Thornhill Elementary PFC Newsletter
Volume 28, Issue 14, November 10, 2020
In This Issue
NO SCHOOL TOMORROW - Wednesday, Nov. 11 for Veterans Day
Note from our PFC Co-Presidents
Oakland Virtual Schools Tours
Library Update
Thornhill Annual Fund Update
Thornhill Spirit Wear
Conferences and Report Cards
Individual Class Packets
Calendar of Important Dates
______________________
From our PFC Co-Presidents
Ahoy!
With Thanksgiving coming up soon, this is also a time to recognize Indigenous People's Month. We encourage you to take a moment to appreciate the Huchiun Territory and the Lisjan Ohlone people that belonged to this land before us. There is a beautiful and educational Shellmound walk in Emeryville at the Bay Street Mall that makes for an interesting day trip. Add in some bicycles and a trip across the bridge and you've got a whole day of local site-seeing and fun!
Meanwhile, your PFC has been hard at work formulating interesting and fun ways to navigate these new waters. A huge SHOUT OUT to Christina Gibbons for bringing us awesome weekly Take Out events that have been helping generate income for our wonderful music, dance, PE, library, and aides.
Speaking of our PFC-funded staff: if you haven't seen Adrienne Selke and Rianna Stoll's highlights of our PFC-funded staff on Konstella, please check these links: Librarian Ms. Fox, Garden Ms. Alexis, Social Worker Ms. Alia, and our four Teaching Assistants! We are such a lucky group to have so many talented folks on board working on all ends at Thornhill to make this year and future years incredibly enriching for our students.
And on that note...Thank you to all the parents who have generously donated during these uncertain times and to all the parents supporting their kids and families at home. We wouldn't be the school we are without you! (Forgot to donate? We still need you… info here!)
Furthermore, thank you to all the incredible teachers working their tails off to bring magic and learning into our homes. I’ve seen a few different classrooms across the district and the Bay Area and I am blown away by the level of engagement by both teachers and students at our little public school.
Each of you in this community is incredibly valuable and that value shows up each day in our homes. What a unique perspective we've been given. We also realize that “unique“ sometimes looks like hiding from your kids in the bathroom, but that’s ok too... We see you and we're here for you.
May you have fair winds and following seas. Stay safe out there.
Alicia Streight & Rex Crum
______________________
Oakland Virtual Schools Tours
Looking to take a virtual tour of an Oakland middle or high school? Oakland Enrolls is tracking virtual tours here. If you are a parent of a 5th grader, we have posted Oakland middle school virtual tours in the 5th Grade Families Konstella group.
Additionally, explore OUSD schools through their SchoolFinder. The application window for the 2021-22 school year opens on November 16, 2020 and closes on February 5, 2021. Note this window is only if you are applying to a new school at any grade. Info will come in late spring about staying at Thornhill.
______________________
Library Update
Hello Thornhill community!
I have thoroughly enjoyed connecting with our students through our library sessions each week. I wanted to share a brief update from our Thornhill library.
Author Visit: On November 13 and 17, 4th and 5th graders will be hosting an author visit with Keir Graff, whose new book The Tiny Mansion was inspired by his visits to Oakland schools in 2017 - he even thanks Thornhill students in his acknowledgements! Here is the Loom Video link of Ms. Fox reading the first chapter aloud, as well as Author visit info and book order form (A Great Good Place for Books): if anyone has any questions, please contact me at marie.fox@ousd.org.
Epic! is a great resource for e-books and audiobooks, which can be accessed for free during school hours. I have created my own classroom for any students who are not already connected through their Thornhill classroom. Please email me at marie.fox@ousd.org with your name and your student's name to add your student to my library classroom! More information about Epic! here.
The Thornhill library website is continually updated with additional reading rooms, and now has videos about how to get an Oakland Public Library card, browse their catalog, and place and pick up holds. Check it out!
Finally, a big thank you shout out to The Forbes Wittenstein family who purchased new books for the library! If you are able and interested, you can check out our library wishlist here.
Thanks for all that you do to support our students.
Take care,
Ms. Fox
______________________
Thornhill Annual Fund
Fundraising at Thornhill is a year round sport! So far this school year, 102 of our 305 families have contributed to the Thornhill Annual Fund, to raise $126,462. Your donations are essential, as they go directly to funding PE, Librarian, four teachers’ aides, our social worker, African dance, and gardening for our student community.
Forgot to donate? We still need you! Find all the info here.
Thank you Thunderbirds!
Adrienne Selke & Rianna Stoll
Co-Chairs, Thornhill Annual Fund
______________________
Thornhill Spirit Wear is Here!
Hoodies! Crewnecks! Baseball Tees! Regular Tees! All of it is available for pre-order now in the school store!
We've partnered with Oaklandish to put together some nicely-printed higher-quality clothes that you and your kids will be into wearing around town. The hoodies, crewnecks and tees are available in Navy and Heather Gray and everything is available in Youth XS - XL and Adult XS - 2XL.
All products are only available through pre-order, so this is your chance to order exactly what you'd like. If a minimum order is not placed for each item, there is a chance that it may not be produced. In this case you will be refunded.
Please visit our Spirit Wear Store to place your order by Monday, November 30th. After items are received we will communicate a time to drive by and pick up your goods.
Questions? Email us at spirit@thornhillschool.org.
Happy shopping!
Nisan Perera and Kay Chinn, Spirit Wear Co-chairs
______________________
Conferences and Report Cards
Parent-teacher conferences are the week of November 30 to December 4. All days are minimum days. Report cards will be available to parents via Aeries beginning November 16. Please make sure that you have an Aeries Parent Portal! I still have a handful of parents who have not set up an account and registered their students. NO REPORT CARDS WILL BE MAILED OR AVAILABLE FOR PICKUP!
If you have any questions, please email me directly (sherry.kaetzel@ousd.org).
Thanks,
Sherry Kaetzel, Thornhill Secretary
______________________
Individual Class Printed Packets
If your teacher tells you that printed materials need to be picked up, they will continue to be in the same spot — on the fence near the TK trailer and the Alhambra entrance.
______________________
Calendar
Wednesday, November 11: No School: Veterans Day
Monday, November 23 - Friday, November 27: NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break
Monday, November 30 - Friday, December 4: Parent-Teacher Conferences (minimum days)
Thursday, December 10: Take Out for Thornhill: Zachary’s (details TBA)
Monday, December 14: PFC Meeting (5:30-6:30pm on Zoom)
Be sure also to subscribe to the Thornhill Google Calendar here, and download the OUSD District calendar here.
______________________
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, Jill Evans, 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, VPs of Communications Erin Proudfoot & Evie Nagy, PFC Presidents Rex Crum & Alicia Streight, 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