Bobcat Tracks - November 2015
Connecting our Community
PFC Board Update

The PFC has many programs to support and enrich learning at Bancroft.  


Here are a few highlights from the Education department:

After School Enrichment Fall session has ended now with much successful learning and fun.  We had Science, Hip Hop, Chess, Martial Arts, Comic drawing, Basketball, Engineering, 
Yoga, Legos and Zumba.  We will have a Spring Session starting February 22. Look for class and registration information after Winter break on the website: bancroftpfc.org

Art Appreciation in November had Kindergartners painting Monet's bridge in Giverny, 1st graders were printmaking inspired by Hokusai, 2nd graders will be making a pastel drawing in Degas style, 3rd graders made a Cezanne-like still life painting, 4th graders made a Hiroshige inspired landscape drawing and 5th grade made an art for art sake painting like Whistler's 'The Falling Rocket'.  All these artworks will be added to their portfolios and will be sent home after the final project in April.

Parent Educator Program (PEP) - Our fall PEP program for all 4th grade students came to an end on November 9th.  PEP is a 6-week program delivered by parents in the classroom to help children stay healthy and safe.  All the volunteer teachers have completed a 21-hour training.  Topics covered included reasons for rules, refusal skills, tobacco products, alcohol, bullying/cyber issues and conflict management.  Bancroft's 4th grade students' were wonderful participants and we had many great discussions on these important topics.  PEP for 5th grade will take place this Spring.

Julie Fustok, VP Education
School Safety 
A BIG thank you to Ken Rogers and Teresa Heilig from 
Ms. Lee's class for volunteering for traffic this week!! 

We need everyone's help to keep our kids safe!

Upcoming class assignments:

Week of November 16th: 
Mrs. Ledbetters 3rd grade class (D1)

Week of November 30th: 
Davis/Winbery 5th grade class (C10)


Employment Opportunity for Bilingual Instructional Assistant at Bancroft Elementary
11/6/2015

Carol Berger
(925) 682-8000 ext. 4149 4149

1

6 hrs/day- School Days Only

Part Time

11/23/2015 4:30 PM Pacific

$12.42- $16.65/ hr

Bancroft Elementary

Linda Schuler

If you, or anyone you know, might be interested, please refer to the complete job description and application information on the District Website . A teaching certificate is not required.

There will also be a new English IA position opening soon.
Art Appreciation Program
What a delight seeing the creativity and curiosity of our young artists while they are experimenting with different media and creating fantastic masterpieces!  

Here's what has been happening in November:
  • Kindergartners learned about Impressionism and the leading artist of the movement, Claude Monet, and painted a beautiful Water Lily Pond
  • 1st graders learned about Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai and, using the artist's technique, created their own engraving of Mt. Fuji
  • 2nd graders will be learning about French Impressionist painter and sculptor, Edgar Degas, and creating a pastel art work on Dec. 2
  • 3rd graders learned about the "founder of modern art," French Impressionist/Post Impressionist artist Paul Cezanne, and created a still life with geometric forms
  • 4th graders were inspired by the work and life of the Japanese artist, Ando Hiroshige, drew a Hiroshige-style landscape and learned to sign in Japanese Katakana letters
  • 5th graders learned about revolutionary painter of the 19th century James McNeill Whistler and created a bold Avant-Garde painting.
Thank you to all the wonderful art volunteers working so hard and cooperatively to bring this special hour every month to the kids!  If you'd like to volunteer, the kids would LOVE your help!  

Your art enthusiasts, 

Lana & Julie ☺
Harvest of the Month 
Thank you to everyone who helped out with November's HOTM lesson! 

The kids LOVED tasting persimmons and many couldn't get enough! They're great crisp or soft and can be eaten on their own, in salads or even used in recipes much as you would apples/pears. Plus, they're beautiful when sliced!

There is no Harvest of the Month in December, so we will be back the first week of January sampling a couple varieties of citrus!

If you are interested in leading or assisting with a lesson, please email Kristin Carrillo.


Dine2Donate
Thank you to all the Bancroft Families that participated in last month's Panera Bread and Guanatos Ice Cream Dine2Donate (D2D) Fundraiser. 

Panera received over 50 flyers from us so we were at the top of the percentage range (20 percent) and made $223.  

We also made $75 at Guanatos!

Please mark your calendar for this month's D2D Fundraiser at Mooyah's Burgers and Fries.  It is on Wednesday, November 18from 11:30 am to 9:00 pm.  Hope to see you there!

                        
Superhero Walk-A-Thon Results!                                      
Congratulations Bancroft families and friends for stepping up for education on October 9th and supporting this year's Walk-A-Thon fundraiser. Because of your hard work and generosity, we made over $20,000 for Bancroft!

The Bancroft Parent Faculty Club would like to thank our parent volunteers, teachers and staff and most of all, our amazing kids for making this year's Walk-A-Thon such a great event!

Thank You to our event sponsors who made this event possible-
  • Dianne Adair
  • Simply Selling Shirts
  • Sams Club
  • Safeway
  • Nob Hill
  • CVS
  • Rocco's
  • Yogurt land
  • Trader Joes
What a fun day watching students, alongside teachers, administrators, support staff, parents and even some grandparents walking or running for 45 minutes.

An impressive event executed in typical Bancroft style.

All participants received a snack bag with a Superhero stickers and pencil for their hard work and participation.  The students who logged the most laps per grade level during their event time won a Bobcat paw medal and a Yogurt Land gift card.

The Top Lapper students include:
  • Kinder-  Timothy Korostelev
  • 1st Grade- Dax Gordon & Vadim Golovin
  • 2nd Grade- Will Spicer
  • 3rd Grade- Jacob Jones & Rebecca Marchesini
  • 4th Grade- Vincenzo Macaluso
  • 5th Grade- Jack Malki
Prizes were also awarded to those students with the top 3 highest pledge donations collected.  These students received Target gift cards for their amazing fundraising efforts!
  • 1st  Place Winner: Courtney Roberts ($100 gift card to Target)
  • 2nd Place Winner: Julian Heinen ($75 gift card to Target)
  • 3rd  Place Winner: Aaron Gonzalez ($50 gift card to Target)
Congratulations to our class prize winners:
  • Mrs. Timmer's Class- Most pledge envelopes returned- 93%
  • Mrs. Ledbetter's Class- Most pledge money collected:  $1,768
These two classes have won an extra recess with music and Ice cream!
   
Finally, a HUGE thank you to the parent volunteers that helped on event day. This event would not be possible without the support of so many parents passing out water and snacks, marking laps run, cooling off runners and providing support!  

A special thank you to all of the parents and Dianne Adair staff who put in extra time working before the event to stuff and label envelopes, deliver tee shirts, stuff goodie bags, transport bags to the school, and set-up early for the event.  

Thank you to Chris Brady for providing a great variety of music to keep things moving!

A very special extra shout out "THANK YOU TO LINELL ROONEY" for her support with this event; she catered to all of our needs at a moments notice. 

This event involves a huge coordination effort and would not be possible without the hours of support provided by all of you before this event took place- a very grateful THANK YOU for your support.

Sincerely,

Stefanie Lee & Jennifer McCullock

The new downtown Macy's is officially reopening on Saturday, November 21st and is partnering with PEAK Education Foundation to celebrate the occasion and support our schools.   

Come see Bancroft's Principal Schuler,  and teachers Ms. Lee and Mrs. Davis model in a  fashion show hosted by Walnut Acres parent and Project Runway finalist, Candice Cuoco!

PEAK is selling Charity Shopping Day Passes for $5 each which entitle you to 20% off both regular, sale and clearance purchases throughout the store plus $10 off a single purchase of $25 or more! Email your Bancroft PEAK representative, Amy Anderson
to get your pass. 
 
For further details about the Macy's event, click here.
 
PEAK receives 100% of the proceeds from Shopping Day Pass sales.  

The 23rd Annual Turkey Trot is coming Soon!
Volunteers & Runners Needed!

Join your friends and family at the 23rd Annual Turkey Trot. 
This family fun event, with 10K, 5K and Kid's Runs, is a great way to start your Thanksgiving holiday and show support for your community and your schools.

Last year proceeds from the Turkey Trot generated over $15,000 for our six PEAK Education Foundation schools.  We need your support to make this year even more successful.  We need help handing out race materials beforehand, checking in participants, water stations, race guides etc. It takes over 200 volunteers so we need YOU! 
 
For more information about the race or to register online, CLICK HERE, or to volunteer, CLICK HERE

To learn more about PEAK Education Foundation visit www.peakwalnutcreek.org or follow us on Facebook  
Scrip Fundraising 
An order form will be sent home this week and orders will be due by December 2nd for holiday delivery. 

Click here to get you started on online ordering 

Our school code is:      C11ECE18475LL

Fall Fest 
Thank you to all of the families who came out to support Bancroft's 2015 Fall Fest!  

It was a fun afternoon of games, demos, food, music and community.  Proceeds from this year's ticket sales of over $6k, will benefit next year's fifth grade outdoor education trip.  

A SPECIAL thank you to: Candi Mannoni (Games & Prize Inventory & Set-up), Enid Zimmerman (Prize Procurement), Brenda Walsh and Jill Collins (Concessions Leads), Mr. Schuler (Concessions Donation), Jason Durham (Concessions Donations), Ms. Lee (Sno-Cone Machine), Sarah Taylor (Jumper Slide Procurement), Kriss Bridgham (Cake Walk), Jim Click and the team of parents and student volunteers that made the Haunted House a success, including Victoria and Lucas Click, Pauline Tobin, The Ruano's (Karina, Miguel & Brandon), The Batu's (Kemal, Zeki and Aisha) and Lafredo's (Leslie, Nick and Ben) Nick Bowen, GIa Mannoni, Eileen Saldana, and Nancy Mullen.  Thank you to  Delta Martial Arts (Karate Demo), Berrin Alyanak (Zumba Demonstration), Janette Starke (Costume ReSale), PEAK, 92.1, and our set-up crew (Candi & Phil Mannoni, Aimee Gordon, Melissa Horgan, Rob & Amy Walters, as well as our clean-up crew (Tatyana & Brian Espinoza, Leslie Lafredo & Travon Murphy.)  

We also want to thank all of the parent volunteers who ran the games throughout the event, and/or donated treats for the cake walk.  The incredible contributions of time, donation of goods, and participation by attendance made this year's Fall Fest a success.  It takes us all to make this event happen.  

Thank you!

Bobcat Tracks  |  Bancroft PFC website
In This Issue
Upcoming Dates
11/16-20: Book Fair

11/18: Story Hour with Mrs. Gay      @ 12:30 pm in MUR

11/17-20: 5th grade Outdoor Ed

11/21: Macy's Charity Shopping     Day

11/23-27: Thanksgiving Break

11/26: Turkey Trot

12/2: Life Skill Assembly for 
              Kinder & 1st grades

12/3: Site Council Meeting

12/4: Life Skill Assembly for
                 2-5 grades
          
12/7-18: Parent Teacher                  Conferences (early dismissal)

12/11: PFC Holiday Cheer 
          @ 6 pm to 7 pm in MUR

12/21-31: Winter Break

Visit the Bancroft online calendar for future dates.
Thank You!
  Thank you to the Fall Fest committee, Courtney Russell, and Elise Boyd for another great year of fun at our annual celebration.  Also, thank you to all the parents from each class room who volunteered their time to make this a spectacular event!  Thank you to all of the families who came and supported the Fall Fest!

We wanted to take a moment to say thank you to those who worked so hard to make sure the 5th grade Outdoor Ed trip was funded.  Thank you!!

Thank you to Elizabeth Real and Roxanne Suzuki for organizing another Dine2Donate fundraisers in October and November.  
Budget Update












For prior Blasts, Tracks, and Principal's Messages
Please refer to the PFC website's archive
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Bancroft Elementary
925-933-3405