Thornhill Elementary PFC Newsletter
Volume 29, Issue 2, August 17, 2021
In This Issue (bolded items are new for this week)
From the PFC Presidents
Health Screener - Now Required!
Enrichment Classes - Registration Starts Tomorrow!
Help Thornhill with your Amazon Purchases
News from the Library
Traffic on Thornhill Drive
Konstella and ParentSquare: How Thornhill Communicates
Facebook Groups: Stay Connected
OUSD Announcements
Calendar of Important Dates
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From the PFC Presidents
As a reminder, our first PFC meeting of the year is tonight, Tuesday, August 17, at 5:30pm. You can find the Zoom info here on Konstella (if you don’t have access to Konstella, please join now—if you have any issues, email vpcommunications@thornhillschool.org). Everyone is invited!
Can’t make it tonight? We meet on the third Tuesday of every month. Dates are in the Konstella calendar entry, which also has the Zoom link, as well as in Thornhill’s Google calendar, which you can subscribe to here.
If you want to get involved, but aren’t sure where to start, fill out our PFC Volunteer Survey. It only takes a minute, and we can put you in touch with volunteer opportunities that fit your interests and schedule. Thank you!
Alicia Streight & Rianna Stoll
PFC Co-Presidents
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Health Screener - Now Required!
Dear Parents,
With all the changes and moving parts regarding Covid and the Delta variant, we are asking that all students be screened via the ParentSquare Health Screener. We do not need to have it shown to us at the gate upon entrance. We will however be monitoring the responses through OUSD and the site.
Thank you very much for your assistance. We are all in this together for the safety of all our precious students and staff members.
Thank you,
Ms. Kaetzel, Thornhill Secretary
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Enrichment Class Sign-Ups
Sign-ups for Enrichment classes begin Wednesday, August 18 at 9:00am (tomorrow!). These classes are held outside of school hours, for a fee, that help Thornhill students pursue new interests and meet other kids. Please use this link: https://www.homeroom.com/sites/thornhill-elementary-oakland to view and register for classes. Registration ends on Tuesday, August 24th at 5:00pm. Classes will begin Monday, August 30, and include Dungeons and Dragons, Basketball, Yoga, Tennis, African Dance, African Drumming, Drama, Spanish, Gardening, Jazz, Origami, and others.
If you would like information about scholarships, please contact Ms. Contreras at teresa.snyder@ousd.org
Thank you so much!
Best,
Ms. Contreras
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Your Purchases on Amazon Can Support Thornhill!
For those of you new to Thornhill, and as a quick reminder for our entire community, all of your purchases on Amazon (teacher Wish Lists, Fresh, etc.) can generate money to support Thornhill PFC initiatives. So far, Thornhill has received nearly $3,000 from this program! Get started today by setting your Amazon Smile charity to Thornhill Parent-Faculty Club on your mobile app and desktop. Once set, all purchases made will donate a portion back to support our students. Follow the simple instructions below to set your Amazon Smile charity!
App:
Navigate to the main menu to find “Gifting & Charity,” select “AmazonSmile.” From there, you can follow onboarding instructions to activate AmazonSmile on your device. Search for “Thornhill Parent-Faculty Club” and set it as your charity.
Desktop:
Visit smile.amazon.com and go to “Your Account” to set your Charity. Select “AmazonSmile” and then follow the prompts to either select a charity or change charity. From there, search for “Thornhill Parent-Faculty Club” and follow the prompts.
Thanks,
Christina Gibbons
Thornhill Merchants Partnership
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News from the Library
Hello Thornhill Community:
It has been such a pleasure to see our students return to campus this past week!
I look forward to starting our library visits in the coming weeks. And in the meantime, a reminder that Sora, our online e-book and audio book library, is still available for all of our students at any time. You can access informational videos about how to access and use Sora here. And check out the Thornhill library website for bitmoji reading rooms, book recommendations, and our catalog.
I also want to offer sincere thanks to all of these families who donated books at the very end of the 2020-2021 school year:
Borrman Family
Proudfoot Family
Stoll Family
Romito Family
Maria Barnes
Denise Ibarra (from AT!)
Please check out our wishlist if you are interested in supporting our amazing readers with donations of new and exciting books.
With gratitude,
Ms. Fox
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Traffic on Thornhill Drive
Dear Thunderbirds,
I wanted to pass along some reminders on how to safely navigate the traffic and parking situation at school, especially during these first few weeks as we're all getting used to a new routine. Our top priorities are SAFETY for our kids and RESPECT for our school community and neighbors! Please park legally, avoid U-turns in front of the school, and be watchful for pedestrians.
In general, there are two ways to drop off in the mornings:
1) Park and walk to any of the gates in front of the school. Parking can be found in the St. John's church lot off Gouldin, on Gouldin Drive itself, and in marked spaces on Thornhill south of the school. Parking is not allowed along the white curb in front of Thornhill, in the apartment spaces across from Thornhill, or north of school between Alhambra and Gouldin.
2) Quick-drop in front of school (coned area staffed by parent volunteers) or on the side of school/Alhambra (self-serve). If you choose this option, pull up all the way to the end of the drop zone with your child ready to get out of the vehicle. A volunteer will help your child out, and they can enter the school using either Gate A or Gate C, depending on their class. Exit the drop zone and proceed north up Thornhill; making a U-turn at Merriewood if needed. Quick-drop will be open at 8:15 for TK/K and 8:25 for 1-5.
Click here for more details on parking/drop-off options (including maps).
Quick-drop is not possible without parent volunteers! If you are able to help, please send an email to quickdrop@thornhillschool.org.
Thanks and be safe!
Christa and the Thornhill Traffic Team
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ParentSquare and Konstella: How Thornhill Communicates
As you hopefully know by now, OUSD is now using ParentSquare across the district for OUSD and school/classroom announcements. This is linked to your Aeries account.
We will use Konstella for everything else—our school/parent directory (ParentSquare doesn't provide this), room parent communication, teacher appreciations, community and fundraising events (Walkathon, Fall Festival, Auction, etc.), groups/committees, PFC meetings/announcements, photos, etc.—essentially everything that is organized and communicated by parent volunteers.
Join Konstella now! It's accessible on desktop and mobile app. If you were at Thornhill last year, you are already in Konstella.
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Facebook Groups: Stay Connected!
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Calendar
Monday, August 9 - Friday, August 20: Minimum days (TK-K will be released at 1:10pm; grades 2-5 at 1:25pm).
- Tuesday, August 17: First PFC Meeting @ 5:30pm (Zoom link in Konstella)
- Wednesday, August 18: Enrichment Class sign-up starts at 9am (register here)
- Tuesday, August 24: Enrichment Class sign-up ends at 5pm (register here)
- Monday, August 30: Enrichment classes start!
- Friday, September 3: OUSD Professional Development (no school for kids)
Monday, September 6: Labor Day (schools closed)
Be sure also to subscribe to the Thornhill Google Calendar here, and download the OUSD District 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, 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, VP of Communication Evie Nagy, PFC Presidents Alicia Streight and Rianna Stoll, 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