Friday News - January 31, 2020

Friday, January 31, 2020

 

Hillcrest Elementary School

Friday News

January 31, 2020

 

Dear Hillcrest Families,

Thank you to all of the Hillcrest families and friends who attended our January All School Meeting today!  We enjoyed some very engaging presentations from all three grade levels. Mrs. Prevett’s preschoolers shared a poem that focused on the different things that our preschoolers are learning to do and how they feel about their accomplishments.  This was related to their classroom focus on building self confidence and positive self-esteem. Mrs. Fox’s kindergarten class shared a poem about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These kindergarten students have been learning about Dr. King and all that he did to help make our country a better place: a place where we can be treated equally and our differences can be celebrated.  Miss Matrishon’s first graders have been busy brainstorming the different ways that they can spread kindness in their classroom, at home and in the community. Today, they presented illustrated examples of their acts of kindness.  Each of these presentations was connected to grade level curriculum standards in Social Studies and to the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice standards. In particular, today’s presentations reflected the following Social Justice Standards:

IDENTITY Standard #1 Students will develop positive social identities based on their membership in multiple groups in society. 

IDENTITY Standard #4 Students will express pride, confidence and healthy self-esteem without denying the value and dignity of other people.

JUSTICE Standard #6 Students will express comfort with people who are both similar to and different from them and engage respectfully with all people.

Today, we also hosted two Family Read-Alouds in preschool and first grade.  The stories read today are part of our Diverse Books Collection and we now have a small Family Lending Library featuring these books.  So far, the lending library includes Thunder Boy,Jr., Alma and How She Got Her Name, A Family is a Family, and Those Shoes.  Please feel free to stop by the lending library bookshelf in the front entryway to sign out a book to enjoy at home! Special thanks to the Gill Montague Education Fund for the grant that is sponsoring this project. 

Looking ahead, please keep these dates in mind:

  • Wednesday, February 5th is an Early Release Day

  • School Vacation Week is February 17th - February 21st

  • February All School Meeting is on Friday, February 28th

  • Read Across Hillcrest is on Friday, March 6th

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ---

Sarah Burstein, Principal