Author: Lowell PTA

A successful (and literate) harvest!

~ Lowell PTA

Thank you to everyone who came out Thursday for Harvest Festival/Literacy Night! We had about 100 people there for salsa lessons, pumpkin art, banh mis, free books from Ms. Katherine, and a fun, diverse lineup of literacy activities all over the school. Special thanks to all of our translators and Mr. Skeffington for hosting with a newly donated wireless microphone.

FYI, Ms. Katherine still had many books left at the end of the night—so she’s got enough for any kids who couldn’t make it to still get a free book. She’ll be making that happen in the library over the next couple weeks.

A pumpkin cat preparing to pounce….
(Thank you to M.C. who shared this great picture with us!)

Every cafeteria should have a dragon

~ Lowell PTA

Many thanks to Chris Sondreal (Theo’s dad) for the high-powered hefting and drill-bit mastery involved in getting our Lowell Dragon alighted (alit?) on the cafeteria wall. Make sure you check it out sometime!

According to a longtime student who was kibbitzing nearby, many “FIRE” tickets may get affixed to this eventually. Those reports are unconfirmed.

Dragon Tales: Harvest Festival, Chipotle “Dine Out”

~ Lowell PTA

[This post is a copy of the Dragon Tales newsletter sent 10/22. Sign up on this page to receive Dragon Tales in email.]

This Thursday at 5:30pm, it’s “Fall into Literacy and Fun!”

Also known as “Fall Harvest Festival” and “Literacy Night,” this is a great chance to hang out with other parents and staff, take a dance lesson with Coach T, eat free banh mi sandwiches (from the delicious Lan Hue), create some pumpkin art, and find cool ways to inspire your child to read—including a book giveaway!

Our fabulous teachers and staff have put together a ton of fun reading-based activities—story time with Mr. Skeffington, word games, music, art projects, and “Reader’s Theater” (perform as your favorite character!).

(Lan Hue has also promised to put the jalapeños and a bottle of Sriracha on the side—so you can have a completely non-spicy banh mi. Veggie options, too.)

See you this Thursday, 10/26, 5:30 to 7pm! Get there early, the dancing starts at 5:30.

Volunteers needed: If you can help set up or clean up, email lowellparents@gmail.com.

Continue reading “Dragon Tales: Harvest Festival, Chipotle “Dine Out”” →

The pride of the fleet!

~ Lowell PTA

We put out the call a little while back when the Lowell Food Pantry refrigerator had apparently given up the ghost—and now we’ve got a brand new one, the H.M.S. Frigidaire, pictured below humming away in the cafeteria!

Thank you to everyone who scrambled to find a fridge and look for alternate solutions—and a GIANT THANK-YOU to donor Kathy Cochran, who stepped up and got this beautiful new fridge.

If you’re not familiar with the Food Pantry, this is an ongoing program at Lowell, operated in partnership with the University District Food Bank. Each Friday, volunteers meet in the Lowell cafeteria after the start of school and help distribute weekend-meal bags for Lowell kids. Since over 60% of our students receive free or reduced cost lunch, and approximately a third are housing-insecure (living in shelters or other temporary housing), the Food Pantry is hugely important to us. For some of our kids, these food bags are their only reliable food over the weekend.

(If you’d like to volunteer to help the Food Pantry, contact lowellparents@gmail.com.)

Want to help spread the word about Lowell?

~ Lowell PTA

When you’re talking to people outside of our school community, it often helps to have some quick facts about Lowell.

Our school has changed a lot in the last few years—it now *is* the downtown elementary school, with approximately a third of our kids living in homeless shelters or transitional housing (although that number fluctuates, given the instability of that population). Feel free to share this flier anywhere to help inspire support for Lowell.

Download the flier.

Dragon Tales: Picture Day, “Cookies with Colleen”

~ Lowell PTA

[This post is a copy of the Dragon Tales newsletter sent 10/15. Sign up on this page to receive Dragon Tales in email.]

Time to say cheese!

Don’t forget: Student pictures are this week! Monday (10/16) for pre-K and special ed, Tuesday (10/17) for the rest of K–5. If you haven’t received a picture packet, you should receive it Monday, or you can get one from the office.

As always, you can follow PTA news on Facebook and at www.lowellelementary.org—and if you ever have school-related news or events to share, email lowellparents@gmail.com.

Pies, pies, and more pies! Bring yours on 11/17

Do you love to bake pies? On Friday, November 17, we’ll be having our 4th Annual Pie Giveaway, sending pies home with every staff member at Lowell before the Thanksgiving holiday.

This event was created by Lowell parents who wanted to find a fun way to say “thank you.” You can bake or buy pies to contribute, any kind or flavor you like. (We need about 80 pies total!)

If you’d like to participate or have any questions, please email Andrea at millergirl0330@gmail.com or Jen at jenwhitfordanderson@gmail.com. Thank you, Andrea and Jen, for coordinating this great event!

Continue reading “Dragon Tales: Picture Day, “Cookies with Colleen”” →

Betsy DeVos Counter Rally, 5pm, Fri 10/13

~ Lowell PTA

A lot of families have asked about today’s DeVos counter rally that many of our teachers and members plan to attend. It’s happening in Bellevue at 5pm today (Friday) outside the Hyatt Regency. Here is the latest Seattle Times coverage.

The Washington Education Association is organizing free buses to the event, leaving from Roosevelt, Chief Sealth, and Rainier Beach high schools. Sign up here if you’re hoping to take one of those. The buses will start leaving at 3:30 as they fill up. (Familes are welcome and encouraged to take the buses, just put “Parent” where it says “Position” on the form.) Wear red if you have it!

If you have more questions about the event, read on to see the latest event flier from the Equity in Education Coalition.

Continue reading “Betsy DeVos Counter Rally, 5pm, Fri 10/13” →

Housing for All Coalition

~ Lowell PTA

If you were at the General Meeting last week, you know that our PTA membership voted to formally endorse the Housing for All Platform, created by a coalition that is working to address homelessness in Seattle.

With approximately a third of our students housing insecure (i.e., living in shelters or other temporary housing), this is a hugely important issue to our community. We joined many fellow endorsers, incuding the PTAs of McGilvra and Stevens.

Check out the Housing for All site for more information—especially the Take Action page if you want to know how you can help.