A Note from the Principal

Reminder:  AfterSchool class registration for Spring is now open.  Classes begin week of March 15.  To sign up, visit: http://hillcrestpta.org/afterschool/

Art Show:  Thank you to Jackie Noyes and her team who are busily preparing for our annual Art Show this Thursday night at 7 pm.  Reminder about safety… please be sure to supervise your child(ren).  We are only as safe as our supervision.

Destination Imagination:  Congratulations to Emily Lopez-Ichikawa, Laura Spielman, Risa Steigler, Faith Matteson and Halle Countryman who participated in the annual Destination Imagination competition this past Saturday.  Each team chooses a challenge.  Some teams design towers in hopes that they will survive having weights smashing into them.  Other teams design robots that must run through an obstacle course .  Other challenges involve the arts and writing.  In the eight minute play, “You’re Gonna Flip!” the girls had to create and perform the play using at least one puppet.  The plot had to involve a character who begins with a point of view but through the story, flips their perspective.  Emily, Laura, Risa and Halle also had to create their own set, costumes, and puppets with only a $125 budget. The Hillcrest team came in third place which qualifies them to go on to the state competition!   Again, congratulations to the “You’re Gonna Flip!” team for their creativity, effort and perseverance!

Community Service at Allendale:  Saturday, March 13th we will be at Allendale School, 3670 Penniman Avenue, refinishing walls, preparing a wall for a mural, and other miscellaneous work around the school.  It’s an adult only activity due to liability issues.  This is a terrific opportunity to network with parents from another Oakland school.  It’s also a chance to develop new skills – I’ve learned how to paint! 

PTA President’s Message

March 4 Day of Action
While the state budget crisis is not going away anytime soon, I was very happy to see our dedicated teachers out engaging our students to join in a statewide expression of how important public education is.  And thanks to Charles Pelton and Susan Garbarino for addressing Opening Circle and helping to make sense of what is going on for our students.

Walk-a-thon
Still lots of opportunities to help make this fun event a big success.  See the note from our fearless leader Janice for guidance!

PTA Board meeting this Thursday
At our monthly PTA Board meeting we will take up the PTA Slate of officers for next year, the first discussion about next year’s budget, and other business.  All are welcome to attend and observe and we do have babysitting available.

Science room revisions
Thanks to Susan Garbarino and Neal Finkelstein for demonstrating key life skills initiative, common sense, cooperation and effort in solving a “traffic flow” problem with the science lab tables by arranging to have a pass-through installed!

Mike Allison
PTA President

NEWS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Walkathon & Carnival Update

Let it not slip your mind, permission slips and volunteer sign-ups are due by March 19th.

We're still looking for spirited sponsors for carnival boots, tee-shirts, raffle prizes, or any other way that you can support the Walkathon. All will be greatly appreciated.
Contact: Janice Jagelski

Walkathon & Carnival equipment wanted

We are looking for helping hands as well as hardware!
Spring clean your garage for tables, chairs and coolers we can borrow for the Walkathon/Carnival April 17th.

E-mail us if you have items that you can drop off or we can pick-up prior to April 15th. We will come pick-up equipment, label it and return it after the Walkathon.
Contact: Pia Bakker

Hillcrest Carnival Book Swap

It’s time to start going through your shelves to find books for swapping at the Hillcrest Carnival Book Swap!  You can trade books you no longer want for different books you’d like to read. You can select one book for each book you bring in. 

The trading will take place at the Book Swap table at the Carnival on Saturday, April 17th from 11am-3pm, though you are welcome to drop off your books at the table anytime from 9am-3pm.   

Beginning Monday, March 15, you can bring books for swapping to the library during regular library hours.  Library staff will keep track of the number of books you bring.  If no one is in the library when you bring your books in, please leave the books behind the librarian’s desk with your name, teacher’s name, and the number of books you brought.  The more books we have before the swap, the better the selection will be! 

We welcome books for all ages, from preschool through adult.  We encourage all family members to bring books for swapping.  We especially encourage middle schoolers to check their shelves – we always need books for upper elementary kids.  No damaged, soiled, or torn books please.  Books that are not in good condition will not be accepted for swapping.  Any books remaining when the Carnival ends at 3 pm will be donated to the East Bay Children’s Book Project and the Oakland Public Library.   

The Book Swap is always a Carnival favorite with kids and adults alike.  What better way to go green and recycle your books?  

Contact:  Cindy Pierson or Sharon Murphy

Going on Vacation?

In the fall it was the H1N1 virus, but now Spring fever has hit Hillcrest! I just want to remind parents that students who miss school for any reason other than Illness will be marked Unexcused. Three Unexcused absences will result in a Notification of Truancy letter from the District Offices. In past years I marked vacation days as Personal days but I can no longer use that code.

Please reconsider taking your children out of school for vacation days. However, if you will be gone for 5 or more school days please contact me and I will set up an Independent Study contract. It's easy to do and Hillcrest will receive the ADA (Average Daily Attendance) money while your student is gone. The contract must be done in the office not just with your teacher. Thanks!
Name: Joan Cannon
Phone: 510-879-1270
Email: joan.cannon@ousd.k12.ca.us

Lost and Found

Are your kids shivering?  Are they wet?  Are they forced to carry their lunches to school in their hands?  If so, then you need to check the Hillcrest Lost and Found area on the upper patio. 

The Lost and Found racks are overflowing with items!  A huge assortment of lovely jackets, rain coats, sweatshirts, sweaters, shirts, belts, bags, hats, lunch boxes, tupperware, and water bottles are just waiting to be claimed by their rightful and forgetful owners (or their parents).  Some of the items do have names labelled on them, so you are likely to find those things belonging to your kids and that you thought were lost forever.  Prior to spring break we will be donating all leftover items to charity.

Hillcrest Helps Out
Lockwood School

It is such a privilege to run a community service program at a school like this where so many are willing to extend help to others.

LOCKWOOD FIELD TRIPS UPDATE
A huge thank you to the following families who have stepped up to sponsor a 5th grader from Lockwood to go on an overnight science field trip with their class to Mission Springs Camp in the Santa Cruz mountains.  This is a significant opportunity for kids, some of whom have never left the confines of the city.
Plessinger/Moore, Baxter, Marcone, Mercier, Bartkowiak/Kaplan, Acharya/Booth, Huston, Diamond, Bornholdt, Russell/Debenham, Mears, Michael Thompson, East Bay Sotheby’s Realty

If you would like to sponsor a 5th grade child, the cost per child is $120. The 4th graders will go to Coloma Outdoor Discovery School, cost per child is $190 (it is more expensive for the 4th graders because Faith Network is subsidizing the 5th grade trip, but not the 4th grade). If your family is interested in sponsoring a 4th or 5th grader, please email dwrightsomerville@yahoo.com.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR FINAL COMMUNITY SERVICE DAY-MARCH 13 AT ALLENDALE SCHOOL
We will be refinishing walls, preparing a wall for a mural, and other miscellaneous work around the school. This is an adult-only project. Liability is being covered by OUSD and they said no students.  Projects and time commitments are listed below.
Contact dwrightsomerville@yahoo.com and let us know on which project you would like to be assigned.

REFINISHING WOOD WALLS: 9-1 pm
This will not be as drastic a change as some of our paint projects in the past, but restoring these wood walls after decades will give the school a cared for look!  Please note: this shift will include power-sanding.
REFINISHING WALLS: 2:30-4 pm
This will include putting the final coat of varnish on the walls.

PREPARING FOR MURAL: 9-1 pm
The school has a portable near a new garden area. They would like the children to paint a mural on it.  We will be mounting boards to create a space for the mural.

MISCELLANEOUS SCHOOL WORK: 9-1 pm
This will include teacher work and other work in the school possibly library, etc.

RE-MOUNTING ON WALLS: SUNDAY, 1-2 pm
This is a chance for someone who can’t make it Saturday but wants to pitch in.  After the walls are dry, we will need some to come help remount things on the wall and do finishing touches.

We expect to be working alongside Allendale parents.   To give you a sense of who we are helping, Allendale has a ranking of 3 out of 10 on Great Schools scale.  72% of their students are on the free lunch program and 50% are English as a second language learners.

We look forward to working with the great HILLCREST HELPS OUT crew to help our community together!

EVENTS/PROGRAMS

Hillcrest Talent Show

What:  Hillcrest Talent Show
When:  Thursday, March 25 at 1 pm for students only; 7 pm for parents
Important to Know:  To participate, be sure to meet the following deadlines:
Tuesday, March 9:  Audition schedule posted outside of Room 7
Wednesday, March 10:  Auditions 1-4 pm in multipurpose room (bands/piano acts) and Room 7 (all other acts.)
Talent Show Rehearsals:  MUST BE PRESENT BOTH DAYS IN ENTIRETY
Tuesday, March 23:  3-6 pm
Wednesday, March 24:  1-4 pm

Hillcrest Art Show

This year's Hillcrest Art Show will be held on Thursday, March 11 at 7 pm.  Prepare to be wowed by the amazing art created by every Hillcrest student grades K-8.  Don't be late,  The event begins with live music performed by your children.

Volunteers are needed to put up and take down the show.  Please call or email Jackie Noyes, if you are able to help.
What: Fantastic Art plus Live Music
When:  Thursday, March 11 at 7:00 pm
Where: Hillcrest multi-purpose room
Contact: Jackie Noyes
Phone: 510 652 2656

Hillcrest Garden Day

Spring is almost here and it's a perfect time to get out in the garden. On the last Sunday in March, we are having an official Hillcrest Garden Work Party to weed, plant, mulch and generally tidy up the hillside.  We hope you will join in this community effort to beautify our school! 

when: Sunday, March 28 from 1-4 pm
where: Meet on the play yard
important: Bring gloves, shovels, buckets

Contact: Cara Brockbank

Pennies for Peace

We are delighted to share with you that our 4th grade students will participate in a Pennies for Peace campaign from (February 8 - April 17) as part of Hillcrest's Community Outreach Program. The 4th grade students have been busy reading Three Cups of Tea in book group and the discussions have been amazing!! The students are really excited about the program and have taken on  a variety of additional volunteer roles to support the success of the program.

About Pennies For Peace:  Pennies for Peace is a service-learning program designed to broaden our students’ cultural horizons while teaching them about their capacities as philanthropists one penny at a time. Pennies for Peace is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI), founded by Greg Mortenson, author of the #1 New York Times best seller, Three Cups of Tea.  CAI promotes and provides community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Central Asia. Founded in 1996, CAI has built, to date, nearly 100 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which serve more than 28,000 students over 14,000 of whom are girls.

How can a penny bring peace? It doesn’t buy much in our community. However, in the villages of
Pakistan and Afghanistan, a penny can buy a pencil, start an education, and transform a life. In a region
where terrorist organizations recruit uneducated, illiterate children, that pencil can empower a child
to read, write, and learn.

The Pennies for Peace program goal is to encourage our students, who are ultimately our future leaders, to learn the value of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace. Our students will join tens of thousands of students around the world who are participating in the Pennies for Peace program and who are working together to become members of a global family dedicated to peace.

What can you do?  We will have Pennies For Peace collection containers in the classrooms and the main hallway entrance.  Please consider collecting your spare change and making regular donations in one of the marked containers around campus.   We love nickels, dimes, and quarters too.
When: February 8- April 17
Where: Hillcrest
Contact: Donna Hanson or Michelle Meyers

2009-10 Calendar Highlights

Some dates are tentative. Watch for updates!
March 9:  Audition schedule posted outside Room7
March 10:  Auditions 1-4 pm in MP (bands/piano acts); Rm 7 (all others)
March 11:  7 pm Art Show
March 11: 7:30 a.m. School Site Council
March 13:  Rebuild Oakland Community Service
March 23:  3-6 pm Talent Show Rehearsal – must be present for entirety
March 24:  1-4 pm Talent Show Rehearsal – must be present for entirety
March 25:  Talent Show 1 pm students only; 7 pm for parents
March 29:  Cesar Chavez Day
April 3-11:  Spring Break
6 pm PTA Bd; 7 pm Night Performance
Apr 15: 7:30 a.m. School Site Council
April 17:  Walkathon
April 19 – May 14:  STAR Testing Window
April 21:  Volunteer Appreciation
April 22: 7 pm Environ Ed Steve Greenberg
May 3:  Submit Science Fair Projects
May 6:  7 pm Science Fair
May 13: 7:30 a.m. School Site Council
May 19: Day of Teacher
May 20: 6 pm PTA Bd; 7 pm LHS Math Night
May 28-31:  Memorial Day
June 9:  School Play @ 10:30 for students
June 10:  School Play @ 10:30 for students
June 11:  School Play @ 7 pm for parents
June 14:  6-7:30 pm All School Picnic
June 15-17: K-8 12:40 Dismissal
June 16:  8th Grade Promotion
June 17:  Last Day

Submit an item to the Yellow Pages at www.hillcrestpta.org.
Yellow Pages compiled by Jerry Pierson