Thornhill Elementary PFC Newsletter
Volume 26, Issue 29, March 19, 2019
From the Principal
Dear Thunderbird Families,
I hope you all have had a great weekend and that you are looking forward to spring recess. Spring is certainly in the air. Thank you to all the families that came out last Friday to our Oratorical Festival. It was such an inspiring event with all of our classes participating in dynamic performances. I am so proud of our children's knowledge and awareness of Black history, and I’m particularly grateful for our charismatic emcee, Kevin Coleman. Thank you so much for leading the oratorical festival with such joy and wisdom. I also want to thank Bonnie Forbes for organizing the oratorical and all the students that supported transitions between performances.
Student Council
During the last few weeks I have had meetings with the student council, and I’m beyond impressed by their empathy for others and their entrepreneurship. Please see their newsletter blurb below.
Have wonderful week and spring recess.
Best,
Mr. Daubenspeck
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Turn Those Pages for the Thornhill Read-a-Thon!
Any Thornhill parents love to read? Have some extra time and really want to see literacy shine and be a top priority for Thornhill? If so, please join the small, mighty and committed crew that are pulling together the Read-a-Thon, March 21 through April 19. We welcome all, parents, grandparents, neighbors and friends to help us with the unique fundraiser and community builder that embeds the love of literacy in our classrooms, supports our librarian and other PFC-sponsored activities and will have you dusting off old favorites (and maybe buying a few new ones at a local bookshop).
While this is a fundraiser, it’s a great way to encourage learning and gain support for all the great programs at Thornhill! Remember, the funds raised by the Read-a-Thon are donated to the school. There will be individual prizes, prizes for class participation, class that raises the most donations and the class with the most reading minutes (inside and outside of school) from March 21 through April 19. There are really amazing individual prizes for the kids that will encourage and/or support reading!
Contact Marie (marie.fox@ousd.org) and/or Adimika Arthur (adimika@gmail.com) to volunteer or if you have any questions.
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Join Us for Pictures & Pajamas and Support the Read-a-Thon!
On Wednesday, April 3 from 5:30 to 7pm in Thornhill’s multi-purpose room, meet local children’s book author Matt Heroux and illustrator Wednesday Kirwan for a fun-filled night of reading, illustrating and treats!
Matthew Heroux and Wednesday Kirwan wrote Owl Love You together while walking their dog, Nemo. Owl Love You is a bedtime book that features lulling, lyrical text and luminous illustrations of the night time world. Wednesday is a children’s book author and the illustrator of Henry’s Bright Idea and Magnolia’s Magnificent Map, in the Walnut Animal Society series, written by Lauren Bradshaw. She is also the illustrator of the entertaining children’s bedtime book Yeti, Turn Out the Light! By Greg Long and Chris Edmundson. This is Matt’s first book and their first book together as a married couple.
Thanks to Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore, 20% of the book sales go back to Thornhill’s Read-a-Thon! This is a FREE event for the entire family, but children must be accompanied by an adult—this is not a drop off event.
To order a book, return this order form to Marie Fox by Tuesday, April 2.
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Student Council Is Having A Bake Sale!
We, the Student Council, are organizing a bake sale to raise money for our fellow school Prescott. We will use the money to buy school supplies they need. We will coordinate with Prescott’s principal and Mr. Daubenspeck. Especially after the strike, schools need more support, and at Thornhill we had a lot of support (thank you!!!!!!!!). So as a community we are going to help a school that didn’t get as much support.
At our bake sale we will have a bunch of baked goods, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, etc. We will have the bake sale every day from April 8 to 12. Before school at 7:40 we will be in the lobby selling goods. We just ask that, if you can, support us. Come by while dropping your child off and get a coffee or a muffin, and if you want to bake something and donate it for the bake sale we would be very grateful! We will try to set up something where you can sign up to bring treats. More information will be provided later.
-The Student Council
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Dine Out THIS WEEK at Red Boy Pizza
Come to our next FUNdraising event at Red Boy Pizza on Leimert! Today (Tuesday), Wednesday, and Thursday dine in or take out and Thornhill earns 15 percent back.
Bring this flyer to dine in or take out between March 19-21 at the Leimert Blvd location, and 15 percent comes back to our school! Here’s the dish…
When: March 19th, 20th, and 21st
Where: Red Boy Pizza, 1500 Leimert Blvd., Oakland, CA 94602 (map)
How: When you arrive (to dine in or take out), please present this flyer and tell your server you are there for Thornhill. At the end of the 3 day fundraising period, the purchases will get logged and a portion will go to Thornhill PFC. Eat. Drink. And Raise Money for Thornhill. Thank you!
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Online auction closes THIS FRIDAY & some great Host-a-Parties!
The online auction closes this Friday, March 22 at 9pm. There's just a few items left and you can grab them for a total steal and, of course, $$ to Thornhill!
- Mountain Camp: $500 off for first-time campers (no bids!)
- San Jose Earthquakes: Four (4) tickets to a regular season game (no bids!)
- Bladium: Four (4) weeks of Lil' Kickers, Lil' Sluggers, or Skills Institute (one bid)
- Camp Brainy Bunch: $250 off (no bids!)
- East Bay Flag Football: One season (no bids!)
- Education Unlimited: $500 off, 4th-12th grades (no bids!)
- Education Unlimited: $1000 off for overnight camp, 4th-12th grades (no bids!)
- Han Martial Arts: Two (2) week trial membership (no bids!)
- Head Over Heels: One open gym pass (one bid)
- Monkey Business Camp: $150 gift certificate (one bid)
- Southern California Package: Bunch of cool stuff in SoCal!
We have some amazing FUNdraising Host a Parties on the horizon! There are only a few
spots left, so get on your phone/computer and sign up before the opportunity is gone. Below are just a few!
- Ms. Chianai's Beauty Salon (this Thursday, March 21 from 3:15-4:15pm): Only 1 spot left! Our very talented Thornhill instructional aide/beauty stylist extraordinaire is offering her services to a fun afternoon of hair styling, nail polishing, and craft. This is a not to be missed opportunity that will be held at Thornhill Elementary, classroom 4.
- Toyology (Wednesday, April 3 from 1:25-2:20pm). 21 spots! We have a fun class being offered on during Spring Conference week. It's a minimum day and there are no enrichment classes that week! Keep your kid(s) busy building an exciting hands-on science toy. They will learn a major scientific concept such as energy, electricity, light, gravity, motion, friction, magnetism and/or simple machines. Each student will construct and take home a science toy in this class that is unlike any of the projects in the Toyology enrichment class. Healthy snacks will be provided during the class.
- DNA Workshop (Saturday, May 4 from 9am-12pm): Only 4 spots left! Join us for a fun-filled afternoon of hands-on science experience and learning, including DNA extraction from strawberries. Kids will also learn about 3D printing and get to take home a 3D printed DNA helix key chain. Drop-off is okay! Where: Woyke/Jew Residence in Oakland.
- May the Fourth Be With You (Saturday, May 4 from 1-3pm): 12 spots left! Calling all Padawans and Jedi Masters! Come join us at the Urbano Starship on May the 4th for Jedi training and crafts. We will have outdoor challenges to test your Empire-battling skills, indoor crafts to add to your warrior costumes and lots of space-themed treats. Students get 2 hours to hone their Jedi skills and parents get 2 hours to do whatever they want! Grab a friend and sign up to help the rebels in their quest for balance in the force. Drop-off is okay! Where: Urbano Starship Residence in Oakland.
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Thornhill Night at the A’s: Friday, April 19th!
Wind Up for Thornhill Night at the A’s on Friday, April 19th! Bring the family and watch our Oakland Athletics take on the Toronto Blue Jays - first pitch is at 7:07 pm.
Buy your game tickets here! We are all in the same section this year (Section 226). We won't be doing an official tailgate this year, but stay tuned for a casual get together before the game.
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Shop, Eat & Earn with Good Eggs
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Calendar
The website always has the latest calendar information, and here's what's coming up!
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, March 19-21: Dine Out for Thornhill at Red Boy Pizza (bring this flyer!)
- Thursday, March 21 - Friday, April 19: Thornhill Read-a-Thon
- Monday, March 25 - Friday March 29: Spring Break (no school)
- Monday, April 1: Cesar Chavez holiday (no school)
- Tuesday, April 2 - Friday, April 5: Spring Conference Week (minimum days, no enrichment classes)
Wednesday, April 3: Pictures & Pajamas (Thornhill MPR, 5:30-7pm)
- Thursday, April 4: Dine Out for Thornhill at Round Table Pizza
- Monday, April 8: PFC Meeting (6-7pm)
- Saturday, April 13: Spring Clean! (more info here)
- Friday, April 19: Thornhill Night at the A’s
Saturday, April 27: Thornhill Spring Carnival (10am-3pm)
Be sure also to download the OUSD District calendar here and subscribe to our Google calendar here.
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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 3 p.m. Thursday for approval—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.
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