Springer Star Newsletter

November 18th, 2011

In This Issue

Calendar Dates

Principal’s Letter

News and Announcements

Student Extracurricular Activities

How to Submit an Article to the Springer Star Newsletter

Quick Dates for your Calendar

November 18: Coffee with the Principal

November 21–22: Parent Conferences — No School

November 23–25: Thanksgiving Break — No School

December 1, 7:00 pm: Kindergarten Information Night

December 7, 7:00 pm: Springer Singers Concert

December 16, 1:00 pm: Winter Concert by 4th, 5th, and 6th Grade Students

December 19–January 3: Winter Recess — No School

Principal’s Letter

Get Ready to take the Springer Survey!

Upon our return from the Thanksgiving break, parents will be emailed a link to take a survey about Springer School.

Parents will be asked to take the survey once for each child who attends Springer.  The entire survey should take about 10 minutes to complete.  I encourage everyone to take the time to fill it out.

This survey, conducted by the Springer School Site Council, will provide valuable data on parents’ perspectives on a variety of topics.  Once complete, the Site Council will analyze the results and make recommendations to the different program providers.  Of particular interest is a section on facilities upgrades and improvements.  PTA will use the recommendations on this section to help direct monies to facility improvements.

The survey will open on Monday, November 28^th and close on Friday, December 9^th.

News and Announcements

Parent Conferences - Monday, November 21 and Tuesday, November 22nd

Please note that students do not have school on these two days.  Please contact your child’s teacher regarding the date and time of your conference.

LAEF:  Whole Foods Fundraiser:  Support our local public schools.  Shop at the Los Altos Whole Foods on Thursday, Dec 1. 5% of Net sales will be donated to the Los Altos Educational Foundation.  Stock up your pantry and wine rack for the holiday season, buy holiday gifts or eat lunch/dinner at Whole Foods Market, Los Altos, 4800 El Camino Real (at Showers)

Coffee with the Principal (and no PTA Office Hours at Starbucks): We cordially invite you to attend this month's Coffee with the Principal on Friday, 11/18, at 8:45 am in the Staff Lounge. Mr. Spenader uses these meetings to share information about the school and answer your questions.

Holiday Cards Fundraiser: We are happy to announce that Tiny Prints and an anonymous donor have offered to donate 25% of total proceeds to LAEF for all holiday cards ordered through http://www.tinyprints.com/storefront/laef.  All the cards will have "Benefiting Los Altos Educational Foundation" on the back. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to send beautiful, personalized cards to your family and friends for Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year or Chinese New Year while helping our schools at the same time.  

PTA Gives Thanks For Our Volunteers: With Thanksgiving upon us, it only seems fitting to express our gratitude to the many people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure a cohesive environment at Springer.

1. Library volunteers: Many thanks to our library volunteers. They have been helping sort and re-label books, re-shelve returned books, shelf read and keep the books in order, run the circulation desk. Our librarian, Valerie Curtis, has shared that she is very grateful and fortunate to have this army of volunteers, including our Birthday Book volunteers, Karey Gutierrez and Diana Rudolph, and all of the parents who help on a weekly basis when individual classrooms visit the library.  A special thanks to Elena Baquero, our Library Volunteer Coordinator, Denise Massone, and Kathy Stiles, who helped so much to prepare the library for its reopening.
2. Room parents: Ever wonder where all the room parent emails come from? Well, the answer is Liz Malone, and we'd like to give a shout out to her for disseminating vital information in a timely manner. Behind the scenes, Liz and Donna Murphy work together to organize and coordinate room parent activities. Additionally, every room parent provides such an important service to our teachers to ensure that classroom activities which require participation from parents go off without a hitch. Thanks to all of you.
3. Funvisors: Ask Clare Delaney and she'll tell you that recess and lunch are busy times on the playground, and we have her to thank for such a wonderful group of Funvisor volunteers who come out on a regular basis to engage our kids. Thanks to them all for fostering such fun! Next time you see the names below, please stop and say "thanks!" for organizing and running the fun noontime activities:

1. Art Club: Laurie Pasmooij, Kimiyo Straw, Jenny Mascola
2. LEGO Club: Kimiyo Straw, Jenni Tellefsen, Laurie Pasmooij
3. Nature Zone: Kathy Stiles, Denise Massone
4. Origami: Claire Hubel
5. Run For Your Life: Jenni Tellefsen, Linda Chin
6. Springo: Rita Rosenfeld, Lisa Maneatis

4. Crosswalk coordinator: And, finally...who's out at the drive-through every morning escorting our kids out of cars? Who's coordinating the crosswalk schedule for all of the classrooms and helping us ensure that all spots are filled? Angie McDonald - that's who. She's out there daily ensuring the safety of our kids and we owe her big time. Thanks Angie!

Enjoy the Thanksgiving Break and the chance to reflect on what you are grateful for. This list is just a snapshot of all the things going on and PTA will share our gratitude at regular intervals throughout the remainder of the school year.

Student Council is organizing a Thanksgiving Food Drive November 28 – December 7.

Please bring in canned food and non-perishable items!  There will be a collection box in every classroom.  At the end of the drive, the student council and Mr Spenader will deliver all contents to the homeless shelter (CSA)

Do you volunteer?  Do you work at Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Cisco or other large company?  

You may be able to earn money for Springer through the volunteering you're already doing.  Many large employers in the area offer programs that pay schools when their employees volunteer.  For example, Intel will pay $10 per hour to Springer for each hour an employee volunteers through their Intel Involved program.  Volunteering can include classroom help, PTA committees, Walkathon, Friday Folders, Garden/Literature docents, Crosswalk duty, even work you do from home to benefit the school.  Check with your Community Affairs or HR departments to find out if your company offers this program.  Many companies ask you to record your hours before December 31 in order to qualify for matching this year, so don't wait!  And if your company offers this program, please contact manishapatelshah[at]gmail.com, so we can add them to our list.

Springer School 4H members are collecting items to donate to the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. Please help by donating any of the following items between November 28 and December 9:  Plastic pet carriers, Towels, Heating pads, Blankets for puppies or older dogs, Soft,chewy dog treats, Canned cheese spread, Peanut butter, Dog sweaters, All sizes " kong" dog toys, Canned cat food, Cat toys.

There will be a donation bin in the office. If you can’t bring in your items, please contact Nancy Miller at 650-906-5931 and we’ll arrange a pick up!

Family Dinners Out

Raise money for Springer simply by enjoying dinner out with your family and friends! Springer receives 15-30% back from the restaurants when you dine at their establishments on Springer's selected dates. Takeout orders apply as well! Listed below is the participating restaurant for the remainder of 2011:

Mountain Mike's Pizza         Every Thursday and Sunday

Flyers are available in the school office, Abracadabra and the Springer website.

Questions? Contact Lara Rahn at lara.rahn[at]yahoo.com or Linda McCartney at lm28476[at]gmail.com

Student Extracurricular Activities

Academic Chess at Springer, Thursdays, 2.30-3.30pm. From December 1st onwards.

See the flyer for details.

After School Art Club at Springer School

Grades K-3, Thursdays 2.30 – 3.30pm, Jan 12 – Apr 19

Grades 4-6, Mondays 3.00-4.00pm, Jan 9 - Apr 16

See K-3 flyer and 4-6 flyer for more details.

Girls on the Run: 3rd-6th grade girls, Wednesdays and Fridays from 3:00-4:20pm for 10 weeks beginning the week of March 5th. The girls will train at the school twice weekly for a 5k run/walk event to be held on Saturday, May 19th in Vasona Park, Los Gatos. Registration will be ONLINE ONLY and will open on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1st at 7:00am.

See the flyer for more details.

Mountain View - Los Altos Girls Softball League - Registration opens November 1 and runs through December 15, with an early bird discount until November 8.  All girls age 5 - 16 (including new players!) are welcome – no experience necessary.   See the  flyer or Register at www.mvlags.org.

Mandarin Chinese Language After School Program for grades 1-4

This program has been developed specifically for children by Yan Shi, a Springer parent!  The class is designed as an introduction to the Mandarin language and will be offered to students in grades 1 – 4.  Registration will be accepted until November 18th.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, November 29 – February 14, in the Springer library.

Grades 1-3:  2:30-3:30 pm

Grade 4:  2:45-3:30 pm

Tuition costs: $320 ($20 per class: includes materials)

See the Flyer for more details

LA-MV PONY BASEBALL UPCOMING REGISTRATION

Registration opens November 1, for the 2012 season.  LA-MV PONY is for boys and girls aged 5-19. For more details, see the Pony Baseball Flyer

How To Submit an Article to the Springer Star

Please send your submission to the editor at springer_star@yahoo.com by noon on Monday for inclusion in the next edition. All flyers must be in either WORD or PDF format, accompanied by a brief summary of the activity in the email.

Late arrivals will be included if possible but can’t be guaranteed!