Thornhill Elementary PFC Newsletter
Volume 27, Issue 13, November 5, 2019
A big thank you for a collaborative, moving PFC meeting
Dear families,
We had our monthly PFC meeting on Monday night, and it was unlike many others we have had. And I mean that in a good way.
Nearly three dozen parents attended, and many of those were first-time attendees. I believe this is a good sign that shows how we can continue to grow and reach out to each other as a community. I hope we have as many people, or even more, at next month's meeting.
Our main topic was the approval of PFC funding for a new aide to help the kindergarten staff for the rest of the year. Many parents gave impassioned testimony as to why a new aide is necessary. It wasn't easy for some of the parents to talk about the needs of their children in the classroom. But I believe their sentiments were not just for their own children, but for all of our children, and I am proud that we were able to come together to lay the groundwork for the greater good of our school and approve this kindergarten aide.
And I want to thank our teaching staff, too. Regardless of what grades they teach, our teachers gave their broad support to this measure. It's this kind of coming together that should remind us all of what a special place we have at Thornhill.
Mahalo,
Rex Crum
PFC President
______________________
Auction Brainstorming Meeting - Wednesday, November 6 from 7-9pm
We heartily and sincerely invite any Thornhill parent that is at all intrigued by our annual Benefit Auction to our first brainstorming meeting **tomorrow** on Wednesday, November 6 from 7-9pm! Old and new - we want you! RSVP here.
The Auction is held in the spring (date TBA, usually February/March) and is our second biggest fundraiser after BSDD. It's a ton of fun for parents to attend and includes dinner, dancing, a silent auction, a live auction, and a lot of laughs.
You don't - at all - have to be an expert event planner or creative extraordinaire to come to this meeting. We just want your thoughts of what would make this event the most beneficial to our school.
We'll have some pizza for dinner, drink a little wine, and chat. If you need to bring your kid(s), please comment in your RSVP (commenting enabled on Konstella desktop, not the app). See you there!
______________________
Walkathon success!!
Wow! Thank you, Thornhill community, for an amazing Walkathon! So many kids walking (and walking and walking!) and so many parents helping (and helping and helping!). We blew past our $20K goal with more than $25K and we are still collecting pledges. A huge thank you to Kelsey Nariani and Rianna Stoll, our fearless Walkathon leaders!
There are so many thank yous for the many parents who made this happen: Dania Stotts, Christa Pennacchio, Erin Proudfoot, Becky Urbano, Christine Pereira, Pamela Schwartz, Ei-Lun Yokomizo—you are an amazing walkathon committee! And to all of the parents who worked stamping stations, otter pops distro, set up, clean up, prize station, bake sale, DJ (Noah Kahn!). You made it happen!
Winners for most laps walked and most money raised will be shared with teachers on Friday. Go Thunderbirds!
______________________
Updates from the library
I'm so excited to share the exciting news that a group of 5th graders organized a bake sale and donated the profits to our library! Eva Senakern, Olivia Tiffin, Stella DiGirolmo, and Stella Jurado together donated $138 to purchase new books.
These students will be meeting with me to decide how to use the funds they raised, and discuss taking many factors into consideration when making a purchase for a curated collection.
I am also very grateful to the families of the following students for their generous book donations:
Dylan Gamble
Amina Morris
Phoebe Shank
Laurna Sudat
Thank you all for your support of our library. Check out our wishlist for new titles, which is always being updated, here!
With gratitude,
Ms. Fox
______________________
Dine Out: Wednesday, November 13 at Round Table Pizza
Dine out -- or in -- Make it a Round Table Pizza Night and Thornhill Gets 15%!
This is a great opportunity to enjoy a family night out and hang out with other Thornhill families. Or, take a night off from cooking and have a pizza delivered (or pick it up on your way home). Whatever your style, this is an easy way to give your family dinner and earn a few extra funds for our school.
When you order, please tell the cashier you are there for Thornhill. At the end of the night, the purchases will get logged and 15% will go to Thornhill PFC.
______________________
Shop, Eat & Earn: Good Eggs
Help us earn extra dough for Thornhill when you order groceries! If 3 new families join our fundraiser this week (from 11/4 to 11/10), we'll earn an extra $50 on our final check!
New customers get $20 off their first order when you add our school code TBIRD19.
It's as easy as 1-2-3:
1) Visit schools.goodeggs.com.
2) Enter the school code tbird2019. Click "Shop Now."
3) Add your groceries to your Good Eggs basket and check out.
______________________
Calendar
The website always has the latest calendar information, and here's what's coming up:
- Wednesday, November 6: Auction Brainstorming Meeting (7-9pm), RSVP here
- Monday, November 11: NO SCHOOL - Veterans Day
- Wednesday, November 13: Dine Out at Round Table Pizza on Mountain Blvd. (map)
- Monday, November 18 - Friday, November 22: Winter Conference Week (minimum days, no enrichment classes)
- Monday, November 25 - Friday, November 29: NO SCHOOL: Thanksgiving Break
______________________
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