Another Year (Almost) Over

It's hard to believe that 2014-2015 is coming to a close. It seems to have been a whirlwind of a year. Our fifth graders will be graduating on Wednesday morning at 9:30. As I write this they are currently at CMS touring their new building. I want to say a special thank you to the PTA for all of your support this year. The students, the teachers, and I appreciate all that you do, from the Ice Cream Social in September, to Enrichment Day in January, to all of the field trips and supplies that you have generously given to the classrooms, and much, much more. A special thank you also goes out to Mrs. Wilson for the phenomenal job she has done with the yearbook. 

The students voted on the playground colors and equipment. They decided to go with the blue and yellow color scheme, and chose the Flywheel Spinner and the OmniSpin Spinner. We are not sure of the exact time frame for the new playground but I will keep you posted!

Thank you to the CMS band for coming to play with our fifth graders for our Flag Day Ceremony. We ended up having great weather for this annual event. 

Please remember that we will have an 11:30 dismissal this Tuesday and Wednesday and Wednesday is the last day of school. If you have a child moving up to CMS for the first time, please make sure you sign up to receive CMS notifications. Lastly, if you know of any incoming kindergarteners (or other students for that matter) please send them our way for registration.

Have a super summer!!

- Lisa

Assemblies and Field Trips and Engineering, Oh My!

This past week has been, without a doubt, one of the busiest that we’ve had all year! Last Monday our second graders went to Beaver Lake Nature Center. They learned about the various types of plants and species of animals that thrive around the lake. They especially loved learning about the carnivorous plants.

Some of Mrs. Thome's students at Beaver Lake.

On Tuesday we had our year end CODE assembly. Officer Brand presented awards to the fourth grade Internet Safety poster contest winners – Ella Kemp, Evan Quinn, and Ryan Till. We heard fifth graders Libby Vignogna, Joey Neimeier, and Patrick Linton read their winning, well-researched essays about why they plan to lead drug and alcohol free lives. We were fortunate to have Officer Grace, Chief Winn, and Dr. Brown in attendance as well.

Officer Brand announcing the Poster Contest winners.

On Wednesday our fifth graders met with CMS counselors to learn more about the middle school, and our third graders were treated to an “Around the World” Strings Quartet to showcase the different string instruments they can play in fourth grade.

On Thursday we held our annual Lemonade Serenade Volunteer Reception for all of the many people who donate their time to our school. The fifth Grade Battle of the Books took place Thursday afternoon.

Lemonade Serenade

Battle of the Books

On Friday our first graders went to the zoo while our fourth graders took a trip on the Erie Canal where they had the experience of going through an actual lock. Engineers from Lockheed Martin came to work with our fifth graders on designing a device to safely land an egg.

1st Graders in Mrs. Reina's class at the zoo.

Students collaborating to solve the egg-dropping dilemma.

4th Graders cruising the Erie Canal

Yesterday, our kindergarteners visited Fesko Farms in Skaneateles and our fifth graders went to Lourdes Camp to try out the Ropes Course. Our monthly character education assembly was presented by the first graders. This month’s character education trait is Cooperation.

Mrs. Augello's class at the Farm

5th Graders working together on the Ropes Course

1st Grade Cooperation Assembly

A HUGE thank you goes out to the PTA who was responsible for many of the events listed above. We appreciate all of your support. June will continue to be a busy month. I will send out another blog next week, but please remember that the last two days of school (June 23 and June 24) are half-days with an 11:30 dismissal. Fifth grade graduation will take place on the 24th at 11:30. Lastly, it is not too late to register for kindergarten. If you know of anyone with any incoming kindergarteners, please send them our way!  Enjoy the rest of the week.

-          Lisa

Happy June!

Well, May certainly flew by quickly! We have a lot of exciting things coming up in the month of June. We also ended May with a couple of great events. Two of our classes, Mrs. Devereaux's kindergarten class and Mrs. Greco's third grade class, were able to go to the Special Olympics this year. What a wonderful event! Everyone had a good time. Thank you to the PTA for helping to fund the T-shirts that we all wore.

This past Saturday 5th graders from across the district participated in a Mud Run at East Hill. Ms. O'Keefe came up with the idea and all of the other PE teachers helped to make it happen. Thank you for pulling this off - the kids loved it!

This Thursday at 11:00 we will hold our annual Lemonade Serenade Volunteer Reception followed by our June PTA meeting at 12:00. Don't forget to mark your calendars for our Flag Day Parade which will begin at 12:45 on Friday, June 12th. We are fortunate to have the CMS band with us again this year. 

Our last CODE assembly of the year takes place this afternoon, and our last character education assembly will be held next Monday. The rest of June is filled with Field Days and field trips. It is important that your child(ren) dress appropriately for these fun events.

Please remember that the last two days of school, June 23rd and June 24th, are half-days. Dismissal will be at 11:30. Have a great rest of the week!

- Lisa

May Madness

I looked at the list of things I wanted to include in this blog and the only title I could come up with that seemed appropriate was May Madness. We have so many things going on; it's all good though! I will try to keep it brief.

First of all, don't forget to get and vote on the school budget today. Voting takes place in the high school auditorium lobby and polls are open until 9:00 p.m. Thank you to all of the East Hill room parents who made budget calls and thank you to those of you that are volunteering your time to work the polls this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon and last night we were treated to a fantastic spring concert. The orchestra, band, and chorus did an awesome job. I am always so impressed by the growth they make from the fall to the spring.

Our fifth grade student council has been busily making plans for a carnival which will be put on for the entire school next Wednesday. The carnival will be run by the whole fifth grade. We are hoping the weather cooperates because they have been working hard on this project.

Two weeks ago our kindergarten put on an amazing character education assembly. They signed and sang the words to "Rainbow Connection" to teach us all a lesson about Kindness and Courtesy. They quoted Mark Twain, "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." Here is a link to a video of them signing.

During P.E. classes this week the students are voting on the color scheme they prefer for our new playground as well as choosing two new pieces of equipment. So far the blue and gold color scheme isn't coming out the strong leader that I thought it would! Students seem to have a preference for Carolina Blue and Silver but it's early to tell.

I will be sending out a letter to all 5th grade parents soon that outlines all of the upcoming dates that apply specifically to fifth grade. The recognition ceremony will be held on the last day of school this year, June 24th, at 9:30 a.m.

Lastly, there is no school this Friday as we didn't use up all of our snow days, and Monday we will be closed in observance of Memorial Day. Ms. O'Keefe's running club will be running the 5K at the parade so if you're there, please cheer them on!

- Lisa

"I Want to Walk a Mile in Your Shoes"

Chances are that your child came home singing this catchy tune yesterday afternoon. Thanks to our wonderful PTA, we were able to bring Vitamin L here once again to perform. The Vitamin L Project is dedicated to encouraging positive character development in young people through uplifting, inspiring music. Mrs. Causer has spent the past few weeks teaching the students several of the songs. It was great to hear them sing along.

Today Mr. Kesel, our Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, taught our third graders about Newton's Laws of Motion. They love to see how he demonstrates these!

Upcoming Events: Next Monday, May 4th, Dr. Brown will present the budget at the WGHS LGI room. Our May PTA meeting will be held prior to the meeting at 6:15.

On Friday, May 8th the High School R2 Committee will be sponsoring another Community Movie Night. Click here for more details.

May 15th will be a half day for students, with dismissal at 11:30.

Have a good rest of the week!

- Lisa

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a nice spring break. It's hard to believe we are in the homestretch now. Our fifth graders will be graduating before we know it!

We've had some exciting happenings at East Hill recently. Our fifth grade student council concluded their Pennies for Patients campaign. They raised $3000.00 to be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Channel 9 News came out to East Hill to do a story on the project. You can watch the news segment here. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this very worthwhile endeavor!

Several third and fourth grade students were chosen to be members of our design team that is helping to make decisions about our new playground. They met with representatives from the playground company that has been selected, Parkitect, to look over the initial designs and give their feedback. Click here to see Parkitect's rendering of the playground. The whole student body will also have a say in their new playground. They will be able to vote on the color scheme as well as choose a couple of pieces of equipment.

Our third graders have been busy over the past few weeks. In addition to helping out with the playground design, they held their spring concert for the school and their families, and were in charge of the April character education assembly which was on Citizenship.

On Tuesday through Thursday of this week our third through fifth graders will take the NYS English Language Arts Assessment. They will take the NYS Math Assessment next Wednesday through Friday. The students are well-prepared for these assessments. Please make sure your child is well-rested and well-fed. Please let me know if you have any questions about these assessments.

We could use a few more volunteers to staff the polls for the District Budget Vote on Tuesday, May 19th from 1:00 to 3:00 at the high school. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested. I've done it before and it's actually a lot of fun! Our April PTA meeting will be held tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 6:30 in the library. Hope you can make it!

Have a great rest of the week!

- Lisa

Education Fair a Huge Success!

Education Fair

Thank you so much to all of the families who were able to come out to our Education Fair last night. We had such a great turnout! I was so impressed with the reading and science projects that students completed. We certainly have a lot of young talent in this building! Students were also able to play math games in the classrooms with their families. Hopefully everyone learned something!

Physical Education

Physical education class has certainly changed from when I took it a few (well, maybe more than a few) years ago. Our physical education teachers, Ms. O’Keefe and Ms. Volz, have to be very flexible as we are always borrowing the gym and having them re-locate. During the Education Fair physical education was held in the art room where students played nutrition BINGO.  In the first picture below you will see students learning how to cast outdoors (ice fishing?) The last picture shows a student who has caught a fish in the gymnasium. We are fortunate to have such flexible and creative staff members!

Pennies for Patients
This Friday concludes Student Council’s three week-long project where they are raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. As of last Friday our school has collected over $1500.00! There is, of course, a prize for the class that collects the most money. Currently, Mrs. Deegan’s class is in first place. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this worthwhile cause.

Spirit Week

We have two days left to show our spirit this week. Tomorrow (Thursday), is crazy/bad hair day, and Friday is orange and denim day, as orange is the color that represents leukemia.

Spring Break

Spring break begins on Friday, April 3^rd. Students return to school on Monday, April 13^th.

Have a great rest of the week. Thanks for all that you do to support our efforts here at East Hill.

-          Lisa