April Bulldog Bulletin
Your monthly guide to school news, information, and tips.
O. N. Hirsch Elementary School
Office Hours: 8:00am to 3:30pm
Phone#: (510) 657-3537
Principal—Ms. Christina Arroyo carroyo@fusdk12.net
School Secretary — Mrs. LeAnne Kodama lkodama@fusdk12.net
Attendance Clerk — Mrs. Vaishali Parikh vparikh@fusdk12.net
Principal Arroyo's Message
Dear Families,
Can you believe that we are in April now? How quickly this year has gone by! We have two more months of school and want our focus and efforts to remain strong, especially as our Grade 3-5 students prepare to take their CAASPP assessments in the month of May.
I am excited to announce that our in-person Open House is coming up this Tuesday, April 4th. It will begin at 6 and end at 7:30. We hope you and your family has reserved this special time to come on campus, check the lost and found, and see all of the amazing things our students are doing. As a reminder, this is not a time to ask about your student’s progress.
Our very talented students had a wonderful performance for the talent show this last Tuesday, despite the rainy weather. Thank you to the PTA for all of their efforts to make this show a success again. Amazing job!!
This Monday, our soccer teams will be playing on the back field at Hirsch beginning at 3:30. All families are invited to attend but students need to be accompanied by an adult. This is our second year playing in the interleague soccer and our students are definitely having fun!
As a reminder, cars need to pull all the way up when using the Valet Loop. Kinder families are unable to use the Valet Loop. Please help us with your student’s attendance and minimize absences. All students should be on the blacktop by the time their bell rings.
Thank you for all of your efforts in helping our students build scholarly habits and come prepared to school every day. Together, we can build a strong team for our Bulldogs!
Ms. Arroyo
Principal
April Calendar
3 - Soccer Game vs. Parkmont at Horner Middle School
4 - Open House
4 - Early Release Day
5 - Early Release Day
7 - 14 - NO SCHOOL - Spring Break
18 - PTA Meeting
19 - Early Release Day
21 - Deadline to order Yearbooks
26 - Early Release Day
27 - Soccer Game vs. Mission SJ Elementary at Mission SJ Elementary
Open House - Tuesday, April 4th
Join us this Tuesday for our in-person Open House. Announcements will be shared between 6-6:30 and students will be able to share their classrooms with you from 6:30-7:30. Don't forget to visit our counselor, Computers and Science! We look forward to seeing you there.
Hirsch's Teacher of the Year
Congratulations to Rebecca Landre, Hirsch's 2022-2023 Teacher of the Year!
Career Week at Hirsch Elementary School
Hi Families,
This is a friendly reminder that Career Week will be April 24-28. We are excited to learn from you and understand more about your career! If you'd like to sign up to present your career to our students, please fill out this sign-up sheet. Thank you in advance! We're excited to hear from you.
Warmly,
Chiara Hanna, School Counselor
FUSD Family Resources
Upcoming Event from FUSD Family Resources:
How to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk
Monday April 24, 6 - 7pm on Zoom
We also presented on the CAASPP earlier this month. The recording and slides are posted on the Family Resources site.
And here is our newsletter, Family Connections Spring Newsletter .
Mrs. Winmill's Reading Corner
April Reading Corner with Mrs. Winmill
There have been some exciting things happening in the library. We have been playing an intense game of Battleship throughout the month of March. It has been fun to watch our students who participated change the way they play the game as they come to understand strategy, recognizing patterns and thinking ahead.
The month of April is National Poetry Month. Our interactive bulletin board for this month will display any creative poetry writing our students would like to showcase. Last year we had a number of students participate in this activity and I am hoping to have more for this year.
I would like to thank the Cheng/Chen family for their amazing donation of books from the library’s Amazon Wish List. It is donations like this that help our library grow. The American Library Association recommends $12-$15 per student each year to help keep a library up to date. We receive the equivalent of $6 per student. The book fair helps a bit, but we are still lacking in funding. Any donation made helps the library immensely.
The California Young Reader Medal Award is an award the students of California vote on. Five books are nominated for the Elementary classes and three picture books and novels for the Intermediate classes. We read all the picture books and portions of the novels during library time. Our students then vote on their favorite for their grade level and the results are turned in. Once all participating schools in the state have reported their results, the winner is announced. Our school’s winners are: “We Do Not Eat Our Classmates” by Ryan T. Higgins and “Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist” by Linda Skeers. It is always such a difficult time to pick the winner as there are so many amazing books! I will announce the final results for the state when I receive them.
I am currently working on a summer reading program for our students to participate in as we know that reading is a skill we always need to be practicing so we can improve. Once I have the information I will share it with you.
The last day for checking books out of the library for this school year will be May 12th. All books will need to be returned by May 19th. This way, we are able to locate any lost books and take care of any library fines before school ends.
Take care and keep reading!
Mrs. Winmill
Independent Study Contracts
No Independent Study Contracts will be issued for the first 20 days or the last 20 days of the school year, or during state testing times. Requests for Independent Study Contracts must be given to the Office at least 10 school days prior to the first day of the absence. The last day to request an Independent Study Contract will be April 20th.
Message from PTA
Thank you to all the families that participated in the Talent Show. It was very fun and wonderful to see all the talent we have here at Hirsch. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered, it would not have happened without you!
In the next meeting we will be electing officers for next year's PTA. Please take a look at this form here (https://forms.gle/fXaqVDFvbsPqDe1s9) and see if there is any position you may want to try out. The new board takes over at the June meeting.
At the end of May we will be having a Spring Program. We are still working on the details, but this may have some elements similar to the Harvest Festival. We will likely need many volunteers so if that sounds fun to you please reach out at pta.hirsch@gmail.com.
Bikemobile is coming to the campus in May to promote bike riding. We will need volunteers for that too!
The next meeting is April 18th. Please attend if you are able!
Have a great Spring Break!
Spirit Wear Available Online!
https://spirithero.com/collections/hirsch-1?sort_by=price-ascending