Springer Buzz!

January 24th, 2014

In This Issue

Calendar Dates

Letter from the Principal

News and Announcements

Parent Education Opportunities

Student Extracurricular Activities

Quick Dates for your Calendar

February 5: 7pm: PTA meeting

February 6: Living classroom benefit dinner

February 17-21: Winter break – NO SCHOOL

March 13: Science Fair

March 22: Springer Auction

April 3, 6-8pm: Open House

April 7- 11: Spring break – NO SCHOOL

April 26: Junior Olympics

Principal’s Letter

The Science Fair is coming!

This year, the Science Fair at Springer (known as Science-O-Rama) will be bigger than ever!  On Thursday, March 13th, Springer’s budding scientists and engineers will be showing off their experiments and findings. The afternoon will include 4, 5, and 6th graders presenting their experiments to a panel of judges. In the evening, the Fair is open to the public for all to see the great work of Springer scientist.

The first step is to visit the Springer website and click on the Science-O-Rama link. There you will find directions, guidelines, important dates, and registration. The link is designed to be paperless, so your child can register online. We ask that all students who are participating (this is an optional event for Kinder through 5th graders) register no later than February 14th.  

Is your child stumped on what to do?  Having trouble coming up with a good idea for an experiment?  Or, just need some help thinking it through? This year, Springer will offer “consultation” times for students to drop in and get help. Ms. Craddock and a team of parents will be available at lunch in the STEM lab on the following dates for students to come by and receive assistance:

Tuesday, Feb. 4th for 4th/5th graders and Thursday, Feb. 6th for 1st-3rd graders

Furthermore, the GirlSPARC STEM team will be available for consultation on Saturday, Feb. 1st for ALL students (times tbd).

We NEED Judges:  Are you interested in assisting in the judging of student experiments on Thursday, March 13th. A background in science, math, engineering, or other like field is encouraged, but not necessarily required. Judges receive a brief training, a free lunch, and then move to the multi to assess the experiments.  Judges need to be available on March 13th from noon to about 3pm.  If interested, click here to sign up.

The Springer Science-O-Rama is always one of the highlights of the year.  It is a showcase of our students academic and creative talents.   

News and Announcements

LAEF counts on the support of all families in the district. This year’s grant is already at work in our classrooms, benefiting every Springer student with programs like library, music, art, living classroom, small group instruction and STEM. Since every student benefits, LAEF strives for participation from every family, at any level. Every donation makes a difference. Together we can raise the $1 million remaining toward this year’s goal. Please visit www.laefonline.org today, to make a donation or set up an installment plan to spread your donation over several months.

LAEF Representatives at Springer are:

         Nancy ​F

         Susan Longyear, sue.longyear[at@gmail.com

         Brooke Schiller, bbwc[at]sbcglobal.net

         Kristin Najarian (member at-large), kristin_najarian[at]yahoo.com

Make Your Tax Deductible Donation Today!  www.laefonline.org

Pertussis Booster for Students in grade 6: Students currently in grade 6 must have proof of a Tdap or Dtap (Pertussis or Whooping Cough) booster given after their 7th birthday (after 10th birthday is recommended) in order to begin seventh grade in August of 2014. Please provide a copy of your child’s immunization record to your school office by March 14, 2014.

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You are Invited!

Prom Night:

Springer School Auction 2014

March 22, 2014, 6:30-10:30 pm

Michaels at Shoreline

This is more than just an auction, it’s the party of the year! Join your fellow Springer parents and teachers for an evening of fun and fundraising benefiting Springer School.

·         Save the Date: Saturday, March 22, 2014, 6:30-10:30 pm

·         Buy Tickets

·         Volunteer

·         Secure your babysitter, check out Abracadabra for details of their babysitting service here

·         Host a party (deadline is February 7th)

·         Donate an item (deadline is February 7th)

·         More Information

Questions? Email 2014 auction co-chairs, Rachel, Kirsten & Elizabeth at springerauction@gmail.com

LOS ALTOS PREPARE SEEKING VOLUNTEERS

Do you and your family have an emergency plan?  In the event of an earthquake do you have a 3-day supply of food & water for each person in your household?  Do your family members know how to contact one another in the event the phone lines are down or jammed?  How about your neighbors - do you know their names, do they have special needs in case of a power outage?  

Los Altos Prepare, part of the Los Altos Community Foundation, is seeking volunteers to be BATs (Block Action Team Leaders) for neighborhoods throughout Los Altos. Get your neighborhood connected, organized and prepared!! Palo Alto has done it, Cupertino has done it.  LOS ALTOS  - Let’s do it!

For more information or to fill out the registration form go to:  

http://losaltosbat.org/become-a-bat-leader/

Living Classroom Invites you to a Special Dinnner Benefit Night!

February 6, 2014 at First & Main Sports Lounge, in downtown Los Altos – click here for more details!

Egan & Blach Parent Tours: If you have a 6th grader, be sure to note that New Parent Tours at our wonderful Junior Highs are scheduled in January and March.  You can check the website at either school for more information: www.eganschool.org orwww.blachschool.org.

Parent Education Opportunities

MVLA Parent Education Speaker Series

Springer would like to remind you of an upcoming event geared for parents of students in grades 5-9. As a part of the MVLA Parent Education Speaker Series, folks from My Digital TAT2 will be speaking on Tuesday, February 11, in the MVHS Spartan Theater from 7-9PM. The topic is “Parenting In the Age of Social Media.” We have heard great things about this organization and are looking forward to attending.

You can find out more at their website: http://www.lamvptac.org/category/parent-education/

Student Extracurricular Activities

EVERYTHING IS PERFECT

Los Altos World Records 2014

Want to be in the Los Altos World Record Book?  Czech Republic artist, Katerina Seda creates collaborative actions that center on the daily lives of ordinary people.  As part of Project Los Altos, SFMOMA on the Go, she is creating a book and exhibition of the people in Los Altos with an “ordinary talent”.  Seda focuses not on feats of strength or skill, but on the everyday attributes that make a person unique – the bluest eyes, the largest collection of baseball cards, legos, or dolls, the biggest holiday light display, etc.  Visit www.everythingisperfect.org for more information and to submit your record.  Deadline for submission is January 31, 2014.

Does Your Son Love to Sing?

The Ragazzi Boys Chorus is holding SingFest 2014, a free half-day mini-camp for boys between the ages of 7 and 10 on Saturday, January 18th. This low-key, fun event is a great way for boys to "test drive" the Ragazzi Boys Chorus and see if it's right for them.

For more information and to sign up for this event, please click here!

Also, please feel free to reach out to Chris and Vicky Brey, parents of a Ragazzi chorister, for more information. You can look them up in the Springer Directory.

Online registration is now open for the 2014 Girls on the Run season!

Registration is ONLINE ONLY.  To register your daughter, please follow the link: http://www.gotrsv.org/sign_up_a_girl

Click here for more detailed information!

LOS ALTOS-MOUNTAIN VIEW PONY BASEBALL

For more information and to register please visit the league website at http://www.lamvpb.org/

MVLA SOFTBALL SIGN-UP

Learn more about us at: www.mvlags.org

How to submit an article to the Springer STAR

If you have an article to submit to 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.