Do You Believe in Magic?

The magic continued this past week at East Hill with our two-week Parents as Reading Partners Reading Celebration. We were fortunate to welcome so many guest readers into our classroom thanks to our wonderful PTA who coordinated it all.

Dr. Brown reads "Scaredy Squirrel" to Mrs. Butkowski's Class

Students continued to Drop Everything and Read every day and were able to visit the Scholastic Book Fair last week.

Our reading celebration concluded on Friday with a visit from Jeff the Magic Man. Thanks again to the PTA for the funding, and thank you to Janet McDonald for finding him. Kids loved him!

Jeff the Magic Man with Kash Preble assisting.

In addition to guest readers, Mrs. Tynan’s class had a guest visitor in their classroom last week to talk about the skeletal system, which they had been studying in class. Thank you to Mr. Rufa for coming to visit and for bringing in the skeleton and all of those cool bones for the students to explore!

Speaking of skeletons, our Halloween parade and parties will take place this Friday. Please send your child’s costume to school in a bag. Students may not come to school in costume or wearing make-up. All scary, violent, bloody masks, weapons, spears or other dangerous accessories are not appropriate for school and must remain at home. Our youngest students can be frightened easily, and we want them to have a positive experience.

Weather permitting, the parade will be held in front of the school so we will not be allowing cars to park on the bus loop. If we need to hold the parade inside, we will have parents line the hallway by the library and/or view the parade from inside the gym. The parade will begin at 2:00.

Halloween parties will be held in the classrooms after the parade. Only adults who are already designated helpers will be permitted into the classrooms during the parties, and those helpers must sign in at the main office and wear a visible visitor’s badge. Helpers are asked not to bring younger children. We ask that all helpers (and all adults coming to view the parade) not wear masks so that you can be easily identified. Thank you for your cooperation in all things Halloween!

Lastly, as mentioned last week, the High School’s R² Committee is holding a Halloween Carnival on Thursday night. Click on this link to access the flyer about the event: http://www.westgenesee.org/PDFs/WGHS/R2%20Halloween%20Carnival.pdf

Although our two-week reading celebration has come to an end, please continue to read to, read with, and encourage your children to read, as reading truly is magic!

- Lisa

Reading is Magic!

It’s been a magical week at East Hill. Students are really enjoying our two-week PARP/Reading Celebration. Each classroom has been treated to a variety of guest readers. Thank you to all of the readers who have come in thus far and to the PTA for coordinating it!

Mrs. Benenati reads to students in Mrs. Wangsness' room.

Last Wednesday was Pajama Day which was a big hit for the students, no matter their age! This coming Friday is School Spirit Day so students should wear their blue and gold. Also this week is the Scholastic Book Fair which takes place Tuesday through Thursday, with a Family Night scheduled for Wednesday from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Ella and Elle showing off their PJs!

5th Graders from Mr. Meaney's class happy to show off their pajamas as well!

Also during the two-week celebration we have DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time daily. No matter where the students are in the building, when they hear “Oh, Oh, Oh it’s Magic” over the PA (the Selena Gomez version, not the ELO version that most of us are more familiar with), they drop what they are doing and read. 

Cameron seems right at home with his book.

Samantha and Sean, second graders in Mrs. Thome's class, enjoying their books.

Teachers and students are looking forward to “Teacher Switch and Read” day which takes place tomorrow. Our two-week celebration will conclude this Friday with an assembly led by a special guest. Students will then return to their room for their “PARP”sicles before heading home at 11:30.

Our CODE assemblies began last Thursday at East Hill. CODE stands for Community Oriented Drug Education. Officer Diane Brand presents grade-appropriate topics to each of the different grade levels for about 20-30 minutes. These presentations include topics such as personal safety, bullying prevention, and drug awareness, just to name a few. She helps us reinforce our school rules which are 1) We will not bully others; 2) We will try to help students who are bullied; 3) We will try to include students who are left out; and 4) If we know that somebody is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and an adult at home.

Officer Brand presenting to our 5th graders.

The high school’s R² committee is putting on a Halloween Carnival on Thursday, October 30th from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. at the high school. It sounds like a lot of fun. A flyer for the event is attached.

Next Friday, October 31st, our Halloween Parade will begin at 2:00 with parties immediately following. In planning ahead for your child’s costume, please make sure they choose something appropriate as we don’t want to scare our younger students. No costumes with any sort of weapons will be allowed. Only those parents who have signed up and have been contacted to help in the rooms during the parties will be allowed down the hallways and in the classrooms. If you will be helping out in the classrooms it will be necessary to leave younger siblings at home and sign in at the office. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Lastly, our new dismissal procedure seems to be going well. We will probably make a few more changes before we get it to where we want it to be, but we appreciate your help. Please make sure we either have a note on file in the office if you are picking up your child, or send one in on the morning you plan to pick up your child.

Have a good rest of the week!

- Lisa

Another Great Week at East Hill!

As you can see by the pictures below, the past week has been great at East Hill. We had our monthly character education assembly presented by our fifth graders, a visit from the Camillus Fire Department to talk about fire safety with our first graders, another production from the Merry-Go-Round Youth Theatre for our fifth graders, and our two-week Reading Celebration was kicked off today.

The character education trait of the month is Respect. The fifth graders acted out the book Hey, Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose. They also talked about different ways students can demonstrate respect.

Jordan Davie, a firefighter and EMT from the Camillus Fire Department spent an hour with each of our first grade classrooms discussing fire safety. He reviewed what students should do if there is a fire in their home, and what they shouldn’t do. He reinforced the importance of all families having a safe spot where they should go to in the event of a fire, like the mailbox, and an escape plan. He suited up in full gear so that students would know what a full-dressed fire-fighter would look like if one needed to come into their home. He even put on his oxygen mask so students could hear his Darth Vader talk.

The Merry-Go-Round Youth Theatre presented “Emelia and the Heart of the Amazon” to the fifth graders. The Merry-Go-Round actors spend the first 30 minutes of their time here in the individual classrooms preparing students for the production. The message of this particular play was that everyone has to play a part in protecting the environment.

Today was the kick-off for our two-week reading celebration. Miss Stevens wrote the story, "Timmy Finds the Magic" and Mrs. Wolbert, Mr. Meaney, Mrs. Bush, Mrs. Deegan, Mrs. Procopio and Mrs. Tuttle acted it out. The students loved it. Please encourage your child to read every day for at least fifteen minutes, not just during this two-week reading celebration.

Please remember that our new dismissal procedures start today. The doors will be open at 3:05 and all students being picked up will be called down at 3:15 with a blanket announcement, “All students being picked up are now dismissed.” Please depart the building as soon as you meet up with your child to help clear the lobby. Please be here by 3:15 to pick up your child, and make sure we have a note in advance. As explained before, one note will suffice for the year if the days remain the same, but if you randomly pick up your child, we will need a note that morning. Thank you for your cooperation. The intent is to ensure that we are taking every possible precaution to  keep our students safe. Lastly, please remember that Friday, October 24th is a half-day. Dismissal is at 11:30.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

- Lisa

An Exciting Week Ahead!

The 5^th grade class is in charge of this week’s character education assembly that they will present to us on Wednesday afternoon. We have incorporated a school song into our assemblies this year which students have been learning in music and everyone seems to enjoy. The Merry-Go-Round Youth Theatre will be here again this Thursday, this time to present to our fifth graders. Last week they presented A Happy Circus to our kindergarteners.

Third graders in Mrs. Tuttle's room worked on their pumpkin globes again this year. Thank you to Mrs. Glass for coming in to help.

Izzy and Dublin working together

Liam really enjoys this project!

This week is Fire Prevention Week. We are looking forward to having the Camillus Fire Department visit our first graders on Thursday and Friday to talk about fire safety.

Speaking of safety, it has become important for us to tighten up and review our dismissal procedures. Thank you for your support and for following these procedures to keep our children safe in school. Effective Tuesday, October 14th:

School doors will be locked during the day from 9:10 to 3:05. Parents are asked to arrive at school no earlier than 3:05 (3:10 is preferable) to begin signing students out at the table in the lobby. Once you have signed your child out please wait quietly in the main lobby. Do not wander down the hallways.

Children being picked up will be dismissed from their classrooms at 3:15. We will not call students individually as we have done in the past. We will make one announcement that states, “All students being picked up are now dismissed.” It will therefore be very important that your child knows ahead of time if you are or are not picking him/her up. If you pick your child up every day, please send in a note indicating that you will be doing so. That note will suffice for the year. If you have sent in that note, and will be unable to pick up your child on a certain day, please send in a note to let us know. For those of you that pick up your child once in a while, please send in a note only on those days.

Once dismissed, students will come to the lobby to meet up with the person that has signed them out. Please depart promptly at that time to alleviate congestion in the lobby.  Help us to keep your children safe by clearing the main entrance so that students being dismissed to the buses are not walking through and among the adults in the main doorway.

Please remember that all transportation changes must be made in writing. Last minute phone calls and emails only add confusion to the office and our young students and often result in students getting upset and sometimes missing the bus or their ride.

Finally, all visitors at any other time during the school day must stop at the Main Office and sign in for a Visitor’s Badge.

Once again, thank you for your help while we take all precautions to keep your children safe at school. Please call me if you have any questions. One last note – please remember that Friday, October 24^th is a half-day. Dismissal will be at 11:30.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

- Lisa

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