Covington School Howler - Nov 4,  2014

Dear Covington Families,

Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting in on a student council meeting during lunch recess. For the entirety of the lunch period, student and teacher leaders worked through some of the logistics of their first trimester major improvement projects: repainting the 2-square lines on the Covington blacktop and posting rules and removing thorn bushes on campus that have caused damage to playground balls. Initially, students came up with project ideas by considering the following question: “How can we make our campus/school a better place?” A list of ideas was generated and the two most popular chosen for immediate action.

As you can see in the above picture, the conversation taking place in the room yesterday was around coordination of action items: project funding, advertising and timing. Students also coordinated other responsibilities around contacting staff members that would need to be involved with the project as well as posting a copy of common 2-square rules that all students can use to keep game play fair and consistent.

What was abundantly clear to me, as evidenced by the enthusiastic discussions I heard and willingness on the part of students to take on project tasks, was that they were engaged and motivated by the prospect of making a real difference for all Covington students via these improvement projects. The teacher leaders offered a “stretch” challenge to student council members: they provided a starting point, extended a concrete challenge and have been helping them in co-creating a plan to meet that challenge (see Liz Wiseman’s book Multipliers for more on effective Leaders and “stretch” challenges). What a great way to support and grow our future leaders!

If you would like to support our school in this project, please join students and teachers on November 18. Students can “stay and play (with parental attendance)” from 2:40-3:30 during which they can also purchase snacks from the student council to help raise funds for council activities. If students plan to help with the 2-square painting from 3:30-5:00, snacks will be included. Hope to see you there!

Enjoy the week!

Raquel Matteroli
Interim Principal, Covington School

Important Dates:

Nov 7 - Walkathon Pledges Due
Nov. 11 - Veteran’s Day Holiday - No School
Nov. 18 - Dine Out for Covington @ Aldos
Nov. 24-25 - Parent/Teacher Conferences, No School for Students
Nov. 26-28 - Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec. 1-5 - Book Fair
Dec. 4- New Family & Fall 2015 Kinder Information Night
Dec. 9 - 4th-6th Grade Winter Concert 1pm
Dec 12 & 13 - PTA Play, Alice In Wonderland
Dec. 15-19 - 6th Graders to Walden West
Dec. 22-Jan.2 - December Recess, school resumes on Jan 5th.

PTA News:

Attention Parents and students:  Please turn in your Walkathon pledges now.  The deadline is this Friday, November 7.  We had record breaking pledges but our collection is very slow. There is a big gap between what was pledged and what has been collected to date.  Please help us close this gap this week. The Walkathon assembly including awards and the slideshow will be held on November 13th.  Thank you very much!  -Carolyn LeBaron and Katherine Lyon, Walkathon Co-Chairs

Get ready to run, because The Coyote Pack is back! The Coyote Pack Run Club is a popular “run for fun” lunchtime activity open to all students, grades 1st through 6th.  Runners will be provided mileage cards to track their distance to earn ribbons for graduated milestones completed.  Who: Any level of runner interested in having fun and getting great exercise; grades 1st-6th. When: Fridays at lunch recess - beginning November 7th Where: Covington field

What: Please remind your child to wear tennis shoes on Friday in order to participate.

Coyote Pack is a parent run activity and we need help to ensure continued success! No running required. Please sign up at https://docs.google.com/a/lasdk8.org/spreadsheets/d/1OA-6YskBAHBDE-danHUzm62zcTD71dKQARSsTU-U-ps/edit#gid=799801726

Contact Jen or Jen with questions: jen_springer@me com or jenmcguigan@me.com

Seeking Language Interpreters: Los Altos School District is looking for volunteer interpreters to assist us during parent/teacher conferences, student meetings and district events. We are seeking assistance with all languages but the most needed are: Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Japanese and Korean. Please contact Ann Haigh at 650-947-1180 or at ahaigh@lasdschools.org if you are interested.

Lost & Found: We will be donating items during the Thanksgiving Break.  The Lost & Found rack is located on the side of the Multi, next to the water fountains. Look for the blue bin, with a double hanging rack.  Please check for your any items you might be missing. The racks are overflowing!

Alice in Wonderland: Come see our own Covington 4-6th graders as they perform in the Covington PTA sponsored after-school play, Alice in Wonderland!

Performances: Friday December 12, 2014  7pm  @ Covington Multi

Saturday December 13th, 2014  3pm @ Covington Multi

Tickets are paperless: $10 Adult  $5 Children

To Purchase Tickets: pick up a ticket form from the "Alice" box in the office, complete, write a check, and drop back into "Alice" box.

email Arezou for info

LAEF: We love smaller class sizes! Close to $1M of THIS YEAR’S $3.3M LAEF grant funds lower student-to-teacher ratios. Smaller class sizes enable quality time with teachers, enhancing your child’s ability to learn. For example:

- K-3: LAEF reduces class size from the baseline of 30 students/class to an average of 25

- 1st, 2nd: LAEF funds trained instructor during Literacy/Reading so teachers can spend focused time with small groups of students in reading, writing, and literacy skills

- 7-8th: Core curriculum teachers at Blach and Egan allow for reduced class sizes in Math, English, Science and Social Studies from the baseline of 30 students to an average of 25. But we can’t do it without your support!

Make your tax-deductible LAEF donation today at www.laefonline.org (or bring a check to the school office) LAEF Questions?

Web: www.laefonline.org … Phone: 650.559.0445 ... Email: admin@laefonline.org

Thanks in advance for your support of LAEF. The LAEF parent-volunteer team

Covington Stem Teacher Links:

tinyurl.com/covingtonstem

https://sites.google.com/a/lasdk8.org/covington-stem/class-newsletters

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.