Good Afternoon, Foothill Elementary School Families!

I hope your weekend has been relaxing and you have had time to enjoy family and friends. We have many exciting upcoming events on the horizon. As you already know, tomorrow is the 100th Day of School!  We celebrate our learning by dressing up and engaging in various learning games in classrooms. Students may dress up with spraying their hair gray, wearing moo moos, suspensers, bowties, and more. If your child/ren participate, be sure they are still in dress code, including wearing shoes with backs. In addition, February 2nd through the 6th we will be celebrating Kindness Extravaganza Week. We will celebrate with a morning rally on the 2nd, dress-up days, guest speakers, activities including: a schoolwide kindness chain, kindness cards, poster contest, and more. We are excited to pair Positivity Projects Character Strengths: Love and Kindness in the month of February. 

6th grade students interested in earning the Wings of Excellence Award for Trimester II, please fill out this application: 

6th Trimester II Wings of Eagle Application (LINK) 

We are skiing into our 19-Day Attendance Challenge and students are excited to earn classroom prizes such as being excused to recess first. Research continues to support attendance as a critical component to academic and social-emotional growth; however, if your child is ill, please keep them home. Students who complete Independent Studies, and turn the work in prior to Thursday, February 12th, will be counted present, not absent. We also have various targeted groups of students who have the opportunity to earn individual, additional incentives for increasing their attendance percentages. If your child has been invited to one of these groups, and you wish for them not to participate, please reach out to our team and we will remove them from the small group challenges. 

While we have dramatically decreased behavioral incidents on campus, such as bullying (through Positivity Project, structured recesses and Fun Fridays,) unfortunately, we have had students report fictitious incidents. Students who do not tell the truth and waste our team's time investigating false accusations, will be assigned consequences. We are working as a team to instill integrity in our children, which includes creating a culture of honesty on our campus. 

Thank you for your continual support and working together as a team! Please reach out to our office and admin. team if you have any questions or needs. 

Sincerely, 
Jamie Swisegood, Principal 

Below are highlights from our newsletter--please open the attachment for full access to the weekly newsletter. 

Personality is a Gift, Character is Learned

Positivity Project (P2) January

Character Strength:  Perseverance

You complete what you start, despite obstacles. You never give up! You develop goals and take active steps to meet those goals. 

We can do anything we want if we stick to it long enough!

~ Helen Keller

19-Day Attendance Challenge: January 20th-February 13th! Many ways to participate! 

Monday, January 26th: 100th Day of School (Dress-up! Grey hair, moo moo’s, suspenders, bowties, and more!)

6th Trimester II Wings of Eagle Application (LINK) 

SPORTS:

• Soccer practice @3:15 Jr/HS 6th grade
• 1/22 Basketball, Big Creek- Girls 11AM & Boys 11:40AM
• 1/27 Wrestling 6th@ Coalinga- report 12:45PM
• 1/27 Soccer 6th, Coalinga
• 1/29 Basketball, PRS - Girls 11AM & Boys 11:40AM
• 1/29 Soccer 6th, SUSD
• 2/3 Basketball, Foothill- Girls 11AM/12:20PM & Boys 11:40AM/1PM
• 2/10 Wrestling 6th @Los Banos 
• 2/12 Basketball, PRS- Girls 11AM & Boys 11:40AM

SPELLING BEES:

1/21 Foothill Spelling Bee (Qualifier!)

1/28 Ponderosa Spelling Bee

2/5 Pine Needle Festival 

Upcoming Dates: 

• 1/26 9:20AM Late Start
• 1/26 100th Day of School (Dress-up!)
• 1/28 Wear it Wednesday-College Apparel
• 1/28 Ponderosa Spelling Bee
• 1/29 B-ball, PRS - Girls 11AM & Boys 11:40AM
• 1/30 Spirit Wear Friday!
• 2/2 - 2/6 Kindness Challenge & Extravaganza Week (2/2 Kindness Rally!) See "Kind Acts" below and attached. 
• 2/3 B-ball, Foothill- Girls 11AM/12:20PM & Boys 11:40AM/1PM
• 2/5 Pine Needle Festival 
• 2/6 Daughter Dance, 5:30PM-7:00PM 
• 2/12 Basketball, PRS- Girls 11AM & Boys 11:40AM
• 3/2-3/6 Read Across America Week! (Dress-up days TBA)
• 4/16 5PM-6PM Open House! (4:30PM Food Trucks)

Change of Transportation (pick up/bus) must be communicated with school office before 1PM.

February 2nd-6th Kindness Week (Dress-up days! Western, rock-n-roll, neon colors, and more--TBA)