Notes from Oak - Oct 9, 2026

While our Cougars have the day off today, the learning continues for our staff! Our teachers will spend time learning together, with a focus on connecting the LASD Student Experience to our new Bridges math curriculum.

As we deepen our implementation of Bridges, teachers will explore how the curriculum can support the experiences we want for every LASD student—rich learning experiences, positive relationships, belonging, and the development of important skills, mindsets, and habits. Teachers will collaborate around ways to make math learning engaging, meaningful, and accessible while encouraging students to think deeply, explain their reasoning, collaborate, and persevere through challenges.

These opportunities to learn together help us move beyond simply implementing a new curriculum to thinking intentionally about the student experience we are creating through it.

At Oak, we’re proud to have a team of educators who continue to learn, reflect, and grow together so that our students can do the same.

Warmly,

Nikita

The District Nurses will be doing vision screening, both near and far, at Oak School for all Kindergarten, 2nd, and 5th grades on Wednesday, 10/14/26. 

If your child has glasses or contacts, please make sure that they wear them to school on the day of the screening. 

A referral form will be mailed home to parents of students who do not pass the vision screening.

Oak's STEM Together Club will continue for the 3rd year in a row at Oak Avenue on Fridays for 4th-6th graders. This is a sign-up based program with parent volunteers to support. We request the parents of each child to take up at least one slot to volunteer. The club is taught by Mountain View High School Students. Our current year's club is led by Shradha Lakshman (Chapter President, STEM for Others) and Sophie Nguyen (Chapter Vice President, STEM for Others). 

The STEM program curriculum is specially curated based on parent leads and the high schoolers based on experience from the last few years and current topics. It is a fun and interactive way for students who share common interests to come together and spend an hour learning and doing hands on experiments. Please find details of sign-up in the below document. Sign-up is on a first come first basis. 

Student Sign up Details, Schedule, Topics and Parent volunteer slots: Link here

For any questions, please reach out to Arun and Suchita at arunsuchi24@gmail.com

We are excited to announce our annual LASD Student Art Showcase.  This is an opportunity for any student from TK-8th grade to express themselves artistically with our community.  

Students are encouraged to submit a piece of artwork in the medium and theme of their choice following the guidelines in the advertisement above.  Submissions will be accepted between 10/8 and 11/11, and the LASD Student Art Showcase will be on display at Covington Elementary on November 18th from 5:00-7:00 pm.

This event will be a celebration of student art and local artists, as well as an opportunity to enjoy an evening together as an LASD community.  

Registration opens October 8th. Please use this google form to register.  Registration closes on November 11th. Let's go, Cougars! We can’t wait to see what you create.  Questions?  kdickerson@lasdschools.org

We hope everyone stayed cool in this last heat wave 🤞! Get ready for a MONTH OF ACTION with:

Crazy Feet/Hair Day: Get ready to show off your wildest style! It is time for School Spirit Day, and we are celebrating from head to toe—literally.

Whether you rock mismatched neon socks, style your hair into gravity-defying spikes, or decorate your kicks with glitter, laces, and flair, bring your most creative look to school. Let's make this a day to remember!

We are officially past 238 students registered for the Oak Walkathon on Saturday, October 17th (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM)! Thank you to everyone who signed up—the energy is building, and our classes are racing for the finish line!

Donut Party Winner Announced Monday! We’re counting registrations through Sunday night. Sign up today to push your child's class across the finish line!

We’re adding an exciting Color Run section along part of the track! For a short window during a special moment of the run, kids can pass through blasts of colorful, safe powder. 100% Optional: Color is restricted to one side of the course—kids who want to get colorful can run right through, while anyone who prefers to stay clean can easily bypass it on the other side.

As the PTA’s primary student-led fundraiser, the Walkathon funds key PTA initiatives all year long, from teacher stipends and classroom mini-grants to field trip transportation and many campus events such as Global Heritage Night and Classroom Parties.

Our suggested donation is $200 per child, but contributions of any amount are deeply appreciated. If you're able to give a bit extra to help us meet our goals, thank you for your generosity!

 Register, Donate, or Volunteer to the Walkathon!

The grade level Parent Night Out (PNO) is a beloved PTA subsidized Oak tradition that allows parents to connect with other grade level parents at a local restaurant. Please see below for upcoming PNOs

LAEF: https://www.lasdeducationpartners.org/

PTA: https://oak.classroomparent.com/dues/new

Liz Hernandez, President

Rama Mulpuri, Executive Vice President

Oak PTA Executive Team 2026-2027

Can you help make some calls or send some texts to encourage other LASD parents to donate to LAEF this school year?

 Find out more, sign up, and ask your friends to join you for this good cause! 

Library lessons this week included books about late library books and the seasons. We also practiced using shelf markers and talked about the picture book section. In the upper grades, we discussed Banned Books Week and celebrated our freedom to choose what we would like to read. We also reviewed how to use the Destiny book catalog. 

Students will receive their summer reading prizes next week!

We started a new mystery picture in the library! To encourage reading, I have the kids add stickers for books read to reveal a mystery picture at the end of the school year. For K-1st, any book read by the student or to the student qualifies for a sticker to put on our picture. For 2nd and 3rd, the student needs to read a 100+ page book. For 4th-6th, students need to read a 250+ page book. This is just another way to encourage more reading.

You can still sign your students up for Birthday Book Club via the Oak Classroom Parent website: oak.classroomparent.com. Look for the tiny store icon along the top bar.

Go to this link: https://www.destinydiscover.com/aasp/ui/pick/picked

Choose California, type in Los Altos School District, and Oak Avenue Elementary School in Los Altos. There are multiple Oak Avenue Schools, so make sure you pick the one in Los Altos. This puts you directly into the Oak Library Catalog, which shows all the books the Oak Library owns. Click Go! You can browse the collection by topic, genre, grade level, etc. You can search for a specific book title or author. You don’t need to log in to do any of these searches. However if you do want to put a book on hold or read one of our ebooks, you will need to log in.

To log in, click on the login button at the top right. Enter this year’s google username and password that you use to log in to your school google account and submit. Search for the book you are looking for and put it on hold. Mrs. Forrest will pull the book for you and have it waiting for you in the library during the school year. No summer holds available.

All LASD students (unless parents opted out), have a student account through the Santa Clara County Library District, aka, the Los Altos Public Library. This student account offers access to eBooks, research resources, homework help, and much more.

You will be asked to provide an Account Number and PIN. The Account Number is S + Student ID + LASD (no spaces in between). The student ID is a unique 5 digit number provided by LASD. It is the same number as your student’s Powerschool number and is embedded in their school email address. The number is provided when you receive district communications specific to your student. The PIN is the student’s birth month and day (again no spaces). If the birth month or day is only one number, add a zero in front of it.

It is Oak School’s mission to ensure high levels of learning for all students. Every day we respectfully collaborate to develop confident, resilient, joyful learners who care about the Oak School community and become responsible citizens.