A Note from the Principal

Are you curious about what our solar panel is doing?  Go to www.californiasolarschools.org.  There ‘s a link to a page listing all the solar schools.  http://www.californiasolarschools.org/solar-schools/schools/   Bookmark Hillcrest’s link.  Once there, click on the Show Solar Data link.   Many thanks to Maryann Piette for writing the grant and helping us see this project through!  As a teaching tool, Sarah Rubenstein will be using our solar panel to talk about energy and conservation.

Monday, March 9, 6 – 7 p.m. at Mills College, hear actor, Nate Parker from The Great Debaters, discuss “Breaking the Cycle of Educational Underachievement:  Lessons from The Great Debaters.”  This is a free even.  For tickets, email: info@tapestryleps.com.

Introduce your pre-school – second grader to musical theater!  The East Bay Children’s Theatre is presenting Pinocchio.  Their public performances are fundraisers that support bringing the arts to low-income schools.  If you look closely, you’ll see Caroline Yee, former Hillcrest principal in an important supporting roll!           
Sat., March 6: 10:30 & 1 pm – Oakland Zoo
Sat., March 20: 10:30 & 1 pm – El Cerrito Theatre
Sat., March 28: 10:30 & 1 pm – Castro Valley Center for the Arts
Saturday, April 11: 1 pm & 3 pm – Town Hall Theater Co. of Lafayette
For tickets: www.ebctonline.org or call 800-838-3006

Art Show March 11th at 7:00 p.m. --- It will be glorious!

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! 

NEWS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Walkathon & Carnival Update

Our next Walkathon and Carnival Meeting is this Thursday, March 4 at 7 pm at Janice Jagelski's home (6333 Estates Drive, cross street La Salle).  Come find out how you can help plan the Walkathon and Carnival that will take place at Hillcrest School on Saturday, April 17. 

Look for a copy of the Walkathon newsletter, "The RELAY" attached to this week's Yellow Pages for important dates and deadlines for the Walkathon!

Permission Slips: These are attached to this week's Yellow Pages and are due on March 19. Permission slips must be returned regardless of whether or not your student is participating at the Walkathon.

Volunteer Sign-Ups: It's time to volunteer!  Parents and friends of Hillcrest, the permission slips also include a section where you can volunteer to help at the Walkathon and Carnival.  Two hour increments are available for you to volunteer. Please sign the permission slips and indicate when you would like to help out! 
Contact: Janice Jagelski

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.

Seeking PTA Board Nominations

The PTA Nominating Committee is seeking nominations for PTA board positions for the 2010-2011 school year. 

Nomination forms are attached and can be downloaded from the Hillcrest PTA website.  Forms should be returned to the Nominating Committee envelope in the school office or emailed to any one of the committee no later than Friday, March 5. 

Each and every parent in the school has a unique talent or special skill that could be useful to the board.  Yes, it can sometimes seem like there are not enough hours in the day to take on even one more task, but many of the PTA Board positions are very manageable in terms of time commitment.

Sharing your time and talent with the Hillcrest community is a great way to help our community thrive.  Please be open to nominating yourself or others whom you think would be a good match for a particular position.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact anyone on the Nominating Committee. We would be happy to discuss your interest in a potential position or to put you in touch with the current board member who is serving in that role to discuss the specific responsibilities of the job.

Contacts: 2009-2010 Hillcrest PTA Nominating Committee - Jennifer Bjork, Jimmy Holliman, Carolyn Hutton, Nancy Scanlon, Kim Thompson

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

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

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

2009-10 Calendar Highlights

Some dates are tentative. Watch for updates!
March 2: STAR Writing gr 7
March 3:  STAR Writing Make Up, gr 7
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
Mar 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 Gina Hunt