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 — Cassie De La Cruz cdelacruz1@fusdk12.net

Attendance Clerk — Mrs. Vaishali Parikh vparikh@fusdk12.net

It's hard to believe that October will be here on Tuesday! Our weather has been changing each week so we encourage you to help your Bulldog be prepared for the weather.

Last Friday was our halfway point through the first trimester. Students in grades Kinder through 5th grade who are not meeting standards for their grade level brought home a progress report on Friday, 9/27. If your student brought one home, please review it, sign it, and return back to school. If you have questions about it, reach out to your student's teacher.

I hope to see you on Thursday at our Kindergarten through Fifth Grade Family Picnic Day! A flyer came home last Friday so your child will know to look out for you if you can make it. Please be on time, and if possible, at least five minutes early so your Bulldog doesn't have to wait.

Our lost and found is slowly growing. Please label all sweatshirts, jackets, water bottles, and lunch boxes with your student's name, or at least room number so we can help them find a home. Our lost and found will be out front every day this week until the evening hours. Please stop by, even after school, to see if you can find missing items from your Bulldogs.

Thank you for taking the time to read our monthly newsletter and Weekly Bits!

~Ms. Arroyo

October

2- Early Release Day (Grades K-5)

3- Grades K-5 Family Picnic Day

4- PTA In-Tent On Reading

8- PTA Meeting

9 - International Walk and Roll to School Day

9- Early Release Day (Grades K-5)

10- Fall Picture Makeup Day

11- No School For FUSD Students

12- Hirsch PTA Harvest Festival

12-18 Scholastic Book Fair

14- PTA Chess Tournament

15- PTA Reflections Deadline

16- Early Release Day (Grades K-5)

23- Early Release Day (Grades K-5)

28- Start of Red Ribbon Week

30- Early Release Day (Grades K-5)

31- Book Character Day

Join Hirsch for International Walk and Roll to School Day! We will celebrate our school spirit, our health, and the environment with the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools program. This year, our school will be participating again. With your family and friends, you can participate by:

· Taking a walk, or riding a bike, skateboard, or scooter

· Biking with your child on their own or with a trail-a-bike

· Joining our Walking School Bus on the corner of Thurston and Carol. We will start to meet at 7:55 with a departure time of 8:00 am.

Post a fun photo on social media to celebrate the day! Remember to tag @AlamedaCoSR2S on X/Twitter with #WalkandRoll24 and #IWR2SD, and post on Facebook at facebook.com/saferoutestoschool.

We look forward to walking and rolling with you!

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming! SAVE THE DATE for October 12-18 and get ready to empower your reader with book choice. Start exploring together: Book Fair Link #ScholasticBookFairs

After School Book Fair Hours:

Monday Oct. 14th- 2:40 pm to 3:30 pm

Tuesday Oct. 15th- 2:40 pm to 3:30 pm

Wednesday Oct. 16th- 1:20 pm to 2:00 pm

Thursday Oct. 17th- 2:40 pm to 3:30 pm

Friday Oct. 18th- 2:40 pm to 3:30 pm

Hirsch families this month is a great time to review safe play practices with your students. Please review the tetherball rules below and ways to prevent injury while playing. Let's play safely!

Tetherball Rules

1. A student is out if they: touch the rope, catch the ball, cross the centerline, use the pole to get to the ball, or hit the ball with anything other than their hand.

2. A student needs to yield their turn if they have won three times (consecutively).

Friday, October 11th, 2024 will be a Non SCHOOL DAY for FUSD Students

This month’s newsletter will be all about BOOK FAIR! Hooray! Who doesn’t love a book fair!

We will be having our Fall Scholastic Book Fair beginning on October 12th and ending on October 18th. Our main family event will take place during the Harvest Festival. Students will be able to visit the book fair during the regularly scheduled library time. They will also be able to visit during lunch and after school.

As we will be partnering with Scholastic for this book fair, we have the amazing opportunity to use E-Wallet. E-Wallet is a digital payment account students use for a cash-free option. You can find more information and set up an account for your student here. Once you have created an account, you can share the account with family and friends so they can help your student have more books!

Why are book fairs important? Book fairs help our students have more books in the library and classroom. Our school library will receive a portion of the amount sold which in turn translates into books and supplies for the library. Teachers will also have a wish list of books they would like to add to their classroom library. Every purchase will help our students have more books. Our goal for this book fair is to sell the equivalent of 1000 books.

We will also have an online component for the book fair. This online component will help students preorder Diary of a Wimpy Kid’s Hot Mess and Dog Man’s Big Jim Begins so they will receive the books when they are published. Over 3,000 items are available online. There will be free shipping on orders of $25 or more and all online orders will ship directly to your home. The Hirsch Scholastic Book Fair Home Page is active now for students to set up E-Wallet accounts and purchases can begin online on October 11th.

I will need volunteers to help with operating the book fair. If you are interested, please sign up as this event can only be successful with additional help. I will need assistance during lunch (11:45-12:50) and after school (2:30-3:30 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday the times will be 1:10-2:30). I know I can count on the Hirsch Bulldog family to help with this.

Again, I am super excited about the book fair and cannot wait to see you there!

Take care and keep reading!

Mrs. Winmill

kwinmill@fusdk12.net

Amazon Wish List

Hirsch Library

Home lunches brought after your student has started school must be dropped off by 10:45 am to the cart outside the office. Your student's lunch should be clearly labeled with first name, last name, and room number. We highly encourage you to teach your child to be responsible and bring their own lunch daily if they are bringing a home lunch.

This month we are celebrating Red Ribbon Week from October 28rd to November 1st. Red Ribbon Week is a time to celebrate and practice making healthy choices to promote a happy and healthy lifestyle. We will be joining in fun activities such as dress-up days and doing activities in our classes to highlight the importance of living a drug-free life and making healthy choices!

Hello Families,

October is National Bullying Awareness Month. Bullying is a serious issue that can deeply affect our students, but it’s important to understand what it truly means. Many times, we may unintentionally misuse the term, labeling every conflict or unkind interaction as bullying. True bullying involves repeated, intentional harm, where one child holds power over another, causing emotional or physical distress.

To ensure students can identify and respond to bullying appropriately, students will engage in lessons and activities focused on understanding and addressing bullying. Together, we’ll discuss the signs of bullying, how it differs from typical disagreements, and the importance of fostering empathy and kindness.

Let’s work together to create a supportive environment at home and school where students feel safe and empowered. Encourage your child to include others, show kindness, and promote acceptance to help prevent bullying.

What is Unity Day?
Unity Day is where educators, youth, parents, and community members across the nation come together to recognize the effects bullying has on individuals. More specifically, we come together to emphasize the message that bullying is not acceptable or tolerated because all students deserve to be safe at school, online, and in their community.

Thank you for your support!

Ms. Hernandez

PTA Board:

President - Anjali

Vice President/Communications chair - Aditi

Treasurer - Nihaar

Secretary - Ambika

Auditor - Nimish

PTA Meeting

October 8, 2024 Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8607763340?pwd=VTVmbW00T3AzQmJNNktPRmdOMFFGZz09&omn=89846747939

PTA Events Sign Up Links:

Hirsch PTA Chess Club

Registration is now open. We are using cheddarup this year for both signup & payment. Here is the link:

https://hirsch-pta-chess-tournaments.cheddarup.com

We hope the proximity & familiarity with the school environment and the opportunity to nurture your child’s interests in Chess will once again bring you back to the tournaments this year. Like last year we will have a single registration link for the entire year. This year we will be accepting only card payment, no cash. Please register before you show up to the tournament! Details in the cheddarup link.

Hirsch PTA Lego Robotics:

Hirsch PTA is excited to bring back the Lego Robotics training program to our school again this year in partnership with Fremont Robotics Academy.

Sign-up Form:

https://forms.gle/2DDYZJt5FhqroRUo7

Time: Wednesdays 5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.

Participation: Hirsch 4th & 5th Graders

Where: Hirsch MUR

Training Program: FLL Challenge

Hirsch PTA Contact for any additional questions: @⁨Nimish Shah⁩, 415-939-8670

If you haven’t joined our Hirsch PTA social media already, here are the links to our Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsch/?ref=share&mibextid=S66gvF

And our Hirsch Family whatsapp group- https://chat.whatsapp.com/FNg6wn9coPvFLiYN0dNNEo

We share a lot of fun stuff and it’s a great way to stay connected with other Hirsch Families.

Harvest Festival Volunteers Needed!

Do you know anyone with a special skills they'd like to share? Like to lend a helping hand? We need you to help us make our Harvest Festival amazing! Please see the flyer below and use the link to sign up.