Springer Star Newsletter

June 8th, 2012

In This Issue

Calendar Dates

Letter from the Principal

News and Announcements

Student Extracurricular Activities

Quick Dates for your Calendar

Wednesday, August 22nd: Return to School

Principal’s Letter

Have a Great Summer!

As I write this, the sound of happy children echoes through my office door.  We had a great year.  I cannot thank everyone enough for all they contributed to Springer to make our students' experience the best possible.

I wish everyone a relaxing and restful summer.  And while I'm giddy with thought of a long break, I am anxious to see everyone back at school on August 22nd.  

Best Wishes,

Wade Spenader

News and Announcements

Letter from the PTA Co-Presidents

Dear Springer Community,

This time last year when we began planning for this year, we agreed to be positive, to focus on what we CAN do, to not let the impossible weaken our resolve to do what IS in our power. We believe we succeeded in our goal to make a difference.  There is always a lot to learn and a lot to do, but there's great personal reward in doing good for your children's school, making new friends and learning so much about what it takes to keep Springer humming along.

Since we share the sentiment that PTA is fun, we tried to talk that up as we recruited great volunteers to keep our PTA programs strong. This community didn't let us down - in fact you stepped up! Everyone plugged in, and hopefully had as much fun as we did.

We have not only managed to sustain the volunteerism at Springer, we have enhanced it! For example, the new format for our Book Faire was a phenomenal success! Thanks to Elena, Denise, Kathy, and Karen for their collaboration to make it more fun and successful than ever. Another example is our new lunchtime recycling program, envisioned and implemented by Beth Wolf.

We'd like to reflect for a moment on what we've been able to accomplish this year for our children and for our community.

Programatic Support

As we prepare to close our books for the year, it is remarkable to note the incredible amount of financial support our organization has shown the school.  The following figures represent actuals through May, and we expect a fair amount of activity still to follow in the final month of the fiscal year.

1. Core Curriculum — Springer PTA has contributed $69,000 toward the costs of providing core curriculum to Springer students. This figure includes the cost for student workbooks, paper, printing, science supplies, library books, and grade level curriculum grants. Making donations to fund core curriculum frees up district money that pays for our fine staff!
2. Enrichment — $38,000 has gone to fund enrichment programs, including the wildly successful Starting Arts Music and Dance program (grades K-3), CSMA Art4School program with Edie Bella (grades 1-6), Project Cornerstone, Junior Olympics, Noontime activities, and the Art Docent and Living Classroom programs.
3. Support for Staff — $13,000 has paid for grade level planning days and reimbursed teachers for supplies they purchased for their classrooms.
4. Technology — $77,000 has been spent to maintain and expand Springer's technology base.  PTA earmarked $32,000 for the Technology Replacement Fund, and has replaced equipment according to the obsolescence plan.  Additionally, we have expanded the technology base with a third cart of 30 laptops and 43 new ipads and two carts to charge, store, and secure them.
5. Facilities — $32,000 paid for facilities improvements, including the major expenses of network upgrades and new lunch tables. Additionally, multipurpose room improvements are planned for the summer!

Fundraising

How was PTA able to do it all?  Through some very successful fundraising programs!

1. Auction — Proceeds total over $100,000, netting $83,000.
2. Walkathon — Proceeds total over $70,000, netting $59,000.
3. Direct Technology Fund Donations — Generous donor families contributed $32,000 to maintain Springer's Technology base through the Back to School Form at the beginning of the year.
4. Hot Lunch — The healthy food and convenience of our Hot Lunch program aren't its only benefits.  It is on track to raise the projected $27,000.
5. Other programs — E-scrip, the Book Fair, School Supplies Program, Spirit Wear Sales, ShopSpringer.com, Family Dinners Out, Giants Ticket Sales, Yearbook Sales, and many others have also raised significant funds for our programs.

So at long last, we'd like to thank the entire Springer community for helping us realize our vision. Remember, don't let what you can't do get in the way of what you can. And have a great time doing it!

Have a great summer, everyone, and see you next year.

Kelly Toshach and Brooke Schiller

Springer PTA Co-Presidents

Springer Rep for LAEF needed - We Want You!

Did you know that the Los Altos Educational Foundation (LAEF) Board is made up of parents just like you? That's right - three parents from each of our district schools comprise the LAEF Board and Springer has a vacancy starting with the 2012-2013 school year. This is a great opportunity to better understand district finances and guide decisions around how all of our contributions are spent.

If you are even the slightest bit interested and want to hear more information and ask questions, please contact Brooke Schiller at bbwc[at]sbcglobal.net or Nancy F- your returning Springer reps for LAEF.

WoW Springer!

The Springer community once again did an amazing job at getting kids to Walk or Wheel to school this year! We had 295 students participate in the WOW program, and their kid-powered commute added up to 19,576 miles total!  That means less pollution in our air, less congestion and more safety on our streets, and more kid-powered self-confidence and health!  Thanks to everyone who participated, and especially the parents who got out there with there kids to encourage this positive commute!  We also thank GreenTown Los Altos, who helped create and fund this program for our school.  We offer special recognition to the top 10 kids for total mileage and top 10 for total trips by walk or wheel -- See below for this list.  We also noted that 8 or the 20 kids on the list below are in 2nd grade- what a great job those 2nd graders are doing!!  Great job everyone, and we look forward to seeing you WOWing more next year!  

Top 10 mileage: in order with most miles first:

Kael F

Andrew C

Kai Y

Teagan G

Spencer S

Aaron G

Margaret C

Carter C

Kannekka G

Antonio G

And top 10 Trip, in order of most trips first:

Christopher C

Nicholas C

Isabella W

Lucas W

Suhrith B

Alex W

Brian Y

Max Z

Koji Y

Douglas L

Walkathon Supersonic Space Walk

Springer’s Out of this World!

THANK YOU SPRINGER!!

We have a galaxy full of entries for the T-Shirt contest!

Thank you all for participating and keep your thoughts to the STARS this summer because we’ll be Blasting Off when we are all back to school in August! Winners will be announced in the fall.

SPONSORS NEEDED!! We will be finalizing our Sponsors soon. If you are interested, or know of a business that would like to be a sponsor, please contact me!  Christy Gammons.

Christine.gammons[at]gmail.com        

Order your 2012-2013 school supplies through School-Pak! Best prices before June 15

School-Pak offers one-stop shopping for your child's school supplies, saving you time and convenience over the summer!  Parents with kids entering grades 1-6 can now order school supplies through School-Pak. Supplies for incoming kindergartners are purchased separately by the school, using the school supplies money contributed at the time of registration.

Online ordering for grades 1-6 is now up and running, and you have a few options:

-PREFERRED: Order by June 15 and have supplies sent directly to Springer. Supplies sent to Springer will be labeled with your child's name and delivered to the right classroom by the first day of school.

-You may also choose to have the supplies sent to your home, and then you'll need to bring them to school on the first day. Please note that the supplies should not be used before school starts!

- Orders placed after June 15 will be sent to your home.

Click here to select the package for your child's grade.

Questions? Contact Hilary Burcell (hilary[at]burcell.com)

Signups are now open for 2012-2013 Hot Lunch volunteer shifts!

We are beginning to plan hot lunch service for the next school year, which begins on the very first day of school, August 22. Please consider serving hot lunch next year! It is a crucial service and a great fundraiser for Springer. It's also a fun way to see your child during the school day, and Kid Chow offers a free lunch credit for each 40-minute shift served.

Interested in serving lunch? Let us know which day of the week, and if you'd like to serve every week or every other week.

If you can't serve on an ongoing basis throughout the year, please consider serving lunch during the first two weeks of school. We welcome (and NEED!) extra help during this time!

Questions? Contact hilary[at]burcell.com or amleo73[at]yahoo.com.

Nature Zone Coordinator

Nature Zone is a noontime program that involves fun activities and growing things with the kids in Springer's Living Garden.  With the coordinator's assistance, the kids will plant and grow chard, sugar snap peas, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and anything else that they think would be fun to grow in the garden. And, when the vegetables are ready, they could create and eat delicious food items, such as caramelized onions, salsa, pesto and spinach tacos.

Nature Zone has a produce scale, a solar oven, and bug boxes the kids use to examine insects or flower petals, or such.  One activity that all the kids will surely love is sorting worms out of the worm compost, and creating a fresh new bed for the worms to do their work!

This volunteer activity is one hour a week in the garden with the kids during their lunchtime.  Additionally, there is some minor garden maintenance involved (checking to make sure the plants are getting enough water, irrigation system isn't broken, etc). This could also be incorporated as part of the Nature Zone activities to teach the kids how to care for their garden.

If interested, please contact Linda McCartney at LM28476[at]gmail.com.

Join the Springer Incoming Kinder 2012-13 Yahoo group!

This group is for families of incoming kindergarteners for the school year 2012-13. We will use this group to communicate about summer play dates and get togethers, and also as a forum for parents to ask questions and get to know one another. This group is not listed on the Yahoo directory.

Follow this link  Springer_Kinders_2012-13 and then click on the blue "Join this Group" button or email Renee Johnsen to be added to the group.   See you there!

2013 SPRINGER AUCTION - SAVE THE DATE! 

The 2013 Springer Auction is scheduled for Saturday, March 23 at the University Club in Palo Alto. More details will be forthcoming in the fall, but please be sure to mark your calendars now as this will be one party you will not want to miss!

WANTED: Website Manager

We are seeking a volunteer webmaster to maintain and update the Springer website for the 2012-2013 school year. Please click here for a more detailed description. If you or someone you know is interested in this position, please contact Linda McCartney at LM28476[at]gmail.com.

Springer Family Dinners Out

Mountain Mike's Pizza      (1724 Miramonte Ave, MV): Every Thursday & Sunday

Chevy's                               (2116 El Camino Real, MV): Every 3rd Thursday of Month

Pizza My Heart                   (El Camino @ El Monte): June 6

Flyers are available in the office, Abracadabra and online via the Star newsletter.

Questions? Contact Lara Rahn at lara.rahn[at]yahoo.com

Student Extracurricular Activities

Sports camps: www.SpartansSportsCamp.com or call 650.479.5906  for more information.

Science and Nature Summer Programs:  www.evols.org.

Media Center Summer Camps: www.midpenmedia.org/digiquest/ 

Summer Fun at Starting Arts: www.startingarts.com 

Summer Camps & Lessons at Foothills Tennis & Swimming Club: www.foothills-club.org

DezignKidz Summer Camp 2012:  www.dezignkidz.com 

ScholarKids, Summer 2012:  www.scholarkids.net .  

CTC Summer Theatre Conservatory 2012: www.ctcinc.org

Los Altos KidzAdventures: www.lakakidz.com