Dear Lafayette Community,

Apologies for the very late Sunday newsletter! Maybe it'll go well with your Monday commute/coffee?

So many people have stepped up in the couple weeks! Volunteer power gave us the magic of Donut Dash last weekend (read on for results and pics). Folks have also been raising their hands to help with lunch duty, lost & found, and reading with students. Kids and grown-ups showed our custodial staff lots of love for their appreciation day.

And this weekend, a solid crew of parents staffed the Hardly Strictly parking fundraiser to raise thousands of dollars to support our school (details and pics next newsletter). Truly amazing! Let's keep it up... With so many ways to help, there's room for everyone.

In this week's Dolphin Digest:

💻 Digital Agency: Spirit Days THIS WEEK Plus Resources for All Year and Beyond
🐬 PTA Meeting - October 9th
🚲 Walk & Roll To School Day - October 9th
📣 Spread the Word: Lafayette School Tours!
🍂 Autumn Carnival Preview and HELP NEEDED - October 26th
🍩 Donut Dash Results & Fundraising Prize Reveal! 
📖 Seeking Volunteer Readers! Give Extra 1:1 Help to Students
🗳️ Voter Info - Proposition Endorsements from California PTA
📷 Lately at Lafayette
📅 Calendar at a Glance 
👋 Community (Non-PTA) Corner: Lafayette Neighborhood Trick-or-Treating Map - October 31

This week is Digital Agency Spirit Week at Lafayette! 

Ms. Tong (STEAM teacher) recommends these resources for families year-round:

1) Common Sense Media
2) Digital for Good, by Richard Culatta

And THIS WEEK, kids can dress to match the theme for every day! These will be discussed at school, but you can make more impact by reinforcing them at home.

Monday (10/7)

HAT DAY

Balanced: Wear your thinking cap to reflect on how we BALANCE OUR TIME USING TECHNOLOGY

Tuesday (10/8)

NEON DAY

Informed: Wear neon colors to remind us to always HIGHLIGHT AND VERIFY SOURCES!

Wednesday (10/9)

SILLY SOCKS DAY

Alert: Wear your silliest socks to show how we are learning about OUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS!

Thursday (10/10)

CYBERHERO DAY

Engaged: 

Wear the colors (or logo) of your favorite hero to show how we USE TECHNOLOGY TO BE A FORCE FOR GOOD!

Friday (10/11)

SCHOOL COLORS DAY

Inclusive: 

Wear your school colors to show how we TEAM UP FOR DIGITAL AGENCY!

Please join us for this month's PTA meeting on Wednesday, October 9th at 6pm in the auditorium. 

• Light refreshments!
• Free child care (till 7:30)! 
• Spirit Wear purchase available!
• Fun door prizes for attendees!

In order to be eligible to vote on our motions you must be a paid member of the PTA for a minimum of 30 days. The cost is $10 per member and anyone can join (parents, students, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.). Be sure to join the PTA today!

If you can't join in person, join via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87387233183?pwd=VHA0MlpuMUtsc3dPSTJaazlzU0FsZz09

Meeting ID: 873 8723 3183
Passcode: 933176

Walk/ Roll to School Day is on October 9th. To participate, just walk/bike/skateboard/roller skate to school! This day is a great reminder that we can walk or roll to school on other days, too.

You can also join the Walking Bus. It's extra fun to walk/roll together!

Meet at 7:30 am at one of these locations:

- Balboa/ 30th

- 40th/ Anza

- 36th/ Fulton

Know anyone looking for an elementary school next year? Please let them know that Lafayette is open for school tours!

Just visit bit.ly/lafayettetour to sign up.

Lafayette's beloved Autumn Carnival is back. Here's the preview of all of the fun activities, and you can take your pick(s) of ways to get involved: Volunteer for shifts or leader roles! Donate stuffies for prizes! Bring a donation for the cake walk! Help with your class's teacher table!

Autumn Carnival Oct 26th (12–4pm) will have:

• Inflatable slides and obstacle course

• Various carnival games (for prizes)

• DJ (music)

• Photo station with hay bale pyramid and props

• Pumpkins for sale, pumpkin crafts

• All the activities, food, and beverages from Teacher/Parent tables!

• Cakewalk (nut-free)

• Costume contest

• Wacky Witches Lair (Auditorium)

Volunteers sign-up sheet is HERE! 

Volunteer shifts are designed to leave you plenty of time to enjoy the event with your family.

Help with:

• Setup before the event
• Games/activities/prizes during the event
• Cleanup after the event (for the true heroes)

You can also bake or buy a (nut-free) donation to the Cakewalk.

Details of games and activities will be provided on the day of the event. If you can only do 1 hr, we can still use your help. Just email Autumn Carnival Cochairs Mariela (mariela.pauli@gmail.com) or Priscilla (priscillalindsey81@gmail.com).

WE ALSO NEED 7 MORE LEAD VOLUNTEERS! This year, we are looking for parents that would like to lead part of the event duties. Please take a look and sign up if you are interested. 

Thank you ALL in advance for your participation and time. We are super excited to get the party started!

The Autumn Carnival is collecting gently used stuffies for the game prizes! We will be at our Witch's table at drop off time to take your donations and have the volunteer signup sheet available for those who want to keep on giving.

Dates of Stuffies donation (enjoy some hot cider!)

• Wed Oct 9th at drop off time
• Fri Oct 11th at drop off time
• Wed Oct 16th at drop off time
• Fri Oct 18th at drop off time

Hello Lafayette families,

Thank you to everyone who came out for this year's Donut Dash. It was a HUGE success; we had a record turnout, we raised money for the school and had a fun community event in the process. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Before we put a final bow on this year's Donut Dash, we wanted to share a few additional pieces of information:

The Winners

Please join us in congratulating the following people:

5K - Overall winners (adults: female and male)
- Liz McMillan 
- Leon Sultan 
5K - Overall winners (kids: female and male)
- Orson Comfort
- Sara Gregory
Male 9 and under
- Kai Duarte

Female 9 and under
- Xi Zi Wei

Male 10-12
- Orson Comfort

Female 10-12
- Sara Gregory

Male 13-19
NA

Female 13-19
- Elena Ereso

Male 20-29
NA

Female 20-29
NA

Male 30-39
- Chris Turner

Female 30-39
- Zaya Ts

Male 40-49
- Leon Sultan

Female 40-49
- Liz McMillan

Each of runners listed above will be receiving a gift certificate to Run the Day. We'll be reaching out to you in the coming days to get those to you.

For full results of the 5K, click on this link: https://sweattracker.com/RaceResults/Results/DonutDash2024#

1 Mile - Overall winners
- Julian Chang
- Zuri Summers
- Teddy Sultan

Note: Because the 1 mile race was not timed, we do not have a breakdown by age

Fundraising
Don't stop fundraising! Even though the race is over, you can continue to fundraise until Friday, Oct 11th. We are also excited to announce that the winner of the fundraiser gets two awesome prizes: A Popsicle Party for their own class AND a "Party Certificate" to Presidio Bowl, which is good for one hour of unlimited bowling for you and 5 of your friends (rental shoes included!).

Volunteers
Last but not least, THANK YOU to all the people who volunteered in the weeks leading up to the event as well as on race day. We truly could not have done it without you.  

Until next year...
-The Donut Dash Committee (Kate Scott, Deb Dory, Sarah Doernberg, Alex Blasdel, Julia Johnston and Diana Freeburg)

In case you're wondering how many times you might ask your people for funds this year, this is what to expect: 4 fundraisers, with 2 happening in Fall (Donut Dash and Annual Give) and 2 next Spring (Read-a-thon and Gala/Auction). Hope that helps with planning, and THANK YOU for any/all contributions!

Back by popular demand, it's Lafayette PTA's Volunteer Reader Program! Last year, at the request of our teachers, we arranged for volunteers from the Lafayette community to come and read one-on-one with certain students. We heard rave reviews from the teachers, so we're doing it again this year!   

Could you be a Volunteer Reader? Good news: All you need is patience and 30 minutes once a week, and you're qualified for this role! 

Sign up to be a volunteer reader!

Email lafayetteschoolpta@gmail.com with any questions.

For the November 5, 2024, Statewide General Election: California State PTA, or CAPTA, takes positions on statewide ballot measures that have the potential to significantly impact the lives of California’s children, youth, and families.

CAPTA supports each of the following four measures slated for inclusion on the ballot for the November 5, 2024, Statewide General Election.

• YES on Prop 2 - $10 billion for school bonds
• YES on Prop 3 - Marriage equality
• YES on Prop 4 - $10 billion for climate protection
• YES on Prop 5 - Affordable housing

Studies were undertaken to research the content, background, impact, and PTA authorities associated with each ballot measure; links to these study reports are shown on CAPTA's website, along with links to the ballot measures as posted by California’s Secretary of State.

Download the PDF of CAPTA's 2024 Ballot Measures Flyer to share and advocate locally.

The Donut Dash was SO MUCH FUN! Huge thanks to everyone who ran/walked/rolled, everyone who volunteered, and especially to Kate Scott for making the whole thing happen! An event with so many moving pieces in Golden Gate Park is NOT easy to organize, even though Kate made it look that way once again. 👏👏👏👏👏

OCTOBER 7-11

-Digital Agency Spirit Week

OCTOBER 9

- Walk & Roll to School Day

- PTA Meeting @ 6pm - Lafayette Auditorium, childcare provided

OCTOBER 14

- NO SCHOOL - Indigenous People's Day

OCTOBER 16

- Earthquake Drill @ 10:40am

OCTOBER 26

- Autumn Carnival

OCTOBER 31

- Halloween Festival

NOVEMBER 6

- Secure Drill @ 10:40am

Community announcements are shared as a service to our members and are not from the PTA. Do you have events, resources, or other info to share with the community? Email lafayetteschoolpta@gmail.com to request a spot in the Dolphin Digest.

When: Thursday October 31st, 5-8:00pm

Where: Richmond District

This year’s 🎃 Halloween Trick or Treating 🎃 encourages our students' love of costumes (and treats!) while building friendships in our community. 

Visit houses in our neighborhood instead of the craziness of Lake street and Hellvedere, and encourage community bonding (as well as exercise). Here's how:

1. Fill out this form by the end of the day Friday, October 11th, to be added to the address list, map, and suggested route.
2. Prepare treats you'd like to leave out for Trick or Treaters to take. Savory food, water bottles, and non-food items also welcome!
   Decorate a bowl of treats (nut free!) to leave on your porch if you plan to be out walking the route.
3. Keep an eye out for the address list and map in your email on Friday, October 18th.
4. On Thursday, October 31st, set your labeled treat bowl out by 5:00pm.
5. After an early dinner, print out the address list, map, or suggested route, don your costume, grab a tote bag and a flashlight, put on your walking shoes, and head out to enjoy our neighborhood decorations along with some treats! Hopefully you'll see friends along the way.

The Trick or Treating might continue well after dark, but our route will most likely wrap up by 8 p.m. so we can put our treat bowls away before bedtime. The earliest Trick or Treater gets the first pick!

Please email us at atimandatiw@gmail.com with any questions.

Thanks!

John, Stephanie, Tara, and Aidan

Thanks for reading this week.

Go Dolphins! 🐬

Patricia Wada

VP, Communications 2023–25

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Lafayette Elementary PTA

501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization

Tax ID# 94-6172049