Thornhill Elementary PFC Newsletter
Volume 27, Issue 7, September 24, 2019
From the Principal
Dear Thornhill Families,
We hope you’re having a good week! As you know this week the weather is a little on the warmer side so please make sure your kids are hydrated and encourage them not to overexert themselves in the hot sun for long periods of time.
Yesterday we had the honor of having the Pacific Boys Choir perform at our school. This annual performance has been very inspiring for our students and community. You can learn more about the Pacific Boys Choir at their website.
PLEASE READ THE MORNING DROP-OFF SECTION OF THE NEWSLETTER BELOW. Also please note that we have the privilege of using the parking lot at St. Johns, and we’re grateful for this opportunity. Our lives would be very difficult without this parking lot and the ability to drive through it every morning. Let's make sure we are driving safely and not parking in their staff parking spots. Thank you in advance for re-reading the morning drop-off guidelines and being safe while driving through St. John's parking lot.
REMINDER: NO SCHOOL THIS FRIDAY and NEXT FRIDAY IS A MINIMUM DAY.
Have a wonderful week,
Mr. Daubenspeck
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Important notes about morning drop-off
Thunderbird families,
Thanks to everyone who has stepped up to help with morning drop-offs this year! We are still looking for 1 more person on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (or both!). This is a perfect job for TK/K parents—just head out to the front curb after the bell and help keep the traffic moving through the drop-off zone until about 8:45am. If you can't commit to every week, having a few back-ups that we can call on occasionally is also really helpful.
Remember that while it's important to get to school on time, it's even MORE important not to put your own kids or someone else's at risk with unsafe driving/parking. Here are the top 3 dangerous behaviors that we've been seeing in the mornings:
1) U-turns in front of school: never ok!
2) Parking on Thornhill north of the school until Gouldin: not ok between 8 am and 4 pm on school days (even for just a minute!). Thornhill is really busy and the last place anyone wants to walk, especially with their kids, is in one of the lanes because cars are parked illegally. Try parking on Gouldin instead.
3) Parking anywhere in the white zone in front of school: not ok (even for just a minute!). You probably don't see the impact that it has when the drop-off lane is shortened (even by just one car!), but traffic backs up very quickly at the entrance to the drop-off lane, which is dangerous and frustrating for everyone. Try parking in the St. John's lot or south on Thornhill before the school instead.
We'd love to hear your ideas on making drop-off safer. Don't forget to pass this along to anyone else who drops off your kids off at school and thanks for keeping our Thunderbirds safe!
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Back to School Donation Drive—We are SO close!
Thank you to all the families who have jumped in and donated in the last few days! Your support has been amazing. We have raised $178,000 of our $200,000 goal and are now at 49% participation! Help us end the Donation Drive this week and support our amazing school.
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Can’t-miss fall Green Team events!
Saturday, October 5: EWaste Event 10am-4pm
Clear out all your electronic junk and old documents to shred. Ask your friends and neighbors to do the same! This event will help put our EWaste in the right hands to sort, recycle, and dispose of in a safe way...and it will help raise funding for our school's sustainability needs. More information here.
Saturday, October 12: Fall Sweep! 9am-12pm
It's time for Thornhill's annual Fall Sweep! This is a great event where we come together as a school and neighborhood community to help put care and attention to our school grounds. Any amount of time and dedication will help get this important job done! All sized and aged hands welcome! Invite your friends and neighbors who use our grounds during off hours and let's up our Clean and Green game! Sign up here today.
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Requirements to volunteer at Thornhill
There are a lot of ways to lend a hand to the school and your child(ren)’s class during the year. OUSD policy states that anyone chaperoning field trips and community members who are volunteering (more than 11 times in a year) at school must obtain a green "volunteer" badge. In order to get this badge, volunteers must be fingerprinted and have an up-to-date TB test and then fill out the required paperwork. Get started now, as the process can take a few weeks! More information on our website here.
To begin the process of registering to become an OUSD volunteer, please visit: www.oaklandedfund.org/volunteer. Email info@oaklandedfund.org with any questions.
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Save the date! Walk-a-thon is Saturday, November 2!
One of your kid's favorite events of the year is coming up on Saturday, November 2. Walkers can come any time between 10am and 4pm. There will be prizes, food and lots of fun. More details coming soon! Want to get involved? Email walkathon@thornhillschool.org.
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Shop and Eat for Thornhill
Box Tops for Education are going 21st century
Soon there will be no more clipping! If you have a drawer full of those little BoxTops, please bring them to the blue box near the teacher mailboxes in the main office. The BoxTops folks are phasing out the clips and they have launched an app! Download the free app and scan your grocery receipt — whether you shop at Safeway, Berkeley Bowl, Target, Costco, Instacart, etc. In second, it scans your store receipt and automatically finds participating products and instantly adds Box Tops to your school's earnings online. No clipping required! Thornhill earns 10 cents for each of those little BoxTops and it adds up!
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Calendar
The website always has the latest calendar information, and here's what's coming up:
- Friday, September 27: NO SCHOOL (Professional development day)
- Friday, October 4: Coffee with the Principal (8:30am, back patio)
- Friday, October 4: Minimum Day for Science (no enrichment classes)
- Saturday, October 5: Thornhill E-waste recycling event (10am-4pm)
- Saturday, October 12: Thornhill Fall Sweep (9am-12pm)
- Monday, October 7: PFC Meeting (6-7pm) + Taps and Takeout (7-9pm)
- Monday, October 14: NO SCHOOL (In lieu of Lincoln’s Birthday)
- Thursday, October 31: Halloween (12:50pm parade + minimum day)
- Friday, November 1: Coffee with the Principal (8:30am, back patio)
- Saturday, November 2: Thornhill Walkathon (10am-4pm)
- Date TBD: Dine Out at Paulista (7am-10pm)
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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