Thornhill Elementary PFC Newsletter
Volume 27, Issue 35, May 5, 2020
In This Issue...
- FYI Announcement: No School this Friday, May 8
- Note from the PFC President
- One more Dine "Out" for Thornhill!
- READ-A-THON! READ-A-THON!
- Find resources for the READ-A-THON! at Thornhill's virtual library
- Looking for a new Webmaster and Newsletter Editor!
- Our local TK celebrity
______________________
From the PFC President
Aloha,
I love reading, and my reading tastes are rather varied. For example, right now on my nightstand are Elton John's autobiography "Me," and all 800 pages of the "Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant." And between those two tomes, I think I have managed to read a total of 75 pages.
Part of that is because I am so tired most of the time that when I try to read in bed, I usually knock out maybe two pages before I start falling asleep and dropping the book onto my face. Part of that is because I just don't have the time to sit around and read when there is work I have to do, kids that need help with their distance learning, and dealing with the inevitable sibling brawls that come with them having to share a new MacBook laptop that is about 8 bazillion times better than the one I have. I know where I stand in technology pecking order in the Crum Castle.
But, I still love reading, and have tried to impart that feeling to Madeline and Lily. And while they might fuss and complain from time to time about doing their schoolwork (Who am I kidding? They fuss and complain ALL the time about doing their schoolwork), there is one thing they genuinely get excited about these days and that is the weekly reading sessions that our librarian, Marie Fox, puts on for the girls' classes.
As our virtual Read-a-thon kicks off this week, I want to take a moment to celebrate how lucky Thornhill is to have a librarian who really cares about instilling a sense of excitement about reading. When the district first closed Oakland's schools back in March, I don't think more than a couple of days went by before Marie volunteered to do some kind of reading with our kids. And while gathering via Zoom certainly isn't anyone's first choice for holding a reading session, Marie has made it work every day for all of Thornhill's classes. We are a better school, and a better community, for having Marie as our librarian. And we all owe her a round of thanks and applause, even if we must offer those up in a socially distant way right now.
Mahalo,
Rex Crum
P.S. Save the date for our last PFC meeting of the year - Monday May 18 at 5:30pm. (This is a change from May 11.) Our main agenda item will be approving the PFC budget for next year along with approving our 2020-2021 PFC Board slate.
______________________
One More Dine “Out” for Thornhill TOMORROW (Wednesday)!
Tired of cooking three meals a day? Our local Round Table on Mountain Blvd is offering a Dine Out fundraiser for Thornhill. Obviously we're not actually dining OUT during Shelter In Place, but they will honor their commitment to a 15% giveback to Thornhill on orders placed THIS WEDNESDAY, MAY 6 for CARRY-OUT AND DELIVERY when you mention you are ordering for the Thornhill School fundraiser. Thanks for your support!
Here's the dish...
Date: Wednesday, May 6
Time: 11am - 9pm
Store: Round Table Pizza, Oakland-Mountain Blvd.
Phone: 510-336-3333
Proceeds: 15% of your order goes back to Thornhill PFC
Type: Carry-Out & Delivery
______________________
Speaking Of Pizza...It’s Read-a-thon Time!!
The time has come for the 2020 Thornhill Read-a-thon! The Read-a-thon is both a fundraiser and a wonderful opportunity for our students to focus on reading during this distance learning time.
It will look a little different this year, but we have the same excitement for reading! Students do not need to raise funds to participate in the tracking of reading.
Check out Ms. Fox's amazing Read-a-thon video on YouTube here.
By now you should have been invited to login with information in an email from read-a-thon.com. If anyone has trouble logging in, please contact marie.fox@ousd.org.
Families can log minutes read - or being read to! - using the site's tracker once they sign up. (Just click the Enter Reading Minutes button). There will be prizes for minutes read and funds raised (details to come later). Funds raised will support the library, technology updates, and PFC-funded staff.
Thanks for supporting our amazing readers, and happy reading!
______________________
And If You’re Looking For More Reading Options...
Our incredible librarian Marie Fox has created a wonderful site for the Thornhill Library, complete with activities and videos for National Poetry Month, an interactive book report tool, Harry Potter resources, a dedicated YouTube channel and more. You need to be logged into your student’s Google account to access the site, so be sure to do that before going to the URL. THANK YOU MS. FOX!!!
______________________
Looking for a Webmaster + Newsletter Editor!
We are looking for a webmaster and newsletter editor for next year! Ei-Lun and Evie have done these jobs *quite amazingly* for the last 2 years and it's time to hand over the reigns.
Job Descriptions
Webmaster
- Maintains and updates school website
- Ensures website content is updated at the beginning and regularly throughout the school year
- Requires 8-10 hours a week at beginning of school year, then 1-2 hours per week thereafter, higher during event times
Newsletter Editor
- Responsible for regular layout, publication, and distribution (in our newsletter editor, Smore) of the weekly newsletter with submissions from the Thornhill community
- Edits articles as necessary and once approved, sends the newsletter
- Requires 1-3 hours per week
Questions? Comments? Suggestions for good people? Maybe you? Email vpcommunications@thornhillschool.org.
______________________
Who Says There’s No Baseball?
Whatever the Coliseum is calling itself now may be closed, but at least one local slugger is keeping the dream alive with some serious (socially distanced) practice. Thornhill TK student Mal Brown IV was spotted practicing at Montclair Park by an East Bay Times photographer, who caught IV in his fiercest stance.
______________________
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