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: January 5, 2018:

• Principal’s Message

• News and Announcements

• Parent Education Opportunities

Quick Dates for your Calendar:

• Monday, January 15: Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday--No School

• Tuesday, January 16: Staff Development Day--No School

• Thursday, January 18th - Parent Mindfulness Class: 6:30pm to 8:30pm in Multi

• Friday, January 19th - Principal Coffee @ 8:45, Staff Room

• Thursday, January 25th @ 12pm: Geo Bee in Multi

• Thursday, February 1, 7:00pm: PTA Meeting, Staff Room

• Saturday, February 10: Father Daughter Dance

• February 19-23: Winter Break, No School

• Thursday, March 15: Minimum Day; 12:15 Dismissal

• Saturday, March 17, 6:30-10:30pm: Springer Auction

• Thursday, April 5: Open House

• Friday, April 6: Minimum Day, Dismissal 12:15pm

• April 9 - 13: Spring Break, No School

Principal’s Message

Happy New Year Springer Families,

As we ring in the new  year we are reminded of all we have accomplished and all we are looking forward to.  This week students have been eased back in to their familiar routines and procedures.  They are showing their READY to LEARN attitude.  The staff has spent some time reviewing classroom and school expectations as they worked on setting new goals for the new year. There are some areas where we can use your support, as well:

At Springer:

1. Always sign in.  In the event of an emergency, like an earthquake, we know you are on campus and will look for you! Also, we are teaching our students to look for the volunteer sticker.  This means this is a trusted adult.

2. Use adult restrooms. During school hours, the student restrooms are for children, only. Adult options are accessed by a key from the office.

3. Volunteer for noon duty. It’s fun!  Check in with Diana, Lynn or Wendy.   They will set you up with a orange safety vest.

4. Establish a meeting spot after school. Please meet your child at the curb of the driveway or in the flag courtyard, not in the hallways by the classroom.

5. Be mindful of where you are parking in the neighborhood when you drop off and pick up your child during the solar installation through January.

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It’s the Springer Way!

Be Kind!... Be Helpful!  When we no one is looking.  Our students spent time making the other lives better.  In appreciation of their kindness and generosity we have received two Thank You Letters. Link to Ronald McDonald House Thank You Letter ; Link to Lucile Packard Foundation Thank You Letter

Please share the information with your children.  As we receive others I will share them as well.

Talk to your children this weekend about little ways they can continue to spread their kindness and helpfulness with others at school.  Here are some ideas:

• Speak kindly                

• Thank others

• Invite a friend to play

• Teach your children the joys of helping others

• Read the children’s book Kindness is Cooler Mrs. Ruler

• Read the article on 5 ways to raise children to be kind by the Washington Post.  It was a good reminder to me of how I can continue to help my son grow.

Have a great weekend,

Lynn

 Did you know that on February 16th it will be the Year of Earth Dog?  

Join us for Mindful Parent Night

Thursday. Jan 18th, 2018 from 6:30-8:00 pm.

Come and learn mindfulness practices to help you wash away your stress and learn mindful tools to teach your child.

The workshops will focus on:

• Understanding the neuroscience of mindfulness.

• Guided mindfulness and relaxation practices for you and your family.

• Mindfulness techniques which can be practiced at home or the office.

• Click here for the flyer.

An Overview of Mission Be:

Mission Be, Mindful Education is a local non-profit in Mountain View bringing mindfulness, compassion and altruism to schools in Northern California and New York. Since 2013, Mission Be has impacted 60+ schools, trained thousands of adults and reached over 50,000 children. Here is more information about our purpose:

• An overview of our offerings, a list of impacted schools.

• Our slide deck and link to all of Mission Be’s videos

• Here is our NEW film with experts in the field from Stanford and UC Berkeley to learn more.

• Here is data that was collected by a graduate student for her honors thesis at Stanford University’s School of Education.

For more info call Carin Winter 631 513 6151 or email carin@missionbe.org. We welcome all inquiries, meetings and support to help scale our program locally!

Mission Be was awarded the “Inspire Mountain View, managed by the Los Altos Community Foundation” to bring mindfulness workshops to the Mountain View schools and community with support from Google, LinkedIn, Synopsys, and Symantec.

Thank you for your time!

With gratitude and care,

Carin Winter, CEO and Founder

Save The Date For The Springer Auction!

Save the Date for the Springer Auction!

March 17, 2018, 6:30-10:30pm

Crowne Plaza Cabana, Palo Alto

Theme: Disco Fever!

$65/person, tickets on sale next week

Springer's fabulous fundraiser and adult night out!

Springer’s Father Daughter Dance February 10

Springer's Father Daughter Dance is happening on February 10th in the Multi!

Your daughter will remember this special night dancing with her dad while the DJ was spinning tunes and there will be a photographer on hand to capture it.

Reserve your space now! email jennifer@jwangmd.com

Father/Daughter $100  additional daughter $30 make check out to "Springer PTA" memo father/daughter dance please place checks in front office cubby labelled Auction.

All proceeds benefit Springer School.

Check Out Our After School Programs!

Springer is bringing back many of our popular afterschool programs:  Art, Chess, Spanish, Soccer, Legos, Basketball, Tennis, Springer Singers and Speak Debate.  We are also offering some new programs:  Minecraft Rally, Intro to Coding and a Science Made Fun class. Please click here to go to Springer’s Website and check out all of our afterschool programs.

Springer Singers Spring Session

Does your child love to sing? Then Springer Singers is where you want them to be.

Springer Singers is a fantastic way to get your kids singing and dancing with their Springer friends.

The Springer Singers are open to all Springer students.

New singers welcome!

If you participated in the winter session you are still enrolled. Next session begins January 22 & 23

New to Springer Singers in Grades 1 & 2: Mondays 2:45-3:30

Returning Singers in Grades 2 - 6: Tuesdays 3:00-3:45

Springer Multi

Applications available in the office. Please complete form and return with payment (scholarships available) to participate.

Questions? Contact Heidi Rockett at rockettland@comcast.net

Cornerstone Corner

Cornerstone Corner

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.

· 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!

Parent Ed Talks/Reading Workshops

DESCRIPTION:

In this one-hour parent information session, literacy experts from

LASD will share how students are developing and practicing skills

and dispositions to become lifelong readers of relevant and

complex texts. Learn how students engage in the Reading

Workshop and how the structure and curriculum support rigorous

learning for all students.

DATE AND TIME:

Friday, January 19, 2018

9:30am - 10:30am

LOCATION:

Los Altos School District Offices

iLearn Studio

201 Covington Road

Los Altos, CA 94024

Junior Olympics

Junior Olympics

Every year in April our students participate in the LASD Junior Olympics.  It is a spectacular event involving all the students across the district.   This year we looking for volunteers who are interested in learning the ropes from Sharon Tan and Jen Miley. This is a perfect way to get more involved, understand all the details that go into planning and running the event, and have a direct impact on hundreds of students.

If you are interested please contact Sharon Tan sharontantan@yahoo.com or Jen Miley jenmiley@me.com .

Hot Lunch

The Hot Lunch program would not be possible without the 20+ volunteers per week that come in to serve lunch!  We have volunteer slots that have opened up for the new year on alternating Mondays and Tuesdays.   The lunch volunteer shift from 11:25-12:15.  Hot lunch volunteers receive a Choice Lunch credit for a free lunch for every volunteer shift worked.  Contact Donna Murphy (at HotLunchScheduling@springerpta.net) to join the lunch crew or if you’d like more information.

Synopsis Tech Challenge

Attention 6th Grade Students and Parents!

All LASD 6th Graders are invited to submit an application for the 2017 Synopsis Silicon Valley Science & Technology Challenge

What: Synopsis Silicon Valley Science & Technology Championship

Science and Engineering competition for middle school and high school students

Who: Students in Grade 6 only-no exceptions

Where: San Jose Convention Center

When: Thursday, March 15, 2018

Please click here for more information.

Join us for the Tech Challenge!

What: Tech Challenge

Team Design Challenge for students that introduces and reinforces the scientific process with a hands-on project geared to solving a real world problem.

Who: Students in Grades 4-12 only-no exceptions

Where: The Tech Museum, San Jose

When: April 28, 2018 – Please note that this is the same day as Junior Olympics.

Please click here for more information.

LAEF

Happy New Year from LAEF!  We hope you had a wonderful break and are looking forward to a great second half of the school year. The end of 2017 brought in many contributions and we met our $30K matching gift! Special thanks to those families who made a tax-deductible gift or requested a match from their company. Stay tuned for an exciting update on our fundraising progress. In the meantime...for more information about LAEF or to donate, please go to www.LAEFonline.org.

Living Classroom

Become a LIVING CLASSROOM docent... share your love of nature with kids!

It's time to build bird nests, make yummy soup from the veggies we harvest from our school gardens, discover symmetry inside fruit, and make natural dyes from plants!  If you like all those things and more, please consider becoming a Living Classroom docent!  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 will take place at the LASD iLearn Studio on Monday mornings from 9-Noon on 12/4, 12/11, 1/8 and 1/22.  Please click HERE to view our Winter Training Flyer.  Apprentice-style training also available to those who can’t make our Monday morning trainings.

Questions? Email us at livingclassroom@lasdschools.org or call (650) 947-1103.  For more information about Living Classroom, please visit our website atwww.living-classroom.org.

Selpa Events

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

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

Click here for Spanish Parent Chat flyer.

Parent Education Opportunities

Through an enriching presentation 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 atspringer.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.