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The Springer Buzz October 17, 2014 |
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In This Issue:
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Quick Dates for your Calendar:
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Principal’s Message |
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Great Work All Around I’ve been struck by all the great work I’m seeing all around the Springer campus as of late. While the work for the Rock-a-Thon was begun months ago, Saturday’s walk-a-thon showed tremendous teamwork and creativity. The decorations were awesome. The organization was excellent. The volunteer help was awe-inspiring. Truly great work by the walk-a-thon committee led by Karen McKinley and Christy Gammons. Thank you to all of you who took part. This week I’ve been in classrooms quite a bit and have been treated to a number of different math lessons. As you may know, we are transitioning to the Common Core math principles, which emphasize critical thinking, problem solving, and application. A simple way to think of it is that math goes “deeper”. Students work on fewer problem sets but dive deeper into those problems. In one classroom, I watched the teacher skillfully ask her students questions about the math in front of the them. By utilizing this inquiry-based approach, the teacher was able to get her students to think more critically about what they were actually doing while solving the equation. In another classroom, the teacher was presenting math problems that were solved incorrectly. Her students were asked to explain why the problem was solved incorrectly and then to set up the problem so it could be successfully worked out. What is impressive to watch is the depth of thinking the students are using in math and the mathematical vocabulary they are using in their discussions. Great stuff. Lastly, I thoroughly enjoyed the Giants come-from-behind victory last night that propelled them into another World Series appearance. I love the story of Travis Ishikawa, the player who hit the game winning homerun. Apparently, he was so frustrated earlier in the season playing in the minor leagues, that he almost quit baseball entirely. But, after a conversation with a friend, who told him to stick with it, Travis kept plugging and eventually made it onto the Giants roster late in the season. Here he was last night, up at the plate, with the game on the line, and hitting the homerun that will forever make him a Giants legend. As he rounded the bases, I couldn’t help but think that he must have applied a positive growth mindset to get to where he was at that moment. What a great example of perseverance and grit! Great stuff. Go Giants! Have a great weekend. |
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Photo Make-up Day is October 29 |
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If your child was absent on Photo Day or you didn’t like the photo, please contact Linda Ripley-Smith in the Springer School Office at lripleysmith@lasdschools.org, so that we may put your child’s name on the retake list. In the email, please provide your student’s name and teacher name. |
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Student Council Presents |
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Student Council cordially invites Springer Students to participate in our "WE SCARE HUNGER!" event. We are hosting a movie night on Friday the 24th from 5-7 PM in the Springer Multi-Purpose Room. Admission is one can of food to be donated to a local food bank. Each can brought = one raffle ticket for fun prizes during and after the movie (rated G)! Students may also bring a pillow or blanket to sit on. Click here for the flyer and more information, or contact Ms. Presant at jpresant@lasdschools.org or Ms. Heiting at eheiting@lasdschools.org. |
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The Rock ‘N Read Book Fair is Coming! |
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Monday Nov 17 – Friday Nov 21 Open daily in the Multi 8:00 am – 3:30pm Family Night Thursday Nov 20th 5:00-7:30pm |
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The Springer Directory Is Here! |
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Hot off the press! Be sure to check your child's Friday Folder for the PTA Springer School Directory 2014-2015...coming your way Friday, October 17th! We will distribute 1 directory per Family. If your Family did not receive a directory, please contact Anne Hartman at verucakitty[at]yahoo[dot]com. Need an extra copy for your office or the car? Extra copies are available in the office for $5 each! |
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Thanks for attending the Springer ROCK-a-thon! |
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Thank you to all our walkers, volunteers and sponsors for making this year's Walk-a-thon a rockin' success! In today's Friday folder you'll find your student's sponsor card. It's time to share your walking results and collect pledges from your sponsors! Pledge money is due to the Walk-a-thon cubby in the office on Wednesday, November 5. As a reminder, checks (to Springer PTA) and e-checks only, please! Full payment instructions and printable tax receipts. And be sure to check out our sponsors! Rock on, Springer! |
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LAEF: Don’t Forget To Mail Your Check |
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Last week's LAEF Phonathon was a great success! Thanks to all who volunteered time or donated to provide small class sizes and enrichment programs for LASD students this school year. Special thanks to new parents or families who increased their contribution: we met our “new or increased donation” matching program goal of $100,000! If you pledged, please send your check or pay online at www.laefonline.net ASAP. Does your company Match? Don’t forget: you can make your dollars work harder through your company’s corporate matching. For a list of local companies that offer matching funds, contact LAEF at admin@laefonline.org. It’s Not Too Late! We still have a way to go to achieve our $3.3M goal. Every LASD student benefits from LAEF, so we hope to get 100% parent participation. Any donation is welcome and appreciated. Make your tax-deductible donation today: www.laefonline.net (or bring a check to the school office). LAEF Questions? Web: www.laefonline.net .. Phone: 650.559.0445 .. Email: admin@laefonline.org Thanks in advance for your support of LAEF. The LAEF parent-volunteer team |
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Calling All Young Artists! |
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Original Student Artwork Sought for Exhibition The Why it’s Cool to be a Kid in Los Altos exhibition will be launched with opening receptions throughout the downtown for student artists, families and community during the First Friday event on Friday, November 7th from 6-8pm. Submit your artistic view of why you think it’s cool to be a kid in Los Altos and receive a gift. View our flyer for more information. |
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Upcoming Living Classroom Events – All are Welcome to Attend! |
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Ohlone Life and Plant Use Presentation by Local Naturalist and Educator Keith Gutierrez Los Altos School District Office Conference Room #2 (next to Covington School) 201 Covington Road, Los Altos, CA 94022 (click here for directions) Please join us for a special Living Classroom sponsored event with local naturalist and educator Keith Gutierrez. Keith will teach about the life of the Ohlone Indians and the many ways that they used various local plants. A fire starting demonstration will highlight this event! Click here to view a flyer for this event. Please RSVP to livingclassroom@lasdschools.org by Thursday, October 16th if you plan to attend. We would love to see you there! |
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Lunch time Fun!visor Program Update For October |
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Volleyball Clinics Have Been A Huge Hit! The numbers of students coming to the Volleyball Clinics offered at lunch through our parent-volunteer Fun!visor Program keeps growing! This past week Springer parent and Coach Melissa Welsh and her team taught nearly forty Springer students how to properly set the ball. In the session prior, students learned how to bump and our next session on Friday October 24 will focus on the volleyball serve. Thank you to Melissa Welsh for volunteering her time to coach and the rest of her team: Tom Kelsch, Andrew Welsh, Christy Gammons, Linda McCartney, Cheryl Quinn and Laurie Pasmooij. More parents interested in learning and playing volleyball with Springer students please feel free to join us every other Friday at lunch! For more information on Springer's noontime Fun!visor Programs please see the Springer website or contact Laurie Pasmooij at laurie.pasmooij[at]mac.com. |
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Learn Chinese While Having Fun! |
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Come and join Chinese teacher Yan Shi in a learning adventure through singing, drawing, reading and games. Come and observe the class and see if it’s right for your child. Classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays after school in the Springer Library. Click here for the flyer and more information! |
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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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Mindful Discipline |
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Mountain View Los Altos Parent Education Speaker Series Presents: Shauna Shapiro, Ph.D.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014 -- 7:00pm
Target Audience: Parents of elementary - middle school students |
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Parenting Young Innovators |
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How can parents give kids tools they need to create in the modern world? How do you have reflective conversations with your kids? Innovators have the power to improve their world in big and small ways while leading fulfilling lives. Young people who grow into adult innovators will make an impact as professionals, citizens, and community members. They will also have the ability to shape their personal lives in ways that lead to greater happiness and fulfillment. What traits and tools do innovators need to utilize? And what can parents do to help nurture them? Glen Tripp, Founder and CEO of Galileo Learning, will reflect on lessons learned from working with the 200,000 children who have attended Galileo’s innovation-oriented enrichment programs. Parenting strategies will be covered.
An Interactive Workshop To register for the class, click 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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How to Submit an Article to the Springer Buzz |
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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. |