Issue: #12
December 14, 2015

This Week:

Dec.18: Early Dismissal
Dec. 21-Jan. 1: Winter Break

 

From the Principal
From the Principal
by John Miner - jminer@seattleschools.org
Thornton Creek Principal

Winter Bazaar
Big giant thank you to Robin Belz and the parent crew that made this year's winter bazaar possible.  What a magnificent day of crafts and creativity.  This is truly a wonderful Thornton Creek tradition!

New Parent Tours
Thornton Creek families-we have scheduled new parent tours for next school year.  The dates have changed to align with shifts in the Open Enrollment window.  If you would like to help docent a small group during tours, please contact Emily Wong or Jennifer McDowell through the school office. 
Tours are scheduled as follows:          
  • Jan 28 (Thurs) 9:30-11:30 a.m.          
  • Feb. 4 (Thurs) 9:30-11:30 a.m.                  
  • Feb. 8 (Mon) 9:30-11:30 a.m.
  • Feb. 11 (Thurs) 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.  
  • Feb. 23 (Tues) 6:00 - 8:00 p.m (evening orientation)         
  • Feb. 25 (Thurs) 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Parent docents will be trained.

Thornton Creek Read-A-Thon
On behalf of staff, I want to thank all of the families who have supported their children to read nightly during the last month to encourage their love of reading and to support our Read-A-Thon.  Thank you for your support!  Hopefully your children will continue to enjoy reading throughout the year.

Hiring Instructional Assistants
We are about to complete our special education staffing with interviews for two additional instructional assistants.  We look forward to the additional support and to being fully staffed in our special education program.

Winter Break
I hope that all of you enjoy your family time during the winter break.
From the Office
Office News
by Jennifer Evans  - jevans@seattleschools.org
 
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment is Feb. 17 - March 1. New kindergarten families will have the best chance of being assigned to a school outside their attendance area if Choice forms are returned during this window. May 31 is the final deadline for current students to request a different school. Kindergarten Admissions Nights will be held in each of the district's five regions beginning in January. Please see the flier for more information.
School & Program Tours and Open House
by Emily Wong - emily.seattle@gmail.com
Jennifer McDowell - jenniferwisecdowell@hotmail.com
Co-Chairs Hiring and Recruitment Committee 

We are quickly approaching the time of year when families take on the challenging task of choosing a school for their children. After break during 5 weeks, Thornton Creek will offer several opportunities for families to see what our school and community are all about.

Our morning tours will begin at 9:30 am on the following dates:
  • Jan 28 (Thurs)
  • Feb. 4 (Thurs)
  • Feb. 8 (Mon)
  • Feb. 11 (Thurs)
  • Feb. 25 (Thurs)
There will be one evening open house & tour: Feb. 23 (Tues) 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Tours can last up to 2 hours. 

There are two ways for you to get involved:   
  1. Volunteer!  We need parent volunteers to assist creating a welcoming and informative environment for prospective families.
  2. Spread the word!  If you know families who are looking for a great school, let them know about Thornton Creek and the upcoming tours and open house.  You can always refer them to our website.
If you are interested in helping out, please contact Emily or Jennifer.
From the Library
Library News
by Ginny Allemann - vaallemann@seattleschools.org 

Hour of Code
During the week of December 7 - 11, students in grades K-5 participated in Hour of Code during their library time. The students had a blast solving problems using Block coding at code.org/learn.

Favorite quotes from various kids: "My heart is pounding!" "This is gonna be epic!" "Yes! I did it!"

5th graders used the Minecraft activity. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders used the Star Wars activity, and K and 1 did an offline activity that involved "programming" a "robot," and then exploring Scratch Jr. on our ipads.

All the tutorials are free for use anywhere at the URL above. Scratch Jr. is a free app (Scratch was developed at MIT) available for download at the App store. There are many, many other free visual programming language activities online. Here are a few free sites to explore; there are many, many pay- for programs, games and course out there. Happy coding!
Thanks to the parent volunteers who came in to help nudge kids to success in this activity!
Grants Received
I wanted to share the good news that our library has received a $760 grant from the Seattle Education Foundation for library materials in support of Kindergarten and First Grade expeditions! The grant will allow us to purchase books and materials on construction and building to support classroom work! In addition, Kristina Miller, our counselor, received a grant of $621 from SEF for purchase of books related to acceptance, friendship, disabilities and inclusion. These items can be used in all classrooms and settings and will be part of our library collection.
Book Fair Wrap Up
Huge thank you to Dawn Noel-Chen, parent of a kindergartner, who headed up the Fall Book Fair this year! What a lovely event we had. So many TC families came out to the University Book Store last weekend to attend activities such as origami, diorama making, knitting, reading, and, of course, singing with Mary K! This year's gift card raffle winner is Dana Bright, parent of a kindergartner. Congratulations, Dana!

Many people helped to support our library by purchasing items at the store. We will receive 25% of the total for library materials- that is $2840 for our library! This is about $200 more than last year. As you know, the library materials budget receives a very minimal amount of support from the district budget (this is true of most school libraries in our district) and so parent support through site council allocation and book fairs is very important to the continued health and relevance of our collection.

My deep thanks go to Dawn and the MANY (too numerous to name here!) parent volunteers who stepped up to make this event such a success on a rainy weekend. Thanks, also, to everyone who came out to shop and have fun at our events! We can all feel our love for reading, books, libraries and book stores! Thank you so much to those of you who purchased books off the teachers' wish lists for their classrooms and for the library. They are much appreciated! Happy reading to all of you through the cozy season.
From Your PE Teacher
Start Thinking Ahead to Archery Season

Winter is archery season at Thornton Creek.  In February, third, fourth and fifth graders will learn archery safety and skills in PE.  Fourth and fifth graders will be eligible to join Thornton Creek's archery team and participate in the state tournament in March.  There will be more information coming after the break so please keep an eye on the newsletter and information coming home from PE. 
From the Art Studio
News From the Art Studio
by Maria Callahan - mlcallahan@seattleschools.org

We had a wonderful out-pouring of helpers to finish the tiles project. Thank you to all those who helped: Susie Bunker, Holly DeMaranville , Anne Holland, Sarah Kirk, Sarah Fulton, Andrea Korry, Lyndee Belina, Wendy Linton, Andrea Mann, Allison Davis, Anna Centellas and her mother from Madrid, Karey Kessler and her mother-in-law, Polk Prud'homme, Great Musland, Kirsten Fonken, Ellie Bunch, Barb Steffens, Nicole Rose  and Jackie Knemeyer. It was amazing to  see everyone swoop in and help!  The project is going to look great and make our new building feel a little bit more like home. This is such a lovely list of wonderful helpers, but I am bound to have left someone amazing off the list. Please forgive me! All the help was ever so appreciated!
 
We are finishing up projects in the next week. You can read a summary of some project highlights in the report cards you will be receiving very soon.  
 
Students in rooms 3, 6 and 10 have embarked on a journey with the Gingerbread Man. The classes will doing ginger-themed art, such as clay ginger-men, into the new year.
 
Please stop by the art room any time!
We hope to see you soon

From Site Council
Update from Site Council
by Stacy Earlywine - stacy.earlywine@gmail.com

Ok folks, this one is a little longer than usual. Grab a cup of coffee and have a read...

We had another great site council meeting last week with a few new faces in attendance. It was a nice change of pace to meet at the Bryant Corner Cafe and to mix business and fun. Please consider supporting this local restaurant and if you do, let them know you appreciate their support of Thornton Creek. The minutes from our meeting can be found here.
As I have reported in weeks past, we have a lot of great committees and passionate people doing good work. Everything from our District Relations team working behind the scenes and attending board meetings (no small feat!) and advocating for our school; to our Enrichment team doing a very thorough job and diligently working to bring this important program back in a new and improved form; to our Transitions Team paving the way for a smooth move to the new building.

It's hard to ask for more, but I'm going to do it. I often have concerned parents email me about something they feel strongly about and want to advocate for. This is great! We should all be advocating for what we feel is best for our children and our school. But we need energetic, dedicated people to make things happen.

Did you know every parent at our school is expected to give 40 hours of volunteer time each year? How will you spend your volunteer hours?

Most likely, your teacher could use more help in the classroom. Ask them how you can help!

Site Council could use you too! Our Diversity committee has great leadership and is poised to do big things but needs volunteers. Contact Jay Mas Gilvydis (supermas@gmail.com) if you are interested. As part of our growth we are planning to take an in-depth look at our fundraising. Everything from the auction to the annual appeal and we need an strong, organized volunteer to lead this group. Please email me if you are interested in taking on a leadership role in our Fundraising Committee.

On a fundraising note... I've heard great success stories with regard to our children and their enthusiasm for the read-a-thon. My own child, a reluctant reader, sat in front of the fire tonight and read a book silently for the first time in his life. He wouldn't have done that 3 weeks ago! Just as critical as this success is the financial success of this fundraiser. Many parents do not realize just how many special things at Thornton Creek will disappear if we did not raise enough money. This year our budget is approximately $300,000! We are considering a parent education night so families might have the opportunity to hear more about just exactly how this large sum of money is spent. Please let me know if this is a topic of interest to you.

In closing, what is it that makes Thornton Creek special to you? It is a question we must each ask ourselves as we transition to a new building and a larger student population. Change is afoot. We must be intentional. There is a lot at stake.

Thanks for reading! As always, I'm here if you have any feedback or you wish to volunteer!

Warmly,
Stacy Earlywine
Parent Group
Save the Date: Thornton Creek Parent Group Talent Night 2015/2016 - February 5th, 2016
by Kirsten Fonken - Kirsten.fonken@gmail.com
 
It's time to begin planning for this year's Talent Night...one of the many wonderful events at Thornton Creek!! Save the date for this fun event...this year the Thornton Creek Talent Night will be held on Friday Feb. 5, 2016.

This year we wanted to reach out to each grade and try to pass on as much information up front as possible. If your child is interested in participating in the Talent Night, please go to the child's grade level below and download the pdf. Here is a summary of things to know or be aware of for Talent Night. And please note, I may not have specific links for all sign up documents yet, but I will send those in the Newsletters, so please continue to go to the Thornton Creek Newsletter for further updates.
Key dates to mark in your calendars:
Saturday Rehearsals (Thornton Creek):
  • Saturday, Jan. 16
  • Saturday, Jan. 23
  • Saturday, Jan. 30
Dress rehearsal (Eckstein Middle School):
  • Wednesday, Feb. 3
Performance (Eckstein Middle School):
  • Friday, Feb. 5
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Kirsten Fonken (Calvin Fonken's mom, Rm P8) - Kirsten.fonken@gmail.com.
Parent Group Fundraising
Auction Update
by Lissa Armato - auction@thorntoncreek.org

Winter break is a great time to start thinking about finding auction items for Thornton Creek's biggest fundraising event. Go to your favorite restaurant, local coffee shop, or store where you like to shop, and ask them for a donation. Think about hosting a party or teaching a group how to cook, sail or play tennis. Talk with your friends about a meal delivery for a year or a stocking-the-fridge package. The options are endless. Need more ideas? Check out our wish list. 

Mark your calendars for Friday, March 25th to attended the auction at a new exciting location: Club Husky at Husky Stadium. Tickets will go on sale Monday, January 11th, so start getting your table together. This year's early bird tickets price is $50 - available from January 11th until March 1st. After March 1st, ticket prices will increase to $60. So purchase your tickets early to save, and consider purchasing one for a teacher or teachers.

We need the whole school to come together as ONE to make this a successful auction. Which means we need 100% school participation to support our students and raise money for our school.

Looking for ways to help? There are many volunteer opportunities available. Check out the volunteer page here: 

http://thorntoncreek.org/auction/volunteer

SCHOOL + COMMUNITY + TOGETHER = ONE

Auction Volunteers Needed
by Hee Jung Kim - heejungkimbel@gmail.com 

Volunteers are needed for Thornton Creek's annual fundraiser auction to be held March 25th at Husky Stadium. I hope you will join our team of volunteers who will create a successful event to benefit our children.  The auction is the biggest fundraiser for the school and also a night of great fun and community for our school families.

Please contribute your talents to our event by filling one of the 80 volunteer positions which are detailed here: http://thorntoncreek.org/auction/volunteer

Please sign up using the Signup Genius link:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0e45a5af2aa7f49-2015

To our wonderful bartender volunteers, sadly there will be no bartenders needed this year since Husky Stadium will handle all the alcohol.

Thank you for volunteering!

Turn in Those Read-a-Thon Pledges

The students have done their part (68,000 minutes have been logged), now it's time for the last leg of the journey - collecting those pledges!!  We know it is holiday time and it seems like everyone is asking for money, but think of your pledge as a gift you are giving to Thornton Creek. Remember, the Read-a-thon helps fund academic assistants, our music program, arts, expeditions, playground supervisors, and the library. Read-a-thon money also goes to scholarships so that all our children can participate in music, field trips, camp, and other classroom activities. If you like what you see at Thornton Creek and want programs to continue, we need your pledges!  Our kids worked hard, and it is now the parents turn to show them the rewards of their hard work.  If EVERY Thornton Creek family, gives just $3/ day ( for the past 30 days of reading) or $90, then we will meet our pledge goal.  If your kids are book worms and read even more than 30min/ day then show your kids what their hard work earned for their school.  As a bonus, if you get your pledges in before the end of 2015, you can count it as a tax deduction!  Let's wrap up our first ever Thornton Creek Read-A-Thon with a strong finish and reach our pledge goal of 38,000.
 
If you haven't yet collected or turned in your pledges, please try to get your Read-A-Thon money in soon. Here are a few reminders:
  • Collect your pledge money now.
  • Turn in pledge money to the office by this Friday, Dec. 18th, or pay via PayPal at this link.
  • Make checks out to: Thornton Creek Parent Group/Readathon 
  • Please write the student's class number on the envelope or check
  • For matching donations: Tax ID # 91-1037596 
Keep those Readathon pledges pouring in!  A big thank you to everyone who has already turned in their pledges. 

Winter Bazaar Thanks & A Look Ahead to Next Year
by Robin Belz & Carrie Tzou - robinbelz@gmail.com
Winter Bazaar Co-Chairs

A huge thank-you to everyone who participated in and volunteered for the Winter Bazaar on Friday!

Wow!  It was so wonderful to witness the excitement as the time finally arrived for students to set up their spaces and begin selling their wares on Friday afternoon.  We're a community full of creative energy and effort, and joyful spirit, and that is always amazingly evident during this event!

We had a great turnout of both student and community vendors again this year, and it was the efforts of a number of volunteers that made this lovely event possible once more.  

Many thanks to everyone who enthusiastically moved tables and helped get the gym, lunchroom, and hallways ready for the afternoon in record time; to those who set up, ran, and provided music for the cakewalk, as well as to those who donated cakes; to all the teachers and staff who provided space & support to this event; to the fabulous crew who stayed when everyone was tired and got everything cleaned up and back where it belonged; to everyone who helped with class projects, staffed the pizza sale, or brought in extra tables for us to use; to our wonderful office staff and our great TC newsletter/website team; and to everyone who stopped by to offer help when you had a few extra minutes.  So many kids (and adults) really love this event, and it would not have been possible without your collective efforts.

Thank you also to all of you who supported your children in their efforts to participate in the bazaar, as well as to all of you who attended the event!  

Amounts fundraised will be reported in the next newsletter.

Did you love Friday's event?  We need your help next year! Sign on now to help ensure that we can continue this event and preserve all that we love about it as we move into a new building and experience more growth in our community next year. Looking for two additional co-chairs to help me transition this well-loved event to its new home in 2016.

Have feedback about this year's Winter Bazaar or suggestions for next year?  Email Robin Belz (robinbelz@gmail.com).

*The Thornton Creek Winter Bazaar is a fundraiser co-sponsored by the Thornton Creek Parent Group and the Thornton Creek Associated Student Body (ASB). Fundraising profits will be distributed as follows: of the 20% booth fee collected from each participant, Thornton Creek's ASB fund will receive 10%, and the Thornton Creek Parent Group will receive 90%.
From the Scrip table
by Leslie Cary - scrip@thorntoncreek.org

A little elf told me that scrip gift cards make great stocking stuffers...

Some cards that make great gifts are: Top Pot Doughnuts, Amazon, Starbucks, iTunes, Regal movies, Target, and REI. We have $10 and/or $25 cards for all of the above. And as always, cards are available for your favorite grocery store, too. Stop by the scrip table today
District Approved Communications to Families
Please Note: Information below is not specifically endorsed by the school, nor have they been vetted by school staff.
Advertising Review/Approval Process

Per Seattle Public School Board Policy, outside materials must be approved before being distributed. The materials must meet district criteria, be approved by the Office of Public Affairs, and must be pre-printed and delivered to the school with the approval form attached.

 

You can find details regarding the review/approval process here. All requests to include information in the Thornton Creek Newsletter should be submitted via this process. 

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment is Feb. 17 - March 1. New kindergarten families will have the best chance of being assigned to a school outside their attendance area if Choice forms are returned during this window. May 31 is the final deadline for current students to request a different school. Kindergarten Admissions Nights will be held in each of the district's five regions beginning in January. Please see the flier for more information.

JAMS Tour Date - February 11, 2016

Jane Addams Open House/Tour date for prospective students and parents, will be Thursday, February 11th, from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Events
TC Logo Medium7711 43rd Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98115

TEL: 206-252-5300
FAX: 206-252-5301
In This Issue
From the Principal
From the Office
School Tours & Open House
From the Library
From the Art Studio
From Site Council
Talent Night
Auction Update & Volunteers Needed
Read-a-thon
Winter Bazaar
Scrip
calendar icon
CALENDAR 

The 2015-16 Seattle Schools Calendar (in PDF format) can be found here.   
 
Thornton Creek calendar can be found here

December 18
Early Dismissal

December 21-January 1
Winter Break 

January 13
Early Dismissal

January 18
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (No School)

January 28
Thornton Creek Tour 9:30-11:30 a.m.

January 29 
School Day (revised)

February 4
Thornton Creek Tour 9:30-11:30 a.m.

February 8
Thornton Creek Tour 9:30-11:30 a.m.

February 11
Thornton Creek Tour 9:30-11:30 a.m.

February 15-16
President's Day/Midwinter Break

February 17-19
School Days (revised) 

February 23
Thornton Creek Tour 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

February 25
Thornton Creek Tour 9:30-11:30 a.m.

Quick Links

 
  
  
  
The Source Children's
Library accounts
Thornton Creek is a Box Tops for Education School

 

Thornton Creek Elementary is a Box Tops for Education school! Look for pink Box Top coupons on products you have at home (e.g. Cascadian Farm cereal), then just clip and drop them in the collection basket just inside the front door of the school. For coupon information, go to:  

www.boxtops4education.com 

Say Thank you

We have a tradition at our school of saying "thank you." If you would like to submit a thank-you note, send an email to ae2newseditor@gmail.com or  click here.

Robin Belz & Carrie Tzou
Thanks for all your work to organize the Winter Bazaar. This was such a fun event! Thank you!
NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS
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