Get Your Tickets Now for Celebrate Portola
Seating is limited for the Celebrate Portola event on Sat. Feb, 2, which features a dinner, silent auction and entertainment from student musicians. Order tickets now for $20 per adult, $10 per student and $5 per performing band member by sending an e-mail to CelebratePortola@gmail.com Prices for tickets sold at the door will be $5 higher.
*A number of desirable items have been donated for the silent auction, including Oakland A’s tickets, Disneyland tickets and a ukulele – check out Portolanews.com/Auction for a sampling

Visit the Science Fair
Family night at the science fair will be on Thursday, Jan. 17, from 6:30-7:30pm. Everyone is welcome to come support our students and appreciate their hard work on their science projects.

Every Penny Helps
The Portola National Junior Honor Society is organizing a coin drive to support school programs. Please contribute any loose change that is cluttering up your life and help students gain a sense of responsibility and community. See Ms. Bogie in the library for questions.

Help Keep the Board Game Club Going
Students are having a great time playing board games but the school library is no longer able to accommodate the activities of the Board Game Club. The club would like to relocate its gaming sessions to a new location and is desperately seeking a parent volunteer to moderate . If anybody is available during lunch periods on a weekday of their choice, please let school librarian Ms. Bogie know by contacting her at abogie@wccusd.net.
Get Ready for Battle of the Books
Battle of the Books is a school district-wide competition where teams of students from middle and high schools compete to see who can remember details from the books, and understand the author’s usage of different elements of language.
*District librarians have chosen the following books for this year’s competition:
The Skin I’m In by Sharon Draper; The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time by Mark Haddon; Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain; Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

*A school competition will be held in late February to see which team moves on to the district competition in March. Encourage your students to participate by signing up in the school library.

Seeking Writer Coaches
WriterCoach Connection is back at Portola. The program provides trained writing coaches to help students communicate their ideas with clarity, confidence, and pride.
*We need more coaches of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. Please get involved to truly make a difference in a student’s life. Free training is provided. Contact Mr. Burnham for more information.

Update on Academics at Portola
Everyone is invited to attend the next meeting of the Parent Academic Rigor Committee (PARC) on Monday, Jan. 28, at 6:30 p.m. in Room 7
*Principal Burnham will fill us in on the latest academic trends at Portola. From there, he will lead a discussion to seek input from parents on strategies for continuing to improve academic success at Portola.
*PARC strives to improve academic rigor for all students. For more information, contact Sally Fraser, sally@frasermeacham.com, 510 295-8041