Happy Leap Year Day!

Over the February break the construction crew began work on what will be our new library. If all goes as scheduled, and so far it has, the library will be ready the first day of school. Work will then begin on the cafeteria which should be ready in November. The playground will be installed in the spring when the weather gets better. It's exciting for the students (and the adults) to watch the progress.

It's hard to believe that we have already been in school over one hundred days this year. The classrooms celebrated this exciting event in a number of ways last Monday. See below for just some of the activities in which students participated.

"If I were a 100 years old I would rock in a rocking chair."

Gumball Math in Kindergarten.

Making a picture with 100 dots in 1st Grade.

Writing and posting 100 words in 2nd Grade.

March Events: The March PTA meeting will be held on Wednesday, 3/9 at 6:30 in the library. The PTA will hold BINGO night at Camillus Middle School on Friday, 3/11. Doors open at 6:00 and the games begin at 6:30. It's always a fun night for the students and their families. The Education Fair will be held Tuesday, 3/15 from 6:15 to 7:45 and the 3rd grade chorus concert will be held on 3/23 at 7:00 p.m. in the gym.

This week's words of the day are difference (M), equator (T), draft (W), motion (Th), and patience (F). Have a great week!

- Lisa

Survey Says . . .

Thank you to those of you that were able to complete the East Hill parent survey created by our Shared Decision Making committee. Eighty-six people completed the survey which we felt was a good, representative sampling of our East Hill families. The results of the survey, along with the comments that were submitted, will be used to help guide our future planning. Click here to see the results if you are interested.

As discussed in my last blog before the winter break, East Hill's Vocabulary Parade the first week in February was a huge success. Bonnie Russell, our School Information Officer, put together this short, 3-minute video. Thanks, Bonnie!

Thank you also to all of the room parents and room volunteers for making the Valentine's Day party so much fun for our students. We certainly appreciate it!

It's not too late to order your yearbook. This year we will have our first custom cover with the old playground as the cover.  It will be a real memory book!  Yearbooks are $15.00 for softcover and $20 for hard cover. You can order with an order form or online at 
www.ybpay.lifetouch.com, ID code 10705616. Tonya Wilson, our yearbook editor, is in need of photos for all grades and classes.  If you have photos you would like to share, you are encouraged to do so. Submissions can be sent to 
www.community.lifetouch.com, upload code UZMUOR. 

It's also not too late to enter East Hill's annual Education Fair which will take place on Tuesday, March 15th. Our PTA has once again generously offered to purchase the display boards this year. Once students show me that they have a good start on their project, they will be given a display board. Students can do a science experiment or a reading project.

2015 Education Fair Science Experiment

2015 Education Fair Reading Project

Kindergarten registration has begun! Click here to make an appointment to register. Registration is not taking place at the elementary schools as it has in the past; registration now takes place at the Central Registrar's office located at the District Office. If you know of anyone that has a child that will be registering, please let them know. Thank you.

This week's words of the day are sum (M), abundant (T), hygiene (W), improvise (Th), and grateful (F).

Have a great week!

- Lisa

Vocabulary Parade a Hit!

Last Wednesday's Vocabulary Parade was a hit (as in a smashing success)! Over forty words were paraded and explained to the whole school in conjunction with February's character education assembly. Below are just some of the words that were showcased. 

Champion and Cheerful 

Condensation

Disappointed

Explosion

Lasso

Lounge

Measure (a multiple-meaning word)

Thank you to those of you that completed the parent survey created by our Shared Decision Making Committee. The survey will close tomorrow (Tuesday) night. If you didn't get a chance to complete it yet, just click on this link. We appreciate your feedback. 

East Hill's Second Annual Education Fair will be taking place on Tuesday, March 15th. Students can either complete a science project or a reading project. They can work alone, with a sibling, or with a friend. All students received information on this last week. Please encourage your child to do this as it is a great learning experience and a lot of fun! Display boards will once again be provided for the students this year.

February's PTA meeting will be held at the Brasserie tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 6:30 p.m. This week's words of the day are addend (M), myth (T), constellations (W), defense (Th), and disappointed (F), Valentine's parties will be held on Friday at 2:15. Please remember to not attach food to your valentines if you are in a nut-free room. Thank you for your understanding.

Next week is winter break. I hope you are able to spend some quality time with your family. Have a great week!

- Lisa

Happy February!

Enrichment Day was another huge success thanks to the efforts of our PTA and the many volunteers that came out on Saturday morning to work with our students. Thank you to Bernadette Irving and Carrie Grooms, co-coordinators of the event, for making sure everything ran smoothly. Pictured below are just some of the activities that took place on Saturday.

Have Fun with Painting 

Kids in the Kitchen

Karate

Scrapbooking

Lego Robotics

Exploring our Underwater World

Small Project Woodworking

Cake Decorating

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

Stained Glass

As I mentioned in last week's blog, our Shared Decision Making Committee designed a multiple choice survey for parents. Thank you to those of you who have already taken this survey. For those of you who have not, we value your input. Please click on this link to access the survey.

This Tuesday students will come home with information about our 2nd annual Education Fair which will be held on March 15, 2016. Students can complete a reading project or a science experiment. They can work solo, with their siblings, or with a friend or two. Please save the date!

We are really looking forward to East Hill's Vocabulary Parade this Wednesday at 10:00. If your child is participating in the parade, please feel free to join us! It should be fun to learn more about words, such as despicable, discombobulated, flabbergasted, hypochondriac, portcullis, and many, many more!

This week's words of the day are equivalent (M), ancient (T), adverb (W), offense (Th), and honest (F).

Upcoming Dates:

• The next PTA meeting will be held February 9th.
• Winter break runs from Monday, February 15th through Friday, February 19th.
• The NYS English/Language Arts assessments for grades 3-5 will be April 5th - 7th and the Mathematics assessments, also for grades 3-5, will be held April 13th - 15th. Please try to avoid scheduling appointments on these days if at all possible. There have been some changes to the testing, including a different vendor, greater involvement of teachers in the test development process, fewer numbers of passages and test questions, and a shift to untimed testing.

If you are on twitter, you can follow me @lisadcraig. Have a great week!

- Lisa