Our Mission

At Springer Elementary School, we will provide a safe and supportive environment that engages, inspires, and nurtures all students’ emotional and academic needs in order to become empathetic, productive global citizens and lifelong learners.

In This Issue: November 17, 2017:

• Principal’s Message

• News and Announcements

• Parent Education Opportunities

Quick Dates for your Calendar:

• Friday & Saturday, November 17 & 18th; 6:00pm Loyola School: Peter Pan Play Tickets

• Monday & Tuesday November 20 & 21: Parent/Teacher Conferences; No School

• November 22 - 24: Thanksgiving Break; No School

• November 27 - December 1: Ability Awareness Week

• Monday, December 4, 1:00pm: LASD Winter Concert Grades 4-6

• December 4-8: Hour of Code

• Thursday, December 7: Springer Gives Back

• Thursday, December 7, 7:00pm: PTA Mtg., Staff Room

• Thursday, December 7, 7:00pm: Kindergarten & New Family Information Night; Multi

• Friday, December 8, 7:00pm: Springer Singers Winter Concert; Multi

• December 18 - January 1: Holiday Recess

Principal’s Message

Dear Springer Families,

The Springer Staff would like to wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Have an incredible week creating new family friends and memories.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Peter Pan Play Is Here

Tonight and tomorrow night.  Click here for tickets.    The play will be presented at Loyola School’s Multi at 6:00pm both nights.  Break a leg Springer!

• Ability Awareness Week November 27th-December 1th

For the first time in many years we will be learning and celebrating our differences.  These differences are what makes us the unique individuals we are.  To understand and to embrace our differences is what makes the world a better place. Be part of this learning opportunity for your children and the children of Springer. We need all the volunteers we can get.  

We have a few spots left for our Ability Awareness Week.  Sign up here.  We appreciate all of those who have signed up.

• Junior Olympics

Every year in April our students participate in the LASD Junior Olympics.  It is a spectacular event involving all the students across the district.   This year we looking for volunteers who are interested in learning the ropes from Sharon Tan and Jen Miley. This is a perfect way to get more involved, understand all the details that go into planning and running the event, and have a direct impact on hundreds of students.

If you are interested please contact Sharon Tan sharontantan@yahoo.com or Jen Mileyjenmiley@me.com .

Have a wonderful holiday

Lynn Boskie

Buzz… Did you know that my favorite pie is chocolate pudding and apple pie.

Ability Awareness Week Nov. 27th- Dec. 1st  

What is Ability Awareness?  It is a program from  the SELPA 1 CAC ‘s Ability Awareness program designed to build empathy, inclusion, acceptance for students with challenges.

Our thoughtful discussions and simulations allow students to walk in another person’s shoes and understand what daily life might be like for others with visible and invisible challenges.  The activities we have planned for Springer students include the following.

PT- We allow children to experience  wheelchairs, walkers, quad canes, crutches and grabbers to create an awareness of what it may be like to struggle with physical challenges on a daily basis.

Mirror Box activity-  this activity allows students to experience what it might be like to have dyslexia or other visual motor processing issues.

Dot to Dot- an activity designed to simulate what it might feel like if you weren’t able to block out background noise and attention issues.

Fine Motor- Kids try on button down shirts with socks on their hands to simulate fine motor struggles.

Social Sense- We discuss social rules in school and how we feel when they are broken.  This simulation and discussion simulates what it might feel like to have social skills challenges, like Autism, Intellectual Disabilities,  Speech and Language, and many others.

English Language Learner-  This DOES NOT fall under special education, however, students new to English often experience similar experiences with friendships, exclusion and acceptance among their peers due to language barriers. We have a discussion of how to include , find common ground, and develop friendships with students new to English.

Holiday Wish Drive

Dear Springer Families,

Are you ready to "Bee Generous" and make a difference this holiday season? Springer School and our Girl Scout Cadettes Troop #61166 are excited to announce that we will be hosting a Family Giving Tree Holiday Wish Drive again this year!

For the past 27 years, the Family Giving Tree has fulfilled gift wishes for over 1.3 million San Francisco Bay Area children, families and seniors from low-income households. In 2016 alone – with the help of nonprofits, schools, groups and business that helped lead drives – they fulfilled over 76,000 holiday wishes. This year, the Family Giving Tree goal is to fulfill the holiday wishes of 80,000 local children, and our school can help them achieve this!

Here's how you can help:

Choose a wish card in the Springer office and fulfill a child’s wish. Cards will be hanging on our "Bee Generous Giving Tree", starting Monday, November 27.  All gift donations should be unwrapped with the wish card and a toothbrush securely taped to the package.  Gifts are due in the office by Friday, December 8.

Please contact Diana Rudolph (drudolph@lasdschools.org) or Gail Roosakos (gail@roosakos.com) if you have any questions. You may also visitwww.FamilyGivingTree.org for more information about the program. Thank you for helping us bring hope and joy to those in need!

Blach Holiday Fair

The Blach School Holiday Faire is happening soon!  We invite you to come shop for the holidays on Friday, December 1st, 2017, from 1:00 – 4:00 pm.  More than 150 students from 7th and 8th grade will be hosting over 90 booths.  These student entrepreneurs are selling their own creations: treats, crafts, clothing, jewelry, holiday decorations, pillows and much more.  Come stop by and find unique gifts for the holidays!

Debbie Kitani, Joan Takenaka and Lynn Kondo

Holiday Faire Co-Chairs, blachholidayfair@gmail.com

It’s A Springer Thing!

Mrs. Robb, Evie, Jack, Dylan, Evan, Ronan and Martha were all caught being kind, empathetic and responsible!  Other Springer students were also recognized at our Wednesday assembly.  

Lost And Found

Lost and Found is beginning to bust!

Please stop by the Lost and Found near the multi if you are on campus or remind your children to stop by and take a look. You may find a long lost treasure.   

Is there a parent that is willing to organize the Lost & Found a couple of times a year?  This would require going through the clothing and putting it out so that the parents and students can see it and retrieve their lost items.  If you’re interested, please contact the Springer School Office at 650-943-4200.

Living Classroom

Become a LIVING CLASSROOM docent... share your love of nature with kids!

It's time to build bird nests, make yummy soup from the veggies we harvest from our school gardens, discover symmetry inside fruit, and make natural dyes from plants!  If you like all those things and more, please consider becoming a Living Classroom docent!  LIving Classroom is looking for docents to help deliver hands-on garden-based lessons to the students of the Los Altos School District.  No experience necessary as we provide all the training needed!  Our Winter Docent Training will take place at the LASD iLearn Studio on Monday mornings from 9-Noon on 12/4, 12/11, 1/8 and 1/22.  Please click HERE to view our Winter Training Flyer.  Apprentice-style training also available to those who can’t make our Monday morning trainings.

Questions? Email us at livingclassroom@lasdschools.org or call (650) 947-1103.  For more information about Living Classroom, please visit our website at www.living-classroom.org.

When To Keep Your Child Home From School

Sometimes it is difficult, especially early in the morning, to know whether or not to send your child to school.  The following guidelines are indications that you should keep him/her home.  In this way, you are helping to control the spread of colds, flu, and other contagious illnesses.

Keep your child at home when he/she has any of the following symptoms:

You need to keep your child home until he/she has been symptom free without medication for 24 hours.

Also, NOTIFY THE OFFICE IMMEDIATELY if your child is exposed to or contracts chicken pox, mumps or measles or whooping cough (pertussis).  These conditions can be life threatening to students who are undergoing therapies that suppress their immune systems.

The following information is only a guide to common childhood health concerns. Call our District Nurses (650-444-9702 or 650-537-8119) or personal health care provider for more information. Always bring a copy of a physician’s note to school and/or notify the school if your child will have an extended absence due to a health condition for 10 days or longer.

If you would like more information on how to spot flu symptoms, you may go to the LASD Health website by clicking here.

LAEF

Let’s Celebrate!

We've raised $2 Million! Thank you to the 1239 amazing and generous LASD families who've contributed to LAEF this school year and helped us reach this important milestone. We're over halfway to our goal of $3.7 Million. If you have yet to give, please donate and help us reach our goal.

Your gift can still be doubled!

Donate to LAEF for your first time OR increase your donation over last year and it will be matched by our Board of Directors!  The $50K Challenge Match ends on November 17th, so give today. New or annual gifts of any amount are appreciated, and help make a difference for all our TK-8 students by funding STEM, arts, literacy, wellness, and personalized learning. To learn more,

pledge or donate at LAEFonline.org.

Selpa Events

Selpa, an all-volunteer group of parents of children with special needs, are sponsoring several upcoming events:

Parent Chat: The Second Tuesday of every month.  Click here for flyer.

Click here for Spanish Parent Chat flyer.

Looking for Noon Duty Volunteers

Noon lunch duty is currently short one staff member in the younger grades (1st-3rd) area on Tues/Thurs.  We are looking for parent volunteers to help fill this spot, especially on Thursday.  If you could spare even one Thursday per month, we would really appreciate it.  The hours are 11:45 - 12:45, but if you are also volunteering for hot lunch, we could still use your help after hot lunch, as that is when the kids are spread out the most throughout the campus.  Please contact Clover Huang at: cloverh[at]yahoo.com to sign up.

OhmConnect Fundraising Platform

The Springer community started using a novel fundraising platform last year, called OhmConnect. We raised $930 last year, and $1500 this year by having a handful of parents of the school turn down their electricity usage just one hour per week.

We're aiming to raise $5,000 this year and all you need to do is signup using this link and connect your utility account.

ohm.co/springer

OhmConnect donates between $50 - $150 per team member per year, depending on how much you reduce. They'll be donating an instant $75 per new team member. If you haven't signed up yet, now's the time to do it!

Parent Education Opportunities

Through an enriching presentations from local and national experts on topics of interests 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.  

How Submit an Article to the Springer Buzz

If you have an article to submit to the Springer Buzz, please send it to the editor atspringer.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.