Dear Las Lomitas Families,

Please copy/paste this message here for translation into your home language.

It is hard to believe that we are approaching the end of one month. The staff and students have been fully engaged in getting to know each other, establishing routines, and building community.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a sense of belonging precedes achievement and so we are doubling down on our efforts to ensure that every child senses and believes that they belong. I will review some on the events and activities we are engaging in schoolwide and in the community to help support this endeavor below in our DEIAB Update. Of course, this is not the task of only our school, so I thank the PTA, Las Lomitas League, Las Lomitas Education Foundation, Champions, and all of you for reigniting our sense of community and belonging. Ubuntu! I am because we are. 

With several campus events coming up in the next few weeks, we look forward to seeing many of you on campus!

Sincerely, 

Alain Camou

Principal

• DEIAB Update
• Parent's Night Out @ Champions
• Upcoming Events

Our work in diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging marches forward at Las Lomitas! Please continue reading to see what is happening both visibly and behind the scenes to support DEIAB:

• Extended Day Multilingual Classes: At Las Lomitas, multilingualism is a superpower! We are providing an extended learning day for students in Grades 1-3 to for students who are new to English in order to support their language development. We will soon be providing this support to our TK and K students who are new to English! If you have any questions about this program, please reach out to me at acamou@llesd.org. 
• Restorative Practices: As students learn to navigate shared resources, problems can arise. We have instituted restorative practices as a means to have students learn to resolve conflicts and restore relationships when problems arise. Stay tuned for more information from Assistant Principal Heather Peterson!
• Las Lomitas Monday Morning Meetings: Weather permitting, we will be holding all school meetings in the Plaza (behind the Administration Office) with students and staff. Meetings will be held via Zoom during inclement weather. This will be an opportunity for a full school Community Circle where we share updates for the week, discuss the character trait of the month (this month is friendship), and cultural celebrations (Hispanic and Korean Heritage for September). We also engage in a school wide Pledge of Allegiance. For more information on this please contact Counselor Heather Ryan at hryan@llesd.org. 
• East Palo Alto Library Family Night: On Tuesday, September 13, over 250 strong were in attendance at our first Family Night. Children, families and staff from Las Lomitas and the East Palo Alto community ate delicious fare from El Buen Sazon, engaged in creating Shrinky Dinks, and were enthralled by a presentation from the Beetle Lady. Kudos to the Las Lomitas PTA for coordinating this wildly successful event!
• Adinkra Banner Presentation: Seven students joined me either in person or via video to present to the Las Lomitas School Board on Wednesday, September 7. We celebrated the collaboration of our class MOSAIC, Peopleologie, and the Las Lomitas PTA in this school-wide project from last year. If you haven't seen them, 17 banners are hanging in the front office and Cano Hall representing the efforts of all students from last year. The symbols selected represent resilience, understanding, unity, and strength.

I will regularly share our efforts in DEIAB through this communication, so stay tuned!

Calling all parents looking for an evening ! Champions is providing childcare on site at Las Lomitas for parents looking to paint the town.

Here's the scoop on Parent's Night Out @ Champions:

When: 2nd Friday of every month

Where: Champions rooms

Who: All kiddos and preschool too!

What: Parents night out from 6:00 pm to 10:00pm. We provide Pizza dinner, movie, popcorn and some fun art projects. 

We encourage kiddos to bring their PJ's as it is late when they go home. 

We also usually have a fun theme for the evening. Next Month will be Halloween.

Cost: $40 per child, $35 per sibling

Questions: Contact Sharon Pfeiffer at spfeiffer@discoverchampions.com 

Please reach out to Sharon to reserve a spot!

• PTA TK/K/Grade 1 Welcome Back Picnic, September 15 @ 4:00 pm - @ Las Lomitas
• PTA Grades 2 & 3 Welcome Back Picnic, September 20 @ 4:00 pm - @ Las Lomitas
• Las Lomitas Fun Run, September 24 @ 9:00 am - @ Las Lomitas