Reading and Respect at East Hill

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks at East Hill. Our annual PARP (Parents as Reading Partners) two-week celebration kicked off last Monday. Several of the teachers put together a skit based on the book The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. Mrs. Tynan portrayed the little old lady, Mrs. Wolbert narrated the story, and several other teachers played various roles. The kids got a big kick out of it. We are welcoming several guest readers into our classrooms every day and enjoyed going to the Book Fair last week. The Reading Celebration closing ceremony will take place this Friday. Students will sing the song, “Read it!” to the tune of Michael Jackson’s, “Beat it!” In addition the PTA will provide pencils and “PARP” corn, and students will share their character pumpkins.

Last Thursday students in Miss Button’s and Mrs. Barry’s class, with the help of Mrs. Ciarla and Miss T. (student teacher), put on a great character education assembly about Respect, which is the character trait for October. They danced along to a catchy Rap (It’s called R-E-S-P-E-C-T; I give it to you and you give it to me!) This was the first of our monthly character education assemblies put on by the students.

Our Halloween Parade will be next Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Your children should avoid wearing costumes that might scare some of our younger children. All parents are invited to attend the parade, however only the parents signed up to help with the parties will be able to attend the parties so as to keep the amount of people in the classrooms manageable.

Our next PTA meeting will be held on Monday night, November 5th at 6:30. We will have a brief presentation about our Olweus anti-bullying program. Please consider joining us. A parent video will be shown as well.

Lastly, please remember that there is no school on Monday, November 12th in observance of Veterans Day, and November 19th and November 20th are half-days due to parent conferences.

Have a good rest of the week!

The Times They Are A-Changing

I hope everyone was able to enjoy the extra day off this weekend. Hopefully you got a chance to get outside and see the beautiful fall foliage. It’s amazing how quickly the colors change. Speaking of change, we have been going through a lot of changes here at school. As I mentioned previously, we have adopted the Olweus Anti-Bullying program in response to the Dignity for All Students Act. Classroom teachers have weekly class meetings where they do activities and discuss the importance of treating each other with respect and including everyone. I’ve enjoyed being able to watch some of these meetings. Please join us at the November 5th PTA meeting for a brief Olweus parent presentation.

Another change has been the way in which we identify students receiving intervention/support services. We are now using three different points of data, versus just one test score, a teacher’s or a parent’s recommendation. These support services will begin shortly. Student lunches have also changed – they are healthier than they have been in the past in response to the newer nutrition guidelines. The way principals and teachers are evaluated is also changing as I’m sure you have heard.

Our curriculum is also changing. We are now fully implementing the Common Core Learning Standards in both English/Language Arts and Mathematics. These standards involve a shift in the way we are teaching and what students are expected to know and be able to do. I am particularly excited about the math curriculum as we will now be able to go deeper with many of the topics, enabling students to have a greater conceptual understanding of mathematics. The good news is that all of these changes are good changes! They just take time and effort and we are working tirelessly to adjust and adapt.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the variety of activities and opportunities we are able to provide our students. Our 5th graders are able to serve as Safety Patrol Officers. Safety Patrol began just last week and allows our dismissal to run smoothly. Students who completed math packets over the summer were rewarded last week by our instructional specialists. The students were taught a new math game and walked away with the supplies necessary to play the game at home. Our PARP (Parents as Reading Partners) Reading Celebration begins next week. Our theme is, “Fall into a Good Book!” We look forward to having guest readers in our classrooms, having daily DEAR time, reading at home (with the TV off), attending the fall Book Fair, and doing a variety of reading-related activities.

Stay tuned for more!

- Lisa