Saturday, October 11
Light the Night Leukemia Walk; Civic Park, Walnut Creek, 5:30 PM

Monday, October 13
COINS FOR A CURE DRIVE (Junior Diabetes Research Council), 10/13-10/31
Columbus Day Observed (not a holiday)
Red Ribbon Assembly, "The Pro-Kids Show", Mr. Ralph Metzer; MP Room
      12:45 PM: Gr. K-3
      1:45 PM: Gr. 4-5
Chess Club; Library, 2:45 PM
Parent Ed Assembly, "The Pro-Kids Show", Mr. Ralph Metzer; MP Room, 7:00 PM-8:00 PM
LSD Board Mtg.; DO, 7:00 PM

Tuesday, October 14
Lunch outside
Poster paper goes home with each student for Red Ribbon Poster Activity
Thinking Strategies Parent Workshop; Stanley Library, 7:00 PM-9:00 PM

Wednesday, October 15
Coloma Gold Rush Camp; all 4th grade
District Advisory Council; DO, 6:30 PM

Thursday, October 16
Coloma Gold Rush Camp; all 4th grade
OLSAT; all 3rd grade, 9:00 AM
KidzArt; Rm. 25, 2:45 PM

Friday, October 17
Coloma Gold Rush Camp; all 4th grade

Monday, October 20
NATIONAL CHARACTER COUNTS WEEK
      RED RIBBON WEEK
      Wear Blue and/or Yellow/Gold Day representing the Pillars of Trustworthiness & Respect

Tuesday, October 21
RED RIBBON WEEK
      Wear Orange representing the Pillar of Fairness

Wednesday, October 22
PICTURE DAY; MP Room
RED RIBBON WEEK
      Character Wheel of Fortune at Spirit Wednesday
LASF General Board Mtg.; Stanley Library, 7:00 PM

Thursday, October 23
RED RIBBON WEEK
      Wear Red representing the Pillar of Caring
KidzArt; Rm. 25, 2:45 PM

Friday, October 24
United Nations Day
RED RIBBON WEEK
      Wear Green and/or Purple Day representing the Pillars of Responsibility & Citizenship
      5th Graders plant Red Ribbon Tulips; 1:05 PM

Sunday, October 26
Lafayette Reservoir Run; 8:00 AM

Monday, October 27
Student Council Mtg.; Rm. 23, 12:20 PM
Chess Club; Library, 2:45 PM

Tuesday, October 28
RAPPORT; DO, 9:00 AM
Wellness Committee Mtg.; DO, 3:15 PM

Thursday, October 30
KidzArt; Rm. 25, 2:45 PM

Friday, October 31
Halloween
Halloween Parade; 2:00 PM

Sunday, November 2
Daylight Savings Time ends (set clocks back an hour)
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk; Heather Farms, Walnut Creek

A. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR STUDENT BODY OFFICERS:
President: NIC WARREN
Vice-President: NATHAN EDWARDS
Secretary: ERIN NOLAN
Treasurer: JULIA LAUER
Sports Chairperson: SABBA JWEAINAT
Congratulations also to all 5th graders who participated. All were very close races. Each of you did an excellent job of demonstrating democracy, responsibility and good citizenship at Springhill School!!!

B. THANK YOU SO MUCH to Corrine Christensen and the PFC for the exceptional gourmet Teacher Appreciation Luncheon last Wednesday. As always, it was unbelievably delicious!!!

C. HALLOWEEN is approaching. We will have our annual Halloween Parade through the halls at 2:00 PM on Friday, October 31. All kindergartens will have their parade earlier in the day. Please check the calendar for specific times. Please remember the following: NO costumes of violence (e.g., dripping blood, slashers, Freddie Kruegers, Friday the 13th characters, terrorists, etc.), costumes with weapons or lookalike weapons (e.g., swords, guns, knives, etc.), or any negative representations of currently or historically-maligned ethnic groups or nationalities will be allowed. Thank you.

D. RED RIBBON WEEK/NATIONAL CHARACTER COUNTS WEEK: Check out the calendar for the variety of activities for Springhill students during this important character building week that will set the character expectations for the rest of the year and beyond. Many thanks to Karen Elliott, Corrine Christensen, Doreen deRoque and Beth Brown for all of their efforts in putting this important and beneficial calendar of activities together! Pay It Forward during Red Ribbon/National Character Counts Week!!!

E. THANK YOU TO ALL PARENTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE SPRINGHILL GARDEN WORKDAYS last weekend! Great progress was made on our Outdoor Classroom. A special thank you to Mrs. Kathy Hemmenway, Mrs. Kim Brast and other volunteers for coordinating this event and your continuing efforts in making the Springhill Garden such a glorious reality!!!

F. SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL: Thank you to all who participated in the School Site Council selection process. We had a record-setting 125 ballots cast from Springhill parents. Congratulations to Mrs. Corrine Christensen, Mrs. Vicki Edwards & Mrs. Jean Follmer, our newly elected parent representatives to the council. Thank you also to Mrs. Lynda Rotundo for throwing her hat into the ring in this close election. Thank you all again.

G. Join the PFC! Register for e- SCRIP!!


THE SIX PILLARS & PAY IT FORWARD CORNER

CHECK OUT THE SIX PILLARS BANNERS HANGING IN THE CENTRAL COURTYARD!

Springhill School has recently sent a team of eight (four parents and four staff members, including myself) to San Francisco for three days this summer where we were introduced to an impressive, character development framework used nationwide known as CHARACTER COUNTS! It has an excellent track record primarily with schools, but also with sports organizations, businesses, nonprofit institutions, etc. We are eager to share what we learned at this workshop with the Springhill community. As parents, you will have opportunities to learn much more about how we might use CHARACTER COUNTS! as a framework for all that we do at Springhill. Through school communications, parent ed presentations from our PFC and your own children, you will be kept apprised of this endeavor as the school year progresses. CHARACTER COUNTS! is based on the Six Pillars: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. We are enthusiastic about every aspect of CHARACTER COUNTS! and are looking forward to introducing its components to the student body. Because of the way in which the framework is designed and the flexibility with which it can be implemented, it can serve as an umbrella under which we will continue our PAY IT FORWARD program and our regular SPIRIT WEDNESDAY activities, and, perhaps, can create the opportunity for a number of additional activities. You will be receiving much more news about CHARACTER COUNTS! as the year unfolds, but you may also access the following website for more information: http://charactercounts.org/

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 made a significant change in the Pay It Forward program last 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 no longer identify the specific students who performed the acts (e.g., "Two 2nd graders had a lemonade sale over the weekend and raised $30 for the school's Coins For a Cure Diabetes Drive.") 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.

A. COINS FOR A CURE: As one of several initial PAY IT FORWARD Projects this fall, Springhill School is again participating in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) COINS FOR A CURE Program. The drive will begin Monday, 10/13 and will continue through Friday, 10/31, and will consist of a collection can in each classroom for students and staff to contribute any spare change they wish. Collection cans and a packet of information arrives in classrooms on Monday, 10/13. The actual WALK TO CURE DIABETES will take place at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek on Sunday, November 2, Time TBA. Several staff members will be participating. For further information regarding the walk, please contact Mrs. Heidi McLeod at: Heidi@ac3online.com Thank you so much as we begin another successful year of PAYING IT FORWARD!

B. THE ANNUAL LIGHT THE NIGHT WALK for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society is tomorrow night, Saturday, October 11, 5:00 PM, at Civic Park in Walnut Creek . Support Lauren Bishopp's "Lula Talula" Team and others. For more information, check out: http:// www.active.com/donate/ltnSanFr1/1908_bishoppe OR www.lightthenight.org

C. PAY IT FORWARD: THANK YOU ALL WHO DONATED TOYS AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES TO THE KIDS OF CHILDREN's HOSPITAL! WELL DONE SPRINGHILL SCHOOL STUDENTS AND SPRINGHILL COMMUNITY!!! WAY TO PAY IT FORWARD!!!


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!!!

In Mr. Fisher's 5th grade, students participate in Junior Great Books. Students are helped to think further about a story through drama. For example, after reading Jack and the Beanstalk and working on critical thinking skills and interpretive questioning, the class is put into heterogeneous groups and asked act out a scene. Each group or casts are asked to interpret characters in different ways. They are allowed make impromptu costumes, props and scenery. After the performances, students are asked to compare the different versions. An extension of this activity is to use clustering, where students of similar abilities are asked to write a short script based on a Junior Great Book story they have read and then to present it to the class. Each story provides opportunities for students to write either a creative essay or story and it is easy to apply the 6 Traits writing strategies.

*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.

Finally! It's starting to cool off. It's looking more and more like autumn every day.

Mark your calendars for next Monday, October 13th! We will be having a Red Ribbon Week Assembly in the MP room for our students at 12:45 & 1:45 PM. We will be hosting Ralph The Great as he presents The Pro Kids Show, a motivational character education program. He uses music, magic, comedy and student participation to present his message of good character qualities and good decision making. Then, following that same evening, will be hosting a family assembly from 7 - 8 PM. This show is different from the school assembly and is targeted towards families. So bring your whole family and enjoy a night of great entertainment! A huge thank you goes out to Karen Elliott and Doreen deRoque over putting this fun event together!

Have you taken a look at our Notice Board as you enter Springhill's parking lot each morning? It's filled with information on what's happening at our school. Thank you Kim Bettencourt for keeping us posted!

Our fourth grade classes are heading off to Coloma's Outdoor Discovery School next Wednesday through Friday. This is a really fun way to learn a little bit about California History and the Gold Rush. Have a wonderful time!

We have a couple OPEN POSITIONS that I'd like to highlight:

VP of Communications - This person oversees several committee chairs and the PFC Website and shadow's the President, moving into the President's position the following year. This can be a shared position.

Earthquake Preparedness Chair - This position updates all of the emergency backpacks located in each classroom with individual emergency forms, which are turned in during Scorpion Days. This person will also be the Liaison between our school and the Lafayette School District as the District is implementing a new Earthquake Preparedness Program.

Beth Brown
2008-09 Springhill PFC President
pfcprez@yahoo.com
482-7956

Make a Difference: Make a Call

LASF still needs callers for its upcoming New Families Fall Phonathon on October 19 - 21st.
The majority of LASF funds are raised by the people who make the all important phone calls. Just two hours of your time could result in hundreds and even thousands of dollars in donations. And because you get a script to work from, calling is very easy. To volunteer, contact Julie Novak @ thenovaks@sbcglobal.net or the LASF office at 299- 1644.


Share Your Love on November 15th

Come share your love for local education at LASF's "Love Lafayette - Love our Schools" Annual Event. This year the event will be held on November 15th at the beautiful Orinda Country Club where you will enjoy a night of casino games, live music and dancing, one-of-a-kind sign-up parties and a fantastic raffle. Watch the mail for a bright yellow envelope - your ticket to Lafayette's Love Fest of the year!

Wine donations are needed. We would like to solicit wine donations for the event as soon as possible. Three or four bottles, a half case or MORE would be great! We are looking for interesting ones, special ones, and OLD ones. All of these wines will be raffled off together in either one or two very special collections, depending on how many bottles we obtain. Wouldn't it be great to win a ready-made wine cellar for entertaining in your home?
Please contact the Springhill volunteers listed below to arrange a donation pickup.
Julie Novak, LASF Springhill fundraising - thenovaks@sbcglobal.net
Corrine Christensen, PFC Parliamentarian - joeandcorrine@msn.com
Kathy Hamilton, LASF Springhill K-5 Rep - katsvetmail@yahoo.com

Thank you in advance for supporting LASF.

Our volunteer team of decorators came in last Friday and got us ready for October. Stop by and see the reading scarecrow on our bulletin board or admire the seasonal posters all around the library. Thanks to Judi Persons, Mark Del Rosario, and Sheryl Lauer it looks great! We have also been putting out Halloween and scary stories and have a special display of books for Yom Kippur.

Kindergartners have been focusing on the sights and sounds of autumn. This week's story was Margaret Wise Brown's The Little Scarecrow Boy. Ask your student which of the little scarecrow's expressions s/he liked best.

First graders exercised their brains and reviewed some of the changes that happen during this season with Autumn: an Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur. See if you can create an acrostic together with the word "fall."

Second graders continued exploring the season through Doug Florian's beautifully-illustrated book of poetry Autumnblings. Try drawing a fall picture or writing a fall poem with your child.

Third graders explored the folktale/fairytale genre and heard the story Two Bear Cubs by Robert San Souci. This Miwok legend tells the story of two bear cubs who became trapped on El Capitan and the unlikely hero who rescued them. Knowing that folktales were often a means of teaching, students discussed what things they might learn from this tale.

Fourth graders saw a video about the Dewey Decimal System and reviewed call numbers so that they can find materials they're looking for in the library.

Fifth graders took their turn at learning how the Dewey Decimal System is used as part of the call number, which helps everyone find nonfiction books not only in our library and but also in many others, including our Contra Costa public libraries. Your students can use their skills in any library they visit.

Don't forget to check out our website at http://www.lafsd.k12.ca.us/people/smattern/index.htm. You can find monthly updates on what's happening at the Springhill Library, an updated library wish list, reviews of new books, and links to many helpful resources on the website, too.

Remember, there are over 100 reasons to read. This week, it's "You'll understand people better."

Sherry Mattern, Library Specialist
smattern@LAFSD.K12.CA.US

Measure E Benefits Our Students

With November's election less than a month away, there's one local initiative that is of particular interest to parents. Measure E, the high school facilities bond for the Acalanes Union High School District will provide the funds needed to renovate, repair, and maintain each of the four high schools - Acalanes, Campolindo, Las Lomas, and Miramonte - in the Acalanes district.

Whether your students are in kindergarten or about to enter high school, Measure E will provide benefits for local students for many years to come.

Measure E will repair leaky roofs, upgrade the electrical and data delivery infrastructure, improve classroom technology, replace worn equipment, and more. And, the bonds will be structured in such a way that there will be no increase to our current tax rate.
To learn more about Measure E, go to www.AboutMeasureE.org.

Measure E is an investment in our schools, an investment in our students, and an investment in our future. Please vote Yes on Measure E this November 4th.

Monday October 13th - Afternoon (12:45 and 1:45)
Red Ribbon Week kick-off Assembly - Ralph The Great presents The Pro Kids Show, a motivational character education program. He uses music, magic, comedy and student participation to present his message of good character qualities and good decision making. Multi-Purpose room. The K-3rd Grade show will be at 12:45 and the 4th-5th Grade show will be at 1:45.

Monday October 13th - Evening (7 - 8 pm)
Ralph The Great is hosting The Family Night Show from 7 pm to 8 pm. The show is different from the school assembly and is targeted towards families. More details to follow.

Tuesday October 14th
Your child will be bringing poster paper home to make a poster for Red Ribbon Week. More details to follow.

Monday October 20 -RED RIBBON WEEK
Wear Blue and/or Yellow/Gold Day. Character Pillar Blue is Trustworthy and Character Pillar Yellow is Respect. Wear all blue, all yellow, or a combination of the two!!

Tuesday October 21 - RED RIBBON WEEK
Wear Orange Day. Character Pillar Orange is Fairness. Wear as much orange as possible.

Wednesday October 22 - RED RIBBON WEEK
Spirit Wednesday Red Ribbon Week game is Wheel of Fortune.

Thursday October 23 - RED RIBBON WEEK
Wear Red Day. Character Pillar Red is Caring. Wear as much red as possible. Character Counts Scavenger Hunt at lunchtime.

Friday October 24 - RED RIBBON WEEK
Wear Green and/or Purple Day. Character Pillar Green is Responsible and Character Pillar Purple is Citizenship. Wear all green, all purple, or a combination of the two!!

5th Grade Red Ribbon Week Ceremony. The 5th grade classes will plant tulips in front of the school. More details to follow.

Come Hang Out at Hideout
Sign-Ups are now being taken for Tuesday, Nov 11th (Veteran's Day School Closure) and for Thanksgiving Camp. Discounts will be given for early registration! Come joins us for lots of Arts, Crafts, Games, Science and Baking activities. Registrations forms can be found in the school office or at Hideout. You can also download the forms from our website at www.kidshideout.net/Forms, then go to IN-SERVICE DAYS or Camp Registration Forms. For more information, please contact Beth at 283-7808 or beth@kidshideout.net.

THANK YOU for donating to Children's Hospital in Oakland! The items we have collected will put smiles on the little patients' faces. The donations will be sorted and delivered to the hospital before the holidays.

Springhill Garden
We had a good turnout for our first two work days this past weekend. Many, many thanks to the following families for coming out to lend a hand: Buck, Evans, deRoque, Fromer, Gerson, Gundaker, Hoeser, Novak, Plumb, Sowarby, & Stewart. Special thanks to Mrs. Brast for coming each day & bringing coffee & bagels!
We'll keep you posted on when we schedule our next work day!

Time Management and Organizational Tips for Families with Middle Schoolers
Thurs. October 16, 2008, Noon - 1:30pm, no fee
Walnut Creek Intermediate School, library, 2425 Walnut Blvd, Walnut Creek , CA
Speaker: Beth Samuelson, MA & Founder Student Organization Services SOS
Are you going crazy trying to get your child more organized? Does your child seem to have no concept of time? Do you feel that you have to keep track of everything for your child? Learn what is reasonable developmentally for the middle school student, so that they can begin to take charge of organizing, managing homework and all of their activities.
NEW * NEW * on-line registration * NEW * NEW * on- line registration * NEW * NEW
http://www.acalanes.k12.ca.us/adulted/html/peelement ar ymiddleschool.htm
click the link to Parent Ed. On-Line Registration
For your questions & comments: Vera Babor at vbabor@acalanes.k12.ca.us

Risky Behavior: What is happening? What can we do about it?
Thursday, November 6, 7:30p.m. Stanley Middle School Library
What is 'risky behavior' for our middle schoolers today? Which behaviors should parents worry about? Please join Principal Schrag, Police Resource Officer Birch, Counselors Tiffany Sullivan and John Barakos, Drug, Alcohol and Violence Prevention Coordinator for the County Office of Education Ralph Cantor, Sandra Lessenden MFT, and Beth Feree PhD Psychologist for a lively, up-to-date review of the current risky behaviors in our middle school, and how we as parents can identify and address them.

To submit entries to the Friday Flyer, email Traci Lawrence: fridayflyereditor@yahoo.com

All entries due Wednesday before 3:00pm. Entries must be kept brief, please.
Subscriber info: bethhutson@comcast.net

Web: http://www.lafsd.k12.ca.us/springhill