The Weekly Wave

Happy Weekend Short Avenue Families and Friends!

I trust that you have enjoyed the three-day weekend and have found ways to celebrate your friends, families, colleagues, and, if applicable, any veterans. For those of you who are like me and who have a passion for history - did you know that Veteran’s Day actually started as Armistice Day to acknowledge the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany for the cessation of hostilities in World War I? President Eisenhower signed a bill from Congress in 1954 establishing November 11 as Veterans Day.

This week is one of our most important weeks of partnership with our families. Parent Teacher Conferences are a formal occasion to come together to meet and talk about your children and our students. As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. You have the same desire that we have at the school site: We want our children to learn and do well. When we talk to each other we can share important information about your child’s talents and needs. We each can also learn new ways from each other to help your child.

It is my expectation that our conferences are two-way conversations with an emphasis on learning with a chance to share opportunities and challenges. You should expect to hear about grade-level standards, grades, data, and effort. Teachers should expect to hear about what your child is like at home and get insights on how to help your child continue to do better to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. The focus is on progress made and progress still to come. Please come prepared with any questions you may have and please come with an open mind to share ideas or suggestions with your teacher. We are in this together. We are on the same team. We have the same goal. We ALL want our children to grow and achieve to be the best they can be. This is truly a time to celebrate our partnership.

Finally, please be reminded about our schedule in the coming weeks. This week there are Minimum Days with 1:00pm dismissal on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. There is No School the week of November 20-24 for Thanksgiving. There is a Minimum Day with 1:00pm dismissal on December 15. There is NO SCHOOL December 18 - January 5 for Winter Break. Trust me that the four weeks of instruction sandwiched in all of that is going to go very fast. Please mark your calendars. Please plan ahead. 2024 will be here before we know it.

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

See you Monday!

Mr. Lamb

Monday 11/13- 2:38pm dismissal

Tuesday 11/14- 1:35pm dismissal

Wednesday 11/15- 1:00pm dismissal, Minimum Day

Thursday 11/16- 1:00pm dismissal, Minimum Day

Friday 11/17- 1:00pm dismissal, Minimum Day

11/13-11/17- Parent Teacher Conference Week

11/15-11/17- 1:00 Dismissal (Minimum Days)

11/20-11/24- No School, Thanksgiving Break

12/01- All School Assembly, Dolphin Cafe

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

SEE’S CANDY FUNDRAISER 🍫

Something sweet for the holidays while giving back to Short Avenue! From chocolates, truffles, and more! Shop See’s Candy and support Short Ave with your purchase, a portion of the proceeds will be donated back to Short!

• Orders must be placed by December 1st to receive them in time for the holidays!

• Share the link to our shop with family and friends! The more people who shop it, the more $ we raise for Short Ave!

• Order directly online with this link, select your candies, and ship them directly to your home or your loved one.

WINTER BAZAAR ❄️

Save the date! 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.

Calling all parent-owned businesses! If you have a business and would like to sell your product or services at the Short Ave Winter Bazaar booth, we have spots available. Please reach out to cristina@friendsofshortavenue.org ASAP.

SPIRITWEAR RESTOCK ⚡

All Smiles Spiritwear is back in stock!! Kids All Smiles Tie-Dye Hoodies, Adult crewneck & hooded All Smiles sweatshirts, and Adult All Smiles Joggers are back! Get yours before they sell out again! You can order online All Smiles Collection, or grab your goods this week at one of our sales on campus, we will be on the front lawn Wednesday & Thursday before school.

UPCOMING COMMUNITY DATES & EVENTS 🙌
Everyone is welcome, so please join us at any event that you can!

Parent Teacher Conferences - November 14th-17th

Minimum Day Release Days - November 15th, 16th, 17t, School day ends at 1pm

Thanksgiving Break - November 20th - 24th

Fosa Community Meeting - November 16th, 6 PM, This will be a virtual meeting, an invite will be sent out via FreshSchools

Winter Bazaar - Saturday, December 9th on the front lawn, 11 AM - 4 PM

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.

* November 16th, 6:00 PM is our next FoSA Community meeting. This will be a virtual meeting, an invite will be sent out via FreshSchools.

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

The RSVP form for our 2024 In-Person Tours is now Open!

The January Tour is Almost Full!!!

Do you have friends who want to come to Short Ave? Please send them to our website to sign up for one of our tours. Tours are January 25th and February 29th. See the flyer below.

https://shortavenueelementary.org/pages/in-person-tours

Current Short Ave families with younger siblings do NOT tour, we ask that you sign up on a separate google form, (link is further down this page.)

LAUSD's Family Academy, November Offerings:

The Family Academy is designed to leverage families’ assets to be empowered as they support their child from the early primary years to college and career success. This effort will complement family knowledge by connecting them to actionable learning focused on their child’s development, as well as opportunities to accelerate their own careers and quality of livelihood.

November 15, 2023, 5:30 - 7:00pm - ELAC and SSC Ambassadors Session 2 - Understanding School Data

Webinar Recording English | Spanish

November 27, 2023, 5:30 - 7:00pm - Unlocking Reading Success with Structured Literacy: Building the Foundation

Webinar Recording English | Spanish

November 29, 2023, 5:30 - 7:00pm - Joy and Wellness in the Holiday Season: Strategies to Support Our Well-being

Webinar Recording English | Spanish

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.

Family 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!!

reDiscover Holiday Camps:

reDiscover will have one day tinkering camps on November 10th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd

Come build amazing eco-friendly creations with us! Tinkering Camp teaches children the skills they need to turn their wildest imaginings into robust items made from cardboard, wood, plastic, metal, and fabric. Link to register.

Got Game Holiday Camps:

Click this link for more info and to register

Volunteer Info:

****If you have filled out the Volunteer Application, please send me your negative TB test ASAP!!

All info about becoming a Volunteer is now in the Volunteer Section at the bottom of this newsletter!! Please remember that to be a volunteer at Short, you must first watch the Volunteer Orientation which is linked in the Volunteer section below. If you filled out an application, but have not sent me your negative TB test, please do so ASAP. You cannot be cleared until you do so. You will be denied approval if you do not send me your negative TB after 3 emails from me. You will then have to start over.

Social Media: Last week I posted on our Instagram and Facebook ! A reminder about no school on Veteran's Day, more photos from our Fall Festival, potatoes in the garden, Jordan's 5th graders Halloween and fall semester birthday extravaganza, 3rd grade field trip to the Science Center, See's Fundraiser Flyer, The Shack Restaurant Night Flyer, a sweet Bingo in the courtyard Reel and pics from the 2nd grade feast!!

We are at 991 followers on Instagram , no new followers last week:( I would love to get to 1000 by the end of the year!! Please follow and like our social media posts, 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