Dear Rolling Hills Parents and Guardians:

February was a busy one with the close of the second marking period and the start of the third marking period, the celebration of 100th Day and Valentine's Day, and our numerous activities marking Kindness Week! Be sure to take a few minutes to enjoy some of the photos and experiences shared by your children's teachers in this month's message.

We have had to make some alterations to our students' use of their Chromebooks, as some of the students were using them inappropriately on the bus ride to and from school. At the current time, all Chromebook cameras have been disabled for Rolling Hills' students, so students will not be able to take photos and/or videos. Please review the importance of using these devices for educational purposes only with your children! I have included the information from last month again in this message for your convenience.

In addition, we are asking for your cooperation regarding students bringing cell phones to school and/or wearing Smartwatches. If your child brings either of these devices to school, they will be asked to store them in their bookbags for the entire school day. While we understand that students may need to utilize these electronics before and after the school day, there is a policy against the video or audio recording of any student and/or staff member without their consent. Please take a few minutes to review Vernon Township School District Policy 5516 regarding the Use of Electronic Communication and Recording Devices (ECRD) for further information.

As we begin the month of March, we will be our continuation of our celebration for the Love of Reading Week. Please be sure to encourage your children to READ this month--with you or to you--it is one of the most important skills they will learn! See the notice below regarding the exciting activities planned for the week!

We would greatly appreciate your assistance with the following:

• Please be sure that your contact information--especially all of the phone numbers listed in Genesis to be used in an emergency--are kept up-to-date and accurate.

• If you are picking up your child from school, please make every effort to wait until all "pick-ups" are called for dismissal at 3:30 p.m. This is becoming a great interruption as students miss nearly 40 minutes of instruction daily--which can add up to 200 minutes--over 3 hours per week! Please avoid all early pick-ups unless there is an emergency.

• A "LOST AND FOUND" table is located outside the nurse's office. If your child is missing any items, please have them stop by the table sometime during the day to retrieve their lost belongings.
  

I wish you all the best as we continue working together for the good of our students.

Take care,

Pauline F. Anderson, Principal

P.S. Please mark your calendars for the next Wellness Weekend on April 1st and 2nd and plan something special for your family! In addition, we are proud to announce the return of Grandparents' Day (or Special Persons' Day), which will be held on Monday, April 3rd for third graders and Tuesday, April 4th for second graders.

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Monday, February 27th - Friday, March 3rd

LOVE OF READING WEEK

Wednesday, March 1st

SCA Meeting at 8:30 p.m. via Zoom (see link below)

Wednesday, March 1st - Tuesday, March 14th

SCA Classroom Penny Wars

Thursday, March 2nd

SCA UMAC Class (afterschool)

Thursday, March 9th

BOE Work Session - 7:00 p.m. at Lounsberry Hollow School

Monday, March 13th

Teacher In-Service - no school for students

Thursday, March 16th

SCA UMAC Class (afterschool)

BOE Meeting at 7:00 p.m. at Lounsberry Hollow School

Thursday, March 23rd

SCA UMAC Class (after school)

Monday, March 27th

SCA Gertrude Hawk pick-up - location TBA

Wednesday, March 29th

Wellness Wednesday - Early Dismissal for Teacher In-Service

Thursday, March 30th

Family Math Night - 6:00 p.m. (snow date April 4th)

******************

UPCOMING EVENTS!!!

Saturday, April 1st and Sunday, April 2nd

Wellness Weekend

Monday, April 3rd through Thursday, April 6th

Scholastic Spring Book Fair

Monday, April 3rd

Grandparents' (Special Someone) Day for Third Grade

Tuesday, April 4th

Grandparents' (Special Someone) Day for Second Grade

Wednesday, April 5th

Around the Benz Assembly

Friday, April 7th through Friday, April 14th

Spring Break

Monday, April 17th

School Resumes

They will bring monthly messages of hope and are replete with exceptional ideas to enrich your life--and the lives of those around you! Be sure to take a moment to review and/or print them out for your use throughout the month.

Mindful March's calendar encourages us to respond, breathe and notice so we can respond more mindfully...

For nearly 100 years, the American Heart Association has been fighting heart disease and stroke and helping families and communities thrive.

Rolling Hills Primary School has been supporting the AHA through participation

in Jump Rope for Heart and Kids Heart Challenge since 1998.

Since we began, Rolling Hills has raised over $150,000.00 for the care of individuals

as well as research and development regarding heart health education.

This year we raised over $8,000.00 for the cause.

Our student body and faculty raised more this year than any previous year!

Helping the greater community and those that we care about

is a valued lesson to be learned at any age.

Thank you to these young citizens and families for their generosity and volunteerism.

Awesome Job!!!

Mrs. Rosemary Gebhardt, our Assistant Superintendent,

enjoyed reading to Mrs. Lapp's students.

Dr. Pauline Anderson also enjoyed reading to the class!

Mrs. Morran, Rylee's mother, is the author and her sister is the illustrator. They read the book to the class together and did a character activity with the students. They've sold over 1000 copies of the book, and participated in many assemblies and author visits.

The students and Mrs. Lapp really enjoyed this special visit!

Ms. Lapp and Mrs. Pappas join in the fun!

Ms. Irish, Mrs.Leichtweisz, Mrs. Mayer and Mrs. Vrabel organized a collection of donations with their student for the Vernon Animal Shelter as their Kindness Week project.

Thank you so much to all who contributed!

The Vernon Animal Shelter was grateful for the generous donations!

Mrs. Weber's students use stopwatches to practice automatic and fluent reading.

They use "whisperphones" to read to "reading buddies" and to practice reading fluency.

They also "scoop" and read sentences with dry erase markers to build oral reading fluency.

Mrs. Strongosky's students learned about weathering and erosion

using a science experiment in science class

and were introduced to Innovamat during math class!

Learn more about Innovamat at https://www.innovamat.com/en-US

Their students created compliment posters with "take one" strips replete with kind statements

which were displayed around Rolling Hills Primary School.

The messages were written to make people smile and brighten their days!

Anyone who needed a little kindness or a smile, could tear off whichever kind sentence they needed at that moment--or they could share some kindness with someone else!

What a lovely idea!

These students also made Valentine's Day cards for their families.

Her students made Friendship Trail Mix to take home, a card holder to collect all their Valentines and decorated their own cupcakes for a sweet treat in centers during this special holiday!

Mrs. Weiss' students worked together to make a boat that would hold candy hearts.

Mrs. Weiss' students also completed a flower activity from a Mystery Science lesson; created bees to simulate pollination using coffee and cornmeal.

These students display a depiction of the freedom quilts used during the 1800's

to help enslaved people find freedom.

The quilts were hung in windows and on clotheslines to help lead the enslaved people to safety.

Each symbol meant something different such as: follow the stars, stay off the road,

pack your belongings, or this is a safe cabin to sleep in.

These two photos are some examples of the dioramas the students created

to explain the events that lead up to the Revolutionary War.

Mrs. Hordych held an "open house" during which other classes visited to

learn about the events from their peers.

Three third grade students from Mrs. Fisher’s class visited Mrs. Hintzen’s classroom.

They read a book called “The Trip” to students and staff in Mrs. Hintzen’s class.

Each third grade student from Mrs. Fisher’s class took turns reading

one or two pages from the same book.

The student’s read beautifully!

Mrs. Hintzen’s students and staff listened to the story

and clapped for Mrs. Fisher’s

students when they were finished.

It was such a great experience for the readers

and the audience; and we can’t wait to do it again!

This year's RHPS SCA Board:

President - Robyn Seger

Vice President - Marissa Vradenburg

Treasurer - Christina Shreiner

Recording Secretary - Christine Canal

Corresponding Secretary - Lori Mish

Let's continue to work together for the benefit of our students!

This event is set to take place on March 8th and we’ve heard that the local seniors

are SO EXCITED to attend and return to normal!

In the past we have asked parents/guardians and faculty if they could help by donating food items.

This year Sodexo is generously donating many food items,

the VTEA is donating food items and we have the VTHS culinary department cooking for us!

We are looking for Beverage/Dessert Donations and Adult Volunteers!

Please click on the button below to sign up to volunteer or donate:

...please be assured of my continued support and appreciation for all you do to send your children to school prepared and ready to learn!

Always remember that we are all here to assist you and your child.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you ever have questions and/or concerns.

Sincerely,

Pauline F. Anderson