Upcoming Dates/Events December 5th: BHS Jazz Assembly 8:30am December 7th: Dine Out Fundraiser and Social Homeroom 5:30pm-8:30pm December 11th: Parent Connection: Stay after drop off. We will have a parent community meeting with coffee & pastries. This will be in lieu of the Tuesday evening PTA meeting. December 18th Allyship Recognition Ceremony
3-5 Awards: 8:15 - 8:45
K-2 Awards: 9:00 - 9:30
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CALENDAR! We recommend subscribing to at least the Oxford Calendar (Oxfordcalendar@berkeley.net), but subscribing to the BUSD general calendar is also helpful calendar@berkeley.net.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PTA LISTSERV! Want to receive Oxford PTA emails and updates like our November Newsletter? Subscribe on our website. https://www.oxfordelementary.org/
Principal’s Message
There were lots of fun stories about Fall Break this week! Our students ate well, saw lots of friends and family and were VERY proud of their reading accomplishments! We are also so very proud of our students. Read-a-thon raffle winners will be announced during lunch this week.
If you are looking to keep the reading excitement alive, check out the Read-a-thon Booklist that our Read-a-thon team created as a special thanks! They also included this important message:
As we count down to the wrap up of our Oxford Read-a-thon 2023, this is a reminder to log your student’s reading time! All students who read more than 15 hours during the reading period will be entered into a drawing for prizes. The winners will be announced at the school next week! If your student participated in the Read-a-thon and did not turn in their paper tracker, you can still report their reading minutes via this link . All submissions by the end of Saturday, December 2nd will be included in the raffle drawing. This is our last call for donations. Please donate online and share the link with your friends and family: bit.ly/ottersread23
The donation website will be open through Saturday, December 2nd only.
A huge thank you to all who participated and supported our fundraising efforts!
Beth
Looking for Gifts?
Otter swag is available! Sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats and even stuffed animals are available. Every purchase supports our PTA and goes towards Art, P.E., and other necessary programs all year round. You can shop HERE!
LOST & FOUND
Please continue looking for your kids' clothes in the lost & found and labeling them. All unclaimed and unlabeled clothing will be donated on Dec. 15, 2023.
Berkeley Bike Giveaway
Waterside Workshops is hosting its annual Winter Festival and Kids Bike Giveaway event on Saturday, December 9! Each year, in collaboration with our community partners, we donate around 250 refurbished bikes, helmets, lights, and locks to Bay Area families and individuals.
This year, we’ve set a goal to donate over 100 kids bikes during the month of December. To achieve this goal, we are hosting a Winter Festival on December 9 at Waterside Workshops (84 Bolivar Drive in Berkeley) that will include a large-scale bike giveaway as well as cookie decorating for kids, tamales from Oakland’s Tamaleria Azteca, and gelato from Berkeley’s Passione Emporio. We’ll also have bike accessories and handcrafted gifts from our woodshop for sale, making this a great chance to do some holiday shopping! All are welcome to attend, even if you are not picking up a bike.
Our bike giveaway programs prioritize increasing bike access for marginalized communities impacted by systemic inequalities, including:
• Low-income households
• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
• Immigrants and refugees
• Unhoused families and individuals
• Women, transgender, and gender expansive individuals
If you or your child self-identifies as a member of any of the above communities, we welcome you to fill out our kids bike request form to participate in the bike giveaway event on December 9.
WE NEED YOU!
The PTA is all volunteer run - from our school website to fundraising events to community building - it’s on all of us to make that a reality. We need people to help plan our Winter Family Dance, Toast to Oxford Auction, and Otterpalooza Spring Fling & Raffle. These events CANNOT happen if we don’t have people help plan them. We also need a classroom coordinator liaison, rainbow family liaison, campus beautification volunteer, help with communications, and dine out/shop out fundraiser volunteer. PTA volunteering is around YOUR schedule and is accessible to all, no amount of time is too little. Many hands make light work! Please join us at drop off on December 11th to connect with the parent community and talk about how you can get involved.
HOMEROOM DINE OUT FUNDRAISER
Our next Oxford family social and dine out fundraiser is at the new Homeroom location in Berkeley on Thursday, December 7 5:30-8:30. Can’t make it? Take some food to go. Share with friends and family.
