Kindergarten Registration is This Week

If you have, or know of, a child who will be starting kindergarten this fall, please be sure they register this week from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the East Hill office. For more information regarding immunizations and other requirements, please click here.

February’s character education trait is honesty and trust. We were finally able to hold the assembly after it having been postponed twice due to snow days. The second graders taught us that it was important to always be honest in order to gain someone’s trust. They also sang a song for us.

The character education trait for March is Patience and Acceptance. I think we’re going to need to be patient and accept the fact that this winter just might not end! In all seriousness though, there’s a much stronger message about patience and acceptance and Ms. O’Keefe and our student council will be presenting that to us next week.

Enjoy the rest of the week. Try to stay warm!

- Lisa

Reminder: Winter break is coming!

Unfortunately, this reminder doesn’t mean we are going to get a break from winter. It’s just a reminder that students will not have school next week. It seems as though winter is here to stay!

Students love going sledding during P.E.!

Winter break is a great time to get started on the projects for our Education Fair which will be here before we know it. It is not too late to submit an application. Students can get a display board from the office, courtesy of the PTA, once they can show that they are planning on following through on their project. Currently half of our school population is signed up to complete a project which is just awesome!

Another thing students can do over break is participate in a fun event that our bus drivers are sponsoring. They are planning on taking students to the movies next Thursday, and then returning to West Genesee Middle School where they will provide lunch for them and play all sorts of games. Look for an informational flyer to come home today or tomorrow.

Our Fifth Grade Student Council Newspaper Committee has put together the first edition of the Junior Wildcat Times.  Click here to read it. Several fifth grade students contributed articles, comics, jokes, and photographs.

Valentine’s parties will be held on Friday at 2:15. Please remember that food in the nut-free classrooms needs to come with a label so that it can be checked by the nurse and/or classroom teacher. Valentines in those classrooms should also not come with any food attached to them. You’d be surprised at the items that contain or were made in a facility that processes nuts. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Lastly, our new dismissal procedures seem to be going great. Thank you to everyone for being on time to pick up your children. Have a great winter break!

- Lisa

Happy February!

Well, as it turns out, Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow (doesn’t he always?) so we are in for at least six more weeks of winter. Now that we have some snow we can at least do some skiing and sledding.

A huge thank you goes out to the PTA for putting together another wonderful Enrichment Day for 178 of our East Hill students this past Saturday. Thank you to Bernadette Irving and Carrie Grooms for organizing the event, and thank you to all of the volunteers who gave up their time to either teach or help out in one of the classrooms. Students had a great time. Pictured below are just a few of the classes in which students were able to participate.

African Drumming

Catapulting 

Chemistry

No-Sew Blankets

Tie-Dying

Woodworking

Today we will begin our new dismissal procedures. As indicated previously, most of the changes are internal, but it will be important that you are here by 3:15 if you are picking a child up, notes are sent in advance as always, and last minute changes are kept to an absolute minimum. All students will be dismissed promptly at 3:20.

Please remember that February’s PTA meeting will be held tonight in the East Hill Library at 6:30. Hope to see you there!

- Lisa

East Hill Happenings

I am so excited to see the number of applications we have received so far for our Education Fair. To date we have students signed up to complete 41 science projects and 26 reading projects. Some students are working together so we currently have 101 students involved in the Fair altogether. Shown below is a reading project model that Mrs. Devereaux made. It is currently displayed in our lobby. If your child is interested in doing a project, please remind them to turn their application in by Thursday, although we will of course accept applications that come in later.  As a reminder, the Education Fair will be held on Tuesday, March 24^th. Students and families will be able to play math games in some of the classrooms from 6:30 – 7:00, and will be able to view the project displays from 7:00 – 7:45.

Other upcoming events to note: There is no school this Friday due to Teacher Workshop Day. The PTA’s annual Enrichment Day will be held this Saturday. The February PTA meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 3^rd at 6:30 (this is listed incorrectly in the East Hill Handbook.) Report cards will be distributed on Friday, February 6^th. Valentine’s parties will be held on February 13^th at 2:15. Please remember that treats in the nut-free classrooms must come in a labeled package so that they can be checked by Mrs. Condon, our school nurse. Winter break runs from February 16^th through February 20^th.

Please join me in welcoming East Hill’s new library media specialist, Emerald Holzwarth. Ms. Holzwarth will be joining us on Tuesday, February 3^rd. We thank Mrs. Andino for helping us out in the library these past few months. She has done a fantastic job and we will miss her.

Tomorrow you will be receiving a letter outlining our new and improved, revised dismissal procedures that will begin on Monday. As the letter states, most of the changes are internal, but it will be imperative that parents picking up their children are here by 3:15. If parents are not here by 3:15 will we assume the students need to take the bus home as there is no student supervision after the 3:20 dismissal. Any changes to transportation need to be in writing. Last minute changes need to be kept to an absolute minimum as it is the last minute changes that ultimately cause confusion. These new procedures will hopefully be much more efficient, will keep our students as safe as possible, and will get our students home quicker. I was able to watch these procedures in place at Onondaga Road Elementary and they worked great. The day I watched all buses pulled out by 3:25! Thank you for your cooperation in our new dismissal system.

Have a great rest of the week!

- Lisa

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great two-week break and were able to spend some time relaxing with friends and family. I truly enjoyed my time off. I spent some time in NYC celebrating my 39^th birthday (ha), and then traveled to Maryland to spend the holidays with family.

We are right back in the swing of things here at East Hill. Last Friday Mrs. Mercer and Mrs. McConnell, with the help of several students, presented this month’s character education assembly on perseverance. You certainly need to persevere while learning a new instrument, that’s for sure!

Dr. Brown’s annual “Talk with the Superintendent” will be held tonight at 7:00. This is a time where community members are given a chance to ask him questions and engage in a dialogue. It will be held at the WGHS Large Group Instruction room.

Save the Date! Please set aside the evening of Tuesday, March 24^th to attend East Hill’s 1^st Education Fair. Last year we combined our Science Fair with Math Night. This year we are adding a reading component which we are really excited about. Our Shared Decision Making Committee came up with the idea, and our PTA is helping us to fund the display boards. Your child should have brought home a yellow packet with more information about the Education Fair. Here are a couple of clever displays that I saw online:

Please remember that there is no school next Monday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Also, there is no school on Friday, January 30^th due to our teacher workshop day. The PTA's annual Enrichment Day is Saturday, January 31st. They are still in need of additional volunteers to help out in the classrooms. Please call Bernadette Irving at 263-8149 if you are willing to help out. Have a good rest of the week!

- Lisa

Season's Greetings!

Yesterday we had our second round of CODE assemblies presented by Officer Brand. Students learned about a variety of topics, ranging from self-esteem, to peer pressure, to internet safety. Please ask your child what they learned in the assembly.

I hope you were able to come out and enjoy East Hill’s 4^th and 5^th grade concert at the high school last night. They did such a nice job! Thank you to Mrs. Mercer and Mrs. Causer for doing such a great job preparing them in such a short time! All of the students in the school were able to watch the performance that they gave at the school during the day. The students are learning to be a good concert audience.

Today the fourth grade classes, with the help of their teachers and Mrs. Causer, presented this month’s character education trait, which is Compassion and Caring. They made up their own lyrics to Alicia Key's song, "We Are Here." It was very moving. 

Speaking of compassion and caring, thank you to everyone who participated in the PTA’s giving tree this year. Because of your generosity, the holidays will be much happier for six of our local families. Yesterday, members of the 174th Fighter Wing came to retrieve the Salvation Army Food Drive barrels that were overflowing. Thank you to everyone who donated to this great cause as well!

This Thursday we will hold holiday parties in the classrooms at 2:15. Please remember that younger siblings should be kept at home, and only those parents who have been contacted previously by the room parent should be in attendance. As a reminder, in classrooms where there are food allergies, all food items must be store-bought and contain a label that can be checked by our school nurse.

On a side note, our students and families seemed to have grown accustomed to the fact that we no longer celebrate birthdays with food. We really appreciate your cooperation with this. Students love getting books and wishes made by their classmates, and they also love the surprises that the birthday child sometimes brings in, whether it be pencils, tattoos, stickers, or even, as shown in the picture below, moustaches for the entire class!

Enjoy the time off with your family and friends, and I’ll be back in touch next year!

- Lisa

Fit Friday Returns!

Fit Friday has returned to East Hill thanks to our fifth grade student council. Two student council representatives take turns coming up with a fitness routine each week that they share with the rest of the student council representatives. Then, on Friday morning immediately following the announcements, one representative leads each of the classes in a quick routine. As you can see from the pictures below, it's a lot of fun for both the student council representatives as well as the rest of the students.

It’s been another busy week at East Hill. The kindergarteners loved going to see the Nutcracker last Friday. They were fortunate to have one of the teachers from the production come talk about it and read the book to the whole kindergarten class before they went so they had a better sense of what was happening. The first grade classes are enjoying their trips to Hospital Land. Mrs. Deegan's class will be rescheduling their field trip to Hospital Land. 

The Merry-Go-Round Youth Theatre was here last Friday presenting, “There Once Was a Longhouse” to our fourth graders. We have been so impressed by this theatrical group this year. This presentation was interactive as it allowed the students to actively participate in a simulation of life in an Iroquois village.

This Thursday we will have another round of CODE assemblies presented by Officer Brand. Please ask your child what they learn that day.

As a reminder, yearbooks are now on sale. You can order online at ybpay.lifetouch.com (ID Code: 10705615) or get another order form from the school. The deadline is Friday, December 19^th.

Don’t forget to come out for our 4^th & 5^th grade concert next Monday night at the High School. The concert starts at 7:00 p.m.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

-          Lisa