Notes from Oak - Oct 16, 2026

Dear Oak families,

Yesterday, Oak Cougars joined millions others, nationwide and worldwide in the Great ShakeOut earthquake drill. Students practiced the life-saving Drop, Cover, and Hold On technique, followed by a safe evacuation to the assembly area. Our staff also honed their emergency response procedures to ensure everyone's safety in a real event.

As we continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of our students, we want to remind you of an essential step:

It's crucial that we have accurate names and phone numbers for individuals authorized to pick up your child in case of an emergency. This includes family members, close friends, or designated caregivers.

Remember: Even if you've developed strong friendships within the Oak community (and we know about it!), we cannot release your child to anyone who is not listed on your emergency contact sheet. This is a strict policy to safeguard the safety of all our students.

If you don't have family nearby, we encourage you to get involved in our PTA and family events. Building connections with other Oak families can provide invaluable support and peace of mind. I personally experienced the benefits of these relationships for my children and know how they can make a significant difference in times of need.

October 17th marks the 37th anniversary of the devastating 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake. Anniversaries like this serve as a powerful reminder that Californians must be prepared. Empower yourself and your loved ones! Visit Earthquake.ca.gov and EarthquakeCountry.org for free resources and preparedness tips.

Wear your walking shoes and your Walkathon T-Shirt!  

Bring your water bottles and your Cougar Spirit - Oak Field & Blacktop - 9am-Noon!

We are thrilled to share that Oak 6th Grader, Aayush G, has received the Highly Commended award in the 10 Years and Under category at Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026, organized by the Natural History Museum, London.

This year, the competition attracted an extraordinary 65,403 entries from around the world, with only 100 photographs recognized across all categories, representing 21 countries.

To see Aayush’s photograph recognized by an esteemed international jury of wildlife photographers, scientists, and conservationists is an incredible honor.

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

Thanks to the many generous families in our school community, LAEF has raised over $2.2 million this school year. Your gift funds specialized teachers, instructional programs, and materials that make Los Altos schools exceptional. 

If you haven’t given this year’s gift yet, please consider donating today! Don’t forget to check if your company will match your gift! 

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! 

We have an author visit coming up for grades TK-3rd next week. We are hosting Devin Kurtz next Thursday, October 22nd, right after lunch. She writes the Bakery Dragon series and is coming to introduce The Bakery Dragon and the Giant Cookie. Please support this free event by purchasing a copy of the book from Linden Tree. See the flyer attached. Purchased copies will be signed at the event.

Library lessons this week included books about Autumn and locating books in the library.  In the upper grades, we read about Curiosity, the Mars rover and read about running in preparation for the Walkathon. 

56 students participated in our summer reading program! Students received their summer reading prizes this week. I hope your student thought it was worth the wait. If your student already read the book or would like to pick out something else, you are welcome to exchange the book at Linden Tree bookstore in Downtown Los Altos. The store sticker is on the back of the book. Thank you for encouraging summer reading!

Newly added to the student Clever library resources section is Mango Languages. If your student would like to learn a language, they can log in as a guest from their student Clever page.

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.

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.