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: October 27, 2017:

• Principal’s Message

• News and Announcements

• Parent Education Opportunities

Quick Dates for your Calendar:

• Tuesday, October 31: 1:15pm: Halloween Parade

• Thursday, November 2nd: PTA Meeting; 8:45am

• Friday, November 3: Vision Screening Grade 5 & SDC Upper & Lower

• November 8:  Parent Training for Ability Awareness 6pm-7pm; Multi

• November 9: Parent Training for Ability Awareness 8:45-9:45 am; Staff Room

• Friday, November 10: Veterans Day, No School

• November 14th: AMC 8 at 3:15pm  

• Monday & Tuesday November 20 & 21: Parent/Teacher Conferences; No School

• November 22 - 24: Thanksgiving Break; No School

• November 27 - December 1: Ability Awareness Week

• Thursday, December 7, 7:00pm: PTA Mtg., Staff RM

• Thursday, December 7, 7:00pm: Kindergarten Information Night; Multi

Principal’s Message

Walkathon Today!!  Thank you to all the volunteers and staff for the time and flexibility.  The students are all so excited about the day.  It is going to be a blast for them.  

Halloween is Next Week!  On Tuesday, October 31st, Springer will host its annual Costume Parade on the blacktop, beginning at 1:15pm.  Please plan accordingly if you are planning to join us for the viewing of the parade.  The parade will be a bit larger this year to give our student a bit longer to shine as they parade around.  Students should not come to school in costume.  They will be given time after lunch to change into their costumes in order to get ready for their parties and parade.  We ask that student costumes be free from grotesque or gory themes.  Scary masks are not allowed but other mask are allowed.  Weapons are not allowed. We want to celebrate in true Halloween spirit. If you or child has any questions about the appropriateness of their costume, please speak to your child’s teacher or direct your questions to me.

Students in 1st-6th  will be dismissed at 2:40pm on October 31st.  Enjoyed the day with your children and be safe.   

PARKING AND SOLAR CONSTRUCTION BEGAN ON OCTOBER 25th:

Thank you all for a smooth transition with the solar construction the last couple of days.  Your cooperation and encouragement of having your children and/or family  walk or wheel(as in bikes, skateboards,etc) to school during solar installation is much appreciated.  

Keep in mind the following safety points during construction:

Be alert, patient, and considerate of others in the drive through (that is the area in the front of the school with  only one lane where you may drop off and pick up your children).

1. Do not get out of your car in the drive through.  Not to walk your child to class.  Not to quickly drop something off in the office.  Not even to get your child out of their seat.

2. Plan for extra time during this time for both pick-up and drop off.    

3. RESERVED PARKING SPACES -  are reserved for:

• Traveling LASD teachers

• Art Docents, Living Classroom, CSMA and Starting Arts instructors

• Auction winners

• School Nurse

• Disabled spaces

Each car will have a hanging authorized pass in their rear view mirror. Please be mindful of these designated spots.

Math Corner:  AMC Math Competition Opportunity

The AMC 8 is a 25-question, 40-minute, multiple choice competition exam for middle school math students, done without calculators.  The competition is run by the Mathematical Association of America who score the test.  The MAA AMC office will begin emailing official scores and reports in early to mid-December following the AMC 8 in late November. The email reports go out roughly in the order in which they receive them from schools. Processing and reporting from start to finish takes about 3 to 4 weeks.Here’s  a link to a sample question.  Website:  AMC 8 Sign Up

We will be offering to proctor the assessment above on Tuesday, November 14 at 3:15pm. If you and your child would like to sign up, please click here.

Sincerely,

Lynn Boskie

Buzz… When I was a child trick or treating, I would trick or treat from one end of the town to the other, until my pillow case was filled.  Then I would come home and sort my candy with my mom.  After that I’m not sure what happened to the candy.    

Math Corner

The AMC 8 is a 25-question, 40-minute, multiple choice competition exam for middle school math students, done without calculators.  The competition is run by the Mathematical Association of America who score the test.  The MAA AMC office will begin emailing official scores and reports in early to mid-December following the AMC 8 in late November. The email reports go out roughly in the order in which they receive them from schools. Processing and reporting from start to finish takes about 3 to 4 weeks.Here’s  a link to a sample question.  Website:  AMC 8 Sign Up

We will be offering to proctor the assessment above on Tuesday, November 14 at 3:15pm. If you and your child would like to sign up, please click here.

Reading Corner

When your children come home and you ask what did you do in class today and they begin to share what they did in reading you might hear some of these terms:  

Reading Workshop Vocabulary

Comprehension-Understanding what is read.

Fluency-The ability to read accurately at a moderate pace.

Fiction-A made up story.

Nonfiction-A true story.

Genre-A category of literature with a particular style, form, or content (examples: fantasy, historical fiction, realistic fiction, biography)

Reading Stamina-The ability to slowly increase the amount of time spent focusing on reading.

Schema-Background knowledge about a topic.

Metacognition-Thinking about your thinking.

This is What Thoughtful readers do...

Monitor & Correct-They pay attention when the text stops making sense. They go back and clean up the confusion.

Visualize-They create mental images supported by the five senses.

Make Connections-They retrieve and activate prior knowledge in order to connect to their own life, other texts, and the world.

Predict & Question-They generate predictions and questions before, during, and after reading.

Analyze-They examine the parts of the text in order to understand the whole.

Critique-They think about the information and evaluate the characters’ actions or facts presented.

Determine Importance-They sift out relevant and useful information.

Summarize-They take time after reading to think about what happened or what was learned.

Infer-They draw conclusions and make predictions, and form interpretations.

Synthesize-They continually change their thinking in response to a text.

Thank you Walk-a-thon Sponsors!

We would like to thank the many wonderful local businesses who support our walkathon. These businesses help make sure that the money earned by your kids can go directly to Springer and be used for our great school programs.  Thank you Springer Sponsors!

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

CLAY PLANET

FOGHORN CONSULTING

MARINA FOOD MARKET

PASSION FIT

PREZIOSI ITALIAN JEWELERS

Wild West Book Fair

November 13-17, 2017

8:00am - 3:30pm on Mon, Tues, Wed & Fri

8:00am -2:15pm on Thursday

Grand Opening Monday, November 13th, 8:30 - 10:00am

Bring your friends and come in for coffee, pastries and books!

Book Fair Family Night

Wednesday, November 15th, 5:00 - 7:30pm

Join us for food trucks, fun and shopping!

For more in more information on shopping online and donating books to kids in need, please click here.

Cornerstone Corner

This month’s ABC book: “Giraffes Can’t Dance” by Giles Andreae tells the story of Gerald the giraffe who is able to dance to his own tune when he gets some encouraging words from an unlikely friend.

Goals of lesson:

• Students learn about personal power and practice using their positive personal power to benefit both themselves and others.

• Students learn that making other people feel good is a great way to fill their own buckets, too!

To reinforce this lesson at home:

• Create opportunities to encourage your child to try new things.

• Offer praise for their willingness to try and practice.

• Whenever they’re in a negative situation, help your child “switch the channel” to reframe their inner dialogue to create an “I can do it!” attitude.

• Remind your child: Don’t focus on the black dot. Focus on the white page.

• Involve children of all ages in family decision making.

*Quick Tip: Teach your child practical skills such as how to change a tire, cook a couple of meals, or sew on a button. Well-prepared young people are more likely to feel a sense of personal power.

When you “catch” kids modeling positive behaviors... Notice, Name it, and Celebrate it!

Back To School Tax Receipts

Tax donation receipts were sent out via email for all Back To School Drive orders that included a tax deductible donation.  Contact bts@springerpta.net with any questions regarding your BTS order or donation amount.

If you didn’t get a chance to fill out the online BTS form, hard copy forms are available in the PTA Membership cubby in the office.

Thank you for your support of the Springer PTA!

LAEF

It’s LAEF Phonathon Week! Our volunteers and LASD staff are busy making calls to help LAEF meet our $3.7M goal and to encourage 100% participation from every district family. If you have already donated this school year, Thank You!  Your generosity truly makes a difference in providing a well-rounded, quality education for each student in our district.  If you still need to make your donation for 2017-18, it’s not too late. LAEF funds

amazing teachers and program staff for THIS school year. Learn more, pledge or donate at www.LAEFonline.org.

Vision Screening

On Friday, November 3, the Fifth Graders will be screened for Vision.  If your child wears glasses or contact lenses, please make sure that they wear them to school that day.  If you have questions, please contact the LASD nurses at: lasdnurses@lasdschools.org.

Looking for Noon Duty Volunteers

Noon lunch duty is currently short one staff member in the younger grades (1st-3rd) area on Tues/Thurs.  We are looking for parent volunteers to help fill this spot, especially on Thursday.  If you could spare even one Thursday per month, we would really appreciate it.  The hours are 11:45 - 12:45, but if you are also volunteering for hot lunch, we could still use your help after hot lunch, as that is when the kids are spread out the most throughout the campus.  Please contact Clover Huang at: cloverh[at]yahoo.com to sign up.

Selpa Events

Selpa, an all-volunteer group of parents of children with special needs, are sponsoring several upcoming events:

Special Ed Director Panel:  Wednesday, October 18, 7:00-9:00pm.  Ask IEP, 504 questions and more.  Click here for flyer.  Click here for Spanish flyer.

Parent Chat: The Second Tuesday of every month.  Click here for flyer.

Click here for Spanish Parent Chat flyer.

OhmConnect 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!

Parent Education Opportunities

Through an enriching presentations from local and national experts on topics of interests 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.  

How 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.