The Springer Buzz

August 28,  2015

In This Issue:

• Principal’s Message

• News and Announcements

• Parent Education Opportunities

Quick Dates for your Calendar:

• Wednesday, Sept. 2, 8:30am: PTA Meeting in Springer Staff Room

• Thursday, Sept. 3 Back-to-School Night.  

• September 4, Friday: Minimum Day, dismissal 12:15pm

• September 7, Monday: Labor Day Holiday, no school

• September 8, Tuesday: First day hot lunch is served

• September 14, Monday: First day of extended day for TK and Kinder

• September 24, Thursday: Photo day

Principal’s Message

Back to School Night is Thursday, September 3rd.

One great way to demonstrate to your child that you care about their education is to attend Springer’s Back-to-School Night on Thursday, Sept. 3rd.   Your interest and involvement in their education emphasizes to your child the importance of their time here at Springer.  With such an active community as ours, Back-to-School Night is always well attended.

Back-to-School Night is much more than learning about curriculum and new grading practices.  It is a chance for you to get to know the special person who spends so much time with your child.  While teachers will go over protocols in their room, they will also spend some time sharing about themselves.

Please remember that the next day, Friday, September 4th is a minimum day with a 12:15 dismissal for all 1st-6th graders.

A Paradigm Shift in the way we report student progress

This year, the District is taking on a huge shift in the way we report student progress.  We’ve moved far away from the traditional report card and the practice of giving assignments letter grades (A’s, B’s, C’s, etc.).   While we are all familiar with that system, there is a much more meaningful and actionable way to report student learning- in real time.  Our new learning management system, Haiku, allows teachers to give students and parents real time information on areas within the standards where a child is strong and where there are areas of improvement.  This format of reporting student progress is known as Standards Based Grading.   This is the first year LASD has implemented Standards Based Grading and we all need to be patient with the expected bumps that come when changing such a crucial part of what we do (namely “grading” and reporting).  I’m sure there are many questions, and there will be more as we move through the year.  For this reason, I will be holding two talks about Standards Based Grading on Back-to-School night in the multi.  The first talk will be at 6:30pm followed by another one at 7:05.  If you wish to know more about Standards Based Grading, and how it will be implemented through Haiku, I encourage you to attend one of these meetings.  This topic will also be covered at my first Coffee with the Principal on September 18th.  

The Back-to-School Night schedule is listed below.  I hope to see you all on campus on Thursday!

Enjoy the weekend,

Wade Spenader- Principal

Back-To-School Night

Please join us for Back-to-School Night.  This night is for our parents to learn more about the wonderful teachers who work with our students every day.

Thursday, September 3

6:00 Transitional Kinder presentation in Room KA

6:30 Kindergarten and Primary SDC (Rm 10) presentations

7:05 1st-3rd Grade and Upper grade SDC (Rm 23) presentations

7:40 4th-6th Grade presentations

Principal Talk in the multi on the shift to Standards Based Grading and Haiku

6:30pm and 7:05pm

Classroom presentations last 30 minutes.  Teachers review curriculum and classroom protocols.  There is not time to discuss individual students.

Back-To-School Order Form

The BTS Order Form is a quick, easy, on-line tool that allows you to make donations, sign up for PTA memberships, specify your child's T-shirt size, and purchase Auction tickets, Spirit Wear and Yearbooks.  This is a convenient way to make a single payment for your donations and orders!  We recommend reviewing the 2015-2016 Spirit Wear selection with your child before opening the form.

For this school year, the Springer PTA has again purchased a complete set of school supplies for every student in every classroom (including Transitional and regular Kindergarten). PTA is providing this service as a time (and money) saver for parents and to ensure that all our students have all the necessary supplies right from the beginning of the school year.  PTA will only be able to continue this program in the future if we receive sufficient reimbursement for our expenses (over $30,000 in total). We are asking each family to please donate $55 per student to reimburse the PTA for your child’s/children's school supplies.

Please consider making your BTS payment via e-check.  We prefer electronic payments because they allow us to more quickly and easily process the BTS orders.  (Last year, a parent volunteer made weekly trips to the bank to deposit over 1400 handwritten checks for the Springer PTA!)  Furthermore, payment by e-check is less expensive for us.  (Intuit charges the PTA a flat fee of $0.50 for every e-check.  PayPal charges the PTA 3-5% of each payment.)  The Los Altos Educational Foundation (LAEF) accepts (and prefers) payments by e-check as well.  If you receive an error while attempting to pay by e-check as a guest user, it could be because you have previously registered your bank account with Intuit.   If you have already registered your bank account, then you must login.

The link to the form is: Springer 2015 BTS Order Form

The password is: "stingers" (all lower case)

Thank you for your support of the Springer PTA!

Classroom Yahoo Groups

Each class at Springer has a Yahoo Group, used for communications from the PTA, the room parents and/or teacher, and for discussions between the parents.   It is very important that at least one parent from each family join the Class Group, as otherwise you will miss communications about activities in your classroom, special events at Springer, etc.

All parents listed in the Springer Directory have been sent an invitation to join your Class Group(s).   If you haven’t already joined your Class Group, please click here for instructions on how to join.

Questions?  Contact: SpringerClassLists[at]gmail[dot]com.

Hot Lunch Volunteers Needed

Many thanks to those of you who have reached out to help with hot lunch. We still need helpers for Monday (at least twice a month, but every week would be fantastic!) and Wednesdays

If you have 11:15 - 12:15 to spare on Mondays or Wednesdays, it would be greatly appreciated. Plus, when you volunteer you earn a credit with our vendor, Choice Lunch. One credit, equals a hot lunch.

Please email, Rachel Michelson: michelson<dot>rachel<at>gmail<dot>com for more information and to sign up.

For information on ordering hot lunch, click here.

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

It's time to harvest seeds from heirloom tomatoes, plant our winter wheat and veggies, search the schoolyard for animal homes, and learning about Native California Indian uses of 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 Fall Docent Training will take place Monday mornings from 9 - Noon on Aug. 31st – Oct. 12th (no training on Labor Day 9/7).  Apprentice-style training also available for those who can’t make it to trainings on Monday mornings.  Want to learn more about our program?  Please consider attending one of our upcoming Informational Meetings from 10-11am on Monday 8/24 or Thursday 8/27 at Los Altos School District Conference Room #2, 201 Covington Road, Los Altos.  Please click HERE to view our Fall training flyer.

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.

Thanks!

Caroline Chan

Program Coordinator

Living Classroom Program

Los Altos School District

(650) 947-1103

Springer Directory News

Fourleaf Directory

LASD has chosen to standardize all district schools to use the Fourleaf online directory tool. Earlier this week, you should have received an invitation to activate your account and view the online directory. The system uses the email address(es) that you entered through InfoSnap to create your login account. If you want to change any of your contact information, including adding or removing information in the directory, click Notification and Privacy Settings on the right side of the screen and make the changes.

Printed Directory

As in years past, you will still receive a printed version of the directory. The information included will be generated from the information in Fourleaf as of September 8th. Please log in and confirm that the contact information that you wish to share in the printed directory is accurate and complete.

DirectoryBurst online directory

As we make the transition to the new system, you will still have access to the DirectoryBurst system that we used for the Springer Directory for the 2014/15 school year. It has been updated with class assignments for 2015/16.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact SpringerDirectory@gmail.com

Ohmconnect

Reduce Your Electricity Usage and Earn Dollars For Springer!

OhmConnect will donate up to $150 per year on your behalf when you reduce your electricity usage. With just 12 participants participating last year, we donated $863 to Springer. Our goal is to donate $5,000 this year! To learn more about signing up for the program, click here!

Girl Scout Information Night

Girl Scouts is a great way to build confidence, leadership, advocacy, self-expression and friendship.  

Service Unit 608 of Los Altos is hosting a Girl Scout Parent Information night for girls K-12.  They will provide information regarding Girl Scouts, help you find your girl a troop to join and assist with starting new troops at your school.  

Join us on Monday, September 8th from 6:30 to 7:30, Oak Elementary School, Muti Purpose room, 1501 Oak Avenue, Los Altos, CA 94024.

For more information, please contact Sandra Hillman SU8 Recruitment Coordinator, Sandra.G.Hillman[at]gmail.com

Girls On The Run--In Need Of Coaches

Looking for Coaches for the Girls On The Run 2016 season

Girls On the Run has been one of Springer popular after school program for more than ten years and we'd love to have it running this year.

Coach and site applications are due by September 21.

To be able to commit to the 2016 season (February 29 through May 14) we only need 3 coaches, including a head-coach in order to have a group of 15 girls.The more coaches, the more girls can be part of the program.

Coaches have to be 18 years and older. GOTR only meets 2 times per week, from 3pm to 4:15pm from February 29 through May 14.

If you are interested and want to learn more about the program please contact me (veronique.gobry[at]gmail.com).

Run 4 Your Life Starts Friday, September 11

One of our favorite lunch time activities--Run 4 Your Life--is starting on Friday, September 11!  Parent/caregivers coach and track students as they run the distance of fabulous destinations around the world. Each year a number of students run the equivalent of a marathon around the Springer Track each week.  Anyone can participate.  Just have your child go to the playground on Friday, September 11 to sign up.

Stanford Cardinal Kids Day

The first home Stanford football game on September 12 will be Cardinal Kids Day.  A kids Fan Fest will begin at 5pm including lots of kids activities, opportunities to meet student athletes, and experience a new virtual reality training experience created by a former Stanford student athlete.  You can even participate in campus tours if you wish before the game!  The football game begins at 7:30pm and all families are welcome to attend!  Use the promo code below when you buy adult game tickets to ensure all Springer families are seated together and you receive free youth tickets.

Buy tickets here: www.gostanford.com/promo-code

Use promo code SPRINGER-STANFORD

Student Extracurricular Activities:

Springer will have many after school activities!  Please click here to link to the Springer website to see the selection and register for a class.

The Juggling Club will begin meeting on Wednesday mornings at 7:30 on August 26.  The Juggling Club is free and offered to student in Grades 4 - 6.  Click here for more information.

Parent Education Opportunities

Through enriching presentations from local and national experts on topics of interest 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 to Submit an Article to the Springer Buzz

If you have an article to submit to the Springer Buzz, please send it to the editor at springer.buzz@gmail.com