November Newsletter

Hillcrest Elementary School Newsletter

November 2018

Upcoming Important Dates:

• Wednesday, December 5 – Half Day In-Service
• Friday, December 21 – All School Meeting, 9 a.m.
• Monday, December 24 to Tuesday, January 1 – December Recess

Principal News

Thank you to all the friends, families and community members who attended our November All School Meeting today! This month’s theme was Gratitude. . . a perfect opportunity to express my gratitude for all that you do to contribute to a vibrant school community here at Hillcrest. Family involvement in school comes in many forms . . . attending All School Meetings, coming to Parent Conferences, helping your student with homework, reading bedtime stories or simply taking a few minutes to ask your student about their day. Thank you!

A few important notes:

• Student Report Cards will be mailed home today, so they should reach your mailbox early next week. If you have not received your student’s report card by Tuesday, please let us know.
• If you are a parent or guardian of a Special Education student, please take a few minutes to vist the GMRSD website (www.gmrsd.org) to complete the Parent/Guardian Advisory Council Survey.
• The GMRSD Food Drive to benefit MCSM began on November 19th and continues through December 14th. You can find donations boxes located outside our main office.
• Wednesday, December 5th is an Early Release Day. Our preschoolers will be dismissed at 11:30 and our kindergarten and first grade students will be dismissed at noon. Lunch will be served.
• We will be holding a Safety Drill on Wednesday, December 4th after dismissal. This drill will NOT impact our regular Early Release dismissal schedule. However, you may see several safety vehicles parked in our main traffic circle around noon. These vehicles will be at school to assist with the drill.
• Looking ahead . . . please note that our December All School Meeting will be held on Friday, December 21st.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend --

Sarah Burstein

Preschool

Our classes have finished our first Tools theme, “Family,” and look forward to our next theme, “Grocery Store.” We are busy building our new theme by using our background knowledge to make props for centers. Classrooms centers may include: check out, home, bakery, delivery dock. We are very excited to go on a field trip to Big Y in Greenfield on Friday, December 7 to help enrich our play for this fun theme. In science, we have been discussing the weather and noticing its changes and how the weather affects animals. A very special thank you to families for meeting with us during parent conferences.

Ms. Chanda, Ms. Sarah and Ms. Teresa

Kindergarten

In kindergarten we continue to build our literacy and math skills. We are reading our second Magic Tree House book that focuses on castles, knights, and the medieval times. We read one chapter a day as a class and practice our writing with chapter summaries. We learned a lot about the Middle Ages during our fact building week!

We are practicing phonemic awareness, letter sounds and names, and segmenting sounds in our small group literacy activities. We continue to use Fundations to learn not only the letter names and sounds but also the correct way to write each letter. We have been focusing a lot on beginning sounds. Can your child tell you the first sound heard in a given word? This is a great skill to practice at home.

Kindergarten students are working towards building their number sense. We are practicing matching numerals with correct amounts, representing and comparing numbers, and putting numbers in the correct order. We still continue to work on writing the numerals correctly. How can you help build your child’s number sense at home? Count everything!

It’s cold out! Please remember we are outside everyday weather permitting. Please send in appropriate winter weather gear for your child.

The kindergarten team,

Mrs. Fox, Ms. Hirst & Mrs. Lesenski

First Grade

In Reading, first graders continue to use comprehension strategies as they read. After reading with your child, try checking in and asking them ‘what happened in the story?’. In first grade, we work on retelling details such as the characters, setting, and main events.
In Phonics, first graders worked on the “floss rule” or bonus letter rule. This happens when a single syllable word with a short vowel ends in f, l, and s the letter gets doubled like in well, puff and mess. We have also started working on “glued sounds” like an, am, all. This means that the short a vowel is “glued” to the ending consonant and can’t be separated without changing the sounds in the word. (Can you think of some examples of words that follow this rule?)
In Math, we are beginning to work on solving story problems involving addition and subtraction. Students use a variety of strategies to solve (such as drawing a picture or math mountain). They’ll be learning the process of how to solve a word problem by understanding the problem, showing their work, finding a solution and checking their answer.
In Social Studies, we have wrapped up our study of Thanksgiving. We have been reading stories about the first Thanksgiving and discussing the importance and history of the holiday. Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks. We will develop our understanding of gratitude as we explore ways to share and show our thanks.
We were happy to meet with all of you during fall conferences so we could show you all the wonderful work your children are doing!

Miss Casey, Miss Matrishon, Mrs. Saylor, Ms. Smith

PE

Hi Parents. With the snow’s arrival, a quick reminder: Your student athletes must have sneakers for Physical Education. Boots are not safe for the students to run in on the floors. Thanks.

Mr. Wood

English Learner News from Ms. Wulfkuhle

After studying vocabulary for emotions and practicing sequencing stories, kindergarten students wrote their own story about a time they felt a strong emotion. They are now learning skills for presenting their work and sharing with their classes. First grade students have been learning about non-fiction texts. After teachers and community members brought in family artifacts to share, the students wrote captions to describe the photographs we took of our visitors. They are now in the process of creating a book with those photographs and captions.

From the Health Office

We have had a great November here at Hillcrest.

The Fluoride Mouthrinse Program is going well in first grade. Each week during the “One Minute Swish” I present a dental related trivia question. The children have learned that the earliest toothbrush bristles were made out of boar, badger, and horse hair. They also now know that it is the crocodile that has its teeth cleaned by a bird.

Hearing and vision screenings are almost complete. I have very much enjoyed the opportunity to visit with and get to know each of your children a little bit more. If your child’s screening indicates that a follow-up exam is needed you will receive a referral letter from the school nurse. I will call to let you know I am sending the letter home. The referral letter is to let you know that your student needs further examination by their primary care provider or by a specialist. Early detection of vision and hearing difficulties is important for physical, social-emotional, and educational health and well-being. Please have the referral letter completed by the doctor and returned to the school nurse as soon as possible.

Flu Season has arrived. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the best way to protect your child from the flu is with a flu vaccine. In addition to the flu vaccine, other ways to protect against the flu are to always cover coughs and sneezes by coughing into the elbow, to wash hands frequently, and to avoid touching the eyes, nose, and mouth. Please talk with your child about these healthy habits.

Wishing you a wonderful Fall finish!

Always feel free to call or stop in at the health office if you have any questions or updates.

Nurse Francis

Yankee Candle

If you are wishing you could still help Friends of Hillcrest out by making a purchase through Yankee Candle, you are in luck. Yankee Candle is allowing us to have online orders continue from now until January 9, 2019. Your purchases ship directly to your home and our group will receive a profit of each and every sale.

• Go to www.yankeecandlefundraising.com and enter Friends of Hillcrest group number : 999970069 in the “Start Shopping” box.

Fundraising

We are going to be sending home a letter soon to hear from you all. We have one more take home fundraiser to plan and an out of school fundraiser to plan. Have ideas on what you’d like to sell or plan, please email friendsofhillcrest2015@gmail.com with your suggestions.

Playground Committee

Are you interested in how the new Kindergarten and First Grade playground is designed? Are you interested in having some input and attend meetings? Be sure to contact Friends of Hillcrest’s subcommittee Playground Committee at hillcrestplayground@gmail.com.

Save the Date

• FoH Meeting – Tuesday, December 18^th at 4:00-5:30pm
  
  • Free childcare is provided by a former Hillcrest staff member

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact Friends of Hillcrest at friendsofhillcrest2015@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook and join our FoH Planning and Organizing Group!

The Gill Montague Regional School District does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, marital status, race, color, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, ancestry, genetic information or military service. The Gill Montague Regional School District maintains a commitment to ensuring that the school community is free from discrimination in education and employment.