No School on Friday, November 12, 2021
Dear SPS Families
Seattle Public Schools will be closed on Friday, November 12. We are aware of an unusually large number of SPS staff taking leave on Friday, and do not believe we have adequate personnel to open schools with the necessary environment for high-quality learning.
This is a change from the published schedule, and we recognize the late notice creates challenging circumstances for many families.
This learning day will be added to the end of the 21/22 school year to ensure all students have access to the full number of educational hours.
Sincerely,
Seattle Public Schools
Principal Newsletter – November 5, 2021
On the first Friday of each month we celebrate the spirit of Joining the WAVE at Lawton. Students and staff dress up for spirit days and trade their WAVE tickets for items from the WAVE store. Today’s silly socks were such fun! As we move into the gloomier winter months these traditions keep our Lawton Dolphins joyfully connected to one another. Thank you for being an important part of our community.
Lost and found donation timing – and a plea for names on jackets
Please take time to check the lost and found when you are on campus. We put it outside the main entrance. We sorted through more than 50 items and only found names on four of them. Please,
Principal Newsletter – October 29, 2021
This week at Lawton, 2nd and 3rd grade students read scary stories in the library, 4th and 5th graders practiced their composition skills in music, and Kindergarten and 1st graders jumped rope in PE. The time students spend learning from specialists is key to our educational programming. Ask your students what they did in music, PE, or library this week to learn more.
Morning Drop Off
With bus service suspended and families trying to negotiate safe and timely drop off for 300+ students in a 15-minute window, it is more important than ever that we work together to make morning traffic flow smoothly. Please arrive early and stay alert (phones away please). The most frantic time for drop off is between 7:50
Yearbook Cover Design Contest!
Calling all 5th grade artists!
Behind the scenes, we are already working on the 2021-22 yearbook and would love to get our students more involved. Since it’s their final year at Lawton, all 5th grade students are invited to our Cover Design Contest, grades K through 4 will be the jury. The winning design will be printed on the cover, all other submissions will be featured throughout the yearbook. We hope to make this a new tradition at Lawton. This way, all students will eventually get a chance at submitting their artwork.
5th grade parents, be on the lookout for more details in your student’s take home folders and in emails from
Dinner with Geni’s Ethiopian!
Our next takeout dinner is hosted by Lawton family owned Geni’s Ethiopian! Pre-order a traditional Ethiopian meal for pickup on THURSDAY OCTOBER 28th! 20% of all orders will be donated back to Lawton. Click here to order today!
Principal Newsletter – October 22, 2021
Lawton students and staff participated in the Great American ShakeOut Drill on Thursday. Everyone did a great job when asked to drop, cover, and hold. Ask your student to show you how – and you can practice at home!
Counselor Corner
Every six weeks, our counselor Erica Barry rotates through all Lawton classrooms to do a social emotional learning lesson. Read below to learn more about lessons by grade level for the latest cycle:
- K: Mood Meter – We learned about the Mood Meter and all the different big emotions we can feel. We played “guess the feeling” based on facial cues and learned strategies for how to guess what people are feeling even when they have masks on!
- 1: Meta-Moment
Direct Drive 2021 is Live!
Our Dolphin Dreams direct drive fundraiser is an important opportunity for the community to come together to support programs such as library books & support, school counselor, student technology licenses and so much more. The primary goal of the Dolphin Dreams campaign is to reach 100% participation so that all members of our community come together to support the students, teachers, staff, and families at the school. Please participate today!
Principal Newsletter – October 15, 2021
One of the joys of coming back to school is in person music and PE. Ms. Cooper and Mr. Peters are curating engaging and safe learning experiences that maximize learning new skills while adhering to our health and safety protocols. Ask your student about what they learned this week!
Family Night October 19th – Focus on Positive Communication
Student: Fine.
Sound familiar? Want more? Join Erica Barry, school counselor, on Tuesday, October 19th at 7pm for a family night focused on positive communication. Ms. Barry will share five tips for effective conversations with your student(s). The PTA will also do a brief overview of how they support Lawton and what you can do to help.
The link was sent in
Drop Off and Pick Up Reminder
Thank you for working with us to keep drop off and pick up safe for all students. With one of our bus routes still not running and rainy weather, we still need your help in getting all students safely and on time to school. Please continue to:
- Drive slow and safe
- Watch for pedestrians
- Stay off your phone
- Avoid stopping in the circle
- Use 27th for quick unloading only
There is absolutely no parking in the circle or loading zone. We recognize that cars queue while they wait for the line to move. Ideally, people arriving prior to dismissal
Principal Newsletter – October 8, 2021
We hope your family is having a safe and joyful Friday. While your students are home, Lawton staff are busy planning for strong and engaging math instruction, attending assessment trainings, collaborating as teaching teams, and working on an all-school student engagement project.
Students spend approximately 1,000 hours at school each year. We want to make sure those hours are filled with Lawton students feeling seen, known, and loved. Research shows that strong teacher-student relationships are associated with short- and long-term improvements in academic engagement, attendance, grades, positive behavior, and graduation rates.
Lead by our PBIS Committee, Lawton staff will be taking time to look at photos of each and every student in our school to see how many adults have an established,
Registration for fall After School Enrichment opens this Friday September 18 at 7am! Browse class options via the link in our bio.
ASE is made possible by our Lawton PTA - if you haven’t joined the PTA yet, you can do so now via the link in our bio!
🦗tinyurl.com/m57scye7
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We’ve hit our $60k goal prize and unlocked a Popsicle Party for all our Lawton Dolphins! 🍡 Details to come, but our kids will be enjoying their treat soon. ☺️
🗓️ There’s only TEN days left to donate to our 2026-2027 Direct Drive! If you haven’t already, please donate to support the work our Lawton PTA is doing!
🪩 Once we hit $100k, our kids will earn a School-Wide Glow Party!
Register and donate via the link in our bio.
We’ve hit 25% ($30k) of our Direct Drive fundraising goal! 🥳 Our kids have earned a Pajama & Stuffed Animal Day at school - details to come! 🙏 A GIANT high-five and a mega THANK YOU to everyone who has already donated! You are absolutely amazing! ⏳ We only have a couple of weeks left to smash our grand total goal of $130,000, so let’s keep the momentum going! 🚀 Pro Tip: Don’t forget to check if your employer offers a company match! It’s basically like a real-life money multiplier spell that stretches your dollar twice as far! Let’s power
Kids’ hoodies are back in stock! 🛍️ Check out our Spirit Wear Fundraiser on Custom Ink and load up on Lawton gear for back-to-school!
www.customink.com/fundraising/lawton-spirit-wear-fall-2026
We are SO back, Dolphins! 🐬 School is in and our PTA has already launched our 2026-2027 Direct Drive to fund this year’s budget! 60% of our annual budget covers staff salaries, including front office staff, recess and lunch monitors, and academic interventionists for all grade levels. If you’ve been following the negotiations between SPS and SEA, then you already know what a hot button topic this already is. We’re proud to have such an active and invested community, passionate about making our school the best it can be for our kids. Please register and donate what you can to
We’re ready when you are! Happy back to school season! 🍎✏️🎒
The Lawton PTA remains neutral during contract negations. We encourage all parties to continue doing the hard work of contract negations in good faith.
(Thank you to our friends at Whitman Middle School PTSA for crafting this message!)




