Springer Buzz!

November 15, 2013

In This Issue

Calendar Dates

News and Announcements

Parent Education Opportunities

Student Extracurricular Activities

Quick Dates for your Calendar

November 18-22: Book Fair

November 25-29: Thanksgiving Break; NO SCHOOL

November 25 & 26: Parent/Teacher conferences      

December 5, 7pm: Kinder and New Family Information Night in the Multi

News and Announcements

LAEF: Much to be thankful for!

We are so fortunate to live in a strong community and have the ability to provide our children with an excellent education. Parents like you support our schools with their time, energy and money, including so many donors to LAEF so far this year. We are also thankful for the volunteer LAEF board members, who share a commitment to education, enrichment programs and innovation in the classrooms.  Without all of your efforts, the Los Altos School District student experience would look very different.

Thank you also to all of our business supporters who help us make our fundraising goal and build a strong community. Local businesses give support through employee corporate matching programs, realtor donations, and special offers such as our current Tiny Prints promotion: order your holiday cards using this link, http://www.tinyprints.com/storefront/laef, and 25% go to LAEF.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving,

Brooke Schiller and Marilyn Stanley, 2013-14 LAEF Co-Presidents

Dear Springer Families,

Are you ready to "Bee Generous" and make a difference this holiday season? Springer School and our Girl Scout Juniors Troop #61167 are excited to announce that we will be hosting a Family Giving Tree Holiday Drive this year!

The Family Giving Tree’s Holiday Program works with local social service agencies that register children and homeless persons in need. Their agency partners interview these families to evaluate their specific needs. Their requests are sent to the Family Giving Tree Elves who then print these individual wishes on cards and distribute them to host organizations like ours throughout the Bay Area.

Here's how you can help:

Choose a wish card in the Springer office and fulfill a child’s wish.  Cards will be located in the office on our "Bee Generous Giving Tree", starting Monday, November 18.  All gift donations should be unwrapped with the wish card securely taped to the package.  Gift donations are due in the office by Monday, December 9.

Please contact Diana Rudolph (drudolph@lasdschools.org) or Linda Smith (lripley-smith@lasdschools.org) if you have any questions, or visit www.FamilyGivingTree.org for more information about the program.

*

November 18 – 22, 2013

8:00am – 3:30pm

Exclusive Sneak Peek for Springer Staff Monday, November 18, 2013 8:00am - 8:30am

Grand Opening Monday, November 18, 8:30am - 10:00am

Please bring your family, friends and neighbors and get the first look at the Book Fair while enjoying coffee, pastries.  This is a great opportunity to get started on your Holiday shopping!

Family Night Wednesday, November 20, 5:00–7:30pm

Join us for food trucks, guest readers, costume fun, and shopping.

Who’s Your Mummy? Help us support the YWCA’s Holiday Store and “wrap up” the Book Fair by voting with your donation for which staff member should have the honor of being transformed into Springer’s Favorite Mummy: Mrs. Jones, Ms. Presant, or Mr. Spenader

With a donation of 50 cents your name will appear on a brick to build our pyramid of support for the YWCA’s Holiday Store, where parents in the shelter will shop for the gifts their children will receive this holiday season.

* Donations of new games, art supplies, and books are also accepted  for the shelter*

Shop Online from Springer’s website Nov 18 – Dec 3

Offering 65% more books than we can fit into the fair. If you can’t find it in the multi, you’ll likely find it here.

All purchases made from the online fair will be shipped to Springer free of charge.

Please discuss your family’s purchasing guidelines before the event to help children make good choices.  

A hold area will be available daily if you prefer to make purchase decisions together after school.   

As this is a fundraiser, all sales are final.

2014 Springer Auction, Call for Amazing and Unique Experiences

The Springer Community is amazingly well connected and extraordinarily unique! Your 2014 auction committee is looking for one-of-a-kind experiences that only the Springer Community can make possible. Here are some ideas:

- Access to unique experiences: sports teams (high school to pro), behind the scenes tours (workplace or other), cultural experiences, etc.

- Access to someone famous, unique or interesting

- Vacation homes (flexible dates are best)

- Air miles or hotel points

Be creative and share your ideas and connections and benefit Springer! You can help make this year's auction amazing!

Please note a follow-up call for Community party ideas will come a little later in the year.

If you have an amazing or unique experience idea to offer, please contact the 2014 Auction Committee at: springerauction@gmail.com.  Or if you prefer, you can fill out our form.

Parent Education Opportunities

MVLA Schools, Parent Education Speaker Series

Wednesday, November 13, 7-9pm in the Los Altos High School Eagle Theatre

Adam Gazzaley, MD, PhD, speaks on Our Distracted Mind: Brain, Memory and Multi-tasking

Aimed at parents of 4-12th grade students.

Reading in Preterm and Full Term Children

Do you have a six year old? Are you interested in how reading develops?  Here at Stanford, we are conducting a longitudinal research study which uses psychological testing and new brain imaging technology to see how reading skills develop in preterm and full-term children.

If you are interested in having your child participate in this study, please click here for more details.

Student Extracurricular Activities

Girls on the Run Program Sign Ups December 7st !

The two words that best describe Girls on the Run are “FUN” and “RUN”. Every aspect of this program is geared toward helping girls feel good about who they are - physically, emotionally and socially. We are excited to offer this great program to the 3rd-6th grade girls at Springer this coming spring!

Click here for more detailed information!

You can fly!  Peninsula Youth Theatre presents “Peter Pan.” Join Wendy, Michael and John as they soar to Never Neverland with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell to battle the dastardly Captain Hook. This beloved musical is always a best-seller so make sure to order tickets early!  You might recognize some young actors from school or your neighborhood.

November 9 through November 17   

Saturday, the 9th at 2pm & 7:30 pm        

Sunday, the 10th at 1pm & 6:30 pm

Friday, the 15th at 7:30 pm

Saturday, the 16th at 2pm & 7:30 pm        

Sunday, the 17th at 1 pm

Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts on Castro Street. Free parking underground on Mercy St. Tickets: $22 adults; $18 seniors/students/children (12 & under). Tip: Buy them at the box office! They are much cheaper than online.

A Cheerful Noise Winter Concerts - Featuring Past/Present Springer Students!

Saturday, December 7, 2013 at 5 pm

First Congregational Church

1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto

Ticket information

Sunday, December 8, 2013 at 4 pm

Old First Church

1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco

Ticket information

Sunday, December 15, 2013 at 4 pm

Cunningham Memorial Chapel

Notre Dame de Namur University

1500 Ralston Avenue, Belmont

Ticket information

Ragazzi Boys Chorus presents A Cheerful Noise. Take some time out of your busy Holiday schedule to enjoy the vocal beauty and youthful energy of our upper-level trebles and changed-voice singers. Classics of choral literature will be featured, including pieces by Mozart, Purcell and Handel. Patrons are invited to sing along with carols, and will be treated to the hushed intensity of Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria. Ragazzi will also present an exciting piece by Paul Halley that combines the ancient chant Ubi Caritas with African chants and drumming.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, December 7th/8th and 14th/15th

This wonderful holiday show, reviewed as a “charming alternative to the Nutcracker,” will be performed by children of all ages at Woodside Performing Arts Center on Saturday December 7 (4:00pm), Sunday December 8 (1:00pm and 4:00pm) Saturday, December 14, (1:00 and 4:00), and Sunday, December 15 (1:00 and 4:00).

Tickets available at www.twasthenight.org or by calling 650-323-5292.  Come support your fellow Springer student!  For more details, click here

Los Altos Recreation Upcoming Classes

Hello-ho-ho-ho, Holidays.

This time of year, there is so much going on at Los Altos Recreation that it is hard to keep track of it all without a scorecard or…a list…that we can check twice…

Included in the upcoming holiday happenings is our annual Gingerbread House Exhibit. The free exhibit runs the week of Dec 2 BUT, if you wish to enter your own gingerbread house for all to see, the deadline for entry is Nov 15. Santa Visits are on the books for Dec 13 and 14. Due to the popularity of the big elf, this allotted time fills up quickly, so don’t delay if you would like a house visit from the big guy himself. We’re also offering 3-day holiday camps (Dec 20, 23 and 24): Camp Candy Cane and PreTeen Holiday Camp. Great for kids and their parents (who might be a wee bit busy at that time). Lastly, the New Year’s Day Fun Run returns to downtown Los Altos at 9am sharp on…when else…January 1. A fun and free way to welcome the New Year!

For more information on all of these events—plus all our on-going classes—go to www.LosAltosRecreation.org and click on the photo of our Holiday Fun kids.

We have HOLIDAY FUN in Los Altos!

LOS ALTOS-MOUNTAIN VIEW PONY BASEBALL - REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Registration is now open for the 2014 baseball season!  LA-MV PONY Baseball is for boys and girls aged 5-19. This is the 29th year serving our community. We hope you and your families will join us on and off the field as we once again make this a very special year for our players, coaches, parents and the community. Practices begin in early March, and games go from late March through the spring.  Please register as early as possible in the coming month for our league's planning purposes. For more information and to register please visit the league website at http://www.lamvpb.org/

MVLA SOFTBALL SIGN-UP

Registration for the Spring 2014 season of MVLA Girls Softball opens on November 1.

Learn more about us at: www.mvlags.org

Play In A Box After-School Fall Drama Class

For more details or to register online, go to:  http://pytspringerfall2013.eventbrite.com

Public Speaking Classes

For registration and more information, click here!

How to submit an article to the Springer STAR

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.