Happy Halloween, Oak Cougar families! 🎃
What a fun and festive week at Oak! Between parent-teacher conferences, wildlife assembly, classroom learning, and all the Halloween excitement, our campus has been full of energy, creativity, and community spirit.
A big thank-you to all our families who joined us for our Halloween Parade! Seeing our students proudly show off their costumes and share their excitement with family and friends is always such a special Oak tradition. We love seeing our community come together to celebrate!
And don't forget to support our 6th Grade Spooktacular! Our sixth-grade students and families have put tremendous effort into organizing this event. All proceeds support their end-of-year celebration and class gift. We appreciate your support in making these special sixth-grade memories possible!
As our Cougars head into a weekend of Halloween festivities, I hope everyone enjoys a safe and fun celebration filled with just the right amount of spooky excitement (and perhaps a little too much candy!).
Speaking of candy, a friendly reminder as students return to school next week: Please limit Halloween candy brought to school to just a few pieces as part of lunch. For the safety of all students, particularly those with food allergies, we ask that students not bring large quantities of candy or trade and share candy on campus.
Thank you for helping us keep Oak a safe, welcoming, and joyful place for all our Cougars!
Wishing you a wonderful Halloween weekend!
Nikita
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Fri, Oct 30 - Spooktacular! - Multi; 2:30-4:30pm
Sun, Nov 1 - Daylight Saving Time Ends - Set clocks back one hour
Wed, Nov 4 - Picture Retake Day!
Wed, Nov 4 - PTA Association Mtng - 7pm via Zoom
Wed, Nov 4 - 4th Grade Walk Through CA - Multi
Fri, Nov 6 - Principal's Coffee AI & Technology - Library 8:45am
Wed, Nov 11 - Veterans Day - No School!
Mon, Nov 16 - NED Mindset Mission Assembly - Multi; 9:15-10:10am
Tues, Nov 17-Fri, Nov 20 -6th Grade at Walden West Outdoor School
Wed, Nov 18 - LASD Student Art Showcase - Covington multi 5-7pm
Mon, Nov 23-Fri, Nov 27 - Thanksgiving Break - No School!
Sun, Nov 29 - Festival of Lights Parade - Downtown Los Altos; 6pm
Wed, Dec 16 - Oak Winter Concert - Multi; 1pm
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LASD 2026-27 District Calendar https://files.smartsites.parentsquare.com/9655/2026-27_adopted_district_calendar_revised.pdf
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Oak Website oakschool.org/
- Breakfast/Lunch Menus https://www.lasdschools.org/133329_3
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At Oak, we know that every school day matters. Regular attendance is about much more than keeping up with assignments. It's about being part of the rich learning experiences, meaningful conversations, and connections that happen in our classrooms every day.
Our LASD Student Experience emphasizes deeper learning, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and student agency. These skills develop through active participation in classroom experiences that simply cannot be replicated through makeup work.
Why Attendance Matters
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Academic Growth: Learning builds from day to day. When students miss school, they miss important instruction, classroom discussions, hands-on investigations, and opportunities to deepen their understanding.
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Collaboration and Deeper Learning: Whether students are solving a math problem together, engaging in a science investigation, or working on a group project, they are developing essential skills through shared experiences. These are learning opportunities that cannot simply be made up by completing missed assignments.
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Belonging and Connection: Being at school consistently helps students build friendships, strengthen relationships with teachers, and feel connected to their classroom community.
Absences and Tardiness Add Up
Even a few missed days can affect a student's learning and sense of connection. Arriving late also means missing valuable instructional time, morning routines, and opportunities to start the day alongside classmates.
Families whose children have accumulated significant absences may receive an attendance notification from the district. These communications are intended to keep families informed and reinforce the importance of regular attendance.
We understand that illnesses and unexpected circumstances happen, and children should stay home when they are sick. However, we encourage families to prioritize attendance and punctuality whenever possible.
How Families Can Help
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Establish Consistent Routines: Regular bedtimes and predictable morning routines help children arrive rested and ready to learn.
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Plan Ahead: Prepare backpacks, lunches, and clothing the night before to make mornings less stressful.
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Protect Instructional Time: Whenever possible, schedule vacations and nonurgent appointments outside school hours.
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Communicate with Us: Notify the school when your child will be absent, and reach out if your family needs support with attendance.
Our goal is not simply to have students at school, but to ensure that every Cougar has the opportunity to participate, contribute, connect, and thrive. Thank you for helping us make every school day count!
Helpful Resources for Families
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If you haven’t had a chance to give yet, it’s not too late. Donate or pledge today to help provide a well-rounded, excellent education for all LASD students. Gifts of any amount make a big impact. |
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 through 11/11, and the LASD Student Art Showcase will be on display at Covington Elementary on November 18th from 5-7pm.
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.
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
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What happens when students lead their own learning and dive deeply into a question that matters to them, and share their voices in powerful ways?
Illuminate LASD invites students to become experts, innovators, and change-makers. Whether it’s researching a topic they’re passionate about, solving a problem that inspires them, or creating something to make an impact, students will share the artifacts that highlight the learning process. From TK to 8th grade, Illuminate LASD invites students to share what they now know and can do by sharing the process and products of their learning on Friday, February 26th from 4:00PM - 7:00PM.
We invite you to share in this experience that connects student curiosity, creativity, and agency!
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By Mrs. Forrest
The library’s leadership students ran a Halloween craft on Thursday at lunch. They instructed our lower grade students to cut a jack o’lantern out of construction paper.
Our students had fun and were proud of their creations!
Library lessons this week included reading Halloween books and singing Five Little Pumpkins in TK, learning about the Nonfiction 500’s section in Kinder, talking about Just Right books in 1st grade, learning about book location signage in 2nd, and watching a Dewey Decimal System video in 3rd. In the upper grades, we read spooky stories and practiced nonfiction shelf ordering.
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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.
How to visit the Oak School’s Library Catalog via Destiny Discover:
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.
Student Access to Santa Clara County Library
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.
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Account Number: S12345LASD
PIN: 0114 (for January 14th)
There are also resource links on the Oak School website under Programs/Library.
Please contact Mrs. Forrest at cforrest@lasdschools.org if you have specific requests, have any questions, or have difficulty accessing your account.
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Office is open from 8am to 4pm daily
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To Report an Absence, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/H5nat9fm7D6FWDw76
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PowerSchool access: send an email request to powerschoolsupport@lasdschools.org
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Volunteering in the Classroom or Chaperoning a Field Trip, fill out this form: https://www.lasdschools.org/volunteer
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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.
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