Principal Communication

Thank you to everyone who helped make last Friday’s Movie Night a success! It is always fun to have families gathered in the school for special events and we appreciate all the volunteers who work to them happen. We enjoyed celebrating students who walked or biked to school on Wednesday. We hope it inspired families to do more non-car commutes now that the weather is improving. Next week is Staff Appreciation Week in Seattle Public Schools. I feel incredibly honored to work with this amazing staff at Lawton! Our staff works hard to create a warm, welcoming, and safe school community that is focused on both the academic and social growth of all students. I’m impressed how our

Well, it’s official – I am honored and delighted to be able to stay at Lawton in the permanent position as Principal. I want to thank all the students, families, and staff who have shown me the ropes at Lawton and welcomed me so warmly these last months. I’m very excited for all the learning, joy, and collaboration that lies ahead, and feel so lucky to be part of the Lawton WAVE! I also want to give a huge shout out to Mrs. Cooper, Mr. Peters, and our amazing 5th grade students and teachers for a wonderful music concert this week that showcased their hard work and talents – it was a magical evening! Spring Refresh With the

April is National Literacy Month and at Lawton our staff and students have been highlighting books and poetry in lots of fun ways – from a book character scavenger hunt around the school, our dress like your favorite character day, to our wonderful “caught reading” photo bulletin board. Adding to this theme, next week we celebrate National Library Week. We are so grateful to have Audra Gallegos as our Lawton librarian at Lawton! She is dedicated to keeping our collection fresh and relevant for students, teaching research and inquiry skills, and developing our students’ love of reading. Your plans for next year (K – 4th grade families only) It’s the time of year when we are planning for

Our hallways are filled with book characters, the trees in the loading zone are in full bloom, students are excited about their WAVE store purchases, and Carol McKinney is making beautiful watercolors with 3rd – 5th grade students (K-2 students will work with our artist in residence in May). All in all, it’s been a joyful send off for Spring Break. We’ll look forward to seeing you all again on Monday, April 17th! Volunteer Needs Roller blade helpers. Mr. Peters and Ms. Collis would love parent help getting the equipment from our roller blade unit sorted and stored for next year. If you’re able/willing to help match skates, create bags of pads, and flag equipment that needs repair,

Spring is a time of renewal and hope; the sun comes out and we can feel the possibilities. I’ve appreciated watching possibilities become projects in the past few weeks. It’s inspiring. Ms. Jessica, our COVID support and lunch/playground supervisor, noticed the reader board was fuzzy and green in places it shouldn’t be and the next thing we knew she was scrubbing it clean and trimming the branches that were making it hard to read. A Lawton student leader brainstormed the possibility of a movie night and now, with the help of our PTA, plans are moving forward for a community event on April 28th. This is how the magic happens. People see a need and we work together

There was plenty to celebrate at Lawton this week – a bit more daylight, third graders performing at Benaroya hall, students rollerblading in the gym, leprechauns causing mischief in downstairs classrooms, and heaps of fun STEAM activities, culminating in our fun and interactive assembly and class visits from the Pacific Science Center! I want to thank all the families and Lawton staff who helped us make our 1st ever Pi Night such a fun and tasty evening! It was so wonderful to see students playing games with each other and with families, and we appreciate all the delicious pies that were contributed! Looking to continue the science, tech, engineering, art, and math fun at home? Try to memorize

The period between Mid-Winter Break and Spring Break is one if our longest, uninterrupted stretches of learning and Lawton students are doing exciting things with this time! Students are engaging in research, collaboration, and creative problem-solving all over the school. Kindergarteners have been doing activities related to the 100th day of school. 1st graders have been creatively exploring gymnastics stations in PE. Second grade’s great conversations about Black History in February have transitioned to Women’s History in March. You can now ask a Lawton 3rd grader for PowerPoint tips – they’ve been learning to make well-designed and visually attractive presentations to share their research on animals. 4th graders are researching countries and making persuasive and well-supported arguments in

Lawton celebrates STEAM Week (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) March 13 – 17th and we are getting excited about it! We’d love your support with this fun week filled with special learning activities. Here’s how you can help: Get your student excited about the Cardboard Challenge Mark your calendar for Pi Night and sign up to bring a pie Sign up to help with exhibits during our Friday Science Center extravaganza Cardboard Challenge Cardboard Challenge is optional and starts now! You can begin planning and building your creation right away. Check out our flyer here. Students who choose to participate should plan to bring their creations to school to share on Thursday, March 16th. Pi Night Mark your

We enjoyed celebrating Valentine’s Day this week. Thank you to all the volunteers who donated time and treats to classroom celebrations, and to the PTA bakers who treated our staff to sweets as well! We hope next week’s mid-winter break gives you quality time with the ones you love. We look forward to seeing students back in class on Monday, February 27th. Global Reading Challenge Congratulations to the fourth and fifth grade readers who completed the Global Reading Challenge on Wednesday! Team Snow Leopards (Dalia, Eloise, Lucy, Madeline, Marte, Naiya, and Serenity) had the highest score. They will travel to the Seattle Central library in March to represent Lawton in a competition against other teams from around the

This week marked the beginning of the second half of the school year. We are off to a great start at Lawton and looking forward to a strong second act!  On Tuesday evening, our fourth graders showcased their singing and instrumental skills. Thank you, Mrs. Cooper, for organizing this concert. Yesterday, all students watched a Book It Theatre performance of “Tiara’s Hat Parade” which connected with our Black Lives Matter at School Week lessons. Thank you, PTA, for your partnership bringing in this artistic performance. The Seattle Education Association (SEA), the SPS Ethnic Studies Task force, and community partners have developed Black Lives Matter at School Week lessons to support educators and students. These lessons offer important insights