Lowell Leopard News

Welcome to November! In this month when many focus on gratitude, we at Lowell are so grateful for our community! Thank you to:

• Our students, with the support of their families, who show up to class every day, even when it’s challenging
• Our teachers and staff, who go above and beyond to make school a welcoming learning environment where students can thrive
• Our PTA and school volunteers, who tirelessly support our students, school events, and programs, offering extra hands and care for our children need

On Nov. 14, our school will participate in Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day with a short walk on campus after the school day has started. This event honors Ruby Bridges, who at 6 years old made history by integrating William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960. She became an icon for the civil rights movement. On this special day, our students will take part in a community walk around the field, led by our Student Leadership Team holding Ruby Bridges flags and signs. We kindly ask that all students wear purple to commemorate this important occasion. We hope you will join us in celebrating Ruby Bridges and inspiring our students to embrace unity and stand against racism and bullying.

This month will go by quickly, with the two days off for conferences, the Veterans Day holiday, and Thanksgiving break. When there are changes to the typical schedule, students' attendance can suffer. Daily routines are essential — they help reduce stress and create a sense of security for both students and adults. To support good attendance, please help your child stay healthy and, unless they are truly sick, continue sending them to school. Each day is a valuable opportunity for students to learn, connect with peers, and engage with their teachers. If your child or family need help with resources or other supports, please don't hesitate to reach out to:

• School counselor Teri McAllister at tmcallister@everettsd.org
• Family support specialist Amy Watkins at awatkins@everettsd.org

When reporting an absence via phone, please call the attendance line at 425-385-5305. The office gets very busy in the mornings with other phone calls, families coming in, and staff starting their day. This will help the office staff not miss your student.

A few reminders:

• Please make sure your child is dressed to be outside daily at recess -- this means a warm, waterproof jacket and appropriate shoes. The only times we hold indoor recess are if there is lightning or if there is too much ice on the ground to reach the covered play area safely. If you need assistance with clothing or shoes, please see this newsletter's Community Resources section.
• Please be sure to follow our arrival and dismissal guidelines to ensure safety. You can read them here. We are seeing a lot of people trying to meet students on foot in areas other than the grass near the south portables, which is a safety hazard. It is also very much appreciated if those picking students up by car have a sign with their name on it on their dashboard or visor. And, please remember that there should be no students arriving on campus before student supervision begins at 8:10 a.m., unless they are here for a class.

• Our cut-off time for Friday student pick-up from the office is 1:00 p.m. We understand that emergencies happen, and that some things are out of your control. Fridays get very busy with dismissal, and it can be hard to locate students once they are already transitioning to the buses and car lane. If you are wanting to pick your student up early, please give the office a call at 425-385-5300 so that we have time to locate your student and have them in the office.

Have a wonderful month, and please be sure to reach out with any questions or needs!

Mrs. Kelley, principal

Check out these amazing free opportunities for young learners!

• ECEAP preschool enrolls students throughout the year, as space allows. More info is here.
• Transitional kindergarten interest forms must be submitted by Dec. 13. More info is here.

The textile and shoe donation box in our south parking lot, near the reader board, not only brings in money for our school, it also helps the planet. Check out our statistics -- and make the box part of your routine as you clean out your closet. Even damaged items can go in the box, as they can be sold for recycling!

• Every Monday: Celebrate Motto Monday by wearing a Lowell shirt, or blue and white
  
• Nov. 1: 1:35 p.m. Learning Improvement Friday dismissal
• Nov. 4-5: No school for conferences (book fair open)
• Nov. 6: Hearing screenings

• Nov. 8: 12:20 p.m. dismissal

• Nov. 11: No school for Veterans Day

• Nov. 14: PTA General Meeting, 6:00 p.m. in the library (see PTA section of the newsletter for more info)

• Nov. 15: Popcorn Friday; 1:35 p.m. Learning Improvement Friday dismissal

• Nov. 19: Picture retake day

• Nov. 21: Anything but a backpack spirit day -- bring your stuff to school in something creative!

• Nov. 22: 1:35 p.m. Learning Improvement Friday dismissal

• Nov. 27-29: No school for Thanksgiving break

You can find printable district calendars for 2024-25 and 2025-26 here.

In October, Lowell families had the opportunity to learn about our social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum and supports while students enjoyed a make-and-take SEL tools session. Families learned about how we use the RULER framework (including the mood meter and classroom charters) and Second Step curriculum, as well as how to support students with developing self-regulation skills. Our school counselors also gave an overview of our counseling program. You can view the slides here.

Library with Ms. Thompson: November in the library is such a fun month! Kindergarten begins checkout, World Kindness Day is Nov. 13, and all month long we read books about community and gratitude. Mrs. Thompson, along with your student's classroom teacher, would like to encourage reading at home for 20-30 minutes each day. Independent reading takes practice, and a sustained amount of time allows your student to relax into the book and build reading stamina.

The book fair concludes on Nov. 8, but you can continue to shop online for books and support the book fair (which allows us to buy books for our library) until Nov. 14 by visiting our school Scholastic website.

P.E. with Ms. Neyens: The month of October was spent learning basketball skills and putting them into fun games like Spot-Shot. In November, we will be learning jump rope and jump rope tricks, and on Nov. 18-22, Jung Do Taekwondo Academy will be back to teach martial arts lessons! Thank you for helping your child to remember to wear P.E.-appropriate clothing and shoes on their P.E. day. It has really helped our classes to stay safe and have fun!

We just had our first Fastest Class Challenge, and wow – did our Leopards run fast! The Fastest Class Challenge is a fun way to get students moving and work as a team. For the first five minutes of class, students run around the cones in the gym. Each time a lap is completed, they get a point for their team. I take the points and divide by the students who were present to participate to get a student lap average. This helps to keep it fair across the grade levels, which have different class sizes. That determines the fastest class in the school and the fastest class in each grade! It's a lot of fun, and we do this at least three times a year. The fastest class at Lowell Elementary is: MRS. WARTENBEE’S SECOND GRADE CLASS! Here are the fastest classes by grade level for our first round:

• K: Mrs. Smith's class
• 1: Mrs. Shove's class
• 2: Mrs. Wartenbee's class
• 3: Mrs. Armstrong's class
• 4: Mrs. Zehr's class
• 5: Mrs. Kelso's class

Congratulations, Leopards!

Music with Mr. Powers: Greetings, Leopards! We started off November with our Veterans Day assembly. We worked on some really fun music in preparation, and it was the first appearance of this year’s Lowell Choir Club! After Veterans Day, we’ll start working on music for the holiday sing-along assembly in December, and we’ll keep practicing our musical skills! Does your family have any musical traditions they would like to share or see represented at Lowell in the music classroom? I would love to learn about them! Please e-mail me, find me after school, or send me a ParentSquare message telling me all about how your family makes music! Music is a universal language, and we’re all richer when we share it together!

Art with Ms. McHargue & Ms. Johnson: In October, students settled into art routines and practiced their skills. There are so many young artists at Lowell, and it is wonderful to see them engaged in lessons! In the month of November, students will finish art projects such as Shapescapes (creating landscapes from shapes) for Grades K-1, Intuitive Line Painting (a painting project using mindfulness) for Grades 2-3, and Balance the Dots (a painting project based around pointillism) for Grades 4-5. As those projects wrap up, students of all grades will begin learning about the color wheel. Students in kindergarten and first grade will learn about primary and secondary colors by mixing playdough to create their own color wheel. Students in second through fifth grade will learn about primary, secondary and tertiary colors and practice their learned skills to create a geometric color wheel using tempera paint. We hope you are enjoying seeing some of the artwork come home that students are creating in the classroom. Throughout the year, we will choose student artwork to be featured in the district art show (more information to come on this in the new year).

Math with Ms. O'Connor: Last month, we talked about math progressions. Did you watch the videos? Pretty interesting, right? Are you wondering how those progressions tie in with your child’s math curriculum, Illustrative Mathematics? Illustrative Mathematics, fondly called IM, follows the progression of learning just like what was seen in those videos. Here’s how IM describes their program:

• Problem-based: “Most of the class time is working on carefully crafted and sequenced problems based on their grade level’s learning progression.”
• Teacher-facilitated: “Help students understand the problems by asking questions to push their thinking, and orchestrate discussions to be sure that the mathematical takeaways are clear.”
• Collaboration is core: “Students talk about math, listen to each other’s ideas, justify their thinking, and critique the reasoning of others. They gain experience communicating their ideas both verbally and in writing, developing skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.”
• Engaging: “Students gain the skills and the confidence to independently solve problems that they've never seen before.”

Illustrative Mathematics is an amazing curriculum that is teaching our students lifelong skills!

Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms; it is about understanding. — William Paul Thurston, American mathematician

Hello from the Lowell PTA! We have had a lot of great events so far this year:

• Movie Night was a great success -- we filled the cafeteria with families watching Migration.
• Our Holiday Bazaar brought 50+ vendors and the Book Fair together -- it was a fun and festive day!

PTA's November General Meeting is a POTLUCK! Please join us at 6:00 p.m. Nov. 14 with a dish to share. We will be discussing the upcoming fun run, teacher appreciation week, and planning for carnival, as well as getting to know each other.

Be part of something GREAT -- join the PTA!: The Lowell PTA is an amazing group of folks committed to enriching the school experience for our students. PTA hosts book fairs, movie nights, the holiday bazaar, and spring carnival, as well as paying for field trips and fun events. Please join us! You can join PTA for $10 at Givebacks.

PTA links:

• Spirit wear: Visit the PTA storefront
• Website: Check it out here

Interested in volunteering? Volunteer clearance is a must, and it can take up to two weeks. Get ahead of things now -- visit the district website to start your application!

Fall family meal registrations: There are options available if your family would enjoy a donated meal this fall season:

• The Maverick Cares Fall Harvest event is happening again this year. These free donated meals are for pick-up only from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at Royal Casino in Everett. Tickets for this event typically run out, and families do need to register for the meals that feed four. The link to register is here.
• The YMCA of Snohomish County is also helping to provide Thanksgiving meals to families through a partnership with Tapped Public House. These family-style holiday meals need to be reheated before eating. They will be delivered from noon to 2:00 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 28, to the address entered at registration. These meals are meant to feed a family of four, but larger families may register for an additional meal. Vegetarian or gluten-free options are available. This service is through delivery only to addresses within the Everett, Mukilteo, or Mill Creek school district boundaries. Registration is available here and closes by Nov. 24.

For additional food resources, please contact family support specialist Amy Watkins at 425-385-5378 or awatkins@everettsd.org.

Free haircuts: Kutz 4 Kidz is a free voucher program designed to support families and promote self-esteem in students by offering a year-round haircut program for students from kindergarten to 12th grade. Kutz 4 Kidz supports homeless, low-income families, and students receiving free or reduced lunch, with a special focus on African American students and those facing economic hardships. This program is sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and The Coverson Family. To request haircut vouchers, e-mail Amy Watkins, awatkins@everettsd.org, with the quantity of barbershop and salon vouchers needed.

Ongoing supports: Does your family need assistance with items such as food or housing? Are you looking for connections to housing and medical services? We have resources to help! E-mail family support specialist Amy Watkins at awatkins@everettsd.org or call the school office at 425-385-5300. You can also find some resource links here, and access more by calling 211 or starting here.

Did you know that our school partners with a community organization to provide weekend food bags for Lowell families in need? We can always use donations -- we have an Amazon wish list here. Or you can drop off items in the office!

Absences: If your child will be absent, please e-mail us at loeattendance@everettsd.org or call the attendance line at 425-385-5305 to report their absence daily. Include the date, child's first and last name, ID number, and the reason for the absence. All absences must be reported/excused in writing, so if you aren't able to e-mail, please send a written note upon your child's return to school.

Late arrivals/tardies: If arriving between 8:35 and 9:05 a.m., your student will be marked tardy. After 9:05, your student needs to be walked into school by an adult, as they need to be signed in. This will ensure that their half-day absences is being marked excused or unexcused appropriately.

Changes to dismissal routines: If you are wanting to change how your student is getting home on a given day, you must contact our office before 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and by 1:00 on Fridays. The rest of each day is very busy, so we cannot guarantee that messages will get through after those times.

District news is sent directly to families on the first Tuesday of each month. Another great source for EPS news is the district website.

Email: ekelley@everettsd.org
Website: https://www.everettsd.org/lowelles
Location: 5010 View Drive, Everett, WA, USA
Phone: 425-385-5300

Instagram: @epslowelles

Facebook: facebook.com/LowellEPS

ParentSquare is Everett Public Schools' and Lowell's communication system. Though you will receive messages even if you don't have an account, setting one up allows you to customize notifications. Click here or on the image for information on how to get the app and log in!