Thornhill Elementary PFC Newsletter
Volume 27, Issue 33, April 21, 2020
In This Issue...
PFC President’s Bond Baseball
Join the PFC Board!
Thornhill’s virtual Read-a-thon
Watch teachers play Minecraft (ok not really) on Thornhill’s new YouTube page
Music lesson information from Ms. Green
Brilliant COVID-19 student poetry
A very important science lesson
______________________
From the PFC President
Aloha,
Welcome to distance learning. And welcome to the jungle, too.
I will be the first to admit that there are days when it seems like the only lesson plans that I want to implement are "You want your iPad? SURE!" and "Just don't fight with your sister." You have to pick your battles. Sometimes, you just have to give yourself a break and accept that life, and school, will go on. And they will do that even if you, say, completely forgot to get your daughter on that Zoom call for her weekly music lesson because you were too caught up in that shrimp quesadilla from El Agavero that was your one and only non-homemade meal of the week.
There are two things that really should be taking place right now: baseball, and the new James Bond movie, "No Time To Die," starring Daniel Craig as 007. Baseball isn't being played, but you can stream all the Bond movies from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan on Amazon Prime, and the ones with Daniel Craig are available on HBO and Apple's iTunes. I recently took it upon myself to watch every James Bond movie in chronological order. And then I decided to weave my Bond fandom into my love of baseball with a baseball lineup of Bond movies. Here is what I came up with:
Batting Order:
1. Octopussy
2. Casino Royale (Daniel Craig version)
3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4. Goldfinger
5. From Russia With Love
6. Lie and Let Die
7. The Spy Who Loved Me
8. Tomorrow Never Dies
9. You Only Live Twice
Bench/Reserves:
The Man With The Golden Gun
Diamonds Are Forever
Moonraker
Licence to Kill
A View to a Kill
Casino Royale (1967 parody with David Niven as Bond)
Starting Pitchers:
1. Thunderball
2. Goldeneye
3. Quantum of Solace
4. The Living Daylights
5. For Your Eyes Only
Relievers:
Skyfall
Never Say Never Again
The World Is Not Enough
Spectre
Die Another Day
Closer:
Dr. No
There's something in that lineup for everyone. Take a break and find something for you.
Mahalo,
Rex Crum
Editor’s Note: Our PFC President, a Seattle Mariners and therefore American League fan, neglected to identify Tomorrow Never Dies as the Designated Hitter.
______________________
Open PFC Board Positions
Hello fellow Thunderbirds!
When this shelter-in-place is over, and we all crawl out of our domiciles, a huge wave of spirited volunteerism is sure to overtake us! At least that’s the hope of the PFC.
There are a number of key positions we need to fill next year. In the spirit of continuity, many of our parents have agreed to continue on as board members to help groom new members coming in for the first time. Next year will be a unique opportunity to enter the board and learn from veteran members.
The following positions are open for next year:
- President co-chair with Rex Crum (current president)
- Vice President of Fundraising
- Auction Chair
- Member-at-Large (TK-2nd)
- 5th Grade Liaison
- Grants and Solicitations
- Hospitality Chair
- Room Parents Chair
- Spring Fling Event Chair
- Newsletter Editor
- Webmaster
Find full job descriptions for the executive board and board on our website. Please respond with interest and inquiries to Mark Lecker at memberatlarge2@thornhillschool.org.
Thank you!
-Parent Faculty Club (PFC)
______________________
Read-a-thon Launches on May 4!
Be on the lookout for information coming to your inbox about our (virtual) Read-a-thon, running from May 4 to May 22. It will be a great opportunity to encourage our Thunderbirds to focus on reading at home and raise money to support our school community.
Prizes, which support local bookstores, will be awarded for minutes read and funds raised! Videos to encourage reading will be shared!
Let's show up in our virtual space to support our school and reading during this time!
______________________
Check Out Thornhill’s YouTube Channel
Thanks to second grade teacher Maureen Whalen, Thornhill has a YouTube channel! And thanks to Mr. D’s Bees, it came to life: After we included a video of our principal’s busy new friends in last week’s newsletter, several teachers have added video messages and stories for students, with no doubt more to come. As our kids’ favorite millionaire YouTubers would say, like and subscribe!
______________________
Thornhill Music Information from Ms. Green
This information is sent on behalf of Ms. Green, our 3rd-5th grade music teacher. While most of this information is related to those grades and strings, she also has some helpful links for music for our TK-2 kids.
Please see this Thornhill Music - Spring 2020 google drive folder for all of Ms. Green’s music stuff!
Dates/Times for Zoom Lessons with Ms. Green
3rd Grade Kloess: Thursdays from 1:30-2pm. Konstella calendar entry with Zoom info.
3rd Grade Contreras/Van Ostrand: Thursdays from 2:30-3pm. Konstella calendar entry with Zoom info.
4th Grade Novak: Thursdays from 11-11:30am. Konstella calendar entry with Zoom info.
4th Grade Gustafson: Thursdays from 12-12:30pm. Konstella calendar entry with Zoom info.
5th Grade Wilkins: Tuesdays from 1:30-2pm. Konstella calendar entry with Zoom info.
5th Grade Bernard: Tuesdays from 2:30-3pm. Konstella calendar entry with Zoom info.
Thank you Thunderbirds!
______________________
The Thornhill Poetry Salon Presents: BLEEP YOU COVID-19
Even in these days of trial and anxiety, our students’ creativity has not waned. Some have taken to writing in verse to express their deepest woes and frustrations about our current predicament.
Haiku
I do not think the
Covid knows what he’s doing
He’s a big butt face
-Sasha, grade 2
Going out is great,
But we can’t go out right now
Staying in is bad.
-Anonymous
I know the answer
To the whole entire thing
It is super bad
-May, grade 2
Acrostic Poems
Clearly selfish
Off-the-charts annoying
Rare
Ogre
Not good
Awful
Virus no good
Icky
Really too much dead people
Utterly occupied
Stupid
-Evie, grade 2
Covid-19 is the worst
Only on Zoom I see friends
Raining a lot
Oranges have been eaten a lot here
No school in the building
All-day homeschool :-<
-Ainsley, grade 2
Color Poem
Green is a leaf, green is a tree.
Green tastes like artichokes and broccoli.
Green feels leafy, mossy, and fresh.
Green means go and feels like success.
Sometimes green makes me feel sick.
Like after eating a rotten cheeseburger...ick.
Green places like parks and forests are great for exploring.
I wish I could visit those places right now ‘cuz being stuck indoors is totally boring.
-Anonymous
______________________
You Can’t Blow Dandelions With The Masks On
A science lesson from the McDonald-Juresas (click on photo):
______________________
About the Thornhill Newsletter
The Thornhill Parent-Faculty Club (PFC) eNews team publishes this weekly newsletter each Tuesday in the school year to communicate school, PFC and OUSD news, events and information.
Email submissions to our Newsletter Chair, Evie Nagy, at newsletter@thornhillschool.org by 8 p.m. Thursday for approval—nothing sent after this will be included in the following week’s newsletter unless there are extremely compelling extenuating circumstances. It’s fine to include text in the body of the email with links and no formatting, and attach photos preferably as 150 x 150, 72 dpi JPG or GIFs only (not embedded in email or Word file). Submissions may be edited for spelling, grammar, brevity and clarity. Advertising and items not related to Thornhill are not accepted, as we need to keep the newsletter focused on need-to-know info for the community.
THANK YOU to everyone who submits articles and to PFC Board Members, Teachers, VP of Communications Erin Proudfoot, PFC President Rex Crum, and Principal Steve Daubenspeck. Member of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD).
Email: webmaster@thornhillschool.org
Website: thornhillschool.org
Location: 5880 Thornhill Drive, Oakland, CA, USA
Phone: 510-339-6800