Dear Covington Parents and Community,

On behalf of our entire school and staff, thank you for a fantastic first 10 days of school. Our students have done an amazing job upholding our Coyote expectations and they are engaged and excited about the learning in their classrooms. Thank you for attending Back-To-School Night last Tuesday. We were impressed with the family level of engagement as well, and know this is indicative of a terrific school year ahead for all of us.

Starting this fall, we have several programs your children will be participating in:

Music/ C-STEM/ P.E.
PE for all students started the first day of school. Our 1st-3rd grade classes are involved in PE one time each week, while 4th-6th grade classes participate in PE two times each week. Kindergartners at Covington exercise at break time each day and will participate in organized playground activities and fitness games with the staff from FIT at Rancho. This week instrumental music for upper grades begins. Our 4th and 5th grade students participate in vocal music, while our 5th and 6th graders participate in band, orchestra or choral. C-STEM begins tomorrow for our 6th grade students. Every 6th grader will participate in a C-STEM lab each week for 45 minutes. Thank you to you, for your contributions to LAEF to provide these programs for our students.

Theater-Starting Arts
Kindergarten-third grade students start theater class this week. Instruction lasts for 6 weeks and then students move into a music rotation for 24 weeks. Thank you to you and our generous PTA! We appreciate your support of Starting Arts to inspire our students. We can't wait to show you what we are learning.

FIT at Lunchtime/ Intramurals with Mr. Heeb
Thanks also to our very generous PTA and you, we are able to have two FIT coaches from Rancho facilitate interactive games and sports with our students on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Mr. Heeb provides intramural sports for students. Our students love the choice options available at lunchtime.

New Full-Time School Psychologist!
Erin Prothro is beyond excited to be Covington's new psychologist - every day of the week! Her goal is to help every child be a successful student and learn in a positive, supportive, and engaging school environment. She will be working with students, teachers, and families to help with individual student needs as well as larger–scale projects (such as Project Cornerstone) and groups aimed at supporting students' social, emotional, and academic success. For more about the role of a school psychologist, visit http://www.nasponline.org/about_sp/whatis.aspx

Who is Erin? Erin just moved back to the bay area (her home) after eight years in southern and central California. Last year, she worked in the Ventura Unified School District at a preschool and elementary school while finishing up her Master's of Education program at UCSB. Before that, she was a behavior therapist and case manager for one year after graduating from UCLA. Erin thrives on the energy, excitement, and fun of the school setting and the relationships that form within it. If you haven't met her yet, look for her on campus or stop by her room in the main office and say hello!

I hope you all enjoyed your three-day weekend and you are looking forward to the many fun fall events.

Sincerely,
Erin S. Green

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!

Calling Wonderful Covington Parents! Please send in some S.T.U.F.F. (Scraps That are Used For Fun!) We will be designing and creating many new products this year in the STEM Lab and could use all of the recyclable materials we can get our hands on! If you have materials/scraps around your home that you'd like to get rid of, feel free to donate them any time throughout the school year. Some examples of materials that are wonderful are: paper towel tubes, tissue paper, buttons, wooden rods, blocks, small wheels, tops of water bottles, etc. Thank you in advance for your help in our new discoveries! -Mrs. Katie Farley

Walden West Open House: Sept 8th Walden West is hosting a BBQ Open House from 10am-3pm. See attached flyer for details.

LAEF: Welcome to the 2013-14 School Year!
For more than 30 years, LAEF has helped bring enrichment programs to LASD students. Staff for Physical Education, Music, Art, and reduced student-to-teacher ratios are all supported by your donations. In addition, this year's innovation grant includes funding for a new STEM lab and full-time teacher at every elementary school in the district. Combined with PTA funding for the supplies and equipment that help deliver these programs and others, your contributions to both are critical.

Please click here to pledge and/or donate now.

Upcoming Events:

9/11 – Picture Day
9/13 – PTA Meeting/Parent Coffee
9/27 – Staff Development Day – No School

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. 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. Vote and see rules at http://givewith.target.com/school/30874

Save the date for the Walkathon on Saturday, October 12! This year's beach-themed Walkathon takes place at Covington from 9:30 am – 3:00 pm. With about 90 percent of Covington students participating, this is the largest (and most fun!) community event for the school. Come out to the green field, walk laps with your children, and meet their classmates. You can picnic on the lawn with food from the booths, listen to music, and take part in fun and athletic entertainment. This event is also a fundraiser allowing students to directly improve their technology, music, art, and library programs. Each and every student at Covington benefits from this event. Details and student sponsor cards will be sent home Sept 12.

Become a family t-shirt sponsor. Put your family name on the Walkathon t-shirt! You can sign up online or by putting a form in the WAT box in the office. For detailed instructions, visit http://www.covingtonschool.org/covingtones/4809-Sponsorship.html.

Become a corporate sponsor. The logos of corporate sponsors are prominently featured on the back of the Walkathon t-shirt worn by every Covington student. If your company would like to sponsor the event, contact Sonia Brunner (sonia_brunner@yahoo.com) or Tracey Leong (tsakumoto67@gmail.com).

Covington Voices Facebook Group: Do you want to be a well-informed Covington community member? Do you have questions you think other well-informed community members may be able to answer? We have just the right online venue for Covington Parents to ask, answer and comment on all things Covington. It is called Covington Voices and it is a private group on Facebook for Covington Parents only. Gabriella Bradley (gabri_gallo@yahoo.com) and Jessica Speiser (jessica@speiser.net) created this Facebook group so that Covington Parents could have an "open, honest, respectful and constructive dialog" about all things Covington and LASD. Topics discussed in the group range from LASD/BCS legal fight to inquiries about babysitters. To join, please click on the following URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CovingtonVoices/. Act now, because after September 30th, you will have to contact Gabriella or Jessica personally to join.

Cub Scouts: Cub Scouts is for 1st - 5th grade boys. Pack 76 serves the neighborhoods for the Covington school district, as well as a number of local private elementary schools. For more information please contact Chi-Ray Chien – Cubmaster – 650-469-3880 – chi-ray@thechiens.net

District & Community News: http://www.lasdk8.org/PDF_Files/Current_School_News.pdf

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 following Tuesday.