The Springer Buzz

February 17, 2017

Our Mission

At Springer Elementary School, we will provide a safe and supportive environment that engages, inspires, and nurtures all students' emotional and academic needs in order to become empathetic, productive global citizens and lifelong learners.

In This Issue:

• Principal’s Message

• News and Announcements

• Parent Education Opportunities

Quick Dates for your Calendar:

• February 20-24: Winter Recess--No School

• Wednesday, March 8, 8:45am: PTA Meeting, Staff Room

• Saturday, March 18, 6:30pm: Springer Auction

• Thursday, March 23: STEM Expo

• Wednesday, April 5, 7:00pm: PTA Mtg.

• Thursday, April 6: Open House

• Friday, April 7: Min. Day 12:15 Dismissal

• April 10 - 14: Spring Break--No School

Principal’s Message

Have a great Winter Break everyone!   Refresh, Reboot and Relax!

Lynn Boskie

Principal

Buzz…  

PTA Corner

Following winter break, students will return to an exciting new development on the playground.  PTA has been hard at work to put the final touches on a mural design that will transform the former star wall.  Our goal is to brighten our campus by providing our children with a serene, beautiful backdrop that reflects our Springer community and the natural beauty and history of our area.   Our student ambassadors provided input to mural artist, Morgan Bricca, to insure that our childrens' voice was incorporated in the design.  Weather permitting, Morgan will begin painting on Monday, February 27th and will work over a 1 - 2 week period, allowing our student body the opportunity to witness the artwork as it unfolds.  This experience should be a memorable and magical opportunity for our community.  If you would like to see a sampling of Morgan's work feel free to visit her website at morganmurals.com or visit one of her many murals at Covington School, Santa Rita or Egan.  Our Springer mural has been designed with great care to reflect our unique community and native elements that make this place home.  We welcome you to drop by and watch the magic unfold.

Next PTA Meeting :  Meet Blach Principal, Bhavna Narula  

Wednesday, March 8th, 8:45 am

Mrs. Narula will join us to provide insight and answer questions about the transition to Blach.  This presentation will be especially helpful for parents of 6th graders but will be informative for anyone who plans to send their child to Blach.

DELAC – (DISTRICT ENGLISH LEARNER ADVISORY COMMITTEE) MEETING

DELAC – The district will hold a DELAC (District English Learner Advisory Committee) meeting on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at 8:45am in the district Board Room. All are welcome to attend.

Springer Auction! Save The Date!

Tickets on sale online or by check

Tickets for the Springer Auction are $60/person or $120/couple

Date: March 18, 2017, 6:30-10:30pm

Location: Crowne Plaza, Palo Alto

Theme: Hollywood Heroes & Villains!

The Springer auction party is our largest and most awesome adult-only fundraiser and community building event of the year! All proceeds from the auction go directly to Springer Elementary school.  Funds go toward instructional materials, supplies, and amazing programs like The Living Classroom (the district’s hands-on science program), art and music enrichment, and noontime clubs and activities. Springer school needs your support so come to the auction!

Questions? email 2017 auction co-chairs: springerauction@gmail.com

OhmConnect: A Novel Fundraising Platform

The Springer community started using a novel fundraising platform last year, called OhmConnect. We raised $930 last year, and $1500 this year by having a handful of parents of the school turn down their electricity usage just one hour per week.

We're aiming to raise $5,000 this year and all you need to do is signup using this link and connect your utility account.

ohm.co/springer

OhmConnect donates between $50 - $150 per team member per year, depending on how much you reduce. They'll be donating an instant $75 per new team member. If you haven't signed up yet, now's the time to do it!

Maintaining Wellness At Home

Join us in this three class series on ways to support your child’s mental and physical

wellness at home. Learn how to improve communication with your child, to recognize

warning signs of distress, and to help your teens cope with stress and prevent reaching

levels of distress.

Dr. Moira Kessler is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She is on faculty at Stanford

University and also at Bay Area Children's Association. Dr. Kessler specializes in school

mental health and suicide prevention and provides consultation to the school psychologists at the nine schools in LASD.

The sessions will be held at Blach Middle School.  For dates and times, please click here for details.  To register for the sessions, please click here.

Junior Olympics Committee Needs Your Help!

We are looking for 1 or 2 dedicated parents who would like to lead the Results room on the day of JO, Saturday April 29.  We need someone who is comfortable with computer technology and can supervise high school volunteers to get JO Results to the field and website.  Please contact the JO committee at jochairspringer@gmail.com if you are interested.

Springer Ambassadors Fundraising Cause

This February, the Springer Student Ambassadors and the Springer community
will be raising money and awareness to help the Rusty Patch Bumble Bees that have recently been placed on the endangered species list- the first bee species to be identified as endangered in the continental US. As the Springer Stingers, we find it crucial
to raise awareness and play a part in conserving such important keystone species. The population is declining due to habitat loss, intensive farming, disease, and pesticides. Without bees, our entire food web is disrupted. In order to raise money, we will
be selling bee themed items throughout the month of February (starting February 6th) in the morning at the Student Store (small bills, please!) We will also be collecting any extra change you have to donate to the cause. All of our profits will go to help raise awareness and conserve the Rusty Patch Bumble Bee. The SSA will be sharing facts about bees throughout the month, explaining their importance and ways you can help at home. Please join us at the PTA movie night on February 10th from 6-8pm where we will
continue raising money and awareness for the bees. Thanks for your support! Save Our Stingers-Bee the Change!

Nomination Committee -- Call for Volunteers

PTA is looking for 2-3 people to serve on the nomination committee. This is a very quick and easy way to get involved, as it's minimal time commitment. The job of the committee is to help identify and secure folks to serve on the PTA board. Committee members will be given names from current PTA board. Typically the committee meets once in person and then the rest is conducted by email. If you are interested, please contact: lia<at>rensin<at>gmail<dot>com

YEARBOOK-- CALL FOR PICTURES

Students will start building the yearbook for this school year. Please help fill up the pages with pictures!  We need pictures from:

-classroom events

-Halloween

-First Day of School

-WAT

-Around campus

There are SEVERAL ways to submit pictures:Amazon Smile

A) You can email pictures to: ybspringer@gmail.com

(in subject line, please list what the pictures are from/are. i.e. --Walk A Thon, First day of school, Room 5,)

B) Use the pictavo app.

Download the app via the app store

use the same login from pictavo.com or create one. Upload pictures to assign folder

C)If you use programs like dropbox/google drive -- you can share a specific folder with me.

Please note: The yearbook team will make EVERY effort to include each picture submitted.

Thanks in advance!!!

Yearbook Team

Amazon Smile

Shopping on Amazon? Sign up for Amazon (smile.amazon.com) to support our PTA.  The first time you visit the AmazonSmile website (smile.amazon.com), login with your regular Amazon account, and you will be prompted to select a charity.  Please select Springer Elementary PTA as your charitable organization.  Then every time you make a purchase on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), Amazon will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchase to our PTA.

AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

STEM Days at Blach & Egan

LASD & LAEF are excited to kick off the first ever STEM Days at both Egan and Blach schools this spring. STEM pervades every part of life. STEM education creates critical thinkers, increases science literacy, and enables the next generation of innovators. Exposing our students to different aspects of careers in the STEM fields could inspire and spark a passion in learning.

We are looking for parents, grandparents or anyone in our community who would like to share their knowledge. If you are interested, please contact Anjana Butaney at: anjana.nagarajan1@gmail.com or

Karen Wilson at:  kwilson@lasdschools.org

Get Matched in February

Love is in the air this week, and two LASD families have offered to match your LAEF donation! That means that all NEW donations and any dollar you give OVER your donation amount last year will be doubled, up to $20,000. Celebrate this Valentine’s Day and get matched by giving to LAEF at www.LAEFonline.org.

LAEF Celebrates the 100th Day of SchoolDELAC – (DISTRICT ENGLISH LEARNER ADVISORY COMMITTEE) MEETING

Did you know that LAEF pays for teachers at every school enhancing your child’s education every day? LAEF funds STEM, PE, Art, Computer Science, Music, Library, smaller class sizes in K-3 and an Instructional Support Teacher for Math.  Learn more at www.LAEFonline.org about what your child has learned in his or her first 100 days, thanks to contributions to LAEF.

After School Student Activities