October Newsletter
Hillcrest Elementary School Newsletter
October 2019
Dear Hillcrest Families,
Happy October to all of you! It was such a pleasure to see so many Hillcrest families at our Open House on October 11th and again today at our October All School Meeting. Your involvement in our school community makes such a positive difference in your child’s educational experience. Thank you for making time to participate in school events.
I am excited to announce that Hillcrest staff members have been awarded three grants by the Gill-Montague Education Fund! Here are the details:
- Katie Hopp, Technology Teacher, has been awarded a GMEF Grant to purchase OSMO digital technology kits for use in our preschool and kindergarten Technology classes. OSMO is an interactive tool that promotes creativity, problem-solving, early literacy skills, and social-emotional learning. As Ms. Hopp wrote in her grant application, OSMO kits engage young students with technology in a way that goes “beyond just clicking and swiping.” If you want to learn more about OSMO, check out this link: https://www.playosmo.com/en/
- Jesse Sinclair, Special Education Teacher, and Halina Radosz, Adjustment Counselor, have been awarded a GMEF Grant to build a collection of children’s literature called Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Book Nooks. These Books Nooks will be available for use in our special education and our general education classrooms. For more information on SEL Book Nooks, you can check out The Center for Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html#booknook
- Lea Wulfkuhle, ELL Teacher, has been awarded a GMEF Grant to develop a lending library program featuring selected texts in our Hillcrest Diverse Books collection. This lending program will also be supported by four different family events designed to help families learn more about this collection of books and the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards. For more information on the Social Justice Standards, check out Teaching Tolerance at https://www.tolerance.org/frameworks/social-justice-standards
We are grateful to the Gill-Montague Education Fund for their generosity. This local non-profit group has funded a range of exciting enrichment projects across the district. Be sure to visit their website to learn more about their work and their annual fundraising gala: http://www.thegmef.org/
A few important news items:
- Our October School Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 29th at 3:30. We welcome all community members to this meeting -- please consider joining us to learn more about our School Improvement Plan and other school initiatives.
- Picture Retake Day will be Wednesday, October 30th.
- School Banking takes place every Friday morning.
- Parent Conferences will be held on Thursday, November 7th and Friday, November 8th. Be on the lookout for more information from your child’s teacher about the conference schedule.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend --
Sarah Burstein
Sarah Burstein, Principal
Preschool News
In preschool we have been continuing to learn and practice the rules and routines of school. We review rules and routines often with children throughout the year, but building this foundation early in the year for our students leads to better quality learning as the school year progresses. Additionally, we work very hard this time of year to do activities that build community in our classrooms. The children feeling that they belong here at school is of upmost importance to us, as well as, their learning.
We have moved into our October Bridges math focusing our math explorations around pumpkins and leaves. We have sorted, patterned, weighed, measured, compared, and counted using pumpkins and leaves. We have been very busy!
All the preschool classrooms are also beginning our first Tools of the Mind theme: Family. We are turning our centers into different areas of a home, and the children will be taking on roles of different family members.
Finally, as the weather changes, please be sure to send your children dressed appropriately to go out to recess. Our recess is at 11:30 and some days it is still quite chilly out.
Thank you!
Ms. Chanda, Ms. Sarah and Ms. Teresa
Kindergarten
Dear Families,
We have finished our Fairy Tales unit and it was enjoyed by all! Everyone had the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of what was read by playing different roles and retelling the story. When reading the fairy tales, we put ourselves in different characters’ shoes, thinking about how they felt and what they were thinking, we talked about beginning, middle and end, and we practiced visualizing the stories in our minds. We also compared different versions of the fairy tale and made story comparisons.
Now that we have finished with fairy tales, we have begun reading The Magic Tree House book series! We have started with the book Dinosaurs Before Dark. Prior to reading each Magic Tree House book we will spend time building background knowledge about the topic through reading nonfiction texts. We will also think critically about these stories, so please do not read these books at home until we have finished at school. One of our critical thinking strategies is being able to make a prediction; it is impossible to make a prediction when you already know exactly what is going to happen! We have been learning a lot about letters as well. During our phonics time we learn about their names, sounds, and the correct way to write the letters.
During math, we are learning all about numbers and shapes. We have been learning to identify and describe shapes. We are learning to identify numbers, write numbers and gain a concrete understanding of how many each number stands for through a variety of math activities. If you would like to help your child with math at home, counting is a great way to do so.
As the colder temperatures creep in, we are wearing our jackets and sweatshirts outside more and more. The expectation in kindergarten is that children are able to independently put all of their clothes on. Please have your child practice the important self-help skill of putting on their coat or sweatshirt. It is equally important to practice how to take a jacket or sweatshirt off without turning it inside out, and practicing how to fix it if that does happen. Thank you for taking the time to work on this with your child.
Parent-teacher conferences are Thursday, November 7th and Friday, November 8th. We will be sending reminders home of the time that your conference is scheduled as the date approaches. We are looking forward to getting the chance to meet with you about your child.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Lesenski, & Ms. Hirst
First Grade
October has brought lots of different kinds of fall weather that we have been keeping track of as a part of our fall science unit. We have been looking for different “signs” of fall as the weather has been changing. This fall has given us some great opportunities to find these signs.
In language arts we have worked on short vowel words. The children have learned word families that contain short vowels such as hot, pot, spot. They will continue to build, read and write these words daily. We have also learned about diagraphs, such as ch, sh, wh, th and ck, which have 2 letters that only have one sound. We have combined this with what we know about the short vowel words to create new words. The children are identifying the sound and the letter combination and are beginning to use it in their reading and writing.
In math we have a new math program – Bridges In Mathematics. We are learning about math in many different ways. The children have used dominoes and “Number Flaps” to learn about adding and subtracting numbers in a fact family (6+4=10, 4+6=10, 10-6=4, 10-4=6). During our Number Corner, we have learned about using our calendar patterns to write equations and to tell story problems using adding and subtracting. We have been doing shape collections during which we spin and add shapes. We graph how many shapes we have and then compare weekly totals with the words greater than, less than, more and less. We have are continuing to do work job centers that reinforce these lessons and allow children to work with a partner or independently.
Homework will begin soon. Every week you will receive a book bag with books that the children can read independently or with a little help. Also included is a reading log. On Thursdays, there will be a comprehension sheet that you can complete with your child. Be on the lookout for book bags. Your children are looking forward to reading to you. Please return the signed reading logs and comprehension on Friday so that we can send home more books!
Miss Matrishon, Mrs. Saylor, Ms. Smith
English Learner News
Kindergarten English Learners have been learning about the language of science while studying the weather and sunlight. Some of the questions we've been thinking about are: What is weather? How do we prepare for and protect ourselves from the weather? How does the sun affect our world? We have been charting and describing the weather daily while learning about different types of weather.
First grade students have been learning about basic world geography and the seven continents. We are exploring how artifacts can help tell family stories. Some first graders have also started weekly reading buddies with some students from Ms. Teresa's preschool class. They have had fun planning activities and conversation questions for their preschoolers. Ms. Wulfkuhle is also continuing to visit classes for morning meeting, teaching some songs and greetings and sharing a read aloud.
Ms. Wulfkhule
Music
Music in the lower elementary grades focuses on matching pitch, keeping a steady beat, tempo (fast and slow), and dynamics (loud and soft). Music classes follow a routine: 1. Students march into class keeping a steady beat. 2. Students perform vocal warm ups to help sing in the head voice and match pitch. 3. Student sing selected songs or music activities for the day. Music activities focus on one or more of the following; singing in tune, keeping a steady beat, tempo, and dynamics. 4. Class ends with the teacher singing a book to the class.
Susan King, Music Teacher
News from the Health Office
Happy Fall to you all! I have been enjoying getting to know all the children as they adjust to the school year and I adjust as the school nurse at Hillcrest Elementary.
Thank you to everyone who completed and returned the medical information forms. These forms are important as they inform the nurse of any medical issues and give permissions to contact the primary physician and to give over-the-counter medications such as calamine lotion, Ibuprofen and Tylenol to your child. Without a signed form, the nurse cannot administer any over-the-counter medications to your child. If you have not received the medical information form, please contact the school nurse.
Some Health Office Reminders:
If your child has a physical exam or gets any immunizations during the school year, please send a copy to the school nurse.
If your child has a contagious illness (such as pink eye, strep throat, or hand, foot and mouth disease) please let the school nurse know so other classrooms and families can be notified if a trend is seen within the classroom or the building. Also, with a fever of 100 degrees or higher, illnesses requiring antibiotics (such as impetigo, pink eye, or strep throat), vomiting/diarrhea, and chickenpox please keep your child home from school. Your child may return to school once antibiotics have been given for 24 hours or once the symptoms of fever/vomiting/diarrhea have been gone for 24 hours without medicine or once all chickenpox sores are dry and scabbed over.
The Fluoride Mouth Rinse Program, is a free-of-cost program funded by the MA Department of Public Health Office of Oral Health, and is being offered to 1st grade students. This weekly 1 minute rinse will begin in November. If you would like your first grader to participate please be sure to return the permission form that was sent home.
A Health Screening requirement letter is attached to this October Newsletter.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for all you do to help keep our Hillcrest community healthy!
Melissa Bednarski, BSN, RN
Hillcrest Elementary School Nurse