Principal’s Message

Dear Covington Families,

Welcome back from break!  Breaks are good for the soul- a time to step away and reflect.  While others might have gone to warmer climates or even up to the snow, I had the wonderful experience of attending the Professional Learning Communities Summit in Phoenix for 3 days last week.  I was honored to be joined by Mrs. Sitler (2nd), Ms. Kingman (6th), and Ms. Tkalcevic (K).

Professional Learning Communities (or PLC’s) are not new to education.  They’ve been around for over 20 years.  PLC’s are not a new program or part of any curriculum.  The premise of PLC’s is about collaboration- working together to meet the needs of ALL students.  When implemented correctly, the PLC process has proven to raise student achievement for ALL.   Critical to the process is the belief that the adults at a school must never stop learning.  By using an inquiry based approach, teachers, working together, identify specific skills, student by student, and implement an approach to help build skills- with research proven approaches.

One of the great things about a PLC Summit is the caliber of presenters who form the faculty for the week.  We’re talking about the best in the field of education; people like Richard Dufour, Mike Mattos, Douglas Fisher, Anthony Muhammad and Robert Marzano.

A few of the many takeaways that I came home with (and that you might be able to use at home when working with your children):

• The belief that ANY child can succeed is paramount.  Research supports that when a teacher has a steadfast belief that a student can achieve at high levels, the effect has a major impact on that particular student’s achievement.  Coupled with the student’s own positive belief in themselves (self efficacy), the impact becomes even more effective.

• Feedback, whether it is to a student or an adult, is most effective when it’s authentic, timely, and focused.  The best coaching happens in the moment, during the multitudes of practice sessions.  Think about when you taught your child to ride a bike.  You were constantly coaching in the moment, running along with your child, shouting words of encouragement, and making adjustments to their bike riding technique along the way.  

•  Education has become a profession where we simply have too much content to teach.  And because the pressure is on to cover it all, we often don’t go into depth.  Research is showing that we should go more deeply in the skills and standards rather than trying to cover all of the standards.  Our work then becomes identifying the most important standards.   Which standards and skills are “got to know” vs. “nice to know”?  I’m proud to say that LASD and Covington have done some good work in this area to identify the most essential standards to target our instruction.  And we still have some more work to do in that area.

•  Critical thinking and cognitive flexibility are the most important skills our students will need for the 21st Century.  The jobs of tomorrow will require innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.   Critical thinking and the ability to use different types of thinking depending on the task lend themselves to the types of careers our students will encounter. 

• By simply giving kids the answers, without having them activate their own thinking to get to the answer creates a learned helplessness.  This is certainly not what anyone wants for his or her children.  Instead of just giving a child an answer, asking prompting questions that help them activate their prior knowledge lead students to the answers.  Use cues (which focus their attention to a critical part of the question) when they are still challenged to come up with the answer- even after giving them a prompting question. 

Research is also clear that, when adults work collaboratively together, the impact in the classroom, kid-by-kid, skill by skill, is powerful.  

I’ve been to quite a few seminars and workshops in my career.  I can honestly say that the PLC Summits (this was my 4th one!) are the best investments an educator can make for the betterment of students.   We now have 11 teachers on staffs who have attended at least one Summit- and the effects are contagious.  It’s my goal to send all teachers to a PLC institute in the future.

At Covington, we will continue to work for the betterment of all students.  We want all children to reach high levels of learning.  I’m thrilled to help direct this work.

Regards,

Wade Spenader- Principal

After School Programs

New after school program starting in March:

Hey, 4th - 6th grade students!  Come join us every Thursday from 2:45 – 4:45 in the Covington STEM Lab beginning March 16 to build your very own RC airplane. The curriculum concepts covered in this course will include engineering, problem solving, aerodynamics, principles of flight, air pressure and air resistance, electromagnetism, and robotics (to name a few!). Each class will have a science and engineering content lesson built into the engineering of the plane. Registration is now open on Activity Hero.  Contact Katie Farley with questions: katiesfarley@gmail.com.  See you there!

Space is limited! Scholarships are available! *Program profits will be donated to LASD to help fund teacher and support staff.*

Looking for something for your kids to do after school? Check out Activity Hero on the Covington Website and browse this class and other offerings; http://covingtonschool.org/covingtones/4757-After-School-Programs.html

LASD Jr Olympics

Attention 4th • 5th • 6th Graders

The 57th LASD Junior Olympics is coming!

Saturday, April 29, 2017, 8am-4pm, Mountain View High School

Every 4th, 5th and 6th grader in Los Altos School District is invited to participate in the 57th Annual Junior Olympics! This event brings together the seven LASD elementary schools for a friendly track & field competition, in which everyone is encouraged to strive for their personal best and cheer on their classmates as they compete. More information and important Junior Olympics dates available at

lasdjo.com

Important JO Dates:

Week of Feb 27th: JO training begins during PE

Thursday, March 2nd:  Time Trials for relay teams begin

Friday, March 24th at 2:30 pm: Relay teams posted 

Monday, April 3rd - Event selection week

Friday, April 28th at 1:45 pm: Pep Rally on the blacktop

Saturday, April 29th from 8 - 4 pm:  JUNIOR OLYMPICS at MVHS.  All welcome!

Tuesday, May 23rd at 8:45am:  Awards Assembly at Covington. Parents welcome!

2017-18 LASD District Calendar

Many of you are already making travel plans for the summer.  For your planning purposes, please note that school starts on Wed. August 16, 2017.  The LASD District Calendar for 2017-18 can be found here: http://www.losaltos.k12.ca.us/District/Portal/Calendar-Events

PTA NEWS

SEAS THE DAY!  March 25, 2017  AUCTION TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

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GroovYoga ROCK YOUR DHARMA PARTY.  Places still available on this party 2.45-4.30 on  Thursday 3/16.  Please contact 1KathiDonnelly@gmail.com to book a place for your daughter.  

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Lost & Found: The many jackets, sweaters and other items left here at school since January have been collected and will be donated to charity this weekend. If you still want to peruse the discarded items, please swing by the multi kitchen where the items are bagged and ready to go.

Information for Parents of Incoming 7th Graders

Egan:

Mar. 3rd - 9:30am-10:30am Parent Info & School Tour

Blach:

Mar. 17th - 1:30pm-3:00pm, Parent Tour (no presentation)

Mar. 20th - 9:30am-11:00am, Parent Tour (no presentation)

PTA After School Play - Peter Pan Jr

Mark your calendars for the 2017 Covington School Musical, Peter Pan Jr.

April 22nd  3pm and 6pm and April 23rd  3pm and 6pm

It is sure to be a spectacular show with 2 casts and 4 Performances. 

Tickets are $10 and will go on sale in March.

LAEF

Save Us A Call by Donating Now!

Our Spring Phonathon is Wednesday, March 1st and Thursday, March 2nd, so please save our parent volunteers a call by donating today atwww.LAEFonline.org (where you can also sign up to join us for a fun, free date-night with wine, food and community!)

Your gift will be doubled or every tripled if….you have not yet donated, every new or increased dollar will be matched, by two LASD Families, up to a total of $20,000.

• If you are an Apple employee, donate by Tuesday, February 28th, and Apple will match every dollar you give to LAEF twice! A $1,200 donation will become $3,600!

LAEF Parent Survey: We Need Your Feedback by 3/10

LAEF is currently meeting with LASD Leadership to discuss funding priorities for the 2017-18 school year. Please keep an eye on your inbox for our annual survey. Your feedback by Friday, March 10th is critical and will help to determine LAEF’s funding allocation for enrichment teachers and program staff at your child’s school.