Springer Buzz!

March 28th, 2014

In This Issue

Calendar Dates

News and Announcements

Parent Education Opportunities

Student Extracurricular Activities

Quick Dates for your Calendar

April 2, 7pm: PTA Board Election Meeting and Mid-year Budget Approval

April 3, 6-8pm: Open House: CSMA Art Show from 6pm, Classrooms open from 7pm-8pm

April 4: Minimum Day 12.15am dismissal 1st-6th; 11.35am Kindergarten

April 7- 11: Spring break – NO SCHOOL

April 21 – 25: Book Fair

April 24: Book Fair Family Night, Family Picnic and Art Show 5-8pm

April 26: Junior Olympics

May 1, 3.15-5pm: CSTEM showcase at Almond School

May 7, 8.45am: PTA Meeting

May 24, 5 pm: Springer Day at the San Jose Giants

News and Announcements

STEM Expo: More than a Science Fair

This year, the LAEF Innovation Grant includes funding for a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lab and dedicated teacher at each elementary school. STEM teachers offer opportunities for special class projects, provide grade level support, and hold very popular lunch club activities for students. LASD parent input and financial support have made this exciting program possible. Next month, three schools will be hosting the pilot STEM Expo: Loyola, Gardner Bullis, and Santa Rita. Students in Kindergarten through sixth grade will participate and showcase their work; designing hands-on STEM projects and exploring just how fun STEM can be! Thank you for supporting the STEM program with your LAEF donations.

LAEF representatives at Springer are:

Nancy F

Susan Longyear, sue.longyear[at]gmail.com

Brooke Schiller, bbwc[at]sbcglobal.net

Kristin Najarian (member-at-large), kristin_najarian[at]yahoo.com

Make Your Tax Deductible Donation Today!  www.laefonline.org

Annual PTA Board Election Notice

Please join us for the annual PTA Board election to be held during the Association Meeting on Wednesday, April 2, at 7:00pm, in the Springer Staff Room.

S - P - R - I - N - G - E - R! Goooooooo Springer!!

What a blast it was to re-visit our high school days during the Springer Auction's Prom Night last weekend!  And kudos to the auction co-chairs, Kirsten Tashev, Elizabeth Thompson and Rachel Michaelson and the rest of the committee team for the outstanding job in pulling together this fun night-out for the adults! And, the school spirit was as strong as ever as evidenced by the boisterous Live Auction! The $$$$ raised are still being calculated but all indications point to exceeding our goal! Thanks to everyone for participating and getting intothe school spirit!!

Linda McCartney and LeeAnn Steffen

Springer PTA Co-Presidents

*

Springer Book Fair

Monday April 21 – Friday April 25

Open 8:00 am – 3:30pm

in the Multi

Family Night Thursday April 24th @ 5-8pm

CSTEM Showcase: Almond School 3.15-5pm, Thursday May 1, in the Multi.

Play fun computer games created by sixth graders from all 7 LASD schools!

Learn about computer programming, Arduino microcontrollers, Lego WeDo and more from the LASD sixth graders.

Featured presentations and awards start at 4.15pm.

Spring is here!  With the rain and warm weather, come the flowers, and the weeds…

We would appreciate help with various projects to improve the look of the campus.

Campus Beautification Work Day

Weather permitting, please join us this Sunday (3/30), from 2:00-4:00 (even for just 30 minutes).   Bring gardening gloves, weeding tools, a bucket (for weeds or litter) and a refillable water bottle.  Cold filtered water will be provided.  We’ll also plant some new flowers and shrubs.  Children are welcome to participate (and would be especially helpful picking up litter); however, no play supervision will be available.

Other Special Projects

If you are not available this Sunday and/or are interested in other ways to get involved, we are also looking for someone to help with:

· transporting large amounts of yard waste to the Smart Station (a pickup truck would be most helpful)

· periodically accepting bagged yard waste to add to your home organics/yard waste bin

· sinking the logs in the teaching garden to make a more permanent seating arrangement

· sanding/refinishing the wooden Springer School sign (a battery powered sander would be helpful)

Please contact Donna Murphy (at jcdrm@yahoo.com or 650-965-8320) if you are interested in helping with any of these special projects.

The Sochi Olympics might be over, but the Los Altos Junior Olympics are just starting their training!

Our 4th through 6th grade kids will represent Springer at the annual Junior Olympics Field Day onSaturday, April 26th, doing fun events such as hurdles, basketball free throws, chin ups and more...

Mr. Heeb spends the next few weeks helping the kids practice and train for these events during PE andhe needs several volunteer parents to help time kids and keep them organized at their different practice stations.  We need more volunteer help, especially for the 5th and 6th grade PE times.  Please visit the volunteer schedule and sign up for any open spots where you can spend some time with the kids.  No experience necessary!

4th grade calendar:  http://vols.pt/p9qAbt

5th grade calendar:  http://vols.pt/vNwb9m

6th grade calendar:  http://vols.pt/yin2o8

Questions?  Email or call Katie Cowley (ktcowley[at]yahoo.com)

Parent Education Opportunities

Environmental Toxins and Disabilities:  What if the greatest chemical disaster of our time involves lower levels of exposure, inflicted over generations and affecting every person on the planet?  The result: rising rates of everything from cancer to autism to infertility.  The Human Experiment, produced and directed by Sean Penn, is a film that follows a band of unlikely activists who are fighting back.  They'll go head-to-head with the powerful and well-funded chemical industry to uncover a system that's been hidden from consumers.  Los Altos resident Dana Nachman, who made this film, will show the film and then answer questions.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014 7-9 pm (hospitality begins at 6:45pm). Covington Elementary School Multi, 205 Covington, Los Altos 94024.

This parent education event is sponsored by the SELPA 1 CAC (www.selpa1cac.org) All of our events are free and open to anyone who feels they might benefit.  No registration is necessary.

Reading in Preterm and Full Term Children

Do you have a six year old?  Are you interested in how reading develops? Stanford Reading study continues, see here for details.

Student Extracurricular Activities

DezignKidz Summer Camp @ Springer this Summer!

DezignKidz, a fun, locally-run program for aspiring designers (which made its debut at Springer in 2009) is returning to its roots on Rose Avenue with even more options for creative kids.

Choose from our popular Fashion and Accessory Dezign sessions (including Fashion Dezign 3 for middle school fashionistas), add some style to your space with Interior Dezign, create beautiful handprinted fabrics in Textile Dezign, perfect your fashion sketching skills or try our BRAND NEW SESSIONS in Plush Toy Dezign and Cutting -Edge Quiltz.  "Dezigners" will learn turn hand and machine sewing and other textile arts techniques as they turn their ideas from sketches into completed garments, accessories or home decor items. Check out our web gallery for photos of last year’s fun!

Week-long programs run 6/16-6/20, 6/23-6/27, 6/30-7/3, 7/7-7/11 and 7/14-7/18.

Sign up online at www.dezignkidz.com or call 650 346-5896.

PRE-ENGINEERING WITH LEGO

Mondays from April 14 – May 19, 2:45pm – 4:15pm in the Springer library.

Open to grades K-3

See flier for more details

Los Altos Recreation: NOW REGISTERING FOR SPRING CAMPS/CLASSES AND SUMMER CAMPS

Just around the corner…SPRING BREAK! Yay! Looking ahead, we’re offering four very different spring break camps: Albert Loves Frida’s The Art & Science of Leonardo da Vinci Camp, Young Chef’s Academy Spring Cooking ‘n Art Camp, Skyhawks’ Basketball Camp, and Beginning Ice Skating Camp (through Nazareth Ice Oasis).  All the info for these camps is front and center on page 1 of the spring brochure (which—by the way—introduces not only the spring camps, but our spring classes and our summer camps). Registration is underway for all of the above. Read it over, mark your classes and camps, and register today!

Go to LosAltosRecreation.org and click on the photo of our SPRING 2014 RECREATION GUIDE to read up on our offerings and to register!

The brochure is full of educational and just plain FUN classes for kids and adults! Join us!

girlSPARC

girlSPARC - a Science Plus ARithmetic Club is an after school extracurricular STEM program for 2nd - 6th grade girls, with the goal of exposing girls to engineering, math & science topics in a fun, supportive environment.  We are offering a Spring Session twice a week - Thursdays for 2nd & 3rd grade girls, and Tuesdays for 4th, 5th & 6th grade girls.  It is an 8 week program, starting on 2/25.  For more information, contact Tracy Stone, tracygstone[at]yahoo.com, or Anita Mathew,anita.mathew10[at]gmail.com.

Medaka no Gakko

Registration applications are now being accepted for Medaka no Gakko, a Japanese cultural summer program for children who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade. The parent cooperative program features arts and crafts, music, literature, cooking, social studies and language. Classroom activities are enriched by demonstrations and performances by artists and community members. Dates:  June 23 - July 11, 2014; Monday through Friday, 8:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple in Palo Alto. After school care available until 3:00 p.m.  For more information, please visit www.medakanogakko.org or email medakanogakkopaloalto@gmail.com.

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.