Dear Covington Parents and Community Members:

Walkathon: Thank you to our PTA and Walkathon team for a fabulous community event! On behalf of our staff, students and school, thank you for your support and help in putting on such a fantastic walkathon. All had a wonderful time and appreciated all the special touches of our PTA committee, especially the Moon Balls and delicious food! Special thanks to Sonia Brunner and Tracey Leong, our Walkathon chairs, and all the many volunteers who helped them. Their dedication and countless hours of hard work made the event a success.

LAEF: If you haven’t already donated for this school year, you will soon be getting a call during the “LAEF phone-athon.” If you are new to our community you might wonder what LAEF is and how it LAEF contributes to our school district.

• It is a non-profit group of community and parent volunteers representing each district school, funding classroom teachers, art, music, physical education and much more.
• The LAEF board of parent volunteers works hard to balance our grant evenly across grades K-8 so that all students receive an equivalent value from LAEF grants.
• At the elementary level, LAEF funds Class size reduction, Art Docents, Living Classroom, library, music, cSTEM,  PE and our new STEM teacher and program.
• LAEF partners with the Los Altos School District to enhance our children’s opportunities for enrichment so they can thrive in the global community.

Our students are engaged and inspired every day, thanks to our generous LAEF.  Thank you in advance for your contributions to LAEF!

Geography Club-Monday's 2:45-3:45: Mrs. Cuzzi and Mrs. Scatena facilitate the Geography Club each week on Mondays after school. The club runs from 2:45-3:45.  We still have openings for students to participate, collaborate and engage in learning about the world around us. Please contact our school office or Eileen Cuzzi and Megan Scatena directly Ecuzzi@lasdschools.org  Mscatena@lasdschools.org

Homework Club: We are starting our Homework Club on Monday, October 28th for students who would like a little extra help. Students will bring their homework to the club and have a quiet place to work and receive teacher assistance. Participation is by parent request or teacher recommendation; so if you think this is something your child would benefit from, please see our Front Office Staff or email mailto:sevard@lasdschools.org.

Have a wonderful week and thank you again for all you did to make last Saturday so much fun for our Students, staff and families!

Sincerely,
Erin S. Green

Important Dates – Please Note:
10/17 – Picture Make-Up Day
10/18 – Spirit Day: Moustache Day
10/22 – Minimum Day; all kinders attend 8:15am-11:35am,
             1st -6th graders are dismissed at 12:15pm; no lunch at school.
11/11 – Veteran’s Day, No School
11/25-11/25 – Parent/Teacher Conferences, No School
11/27-11/20 – Thanksgiving Break

Picture Make Up Day: Make up day is this Thursday Oct 17th from 8:00am-10:00am. If your child needs a make up picture, please inform their teacher in advance. Afternoon kindergartners who need make up pictures will need to be brought to school during that time for pictures.  Stay tuned; more make up instructions will be emailed tomorrow. If you have any questions about your order or Make Up Day, please email Shooting Stars Customer Service info@shootingstarsphoto.com. 

WALKATHON NEWS

Results: Covington community, you made the Walkathon a very successful fundraiser! Here are some of the impressive revenue results.
$47,500 was promised in pledges
$5,800 was contributed by family sponsors
$10,000 was donated by corporate sponsors
$7,000 was raised on Priceless parties

Every category showed year-over-year growth. This was only possible due to the 2013 Walkathon Committee. Please give a big thank you to the following people: Suzy Allison, Gabriella Bradley, Yumie Britt, Ingrid Choong, Riki Cohen, Dolly Eckinger, Diana Ekstrand, John Hamblin, Laurie Kurgas, Ken Leong, Julie Maeyama, Marianne Mahoney, Anjana Nagaragan-Bhutany, Allison Taylor, Jennifer Townhill ,Raj Vaswani, Kathleen Vitakis, Kristy Yang

Sponsor cards:  Walkathon sponsor cards are coming home in the Thursday folders. Please collect the pledges from your sponsors over the next three weeks. The Walkathon Wrap-Up document stapled to your pledge card has detailed instructions on how to turn in the money you collect. Please return all money to the Walkathon box in the office by Friday, November 1st.

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Student Council News: We are so excited about our new Student Council Officers and Representatives.  We will be kicking off this year with some great ideas. Next Friday, October 18th will be Mustache Day! Also, Friday, October 25, we will have a Halloween Store at recess. 

LAEF NEWS: Two ways to make your donation work harder! LAEF’s matching fund will match new donations dollar for dollar if received by November 1. This applies to all new families, new donors, and increases in donations over last year. If you give just a little more this year, including STEM donations, the additional amount will be matched 100%. Also, don’t forget to find out if your employer has a matching program. LAEF raises over $500,000 each year from local companies who match parent donations. If you aren’t sure, contact Shobana Gubbi, LAEF Executive Director, at laef@att.net or call 650-559-0445.
LAEF Representatives at Covington are:

Matt Abrahams, matt.abrahams@gmail.com
Anjana Nagarajan-Butaney, anjananagarajan@yahoo.com
Jessica Speiser, jessica@speiser.net
Ritu Kapoor, ritu.kapoor@gmail.com
Learn More & Make Your Tax Deductible Donation Today! www.laefonline.org

Minimum Day Parties: The PTA is once again sponsoring minimum day activities on 10/22. Options on 10/22 include Basketball, Crossfit, Hip Hop, Cooking & Tennis. If you want to sign your child up email Sangeeth Peruri sangeethperuri@gmail.com

Art Docent News: Test your Art trivia knowledge by naming the famous works of art in the new Art Docent mural. Enter at www.losaltosartdocents.org. The Art Docents will be celebrating the unveiling of their new mural with Hands-on Art projects and an Ice Cream Truck, Tuesday, October 22 (minimum day) 12:45- 2:15 p.m. @Art Docent Office at the LASD District Office
All entrants will win a certificate for ice cream at our event and be entered into a raffle to win a grand prize. Entries are due by October 15th.

Calling all Young Artists: Original Modern Student Artwork Sought for Exhibition.  The Los Altos Youth Welcomes SFMOMA on the Go exhibition will be launched with opening receptions throughout the downtown for student artists, families and community during the First Friday event on Friday, November 1st from 6-8pm. Each student whose artwork is selected will receive a $5 gift card from Know Knew Books, the newest arrival in downtown Los Altos and a special pin to wear. Students can pick up free scrap materials at Fast Frame on State Street should they wish.

Exhibit Dates: November 1, 2013 – November 8, 2013
Location: Merchants in downtown Los Altos.
Eligibility: Original modern art by elementary, middle and high school students .
To Enter: Submit modern artwork on 8 ½’ x 11” paper with name, phone number and email on the back.

Provide a 1” x 3” name card for your artwork including name, age and school to be displayed with your artwork. Submit art to the Art Docent Office at the Los Altos School District, 201 Covington Road, Los Altos 94024.
Deadline: Entries must be received by Friday, October 24, 2013

Info session:  Synopsys Silicon Valley Science & Technology Championship
An informational meeting, hosted by Ann Hepenstal, a parent member of the LASD GATE Advisory Committee, is being held for parents and students interested in the Synopsys Championship.  Sponsored by Synopsys, the Championship is a regional science and engineering fair competition for students in Santa Clara County held on March 12, 2014. LASD 6th, 7th and 8th graders are invited to enter!! Our students compete in the middle school (grades 6-8) division for awards and prizes in multiple areas of study. LASD students have won prizes in prior years, and gained valuable experience with science and project management.  Winners of the Synopsys Championship compete in the California State Science Fair and may advance to the prestigious Intel International Science & Engineering Fair which presents nearly $4 million in prizes and scholarships each year. Students and parents are invited to attend the Synopsys Championship Information Session to learn more about this opportunity and how to enter: Sunday, October 20, 2:00 - 3:00 pm, Covington Multi . For more information, see the 2014 Synopsys Championship website at http://www.science-fair.org Questions?  Contact parent volunteer Ann Hepenstal at annhep@yahoo.com

Info session: Tech Challenge. Ann Hepenstal is also hosting an informational meeting for all LASD 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students and their parents who are interested in participating in The Tech Challenge, hosted by the Tech Museum.  You'll compete to solve a real-world problem in this annual design challenge.  This year's challenge is "Harnessing the Wind."  Your design team will figure out how to use wind power to move water to people who need it.  The project builds skills in time management, creativity, and teamwork, while working through the engineering design cycle as you build and test your design.  Most importantly--it's great fun!!! Students and parents are invited to attend the Tech Challenge Information Session to learn more about this opportunity and how to enter: Sunday, October 20, 3:30 - 4:30 pm ,Covington Multi. For more information, see the Tech Challenge website at http://thetechchallenge.thetech.org/
Questions?  Contact parent volunteer Ann Hepenstal at annhep@yahoo.com

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.