Dear Covington Parents and Community Members,

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing and enthusiastic support and commitment to make Covington an inspiring place for students.  It was so wonderful to see so many of you last night at our Back to School event. Special thanks to Nir Wakrat, Suzanne Kasso, Jessica Speiser, Fionnuala Loughran, Carolyn LeBaron and Valerie Cairns for all their hard work in making the event a success.   We are excited to resume the 2013-2014 school year; we have a fantastic staff who have been hard at work over the last few weeks, getting ready to greet your children!

This year, Covington School has added a STEM teacher to our staff.  Thanks to LAEF, each elementary school will have a dedicated lab room and a full-time Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Teacher, who will collaborate with the classroom teachers to reinforce classroom-based science lessons with lab-based experiments.  Every student will participate in a variety of hands-on Science lessons in addition to the current FOSS-kit based science lessons.  Details of the program, including lesson plans are currently being developed.  I am pleased to announce, that Katie Farley will be the STEM teacher at Covington school. Mrs. Farley brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and passion around STEM and is excited to meet our school community in the coming days!

Thank you for all you do for our entire school community.  From your generous donations and hours of volunteer hours to your passion for bringing so many engaging activities to our children such as PE, Music, FIT at lunchtime, small group reading instruction support, STEM Lab, et.c, we appreciate you!  Your support of our school, our PTA and LAEF is invaluable!

We look forward to another wonderful year collaborating to make our school an even more amazing place for students!

Remember to complete the Back To School Checklist online http://www.covingtonschool.org/covingtones/4770-Back-to-School-Purchases.html and also stop by the morning coffee cart in front of the Multi tomorrow morning; enjoy a latte, courtesy of our fabulous PTA!  Also, mark your calendars for Friday morning's Classroom Volunteer Sign-up Coffee.  We can't wait to see you and your children tomorrow!

Sincerely and gratefully,

Erin S. Green, Principal

Matt Abrahams, LAEF Board

Suzanne Kasso, PTA President

Yard Supervisors Needed Monday-Friday 12:00-12:40pm every day:  If you are able to help one day a week or all five days each week, we need you!  We have openings for parents, grandparents, or college students.  If you are interested (this is a paid position) yourself or know of someone else who may be interested, please give me a call at 650.947.1100.  This is a fun and great opportunity to get to know our awesome students and see some of the great things that go on at school during the year!

PTA Update:

Give With Target: This year, Target will give money to schools all over the country for one simple act: a vote. Our school needs just 25 votes to earn a $25 donation from Target. But that's only the beginning. For each additional vote, our school will get $1 more. So please remember that, although the gesture is small, the rewards are potentially huge. Go to http://givewith.target.com/school/30874 to vote for Covington Elementary School once a week through September 21 or until Target has given away all $5 million. And please forward this email to your friends. Vote and see rules at http://givewith.target.com/school/30874

Hot Lunch Volunteers Needed: Hot Lunch service starts on 8/21.  The hot lunch crew still has one hot lunch LEAD position available on every other Tuesday. A benefit of the lead position is the exclusive use of the hot lunch parking space reserved for the lead for the entire workday. Please consider signing up today. We also need parents to sign up to be Hot Lunch Servers.  The shift runs from 11:40 am - 12:15 pm and includes 4 parent volunteers. You may sign up to work once a week or once every other week. Just add your name to the shared document and submit. https://docs.google.com/a/lasdk8.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au2NFSK5slWSdDFOem9hbU5uWUFnR3JVOHAtcUI2Wnc#gid=2

Minimum Day Parties Are Back; Aug. 30:Don't know what to do with your kids when school gets out early? We have your solution. For the 8/30 minimum day, PTA is sponsoring the after school parties.   Sign up at the following link before space runs out.  1st comes 1st serve!  Open to all grades (K-6).  

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFZmYS03TnMxZGttdVFGUWhndE8zR3c6MQ#gid=0.  Please email sangeethperuri@gmail.com with any questions.

Item                  Event                                                            Remaining Spots

311                   Basketball Party with 1on1 Basketball ($30)    13

312                   Soccer Party with Coach Ken ($30)                14

313                   Cupcake Baking Party                                   SOLD OUT   

After School Programs: After school programs are being scheduled.  Most programs start in September.  Classes include: Science, Spanish, Art , Tennis, Chess & Basketball with more programs to be added.  Please check the Covington Website for flyers and registration informationhttp://www.covingtonschool.org/covingtones/4757-After-School-Programs.html

Living Classroom: Become a LIVING CLASSROOM docent: share your love of nature with kids!  The Living Classroom inspires children to learn and value our natural world through docent led hands-on garden-based education.  Please see the attached flyer for Information Meeting dates and Training Sessions.

St. William Rummage Sale: Our neighbor St. William Church is having a Rummage Sale. Covington Parents are invited to a special shopping day on Thursday, Sept. 5th, ( 9am-3pm), along with St.Wm parishioners. The sale is open to the public on Sept 6th and 7th, and of course, you can shop on those days as well.    If you want to drop off items for donation, please contact Marie Phares, in the church office for drop off times, 650-968-2863.

Post an Announcement in the Howler? If you have an announcement to include in Howler, please send it to sevard@lasdschools.org.  Announcements must be received by 12:00pm on Friday in order to be considered for the Howler scheduled for the followingTuesday.