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December 12, 2014 |
The Springer Buzz
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In This Issue:
Quick Dates for your Calendar:
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Principal’s Message |
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Resilience- A Good Thing to Have This Time of Year I don’t know about you but it seems like this time of year speeds up when we feel like slowing down. It’s a natural part of the season; the hectic pace of trying to get everything done before the holidays while still trying to keep our sanity. Indeed, this time of year is a good test of our resilience- or one’s ability to recover quickly through adversity. Resiliency is a trait we want our kids to utilize. In fact, resilience is a big part of having a growth mindset. Our students showed wonderful resilience yesterday during the big rain storm. The wet weather did not deter their enthusiasm and spirit as they crafted their gifts for those not as fortunate. The 2nd annual Springer Gives Back was a huge success (see article below). Earlier in the week I attended an educational conference put on by Learning Forward in Nashville, Tennessee (great town, by the way). It was interesting to note how often growth mindset, and in particular the trait of resilience, was mentioned or highlighted in a number of seminars. As parents and educators, we have many opportunities to foster resilience in our kids. It’s important to help students work through a tough situation, it’s equally important to praise the effort, even if the results weren’t exactly what the student was trying to achieve.
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Springer Gives Back in a Big Way! |
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On Thursday, the Springer students went into workshop mode and not only showed their creativity, they exemplified "It's a Springer Thing" by practicing empathy, responsibility and growth mindset. We hope you'll stop by the multi on Friday to see their completed projects. Working together with their buddies, students created 275 items that will be donated to local organizations. This year's projects included decorated wood frames (TK/ 6th), wreaths (K/ 3rd), infant comfort kits (K/3rd), teen comfort kits (1st/4th), fleece blankets (1st/4th), personal care kits (2nd/5th) and recipe jars (6th). Projects will be distributed over the coming week to the following organizations:
To see photos of all of the beautiful items that the Springer students made, please click on this link. Thank you to our community for helping us collect close to 1,000 toiletries! This project would not be a success without the support of our teachers, staff, and volunteers- Thank you! Renee Johnsen and the Springer Gives Back Committee |
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Attention: Monday Morning Parking Lot |
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On Monday, December 15th, our 6th graders will be transported up to Walden West Science Camp for the week. We are utilizing 6th grade parent drivers to do this. Their departure time is right around the time school starts. In order to be most efficient in getting bags and kids loaded into cars, we are reserving the drop off curb for only those 6th grade parents who are driving. This means that the drop-off curb will not be available to unload students. We will allowing drop-offs on Monday morning in the passing lane (there will be extra crossing guards to help handle this). Your patience and cooperation is appreciated. You may want to consider walking or biking to school Monday morning to alleviate some of the traffic on Monday in the parking lot. |
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Reminder about classroom parties |
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Springer adheres to the LASD Board Policies regarding Wellness at our school sites. Included in those policies are guidelines regarding classroom parties. Of particular note are:
Your cooperation with these policies is appreciated. |
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Springer Auction--Save The Date! |
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Save the Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015, 6:30-10:30pm Location: Crowne Plaza Cabana, Palo Alto Get ready to party like a rock star at the 2015 Springer Auction! The 2015 auction team needs your help. Do you have any auction ideas or items to donate? We are looking for:
Questions? Want to float an idea? Email 2015 auction co-chairs, Rachel, Kirsten & Elizabeth at springerauction@gmail.com |
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Food Drive Ends Friday, December 12 |
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Please join Brownie Troop 61166 in donating non-perishable foods (canned, boxed, bagged) to our box in the office through Friday, December 12th. All collected foods will be donated to Community Services Agency in Mountain View, which serves families in our community. Most needed items are canned tomato products/spaghetti sauces, brown or white grain rice, whole wheat pasta, and canned meats. See www.csacares.org for other donation needs. Thank you for considering a donation. Happy holidays! |
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Project Cornerstone |
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The book for the months of December and January “When Sophie Gets Angry: Really, Really Angry” by Molly Bang tells the story of a young girl who is searching for ways to cope with "big feelings" like anger. Goals of lesson: · To identify, acknowledge and express feelings in safe, positive, healthy ways. · Stop and think and choose how to react when our emotions feel out of control. · Be able to switch directions and make positive choices. · Use peaceful conflict resolution to resolve conflict and the steps to a genuine apology. To reinforce this lesson at home: · Help your child identify and acknowledge how they are feeling with words. “You are frowning, is that puzzle frustrating? Can I help?” “You are using a loud, angry voice. Are you mad? Tell me about it.” · As a caring adult, notice and acknowledge your own feelings. Role model the techniques you use to stay calm and in control. Share your successful strategies with youth. This book is a great tie-in to “It’s a Springer Thing”. This month the Springer community is focusing on Empathy. Empathy is being able to understand and care about someone else’s feelings. Remember and connect with the feelings you had when something similar happened to you. Talk with your child about remembering a time when s/he was experiencing really strong emotions and how it felt. Use that to help them understand other people’s behaviors, emotions, and feelings. When you “catch” kids modeling positive behaviors... Notice it, Name it, and Celebrate it! |
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LAEF--Thank you #Giving Tuesday! |
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LAEF: What a week! #GivingTuesday, Winter Concerts, & Computer Science Ed Week. With the amazing support of this community, LAEF met our #GivingTuesday challenge match from the Cairns, House-Meyn and Tuch families. Thank you! Coming up next are two programs LAEF is proud to fund: - The Winter Music Concerts for grades 4-6 celebrate students’ participation in a full range of music experiences including: learning to read music, playing the recorder, chorus, band and orchestra. - Computer Science Education Week will focus on collaborative coding for grades K-8, strengthening LASD’s commitment to every student learning computational thinking through the STEM and C-STEM programs in K-6 and through coding in science classes at Blach and Egan using the STAR Logo Nova program. Show your support for these programs by giving to LAEF today! |
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Become a Living Classroom Docent! |
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Become a LIVING CLASSROOM docent... share your love of nature with kids! The Living Classroom is looking for docents to help deliver hands-on garden-based lessons to the students of the Los Altos School District. No experience necessary as we provide all the training needed! Our Winter Docent Training Session will take place on Monday mornings from 9 - Noon on December 8th & 15th and January 12th & 26th. Please click here for more details. Questions? Please contact the Living Classroom at livingclassroom@lasdschools.org or visit our website: www.living-classroom.org. |
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Mighty Youth Runners (4th, 5th and 6th graders) - Winter After School Program |
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Kids! Interested in running, preparing for Jr. Olympics, or working on your personal best? The Mighty Youth Runners is an all inclusive, after school running program for 4th, 5th and 6th graders. The program will meet twice per week and run from January 6th to March 5th. Maximum enrollment is 16 runners. Must have at least 10 students signed up for program to take place. Sign up now. For more information click here: http://www.mightyyouthrunners.com or email Jenni Tellefsen at: mightyyouthrunners[at]gmail.com |
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Girls-on-the Run 2015 Season Registration |
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Online Registration opens at 8:00 am on Saturday, December 13, 2014! |
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Fun!visor--Yoga Next Tuesday! |
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Is there such such thing as a reindeer pose? Help release all of the holiday excitement in YOGA on Tuesday December 16 at lunch recess in the multi. Students, teachers, and parent volunteers alike are welcome to join! Questions please contact YOGA Fun!visor volunteer instructor Reena Vokoun. |
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The Springer Juggling Club |
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The Juggling Club is a club that meets every Wednesday from 7:30 AM to 8:25 AM in the multi. Anyone in grades four and above can join for free, any time of the year. It's actually not that hard to start juggling, and should you encounter any problems, the juggling teachers and some helpful jugglers can get you through the bumps on the road. It can take only one year of being in this club for you to be able to learn several techniques, and even a few fancy tricks. Once you get juggling three balls down (and it's actually not that hard) you can spend the last 5 to 10 minutes of the class juggling with some cool objects including chinese yo-yos, rings, clubs... The Juggling Club is a really fun club to at least try, and before you know it, you'll be juggling 3-4 balls at a time! |
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Winter Session of After-School Clubs |
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Lego Robotics -- Winter Session is starting January 14th! Click here for details.
Our after-school Art Club for Grades K - 2 is now enrolling. Click here for info on class dates, location and time. |
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Student Extracurricular Activities: |
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There are after-school activities at Springer for all grade levels. For a list of all of the activities and more information, please go to Springer’s website by clicking here. |
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Parent Education Opportunities |
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Through enriching presentations from local and national experts on topics of interest to parents, faculty and staff, the MVLA Parent Education Speaker Series seeks to contribute to the academic, physical, and emotional health of our students. All events are free of charge and are for parents, faculty and staff in Los Altos and Mountain View public schools. For a schedule of upcoming presentations, please click here. |
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