The Weekly Wave

Happy Weekend Short Avenue Families and Friends!

I hope this week’s Weekly Wave finds all in our community enjoying a fabulous Valentine’s Day and President’s Day Weekend! I want to thank all who visited and all who supported our Annual Author’s Tea. The amount of writing and the creativity of our students is simply overwhelming. I enjoyed having students in UTK, K, and 1st Grade read to me and I saw work in 2nd-5th that shows how much our students grow and improve as they spend their elementary years with us.

Two very important reminders for all in our community:

1. The LAUSD’s Cell Phone/Smart Device Ban Policy goes fully into effect this Tuesday, February 18th. We have been catching students with “smart watches” making phone calls and we have been giving reminders and warnings. We will move to warnings and confiscation next week. Please help us make this work easy by leaving phones and devices at home or make very sure that if a device is on site it is powered off and put away. If you have any questions please feel free to see me or to reach out.

2. Bus Parking on Beethoven St (Cones) - Multiple times in the last two weeks our cones on Beethoven St have been moved and families have parked where an LAUSD bus needs to park to pick up our student. Please do not do that anymore. We have a very walkable community and there is more parking. We appreciate your assistance.

Thank you for your continued support. Please enjoy the rest of your weekend.

See you Tuesday!

Mr. Lamb

Feb. 17th- No School, President's Day

Feb 20th, FOSA Community Meeting @ 8:20 to 9:30am, Room 12

Feb. 25h- Emergent Bilingual Parent Meeting @ 5:30pm, Virtual via Zoom

Mar. 1st- Spring Parent Mixer and Silent Auction

March 5th, 6th, 7th- Minimum Day Dismissal (1:00pm) for parent conferences

L.A. Unified Pathway to Biliteracy awards honor students who, by the end of 5th grade, have demonstrated a commitment to the path of becoming biliterate and who have reached a certain degree of proficiency in both English, based on the English Language Arts California Common Core Standards, and a language other than English (LOTE) based on the 2019 World Languages Standards for California Public Schools. There are opportunities to receive special awards in the following grade levels:

TK, K, 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Please click here if you have a child in one of these grade levels and would like them to be assessed for the Pathway to Biliteracy program. We will reach out to you to coordinate the assessment and review the qualifications. We hope to recognize all of our students who speak another language, in addition to English, and celebrate their commitment to the goal of biliteracy. There will be one more meeting on February 25th at 5:00pm to discuss the program and learn about the criterial to qualify for a Biliteracy award.

Come and mix with parents, teachers and staff while supporting your school. All proceeds from this event will go towards funding aides in every classroom next year.

Buy your ticket now or click here if you would like to attend but can’t comfortably afford to purchase a ticket.

Ticket sales end Thursday, February 26th.

Can’t attend? Buy one for a teacher/staff member or Pay It Forward so another member of our community can attend.

Mark your calendars for our 5th annual Silent Auction. This year, we’ll be doing things a little differently. The Auction will begin on Monday, February 24th and end on Monday, March 3, 2025. This shift will allow for more mingling at the Mixer and allow more members of our community to participate. We have some incredible items available by auction as well as some fixed price “buy it now” items.

Teacher experiences include: “Teacher for a Day”, Walk to Gingers, Art Party, Yoga Class, DIY Flower Crown Making and Movie Day.

Auction items include: Tickets to Disneyland, Lakers vs Nuggets, Airbnb vacations, Kids Camps, Fitness Classes, Restaurant Gift Cards and more!

It’s not too late to donate an item to the auction! Please fill out this form if you have a connection to gift cards or experiences that we could include in our auction. Thanks to everyone who has helped us procure items, we appreciate you!

📢 Attention Short Avenue Community!

Join us for the next FoSA community meeting on Thursday, February 20th from 8:20-9:20am in person in Room 12. We’ll be discussing the funds raised to date, our expenses, and upcoming events and fundraisers. We also want to hear from you! We welcome your ideas and feedback.

***Everyone who attends this meeting will have the chance to win a piece from our BRAND NEW Short Ave Spring Merch Collection!***

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to stay informed and get involved (and win!)

🍩☕️ Help Us Spread Some Friday Cheer!

We’re looking for volunteers to sign up and bring coffee & pastries to the Teacher’s Lounge every Friday! 🧁

✅ What’s Needed: Snacks (pastries, fruit, coffee, etc.)
✅ For: 40+ teachers, aides, and staff
✅ Drop Off: Front office, Friday morning between 8:30-9:30am
✅ Sign Up: In Class Dojo in events section

Let’s show our amazing teachers and staff some love! 💖

Do you have questions about what FoSA? Are there topics you want to learn more about, ideas you have or events/fundraisers or discussions you’d like to have in our community meetings?

Submit your comments, questions, ideas here! We will use these to guide discussions in our meetings staring in January 2025!

Girl Scouts at Short!

Thanks to the Short Ave Community for supporting our Girl Scout Troop 03625 on Friday! The girls were selling cookies to earn money to go the the Aquarium of the Pacific and to donate to the LAFD and other Girl Scout nonprofits. See a sweet photo below!

If you are interested in starting a Girl Scout Troop for next year, please reach out to Short Ave mom and co-leader Kate Thomas at katesthomas@yahoo.com

Monday, February 17th President's Day Camps (No School)

Got Game Camp will be at Short Ave

Euro Soccer Camp

Let's Play LA Nature Camp at Kenneth Hahn Park

reDIscover Center

SOCIAL MEDIA: Last week of school, I posted on our Instagram and Facebook:

A reminder that there is NO school on Monday, 2/17, photos from the 4th grade bake sale for The Californian Wildlife Center, a post about the LAUSD Biliteracy Awards for TK, 1st, 3rd and 5th grades. A photo of our Edible Garden in the rain, and a reel from the Author's Tea!

Please set you Instagram notifications to be notified when I post, so you don't miss anything, and of course like and comment on our posts, it is the best way to see what is happening on campus and get important reminders!

Hello families with younger siblings who you would like to come to Short Ave for TK and other grades (BOTH neighborhood and permit families ). Please let us know who you are by filling out this google doc:

https://forms.gle/2Gjc8ireNMEPfbjA7

Current Short Avenue families on permit are NOT guaranteed a spot for their younger sibling, but will be given priority, when accepting students off of the waitlist. We have to see what our neighborhood enrollment looks like before we can offer spots. We might not be able to give an answer until late May. We encourage you to have a backup plan for your younger sibling. If you already filled this out, no need to do so again.

Families,

We want to remind you of our birthday party policy. In an effort to be equitable and keep our students healthy, we do NOT allow caregivers to send in cupcakes and treats for birthdays. While classes may organize celebrations for various occasions throughout the year, birthday parties should be held outside of school. Parents are welcome to arrange with the teacher to read a story in their child's class, or lead a fun birthday activity. Additionally, parents are welcome to donate something special to the class in honor of their child. We understand that birthdays are special , and every student and staff member will be recognized with a birthday song at our monthly assemblies.

We are hearing that there has been an increase in students with head lice. Please let the nurse and your teacher know if you have found nits or live lice in your child's head. We encourage you to do regular head checks and keep long hair pulled back to avoid spread. Click here to read important information from LAUSD regarding head lice.

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.

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. Once you are registered, you will be able to add your student(s) to your account with their student ID and your parent pin code. Letters were sent home last week with your parent pin codes. It is important that you link your student(s) to your account so you can view their information.. Please call the office if you need any help in obtaining your child's student ID # or any other assistance registering on the portal.

Click here for instructions to register for the Parent Portal.

Click here for instructions on how to add your student to your Parent Portal account.

VOLUNTEERING!

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

You must be an approved volunteer with a negative TB test to Volunteer for field trips, classroom projects, the garden etc.

1. All Volunteers must have a negative TB test. Please get your Negative TB test first, BEFORE filling out the Volunteer Application. 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. TB tests for returning volunteers are good for 4 years.

2. Please fill out the Volunteer Application through this LAUSD VOLUNTEER LINK! This is for BOTH new and returning Volunteers. Do NOT check Tier 3 assignments unless you are willing to get a Fingerprint. Email avril.lipsky@lausd.net for more info on fingerprints. Here is a link the the most recent Volunteer Guide if you want a step by step visual of how to fill out the volunteer application.

3. Volunteers need to sign a Liability Waiver and the Commitment Form electronically in the application..You do NOT need to email them to me.

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

https://www.lausd.org/volunteer

5. ALL Volunteers (both new and returning) must watch the The Mandatory Volunteer Orientation Zoom Recording, if you did NOT attend the live Zoom on September 11th.

6. Here is the Materials Folder Link that we spoke about in the Zoom Orientation, that includes the Orientation, Zoom, the Guide to Volunteering, The Volunteer Commitment Form, and the Quick Guide.

If you are a RETURNING VOLUNTEER from last year, you still need to fill out the LAUSD Volunteer Application online at LAUSD VOLUNTEER LINK! You Negative TB test should Auto Populate, if it is less than 4 years since you did the test. It takes 4 to 5 weeks to get you approved AFTER I get the TB test, so please do not wait

Please be aware that ClassDojo will translate into over 130 languages!

Here’s a brief overview of how parents can set language preferences in ClassDojo:

1. Content Language: This allows users to select the language for story and message translations.
2. Communication Language: This option lets users choose their preferred language for emails and push notifications.

You can reach out to Rachel Burris @ rjs6223@lausd.net or Avril Lipsky @ avril.lipsky@lausd.net if you need any assistance with translation. We are here to support you!

Looking for a hidden gem for your child’s middle school years? Marina del Rey is a fantastic option for Short Ave Elementary families, offering unique opportunities like a Performing Arts Magnet which includes theater, dance and music, an honors track for high achievers, and exciting programs like Marine Science and a beautiful garden! Let’s support our local school and explore all it has to offer. Interested in learning more or joining our parent group? Email dave@jdpropertiesla.com to join our list of Short Ave families discovering MdRMS!

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