Dear Los Ranchos Families and Friends,

Thank you for a great first week. Students stepped right into the new school year without missing a beat. Students were highly engaged within minutes of starting the day. Your support makes all the difference. Students arrived rested and ready to go. Thank you!

Your students may have come home talking about our amazing new playground. Students are having a blast! I hope you can join us for our official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Friday, August 28 at 8:25 a.m. We hope you can join us.

We are looking forward to Back to School Night on Wednesday, September 2. Please mark your calendars. Teachers will be sharing important details about your child’s school year and it is a lovely time to gather as a community of parents. We have changed the schedule in order to make it an earlier evening for parents. If you are a parent of a TK - third grader you will start the evening in your child’s classroom. All parents will meet in the multi-purpose room from 6:20 - 7:00 p.m. Parents of fourth - sixth graders will attend presentations from 7:10- 7:50 p.m. We look forward to seeing you.

Back to School Night schedule at a glance:

• TK - 3rd grade Presentations in classrooms: 5:30 - 6:10 p.m.
• Whole School Welcome in the Multi-purpose Room:  6:20 - 7:00 p.m.
• 4th - 6th grade Presentations in classrooms: 7:10 - 7:50 p.m.

**YMCA will be providing Child Care..Please note that this is the evening’s schedule it is incorrect on the YMCA  Permission slips.

Thanks again for a great first week.

Sincerely,

Marlie Schmidt

Dear Los Ranchos Families,

We hope you are squeezing in a few more lazy days of summer, or maybe one last family adventure. Summertime is an important time to relax and re-energize. 

We are looking forward to the start of the 2015-16 school year. Our custodial staff has been working tirelessly to get your school student-ready. Teachers have already been meeting and planning, and our new playground equipment has arrived in the nick of time. Last spring our students all participated in designing the ultimate playground. The playground builders will be working around the clock to install every track slide, swing bar, sky wheel and climbing wall. Los Ranchos students made great choices. It is going to be an amazing playground. 

The playground is not the only big change. We are excited to announce that our 4th - 6th grade students will each have a chromebook this school year thanks to the generous support of our PTA and some individual donations by Los Ranchos families. This is an exciting development. We deeply appreciate the financial support of our parent community and PTA's commitment to our students. Access to technology shifts the level of student engagement in countless ways. Your support continues to be a cornerstone of our success.

There are a few other significant changes.  Starting in kindergarten, we have two new teachers: Summer Reeves and Alexandra Baele. Sylvia Gomes will be a new member of our third grade team. Brooke McMillen and Colby Phelan will be sharing a contract in fourth grade. Kelly Yungman has accepted an exciting new position in our San Luis Obispo County office of Education. We are lucky to have these talented and dedicated teachers join our Los Ranchos community.

I am including a number of important dates. Please mark them on your calendars. I know schedules fill up quickly at this time of year. 

• Wednesday, August 18 -  Class assignments will be emailed to families. 
• Friday, August 21 - We will be hosting our Welcome Back gathering from 2 - 3:00 p.m. All transitional kindergartners,  kindergartners, first graders and any new 2nd - 6th grade students are invited. It is a nice opportunity to meet your teachers, fellow classmates, and see your classrooms. 
• Monday, August 24 - First Day of School! Remember the first day of school is a late-start-Monday and we get out at 2:50 p.m. 
• Wednesday, September 2 - Back to School Night!

Enjoy the last couple of weeks of summer! 

Sincerely,
Marlie Schmidt