Los Altos School District Weekly Newsletter - click here

Springer Buzz!

August 30th, 2013

In This Issue:

·         Calendar Dates

·         Letter from the Principal

·         News and Announcements

·         Parent Education Opportunities

·         Student Extracurricular Activities

Quick Dates for your Calendar

·         August 30, Friday:  Minimum Day

·         August 30, Friday:  Ice Cream Social after school

·         September 2, Monday:  No School - Labor Day

·         September 4, Wednesday:  PTA Meeting ​8:45am-10am in the Teacher's Staff Room.

·         September 18, Wednesday:  Picture Day!

·         September 19, Thursday:  Coffee with the Principal

·         October 12, Saturday: Walkathon

·         October 25, Friday: Coffee with the Principal

·         October 31, Thursday: Annual Costume Parade

Letter from the Principal

What's the Buzz?!

Welcome to the Buzz- Springer's weekly online newsletter.  Formerly known as the Star, our newsletters puts parents in touch with all the news of Springer.

First, why the newsletter name change?  Since I've been principal, Springer has been known as the Super Stars AND the Stingers.  Over the past 5 years, our image has been moving over more towards the Bee.  Our mascot, named Sting, is a bee, our Junior Olympics T-shirts show us as the Stingers, and our school logo shows the bee.  We'll always have the star in our logo; it's just part of our history.  But, I think it's important we begin the year knowing that we are the mighty Springer Stingers!

It gives me great pleasure to report that the start of school has been wonderful.  With Back-to-School Night behind us, we are in full swing.  The campus is buzzing, the kids are sweet as honey, and the teachers are busy as bees.   I can't express enough how excited I am for this school year.

I know a lot of our parents are excited about the school year too.   If you are, you can help Springer win a friendly district wide competition that Superintendent Jeff Baier has offered.   See his note below:

Good afternoon LASD families --

Welcome to the 2013-14 school year.  This year Los Altos School District is on the road to extraordinary!  Incredible opportunities await every student as we continue to revolutionize learning.  We are working to reach every community member to share the great work going on in LASD.  In addition to regular email communications, we are pressing hard on the use of social media. Make sure you don't miss any district news by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

To help increase our capacity to communicate through social media, we are engaging in a friendly school competition:

Each LASD school community will have a 24-hour period to generate as many new Facebook likes/Twitter followers as possible (see schedule below)

Monday, August 26: Almond

Tuesday, August 27: Blach

Wednesday, August 28: Covington

Thursday, August 29: Egan

Friday: August 30: Gardner

Tuesday, September 3: Loyola

Wednesday, September 4: Oak

Thursday, September 5: Santa Rita

Friday, September 6: Springer

- During the competition period we will take counts of new followers at 8:00a daily

- A reminder email will be sent out to your school community the day prior to your assigned day

- Winners will be announced on Facebook and Twitter on Monday, September 9

Join in the fun!  Please help spread the word in your school community and your neighborhood.  LASD is engaging in nationally-recognized work and we are proud to share the learning going on in our classrooms!

As you can see, Springer's big day is Friday, September 6th.  I will send some email reminders to you as we get close to the 6th to be ready to "like" LASD on Facebook and become a Twitter follower  of the district on that day.  The LASD Twitter feed is @lasdk8.  But, don't sign up until September 6!

Did you know that Springer has its own Twitter feed.  You can follow Springer @SpringerSpenade

I use the Twitter to tweet out the fun, engaging, and exciting things that happen at Springer on a day-to-day basis.  I was checking my "followers" the other day (I have over 150) and noticed that most of them are LASD employees!  It sure would be nice to add Springer parents as followers.

I hope you have a great Labor Day weekend.

PS Please note: the new email address  for submitting Buzz items is springer.buzz@gmail.com

News and Announcements

PTA meeting: Welcome back, Springer! The school year has officially kicked off  and we are looking forward to another great year of collaborating with all PTA members to maintain the high quality of our children's educational experience!

Please join us for our first PTA Association Meeting on Wednesday, September 4, 2013, 8:45am-10am in the Teacher's Staff Room. For this initial meeting, we will be discussing our 2013-2014 Program & Goals and also hold a vote to approve the 2013-2014 Preliminary Budget. Hope to see you there!

LAEF: Welcome to the 2013-14 School Year!

For more than 30 years, LAEF has helped bring enrichment programs to LASD students.  Staff for Physical Education, Music, Art, and reduced student-to-teacher ratios are all supported by your donations.   In addition, this year's innovation grant includes funding for a new STEM lab and full-time teacher at every elementary school in the district.  Combined with PTA funding for the supplies and equipment that help deliver these programs and others, your contributions to both are critical.

Please click here to pledge and/or donate now.

Would you like to be more involved?  LAEF needs ambassadors from each school to spread the good news in your school community.  For information, please contact one of the representatives listed below.

Please join us.  It's our largest fundraising year yet and we need your help!

Nancy F, Susan Longyear, Kristin Najarian, Brooke Schiller

Springer's LAEF Representatives   laefonline.org<http://laefonline.org/>

Get ready get set… the WALK-A-THON is coming!

This year “Springer Goes Coast to Coast,” and we’ll transform the field into a fantastic “cross-country” tour for our annual fall fundraiser! Don’t forget to save the date – the Walk-a-thon is Saturday, October 12 from 10-3!

For those of you who hit the road yourselves this summer, please print pictures of you and your family from your travels and put them in the Walk-a-thon cubby in the school office so we can display your road-trippin’ spirit! (5x7 is ideal.)

Remember, you can now pre-register for food via the Back-to-School form you received via email.

And if you’re not yet familiar with this stupendous and super-fun all-school tradition, visit the Walk-a-thon page<http://www.springerschool.net/springeres/6107-Untitled.html>on the Springer website to learn more about what it is, why we do it, and how you can get involved. (Ready to sign up to volunteer on Walk-a-thon day? Just click here!)

We also need pre-Walk-a-thon decorations helpers, and supplies (including a large blue tarp, zip ties, duct tape, fishing wire, PVC and rebar). If you can help with or donate to the decoration committee, please contact Lisa Goldman at goldmanlisa@gmail.com!

Walk or Wheel!!

The WOW program is kicking off the 2013-2014 school year this week!  What is WOW?  Springer School encourages all of our families to walk, bike, or scoot to school whenever possible.  The WOW program makes it fun and rewarding for kids to participate.  This year, we will have new incentives, fun competitions between classes and grades, recognition for top riders, a bike rodeo, and much, much more!

It is important to remember to register your child’s tag at www.boltage.org.  This step assures that your child’s trips are attributed to your child’s tag.  Otherwise his/her trips cannot be properly accounted for.

If you registered in previous years, you do not need to re-register.  If you are not sure if your child is registered, log into http://www.boltage.org to check.

To assure that your child’s trips are counted, make sure they “beep in” with their tag at the WOW zapper pole near the lunch tables each day that they Walk or Wheel.

If you have any questions on this year’s WOW program, please feel free to contact the WOW team: Kevin Beedon ksbeedon[at]gmail.com, Kacey Fitzpatrick kfitz[at]avalon-enterprises.com and Sharon Tansharontantan[at]yahoo.com.

Girls on the Run at Springer is looking for Coaches!

This wonderful program has been at Springer for 8 years. It is for 3-6th grade girls. No running experience necessary, just a love of working with girls and promoting a positive self image.

The program starts the first week in March and goes Thru the 3rd week in May. GOTR meets twice a week right after school.

If you are interested in coaching, please contact Diana Rudolph gdrudolph[at]comcast.net www.gotrsv.org

Become a LIVING CLASSROOM docent... share your love of nature with kids!

The Living Classroom inspires children to learn and value our natural world through docent led hands-on garden-based education.  Please click here to find out more about our upcoming informational meetings on August 29 & 30, and docent trainings starting on September 9.

Parent Education Opportunities

MOUNTAIN VIEW LOS ALTOS SCHOOLS

PARENT EDUCATION SPEAKER SERIES -  FALL 2013 EVENTS:

Tuesday, September 17, 7:00-9:00pm

College Unbound: The Changing Landscape of Higher Education, Jeffrey Selingo

Target Audience: Parents of 6th through 12th grade students

Mountain View High School Spartan Theater

Tuesday, October 8, 7:00-9:00pm

Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success, Madeline Levine, Ph.D.

Target Audience: Parents of K through 12th grade students

Los Altos High School Eagle Theater

Wednesday, November 13, 7:00-9:00PM

Our Distracted Mind: Brain, Memory and Multi-tasking, Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D.

Target Audience: Parents of 4th through 12th grade students

Los Altos High School Eagle Theater

Admission:   FREE

Student Extracurricular Activities

Boy Scout Open House

Boy Scouts is a grade way to build character, leadership and life skills.  Many of the great leaders and athletes were Boy Scouts.  Troop 31 is having an open house for any 6th grade boy or 5th grade Webelos II.  Youdo not need to have completed Cub Scouts to join Boy Scouts.  Join us on Wednesday Sept 4th at 7:30pm, UPC Church, 858 University Ave, Los Altos.  For more information contact info@troop31.org

Public Speaking Classes

"Public Speaking Classes" for grades 3.4.5.6 on Wednesdays 2:50pm - 3:55pm (starting 9/25/13) (There will be supervision for 3rd graders from 2:25-2:50pm)  For more information, click here

Registration - www.speakdebate.com      info@speakdebate.com

How to submit an article to the Springer STAR

Please note our new email address!  If you have an article to submit to Springer Buzz, please send it to the editor at springer.buzz@gmail.com  by noon on Monday for inclusion in the next edition.  Late arrivals will be included if possible but can’t be guaranteed! All flyers must be in either WORD or PDF format, accompanied by a brief summary of the activity in the email.