Dear Almond Families:

Please read below for some important news at Almond!

Student Council Fundraiser: Pennies for Patients 

The numbers are in, and our Almond students and families raised $5,257.49 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through Pennies for Patients this year. Thank you to our student council and teacher representatives, Bret Linvill and Kathy Day-Bobb, for spearheading this fundraiser. And thank you to our Almond community for making this year's event a huge success!

Book Fair Family Night

Take a night off from making dinner and bring the kids to Book Fair Family Night on Thursday April 4th from 6-8pm, in the multi. There will be food trucks available for both dinner and dessert! It will be a fun evening filled with food, books and music.

Coffee with the Principal

Please join me in the library on Friday, April 12 from 8:45-9:30. I will be sharing about how we support student academic and behavioral needs.

Here's to our supportive students, staff and families!

~ Raquel

IMPORTANT DATES

• April 1-April 5, Spring Book Fair, Multi
• Fri, April 5, 4th graders to Sacramento!
• Mon, April 8, STEM Expo
• Thurs, April 11, 6th Grade Celebration of Learning
• Fri, April 12, Coffee with the Principal
• April 15-19, SPRING BREAK, No School!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR ALMOND SINGERS CHORUS!

Our Almond Singers Chorus performed at the LASD Choral Showcase last night at Egan Middle School. Over 250 students in choirs from elementary and middle schools across The Los Altos School District, and from Bullis Charter School, came together to perform individually and as a large group chorus. The Almond Singers performed a rousing rendition of 'Yankee Doodle Song' to thunderous applause! Way to go Almond Singers! The Almond Singers Spring Chorus Concerts will be held on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 8:45am (for the school) and Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at 7pm (for families and friends) in the Almond Multi.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (ELAC)- NEW FAMILY MEETING

Please join us next Thursday, April 4th at 8:30am in Mrs. Mountz's room (Next to room 1 at the front of the school) for our third ELAC meeting. We will be providing information about the ELD program and welcoming new families. All are welcome! Hope to see you there!

LOS ALTOS CHINESE SCHOOL (LACS) AT ALMOND!

As you may know, our school district is rolling out a partnership with the Los Altos Chinese School (LACS), which will now be located at each of our elementary school campuses, including Almond! LACS offers a Mandarin immersion program that begins at the end of the school day (even on short days) and ends at 6pm, 5 days per week.

The program located at Almond has already begun for currently enrolled LACS students. LACS is accepting applications for the upcoming 2019-20 school year. For more information about the LASD-LACS partnership click here. For more information about enrollment and tuition, please visit the Los Altos Chinese School at http://www.losaltoschinese.school/.

WELCOME TO YOUR NEW STUDENT SCCLD LIBRARY E-ACCOUNT

• For immediate online access please visit http://student.sccl.org to check out eBooks, download music, or get free homework help
• Student eAccounts are in the following format: S + Student ID + LASD (for example S12345LASD)
• Your LASD 5-digit Student ID number can be found on page 2 or 3 of your child’s report card or on PowerSchool
• The pin number is your birth month and birthday (for example May 1 is 0501).
• Students may also visit the Los Altos Library to add a full use card for checking out books, movies and more. For identification, please bring along one of the following:
  • Any postmarked mail addressed to you, the student
  • Your student ID card

STEM EXPO

The Almond STEM EXPO is taking place on April 9. The students are engaged and excited to share their projects with you!

Parents: STEM Expo doesn’t happen without the YOUR help! We need parents to:

• - Help set up the Expo the morning of April 8
• - Review projects throughout the school day on April 9 (*we especially need more folks here!)
• - Be runners for students throughout the school day on April 9
• - Help take down the Expo the afternoon of April 9

Please consider volunteering for one of these roles.

More information is available by clicking the “Get Involved” link on the “Almond” tab at www.tinyurl.com/LASDStemExpo

You can sign up to volunteer using the google form here:

https://goo.gl/forms/wui2Eo27ptBnejLo2

If you have any questions, please email Ricky Hu, Almond STEM IST, at rhu@lasdschools.org

FIRST GRADE FUNDRAISER UPDATE

Thank you for your support of our bracelet sales. With the money, we will purchase maker supplies to teach STEM Expo visitors about animal adaptations. Some stations include: Bird Beak Engineering, Moth Hide and Seek, Crab Claw Challenge, and more! The STEM Expo community Night is on Tuesday, April 9, from 4:30-6:00. To help the first graders know their impact and to get an estimate of how much material we need to purchase, please click on this link to let us know that you might be attending the STEM Expo Community Night.​​

JR. OLYMPICS COMING ON APRIL 27TH!

Junior Olympics training is now underway for the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes. Please remember to have your student wear appropriate athletic clothes and shoes for PE days. We still need volunteers to get our young athletes ready!!! Please consider signing up to help during one or more PE periods. It is an easy way to get involved and learn more about this fun district-wide event and we cannot do it without your help! The volunteer sign up sheet can be found HERE. All students must have a signed permission slip to participate in the event. Please fill out this online form, whether your child will be participating or not: JUNIOR OLYMPICS PERMISSION SLIP. For more details on Junior Olympics, check out this information sheet: LASD JO INFO SHEET or contact the Almond JO chairs: Alix Apfelberg (alix_apfelberg@yahoo.com), Vicky Lee vicster_chin@yahoo.com) and Kirsten Sirey (ksirey@yahoo.com)

ENJOY A FUN-FILLED WEEK AT THE GOLDEN EAGLE SUMMER SPORTS CAMP AND SUPPORT THE PTA AT THE SAME TIME!

By using the promo code almond19 you will save $20 off your registration and Golden Eagle will donate $20 directly to the PTA. 

Golden Eagle Summer Sports Camp is a family run all-sports day camp for boys and girls K-8th grade. With a wide variety of sports and activities to choose from, including swimming, basketball, volleyball, soccer and more, it's one of the most loved camps in the Cupertino and San Jose communities. Camps this summer are running at both Homestead and Los Altos High Schools. Visit www.goldeneaglecamp.org or contact Carly at carly@goldeneaglecamp.org for more info.

YOUR PHOTOS NEEDED FOR THE YEARBOOK!

Hi Parents and Teachers,

It is that time of year to upload your pictures of your children over the school year for the yearbook.

Below is the link to the website that has all the categories that I am looking for. It would be great if you can upload pictures right away to the different categories so that I can finish the yearbook.

Here is the link:

Yearbook • Page - Almond Elementary School

Thank you!

Liz

lizbacchi@yahoo.com

LOS ALTOS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

If you've donated to LAEF this school year, you're already part of our team!

Now we invite you to join our March Magic Challenge. A corporate match works like magic to increase your donation. Find out now if your company offers a match. Then work your magic by requesting a match today. Help us raise an additional $200K to reach our goal of $3.5M! Donations of any amount are appreciated.

www.LAEFonline.org.

LAEF's "Funding an Excellent Public Education" brochure is now available in 5 different languages -- Have a look! Then watch new videos of international LASD parents sharing why they support LAEF - -- speaking in Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, and Russian.

Donate to LAEF today and help us raise the final $200K to reach our goal of $3.5M by April 27th. Donations of any amount are appreciated. Learn more & make your tax-deductible donation today atwww.LAEFonline.org.

FLEXIBLE OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORKING IN OUR SCHOOL: WE NEED YOU!

Have you ever thought about working in our schools but didn’t know how to get started? We are looking for community members interested in substituting in our schools as classified substitutes. We have opportunities to work as instructional assistants in our kindergarten classrooms and opportunities to work in our school offices. If this sounds interesting to you, please contact Marlene Revelo, HR Specialist,mrevelo@lasdschools.org

GET INVOLVED AT ALMOND SCHOOL

The Almond PTA is getting ready for the 2019-2020 school year and as part of that, we need volunteers to run the committees listed below. Many of these roles can be done outside of school hours if desired and documentation and/or guidance from previous chairs is available to make things simple and straightforward. You are also welcome to partner with a fellow parent to run a committee. 

Why should you get involved at Almond? Helping a PTA committee is a great way to learn more about what Almond has to offer, meet Almond teachers and staff and get to know other Almond families! Also, without parent volunteers we are not able to provide these programs so please consider getting involved. If interested, contact Andrea Bocking (andreabocking@gmail.com). Thank you!

Family Science Night - if you attended Almond's recent Family Science Night, then you saw why this amazing event is a student and parent favorite! We need someone who can organize and lead a team of volunteers to implement this fun evening.

Community Service - this committee helps inspire Almond students and families to give back through participating in nonprofit events. We need someone who can manage our participation in these events. More info about Almond Community Service can be found at https://almondschool.org/Almondes/Portal/almond-community-service.

Almond Directory - the PTA produces the Almond directory that gets distributed yearly to each family. We need someone who can create this printed directory using past templates or printing capabilities from our online directory.

Staff Appreciation - this committee honors Almond's teachers and staff with regular events or treats, such as a small welcome back present, Halloween candy and decorations, fall conference soup/salad luncheon and teacher/staff appreciation week. We need someone who can organize these activities and coordinate volunteers to provide food for some of the events.

Yearbook - this is a fun project that involves making the yearbook and helping distribute it to the classes. Let your creative side shine and keep a wonderful Almond tradition alive.

After School Programs - each season Almond offers students various after-school programs such as sports, technology, art, languages and more. We need someone who can coordinate with the program vendors and the school to continue to offer these programs.

Drama Club - if your child is currently enrolled or interested in Almond's Drama Club, then consider helping out! We need a co-chair for next year's Drama Club that can help and learn from our expert returning chairs.

6th Grade Events - we need a 6th Grade Events Committee (typically 2-6 parent volunteers) to plan and coordinate activities that are unique to 6th graders. If you will have a 6th grade student next year, please consider volunteering to chair this important committee and make your student's final year at Almond a blast!

ALMOND'S AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES SPRING SCHEDULE IS HERE!

We're pleased to announce that enrollment is open for Almond's Spring 2019 After School Activities schedule.

New Website

We now have a dedicated website for you to bookmark:

https://sites.google.com/view/almondafterschoolactivities/home

We'll update the site for every new session, so please check back frequently to ensure you are able to sign up your kids for the programs that they want

Signing Up - Get Them Before They Are Gone!:

Links to all of the sign ups are included in the program list (see link below). Please be aware that space on some of these programs is very limited. To ensure you can get a space for your child please do aim to review the choices and sign up soon.

Practical Stuff:

Reminder that our contact email address is:

almondactivities@gmail.com

FROM THE OFFICE

Every time your student is tardy, he/she is missing out on instructional time. In addition, every time a student is tardy, it takes at least four clicks/enters in PowerSchool for our office staff. If you multiply that number by the 20+ students that are tardy each day, you will see that we would love to see your student on time each day! Please make every effort to get your student to school well before the 8:30 bell.

Also, please call the Attendance Line if your student will be absent: 650-917-5454, or email Jane at jsanders@lasdschools.org.