Hello Thornton Families,

It is hard to believe that we have already completed Quarter 1 and are well on our way into Quarter 2! It was great to see so many of you on campus for Parent/Teacher conferences. If you missed Parent/Teacher conferences and have a concern about your child's academic progress, please reach out to your teacher to set up a time to meet. Quarter 2 notices for students who are in danger of failing will be sent out on November 16th, and the semester ends on December 22nd. Please check Infinite Campus and/or your child's Google Classrooms regularly to keep updated on their progress.

As we enter the months of November and December, there are a lot of exciting events happening in and out of school. We will continue to post announcements in the Daily Bulletin, which is emailed out through Infinite Campus daily. In addition, I will continue to send emails out directly to families with important information and updates. Please remember to check the email you have on file, daily for pertinent school information.

We have a few scheduled minimum days in November and December, as well as several days with no school. The bell schedule, which includes the minimum days, can be found on our school website, as well as the school calendar, which indicates the days school is not in session. The easiest way to keep track of the scheduled event for the year would be to print out our Year-at-a-Glance document and hang it on your refrigerator.

During the winter months we typically see an increase in illness and students staying home sick. Please remember to keep students home if they have had a fever or have vomited within the prior 24 hours. It is also important to remind students to stay home when sick and to wear clothing that is appropriate for the weather. Additionally when the rain arrives, students should stay out of the rain while at school to avoid sitting in class in wet clothing for the duration of the day. Hopefully, if we all do our part we can keep students in school and healthy!

Finally, I would like to add that I appreciate your support for Thornton Middle School and our staff. On behalf of the entire staff, I would like to wish you and your loved ones a safe and happy holiday season!

Warm Regards,

Ms. Strausbaugh, Principal

Please continue to follow all traffic rules when driving your child to and from school. It is important that students ONLY exit or enter the vehicle within the designated parking loops and from the passenger side of the car. Students jumping in and out of the car on Thornton Avenue is dangerous and illegal. Students need to remain in the car until they are safely in the designated loop and beside a sidewalk. Getting in and out of the car in the middle of the loop or driving path is prohibited and will result in an issuance of a school consequence. Please help us keep all students safe!

Please remember that ALL visitors must sign in and out of the main office. Individuals may not enter the campus without a visitors badge. Parents/Guardians/Siblings who are picking up or dropping off students must remain outside of the gated area. This includes the gates at the back of the campus. Please follow these guidelines to help us ensure student safety and not waste staff resources traveling across the campus to ask those picking up students to remain outside of the gates.

Did you know that Thornton offers a variety of clubs and intramural activities outside of the extracurricular volleyball and basketball athletic teams? Our staff volunteers A LOT of time to host a variety of clubs and events. If you are interested, please look at the Club and Intramural pages on our website and listen to the daily announcements.

Hello Parents of MLLs (Multi-Language Learners)!

Our next ELAC (English Language Advisory Committee) will be held on November 8th at 5:00pm via Zoom. If English is your student's second language, please join us to review program information and how best to support your student. Here is the Zoom information:

Topic: November ELAC Meeting
Time: Nov 8, 2023 05:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88086977965?pwd=tQvA0DbkKpVFMeWJlddDPMxiy2OmbY.1
Meeting ID: 880 8697 7965
Passcode: 034005

Please reach out to Hillary Marine with any questions or concerns.

hmarine@fusdk12.net

The end of Semester 1 will be on Dec. 22nd. The new semester begins January 8, 2024, when we return from Winter Break. Please make sure you check Infinite Campus and students print out their second semester schedule prior to returning from break, as some schedules may have changed.

There is no school on November 10th in observance of Veterans' Day. November 9th is early dismissal. Students will be released at 12:53pm. Thanksgiving break begins on November 20th, and students return to school on November 27th. There is a scheduled minimum day on November 17th with a 12:53pm dismissal. These dates and all others can be found on our Year-at-a-Glance document.

Our staff has been working with students through homeroom to create a focus on students' social emotional health. In October, the school focus was Creativity, and students worked together with their homeroom class to create a class poster that was displayed outside of the classroom on Monday, October 30th. We were fortunate to have guest judges to help us determine the best poster. Congratulations to Mr. Tesler's homeroom who was selected as the winner and will be receiving a small prize later this week! The focus for November is Gratitude! Students will be writing letters of appreciation to a staff member during homeroom.

Being grateful feels nice, and making a habit of it is good for you. Like other positive emotions, feeling grateful on a regular basis can have a big effect on your life.

Gratitude can:

1. Boost your ability to learn and make smart decisions.
2. Balance out negative emotions. People who often feel grateful are happier, less stressed, and less depressed. Rather than focusing on what you don't have, notice what you do have.
3. Lead to caring actions. When you're grateful for someone's kindness, you may be more likely to be nice in return. Your gratitude can also have a positive effect on someone else's actions. Thanking people can make it more likely they'll do something thoughtful again.
4. Help you build better relationship. When you feel and express heartfelt gratitude can respect to people in your life, it creates loving bonds. It also builds trust and helps you feel closer.

The City of Fremont wants to hear from you! Fremont is developing its Active Transportation Plan (ATP), which focuses on improving access, safety, and comfort for walking, biking, and rolling to places, like schools, to transit, and around your neighborhood. The ATP is currently in Phase 2, which will focus on neighborhood-specific ideas, issues, and priorities. An Interactive Webmap is open for you to share your location-specific feedback on issues and opportunities you’ve experienced while walking, biking, and rolling in Fremont. For more information about the ATP, please visit my.fremont.gov/active-transportation-plan/. Get involved and share your feedback!

City of Fremont Youth & Family Services is pleased to host a community education event on “Impact of Opioids and Other Drugs on Youth and our Community” on Wednesday, November 8th, 6 pm - 8 pm at the Fremont’s Irvington High School Theater.

To increase the community’s awareness of opioid and substance misuse, the evening in-person event will feature a panel discussion with presenters from National Coalition Against Prescription Drugs, Haller’s Pharmacy, our Youth Substance Use Intervention Program and Fremont Police Department. The opioid crisis situation will be highlighted. In addition, there will be Q&A time as well as sharing of resources.

Thornton PSTA is organizing a Pass-The-Hat fundraiser event, and we need your support. Your donations would be greatly appreciated and will go a long way in helping our PSTA achieve our goal of planning many student and teacher activities at Thornton Middle School. Please use the link to help support Thornton PTSA in their endeavor to support your children. Reach out to Mythri at fundraising@thorntonptsa.org for any questions.

PTSA needs you to become a member! Much of what the PTSA is able to do to help the school is as a result of your membership dues. Please consider joining!