more ideas, please sent them our way! Ruth Schlattmann rschlat@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Want a more in depth look at how to support your learner at home? Check out the appropriate learning coach course for an overview of how to do TOL and serve as an at home learning coach. Each online course allows you to go at your own pace as you learn.

Tracking sheets are due to Mrs. Anderson on 1/10.

As our new ASB gets underway, we have two candidates eager to be ASB President and you have the opportunity to vote for them. Each has included a short video and a flyer in the voting form below. You must be logged into Office 365 to vote and you can only vote once.

Thank you to our two candidates for your leadership and to Ms. Purdin and Mr. Stowe for leading this new and exciting step for Tacoma Online!

We are still looking for 6th and 7th grade students who may want to represent their grade level. No prior experience necessary! If you're interested, please email Ms. Purdin at spurdin@tacoma.k12.wa.us or Mr. Stowe at jstowe1@tacoma.k12.wa.us

The deadline to complete schoolwork in all classes is 11:59PM on Thursday, January 30. There is no school for students on 1/31/25 as teachers compile and report final Fall Semester Grades. Spring Semester begins on Monday, 2/3/25 where students will see their new classes in Edgenuity.

There are 18 school days and 25 calendar days left for students to do schoolwork this semester. This is plenty of time to catch up if you're behind. We find that low grades are most often the result of missing work so this is the time to finish strong!

If you are planning to leave TOL for Spring semester, please begin the process early in January by contacting the school you want to go to so they can begin the process. There's no need to contact TOL as the new building will contact us to obtain records. At this change in grading periods, you have the right to return to your neighborhood school only. A change to any other school would need to use the Parent-Initiated transfer application and is subject to approval.

Secondary (6- 12) art teacher HEIDI WYGLE will be hosting in an in-person work session for her art classes on January 16, from 9 – 2, at the downtown Tacoma TOL office. This work session will be held for students who are significantly behind in one of their courses and would like to get through a significant amount of work in one day, with the teacher present in the room. Questions and RSVPs can be emailed to rfoster@tacoma.k12.wa.us.

We’re excited to announce the launch of SchooLinks, a new platform to simplify the High School and Beyond Plan process for our students.

SchooLinks provides a centralized place for students to complete and track every HSBP requirement from middle school through graduation. This tool can help students explore careers, prepare for college, and track progress toward graduation.

SchooLinks is accessible through Clever using your child’s district login. I encourage you to explore SchooLinks with your child and see how it supports their goals.

• on TPS laptop, open Edge web browser
• in upper left of bookmarks, choose folder, "TPS Favorites"
• Choose CLEVER, locate the schoolinks logo and click it
• in Schoolinks, you'll see a list of "to-do" tasks based upon your grade level
• begin working on your to-dos!

Website: https://tol.tacomaschools.org/

Phone: 253-571-1545

Address: 912 Broadway, Tacoma WA 98402

TOL K-12 Principal – Shaun Martin – smartin2@tacoma.k12.wa.us

TOL 9-12 Assistant Principal – Paul Eliot – peliot@tacoma.k12.wa.us

TOL K-8 Assistant Principal—Ruth Schlattmann – rschlat@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Tacoma Online is a K-12 school that provides students an anywhere/anytime online school experience. Students engage in academic learning led by teachers. While students generally participate in learning activities from home, they are provided multiple forms of support.

Tacoma Public Schools does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employees have been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination:

• Civil Rights Coordinator: Renee Trueblood, 253-571-1252, civilrights@tacoma.k12.wa.us
• Title IX Coordinator: Wayne Greer, 253-571-1191, wgreer@tacoma.k12.wa.us
• 504 Coordinator: Elise Friedrich-Nielsen, 253-571-1065, efriedr@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Tacoma Schools Mailing address: P.O. Box 1357, Tacoma, WA 98401-1357.