Springer Buzz!
June 12th, 2014

In This Issue

Calendar Dates
News and Announcements
Student Extracurricular Activities

Quick Dates for your Calendar

August 15: Pop and Stop; Grab a popsicle and see your classroom assignment for Fall 2014/2015

News and Announcements

Message from the PTA Co-Presidents

It has been another great year for Springer! We would like to thank all of our wonderful parent volunteers for the work you've done for our kids! None of the accomplishments we've made this year could have been possible without the generosity of parent volunteers and donations, so THANK YOU!!!! Listed below is a brief summary of what all of us, as a team, were able to accomplish in the 2013-2014 school year.

FUNDRAISING (the numbers below are as of May 2014)

BTS  

We raised almost $58,000 in donations via the Back To School form! These funds have been applied towards the Technology, Special Events, Birthday Book,

Library and General funds!

Fall & Spring Book Fairs   

The Fall and Spring Book Fairs had combined total sales of over $33K!!! These funds were used to purchase books for the Springer Library, as well as books for each of our Classroom Libraries.

Walkathon 

The Springer Walkathon never fails to amaze but this year, it has exceeded all expectations!! This annual community gathering is one of our largest family-oriented

fundraising activities of the year! And, boy, did it deliver! With your help, we raised over $72K net for Springer!! This translates into more facilities upgrades, 

library and literature books, math, science, social studies, art and music programs, computers, technological materials and playground equipment for our kids!!

Auction: Springer's Prom Night (aka Parents Night Out) netted over $75K!!! This is vital income that allows the PTA to keep Springer a top-notch school for our kids and community! As with the Walkathon, the proceeds from the auction are used to help provide library and literature books, math, science, social studies, art and music programs, computers, technological materials and playground equipment. 

Hot Lunch: $10,060.10

Shop Springer: $1234.23

eScript: $7542.22

Spirit Wear:  $1036.30

Other (Family Dinners Out, Box Tops, Jamba Juice, SJ Giants, etc):  $959.16

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES 

We were so proud of our amazing students and parent volunteers for their work on our school's newest tradition: the "Springer Gives Back" program! The students and parents wholeheartedly embraced the true meaning of the holiday season by thinking of others that are less fortunate in many ways. That includes financial, physical and emotional health. Due to your efforts, some of the elderly, the sick, the lonely and the down-trodden in our community smiled at least a little bit this past holiday season. The Springer PTA is incredibly honored to support this amazing new program!

Another example of our wonderful Springer community was the Table Assembly Party last December! As you may recall, thanks to your generous donations, we

purchased 25 new tables for our 4th, 5th and 6th graders' lunch areas (to replace the old wooden tables) and a call for volunteers went out to help assemble the

tables before the holiday break. The Springer dads came out in force! A team of 20-30 guys assembled and moved the new tables into place and the old tables away.

A huge THANK-YOU to everyone that came out to help with that project!

Have a safe and happy summer and see you in August!

Linda McCartney and LeeAnn Steffen 

2013-2014 Springer PTA Co-President

Looking for PTA Committee Chairs

As we look forward to the summer break, we still have some openings for next year's PTA Committee Chairs.  These are great opportunities to use your talents and make a valuable contribution to our school.  Key openings are

• Birthday Book Committee Co-Chair
• Book Fair Committee Co-Chairs
• Springer Singer Co-Leader
• eScrip Coordinator
• Shop Springer Coordinator

Without chairs/leads, these programs may not be able to continue.  We need your help to make these activities possible!  Please contact Sue Longyear (sue.longyear[at]gmail.com) if you are interested in any of these roles.

SPRINGER ROAD TRAFFIC CALMING WORKSHOP

Tuesday, June 17^th; 6:00 pm to 8:00pm

The City of Los Altos is hosting a community design workshop to develop a traffic-calming plan for Springer Road.  The City would like to hear your concerns and feedback regarding traffic calming measures on Springer Road between Foothill Expressway and the City boundary at Hollingsworth Drive to help reduce speeding. This workshop invites the community to get involved by sharing local concerns and ideas for improving traffic safety on Springer Road.  Information can be found on the City of Los Altos
website:  http://goo.gl/HmFcA9.

WALK-A-THON: Save the date, and volunteer!

Get ready to WALK... and get ready to ROCK! Springer's 2014 Walk-a-thon is coming on October 11, 2014. This year we'll be rocking and rolling around Springer’s Field at the "Springer ROCK-a-thon"! So save the date and dust off your dancing (and walking) shoes!

Walk-a-thon -- make that ROCK-a-thon -- planning starts now! If you'd like to get involved, from joining the committee to helping with decorations over the summer, drop us a line! karenhey [at] stanfordalumni.org or christine.gammons [at] gmail.com.

Karen McKinley & Christy Gammons

Got Fun?

Parlez-vous français? Do you have a pet guinea pig? Are you a cartoonist? Can you fly a plane? Do you write poetry? Are you a wiz at Origami? Is Yoga your passion? Can you knit? Is scrap booking your thing? Do you have too many tennis balls to know what to do with? Are you a coin collector? Our Springer Community has a wealth of talent and experience that would delight our students. Please keep Springer students in mind when you think of your volunteer plans for next year! We are hoping to recruit a diverse group of parents to come to noontime recess even just once next year to share with students their hobbies, talents and interests as Special Guest Funvisors. Our Funvisor schedule will be published each week in the Springer Star next year so students can get excited about things coming up.

There will also be opportunities once a month for 5th grader and 6th graders to plan and lead a noontime activity for younger grades. This will be an excellent opportunity for older students to engage and lead younger ones and provide good role models for the entire Springer Community. For more information or to sign up for the 2014/15 year please contact Laurie Pasmooij, laurie.pasmooij@mac.com or 650-224-7859. 

Computer Lab volunteers needed!

The Springer computer lab is undergoing a transformation and we are in need of some volunteers. Currently we are looking for someone who can cut steel table legs (metal band saw needed). In a few weeks, we will need help in assembling TV carts. If you can help, please email Regina Regan at rregan@lasdschools.org. Thank you!

MEDICATIONS AT SCHOOL

Please pick up your child’s medications from the office on June 12- the last day of school.

Medications cannot be stored over the summer. If your child is attending summer school, please pick up their medications and paperwork and take them to summer school on the first day. Thank you!

Any questions, please email us.

Thank you kindly,
Monica Sidher RN, BSN, BA
District Nurse
Supervisor of Health Services, Los Altos School District
(650) 537-8119

The Springer Garden—Volunteer Opportunities

The Springer Garden has volunteer opportunities in the following areas:

• landscape design/plant selection advice
• sanding/refinishing the wooden Springer School sign on Rose Av
• watering the potted plants once per week
• repairing the dry stream beds (repositioning rocks)

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

LAEF NEWS

Thank you LAEF donors! This year LAEF made its largest grant in the history of the foundation: $3.2 million. Your donations supported programs that parents in our district value highly: art, PE, libraries, Living Classroom, music, reduced class sizes, literacy aides, junior high elective choices, and innovative new programs such as the STEM labs and instructional/curriculum coaches for teachers. For 32 years the parents of Los Altos School District have remained committed to excellent education and a strong community through support of the Los Altos Educational Foundation. From the 4,600+ students enrolled in our nine schools this year, THANK YOU!

LAEF representatives at Springer are:
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.net

Pertussis Booster for Students in grade 6: Students currently in grade 6 must have proof of a Tdap or Dtap (Pertussis or Whooping Cough) booster given after their 7th birthday (after 10th birthday is recommended) in order to begin seventh grade in August of 2014. Please provide a copy of your child’s immunization record to your school office as soon as possible!

Student Extracurricular Activities

Girl Scout Cadet Troop 60785 Welcomes 5^th & 6^th Grade Girls!

Girl Scout Cadet Troop 60785 welcomes this year’s 5^th and 6^th grade girls to join our troop for the upcoming school year. We welcome girls new to scouting or seasoned scouts and their families who are interested in participating in scout-led badges and activities that are facilitated by a troop leader or parent volunteer. Our troop participates in many outings sponsored by the Northern California Council and the Los Altos Service Unit as well as our own activities that range from technical to crafty to community service oriented. We are a small troop and will cap out at 20-25 girls. We meet twice a month on Sundays at 4-6pm at the LAUMC. For more information about Troop 60785, contact Cheryl Quinn (cmiq@stanfordalumni.org) or Erica Lundmark (erica@lundmarks.org).

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.

How to submit an article to the Springer Buzz

If you have an article to submit to the 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.