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December Bulldog Bulletin
Your monthly guide to school news, information, and tips.
O. N. Hirsch Elementary School
Office Hours: 8:00am to 3:30pm
Phone#: (510) 657-3537
Principal—Ms. Christina Arroyo carroyo@fusdk12.net
School Secretary — Ms. Jacqueline Cortez jcortez@fusdk12.net
Attendance Clerk — Mrs. Vaishali Parikh vparikh@fusdk12.net
Principal Arroyo's Message
Dear Hirsch Families,
As we come to a close on the 2023 calendar year, I am amazed at how quickly this year has gone by. It’s been a wonderful year and this is through the direct efforts of our staff, families and students!
We hope to see you Thursday night at the Giving Tree event! As a reminder, non-perishable food donations are welcome to support families in need. In addition, the PTA is requiring that you bring the Giving Tree flyer or a picture of the flyer for entry into the event.
We had excellent attendance at teacher conferences this year. If you did miss yours, please still reach out to the teacher to reschedule. Use the feedback from conferences to support and enrich our students’ learning at home. How is your student doing with their Lexia, iReady, and IXL time? These programs help students strengthen their academics. As a team, we can support our students and see them flourish!
Please read the entire Newsletter to learn about ways to support our staff as well as upcoming activities.
Friday, December 22nd is an early release day at 1:34 for Grades 1-5. Kindergarten will have a regular dismissal at 1:45.
Look in next week’s Bulldog Bits for a Winter Spirit Week!
Our entire Hirsch staff want to send out a big THANK YOU to our PTA and all families who have donated to the PTA, joined PTA, and donated to the Bulldog Jog. We felt so special with the catered Thanksgiving luncheon on Wednesday, November 15th too! As a reminder, all families are encouraged to show support by joining PTA. This is how we have fun events like the Bulldog Jog, math competitions, band, Music for Minors, and field trips! We can’t do it without your donations and the support of PTA. Also, it’s not too late to donate to the Bulldog Jog and your student can still earn prizes!
Congratulations to our Bulldogs who made the Basketball Team! We can't wait to see you play your games in January and February!
We hope you and your family continue to remain safe and healthy. Many families have been letting their teachers know that students will be missing days in December and/or January. As a reminder, attendance at school is mandatory and travel should take place only during the breaks. Winter Break is from December 23rd through January 7th. School resumes January 8th.
Happy Holidays to our Hirsch Bulldog families!
-- Ms. Arroyo
Calendar
December
1 - Bulldog Jog!
3- FEF Run
6 - Early Release Day (Grades K-5)
7- Giving Tree Winter Concert
12- 1st Basketball Practice (3:00-4:30pm)
13 - Young Author's Contest Deadline
13 - Early Release Day (Grades K-5)
18-22 Winter Spirit Week
20 - Early Release Day (Grades K-5)
22 - Early Release Day (Grades 1-5 Only)
25 - No School - Winter Break (Dec 25 - Jan 5)
January
8 - Welcome Back to School!
10 - Early Release Day (Grades K-5)
17 - Early Release Day (Grades K-5)
17- Math Olympiad
18 - 1st Basketball Game
24 - Early Release Day (Grades K-5)
31 - Early Release Day (Grades K-5)
Come to School on Time!
For Grades 1-5 the bell rings at 8:20 am! Please help your student be on time every day by being in line before their bell. Our gate closes promptly at 8:20 am and students trying to enter the school after the bell are considered to be tardy. Thank you for supporting positive attendance habits.
As a reminder, Kindergarten students should be in line at 8:15 as they start school at 8:20 am.
Lunch Drop Off
As a reminder, the cut off for dropping off school lunches at the cart in the front office is 11:00 AM. There are no exceptions. Please label all school lunches with student name and Room #.
Canned Food and Toy Drive
We are now accepting canned food and new toys for the Viola Blythe Community Center. The barrels are located in the office, and we will be accepting donations until Monday, December 15th and at our Giving Tree night on December 7th at the Horner Gym.
Viola Blythe Toy Drives normally provides gifts to approximately 300 children each year. Toys donated should be unused, new toys for children 3-12. Teen gifts are especially needed.
The Viola Blythe Community Service Center of Newark is a nonprofit, nonsectarian corporation organized to promote, support and advocate social and human services to any person who is in immediate need.
For more information: Viola Blythe Community Services Phone: (510) 794-3437
Young Authors Contest
Calling all Young Authors...
Reminder, these are due on December 13th!
This is an optional fun, creative writing opportunity for students to write, illustrate, and publish a piece of fiction.
Original books written by our Bulldogs are due on or before December 13th. All rules and criteria for judging are in the student packet. Below is the link if you would like to print one for your convenience.
Happy Writing!
Counselor's Corner
December Counselor's Corner with Ms. Hernandez
Hello Families,
December is known as the season of giving! Tangible gifts are great, however, the season of giving is also about spreading kindness and love. We can give back by offering support to others by showing compassion and empathy. I encourage you all to take some time with your family to practice random acts of kindness to help brighten someone's day! Keep in mind that the holidays can be difficult for some individuals, so it is an important time to be sensitive towards others’ circumstances. I hope you all have a wonderful break and spend lots of time with your loved ones!
How do you practice random acts of kindness?
1. Send someone a handwritten note.
2. Donate to a local food bank.
3. Call a relative or a friend just to say hello!
4. Hold the door open for someone.
5. Give someone a compliment.
“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel,” - Carl W. Buehner
Thank you,
Ms. Hernandez
Also, please see the attached flyer for a Parent Workshop available to the Hirsch community.
Mrs. Winmill's Reading Corner
December Reading Corner with Mrs. Winmill
It is amazing how quickly this school year is going by. It seems like yesterday that I was writing the November Library Corner and now I am writing December’s! Wow!
As of November 17th, which was the last day of school before the Thanksgiving break, the total number of books checked out from the library for this school year is 9,460 books. This is 485 more books than we checked out last year! Great job!
This month, we have two interactive bulletin boards we can work on during lunch time. This month, we are focusing on being kind. How can we be kind? How can we show our friends and classmates kindness? Students can come in and decorate a sweater and write how they can be kind and this will go on one bulletin board. The other one is where our students can write their favorite book or book series on a light bulb.
I will be allowing students to check out an additional book to read during the Winter Break holidays. Please help them keep track of where they are keeping their library books so we do not have any lost books or fines.
We have added some fun new books to the library in the last couple of weeks. With the proceeds from our book fair, we have received or will receive over 100 new books! It is always a great day when we have new books in the library. Thank you to the families that have donated books to the library. Every addition helps our library. I have an Amazon Wish List that is constantly being updated. If you feel so inclined to purchase a book for the library, please select one from this list. You can have your student bring it to the library.
Take care and keep reading!
Mrs. Winmill
2024-2025 Priority TK, K & Sibling Enrollment
It's time to start thinking about registering new students for the 2024-2025 school year!
Sibling priority enrollment and TK/Kinder priority enrollment will be from January 8 (applications opening, but appointments aren't open until January 22) and goes through March 27. Immersion applications and Science Magnet applications will be available online at that time as well. It's very important to follow this calendar so that siblings can attend the same school together whenever possible.
Health Guidance for Students & Families
The California Department of Public Health released updated guidance on when a student should stay home from school, it is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and additional languages here. Please refer to this guidance when a student has symptoms of illness, including: cough, stuffy/runny nose, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, ear/eye irritation, and/or rash.
Click here to view Fremont Unified’s protocols for students and staff with COVID-19.
PTA Corner
Happy December!
Dear Hirsch Families, the Holidays are coming up and we are in full swing! We would like to wish you all Happy Holidays from the Hirsch PTA and we look forward to many more families participating and joining the PTA!
This year we have introduced many new clubs and activities for our children and with your continued support we will be able to do so much more, together! As our community comes together to celebrate events, music concerts, art nights, fundraisers, chess tournaments and math competitions it creates this wonderful feeling in us, a warm emotion of positivity and of belonging to one team, one family- our Hirsch Family!
Thank you to those parents who have contributed to our school for running the various programs for our students, we truly appreciate you! Please read below to stay updated on all of our upcoming events and news!
BULLDOG JOG: Friday 12/1
O. N. Hirsch Elementary Families! Please hear us say a HUGE “Thank you!” to our students, staff, and donors for this incredible Bulldog Jog fundraiser.
Here are our final stats as of today, 12/4:
We have raised over $18, 000 for our school! This will directly impact our students and staff!
We celebrated our community coming together and created unforgettable memories at our Bulldog Jog event.
Thank you for your support of our school. We’re grateful for our O. N. Hirsch Elementary community!
P.S. Giving will remain open for one more week until 12/8. If you’d like to continue to give and share, head to MYBOOSTER.COM today.
THE “GIVING TREE” SCHOOL WINTER CONCERT
Details : Thursday, Dec 7th 2023 @ 6pm-8pm Venue : Horner Gym
We are very excited to welcome all our families and students to our winter concert. We would like to thank Mrs Suzy Young and Mrs Judith Orr as well as our parent music docents for volunteering their time over the month of November and teaching our students their holiday songs, we cannot thank you enough for this beautiful gift of music to our school.
Our students are looking forward to performing this year! Families are welcome to join us for our musical evening, Please remember to use your flyer as your ticket to entry!
HIRSCH PTA - CHESS CLUB
We are pleased to announce that the registration for the 6 PM, 12/8 Chess tournament is now OPEN. Please use this form. Registration closes on midnight 12/6 (Sunday).https://forms.gle/LeY6cJPqpQyjEL3Y7
REFLECTIONS ART UPDATE:
The Reflections Art Award Ceremony for our school will be held on the evening of the Giving Tree. We would like all the students who participated in this program to please attend the event.
HIRSCH AFTERSCHOOL BAND
The Hirsch after school band is starting soon ( Tuesday 28th Nov). This is open for our 4th and 5th Graders.
If you are interested, please sign up : https://forms.gle/cvm4Ghg4HZhKJkfj6
This is a great opportunity for your children to start their musical journey! More information in the flyer.
BULLDOGS AT FLL
We are thrilled to announce that our 5th Graders Jason C, Ekum M, Yashwin K and Shrihaan S have secured 3rd place in the FLL regional qualifier tournament. Their challenge team “Masterdroids” has now qualified for the District Championship event for California! Congratulations! We are so proud of you, GO BULLDOGS!
Link to join the Hirsch PTA : https://ohes.futurefund.com/registration
If you have any questions related to the PTA, please reach out at pta.hirsch@gmail.com.
All parents/guardians are invited to join us at our next Virtual PTA Meeting on Tuesday, November 14th at 6:30pm
Hirsch PTA Meeting Link : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8607763340?pwd=VTVmbW00T3AzQmJNNktPRmdOMFFGZz09
Hirsch PTA