Friday, November 7
5th Grade Play Rehearsal; Multipurpose Room; 2:45 PM

Sunday, November 9
Garden Project; 10 AM until 2 PM

Monday, November 10
Holiday

Tuesday, November 11
Veterans' Day; Holiday

Wednesday, November 12
PFC-Sponsored Poets-In-the-Schools; 4th grade
PFC Teacher Appreciation Luncheon; Lounge, 12 noon
LASF General Board Meeting.; Stanley Library, 7:00 PM

Thursday, November 13
KidzArt; Room. 25, 2:45 PM

Friday, November 14
Fall Music Assembly, Gr. 1-3; Multipurpose Room, 11:05 AM
Book Fair Set Up; Multipurpose Room
5th Grade Play Rehearsal; Library, 2:45 PM

Saturday, November 15
LASF Function; Orinda Country Club

Monday, November 17
Book Fair; MP Room
Student Council Meeting; Room. 23, 12:20 PM
Chess Club; Library, 2:45 PM
LSD Board Meeting; District Office, 7:00 PM

Tuesday, November 18
Book Fair; MP Room
Lunch outside
RAPPORT; DO, 9:00 AM

Wednesday, November 19
Book Fair; MP Room
Lunch outside
PFC-Sponsored Poets-In-the-Schools; 4th grade
Cub Scout Troop 200; MP Room, 6:30 PM-8:30 PM

Thursday, November 20
Book Fair; MP Room
KidzArt; Rm. 25, 2:45 PM

Friday, November 21
3rd Grade Pilgrim Feast; Upper Yard, 10:45 AM
End of First Trimester
5th Grade Play Rehearsal; MP Room, 2:45 PM

Monday, November 24
Staff Inservice Day/Student Holiday

Tuesday, November 25
Staff inservice Day/Student Holiday

Wednesday, November 26
Holiday

Thursday, November 27
Thanksgiving Holiday

Friday, November 28
Holiday

A. WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CHARACTER COUNTS!??? Mark your calendars for a PFC- sponsored parent ed night on Tuesday, December 2, delving into Springhill's character development program. Check out the SIX PILLARS & PAY IT FORWARD CORNER below to see where Springhill School is right now in that pursuit. More information to follow!

B. THANK YOU to all who participated in last Sunday's annual Lafayette Reservoir Run raising money for our schools, especially to Leslie Geannacopulos for coordinating Springhill's volunteers and runners. Mr. Wodhams was seen finishing up the 5K sometime Monday morning! Well done, Springhill community!

C. QUIET ZONES: Please remember that learning is still taking place in the upper grade classrooms until 2:40 PM and in kindergarten until 3:00 PM. As you congregate with your children in the main courtyard, the Lower Field asphalt area and in front of the kindergarten classrooms at the end of the school day, please respect these QUIET ZONE areas until all students are dismissed. Thank you.

D. HALLOWEEN: Thanks to all of you who attended our annual Halloween Parade last Friday. It was a fun occasion for all!

E. BRIONES PARKING: We are always appreciative of those of you who use the Briones Regional Park parking lot to drop off or pick up your children as it significantly reduces the congestion in the front school parking lot. To ensure safety and a smooth flow of traffic in the Briones lot, I would ask that parents DO NOT park or stop in the area specifically marked NO PARKING (the spot near the boulders and gate to the lower school field). This practice can cause a back up onto the always busy Pleasant Hill Road and the potential for an accident is great, particularly so on rainy days. Your cooperation is appreciated. Thank you.

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 & WALK TO CURE DIABETES: We have begun another successful year of PAYING IT FORWARD with our month long COIN FOR A CURE drive and last Sunday's WALK TO CURE DIABETES. Thank you all for contributing and participating for this worthy cause! Well done!!!

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 Mrs. Graham's kindergarten, students learn the Soundabet which is a leveled early reading program based on letter sounds and digraphs. During small group instruction, students use magnetic letter manipulatives to create word families. On the second day, students reinforce their learning by creating Soundabet word books. Depending on the level of the reader, word lists vary and higher level thinkers come up with their own words. This program supports both decoding and encoding skills.

*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.

Dear Parents,

The adoption of textbooks for all core subject areas (English, math, social studies, science) is on a seven year cycle as determined by the State of California. Currently, districts throughout the State are in the process of reviewing and adopting math textbooks at the K-8 level. During the fall of 2007, the State published an extensive list of math textbooks that were approved for adoption. Districts have approximately one and half years from the release of the approved lists to review and choose textbooks. Districts may also choose to pilot textbooks prior to selection, but the pilot process is not required by the State. Given the very high degree of importance of this adoption, the Lafayette School District believes that the pilot process is essential.

Last year, the Lafayette School District convened a team of twenty-seven K-5 teachers representative of all grade levels and sites within the district and a team of math department members from Stanley Middle School to conduct an in-depth review of the math textbooks on the State's adoption list. Publishers were also invited to Math Adoption Committee meetings to share information about their texts. After a thorough and extensive review of the texts, K-5 teachers selected two texts to pilot, Houghton Mifflin Math/Math Expressions and Everyday Math/Wright Group. At the middle school level, Prentice Hall and MacDougal Littell were the two texts selected for piloting.

Currently, thirteen K-5 teachers are in the process of piloting Everyday Math and fourteen K-5 teachers are piloting Houghton Mifflin/Math Expressions. Teachers received full day training in September in order to successfully use the text being piloted. Teachers will continue with the first pilot text through December. Prior to winter break, they will receive training focused on the alternate text, and they will begin piloting the second text in January. At the middle school level, math department members at each grade level are just beginning the pilot process. As teachers work through the pilot, they will be engaged in careful analysis of each text and its impact on student achievement. At the conclusion of the pilot this spring, and after in-depth discussion and analysis, a K-5 text and a 6-8 text will be chosen.

A special thank you goes to our pilot teams at both the middle school and elementary levels for their incredible hard work and commitment to this process.>br>
If you would like more information about the pilot process and/or you would like to view any of the texts that are being piloted, please don't hesitate to contact me at (925) 927-3511.

Thank you so much,

Rachel Zinn
Director of Curriculum and Instruction

Thanks for those who attended the second PFC General Meeting on Wednesday. We really appreciate your support! If you were unable to attend, we have two more left this school year. Our next meeting is February 4th. This is an great way to get involved in the PFC and find out what's happening in our school.

LASF is hosting their Annual Event at the Orinda Country Club on Saturday, November 15th. You won't want to miss this fun night of casino games, music & dancing, one-of-a-kind sign-up parties and a fantastic raffle. If you are interested in hosting one of the instant win parties, please contact Kathy Hamilton at katsvetmail@yahoo.com or Stephenie Teichman at tyklafsd@gmail.com.

The annual Book Fair will be held during the week of November 17th. We will be offering evening hours on Tuesday and Wednesday night - with a special guest each night!

Mark your calendars now for Tuesday, December 2nd. PFC will be hosting a Character Counts! Parent Ed night. Come learn all out the Six pillars and how to incorporate them into your home life as the kids are living it in their school life!

To find out how to get involved in the PFC, please visit the PFC website at springhillpfc.org, under PFC Leadership.

Don't forget. Springhill will be closed on Monday and Tuesday of next week in Observance of Veteran's Day. Enjoy your 4-day weekend!

Beth Brown

 2008-09 Springhill PFC President

 pfcprez@yahoo.com

 482-7956



 Thought for the Week:

 Life is short, take the scenic route.

RSVP NOW!!

The LASF Fall Party is coming up fast on November 15th and it's time to RSVP! With a "Love Lafayette - Love Education" theme, this community-wide event promises a sensational evening of great food, live music, gaming, and enticing raffle prizes and sign-up parties. Refreshments and dancing will continue until midnight -- you've gotta love that!

LASF is sharing the love by extending its "Early Bird Special" ticket price of $75 through today, November 7th. This is a $10 savings per ticket! To make it easy, you can drop your RSVP with payment in the LASF Annual Event box in the school office or purchase your tickets online at www.lasf.org/annualevent.

So jump on the "Early Bird" rate, join the party and show your love for LASF, our community and our schools!

Questions? Contact Kathy Hamilton
LASF Spinghill K-5 Rep
katsvetmail@yahoo.com

This is the month of the annual Springhill Book Fair! The Book Fair begins on Monday, November 17 and continues through Thursday, November 20. You'll find a wide range of books for every reading level and interest, as well as some wonderful gift ideas. So come on over to the Multi room that week, do a little holiday shopping, and support our library!

Mole learns from Fox that she has to move from her cozy burrow to make room for a new path. How will Mole handle this huge problem? Kindergartners heard Mole's Hill by Lois Ehlert, which is based on part of a Seneca tale. Ms. Ehlert's illustrations were inspired by two art forms of the Woodland Indians- ribbon appliqué and sewn beadwork.

We all know Aesop's fable of the tortoise and the hare, but do you know the Seneca version? First graders heard Joseph and James Bruchac's retelling, adapted from the oral tradition, Turtle's Race with Beaver. Turtle will have to give up her home in the pond if she loses, but how can she possibly win?

Second graders began to learn about the relation between call numbers and where books are in the library. They learned the "secret code" to read the call numbers and practiced finding books by their call numbers.

Our students learn a great deal about Native American peoples in an historical context, especially at this time of year. Third graders got to look at the lives of several children from various tribes who live in today's world. We read about and looked at pictures of Seminole, Shoshone, Wampanoag, Ojibway, Lakota, and Navajo children and their families to get a feel for what their lives are like today using the book Children of Native America Today by Yvonne Wakim Dennis and Arlene Hirschfelder.

Fourth and fifth graders took a look at how our presidential election system works. They watched two short animated videos on primaries and caucuses and the election process and used a worksheet to answer questions based on information in the videos as they were watching them. It was a fun way to practice note-taking skills while they were watching and listening. By the way, these and many other educational short animated films can be found at Brainpop which you can access through ed1stop on the student resources page of our library website.

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, reason number 8 is "You'll forget your worries."

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

TAKE ACTION UPDATE

Measure E
Congratulations on a job well done in getting the vote out for Measure E with a 63.8% victory. The support was overwhelming, once again showing what our community can do. But, our work is not over:

Education Funding at Risk, Possible Mid-Year Cuts of $2 to $4 Billion
"California could face a $10 billion budget shortfall this year, far worse than the deficit projected only weeks ago, officials from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office warned education leaders on 10/28, according to several schools representatives. In a special closed-door meeting between the governor and educators, Schwarzenegger warned that education funding could be cut by $2 billion to $4 billion to help bridge the looming budget deficit, Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association, said after a meeting with the governor. The governor also suggested that he might revive his proposal for a temporary sales-tax increase, which stalled when Republican lawmakers refused to support it. 'I think he was giving us a heads-up on his perspective of things, with the expectation that we would be sufficiently alarmed so that we would work with him and the Legislature and that the solutions won't be just cuts only,' Plotkin said. Any cuts to education funding in the middle of an academic year would be devastating for schools, Plotkin said. "Teachers are teaching, and bus drivers are driving, and there's no way schools can cut like that in the middle of the school year". With the state's financial woes not letting up, Schwarzenegger called a special legislative session Wednesday, a day after Tuesday's general election to deal with the budget gap.

Advocacy Day
This trip will be even more important this year. We need your input to make this an even more successful endeavor. Surveys were passed out at the PFC meeting Wednesday. If you didn't get one, extra copies are in the leg rep mailbox in the office. The surveys need to be returned to that mailbox or directly to Karen Guthrie by November 21st.

As these stories develop, parental support will be crucial to protect education funding. Questions? Comments? Contact Karen Guthrie, PFC Leg Rep, 925.283.7956 or kfguthrie@earthlink.net

I have been struggling mightily, recently, trying to ascertain what, exactly, is a "glycemic index". Why is it that every time I try to fully understand the labels on the food I buy in the grocery store I find my self studying molecular structures? Don't these people know that I am an accountant for goodness sakes???

The glycemic index is the latest, greatest way for us to judge our food. The Glycemic Index or GI is a measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels. I certainly understand and agree with the concept. It is a way of judging foods based on how dramatically it elicits a response from our pancreas to start producing insulin. A bad glycemic response is one in which a food would cause your blood glucose to spike really high - so your pancreas will react by flooding your bloodstream with insulin, resulting in blood glucose levels that are then too low - which in turn causes your body to produce adrenalin. When observed in a 2nd grader it looks like this: At 10am a tired, lethargic, hungry second grader is fed -aaackkkk a cookie!! Blood glucose levels spike causing insulin surge causing rapid blood sugar dip. A now tired, lethargic, shaky 2nd grader feeling very sick can not concentrate on his lesson is flagged as academic problem, note is composed for parents. Now the dip in blood sugar causes a rush of adrenalin to counter act the low blood sugar - tired (still) hungry hyperactive 2nd grader flagged as discipline problem is sent to the principal's office. Longer note is composed for parents.

This is no joke - the glycemic response of your children's body can dramatically affect their behavior and abilities in school and elsewhere. So the concept of judging our food based on this glycemic response is not a bad idea. However, as in most cases in dealing with food there are many things to be considered. One downside to using a glycemic index to judge food is that interestingly fructose becomes a hero. Because fructose is not metabolized with insulin, it has a low glycemic response. Now I could write a book on why too much fructose is bad - and I will address HFCS in a different article. Suffice it to say, the GI can not be considered in a vacuum. Here is a good rule of thumb. You want to, as much a possible, feed your kids food that takes a longer time to metabolize so the insulin reaction is more measured rather than sudden. Think protein and fiber and complex carbs. Especially when the child has not eaten for a few hours because that is when the roller coaster ride of high blood sugar, low blood sugar, adrenalin will be the most intense. If you are going to feed you child something high in sugar or simple carbs or starch, try to combine it with protein, complex carbs or fiber. Piece of Cake. - I mean NOT A PIECE OF CAKE!

Springhill School Directories will be distributed in the Friday Folders this Friday, Nov. 7th they will come home with the oldest child in each family. It's not too late to join the PFC. A limited number of directories will be available for $10 if you join now. Please email Kristi Buck at 4bucks@buckfamily.com if you have questions or to join.

Watch Our Garden Grow
Springhill Garden's next work day is scheduled for Sunday, November 9 from 10-2pm. Bring your work gloves & sunscreen! We are looking for some help with a few larger projects.
If you, a friend or a local business are knowledgeable about:
* installing irrigation throughout the garden
* tree service; we'd like to use tree logs for hillside erosion control
* create an online newsletter featuring updates & progress reports, linked to our PFC website please contact Kathy Hemmenway at khemmenway@aol.com or 933-5266.

Book Fair
Our book fair is hosted by "The Storyteller", a local children's bookstore in Hacienda Square. During the week of the book fair, if you decide to do more shopping or want to purchase books which you don't see at the fair, just inform them that your purchase should be credited to Springhill and a percentage of your purchase will be credited.

"Fish For A Great Book" at the Springhill Book Fair
Monday, November 17
7:45 am - 3:30 pm

Tuesday, November 18
7:45 am - 3:30 pm
Gerald's Magic! (6:30 pm-7:30 pm)
Shop while the kids watch the great magic show
Bring the blue booklist! (Evening hours 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm)

Wednesday, November 19
7:45 am - 3:30 pm
Family Night (Evening hours 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm)
Join Mr. Wodhams' Guitar Sing-A-Long (6:00 pm-6:30 pm)
Dine and Shop! Pizza slices $2, pizza & drink $3 (cash only, until 7 pm)

Thursday, November 20
7:45 am - 9 am - Last chance!

Please bring your checkbook if possible as credit cards such as VISA take 3% as a handling fee.

Fundraising for Safer Streets
The residents of Acalanes Valley and Ridge, the neighborhood east of Acalanes HS along Stanley Blvd. are working with the City of Lafayette to make the streets safer for pedestrians. In an effort to support our local businesses and also raise funds to see our project through to completion, we are fundraising at Baja Fresh, Roundtable Pizza and Papyrus in Lafayette.

Baja Fresh in Lafayette: Saturday, November 8th from 10:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Download the flier here.
Mangia Lafayette: Tuesday, November 18th from 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm. Say your order is a fundraiser for the Acalanes Valley and Ridge Project!
Papyrus in Lafayette will donate 10% of your order. Download the coupon here.

For more info, visit www.acalanesvalley.com.

Stanley Wildcats On Stage Presents:
"A Magical Journey"

Sponsored by LASF
A family fun musical that features all your favorite musical numbers from Rent, Hairspray, Chicago, A Chorus Line, Wicked, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and many, many more! You have to see to believe it!

Directed by Emily Garcia. This is the first time Emily has directed at Stanley Middle School. She is know for her acting and directing talents at Town Hall Theater in Lafayette.

Dates:
November 13th & 14th. 6:00pm & 8:00 pm shows.
General admission is $7.00 and can be purchased at the door.

Stanley Middle School
3455 School Street
Lafayette, CA

International Travel Opportunities
Do you have a student who will be 11-17 years old during the summer of 2009? Would your student benefit from being exposed to children his or her own age from around the world? Would you like to find an organization that provides affordable international travel or exchange programs to broaden your child's view of the world? Join other Lafayette and Bay Area families at an informational meeting for CISV (Children's International Summer Villages) on Sunday, November 16 from 3:00-4:00 at the Lafayette United Methodist Church, 955 Moraga Road. For questions, call Stephenie Teichman at 939- 6603.

Sweet Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 pm
Celebrate your 40s AND the day your child goes off to college with readings from Knowing Pains: Women on Love, Sex and Work in our 40s and Writin' on Empty: Parents Reveal the Upside, Downside, and Everything In Between When Children Leave the Nest. These two heartfelt collections of essays take honest stock of the upsides and downsides of getting older and ushering your kids to adulthood. Readings, some by Lafayette writers, will make you laugh and maybe even make you cry! All net proceeds will be donated to breast cancer education, research and access to care.

A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children
(James T. Webb, Ph.D. and others)

Join other parents for a discussion of this book and share your own parenting experiences and tips.
Monday, November 17, 2008, 7:00-8:30pm, library
Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School, 1010 Camino Pablo, Moraga no fee, register at event or on-line (course #05-6102) at http://adulted.acalanes.k12.ca.us/onlinereg/Classes.a sp? txtAction=LoadSections&txtCourseGroupID=1&txtCour seCode=0561 Questions & Comments? Vera Babor at vbabor@acalanes.k12.ca.us

Single Parents - Mark your Calendars!!
The District Parent Education committee introduces a series for single parent families with monthly meetings on a variety of topics:

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
From the Kids Perspective: Caught in the Middle
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Holidays: Recreating Traditions
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Two House Tango: Schedules, Transitions, Household Guidelines Tuesday, February, 10, 2009
You're Not My Mother: Introducing New Relationships to your Kids
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Whose Business is it?: What to say when, to whom, and how to say it.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Creating a Legacy: Remembering What's Important

These sessions will be held from 7:00-8:30pm at Stanley Middle School in the Faculty Lounge or the Library. More information to follow.

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