The Pillow Page
4/3/16
Take Care Of Yourself...Please!!!
I hope you had a great weekend! I'm excited to get back to work. I love spending time with my family on the weekend but I also miss being around y'all and the students. Every Sunday I get excited to get back to the campus.
But, it's also important to take advantage of the down time that we do get. if we spend our down time worried about work or up at the school then we never get a break and it begins to wear on us as educators. I realize I'm not the best person to give advice on taking breaks to relax, but I know how it feels when I don't and I get worn down. Our kiddos need us now more than ever, and if we work ourselves to the ground then we can't do our jobs and our kiddos miss out. So, please take care of yourself. Get some sleep. Substitute an unhealthy meal or drink with something that will make your body feel better. Have a sense of urgency about your job but don't have an unhealthy amount of stress. As much as we want to be invincible, we aren't.
I want to thank the kindergarten teachers and Mr. C and Ms. DeShay for such a great kindergarten performance last week. I thought it was great and I heard nothing but great things from families and staff. It was hard to end the tradition of the Kindergarten Circus, but when you have to take so much class time to prepare for a performance, it's nice when it aligns with the curriculum. I know the kiddos got a lot out of the SEL themed performance and I look forward to this new tradition in kindergarten.
We have a few more events coming up soon as well, including our career day this Friday. I am very excited about it and I hope this becomes a yearly tradition as well. We are fortunate to have Ms. Margarine Beaman helping organize this event. She only takes on a few Title I schools a year and we are lucky to have been chosen. She organized our career day when I was at Overton and she does a great job. It's her show, so the details are still rolling in and I'll let you know more when I find out. Ms. Brookhart has been helping to organize it as well. For now, we know it will be on Friday from 9:00 to 11:00 in the gym/cafeteria. We have around 35 business and city leaders coming. They will each have a table set up and the students will rotate around and visit different tables to hear about different careers. The fire truck and other vehicles will be out back for students to visit as well. We are still working out the schedule for the event, but know that all grade levels will be involved. I think she usually doesn't have the lower grades visit the tables because the info might not keep them as engaged, but they will at least get a chance to visit the vehicles outside. Thanks to PreK, Kinder, and 3rd grade for volunteering to have lunch bunch in their classrooms that day so that we can use the cafeteria and thanks to Coach for having outdoor PE so we can use the gym. I'm excited for another great opportunity for our kiddos!
That's all for now. See y'all tomorrow!
-Mr. Hill
Recent Pics
Our Positivitree has come to life! Positive thoughts growing throughout Pillow.
The awesome Mr. C uses his talents to create a backdrop for our kinder performance!
Excited to welcome our next group of Pillow Panthers Kinder students Tuesday!
Ms. Simon's Panthers posing in front of the Positivitree!
The awesome Ms. Freid reads The Very Hungry Caterpillar in German for W.A.R.P. Assembly!
Ms. Freid also received a RAVE award from a colleague 4 all of her hard work at Pillow!
Kinder Panthers in Ms. Skeete's class use total physical response as they practice vocabulary!
Ms. Kyler's PreK Panthers learn about bugs & discuss their characteristics!
Ms. Davishines's 1st graders developing stories during writing time!
Love this SEL anchor in Ms. Simons 2nd grade class! Great reminder for us all!
2nd grade Panthers in Ms. Pearlman's class share reports on Robert Munsch books they've read!
Our Panthers getting a workout at Think Fitness Thursday Assembly with Coach!
A Pillow 2nd grader came to show me the book she wrote! Our Panthers are authors!
Kinder Panthers performed Character Matters, an SEL musical!
Beautiful new restroom & changing station for Pillow families is complete! Thanks AISD!
Great family turnout at the kinder performance of Character Matters tonight!
Loved having Typewriter Rodeo at Pillow! Writing poetry on the spot & motivating our writers!
Sean from Typewriter Rodeo shows our Panthers the typewriter he uses to create poems!
Thanks again to Sean & Jodi of Typewriter Rodeo for sharing poetry w/ our Panthers!
3rd grade Panthers enjoying lunch on stage at "Bluebonnet Cafe" for reading Bluebonnet books!
"Mr. Hill...want a brownie? Here are some brown E's! April fools!" Good one kindergarten!
Upcoming Events
Pre-K Registration Starts
3:00pm - CAC Meeting
4/5/16 - Tue
Kindergarten Orientation Starts
9:00am - 10:00am - Kindergarten Orientation
PM - B. Hill Out
3:00pm - 4:00pm - CST Meeting
4/6/16 - Wed
All Day - B. Hill Out
3:00pm - 4:00pm - Staff Meeting
4/7/16 - Thur
All Day - B. Hill Out
1:30pm - 2:30pm - McCallum HS Knights Of Steel Performance
5:00pm - 7:00pm - Spirit Night At Jump USA
4/8/16 - Fri
Happy Birthday Ms. Sanchez!
9:00am - 11:00am - Career Day
Useful Links
Pillow Connect
Email: brian.hill@austinisd.org
Website: pillowelementary.weebly.com
Location: Pillow Elementary School, Crosscreek Drive, Austin, TX, United States
Phone: 512-414-2350
Twitter: @PillowPanthers