May 2, 2024

Dear Lowell Families,

Happy May! Here are some updates from the school.

Islandwood/5^th Grade Camp: Our 5^th grade students will be going to Islandwood for an overnight camping and outdoor school field trip next week (May 5-8). Islandwood is located on Bainbridge Island. Thank you to Ms. Laura and Teacher Summer for their tremendous planning and coordination and thank you, Outdoor Schools of Washington, who provided us with grant funding to ensure this trip is free for all families.

Smarter Balanced Testing: Washington state requires all districts to administer the Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) each spring for students in grades 3-8. This assessment has both an English Language Arts and Math test. Fifth graders are also taking a science assessment. Please visit our school website for specific testing dates for your child(ren). Click here for schedule. If you have any questions, please email Ms. Woods, Assistant Principal.

Mark Your Calendar for Math Night:  Lowell is hosting a family math night on May 23^rd from 4:30-6:00 pm. We will gather as a community and celebrate Lowell, math, and each other. We will provide dinner and have lots of math games to play. A bus will be provided for any downtown families to/from event.  The bus will pick up downtown at 4:15 PM at the northeast corner at 8^th Avenue and Blanchard Street (Mary’s Place-Regrade). After the event, the bus will leave Lowell at 6:15 PM to return to the same stop. We hope to see you there!

Lowell PTA Updates:

• THIS SUNDAY, MAY 5th, 2 PM: This will be our last park play day of the year at Cascade Park. Snacks, crafts, and community!
• NEXT WEDNESDAY, May 8th, 5:30 – 7 PM: PTA General meeting – Lowell Elementary Library. We’ll have burritos from Chipotle for dinner as we finalize plans for our spring beautification event and teacher appreciation week and start looking ahead to next year. If you think you might want to get more involved next year or even join the Board(!) this meeting is the one to join. Kiddos welcome as always.
• SUNDAY, May 19th, 10 AM – 2 PM: Annual spring beautification/ Lowell clean-up event. Join us in community as we plant bulbs, pull weeds, pick up trash, draw with chalk, and help Lowell sparkle! We’ll have delicious banh mi for lunch and will have ways to help for all ages and abilities.

Staff Appreciation Week (May 13-17): Lowell administrators, PTA, and community partners will be honoring this dedicated, amazing staff the week of May 13. If you are able to help volunteer on Monday, May 13 or Tuesday, May 14 (AM), please email Kristin Kryka at kskseattle@gmail.com. If that is not possible, we’d love it if your students would write or draw some special cards for each of the staff members who make a positive difference in the lives.

Consistent attendance makes a difference for our students and community and is correlated with high levels of student achievement. Thank you so much for your partnership helping get your students to school, ready for learning and fun each day. 

Have a great weekend,

Ms. Chelsea Dziedzic (pronounced Jay-Jick), Lowell Principal

Ms. Antonia Woods, Lowell Assistant Principal