In addition to those school-wide initiatives, each grade had their own specialized focus.

Kindergarten students collect coins each month in order to buy essential needs for residents of LA Family Housing at the end of the year. In addition to learning how to sort and count, the children learn the difference between “needs” and “wants.” Pavilions partnered with us to help the students and parent volunteers shop for those in need!

Spearheaded by a first grade parent, the students were introduced to an amazing grassroots organization called HODG (Hang Out Do Good). After collecting the items needed, the class assembled PB&J sandwiches, along with healthy snacks and a dessert, to make sack lunches for those in our community with food insecurity.

At Los Encinos, every grade level develops leadership skills through community engagement and service learning. Partnering with local organizations on meaningful, age-appropriate projects allows students to connect classroom learning to real-world impact—fostering empathy, responsibility, and a spirit of giving.

In 2024-2025, the entire school rallied behind meaningful projects, such as the Gently-Used Costume Drive for LA Family Housing, the Candy Drive for SOVA, the Veterans’ Day Bags for Meals on Wheels, the Blanket/Sock Drive for New Friends Homeless Center, the Holiday Workshops for LA Family Housing, and this year we joined the Jesse Gabriel Day of Service which benefits several San Fernando Valley charitable causes!  In addition to those school-wide initiatives, each grade had their own focus.

Kindergarten students collect coins each month in order to buy essential needs for residents of LA Family Housing at the end of the year. In addition to learning how to sort and count, the children learn the difference between “needs” and “wants.” Pavilions partnered with us to help the students and parent volunteers shop for those in need!

Spearheaded by a first grade parent, the students were introduced to an amazing grassroots organization called HODG (Hang Out Do Good). After collecting the items needed, the class assembled PB&J sandwiches, along with healthy snacks and a dessert, to make sack lunches for those in our community with food insecurity.

Second graders held food drives to benefit the North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry. In the spring, the class gets to visit the food pantry and help organize bags for distribution.

Third-grade students learned about the LA River in their social studies curriculum. They partnered with Friends of the LA River to participate in a water lab, create water filtration devices, and make native seed pods to later grow in our Los Encinos native garden. In addition, as a STEM project, they made cement step stones for the garden!

Fourth-grade students, who learned about landforms and California, visited TreePeople in the fall. Inspired by the field trip, the students created items to sell at the annual “Shade Sale,” to raise money for TreePeople and their commitment to build a greener, shadier and more water-secure environment.

Each year, our fifth graders partner with Para Los Niños, a school in downtown Los Angeles dedicated through education and services to helping the city’s most vulnerable children and families. Our students foster a buddy relationship with their kindergarten students by creating literacy centers and reading them books that we end up gifting to them and their library!

Sixth-graders created their own service-learning projects by researching a passion, writing about it, and creating TED talks to inspire the action piece. They held a Service Day, where they presented their TED talks and led the kindergarten through fifth-grade students in service-learning activities benefiting their chosen organizations.