 | Important Items:
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"The mission of the Springhill School Community is to
learn, work and play in a safe place where respect for each other and
responsibility for our own actions creates trust, teamwork and an
atmosphere of friendship."
2007-2008 Springhill Spirit
Theme:
PAY IT FORWARD: Gratitude and Caring
FEBRUARY SPIRIT
REMINDER: Show gratitude and caring to the elderly by giving them a
helping hand!
| Calendar of Events | |
Friday, February 8
5th Grade Play Rehearsal;
MultiPurpose Room, 3:00 PM-5:00 PM
Monday, February
11
Student
Council Meeting; Rm. 23, 12:20 PM
Jumprope for Heart Assembly; MP
Room
Gr. K-3: 1:30 PM
Gr. 4-5: 2:00 PM
Chess Club; Library,
2:45 PM
LSD Board Study Session; Stanley Middle School, 6:00 PM-8:00
PM
Tuesday, February 12
Abraham Lincoln's
Birthday
California Symphony; MultiPurpose Room
9:00 AM-9:40 AM:
All 2nd Grade
9:45 AM-10:25 AM: All 3rd Grade
10:45 AM-11:25 AM:
All 4th/5th Grade
District Wellness Council; District Office, 3:15
PM
Lafayette School District Board Meeting; District Office, 7:00
PM
Wednesday, February 13
3rd Grade SMILE TRAIN
Fund Raiser
5th Grade Stanley Chorus Assembly; MultiPurpose Room,
2:10 PM
OLSAT 3rd Grade Parent Information Night; District Office,
6:30 PM
LASF General Board Meeting; Stanley Library, 7:00
PM
Thursday, February 14
St. Valentine's
Day
5th Grade Play Rehearsal; MultiPurpose Room, 3:00 PM-5:00
PM
Friday, February 15
District
Holiday
Monday, February 18
Presidents' Day
Holiday
Tuesday, February
19
5th Grade Healthy Kids Survey
Wednesday, February
20
PFC Meeting:
Executive Board Meeting; Lounge, 5:30
PM
General Meeting; Library, 6:30 PM
Anti-Bullying Workshop with
Rick Phillips; Stanley Library, 7:30 PM Lafayette School District Public
Meeting RE: Fields, #2; Stanley Faculty Room, 6:00 PM-8:30 PM
Friday, February
22
George Washington's Birthday
STUDENT COUNCIL SPIRIT DAY:
SUNGLASSES DAY
5th Grade Play Rehearsal; MultiPurpose Room, 3:00
PM-5:00 PM
Monday, February 25
Student Council Meeting;
Rm. 23, 12:20 PM
SSC Mtg.; Office, 3:30 PM
Chess Club; Library,
2:45 PM
Wednesday, February 27
PFC Legislative Field
Trip to Sacramento; all day
California Symphony; MultiPurpose
Room
9:20 AM-9:50 AM: All K
9:55 AM-10:25 AM: Spain &
Sturman
10:45 AM-11:15 AM: Thompson & Finta
Friday,
February 29
Stanley Jazz Band, 5th grade Concert; MultiPurpose
Room, 11:00 AM-11:30 AM
5th Grade Play Rehearsal; MultiPurpose Room,
3:00 PM-5:00 PM
| Principal's Messages | |
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGES
A. KINDERGARTEN
REGISTRATION: Kindergarten Registration for
the 2008-2009 school year is taking place now. Please encourage all
those you know in the Springhill community with kindergarten-aged
children for next year to register now, even if they are not sure their
children are ready for kindergarten yet.
B. NEW 1st-5th
GRADE STUDENT REGISTRATION FOR 2008-2009: We are now accepting new
1st-5th grade registrations for the 2008-2009 school year in the Office.
Please inform any new neighbors or those whose children are currently in
private schools who plan to have their children attend Springhill School
next year. Remind them to bring the child's birth certificate,
immunization record and two proofs of address. Thank you.
C.
ATTENTION 3rd GRADE PARENTS: Results of the OLSAT (Otis
Lennon School Abilities Test), which was administered to third graders
in the fall, are now available for you to pick up at the school office.
You are invited to attend a parent information night
on Wednesday, February 13th at the District Office at 6:30 PM. A general interpretation of
the scores will be provided. Results must be picked up
by a parent. If you
would like to have the results mailed to you, please send a stamped,
self - addressed envelope to the school office. Students who have been
invited to participate in the self- contained magnet classes at Burton
Valley will be notified by February 9th. Questions regarding test
results or placement in the self-contained magnet class at Burton Valley
may be directed to Rachel Zinn at the district office
(284-7011).
D. ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH to the PFC and to Dianne
MacArthur for the exceptional gourmet Teacher Appreciation Luncheon last
Wednesday. As always, it was unbelievably delicious!!!
E. Join the PFC! Register for
e-SCRIP!!
DIFFERENTIATION
CORNER
*Differentiated
Instruction takes place in all of our classes. Each week, we will be
profiling a particular teacher's implementation of Differentiated
Instruction every week in the Friday Flyer. Don't miss
it!!!
During math stations in Ms. Sturman's 1st grade every
Wednesday, the students are able to work at their own pace and level
with Marcy Cook tiles. There are a variety of math sets such as plus and
minus, tangrams, more-than and less-than picture tiles, and many more.
They need to complete 10 work sheets in a set in order to move onto the
next one. This allows each child to keep track of their progress and be
challenged while doing it.
*Differentiated Instruction is not
individualized instruction, but rather the delivery of curriculum to
students in a manner that complements their learning style while always
challenging them at their ability level.
PAY IT FORWARD
CORNER
Every week we will be including different aspects of
our Pay It Forward theme for this year in the Friday Flyer. Character
development should be a major component in any well-rounded educational
program and it has been for many years at Springhill. Ask your children
what their classes are doing for Pay It Forward. Come to Spirit
Wednesday, 8:30 AM every Wednesday morning in the main courtyard and
find out how we promote character development at Springhill School. We
do have a significant change in the Pay It Forward program this year. If
you are familiar with how this program was originally designed, you know
that all of the "pay it forward" efforts remained anonymous in order to
promote the altruistic and selfless nature of the act. Although we will
acknowledge all of the acts themselves in the weekly Student Bulletin,
at Spirit Wednesday and in the Friday Flyer, we will no longer identify
the specific students who performed the acts. We are hopeful the
enthusiasm for the program will continue to be as strong as it has been
the last several years with this change. Thank you.
Keep up that PIF
Spirit!!!
1. SMILE TRAIN: Be looking for the 3rd grade
to present its annual SMILE TRAIN FUND RAISER
ACTIVITIES to
benefit the Smile Train Organization which provides cleft palette
surgery for $250 per surgery for those in need across the globe. Help
support 3rd grades' special effort for this worthy organization! More
information to follow! Thank you!
2. Be looking for Student
Council to act soon on fund raisers to address
school supplies for a classroom in Bamako, Mali, Africa, and to support
and assist Christopher Rodriquez, the 10 year old Oakland boy shot and
paralyzed while having a piano lesson. More information to follow!
| PFC President's Message | |
Welcome Sunshine!! What a beautiful week it has been after all the
needed rain. We have quite a bit going on, not only here at Springhill
but in the district as well. I want to mention two very important events
coming up.
The first is the Lafayette School District Governing
Board will hold a study session onMonday, February 11, 2008, at 6:00
PM. The purpose of the study session will be to review program and
budget priorities, sources for revenue enhancement, and budget
reductions to address the budget shortfall. This meeting will be held in
the multi-purpose room at Stanley Middle School and is open to the
public. All parents, teachers, staff and community members are invited
to attend. The agenda for the study session will be available on the
district's website on Thursday, February 7.
Second, please mark
your calendar for Wednesday, February 20 at
7:30 PM. The Lafayette School District Parent Ed Committee
presents: Anti-Bullying and
Communication Skills Workshop. This is a two-hour workshop that will
help parents, of all ages, interact and communicate with their children
on some tough topics. The workshop will address the impact bullying-
cyber- bullying, physical and relational - has on learning/academic
achievement, child development and school climate & security. This
will also take place in the Stanley MultiPurpose Room.
Lastly I
would like to note a time change for our PFC General Meeting on Wednesday, February
20. It will be held at 6:30 PM in the Library. We hope to be
finished by 7:15 so that all can attend the parent education night
mentioned above.
Your PFC $$'s at work - $10,300 has been used for
Document Cameras for all teachers that requested one for use in their
classrooms. These cameras can be used to display pages in books, hooked
up to a computer and are mobile just to name a few of the benefits to
the teacher.
Enjoy the continuing sunshine~
Corrine
Christensen
2007/2008 Springhill PFC President
joeandcorri ne@msn.com
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| Legislative Rep News | |
Education Advocacy Day Trip - February 27, 2008:
Sign Up to Protect School
Funding and Curriculum
California's looming
budget deficit threatens to erode public school funding -- potentially
during the current school year as well as in the 2008-9 fiscal year. If
mid-year cuts hit our schools (which already receive among the lowest
funding levels in the State), the district could be forced to cut
programs and staffing this school year! At the same time, the Governor
and State Legislature recently received commissioned studies from
education experts that lay out the issues and areas on which California
schools need to focus to RAISE the quality and performance of public
schools. That is not consistent with funding cuts. Go tohttp://www.
lastrampaspta.org/getsmart_dec07.html for a reader-friendly
overview and more detail.
What can you do? Sign
up to go on the Education Advocacy Day Trip to Sacramento, on February
27, 2008. Join fellow parents and concerned citizens from Lamorinda and
Walnut Creek who will visit with our elected representatives, Senator
Tom Torlakson, Assembly Members Loni Hancock and Guy Houston, and
education officials. Hear what their take is. Advocate funding and
support of public schools. Sign up by February 15th: http://www.
lastrampaspta.org/08AdvocacyDay.pdf
Contact Karen Guthrie
(925.283.7956 or kfguthrie@earthlink.net),
Springhill's Education Legislation Advocacy Representative, for more
information.
| LASF Science Fair / LASF Corner | |
GET
THOSE CALENDARS OUT!!
LASF Corner/Math Fair
Corner
The Math
Fair has a new date
of Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 from 6:30-8:30 PM in the multipurpose room.
Please mark your calendars! This year we have a new festival!
Build
It!
One of our most popular festivals, Build It! brings out the
engineer and architect in everyone. Participants exercise their design,
problem-solving, and spatial skills by constructing in two and three
dimensions. We bring the building materials; the school community brings
the creativity! Station instructions are available in
Spanish.
Topics: Two- and Three-Dimensional Geometry,
Tessellations, Proportion, Spatial Visualization, Creative Problem
Solving
If you think you would like to be a volunteer for this
years Math Fair please contact Meagan Hagglund at meghagg@comcast.net or 925-381-6613 © Thank
you!
LASF Facts of the Week
á Did you
know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300
in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).
á The
Stegosaurus dinosaur measured up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) long but had a
brain the size of a walnut.
Funny
Science
Miss Jones had been giving her
second-grade students a lesson on science. She had explained about
magnets and showed how they would pick up nails and other bits of
iron.
Now it was question time, and she asked, "My name begins with
the letter 'M' and I pick things up. What am I?"
A little boy on the
front row proudly said, "You're a
mother!"
| This Week at the Library | |
This Week in the Library
Did you know that Chinese
New Year's celebrations begin this Thursday, February 7, and last for
the next fifteen days? Or that February 7 is also the anniversary of the
birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder? Or that February 8 is the 100th day of
school? And we haven't even gotten to Presidents' Day yet!
The
kindergartners heard the book D Is for Dragon Dance,
in which author Ying Chang Compestine uses the alphabet to share a
number of exciting customs associated with the Chinese New Year. Ask
your kindergartner which custom he found the most
interesting.
This week in the library we also continued to read
some of the nominees in the Primary category and the Picture Book for
Older Readers category for the California Young Reader Medal award. To
find out more about CYRM visit their website at http ://californiayoungreadermedal.org.
This year's nominees
for the Primary category are:
Dex: The Heart of a Hero or previously titled Superdog: The Heart of a
Hero by Caralyn
Buehner. Illustrated by Mark Buehner
The Giant Hug by Sandra
Horning.by Sandra Horning. Illustrated by Valeri
Gorbachev
Henry and the Buccaneer Bunniesby Carolyn
Crimi
I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff.
Illustrated by David Catrow
Traction Man is Here! by Mini Grey
This
year's nominees for the Picture Books for Older Readers category
are:
Basho and the River Stones by Tim Myers. Illustrated by
Oki S. Han
Dad, Jackie and Me by Myron Uhlberg.
Illustrated by Colin Bootman
Mr. Maxwell's Mouse by Frank Asch.
Illustrated by Devin Asch
The first graders
heard Dex: The Heart
of a Hero, a story about Dexter, a small dog that is determined to
prove himself to the other dogs in his neighborhood. He even goes so far
as getting a super hero outfit to stand out. Ask your first grader what
kinds of deeds Dex does to help out in his community.
Have you ever
imagined that an action figure comes to life and has all kinds of
adventures right in your own environment? The second graders heard and
acted outTraction Man Is Here!, the story of an action figure who
overcomes dangers such as protecting toys from evil pillows. Ask your
second grader which of Traction Man's adventures was the most
daring.
The
third graders heard I
Wanna Iguana, a story about a boy who tries to persuade his mother
to let him have an iguana for a pet. In a series of hilarious notes, the
boy reminds his mom of all the advantages there are in having a pet. Ask
your third grader if the boy finally gets the green light for his
iguana.
The fourth graders heard and acted out Dad, Jackie, and Me.
This story about a boy and his deaf father who share the thrills of
Jackie Robinson's first major league baseball season has a very personal
connection to the life of author Myron Uhlberg. His own parents are deaf
and his father identified with Robinson's daily struggles to overcome
the prejudice he faced for he, too, faced constant prejudice as a deaf
person. Ask your fourth grader what she thinks was the hardest thing for
Jackie to ignore.
The fifth graders heard and acted out Mr. Maxwell's Mouse.
Mr. Maxwell (a very elegant cat) is having a special lunch to celebrate
his promotion-a live mouse! But his "lunch" has other ideas in this
witty battle of words. Ask your fifth grader who finally wins.
New Books in the
Library
Nine year old Piper, who has moved more times than she
can count on one hand, loves being part of a Navy family and is excited
about their latest move-from San Diego, CA to Pensacola, FL. But her big
sister Tori, a middle schooler, thinks it's the end of the world to move
after school has already started while her little sister (and genius)
Sam pesters Piper incessantly. For an honest look at how a Naval family
can survive and flourish read Piper Reed by Kimberly Willis Holt.
Note: My dad was a Naval officer so I could really identify with this
story!
Happy
Birthday to our Author of the Week
Patricia Lauber was
born on February 5. She has written children's books on a number of
nonfiction topics, ranging from earthquakes to snakes to biographies.
Her writing is descriptive and her books are hard to put down. Try
reading Snakes Are
Hunters, Painters of the Caves, Lost Star: the Story of Amelia
Earhart, or Volcano: the Eruption and
Healing of Mt. St. Helens. You can check out all of these and many
others either here or at the public library.
Springhill Library
Website
Explore our website at http://www.lafsd.k12.ca.us/people/smattern/index.htm . You can find a full
update on what's happening at the Springhill Library, find more reviews
of new books and links to many helpful resources.
Sherry Mattern,
Library Specialist
| Wellness Corner | |
You
want your child to eat healthy foods, but what makes up a healthy diet?
Which nutrients are necessary and in what amounts?
Nutrition for
kids is in some ways similar to nutrition for adults. Everyone,
regardless of age, needs the same types of nutrients - such as
carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals - just in different
amounts. Children differ from adults in that they have periods of rapid
growth and development. And children generally have fewer nutrient
stores to draw from, making proper nutritional intake essential for
healthy growth and development.
So what's the best formula to
fuel your child's growth and development? Go to this link to find out
more: http://www.
mayoclinic.com/health/nutrition-for- kids/NU00606
For additional
wellness information, log onto lafsd.k12.ca.us/wellness.html. Also feel
free to contact the Springhill Wellness Committee if you have any
questions....Erin Benisek, Anne Bone, and Meagan Hagglund.
| Springhill Odds and Ends | |
Run For Kieran Quinn-memorial run/walk
2008
Our 2nd annual Run For Kieran memorial walk/run
will be held on Saturday March 8 at 9:00 AM. It will begin at Stanley
Middle School. There will be a 2 mile FUN Run and a 7 mile RUN Run.
Again, we will have new great tie-dye(peace) t-shirts for this year's
run.
If you are
interested in participating in the run/ walk and/or receiving a t-shirt
complete the following information: Name, Address, Phone, email, and T-
Shirt size from Children's X-Small to Adult XX-Large and reply back via
EMAIL as soon as possible. We will need your shirt orders back NO LATER
THAN: FEBRUARY 12th in order to have the shirts completed in time for
the run. Email orders to:quinnsix@sbcglobal.net. Entry
forms are also available on the classroom door to room K-2.
T-shirt/entry fee is $15.00 per shirt/entry. Please make checks to:
Bridget Quinn 1905 Hannibal Dr. Lafayette CA.
Proceeds from this event
goes to Springhill Elementary School - Instructional Support Program and
the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford - Department of
Medical Genetics.
Thank you for your interest,
The Quinn
Family
JUMP ROPE FOR HEART IS
BACK!!
As you probably know, Springhill has been
participating in the American Heart Association's Jump Rope for Heart
for the past 13 years!! This year's event is being kicked off Monday,
February 11 with an assembly by the American Heart Association that not
only educates the children about their hearts and how to keep them
healthy, about how the event works BUT Also will be exciting because the
team of junior high rope skippers will be there to show them all kinds
of neat tricks with the ropes and double dutch play!!
The information/sponsor
forms will be in your child's Friday Folder the same week. If you and
your child decide to participate, their permission slip will be due back
the day of your child's Club Fit the week of the 18th (that's a holiday)
. . .because that's when we JUMP!! The sponsors do not have to be
returned until the following week- the 28th-that way they have TWO weeks
to collect money for those fabulous prizes- including a possible trip to
Disney World!! Besides the AHA gifts for participation, Club Fit runs
their own- including FREE Club Fit for the class that jumps the most
amount of times!! AND! Pledges can be collected online! It's easy, it's
educational, it's fun and !! we donate to a GREAT cause!
Questions?
Ask your classroom teacher or leave a message for me with Ms Sturman!
Thank you from us all!
Roberta Noel (Ms.Club Fit)
Tired of
fighting the crowd at school? Try the Lamorinda School
Bus! Pro-rated
annual passes (Feb. - June 08) are $129 for one way and $199 for round
trip. Applications and schedules are available at www.lamorindaschoolbus.org.
You can also try the bus with a one trip pass for $3.00. Call us at
299-3216 or 299-3215.
Photos for
Yearbook - Parents we need cute shots
of your kids! And don't be shy, the more photos you turn in, the better
the yearbook. Please submit for any events that have occurred this year.
In order for us to track correctly, we have the following requirements:
For digital photos, please turn in a cd only (no prints of digitals) of
jpegs labeled with your name, phone number, and the event(s) included.
Important: If you have multiple events on one cd, separate shots into
different event folders. Better: Put only one event on each cd. If you
still have 35mm photos, we much prefer to receive cds, (Costco cost for
a cd = $2.89), but we will take hardcopies too. Write your name, phone,
and event on the back of each 35mm print. Turn in to the Yearbook slot
in the office. Lastly, if you have 6 or less photos to submit, then you
can email them to our photo editor. Please contact Lucie Paladino,
979-1252 for the correct email address. Any questions? Contact Danna
Wright dannawrighton@aol.com,
945-1212.
Auction Wine Toss Reminder
Please
drop off your wine toss donations by the PFC area in the school office
by Friday, February 29th. There is a wine box designated for the
auction. Please include your name on the bottles or send us an email to
confirm that you have contributed.
Thank you!
Maria Nelson (mariasnelson@comcast.net)
Wendy Gilberd (wgilberd49@yahoo.com)
To all incoming 6th-8th Grade Stanley Middle School
Families. Can you put your financial acumen to help with the
Stanley PTA? We are in search of someone to become our PTA Treasurer for
the 2008-2009 school year. Why is our search so early? Ideally, we would
like this person to spend some time with our current Treasurer, getting
up to speed with Stanley's finances. If you have any interest, please
contact Michelle Chan at 283-9519 or mmchan6@yahoo.com. Thank you
!
| Parent Education | |
The
Lafayette School District Parent Ed Committee presents:
Anti-Bullying and
Communication Skills Workshop
Has your child ever been
bullied? Has your child come home in tears because they were excluded
from an activity? And you didn't know what to say? Or do?
By Rick
Phillips MS.Ed
Director/Founder of Community Matters
*Nationally
renown speaker who has been featured on Good Morning America
*
Equipping Parents to Address Bullying, Other Forms of Mistreatment
and Communicate with their Children More Effectively
This is a two
hour workshop that will help parents, of all ages, interact and
communicate with their children on some tough topics. The workshop will
address the impact bullying- cyber-bullying, physical and relational -
has on learning/academic achievement, child development and school
climate & security.
When: Wednesday, February
20, 2008
Where: Stanley Middle School Library
Time: 7:30
PM
| Community Events & Info | |
HIDEOUT - Upcoming Events
Registration
is open for Friday, February 15th. (Springhill will be closed in
observance of President's Day.) Register by January 25th to receive 10%
off. See form for details.
Registration also available for
Friday, March 14th (Staff Development Day).
Spring Break
Registration will be available mid-February. Join us as "Hideout Goes
Hawaiian"!
Camp
Hideout, Summer '08 - Passport to Adventure
Join Kid's Hideout this
summer! We will be holding week-long camps from June 16th through August
15th. Receive free extended care (or 10% off camp fees) if registration
and fees are received by Friday, February 22nd.
Summer Camp
Themes:
Surf's Up!, Silly Science, It's a Jungle Out There,
Transportation Exploration!, So You Think You Can Act?, Chef, Baker,
Candy Maker!!!, Sports Around the World, Amazing Race & The Great
Outdoors.
Camp
Hours: 9 AM to 4 PM. Half-day camps & extended care available. You
can attend 2 to 5 days per week. Please stop by Hideout, or the
Springhill office, to pick up your registration packet today!
"Oh! The Places You will
Go" ... when you join us this summer at "Camp Hideout!"
For more information
on any of the Hideout events, please contact Beth at 283-7808 or beth@kidshideout.net.
Interested in
Girl Scouting around the world? The Lafayette Girl Scout Association
invites you to attend Girls Around the
Globe: A World Thinking Day event on February 22 at the United
Methodist church in Lafayette . Come visit booths from around the world
and learn about the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
Please contact Hanna Woodman at hwoodman454@yahoo.com for details and registration
information.
| Quick Links... | |
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