Ramblewood Elementary has been teaching Coral Springs kids since 1976, and on Monday it throws itself a birthday party. The school at 8950 Shadow Wood Boulevard is marking its 50th anniversary on Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to noon, with the Sawgrass Nature Center's petting zoo, face painting, a bounce house and trucks, according to the school's October newsletter.

A party on a day off

The timing is deliberate. Monday is an employee planning day at the school, so there are no classes, and the school's own calendar lists the Rams 50th Anniversary Celebration in that slot. That turns what could have been a quiet day at home into a morning out for the whole family, with the animals and the bounce house doing the heavy lifting for the youngest guests.

The invitation in the newsletter, from Principal Dacyany Ibarrondo and Assistant Principal Gregory Charlotin, is addressed to Ramblewood families. If you are a former Ram, a former parent or a neighbor who wants to stop by, the front office at 754-322-8150 can tell you how open the gates will be.

Fifty years of Rams

Ramblewood's anniversary logo carries the year 1976, which makes it nearly as old as many of the neighborhoods it serves. The city itself was barely a teenager then, chartered in 1963 and still growing west, one new subdivision at a time. Schools like Ramblewood were how those new subdivisions became neighborhoods: the place where families met at the bike rack, and where the first class pictures were taken.

The school has kept a strong reputation through those decades. It earned Five Star School and Golden School Award honors from 2017 through 2020, recognitions that go to schools with heavy parent and volunteer involvement. And the current staff has its own reasons to celebrate this fall: Ms. Leonard was named the school's Teacher of the Year and Mrs. Waserstein its School-Related Employee of the Year, according to the newsletter.

A busy October for the school

The anniversary is the start of a full month at Ramblewood. The Ram Review lists a dual language show in the cafeteria on Oct. 15, a fall festival parade in the east parking lot on the morning of Oct. 23, and a trunk-or-treat fall social on the evening of Oct. 30. The administration also reports that early assessments show students ahead of where they were at this point last year in most grade levels, which is the kind of news a school likes to carry into a milestone year.

Why it is worth a stop

Fifty years is a long run for any institution in a city this young. For anyone who went to Ramblewood in the late 1970s and 1980s and still calls Coral Springs home, Monday is a chance to see the place again and show the next generation where it started. For everyone else with a preschooler and a free morning, a petting zoo and a bounce house at a neighborhood school is hard to beat.

Ramblewood Elementary is at 8950 Shadow Wood Blvd., Coral Springs. The celebration runs Monday, Oct. 12, from 10 a.m. to noon.