Attendance Policies: Absences and late arrivals are to be reported to the school by a parent or guardian by calling the Attendance Line at 650-943-4240 by 9:00 am. After 9:00 am, please call the office directly at 650-943-4200.

The office MUST be notified, separate from notifying the teacher. Students who arrive after the school day begins must sign in at the office to receive a late arrival pass. Fevers: A child may return to school after they have remained fever free and/or not vomited for 24 hours.

Online Back to School Packet: Continuing our efforts to be more efficient and green, our online Back to School Packet has returned. Join the PTA, order spirit wear, join the birthday book club, and so on! The deadline to complete the online forms is Friday, September 2nd. Begin now. Password: stars10.
LAEF: Public school is supposed to be free. Why do I have to pay? It’s not news that funding for public schools has declined precipitously in recent years. What really sustains our schools today, as it has for over a generation, is volunteer and financial support from parents. The Los Altos Educational Foundation (LAEF) makes up the gaps in declining state funding and is the best way for parents to fund staff. For the 2011-2012 school year, LAEF is pleased to announce that the $2.35 million we will raise will keep class sizes in K-3 at 1:25 or less (without LAEF funding they would be at 1:30), keep libraries open and keep art, music, PE(all of these were slated to be cut without LAEF funding). Please give as generously as your budget allows to help fund programs for THIS SCHOOL YEAR. If you have questions please contact LAEF representatives Leslie Bosset or Brooke Schiller. Learn More. Donate Now.

Minimum Day (9/2): Springer’s first minimum day will be Friday, 9/2. Find the minimum day schedule on the Daily Schedule page of the Springer website.

Share your time and talents with Springer! Volunteers are a key component of Springer's success in supporting our children's' education and in building a strong community. There are many fun and interesting jobs to match a broad range of talents, interest and time constraints. Please let us know where your interests lie by filling out our Volunteer Interests and Availability Form. We are actively recruiting for a few key positions:

• Yearbook Committee: Several of you have asked why the Back to School form didn't include the option to order a yearbook. Unfortunately, we don't have anyone to manage the project at this time. We believe this is a short lived problem because of the passion and skills that exist in our community. This is a fun, creative opportunity, and can be done on your time through the course of the year.

• School Supplies Committee: Many of us took advantage of the School Pak school supplies service to avoid the crowds doing back-to-school shopping time. In order to offer this convenience to our parents again next year, we need an individual or group to make it happen! The School Supplies Committee does the bulk of its work at the end of the school year and over the summer.

If you are interested in either of these positions, please contact Kelly Toshach (kelly_toshach@yahoo.com), Brooke Schiller (bbwc@sbcglobal.net), or Hilary Burcell (hilaryburcell@yahoo.com).

Want to Be an Art Docent? The Los Altos Art Docents are seeking new recruits to help teach art in your child’s classroom. No experience with teaching? No artistic talent? No problem – we’ll train you! See the flyer.

Living Classroom Program Hosting Information Sessions: The Living Classroom Program, LASD’s hands-on, garden-based science program is hosting two informational meetings for anyone interested in learning more about this innovative program and how to get involved.  Volunteers are needed to help provide engaging lessons to our kids.  No experience necessary. 

• Tuesday, August 30, 9 – 10 am, Covington School multi purpose room, 205 Covington Road, Los Altos

• Wednesday, September 7, 9 – 10 am, Springer School multi purpose room, 1120 Rose Avenue, Mountain View

For more information, contact Mike Sanderson at 947-1103 or msanderson@lasdschools.org.  Also visit the Living Classroom  website.

Family Dinners Out: Raise money for Springer simply by enjoying dinner out with your family and friends! Springer receives 15-30% back from participating restaurants when you dine at their establishment on Springer's selected dates. Takeout orders qualifies as well! See the flyer.

THANKS! Who says volunteering at school is a thankless job! School has been in session for just over a week and we have a ton of thanks to give to some of the volunteers in our community who made the start of the school year seamless. 

• Thanks to Karen Arnett for running the School Supplies Program for Springer this year. For most of us ordering supplies from SchoolPak is a convenience - no long lines at Office Depot or searching for the obscure item on the list. Karen Arnett managed your orders, liaised with SchoolPak, sorted the school supplies and delivered them to your child's classroom for your convenience on the first day of school. Thank you to Karen and her team.

• Thank you to Kathy Thompson, Jaime Lee, Anita Leo, Lynette Liu, and Hilary Burcell for organizing and running the Kinder Lemonade Social on the Friday before school started. This is such an important day for our incoming kindergartners and a great opportunity to welcome new families to the Springer community. After cruising through the event, it looked like all the hard work paid off and the new Springer families were comfortable and welcomed.

• Thank you to Hilary Burcell also for all the planning and execution that went into the Back To School Coffee. Hilary made this event look effortless with her organization and it was clear by the number of people present that the event was informative and appreciated. It takes a village to run a school and as our VP of Volunteers, Hilary is off to a great start.

• Thanks to Karen Eichstadt-Coy for dreaming up the name of the "Stop and Pop" and for creating a fun and inviting environment for Springer families to come together, see their classmates after a relaxing summer break and reconnect. All together, Karen and her team handed out over 377 popsicles to Springer students and their siblings.

• Thank you to Donna Murphy and Karen Eichstadt-Coy for planning and organizing the Weed N Feed event this last Saturday, August 20th. In our experience at Springer, never before have we seen such a great turnout for a campus beautification event. Donna was organized, had a plan and made it fun for us all to beautify our beloved campus. Thanks to Karen for arranging Speedy Panini and the Kara-van to show up and deliver delicious sandwiches and sweets for the weary workers!

• Thank you to Sara Robinson for the Ice Cream Social last Friday. The first week of school wouldn't be the same without the ice cream social on the first Friday of the school year. Sara and her team were poised and ready with whipped cream and sprinkles and topped of a great start to the school year—SWEET!

• Thank you to Andrew Towell for revising the Back to School online form for the 2011-2012 school year, and thanks to Donna Murphy for picking up where Andrew left off as our new FormSite administrator.

• Finally, thank you to Lynette Liu for migrating our website from the old platform to the new and improved CyberSchool website we are using today. Lynette listened, heard how our site was to be used and offered her knowledge and expertise to make our website as user friendly as possible. The Springer website is THE source of information for our school, so check it our today: www.springerschool.net.

This is your PTA on Facebook: One of the PTA goals this year is to continue refining our communication strategy to reach a larger percentage of the Springer population, and we've started work on this already. In addition to the Star Newsletter (a long time Springer tradition), the website, and the Springer Community Yahoo group (created a little over a year ago), the PTA is now on Facebook. Wonder why you would want to "like" the Springer PTA on Facebook?  Here's a description of PTA communication channels, what each is for, and how you can subscribe and use them.

• Springer Star Newsletter: The Star Newsletter comes out in a weekly email. A text-only version of the newsletter makes up the body of the email. Also included is a link to a printable PDF version and a link to the LASD weekly newsletter, The Frequent Flyer. The Star contains all the week’s News and Announcements, including blurbs about upcoming events, requests for volunteers, notices from the school and district, and flyers about extracurricular activities.
  To Subscribe: The Springer Star newsletter is distributed through the school office using the email addresses from your student’s registration data. Contact the Springer office to find out how to update your record.
  To Submit News or Announcements: Send a text-only blurb to our newsletter editor to springer_star@yahoo.com. Optionally, you can include a flier for the website site, and the Star blurb can link to it. The items submitted to the Star are generally also posted on the Springer School website.

• Springer Website: The Springer website (www.SpringerSchool.net) is a repository of useful information about Springer for both returning and new families. You'll find essential information such as the student and parent handbooks, teacher pages, school calendar, and daily schedule. You'll also find information about activities which enrich the Springer experience such as the Annual Auction, Walkathon, and extracurricular activities. If you want to look up a news item from the weekly Springer Star email newsletter, you can find these archived on the site. New this year is the ability for teachers to maintain a class-specific page! Each teacher will determine what information to put on their page, but possible information includes class-specific news, assignments, photos, etc. You will hear from your teacher soon how s/he plans to use the site.  
  To Submit: News and Announcements submitted to the Springer Star are automatically posted in the News and Announcements section of the Springer home page as well. If you’d like to add content other than News and Announcements, contact the Springer webmaster at springerwebmaster@springerschool.net.

• Room Parent Groups: Each classroom at Springer generally creates an online group at Back to School Night to communicate class-specific needs and announcements. Occasionally these groups are also used to communicate other types of information in a pinch, for example over the weekend or holidays when the school office is closed. Look for more information on your class’s room parent group soon.

• Springer Community Yahoo Group: The group is not for stuff you already heard about in the Star or from other school communication channels. Instead, this is a yahoo group for things like:
  • Coordinating walking school bus routes/stops or carpools
  • Sharing fruit from the tree in your yard that is dripping oranges
  • Requesting a recommendation on a great and trustworthy service provider, summer program/camp, and family friendly vacation spot
  • Passing down "Famous Americans" project costumes or props, Boy/Girl Scout uniforms, and soccer cleats
  • Trading, selling or giving away outgrown toys, games, and other items within our trusted community
  • And so on 

To Subscribe: This group is for parents of Springer School students and alumni only. Send an email to SpringerCommunity-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and include the names of your Springer children in the body of the email.
To Submit News or Announcements: Send your message to SpringerCommunity@yahoogroups.com.

• Springer PTA on Facebook: This page is managed by the Springer School PTA for the purpose of hosting a dialogue on topics relevant and interesting to the Springer community. This is based on the belief that we can strengthen our community through interactions. We will ask for your input on school and community-related topics, but you are also invited to post about topics which you'd like to interact with other members about. The PTA does not dictate what users talk about, but may help facilitate conversations. Remember that this is not a one-way communication channel!

  To Subscribe: Visit the Springer Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SpringerElementary and “like” the page. Then start participating!

Get Your 2011–2012 Spirit Wear! There's a new selection of Springer apparel for the 2011–2012 school year. Ordering is easy! It's part of the online Back to School packet. See Sizing Guidelines.


Student Activities
After School Athletics Flag Football: Grades 4,5,6, practices on Wednesdays and Fridays. See the flyer for more details!

FIRST™ LEGO® League: Do you want to build robots and have fun with your friends? To get involved, organize an FLL team with a group of friends, sign up to get your robot kit, and get ready for awesome fun. Los Altos Robotics hosts the Los Altos FLL Tournament, a popular qualifying event for the Northern California state tournament. Last year, 24 Los Altos area teams with over 120 local students participated. Team Registration is open now at www.FirstLegoLeague.org. For more information, visit www.FirstLegoLeague.org, www.LosAltosRobotics.org, and the flyer.

ThinkMath: After school Math at Springer on Wednesdays. Enthusiastic undergrads from Stanford that make math fun! Great for all math levels, get ahead or catch up! Small groups of 3-8 students per instructor. Math Curriculum from Asia and Europe that builds critical thinking and confidence. See the flyer.

Easy Spanish: This children's after school program for all students, grades K–6, uses games and interactive activities to develop vocabulary and grammar skills in Spanish. Classes on the Springer campus on Thursdays. See the flyer.

CSMA Art Club: The Community School of Music and Arts provides art classes where students draw, paint, and sculpt. Classes for grades 4–6 on Monday at 3:00 pm, and for grades K–3 on Thursdays at 2:30. Flyers/Registration: CSMA Gr 4–6, CSMA Gr K–3.

Auditions for Ragazzi Boys Chorus (8/29, 8/31): Mon. Aug. 29 and Wed. Aug. 31, late afternoon/evening, by appointment, Redwood City. The Ragazzi Boys Chorus offers a complete music education through a proven, award-winning choral program.  Boys begin with one evening per week of choral singing and progress through a full course of choral/vocal and theory instruction.  Ragazzi performs its own concert series, sings the National Anthem at a SF Giants Game, tours, and collaborates with other prestigious Bay Area arts organizations.  Boys eligible to audition are between the ages of 7 and 10; no previous singing experience is required.  Fall auditions will be held August 29th and 31st by appointment. Call: 650-342-8785, or email ragazzi@ragazzi.org. More info at www.ragazzi.org/audition.htm and