Friday, May 22
District Inservice Day; Student Holiday

Monday, May 25
Memorial Day; holiday

Tuesday, May 26
RAPPORT Meeting; District Office, 9:00 AM
Lunch outside

Wednesday, May 27
Multipurpose Room Closed; Art/Music Fair set up
Lunch outside
LASF General Board Meeting; Stanley Library, 7:00 PM

Thursday, May 28
Multipurpose Room Closed
LASF Art & Music Fair/OPEN HOUSE

• 5:30 pm Art Fair Opens
• 5:30 pm-7:15 pm Sell Dinner in Quad
• 7:00 pm-7:30 pm (free Dreyer's Ice Cream )
• 6:00 pm -7:00 pm Open House
• 7:15 pm-7:45 pm Music Program
• 8:00 pm Art Fair Closes

Friday, May 29
Multipurpose Room Closed
5th Grade Field Day; Lower Field

Monday, June 1
OCEAN WEEK
Student Council Luncheon; Lower Field, noon
Chess Club; Library 2:45 PM
Cub Scout Pack 200 Meeting.; Library, 7:00 PM-8:00 PM

Tuesday, June 2
Bargain Book Bonanza; noon
2nd Grade Play (Jarvis/Hirsch); Library, 6:30 PM

Wednesday, June 3
Earthcapades; Multipurpose Room Closed
K-2: 9:30 AM-10:15 AM
Gr. 3-5: 10:50 AM-11:35 AM

PFC Executive Board Meeting; Lounge, 5:30 PM
2nd Grade Play (Spain/Brenner); Library, 6:30 PM

Thursday, June 4
Spring Concert, Grades 3-5; Multipurpose Room, 1:15 PM
PFC Old Board/New Board Dinner, Anne & Jon Bone's home, Time TBD

Friday, June 5
STUDENT COUNCIL SPIRIT DAY: BEACH DAY

Monday, June 8
World Oceans' Day
School Site Council Meeting; Office, 3:00 PM
Chess Club; Library 2:45 PM

Tuesday, June 9
3rd Grade Carnival; Multipurpose Room, Time TBD
Lunch outside

Wednesday, June 10
Kindergarten Field Day; Lower Field, 8:15 AM-11:30 AM
Larkey Park 4th grade party; 10:45 AM-2:20 PM

Thursday, June 11
Last Day of School
Minimum Day
All Kindergarten: 8:15 AM-11:35 AM
Gr. 1st to 3rd students dismissed at 11:50 AM
Gr. 4th and 5th students dismissed at 12:00 PM

Sunday, June 13
Flag Day

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGES

A. THANK YOU TO ALL KINDERGARTEN PARENTS who joined us for last Tuesday's KINDERGARTEN OPEN HOUSE. It was a great evening in which the amazing talents of our K students were showcased for all. Thank you all for your support and thank you to our great K staff, Susie Graham, Meghann McNaught, Kathy Miller and Bridget Quinn! Well done!

B. THANK YOU TO ACALANES HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA DEPARTMENT under the direction of Mr. Ed Meehan who presented student-authored Children's Theatre to our 1st-5th grade classes on two separate occasions this past week. The acting and writing provided inspiration for our own future thespians and playwrights! Well done, AHS Dons. Thank you!

C. DEAR PARENTS: If there is the possibility that your child(ren) will not be attending Springhill School next year (with the exception of current 5th graders) due to moving or attendance at a private school, please let your child's teacher know as soon as possible to assist us in planning for the 2009-2010 school year. Many thanks!

D. OCEAN WEEK Yes, our 16th annual OCEAN WEEK is coming. Once again, we are trying to actually contain the events to a week (6/1-6/5) and BEACH DAY on Friday, June 5. As in the past, this week is generously sponsored by our PFC--THANK YOU VERY MUCH! The program includes field trips, on-campus visitations by Lawrence Hall of Science and other institutions, workshops for students, etc. There is more scheduled for this exciting event and you can help! Do you have a certain expertise or collection of articles relating to oceans or waterlife that you would be willing to share, lend or donate to the school? If so, contact your child's teacher or Kim Brast in the school office. Also, there will be a number of activities in which volunteers will be needed!!! Thank you.

E. THANK YOU SO MUCH to the PFC and to Lorraine Miller and her volunteers including Darcy Cole, Corrine Christensen & Beth Brown for the DAY OF THE TEACHER luncheon last Wednesday. Thank you also to Darcy Cole who arranged Yard Duty for an hour, allowing all of our teachers and aides to attend. The meal was unbelievably delicious and greatly appreciated by all the staff!

F. CHECK OUT THE DISTRICT PARENT SURVEY AND LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS!If you did not receive a survey via e-mail, check out an online copy at the Springhill website: www.lafsd.k12.ca.us/springhill/index.html

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


THE SIX PILLARS & PAY IT FORWARD CORNER

"Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth."
--Aesop, Greek slave (620-560 BC)

CHARACTER COUNTS! AS YOU GO FORWARD DAILY, STAND TALL UPON THE PILLARS OF TRUSTWORTHINESS, RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, FAIRNESS, CARING & CITIZENSHIP!!!

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.

A. OUR ANNUAL NATIONAL BRAIN TUMOR SOCIETY QUENCHERS FUND RAISER SPONSORED BY THE STUDENT COUNCIL TOOK PLACE ON THURSDAY, 5/14. Thank you for supporting the Pillar of Caring!


B. OUR ANNUAL CHANGE FOR CHANGE DRIVE IS CHANGING!!! This year we are striving to aid our Sister City of Lalander, Afghanistan, by pursuing the following Pay It Forward efforts:
1. COLLECTING SCHOOL SUPPLIES FOR THE SCHOOL IN LALANDER: Pencils, pens, rulers, paper, notebooks, compasses, protractors, etc., can all be placed in the collection box in front of the school starting next Monday, 5/18;
2. COLLECTING WINTER CLOTHING: Blankets, bedding, jackets, caps, etc., can all be placed in the collection box in front of the school starting next Monday, 5/18;
3. SPONSOR AN AFGHAN STREET CHILD TO GO TO SCHOOL: For only $260 a year, Springhill School can sponsor an Afghan street child to go to school for a year. Each grade level is pursuing this drive; you will be hearing more shortly!
All of these efforts are under the auspices of TIE (Trust In Education), an organization founded by Lafayette's own Budd MacKenzie who is speaking to our 4th & 5th graders today about his most recent trip to Lalander where our donations help the students and the businesses with a grass roots effort of aid. Again, thank you for supporting this important work under the Pillar of Caring!

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!!!

Each week, in Ms. McNaught's kindergarten, students are introduced to a new letter of the alphabet. One activity that the students do for each letter is the ABC dictionary. In their personal dictionary, students work at their own pace writing at least three words and color a picture that begins with the letter that they are learning. Due to the wide range of learners in kindergarten, students who have are emerging as writers simply write and draw 3 words and a picture. However, some students are challenged to write three words and then use one of their words in a sentence. As the weeks progress many students begin challenging themselves by using as many words as they can in a sentence.

Don't forget that tomorrow, Friday, May 22nd, is a District Inservice Day and Monday, May 25th is Memorial Day, so there will be no school. Have a fabulous 4-day weekend!

Next week is the LASF Art & Music Fair & Open House from 5 - 8 PM. Dinner will be sold in the quad. Please come out to see what our kids have been up to all year!

The Old Board/New Board Dinner will be held on Thursday, June 4th at 6:30 at the home of the Bones. This dinner is for all committee chairs and 5th grade parents who are leaving Springhill to move on to middle school. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Want to get involved in the PFC? Please check out our Want Ads below. There are plenty of ways to get involved and we would love to have you join us!

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

Quote for the Week:
Some people come into our lives and quietly go. Others stay awhile and leave footprints on our hearts --- and we are never the same.

Your Dollars in Action:
Did you know that the PFC pays for all of the field trips that your children attend? This will drastically change next year without your direct support. Please stop by one of our information tables at Open House to hear more about what the PFC funds and learn how you can help us continue to support these programs that are so important in the education of our children.

Calling all art lovers, music lovers and "hot dog" lovers! The 2009 LASF Art and Music Fair, is right around the corner! It is happening the same evening as Back to School Night - on Thursday, May 28th. It will be an evening full of fun activities, beautiful student art displays, musical merriment, and a great dinner from Top Dog!

You can see the wonderful work LASF is doing with our students and see the amazing student artwork on display in the multi-purpose room. Learn about the art lessons your children have received, the art history behind them, and the techniques they have learned. Children can also take part in "hands on" activities that will be provided by some of our great LASF art instructor

Springhill's talented 4th and 5th graders will provide beautiful music as part of a vocal/instrumental variety program up in the amphitheater adjacent to the upper playground. LASF provides funding for Springhill's choral and instrumental music programs.

Below is a brief timeline of events planned for the evening:
5:30 PM Art Fair Open
6:00-7:00 Open House in classrooms
5:30-7:15 Dinner available to All from Top Dog for purchase in the Quad (Cash Only)
7:15-7:45 Musical Variety Program
8:00 PM Art Fair Ends

Everyone is also invited to enjoy a FREE icy treat generously donated by DREYERS!

An LASF Art "Did You Know?" Did you know that LASF art classes offer much more than instruction in visual creative expression? When students create their own version of Starry Night, imitating the thick, agitated and dramatically colorful lines of Van Gogh, they grasp the essence of Van Gogh. Years later, they still know a Van Gogh when they see one. Expression, critical analysis, history and pure pleasure - that's what each LASF art class delivers.

Springhill Want Ads

Are you looking to get involved next year? We've got just the job for you!! Co-chairs welcomed and encouraged for many jobs. We are also always looking for shadows, so if the job you've had your eye on is not listed below, let us know and we can get you in touch with the current chair. Descriptions for most of these positions are listed on our website at springhillpfc.org. Just choose the PFC Leadership link and go to Job Descriptions. For more information, please contact Julie Donlon at uvdonlon@aol.com.

Before/After School Enrichment Coordinator/ Liaison
Parent Education Coordinator
Box Tops for Education Coordinator
Escrip Coordinator
Lafayette Reservoir Run Coordinator for Springhill
Parent Party Chairs
Playground Volunteer Coordinator
Professional Development Coordinator
Teacher Appreciation Coordinator
Young Authors Coordinator
Yearbook Chair
Open House/LASF Art and Music Fair Dinner Coordinator
Friday Flyer Editor (shared position)
Club Fit Field Day (5th grade Parents)


URGENTLY NEEDED POSITION
We are in jeopardy of losing ALL of our Before & After Enrichment programs next year. We are currently looking for a coordinator for this position. If we do not fill this position, there WILL BE NO Before & After Enrichment programs. Please contact Julie Donlon at uvdonlon@aol.com if you are interested in this taking on this role.


Looking for Buddy Families!
Our Springhill Buddy Families Program needs current families who can be Big Buddies to incoming families in the 2009-2010 school year. This is an easy "job" and a great way to help a new family and support the Springhill community. Big buddies will be asked to contact a new family and welcome them to Springhill School. You will be able to tell them about your experiences and volunteer opportunities, as well as answering any questions they might have. It's a great way to welcome new families and make them feel at home at our wonderful school. If you can volunteer to be a Big Buddy Family, contact Buddy Families co-chair Holly Nolan (HollyNolan@comcast.net or 988-0865). Also, mark your calendars for the New Families Buddy Coffee that will take place at the home of co-chair Lorraine Miller on Wednesday, September 2 (just after drop-off). We hope to see you there! Thanks!

All Music Core classes (Band/Chorus/Strings) at each school site will present an End of the Year Assembly Concert for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students. All parents are invited to attend Thursday, June 4 1:20-2:20 p.m at Springhill.

The Assembly Concerts will be the final meeting for all Music Core classes. Coming soon in your child's Friday/Homework Folder will be an end of the year parent letter which contains important information regarding Music Core classes, how to switch to a new instrument, and options for continuing your child's musical studies during the summer.

Thanks for all your support this year. If you have any questions please email your child's Music Core teacher, Victoria Ghulam vghulam@lafsd.k12.ca.us.
Band: lbrummel@lafsd.k12.ca.us
Strings: wclymer@lafsd.k12.ca.us

Remember, there are over 100 reasons to read. This week reason number 30 is "It can make you think."

This will be my last update this year. I have enjoyed sharing good literature with your children, sharing materials that complement what they are learning in their classrooms, and working with them to develop lifelong research skills. Information literacy becomes ever more important as we are bombarded with more and more information in many formats. While we are all grateful for the resources now available to us, they do require some training to enable us to use them efficiently and to distinguish what we can trust and what we should question. I look forward to seeing most of your children again next year and wish those who are moving on the best of luck in their new schools.

All but the kindergarten classes have made their final visits to the library. In addition to hearing one last book this school year we talked about summer reading programs (Camp Read-a-Lot, Contra Costa County Library, Storyteller, Barnes & Noble) and I booktalked some exciting new reading possibilities, both fiction and nonfiction. Second, third, and fourth graders also received lists put together from recommendations of this year's students.

All outstanding library books are now overdue. Please try to locate all library books and return them before we start the actual inventory when, with the help of some dedicated volunteers, we'll scan each item in the collection. Once we've completed the inventory, I will send out bills for items that have not been returned, since I will be certain that they are not here.

Duck slips off her carousel every night and stares up at the sky, wishing she could fly like a real duck. Then one day she finds a lost duckling and the two become close friends. Realizing that Duckling needs to learn to fly Duck begins training him. One fall day she takes Duckling to learn flying from a flock of live ducks, only to have them fly off. Kindergartners heard what happened next in Randy Cecil's tender, soaring book Duck.

Velma has two older sisters who were perfect first graders, but people can barely remember Velma's name. When her class takes a trip to a Butterfly Conservatory and a monarch butterfly roosts on Velma's finger however, things change. No matter what Velma does, the butterfly won't go. Velma has to apply some science facts she learned to come up with a way to dislodge the butterfly without hurting it in Alan Madison's book Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly.

Many of you already know Donna Lenhard (Miss Donna) from the Lafayette branch of the Contra Costa County Library. She entertained our second graders and gave them some wonderful ideas for summer reading in a rousing wrap-up library visit for this year.


Three young goats head off in their old jalopy for some fun in the sun, only to be brought up short when they haven't enough money to cross the troll bridge. They come up with the idea of a car pool and, with some help from a few friends, they are able to pull together the buck they need to cross the bridge. But that's not the end of the story. Third graders enjoyed the wordplay and the references to well-known fairy tales in Margie Palatini's book The Three Silly Billies.


Imagine yourself on a farm in early 19th century New England. You grow or raise everything you can but there are some things you still need. So each year you pack up an ox-cart with the things you and your family have grown and made during the year and head off to sell them in a busy seaport. Then you buy those few things you need and set off back to your farm. Fourth graders heard this gentle circular story in Donald Hall's book Ox-cart Man. Barbara Cooney won her second Caldecott Medal in 1980 for her detailed illustrations of life in this time and place.


Imagine a book with four stories, one each at the top and bottom of two facing pages. On the title page is a warning. "This book appears to contain a number of stories that do not necessarily occur at the same time. Then again, it may contain only one story. In any event, careful inspection of both words and pictures is recommended." You can read the stories one by one but it's not until you start seeing the interconnections that the story begins to make sense. And even then, you're left with some questions. Fifth graders puzzled over David Macaulay's inventive book Black and White, which won the Caldecott Medal in 1991.

Don't forget to check out our website at http://www.lafsd.k12.ca.us/people/smattern/index.htm . You will 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 too.

Sherry Mattern, Library Specialist

Greenhouse Assembly - Volunteers Needed!
Our greenhouse has just arrived & we need your help putting it together. If you can spare a few hours, we'd appreciate your support. Please contact Kathy Hemmenway ( khemmenway@aol.com) if you are interested.

Be sure to stop by the garden during Open House. The garden will be open to tour. Mrs. Brast & garden volunteers will be there to show you around & answer questions. We look forward to seeing you!

Kid's Hideout - Open May 22nd Kid's Hideout will be open on Friday, May 22nd. We will be offering a hot lunch option. Please contact Beth for registration information at beth@kidshideout.net or 283-7808.

Splish, Splash, Summer Bash at Hideout!
You won't want to miss our fun-filled exciting summer camp program! Kid's Hideout is currently accepting registration for summer. Please visit our website at www.kidshideout.net/FORMS, then go to the "Summer - Camp Hideout '09" section at the bottom of the page.

Each week will include activities in baking, cooking, arts, crafts, sports, science and drama/dance. We will also have Wheels Days, Tasty Tuesdays, Field Trips, Pool Days & Bounce House Fridays each week.

Invite and enroll with a NEW family and you both receive 25% off of one weeks' "Camp" fees. See registration form for details! For more information, please call Beth at 283-7808 or beth@kidshideout.net. Come soak up some sun with us this summer!

It's all good news from the Lamorinda School Bus Program! Early Registration is here! Sign up by June 15th and save $20 per student: $395 round trip, $250 one way! Annual Pass prices are the same as last year! School Buses will be brand new and equipped with seat belts starting Fall 2009 with new contractor, First Student! For more information and to sign up, visit www.lamorindaschoolbus.org.

To submit entries to the Friday Flyer, email Sharon Swan: 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