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September 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,
Another warm welcome to our 2023-24 school year! I am so excited to be in my sixth year with this amazing Bulldog community! I look forward to new and continuing events this school year. Please make sure you are reading our bulletins as well as all information coming from Parent Square since Bright Arrow will no longer be our communication system. Beginning next Friday, 9/15, we will be moving to weekly Bulletins with important information for our families. Our librarian and school counselor will continue to send their message at the beginning of the month.
Please note that our calendar that was posted on our website at the end of last year was incorrect with a few dates/times. We are reattaching the corrected pages to today's newsletter but you can also find the most up-to-date information about our calendar on our school website page.
It was wonderful to talk with so many families at our First Chalk the Walk! Thank you to the PTA for providing us with chalk and ice cream. When you join the PTA, you help to fund events like this. Have you joined yet? I have! See later in the newsletter for sign up information.
Our Hirsch staff was so excited to see our families at Back to School Night! It was a great turnout! We hope you learned a lot and are looking forward to partnering with our amazing educators this year. The Slide Deck from BTSN is in our attachments below.
Do you want to be a part of our School Site Council? This is the most important committee we have at Hirsch as it approves our safety plan and also helps to make decisions about how we spend some of our site funds. We only hold four meetings a year on 10/16, 1/22, 3/18, and 4/22. We even provide childcare if you need it to attend the meetings in person. If you are interested, please submit your name on the Google Form below my message. Have questions about joining SSC, please email me.
Looking forward to a great year!
Ms. Arroyo
Principal
Calendar
September
4 - No School (Labor Day)
5 - Back to School Night (5:00-6:30pm)
6 - Early Release Day
7 - Fall Picture Day
11 - Kindergarten Regular Day Schedule Begins MTuThF (8:20 am - 1:45 pm)
12 - PTA Meeting
13 - Early Release Day
18-22 - Start with Hello Week (Flyer attached to newsletter)
18- PTA Room Parent Meeting (details later in the month)
22- PTA Movie Night (details later in the month)
29- Hirsch & PTA In-Tent on Reading Event
20 - Early Release Day
27 - Early Release Day
October
4 - Early Release Day
6 - Fall Make-up Picture Day
11 - Early Release Day
13 - No School (Staff Development Day)
15- PTA Reflections Deadline
16-20 - Fall Book Fair
18 - Early Release Day
21- PTA Harvest Festival
23-27 Red Ribbon Week
31- Book Character Day
25 - Early Release Day
New School Secretary!
Please help me welcome the newest Bulldog to our family, Ms. Jacqueline Cortez. She joins us from prior FUSD positions and we welcome her to Hirsch. To email her directly, please send correspondence to jcortez@fusdk12.net.
Attendance and Tardy Policy
As a reminder, Kindergarten students should be in line at 8:15 as they start school at 8:20 am.
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.
Mrs. Winmill's Reading Corner
September Reading Corner with Mrs. Winmill
I am so excited to begin the 2023-2024 Hirsch Elementary Library year with all of you! New books, new services, new picture book displays, new STEAM makerspace equipment, and did I mention new books?
This year we will have the wonderful opportunity to participate in the inaugural year of BookBreak. BookBreak is a service that provides live-streaming of best selling children's author's visits each month. Kindergarten through Third grade will have their first experience on September 19th with Peter Reynolds while he is discussing -Ish. Fourth and Fifth grade will visit with Kelly Yang, the author of the Front Desk series, on September 28th. Families will find an attached Fall schedule.
Here are a few other exciting happenings:
Picture book organization changes. Books are now organized by genre/subject.
New STEAM makerspace activities for use during lunch recess on designated days.
Fall Literati Book Fair has been booked. This will be held October 16th-21st. Stay tuned!
New books! New books! And more new books!
Again, I am so excited to start this new school year! Let’s work together to make it an amazing year.
Take care and keep reading!
Mrs. Kristen Winmill
Counselor's Corner
September Counselor's Corner with Ms. Hernandez
Hello! My name is Julissa Hernandez. I am the new school counselor here at Hirsch Elementary! As a school counselor, I support students within their social-emotional development, academic achievement, and career/college exploration. I am here to support students in achieving their full potential while also ensuring students are happy and comfortable here at school. I look forward to seeing you all on back-to-school night!
Message from PTA
Hello Hirsch Parents!
We hope you enjoyed coming and making a connection with PTA at the Ice cream social and Chalk the Walk. It was a lot of fun to meet everyone in person. Also thanks to everyone who took the time to come and chat with us at our Membership table and took a flyer.
Listed below are a few details for upcoming events planned.
We plan to have a joint ( Horner + Hirsch) Reflections info night in Horner MUR on Sept. 11th ( flyer attached).
- Movie Night is on September 22. We need more volunteers so see flyer attached for more details on how to sign up.
- In-Tent Reading is on September 29 so mark your calendar.
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, September 12th at 6:30pm
Hirsch PTA Meeting Link : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8607763340?pwd=VTVmbW00T3AzQmJNNktPRmdOMFFGZz09