Covington School Howler - Oct 7, 2014

Dear Covington Parents and Community Members,

Student Opportunities at Lunchtime

You might wonder what types of activities your children engage in when they are not in their classrooms. Below is a list of student opportunities that are available each week for your children at lunchtime.

Mondays
PE games with FIT Grades 1-6
Library Grades 1-6

Tuesdays
STEM Lab Grades 1 & 2
Computer Lab Grades 3-6
PE Games with Mr. Heeb Grades 1-6
Library Grades 1-6

Wednesdays
STEM Lab Grades 3-6
PE games with FIT Grades 1-6
Library Grades 1-6

Thursdays
Library Grades 1-6

Fridays
Computer Lab Grades 1&2
Library Grades 1-6

Covington's Lunchtime PE games with Mr. Heeb and FIT are generously funded by PTA. LAEF funds our STEM Program and the Library. Thank you for your contributions to both PTA and LAEF. We appreciate you!

Homework Club is Coming!
Our Homework Club is opening this coming Monday, October 13th! Homework Club meets Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 2:45-3:40 in room 27. Homework Club is specifically for students who would benefit from assistance and a quiet place to work on homework before going home. Students who attend Homework Club must bring enough independent work to complete to fill an hour of time. You can pick up a sign up form in the Covington office. Space is limited to 28 students.

Walk-A-Thon It is here!
I am so excited for the Walk-a-thon this coming Saturday, October 11th! It is a great day to come together and celebrate our community while also raising money to support all our great programs and events here at Covington.

PTA Meeting / Coffee This Friday!
Our October PTA Meeting & Coffee will take place immediately after this Friday's Flag Assembly.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Covington events this weekend!

Best Regards,
Erin S. Green

The City of Los Altos, in coordination with the Los Altos and Cupertino Unified School Districts, is seeking to improve school travel choice, safety, and education by further developing its Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) program as part of the comprehensive Pedestrian Master Plan process currently underway. The plan will include updated Suggested Routes to School maps and safety education materials.

The parent/guardian survey is an essential component of this planning process, and we hope you can take 5-10 minutes to participate in the online survey at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LosAltosParentSurvey by Wednesday October 10th.

Important Dates:

Oct 9 - Vision Screening, Grades K,3,6, SDC
Oct 10 - PTA Meeting/Parent Coffee 8:30am. LASD Candidate Presentations.
Oct 10 - School Spirit Day: Safari Theme
Oct 11 - Covington Walk-A-Thon
Oct 14 - Minimum Day, Early Dismissal
Oct 16 - Picture Make Up Day
Nov. 11 - Veteran's Day Holiday - No School
Nov. 24-25 - Parent/Teacher Conferences, No School for Students
Nov. 26-28 - Thanksgiving Holiday

Picture Ordering Information:Proof forms for all students were sent home last week. Included are ordering instructions, as well as an access code for online ordering.

THE DEADLINE FOR ORDERING IS October 14th, 2014
To receive free shipping, please be sure to place your order before this date. After the deadline has passed the school will no longer accept paper proof order forms, and all orders placed online will ship direct to home.

Picture Make Up Day is Thursday October 16, 2014

ID Cards
Please note the photo printed on your student's ID card will be selected automatically by Shooting Stars.

If you have not yet received your proof sheet, please check in with your student's teacher, or contact Shooting Stars at info@shootingstarsphoto.com, or (800) 311-7784 x11.

WALKATHON NEWS

Friday is Safari Day. Get into the Walkathon spirit and wear your safari gear or wild animal clothing and accessories. T-shirts will come home with the students on Thursday, October 9. All students at Covington get a t-shirt whether or not they participate on Saturday.

Please note: The t-shirt brand this year runs slightly small so your child may receive a shirt size 'one size up' from the one you are expecting.

WALKATHON ON SATURDAY! The Walkathon is happening on Saturday, October 11. With so many students and families participating, we are sure to have a fun-filled, exciting day. If you haven't turned in a sponsor card, don't worry! You can still participate. Just bring your signed card to registration on Saturday or fill out one there. We will have extras, and you can participate even if you didn't get any sponsors.

New!!! More parties for sale at the Walkathon. Please bring your checkbook. First come, First Serve. In addition to the very popular teacher sponsored priceless parties, we will also be offering some great new Minimum Day parties and some new community-wide parties for parents to enjoy. These fun parties are similar to the parties that are sold at the Covington Auction and help raise money for the PTA. These parties sell out fast so be sure to check out the parties table at the Walkathon.

Here are a few things to remember:
· Registration opens at 9:30 AM. First lap is at 10 AM. Walking stops at 3 PM.
· Bring a water bottle and wear comfortable shoes.
· Bring cash and a checkbook for food booth, mechanical bull ride, the Pocket Ladies, and Priceless Parties (and minimum day and auction-type parties, too!).
· Sign up for Covington Priceless Parties at the Walkathon. Sign-ups start at 10:30 AM and will close when all parties are full.
· Wear the Walkathon t-shirt. Every student gets one!

Volunteer at the Walkathon! Be part of the year's biggest community-building event. Slots are available for FUN jobs like mechanical bull and lap punching. One hour shifts are available. Please sign up on the Google spreadsheet located here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgCd_21OaAiFdG9PRWkyVUhBMjRUMlNUSVNoZ2liR0E&usp=sharing#gid=0

PTA News

PTA Meeting this Friday, October 10 at 8:30am in the Staff Room: We will be discussing normal PTA business (including an update on the Walkathon) and will have presentations from 4 out of the 5 LASD Board candidates (Tammy Logan cannot make because of a family commitment). I hope you can make it out to learn about each candidate's stances and to ask them questions afterward.

ART WORK FOR THE COVINGTON DIRECTORY Calling all students!
We are looking for art work for our Parent Directory this year. The theme is "Take a Walk on the Wild Side". The winning picture will be featured on the cover of the directory. The rest of the submissions will be featured on the inside of the directory.

Please send all submission to me, cwedner@mac.com, in a black and white PDF.
Deadline for artwork is: Friday, October 10th.

PTA After School Play: Travel down the rabbit hole and join Alice's madcap adventures in Wonderland as she chases the White Rabbit, races the Dodo Bird, gets tied up with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, raps with a bubble-blowing Caterpillar, and beats the Queen of Hearts at her own game! Come see our own Covington 4-6th graders as they shine on stage in this classic story of Alice in Wonderland.

Performances: Friday December 12, 2014 7pm @ Covington Multi
Saturday December 13th, 2014 3pm @ Covington Multi. Tickets don't go on sale until November, but you will have the chance to bid on front row seats at the Walkathon!

PTA Minimum Day Activities: We have a minimum day coming up on Tuesday, October 14th and we have some exciting minimum day parties lined up for the day.

All minimum day parties are held on site and begin immediately after school dismissal at 12:15. That means if you sign your child up to one of these amazing parties, your child can stay back and have fun learning a skill or two, while raising money for your school and you don't have to rush to school to pick him/her up early. You pick them up at 2:30, after they are done with their minimum day party. It is a win-win- win for you, your child and the school!!

For Tuesday,October 14th, we have lined up-
Full of Falafel Party at Multi from 12:30-2:30
1 on 1 Basketball Party at Covington Black top from 12:30-2:30
Drawing party at Room 32 from 12:30-2:30
Math Circle for 4th-6th Graders from 12:30-2:30 at Covington Library

We will have sign up sheets available at the Walkathon, for you to sign your child up.

If you are interested in signing up for the upcoming Minimum day parties before the walkathon, please follow the link below-
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_uJAl_UcqEHy2Sz0GSNWMf0XPVvhh9uSsLAGFqet4I4/edit?usp=sharing

Birthday Book Club Off to a Roaring Start: The Birthday Book Club is off to a great start with forty new hardcover books added to our collection with just August and September birthdays recognized so far. (Kindergarten summer birthdays will be recognized at the end of the school year to coordinate with their classroom tradition.)
The Birthday Book Club bulletin board will be on display in the library soon and will be growing by leaps and bounds as we make our way through the school year.
Thank you! Maureen Drobot, Covington Library
mdrobot@lasdschools.org

Protocol for parking, pick-up and drop-off, friendly reminder.

When driving through the pick up lane, pull as far forward as possible and please stay in your car (please do not leave your car unattended to go and pick up your child).

You are welcome to park your car in a space and walk over to meet your children.
Please drop your children off at the curb; the middle of the parking lot is not a safe place to drop children.
Once you drop off your children, please proceed out of the parking lot. Traffic needs to continue to flow to avoid back-ups on neighboring streets.
Thank you for not using your cell phone while driving in the school parking lot.
If the Covington parking lot is full, you may use the back portion of the St. William's
parking lot.* The church is generously sharing their parking lot and we respect their wish to keep the front lot available for their functions. Thank you so much for helping to keep all of our students be safe

Covington Stem Teacher Links:
tinyurl.com/covingtonstem
https://sites.google.com/a/lasdk8.org/covington-stem/class-newsletters

Upcoming Living Classroom Events – All are Welcome to Attend!

Living Classroom Family Day at the Chicken Ranch
Sunday, October 12 from 10:00am – 3:00pm
160 West Portola, Los Altos, CA 94022 (click here for directions)

Please join us on Sunday, October 12th from 10am - 3pm for a fun-filled day at the Chicken Ranch with the folks from the Living Classroom! We've got something for everyone - lots of activities for the kids, garden workshops, bee and chicken experts, face painting, a balloon man, good food, and great music from our neighbor, Jim Altoff and his band "Fully Funded" (from 11-1). And don't forget your checkbook for some awesome raffle and auction items, too! Bring your neighbors and head on over to the Chicken Ranch! All proceed from this event go to support the Living Classroom program who's mission is to inspire children to learn and value our natural world through garden-based education. Please click here to view a flyer of this event. For more information, please contact the Living Classroom at livingclassroom@lasdschools.org or call us at (650) 947-1103.

Ohlone Life and Plant Use Presentation by Local Naturalist and Educator Keith Gutierrez
Monday, October 20th from 10:00am – Noon
Los Altos School District Office Conference Room #2 (next to Covington School)
201 Covington Road, Los Altos, CA 94022 (click here for directions)

Please join us for a special Living Classroom sponsored event with local naturalist and educator Keith Gutierrez. Keith will teach about the life of the Ohlone Indians and the many ways that they used various local plants. A fire starting demonstration will highlight this event! Click here to view a flyer for this event. Please RSVP to livingclassroom@lasdschools.org by Thursday, October 16th if you plan to attend. We would love to see you there!

Art Docent News
Los Altos downtown merchants are sponsoring an art Contest. See flyer for more information.

School & 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.