Friday News - April 29, 2022

Hillcrest Elementary School

Friday News

April 29,2022

Dear Hillcrest Families,

I am really looking forward to the Spring Festival tomorrow and I hope to see lots of Hillcrest families and community members here at school to enjoy all the fun! Special thanks to Friends of Hillcrest for organizing this very special event. The festival will be held from 11:00 - 2:00 on Saturday – please join us! (Please check your child’s backpack for a festival flier.)

A few important news items:

• This afternoon our first graders celebrated Arbor Day by participating in a tree planting led by the Montague Tree Advisory Committee. We now have a lovely red oak tree that we can all enjoy for years to come! 

• We will be re- launching the Diverse Books Family Lending Library next week!  We are very excited to get this program back up and running and we’ll have a series of lending sessions over the next few weeks in order to provide access across the grade levels. When children and families borrow a book from this collection, we encourage you to enjoy the book at home for a few days and then return it to school within a week so that others can have a turn.  We’re hosting some initial grade level lending sessions and after these take place, we’ll launch a more informal lending program where families can stop by Hillcrest during the school day to select a book to borrow.   Here are the details about our first few sessions:

  • Tuesday, May 3rd from 3:00 - 3:30 for First Grade at their Dismissal Location

  • Wednesday, May 11th from 2:45 - 3:15 for Preschool & Kindergarten at their Dismissal Location

  • Tuesday, May 17th from 2:55 - 3:15 for our Kindergarten & First Grade Bus Students

• Our Hillcrest Story Walk, featuring the text, Thank you, Omu! By Oge Mora, will be set up on our school grounds tomorrow morning and will be available for viewing through next Friday, May 7th. This is an extra special Story Walk because it features original artwork created by our first grade students.  Ms. Castro-Santos introduced our students to Thank you, Omu! in art class and led them through a series of lessons in which they created collage in the style of the text.  Please be sure to enjoy the Story Walk at the Spring Festival or any day during the upcoming week. 

• There are several Covid 19 Vaccine Clinics being offered in Franklin County over the next few weeks.  In our district, there is a Vaccine Clinic on Tuesday, May 10th from 2:00 - 6:00 at Turners Falls High School and another on Friday, May 13th from 3:30 - 6:30 at Gill Elementary School.  Please see your weekly email for a flier with additional locations and details. 

• Special thanks to the Turners Falls Fire Department for leading us in a Fire Drill on Tuesday. We appreciate their ongoing support in keeping our community safe.  

 Wishing you a wonderful weekend –

Sarah Burstein

Sarah Burstein, Hillcrest Principal

Important dates

April 30th – Friends of Hillcrest Spring Festival

May 4th - Early Release Day

May 30th – Memorial Day/No School