Friday News -- January 10, 2020

Hillcrest Elementary School

Friday News

January 10, 2020

Dear Hillcrest Families,

Brr!! These past few days have been especially chilly!  This time of year, the weather often pushes us to be more creative in our approaches to recess.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, the incredibly slippery combination of residual ice and fresh snow on the kindergarten and first grade playgrounds meant that we had to seek out an alternative location for recess. (Fortunately, our preschool playground was ice-free.)  Instead of using the playground, our kindergarten and first grade students spent their recess time on the plowed, ice-free parking lot on Griswold Street. While this is not ideal, getting out into the fresh air is a priority. On those parking lot days, the students use the hula hoops, draw with sidewalk chalk and engage in some very imaginative play.  Sometimes, a little bit of “boredom” leads to some creativity! When the temperatures dip below twenty degrees, I make the decision to hold recess inside. On indoor recess days, our preschoolers enjoy recess in the All Purpose Room, building with blocks and Legos, drawing pictures and doing some simple music and movement games. For our kindergarten and first grade students, indoor recess alternates between their classroom and the All Purpose Room, depending on which classroom teachers have recess duty that day.  For these students, indoor recess may include a traditional Choice Time in the classroom or a variety of activities in the All Purpose Room such as blocks, Legos, puzzles, artwork and games like Connect Four and Candyland.  

As you might guess, we certainly notice a positive difference in our students’ level of focus and attention on outdoor recess days! The vigorous activity and open-ended play that unfolds during a traditional recess on our playground has lots of physical and cognitive benefits.  For those reasons and many more, we are very dedicated to getting our students outside for recess as frequently as possible! Please keep sending in those snow pants, boots, hats and mittens . . . even on days when your “best guess” is that we may have indoor recess. If that thermometer nudges upward, we are definitely going outside!

Looking ahead, please keep these dates in mind:

• Monday, January 20th is Martin Luther King, Jr Day and there is no school.

• We will hold our Family Math Night on Thursday, January 23rd from 5:30 – 6:30.

• Friday, January 24th is Turnaround Day and there is no school.

• Friday, January 31st will be a very busy day!  At 9:00, we will have January All School Meeting with presentations from Mrs. Prevett’s preschoolers, Mrs. Fox’s kindergarten students, and Miss Matrishon’s first graders.  Following All School Meeting at 9:30, all Hillcrest families are invited to attend a Family Read-Aloud featuring books from our Diverse Books Collection. In Mrs. Prevett’s classroom, the featured book is A Family is a Family by and in Miss Matrishon’s classroom, the featured book is Those Shoes by 

• Later on Friday, the 31st, please come back to Hillcrest at 5:30 for Cocoa, Cookies and Crafts sponsored by Friends of Hillcrest.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ---

Sarah Burstein, Principal