March 2, 2025
IN THIS ISSUE
- Principal’s Message
- Breakfast/Lunch Menu
- School News: Bingo Night, Heritage Day
- PTA News: PTA Meeting
- SCEF News: Starlight Gala
- Community News: San Carlos Centennial, Camelot and Camelittle
IMPORTANT DATES
Wed, 3/5: Walk to School Wednesday
Fri, 3/7: Bingo Night 6-8 p.m.
Wed, 3/12: PTA Social and Meeting
Mon, 3/17-Fri, 3/21: Ability Awareness Week
Wed, 3/19: Heritage Day 8:25 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Mon, 3/24-Thur, 4/3: SCEF Starlight Gala Silent Auction
Fri, 3/28: SCEF Starlight Gala
Principal’s Message
Dear White Oaks Families,
Survey Reminder
As partners in education, your feedback and insights are invaluable to us. We're committed to continuously improving our school community, and your participation in our upcoming survey is crucial in this endeavor.
Click here for the survey link. If you have multiple children at WO, please complete one survey per family.
Warmly,
Leah Scholer, Principal
Weekly Menu
School News
Ruby Bridges' Poster Contest
In honor of Black History Month, students are invited to create a work of art inspired by Ruby Bridges’ courage and the lasting impact of her actions. San Mateo County students from any grade should submit an audio file, visual piece, video, poem, creative story, or essay to SMCOE SRTS. The winning pieces will be shared across San Mateo County to celebrate the next Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day on November 14th, 2025. Submissions are due by March 15th and must include the student’s name, grade, and school. Please see the attached flyer for more information.
Lunchtime Playpod Volunteers Needed for Winter and Spring
We're looking for volunteers to help run the Playpod for two shifts on Tuesdays or Thursdays (11:50am-12:20 p.m. and 12:20-12:45 p.m.). Our Playpod is a large container of "loose parts" that learners convert into all kinds of amazing designs-- forts, restaurants, houses, endless ramps and more (learn more here). Parent volunteers will help for 30-minute shifts to set up signs and materials, invite kids to join and play respectfully, responsibly and safely, and clean up a few minutes before the post-lunch recess period ends. Please sign up!
Chess Wizards at White Oaks Starting in April!
Join Chess Wizards this semester for tons of challenging chess lessons, exciting games, and cool prizes. You'll improve your chess skills, and work out your most powerful muscle - your brain! Our classes are geared to suit children of all skill levels; from chessling to checkmate artist, students will build upon their knowledge through lessons, variation games and more! More than just a game of winning and losing, we make learning chess fun! Class meets weekly on Tuesdays from 2:30-3:30 p.m. starting April 15. Cost is $274 for 8 classes. Register at www.chesswizards.com.
Sign Up for Heritage Day!
Sign up here to come and share your heritage with our students at our 3rd Annual White Oaks’ Heritage Day on Wednesday, Mar. 19 to celebrate our school’s diversity! Families from TK-3rd Grade are invited to host a table about your heritage and display things like photos, maps, flags, landmarks, food, dress up in traditional clothes/costumes etc. The event is from 8.25am - 12.30 p.m. Deadline for signing up is Fri, March 7th!
An information session will be held via Zoom on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7.30 p.m. Meeting details here
Meeting ID 9858388772 / Passcode 002401
We need musicians! Do you or does anyone you know play a culturally relevant instrument? Please drop us an email. Contact Barbara Taylor ([email protected]) with any questions and/or if you’re interested in helping organize the event.
Piano Class at White Oaks with Hummingbird Music School Starting in April!
Does your child want to learn how to play piano, in a fun group environment? Hummingbird Music School's popular after-school Piano Class is now enrolling for Spring Session! Students will learn the fundamentals of piano, including note-reading, hand position, chord vocabulary, and rhythm, in a relaxed and supportive environment that emphasizes fun. Each child is provided with their own keyboard, headphones, and lesson book. Parents can track their children’s progress online through Hummingbird’s partnership with MySkillChart. Class meets weekly on Thursdays from 2:30-3:20 p.m. Apr 17-Jun 5 in Room 5. Cost is $50 per class and is open to K-3.
Read more and register here.
White Oaks Owls Soar at Stanford Day at the Ballpark!
Join us for our annual White Oaks Stanford Day at the Ballpark on March 22 at 2 p.m. at Sunken Diamond! This beloved tradition brings together students, families, and alumni for an afternoon of baseball and school spirit as we cheer on the Cardinal. Wear your White Oaks gear, bring your Owl pride, and enjoy a fun-filled day with our community. Don’t miss this special event—see you at the ballpark!
Buy Tickets here.
Walk to School Wednesday
Please join us for Walk to School Wednesday on March 5. Charms will be given to students who walk, roll, ride, or scoot to school! Walk to School Wednesday takes place the first Wednesday of every month.
PTA News
Bingo Night
Please SAVE THE DATE of March 7 for the White Oaks BINGO Night from 6-8 p.m.! All White Oaks families are welcome to attend and to play Bingo. There will be Bingo rounds, music, prizes, and pizza will also be provided.
Please RSVP at this link here for pizza headcount.
If you would like to help volunteer to help hand out pizza (you get AYCE as a volunteer!), co-host the event, or if your child has an older sibling no longer at White Oaks who would like to help as an emcee and bingo caller, please sign up here!
Recruit, Refresh, Reconnect - PTA Social Wednesday 3/12 @ 5 p.m.
Please join us Wednesday, March 12th at 5 p.m. at the Romeo House (149 Alberta Ave.) for a PTA social. Mix and mingle with parents, and learn more about the PTA and how you can get involved. Our PTA plays a crucial role in supporting our school and enriching the experience for our students. To continue our mission effectively, we need passionate individuals like you to join our team. Whether you have ideas to share, skills to offer, or simply a desire to make a difference, there's a place for you in our PTA. Feel free to bring along friends who might be interested in learning about the PTA. You can RSVP here.
Our March PTA meeting will start at 6 p.m. following the social. We hope to see you! Questions? Contact Kohar Kojayan ([email protected]) or Jennie Romeo ([email protected]).
Help your child get a tree sapling to celebrate Earth Week
Reserve by Mar 15 your child's free sapling made available through the nonprofit Neighborhood Forest. Trees will be delivered to us on campus on or around Earth Day (Apr 22) and we’ll arrange to get the trees in the hands of your children to plant at your homes. Exact species will be revealed in early April; 2024 was a black mission fig. Feel free to share the link with others. Children do not have to attend White Oaks to receive a free tree.
Register here.
SCEF News
Starlight Gala Friday, March 28, 2025
Tickets for our annual Starlight Gala Dinner and Auction went on-sale last Friday Feb. 28 at 10am! Held this year at Domenico Winery in San Carlos, come join your friends and celebrate with dinner, drinks, our popular Starlight Raffle, a fast and fun Live Auction, Fund-A-Need, Heads & Tails... and a Dance Party! Click here to purchase tickets
The winning ticket for the Starlight Raffle will be drawn and announced during the March 28, 2025 event but you don’t need to be present to win! Order tickets here.
NEW! Real Estate Sponsorship Program
There is still time to sign up to be an inaugural real estate sponsor of SCEF. Contact [email protected] for how you can support San Carlos public schools while promoting your business.
Community News
SCSD Students Take the Stage!
Take a magical journey filled with fantasy and laughs March 7-9 at the San Carlos Children's Theater production of Camelot and Camelittle. Featuring over 20 students from five SCSD schools, this live stage adventure follows spunky young Ruth as she sets off on a quest with her eccentric dragon-dreaming lizard to form her own queendom after a hilarious failed attempt to join King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table. Filled with talking animals, magical spells and lots of royal fun, Camelot and Camelittle will charm the whole family! Reserve your seats today!
Ability Awareness Week starts March 17-21
Throughout the San Carlos School District, at all levels, we will be celebrating Ability Awareness Week. Our shared mission this week will be to help one another promote understanding and appreciation of how inclusive we are and can hope to be across a range of differences in our students, including neurodivergent individuals and those with ability/learning differences.
During Ability Awareness Week, students will have a chance to engage in a set of common experiences through activities already taking place on campus to spark discussion, increased understanding and to celebrate our differences. SEDAC (Special Education District Advisory Council) strives to educate our students and learning communities about ways to honor and include the unique strengths and many differences each member of our community contributes. SEDAC takes a leading role in helping us all take an assets-based, strength-first approach when considering any individual person, before compassionately including and accommodating our differences and limitations.
Please join us for the district-wide Ability Awareness Week Movie Night on Friday, March 21 at Heather Elementary School. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the movie, Inside Out 2, starts at 6:30 p.m. Popcorn will be served and there will be door prizes for attendance. Please bring blankets and pillows.
Parent Education Opportunities
Mark your calendars for these terrific events coming up in March!
NEW! Jess Lahey, teacher, speaker, and NY Times bestselling author of The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation, joins us for The Gift of Failure: Increasing Motivation, Competence and Self-Efficacy (March 12).
NEW! In this Neurodiversity Education Series webinar, Emily Kircher-Morris, LPC, author of Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools, offers Helping Neurodivergent Kids Manage "All the Feels" (March 19).
PUPS event! Bill Stixrud, PhD, and Ned Johnson, national bestselling authors of The Self-Driven Child and What Do You Say?, will discuss their new book, The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child (March 27).
Visit the Parent Venture Series of Upcoming Events page for more information.
- Parent Venture Series Events
PTA CORNER
Join the White Oaks PTA. Your membership matters and helps support programs and events for our students and teachers.
A percentage of your purchases will automatically be donated to the White Oaks PTA — at no cost to you!
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