HAWK HAPPENINGS
The official newsletter of Hillcrest Elementary Staff
Every single student, every single day, in every single way.
September 2, 2019
HAPPY NEW SCHOOL YEAR!!!!!
MUST READ
IMPORTANT LINKS
MAKE THE FIRST DAY COUNT
FIRST DAY(s) ARRIVAL & dismissal
Although we will eventually switch over to having all breakfast students eating breakfast in the cafeteria, and all students not eating in the gym, we will follow the same procedures as last year for breakfast/morning arrival for the first week (at least). That is to say: 4th graders and students in self-contained classes will gather in the cafeteria, and 5th graders will take their breakfasts to the gym. Signs with teacher names will be in place on Tuesday in the cafeteria and the gym. Staff members with morning supervision duties should be in place by 8:00 in order to greet and direct students. For the first few days, any extra people who are available to help between 8:00 and 8:20 would be greatly appreciated. For the first week (at least), teachers will meet their classes at 8:20 in the cafeteria (gr 4 & self-contained) or the gym (gr 5) and greet them and walk them to class, reinforcing our hallway expectations: please stay to the right, quiet voices, hands to oneself. Once we are comfortable and confident that they are ready to walk on their own, we will allow them to do so.
Please remember that we cannot deny any student breakfast, so we will continue to send students who are not finished and students who are late to class with their breakfast in tow. Please be sure students use the HALLWAY trash cans to prevent unwanted guests in the classrooms -- this was a concern last year, so let’s teach students from day 1 to use the hall trash cans for food.
Please take attendance and enter it into Infinite Campus as soon as possible after arriving back to your classroom. Also, compile a list of how students will be going home, based upon the forms or notes that students brought in. If any student has not provided you with a dismissal note or the dismissal form and you have not reached the parent, be sure to send a list of names to the main office by 12:30 so that we can have solid plans for students by dismissal time. I encourage classroom teachers to make those initial calls, but we may ask for assistance from others to make calls if necessary
On Tuesday and Wednesday, dismissal will begin at 2:35. On Thursday and Friday, dismissal will begin at 2:40. By Monday, we should be dismissing at the usual time of 2:45. Students should pack up at 2:40.
MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS
With our new schedule, it is important that we take attendance and make morning announcements as early as possible. I anticipate making morning announcements, but I will lean on my specials/specialist colleagues to assist me when I am unable to do them. If it is your class’s week to do announcements, please try to tell students the day before that it will be their day so that they can come in, drop things off in class, and come directly to the office so we can make announcements promptly by 8:30.
We are exploring some new ways to submit your announcements. For the time-being, if you have something you would like to add to the morning announcements, click on this calendar doc and add it to the morning you would like it announced. Be careful not to type over someone else’s announcement.
NEW LUNCH ROUTINES
In order to maximize teacher lunch time, we would like monitors to be in charge of picking up/dropping off students. This will take some practice on the lunch monitors’ part, and some oversight on student hallway expectations on ALL of our parts. IN order to transition into this and work out the kinks, we should start with the teacher walking at least part of the way with the monitor and the class so that students see that your expectations are also the monitor’s expectations, and that the points they receive for lunch/recess will include the time in the hallway. You and your monitor will be able to be the best judges of when it is time to gradually release the responsibility to the monitor, This is a good time to model the way in which you talk to, redirect, and remind remind your class of the behavioral expectations for our monitors.
WIN BLOCK AND AIS READING Services
I will meet with Reading Teachers and a representative from each grade level this week to determine how quickly we can begin AIS Reading Services (possibly as early as September 4) and when we would expect to begin exchanging WIN groups. The WIN block and targeted instruction may have contributed to the improvements in overall student performance on last year’s assessments, so we can’t overlook it’s potential to positively impact student growth.
NEW PERMANENT SUBS
SPLIT LISTS
Please submit your class split list as soon as possible during the first week.
HAWK SQUAWKS/POSITIVE CALLS HOME
Along those lines: consider setting a goal for yourself to make a few positive phone calls home by the end of the week. One person suggested making one positive phone call each day right after dismissal. Not only will this help you stay focused on what's right in your classroom Remember the TEDx Talk?), but it builds bridges with students and families that you can leverage later on when you need support or to gently nudge the student. It's better to already have a positive relationship and to have shared a positive interaction that day when you have to call for something not-so-positive.
Interesting Read on Reading (NY Times)
State Library and myON Partnership
Summer reading season is quickly drawing to a close, and the excitement of a new school year is beginning. New York State students can still access the free myON digital library resources offered through Summer Reading at New York Libraries until September 30!
With one simple statewide login, the myON digital library provides students and families with unlimited access to over 6,000 fiction and nonfiction eBook titles. Many books are also available in Spanish. A mobile app allows up to 20 books to be downloaded and read while away from home. As students and families prepare for the start of school, encourage them to keep reading, learning, and exploring new worlds with myON digital books!
Literacy Night & BBQ September 24
We also need tents. That's right: tents. We are having a fall barbeque campfire theme this year, and we need tents to be the "home base" for each station (and we may need your assistance in setting it up that afternoon).
Sign up HERE to volunteer and to lend a tent! Thank you SO MUCH -- this will be a FANTASTIC event with your cooperation and support!
Remember: AMAZING things are happening every day. celebrate what's RIGHT
To watch the TEDx talk again (and again and again), click the link: CELEBRATE WHAT'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD
Here are links to two related articles:
7 Reasons Why Your Brain Goes Negative, and How to Go Positive Instead
NEW TRIMESTER DATES
As you know, we are moving to trimester this year from quarters. Here are the dates on how those trimesters are being divided up:
1st Trimester: 9/3/19- 11/27/19
2nd Trimester: 12/2/19- 3/20/20
3rd Trimester: 3/23/20- 6/26/20
The assessment pacing guide should be finalizes this week, so stay tuned for more information on that soon.
Looking Ahead: Back to School Nights
Grade 5 October 10 at 6:30 PM
We will follow a similar format to last year for our Back-to-School Nights. We will begin with the Meet-n-Greet Fair in the gym, with a brief introduction and welcome by administrators, and then time in the classrooms with teachers. Departmentalized teachers will have to plan to have fewer slides so that parents can move between both classes.
CONSTITUTION DAY September 17th
Please remember that we are obligated to teach about the U.S. Constitution on Constitution Day. Here are some planning resources -- feel free to discuss among your teams, but it seems most logical to me for this to be the responsibility of anyone who teaches social studies, though you may have additional ideas on where it fits best.
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=381
https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/civic-calendar/constitution-day-civic-holiday
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day
http://www.civiced.org/resources/curriculum/constitution-day-and-citizenship-day
remember your "Why?"
Think of it in those three ways:
WHY are you here?
Why are YOU here?
Why are you HERE?We are fortunate that every day we get to spend most of our day with kids. They are the reason we are here. Schools exist for the sole purpose to benefit children. And our jobs exist to serve them. And what a joyful, noble, and worthwhile endeavor to pursue!