Newsletter, April 27, 2018

Principal’s Message

Dear Friends and Families of Los Ranchos

We just wrapped up another exciting Battle of the Books. Over eighty students participated. Some read thirty books to prepare for today's competition. The Battle inspires many students to read beyond their perceived abilities. This event requires dozens of parent volunteers and a couple dedicated leaders. I want to thank all of the parents who participated during the event and leading up to the event.  A very special thanks to our dedicated leaders: Barbara Beckett, Melissa Allen and Kristy Sabo. They were instrumental in supporting students throughout the year and for today's special event. A county level Battle is coming up on June 9th at the County Office of Education. Please see below for more information. 

Thursday, May 3 is Open House.  We look forward to seeing you. Please make sure  your kids are with you at all times. The 6th grade band will be performing at 5:30 in the Quad along with a couple 6th grade percussion groups. Classrooms will be open from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. 

   

Please call, email or drop by if you have any questions or concerns. Have another beautiful weekend on the Central Coast.

Sincerely,

Marlie

For your Calendar

4/30            Blue Ribbon Committee Outreach Forum - LOMS Library - 6:00-8:00 p.m.

5/3              Open House 5:30 p.m. - 7:00, 
                             5:30 - 6:00 - 6th grade Band performs in the Quad 
                             6:00 - 7:00 - Classrooms are Open
5/7              Blue Ribbon Committee Outreach Forum - MBHS Library - 6:00-8:00 p.m.
57-5/8         Kindergarten Round Up
5/8              Free Parent Mindfulness Workshop 6:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m.

5/8              PTA Meeting 7:00 p.m.
5/28            Memorial Day / No School
6/1              Bike Parade and Hunger Awareness Day 

Mindfulness for Parents and Teachers:

This free one hour workshop  will be held on May 8th from 6:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m. before the PTA meeting.  You will explore how the practice of mindfulness can support parents and teachers to stay meaningfully connected to themselves  even as the demands and complexities of life increase. The practice of mindfulness teaches us to stay more present to ourselves and our children and increases our capacity to respond rather than react to the challenges of life. Mindfulness also grows our ability to meet conflict with compassion and increases our capacity for self-awareness, humor and love. This workshop is an introduction to mindfulness and how to practice it, as well as a discussion on how to specifically apply mindfulness to the rich experience of parenting and teaching.

Deborah Halpern, MEd, MATP, spent 8 years practicing and studying yoga and meditation full-time in retreat. She has earned master’s degrees in both Education and Psychology and has taught mindfulness practices to both children and adults. She is an instructional assistant at Los Ranchos!

WOMENADE Project

Hi! My name is Jill Goldsmith and I was a former student at Los Ranchos. I am now a freshman at SLO High School. In my Ag Biology class, we have to do an SAE project, which stands for Supervised Agricultural Experience. I am doing this project along with two of my good friends, Sophia Lindvall (a former student at Los Ranchos), and Sadie LaChapelle (a former student at Bishop's Peak). For our project, we are working with Womenade to collect donations that are needed for their backpack program. We are collecting items such as diapers, food, and books for young children and families. We are setting up a donation bin outside of the front office. The donation bin will be there from April 30th - May 14th. Below is a flyer listing the items that Womenade is in need of. Thank you for considering to donate to this great cause. Anything helps!

Hunger Awareness Day

June 1, 2018

June 1, 2018 has been proclaimed Hunger Awareness Day in San Luis Obispo County.

“One Day, One Dollar, One Big Challenge to Feed the Hungry”

You can make a significant difference in the life of a hungry individual by donating $1.

1 in 6 people are hungry in SLO County. 40% are children. 20% are seniors.

All are our neighbors. 

Los Ranchos is incorporating our Bike Parade with Hunger Awareness Day!

Newsletter, April 20, 2018

Principal’s Message

Dear Friends and Families of Los Ranchos

It is almost Open House! It is early this year. We have moved it up to Thursday, May 3rd.
Open House is a delightful community event where we get to showcase students'
reading, writing, science, social studies, technology, music, P.E., art and more. It is also a
lovely evening to connect with your child's classmates and parents. Our 6th grade band will be
performing from 5:30 to 6:00 in the quad. Classrooms will be open from 6:00 - 7:00. Students
will also be able to show off their athletism in the multipurpose room with our P.E. program.
We look forward to seeing you there.

Last week we let parents know about an important meeting about local events in our area that will have a lasting impact on our schools. Our Superintendent, Dr. Prater, will host three different forums to inform parents about the closure of Diablo Nuclear Power Plant. The first will be one offered in San Luis Obispo on Monday, April 23, from 5 - 7:00 at the district office in J2 (where school board meetings are held). If you are unable to attend in town there will be additional presentations at Morro Bay High School on May 7, 5 - 7:00 p.m.  and at Los Osos Middle School on April 30, 5 - 7:00 p.m. We hope you can attend.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Marlie

For your Calendar

4/18            PTA Fundraiser - Eat at SLO Provisions (see the flyer below)

4/20            School Dress Up Day - 80's Day

4/23            Blue Ribbon Committee Outreach Forum - District Office - 5:00-7:00 p.m.

4/24            6th grade Field Trip to Hearst Castle

4/27            1st and 2nd Graders to PAC for a Field Trip

4/27            Los Ranchos Battle of the Books
4/30            Blue Ribbon Committee Outreach Forum - LOMS Library - 5:00-7:00 p.m.

5/3              Open House 5:30 p.m. - 7:00, 
                             5:30 - 6:00 - 6th grade Band performs in the Quad 
                             6:00 - 7:00 - Classrooms are Open
                             6:00 - 7:00 - P.E. Demonstrations in the Multipurpose Room
5/7              Blue Ribbon Committee Outreach Forum - MBHS Library - 5:00-7:00 p.m.

5/8              PTA Meeting 7:00 p.m.

Newsletter, April 13, 2018

Principal’s Message

Dear Friends and Families of Los Ranchos,
The closure of Diablo Nuclear Power Plant will have a significant impact on the budget of our school district over the next few years. Our Superintendent, Dr. Prater, will host three different forums for our community. The purpose is to inform parents and to gather input and feedback from our community. There will be one offered in San Luis Obispo on Monday, April 23, from 5 - 7:00 at the district office in J2 (where school board meetings are held). If you are unable to attend in town there will be additional presentations at Morro Bay High School on May 7, 5 - 7:00 p.m.  and at Los Osos Middle School on April 30, 5 - 7:00 p.m. We hope you can attend.

Our testing window with the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for 3rd - 6th graders will be from April 23 - June 1. Each teacher has set up a schedule to support a positive testing experience. Your child’s teacher will be sending out his/her schedule. The tests are untimed. Teachers plan in extra minutes so students don’t feel the pressure of time. The schedule may appear that testing stretches on and on. In reality, the estimated time is 6 to 6.5 hours total over five weeks. Fifth graders take an additional test in Science. Please make every effort to make sure your child is at school during the test taking time. We plan for make-ups, but it is best when students are taking the assessments with their classmates. In addition, it makes a difference when students are well rested and well fed. Your help is deeply appreciated.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Sincerely,
Marlie

For your Calendar
4/18            PTA Fundraiser - Eat at SLO Provisions (see the flyer below)
4/20            School Dress Up Day - 80's Day

4/24            6th grade Field Trip to Hearst Castle

4/27            1st and 2nd Graders to PAC for a Field Trip

4/27            Los Ranchos Battle of the Books

5/3              Open House 5:30 p.m.

5/8              PTA Meeting 7:00 p.m.

Important Parent Survey
 Dear Parent,
San Luis Coastal Unified School District is conducting a survey of parents who have children attending our elementary schools. Please take a few moments to share your thoughts and opinions about your child’s elementary school.

Please follow this link to access the survey on Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SLCUSDLR2018 

We would like to hear from every elementary parent in our school district. Next week we will be sending home a hard copy of the survey. Please  initial and return the top sheet to your child’s teacher, indicating that you have had an opportunity to complete the online survey. If you prefer, you may complete the paper survey attached to the letter instead and return it to your child’s elementary school. We appreciate you for taking the time to offer us some feedback about our schools. 

Marlie Schmidt 
Principal, Los Ranchos Elementary 
Amy Shields
Director of Learning and Achievement

Cal Poly Build an Engineer Day

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo collegiate section of the Society of Women Engineers! We would like to invite you to our semi annual Build an Engineer Day (BAE Day) where several engineering clubs host fun, hands on labs such as launching mini rockets and engineering a mechanical hand! This event gives students the opportunity to spend the day on campus and experience multiple engineering activities led by current engineering students and SWE volunteers.

The event will take place on Saturday, May 12th and check in will begin at 8:30 am at Cal Poly’s Advanced Technology Laboratory in the Engineering Plaza. There is NO FEE for a school sign up and a $10 FEE for an individual sign up.

To sign up please fill out the appropriate google form below

School Registration Form

Individual Registration Form

I hope to see you at BAE Day!

Eighties Day

Friday, April 20

Dress in 80s styles!

Pastel shirts with jackets, lace skirts,

shoulder pads, spiky hair, lace gloves,

lace headbands, legwarmers, parachute

pants, oversized sweatshirts…

Los Ranchos Battle of the Books

Please click on the link below to sign up to help with our Battle of Books which is scheduled for Friday, April 27th.

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10c0a4aa4a823a5f49-battle1