Only three more days until the Fall Festival! Come and join us for a Viking good time in the village of Berk - guaranteed to be a dragon & fun-filled day for the whole family! Bake some cupcakes to drop off at the bake sale table, visit the haunted house, decorate a pumpkin, and get your face painted! It's sure to be a gory good time-be there or be haunted!

For the past several years, the Kenny family (Guy 5th grade, Maya & Amalia 2nd grade) has collected costumes to be given to homeless children so that they have something fun to wear when they go out to trick or treat. Originally, their costume drive was scheduled to end last Friday but they've been given an extra week to collect all they can, and really make a difference. Your costume donation will be distributed to children who participate in the Homeless Children's Playtime Project (HCPP). Last year the Kenny's collected over 400 costumes - enough for all of the children and even some wigs, capes and spare boas for the moms. Let's all pitch in, and make this year as successful as the last.

Last, but certainly not least, we would like to THANK everyone who participated in our September to Remember donation drive last month. Our fundraising goal this year was $120K, quite a bit higher than in years past. So far, your amazing generosity has helped us raise over $130K! These funds will go to good use over the school year, enriching our children's experience at Lafayette. Have a wonderful week, and see you all this Saturday!

Laura & Hope

See HSA board members

Join the HSA

HSA Nominating Committee

This is a great way to get involved in the future of the HSA. We are in need of three or more parents who would like to be on the HSA Nominating Committee. These individuals help find nominees for the HSA Board positions for next school year. They let interested people know what the responsibilities of the positions are and what they need to do in order to be a candidate (we'll give you all the information you'll need). Time commitment for this job is really only a couple of hours a week and your responsibilities are over once candidates are finalized in early April. If interested, please contact Hope Scheller or Laurie Lindsley.

The 2014 - 2015 Lafayette Directory is Here!

The new beautiful green 2014-2015 Lafayette Directories were delivered to your child's teachers this Monday, October 20. Each family will receive one free directory that will be sent home with the oldest child in the family. Additional copies may be purchased in the front office for $5.00.

In addition to family information, this invaluable resource also contains helpful school contact information, a babysitters directory and advertisements from all of the sponsors of the school directory. Please consider supporting the sponsors that support our school!

Technology Update

Greetings Lafayette Community!

I am happy to announce that we have adopted a new typing program at Lafayette Elementary, called Typing Agent. Students in grades 2-5 will be typing 30 minutes per week at school. 1st grade teachers and parents have the option to utilize the program. That being said, students in grades 1-5 are encouraged to access the program at home. Before students are sent home with their login credentials I will be sharing best practices with them during their computer lab classes. I would like to share some of those best practices with the Lafayette community so that together we can instill the proper use of the program and thereby maximizing it's benefit.

Students should begin by completing 2-3 lessons/instruction per login. They will need to earn at least one star to unlock successive levels so they may need to play the same level more than once or replay levels to earn more stars and build fluency.
Students should play games, but should not spend all of their time playing games. They should choose games and levels of play that are appropriate to their typing abilities. For example, some games allow for students to work on just the home row, the top row etc. and other games have students only practicing individual letters.
Whenever possible, students should only look at the screen and not their fingers while completing lessons and games. The idea is that we are learning touch typing and building muscle memory and discouraging the hunt and peck method.

To access the site simply visit the Lafayette Technology Resources Page and scroll down to Typing Agent. Alternatively, you can just bookmark our school's custom URL at: https://lafayette.typingagent.com. Your child's username and password will be sent home in the next few weeks.

As always, if you have any questions about the program please do not hesitate to email me at: [email protected].

Sports X-Treme

Interested in Derek Jeter's years as a Yankee? Have you heard things are looking up in Cleveland for the Cavaliers? Check out the articles in Sports X-Treme published by students at Lafayette.

Sports X-Treme Newsletter

Calling all Bakers!!!

Break out the rolling pins and find your mixer because it's time for the Fall Festival Bake Sale on October 25. Please bring your items individually wrapped and include labels if they contain nuts or are egg/gluten free. Please volunteer at the sign up genius.

The Fall Festival

It is almost that time. What time you ask? It's the Fall Festival!! The Festival will be held on October 25th from 3-5:30 (rain or shine!) with the movie "How to Train Your Dragon 2" from 5:30-7 complete with popcorn and twizzlers. Tickets this year are just $15 ($5 less than last year). We will have 3 moon bounces, face painting, DJ/karaoke, games with lots of great prizes, and your own pumpkin to decorate at the festival and take home. The festival and the movie are included in your price. There will be pizza, beverages and a bake sale for additional cost of $1- $2.

The success of the Festival depends on the generous time given by our great parent community. Please take a look at the Sign-up genius to see what our class is responsible for. Volunteer slots are for 1 hour and are a lot of fun. It's a great way to meet other parents and connect with people you might otherwise not meet. To sign up, please go to: Sign Up Genius.

Potomac Pizza Gives Back To Lafayette

Our first Potomac Pizza night of the year was a great success - THANK YOU LAFAYETTE FAMILIES!

Because of nearly $2,000 in sales last Wednesday night a nice donation is being given back to our school. Let's repeat this great showing during our next Potomac Pizza-Chevy Chase night on April 8, 2015!

Halloween Candy Drive for the Homeless

Remember that mountain of candy you collected last Halloween? Sure it tastes good for a while but wouldn't you like a longer-lasting good feeling? For the fourth year in a row the Lafayette community will be collecting Halloween candy to share with the people who come to Bethesda Cares Homeless Shelter. Each year we collect more and more candy - so much that the people at the shelter are able to give every person who comes in a piece of candy for a whole year! Bring in a bag of candy and get a free smile that will last all day! Candy donations should be brought to the Oasis on Team 3 starting the Monday after Halloween. The kids at Peace Club will be putting the candy into little baggies and making cards to send along with the candy. Thanks for helping us help other!

Questions? Contact Linda Ryden at [email protected]

Lafayette Community Yard Sale

This Saturday, 10/25
10:00 am - Noon

Lafayette Elementary School is going to host a giant community yard sale on Saturday, October 25 from 10:00 am - noon. It's a great opportunity to buy toys, dishes, kid's clothes and baby items. AND you can clean out your closets and rent a space to sell your items.

You have until Thursday, October 23, to purchase a full table space for $50, a half table for $25 or a kid's table for $10 to sell your goods. You keep the proceeds of what you sell at your table and we'll use the funds from table sales to help support our school. Buy a table at www.LafayetteHSA.org.

Come out for a fun community event!

Halloween Community Fun

As you know, this Halloween is a half-day of school. The kids will be in costume, and you'll have time to kill between the morning's fun and the evening's festivities. What to do? Bring your kids, in costume, to Knollwood Military Retirement Residence from 1:30-2:30 and join the Lafayette One World Club in a costume parade, talent show and trick-or-treating extravaganza! The residents love seeing the children in their costumes, and will have plenty of treats to reward the children for their brief and fun community service. If you're interested in having your child(ren) participate in this opportunity, please contact Katie Burke at [email protected] for details.

Community Notices

Parent Organizing Seminar. Do you strive to make your home life more streamlined and organized? Join author and certified parent educator Paige Trevor for a seminar with the tips and tricks you need to know. She will delve into how organized (not perfect) homes support people and families in becoming more fulfilled. Organized parents have more time, energy and a sense of calm to focus on the joys of parenting. You'll go home with both inspirational and practical tips and techniques that can be easily folded into your family's daily routine.

Limited seating available. Wednesday, November 5th from 7:00-9:00 in Bethesda. Tickets, RSVP information, and more details here.

Arts Camps at CREATE Arts Center in downtown Silver Spring. When school is out, art is in at CREATE! Each 'No School Day' Camp features different art adventures. Will it be cartooning? Collage? Painting? Join us to find out! Register online for camps on the upcoming DCPS no school days (Nov 10 & 11 and Dec 5) and Winter Break Art Camp as well. All camps are 9:00 am - 3:00 pm for ages 6-14; before and after care available. www.createartscenter.org

Thank You Lafayette Sponsors!

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our very generous Annual Sponsors for 2014-2015, your continued support is amazing!

Learn more about becoming a Lafayette sponsor.

Make a Submission

Submissions for next week's issue should be emailed to [email protected]. Submissions are due by 3:15 p.m. on Friday. Submissions received after this time will be included in the following issue, unless instructed otherwise. Please keep submissions brief. Longer articles may be truncated at the editor's discretion, with a link to the full text.