Foothill e-Gazette  

  Published by the Foothill PFA                                                   November 15 , 2017
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Important Dates 

Nov 15   - PFA Meeting @ 7:00 pm in the Library

Nov 16 - 
The Great American
Smoke-Out

Nov 17 -   Spirit Day -  Fancy Friday

Nov 20 - 24  - No school - Thanksgiving break

Nov 29 -  Parent Ed Night
Social Media/Parenting @
7:00 pm in the Library

Nov 30 -  Foothill's Got Talent
Show Night!  7:00 pm - 9:00 pm in the MU

Dec 1 - Coffee with Dave @ 7:45 am in the Library

For the complete Foothill calendar, click here .

In This Issue
From the Foothill Office-Team
PFA Meeting
Community Service Day
Green School Waste Reduction Grant
Foothill's Education Fund
Shop and Earn for Foothill
Foothill PAC Representative Needed
Strategic Planning Meeting
Parent Ed Night
Foothill's Got Talent
After School Sports Program
Intradistrict Transfer
Yearbook
Online Parent Community
Community Announcements
                                                                                                                                                   
From the Foothill Office-Team:
  • Instructional rounds: What are they and why are we doing them?
  • Parent Education Night - Social Media and Parenting Wednesday, Nov 29
  • Foothill Needs Your Vote! Republic Waste Reduction Grant
    • Recycling Audit Results
  • Coffee With Dave, Date Changed----DECEMBER 1 !

Dear Foothill Community,

It is amazing that the first quarter has already gone and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We are all very excited with the academic progress being made by our students. To the Foothill community members, a special thank you for beautifying FMS by planting beautiful trees on October 28. A second day has been scheduled to help finish off the projects. Please stop by on Saturday, December 9, if only for a few minutes, to lend a hand. Look for other improvements in the near future thanks to your generous donations to the FMS Education Fund and the hard work of our PFA volunteers.

Instructional Rounds: What are they and why are we doing them?
Over the last couple of weeks, and into December, teams of teachers have been taking time out of their busy days to visit Foothill classrooms throughout the campus. This practice is called Instructional Rounds. The purpose of Instructional Rounds is to improve student learning. We are focused on the question of how to provide students more opportunity, using different strategies, to reflect on their learning. Research shows that when students are given time to actively process new information they have a better chance of retaining and learning.

By visiting classrooms we are able to look at our Foothill practices and share those that are having the most positive outcomes. An unexpected by-product of Instructional Rounds has been the enjoyment students have when seeing various teachers traveling through their other classes. We will be doing a second set of Instructional Rounds in the spring.

Parent Education Night - Social Media and Parenting:
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
7:00 PM - FMS Library
Presentation plus question and answer time.
Presented by Elizabeth Brathwaite and Mary Phalon School Counselors

Foothill Needs Your Vote! Republic Waste Reduction Grant:
Vote for @FoothillGriffin to win a $1500 Republic Services Waste-Reduction Grant and help us on our way to becoming a Green Ribbon School. Anyone living in the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority service areas can vote: www.ContraCostaRecycles.com .

Here is an update on the latest Waste Audit completed by the ECK students.

Before Sorted
After Sorted
Compost    15   Lbs.
Compost    30   Lbs.
Recycling    5   Lbs.
Recycling    8.5 Lbs.
Landfill      26   Lbs.
Landfill       7    Lbs.

What the data shows is that students still need to work a little harder when sorting their lunches. However, overall Foothill is well on the way to reducing our landfill but we still need to do more education around the difference of trash and compost. Thank you to the families who have switched from brown bags to reusable lunch bags and boxes. We have seen a dramatic difference in the quantity of bags being discarded. A shout out to Environmentally Concerned Kids (ECK) Club for their dedication and daily monitoring, we could not do it without you!

Change The Date! Coffee With Dave Moved to December 1:
Don't miss Coffee With Dave from 7:30 to 8:15 am at the Foothill Library on Friday, December 1 . This is an opportunity for mingling, question asking, and getting to know more about Foothill. Mr. Roe will be your host and his coffee is always from Peet's!

Respectfully,

The Office-Team
April Bush, Dave Roe, Theodora Pappas, Mary Phalon, Elizabeth Brathwaite
 
                                                                                                                                                   
November PFA Meeting - TONIGHT - Wednesday, November 15
 
The next PFA meeting will be held tonight,  Wednesday, November 15 at 7:00 pm in the Library. Every parent is automatically a member of the PFA and we encourage you to attend, share your voice and get involved. You can learn more about what is happening at the school, ask questions, raise issues, and if you wish, volunteer your services. Save the date.

To view past meeting minutes, please click here . 
 
                                                                                                                                                   
Community Service Day - Lets Finish up on December 9!  
 
 
We have scheduled our Campus Beautification follow up day for  December 9, 2017.   With just 20 kids and their parent(s) we could finish creating welcoming and maintenance-free front medians in few hours.  Every Foothill student who participates for 2 hours will receive a mile pass.  

If you are interested in helping to finish this project you can sign up here .  

If you have any questions, please contact  Cricket Riley at   merancricket@yahoo.com .

                                                                                                                                                   
VOTE to Help Foothill Win the $1500 Green School Waste Reduction Grant
 
Foothill is now one of the 12 finalists for a $1500 Waste Reduction Grant from Republic Services. Foothill needs your vote to help win!  


This fall, Mr Jackson (science!) applied for the grant to help Foothill's progress toward becoming a Green Ribbon School. Please encourage your friends/family who live in one of the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority service areas (Alamo, Diablo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga & Walnut Creek) to vote for Foothill from now until the end of November. Each resident can vote once.   
If Foothill wins, the grant money would be used for: fund the purchase of Waste Audit supplies and materials, "BioBags" (compostable bags for the teacher/classroom compost bins), reusable lunch bags with the Foothill logo (students could use these instead of bringing brown paper bag lunches from home), reusable water bottles with the Foothill logo, and refillable water bottle drinking fountains.

Please help our school reduce our Ecological Footprint.

                                                                                                                                                   
FOOTHILL'S EDUCATION FUND   

It's not to late to contribute to the Ed Fund! We are currently short of our budgeted goal.    Your donation will help us reach it. We have made it even easier to donate by splitting your Ed Fund donation into 10 smaller payments. You can choose to donate $15, $30 or $60 a month for 10 months. Every dollar helps provide necessary funding for important school programs. Click here to find out how your Ed Fund dollars are spent.



For those who have already made a contribution, THANK YOU! We appreciate your generosity. Don't forget to get your donation matched by your employer. This is FREE MONEY for our school! 

It only takes a minute to submit a matching request and it makes a really big difference for our school. The information you will need is simply: 
 
                                                                                                                                                   
Shop for Foothill and Earn

Help earn money for Foothill every time you shop at Amazon and Sports Basement. 


null Please bookmark this link,  AMAZON SHOPPING,  AND share this link with your family and friends.  When you shop on Amazon using this link, Foothill receives a percentage donation based on your purchases. You must use this link for Foothill to receive credit. This link is also available on the homepage of the Foothill PFA website.  Just click on the banner link at the top of the homepage and your Amazon purchases will help support Foothill.


sports basement Sports Basement  -  Become a Basementeer! Our longtime partner, Sports Basement, is spinning the traditional loyalty program into a win-win for their loyal customers and our community. Basementeer's receive 10% and give 10% back to Foothill. 
  • 10% off every item every day
  • 10% of profits back to your favorite local charity or school
So, on your next visit to Sports Basement, register as a Basementeer or update your account and select Foothill Middle School as your beneficiary!

There is more information available on the  PFA Website. Thanks for shopping for Foothill! 
                                                                                                                                                   
Foothill  Parent Advisory Committee Representative Needed
 
The PFA still needs a parent representative for the District's Parent Advisory Council (PAC). The PAC meets once a month and serves as an advisory group to the Superintendent and district staff.  The PAC helps bring the parent perspective to school policies,procedures, goals and initiatives, in addition to helping implement and monitor the elements of the Local Control Accountability Plan.  
To learn more about PAC click here and contact Melissa Sunbury at 
president.foothillpfa@gmail.com,if you are interested in serving in this role.
 
                                                                                                                                                   
Strategic Planning Meeting - Nov. 30 at 3pm
 
The PFA's Strategic Planning Committee will be holding it's second meeting on Thursday, November 30 at 3:00 pm in the library.  The Strategic Planning Committee meets periodically during the year and works alongside the faculty to determine (and prioritize) school needs and makes decisions about spending of discretionary funds. This is a great opportunity to get involved and have input in determining how PFA funds will be spent.

                                                                                                                                                   
Parent Ed Night
 
Parent Ed Night will be on Wednesday, November 29  starting at  7:00 pm.   The topic for the evening will be Social Media presented by School Counselors Mary Phalon and Elizabeth Brathwaite.

                                                                                                                                                   
Foothill's Got Talent 
 
Foothill's Got Talent will be held on Thursday, November 30  in Foothill's MU starting at  7:00 pm.   Please support our students and the wonderful talents!  Tickets will be sold to students during their lunch and at the door for $5.00 per person.

                                                                                                                                                   
Foothill After School Sports Program

Boys Competitive Basketball is fast approaching! Get signed up for try outs now!

Registration deadline: 11/30 (Students cannot try out if they are not registered!) Registrations after 11/30 will result in a $40 late fee!
 
Try out dates: 12/11 - 12/13
Season dates: 12/14 - 3/16  
Practice times:  Monday - Thursday; between the times of  3 - 6 PM.
 
Boys Intramural Basketball!

Registration deadline: 1/9
Season dates: 1/16 - 2/22
Practice times:  Tuesday  - Thursday;  3:30 - 4:30

Sign-ups are now online! Click here to check out some of our other programs there as well! 

If you have any questions please feel free to contact:  Foothillsports@walnutcreekrec.org

                                                                                                                                                   
Intradistrict Transfer for the 2018-19 School Year 
(Transfers to schools within MDUSD)
 
Mt. Diablo Unified School District is going Online for Intradistrict Transfer Request for the 2018-19 school year.
  • Intradistrict Transfer requests began on Tuesday, October 17, 2017. 
  • The online application can be found at MDUSD 2018-2019 Intradistrict Transfers
  • For students currently enrolled in grades K-11 online applications must be submitted by November 17, 2017 for the 2018-19 school year.
  • No applications will be accepted after the November 17, 2017 deadline.
  • Paper applications will be longer be available. 
                                                                                                                                                   
Don't Forget to Order Your Yearbook!

Yearbooks  for the 2017-2018 school year are available to purchase online. 
 
Please visit www.yearbookordercenter.com and enter code 6047.

Yearbooks are $65.00.  Please click here for the Yearbook flyer  and  8th Grade Ad flyer.  8th  Grade ads are due by  December 03, 2017.
 
                                                                                                                                                   
Online Parent Community

Need to ask a question, get reminders about upcoming PFA activities or connect with other parents at Foothill? Join the  Foothill Middle School Parents group on Facebook. Once logged in, request to join the group.

                                                                                                                                                   
Community Announcements

Turkey Trot - Register Now and Save $5 off each registration - Volunteers Needed Too!
This family fun event is a great way to start your Thanksgiving holiday and show support for your schools!   For a limited time, save $5.00 on each registration when using coupon code PEAK  at checkout*. Click Here to register now.

There are several races to choose from including Kids Fun Runs, 10K Run and 5K run or walk, festival areas and a costume contest!  Last year the Turkey Trot raised over $15,000 for PEAK Education Foundation schools, and this year we hope to raise even more by having lots of students and parents participate.

VOLUNTEERS are also needed to help this event run smoothly. There are opportunities to work passing out race materials in the days leading up to the race, as well as many different volunteer tasks on race day.   CLICK TO SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER   For more information visit  http://formaturkeytrot.com/ 

* $5 discount using PEAK coupon code limited to the first 500 registrants

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walnut Creek Little League
Announcing the opening of registration for the 2018 Baseball and Softball season for Walnut Creek Little League.  Take advantage of the early bird special and register prior to December 18.  Registration fees will increase by $50 on December 18, and the last day to register is January 3.

Visit our website at  wcbaseball.org  and click on the registration link at the top of the page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you know of an interesting community event or activity that you think the Foothill Community would benefit from knowing about, please send the information to foothill.enews@gmail.com so we can pass it along. Community Announcements will be included in the regular e-Gazette that is published the first and third Wednesdays of each month.

                                                                                                                                                   

  
The Foothill PFA publishes the e-Gazette the first and third Wednesdays each month. Our goal is to provide information to the Foothill community in a timely manner. To submit an article for review, please send 150 words or less article as text in an email to foothill.enews@gmail.com. Please send picture/clip art that you would like included with your article as an attachment in .jpg format. 

Please click here for the e-Gazette submission deadline and publication dates.