Springer Buzz

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.

• Principal’s Message

• News and Announcements

• Parent Education Opportunities

• LASD 2018-2019 Calendar
• LASD 2019-2020 Calendar
• Springer’s Daily Schedule
• Wednesday, May 22; 7:00pm: Springer Singers Concert
• Friday, May 24; 1:00pm: LASD Spring Concert; Gr. 4-6
• Monday, May 27: Memorial Day--No School
• Thursday, May 30: Volunteer Breakfast
  
• Tuesday, June 4; 4:00 - 7:00pm: Instrument Quest; Covington School Multi
• Friday, June 7; 8:30 - 12:00: Field Day
  
• Friday, June 7: Minimum Day; Dismissal 12:15pm
• Wednesday, June 12: Last Day of School; Dismissal 11:15am
  
• Wednesday, August 21: First Day of School
  

Dear Springer Families,

At Springer we value our parent input as we reflect on our practices and next best steps to meet the needs of our children. Our school community survey this spring is a testament of our partnership, as we had a 69% response return (329 reponses). We are very fortunate to have very talented parents on our School Site Council (SSC) that analyzed the data. A big thank you to Ina Dalal and Kirsten Tashev for their efforts in this area and also appreciation is extended to the other SSC members who helped develop the survey and give input on recommendations:

Priti Patel

Kiwi Capriles

Christina Lassigne
Linda Ripley-Smith

The survey looked at four areas, which included goals, communication, curriculum, and socio-emotional dynamics.

Goals

80% of the community feels that the school goals and activities are clearly communicated. This is something to celebrate, as we want to make sure parents are aware and understand our strengths and areas of growth, as well as become involved in keeping our school community strong.

Communication

Four areas were looked at in this area (student goals, academic progress, reader’s and writer’s workshop, and teacher monthly updates). All four areas received high marks with academic progress and monthly updates receiving the highest percent, followed by workshop and student goals. The teachers have been working hard this year to communicate the workshop model through words, visuals and inviting parents into the classroom for workshop celebrations. Student goals is an area that teachers address with students, but we also realize it is an area of growth as we continue to look at individual student data and create student centered learning where students clearly understand, communicate, and reflect on their next steps.

Curriculum

The core subjects included in this portion of the survey were physical education, science, math, reading, writing, and social studies. In relation to rigor, physical education and social studies were rated the highest, followed by reading, writing, science and math. We are pleased that the workshop model, in its second year, has positive rigor responses in the 70s. This will continue to grow as students experience this process over several years. Science is in the transition of the New Generation Science Standards, which are rich in higher level thinking and application. Math is an area that both the district and school site have identified as a need in relation to conceptual learning. Not necessarily pushing kids through skill/computation, but can they problem solve, explain their thinking, and have good number sense. Teachers are already receiving training in this area as we shift to meet this need.

Socio-Emotional

Our kids feel good about being at Springer!!! There are exceptional responses in the area of respect, feeling safe, and having an overall good sense of well being. One area of need is to proactively address the area of cyber safety and cyber peer relations. The Technology Team has already identified this as an area of need and has developed a digital citizenship curriculum that will be taught TK-6 next fall.

As the School Site Council reviewed the comments, rigor and consistency within grade levels were areas of concerns. The rigor from the survey results focuses mainly of math, which has been addressed in the above narrative. Collaboration is an area we have worked on this year as a staff through our Thursday afternoon collaboration time, developing a consistent workshop model; using grade level rubrics as common assessment tools; identifying and discussing the needs/growth of all students; and moving next year into common assessments for math. We also had the opportunity this spring to do a collaborative walk where teachers visited each other’s classrooms with a focus on a specific instructional area, as consistency from grade level to grade level is also important.

Lastly, I would like to share with those of you who are familiar with Net Promoter Score that we received a 56. An exceptional score!!! Thank you for supporting us and giving us your feedback.

You are a valued!

Warmly,

Robin, SSC, and Springer Staff

Dear Springer Community,

Let's join Springer girl scouts, boy scouts and pet owners in the 72nd Los Altos Kiwanis Pet Parade this Saturday, May 18, 10am. Wear your Springer gear and look for the group assembling near Draeger’s around 9:30am or join with the group when you see them pass by after the parade begins. The weather may not cooperate so make sure to dress yourselves and your pets appropriately!

Parade information is available at this website: http://www.losaltoskiwanis.org/Page/21428

Sincerely,
Springer Outreach Ambassadors

Let’s celebrate Spring as a community! Please mark your calendars for a Springer Community event on Saturday, June 8, from 11am-2pm. Everyone is welcome, current students, future students and alumni. Details will be forthcoming. The Springer Outreach Ambassadors are looking for volunteers to help with planning. Please email springer_ambassadors@lasdschools.org to help. Let’s work together to recreate a Springtime tradition at Springer!

We are looking for volunteers for next school year, 2019-20! We have several key roles that if not filled by wonderful parent volunteers we CAN NOT hold our wonderful events. The Springer Community is truly remarkable and one big reason is our parent volunteers. We really couldn’t be Springer without YOU!

Critical open positions include: Springer Auction Co-Chair, Tech Committee Chair, Junior Olympics Co-Lead (4th-6th Grades), Springer Events T-Shirt Coordinator, and Springer Singers Coordinator. Some jobs can be done from home or outside office hours! Let us know if you would like to learn more by contacting, board@springerpta.net

Thank you to many of your that stepped up for roles this week, we really appreciate your help!

Please submit any requests for expense reimbursement by Friday May 24th to the PTA Treasurer cubby in the Springer office to ensure that checks are processed by the last day of school. If there are expenses incurred after May 24th, please submit by Monday June 10th or sooner if possible. Reimbursement request forms are available in the PTA Treasurer cubby in the Springer office. You can also download and print it here.

We are seeking volunteers to join the Hot Lunch crew for 2019-2020. The Hot Lunch program would not be possible without the 20+ volunteers that come in every week to serve lunch! The lunch volunteer shift is from 11:25-12:15, one day per week, or alternating weeks. Volunteers receive a credit for a free Choicelunch meal for every volunteer slot they fill. Contact Emily Fuller (at HotLunch@springerpta.net) to join the lunch crew or if you’d like more information.

SPRINGER AUCTION PARTIES UPDATE
We still have some awesome Springer parties for both kids and/or parents to join, see the Open Party List, click this link to find out more: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oTf7wGzkT35KxcyJTZU1auI5XfqOEKcRRhimMxmtB40/edit#gid=0

Coming up, these parties still have spots!
May 22, 2:45-4:15, TK Stay Calm and Create, Contact Mrs. Bence
May 29, 1st-6th Grade Dodge Ball with Mr. Heeb, Contact K. Tashev
May 31, 3:00-4:30, 6th Grade Boys Get Together, Contact R. Michelson
May 31, 5th Grade Outdoor Movie Party, Contact L. Isaacson
June 1, 1:00-3:00, Kinder Park Party, Contact Kristen Gklaros-Stavropoulos
June 2, 2:00-4:00, 2nd Grade Pool Party, Contact J. Shepherd
June 7, 12:15-12:25, 4th Grade Movie Party, Contact J. Shepherd

Congratulations to all of your graduating 6th graders. For those of you with children entering Blach next year, please consider volunteering to serve hot lunch. This is a fun way to see your kids in action and one of the very few opportunities for volunteering at Blach. It is a great way to stay connected with other parents from your elementary school and to meet new parents from the other feeder schools.

We begin serving hot lunch on the first day of school, so we are setting up volunteer crews now. It takes a crew of over 100 parent volunteers to serve hot lunch at Blach. You can choose to work every week or every other week. There is plenty of room to organize a small group of friends that wants to work together.

To give you a rough idea of the schedule, this year's volunteers arrived at 12:25 on Monday, Tuesday and Friday; 12:00 on Wednesday; and 12:40 on Thursday. It only takes about 45 minutes before everything is cleaned up and we are done for the day.

If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know what day of the week works for you and if you would like to volunteer every week or every other week. Please also let me know if you want to be scheduled with specific people. If you are unable to commit to a regular day, I can add you to the substitue list for when a regular volunteer is unable to cover her shift.

Feel free to email sharontantan@yahoo.com with any questions. Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you next year at Blach!

SELPA 1 CAC will be holding their last meeting of the school year on May 23 at 9:30 in the MVLA Board Room at 1299 Bryant St, Mountain View. Please come and find out more about what we are planning for special education related events next year, and take part in our election. Our website is www.selpa1cac.org
SELPA 1 CAC llevará a cabo su última reunión del año escolar el 23 de mayo a las 9:30 en la sala de juntas de MVLA en 1299 Bryant St, Mountain View. Venga y descubra más sobre lo que estamos planeando para los eventos relacionados con la educación especial el próximo año, y participe en nuestra elección. Nuestro sitio web es www.selpa1cac.org

Living Classroom is seeking volunteers!...With more teachers than ever before signing up for our fun and engaging lessons, we are struggling to meet our lesson demand. Come to our Informational Meeting and Garden Tour to learn how you can help! Feel free to invite a friend, neighbor or grandparent to attend with you!

Living Classroom Info Meeting & Garden Tour
Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 10am
Los Altos School District – Board Room
201 Covington Road, Los Altos
Click here for a flyer for this event!
RSVP/Questions? Email livingclassroom@lasdschools.org or call (650) 947-1103.
Check us out at www.living-classroom.org!

Fourth Grade Instrument Quest

June 4th, 2019
4:00 – 7:00
Covington Multi

In preparation for choosing a musical instrument to play in 5th grade, the LASD Music Department will host an instrument selection event called “Instrument Quest” for all 4th grade students in the district. Your child will be able to try out every instrument we offer in our Band and Orchestra (flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello).

This is a great opportunity to see which instrument best suits your child. Parents are welcome to ask questions and to meet the LASD Music teachers.

Help us raise the final $49K to meet our goal of $3.5M this school year.

We have a $5K challenge match! Your donation can be doubled.

Donate online or drop off a check in your school office.

Donations to LAEF are making a difference for every student!

This spring, contributions to LAEF are funding

• PE teachers, helping students develop physical skills and training students for Junior Olympics
• Music teachers, preparing students for spring concerts
• Computer science teachers and STEM ISTs, making STEM and cSTEM Expos possible
• Librarians, helping students to enjoy reading and teaching online research skills
• Art Docents, introducing students to art appreciation and hands on learning
• And so much more!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @LAEFonline

The MVLA Parent Education Speaker Series is excited to announce our speaker line-up for the 2018-2019 school year. Six nationally and internationally recognized experts will join us to discuss a wide range of topics including – navigating today’s college search process and financial aid options; exploring the crucial impact of sleep on the wellness and success of children and teens; raising resilient kids in a stressful world; fostering increased well-being; engaging the power of self-compassion; and optimizing the college experience to prepare young adults for the jobs of tomorrow.

Please visit the MVLA Parent Education Speaker Series website for more detailed information and registration for each event. MVLA Parent Education Speaker Series events are free, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors – the PTA, LAEF, and MVLA High School Foundation.

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