News from the Hill
December 9, 2016
Principal's Message
We have had a great start to December! I have been making my way through all of the grades reading aloud to the students. I began in kindergarten and have finally landed in fourth grade! It has been a treat to think together with our Hillside students and each visit is truly the highlight of my day!
There has been lots of learning happening here at Hillside! I had the privilege of visiting the first grade Health Fairs where the students shared their health and fitness knowledge with our kindergarten students. We participated in stations including nutrition, hand washing, exercise, stretching and resting that were led by our first grade experts. It was a wonderful, healthy learning experience for all!
Also this week, students from the AP Programming and Computer Science classes at Hastings High School worked with our 3rd and 4th grade students in recognition of the global “Hour of Code” event. This yearly event reaches tens of millions of students across over 180 countries and provides access to over 170 different applications and activities, both computer-based and kinesthetic, designed to teach the principles of coding. The focus of these activities is not on the use of technology, but instead an emphasis on the critical thinking and problem solving skills that are required to complete these tasks. The high school students prepared short presentations to share with the elementary school students, provided a demonstration of a coding application and worked individually with our students as they learned to think like a coder. The event was truly a success and the experience was enjoyed by all! Our students were awarded with stickers and certificates, acknowledging their successful completion of this new type of learning.
This week was the culmination of our RiverArts Dance Program. Fourth grade students performed for their peers in a very special dance showcase to demonstrate all that they have learned. Have a look below to read more about this unique program that was piloted at Hillside!
Important Information
1) Per SED Laws and Regulations, Hillside will be having mandatory bus drills on Tuesday, December 13th and Wednesday, December 14th in the morning before school. Safety protocols will be shared with students to ensure safe trips to and from school.
2) Please note that Hillside staff has been given parking tags that hang from mirrors to alleviate the staff parking challenge. Any cars without a tag will be asked to move. We appreciate your cooperation in parking outside the school gates.
3) If your child has a missing item, please check for it in the Lost and Found. All unclaimed items will be donated in January.
4) The Village of Hastings is sponsoring the Martin Luther King Jr. Day essay contest. We encourage your children to enter! Essays are due to Hillside by January 4th.
5) We are collecting parent-led workshop opportunities for our HEART Pilot Program. If you are interested in volunteering your time, please click on the link below and complete the Google Form.
https://goo.gl/forms/LDhti1Sfe6tqvkZl1
6) The Student Council has organized our first Hillside Spirit Day on Friday, December 16th. Please wear school colors, Hastings gear or any creative accessories to show your school spirit!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend with your family!
Stay warm,
Amy Cazes
Principal
Special Programs
RiverArts Dance Program
Since mid-October, Fourth Grade students have participated in a dance program offered by RiverArts. Through a variety of creative movement activities, students have explored how dance and movement can help us to express ideas and emotions, tell stories, build community and connect with the world around us.
Classes introduced students to basic Labanotation, a method of recording dances, which uses written symbols to build “dance sentences’ and sequences. Students worked in small groups to create their own dance sequences using these symbols and came up with many exciting and creative ideas.
Each class developed a dance based on themes in the traditional Native American Story – “How the Drum Came to Be,” which describes how animals and elements from the natural world, such as Sun, Wind and Fire, worked together to create the drum. The music of the drum gave man the gift of expression and inspired the rich tradition of Native American music and dance.
RiverArts Dance Teachers:
Mary Ford-Sussman, Kate Ashby, Amanda Kupillas
Jasper Zimmerman Represents Hillside at NYSSMA
Jasper Zimmerman, a fourth grader at Hillside, played his piano piece uNtitled at the Young Composer Honors Concert in Rochester, N.Y. last Friday. The concert was part of the Winter Conference of the New York State School Music Association. Jasper's piece was selected from those submitted in response to NYSSMA's Call for Compositions, which is open to students in grades K-11.
Classroom News
Kindergarten
Kindergarten classes are finishing up our unit on plants. We learned about the parts of the plants and their functions. Soon, we will be starting our unit on stories from around the world. We will be discussing the beginning, middle and end of stories read in class. We will learn to sequence stories and write stories using vocabulary words such as “first, then and finally.”
We are now well underway in learning all our lower case letters. We have also started building our sight word vocabulary by practicing high-frequency words such as (the, is, etc.) in our classrooms.
In math, we continue to work on decomposing numbers. Additionally, we are learning the concepts of “one more than” and “one less less” while we keep practicing our number formations.
First Grade
Our first graders are fabulous facilitators! As a culminating project to our study of the human body, our first graders organized and facilitated a “health fair” for our kindergarten students. Here, our students taught our kindergarten friends about some important concepts for staying healthy. In preparation for this, each class organized “stations” for our friends to visit. These included: hand washing, exercising, resting, stretching and nutrition. First graders decided what would be discussed in their group and planned an activity that would help the kindergartners understand the importance of keeping their bodies healthy. A great time was had by all and the kindergartners learned so much!
First graders also enjoyed a visit from Mrs. Genevieve Pittaro, founder of the Pajama Program. Here the students listened intently on how this incredible program began and how it has helped so many children. This visit was a springboard for our work in the upcoming weeks, where we will focus on how to make the world a better place. Donating new pajamas and books to children in need is a wonderful way to give back during this holiday season. We look forward to seeing you at our Winter Celebration on December 21st from 9:30-10:15 where we will collect all donations! Thank you in advance for your support!
We have also begun our new unit in math. Children are learning to solve word problems with three addends and have begun to explore the “make ten” strategy in a meaningful context.
Second Grade
We recently began our new math unit. This unit builds upon the various place value activities and concepts from the previous units and moves to the traditional addition and subtraction algorithms. We will spend a considerable amount of time building the concepts around the algorithms as well as their mechanics.
We are currently in the middle of our Tall Tales unit. As with the Fairy Tales unit earlier in the school year, the students have been exposed to a variety of tall tales, both traditional and more modern. The students determined the reasons each story is considered a tall tale. Several short expository writing tasks were undertaken in which the students justified the reasons they considered particular stories tall tales. Currently, the students are writing original tall tales, which will be shared at our holiday parties later in the month.
Our first science unit, Properties of Matter, began recently. The students will have a chance to study the properties of solids and liquids in depth and gases to a lesser extent.
Communications Class K-2
Both the kindergarten and first grade students are starting units on stories from around the world. We will be discussing the beginning, middle and end of stories read in class. We will learn to sequence stories and write stories using vocabulary words such as “first, then and finally.”
We have also started building our sight word vocabulary by practicing high-frequency words such as (the, is, etc.) in our classroom.
Communications Class 3-5
Our students are very excited about our unit on Frogs!!!! In ELA, we are reading stories from the Frog and Toad series of books by Arnold Lobel. The children are enjoying reading these stories, sequencing events and answering reading comprehension questions. In science, the students are learning about the life cycle of a frog and similarities and differences between frogs and toads. In Math, our students are learning about different types of measurement. We are focusing on using rulers and tape measures to measure the length of objects in our classroom.
Integrated Learning Class 2-4
Students are working on their writing skills by continuing Personal Narratives and Tall Tales. Using maps of Hastings on Hudson, the children picked their favorite locations in the village and are writing paragraphs explaining their reasons for the choice. In addition to grade level Science and Social Studies, we are exploring the history of Cahokia, the archaeological site outside of St.Louis, Missouri. Our work on this project includes read alouds and discussions, drawings and construction of our own models. In Reading, our big focus is building stamina. And in Math, in addition to grade level concepts, students are fortifying foundational skills by learning strategies that work for them as individuals and identifying the tools that best support their personal learning needs.
Third Grade
Third graders were fortunate to have a special guest reader visit each class - Mrs. Cazes! She read the Jane Addams Award-Winning book, Each Kindness, by Jacqueline Woodson. The message was to seize each opportunity to be kind, since each kindness makes the world a better place. This activity was a wonderful way for the children to get to know their new principal, and for her to get to know her new students.
Another special event this month has been senior sewing. Each of the classes have sewn a toucan, with the fabulous support of our village’s senior citizens. Fun was had by all during this inter-generational event!
This month, third graders are completing an invention project at home, that they will share with their classmates at the end of the month. As part of our study of China, we have been learning about inventions - how a need or a want drives many of the inventions created.
Third graders met with Amber, our technology consultant, to learn how to use google docs or google slides to convey information. They learned how to import and size pictures, and are beginning to learn how to format information in ways that allows their reader to learn.
Kites are flying in the third grade classrooms! Children learned how to write their names in Chinese, and have decorated kites to show their newly-learned knowledge.
Fourth Grade
Over the past 6 weeks, 4th graders have had the good fortune to participate in a dance program sponsored by River Arts and a generous grant from HEF. Students have experimented with dance as a form of communication and have learned to express themselves through “phrases of movement.” The program was specifically tied to our study of Native Americans and students will perform for each other on Thursday, December 8 and Friday, December 9.
Students have also had the pleasure of welcoming our principal, Mrs. Cazes into classrooms to share a book about kindness. This is a wonderful way to get to know our new principal and jumpstart Student Council’s school wide initiative, “Random Acts of Kindness.”We hope that all students participate both in class and at home!
In math, students are immersed in multiplication. We have learned 4 different strategies: the place value chart method, partial products, area models, and standard algorithms and we are happy to report that students are becoming fluid in all of them.
In ELA, students are finishing up Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and will soon begin a unit on narrative writing. Children will reflect upon what they have learned about story elements and use this information to help craft stories based on their real life events.
Lastly, 4th grade classes have recently started our first unit in science. After learning about scientific inquiry, we have now begun the study of abiotic vs. biotic components (or in non-scientific terms, non-living vs. living things.) Students are thinking about the world around them and how each of these different factors help to compose an ecosystem.
Art
Check out some of the work that the K-2 Communications class has been working during the Fall. This class uses adaptive strategies to create their artwork. Visit the Hillside Art Blog - http://www.hohschools.org/Page/1225 .
Music
Ms. Concra’s General Music: Kindergarten just finished our unit on loud and soft. We are now working on fast and slow. 1st graders are beginning their solfege adventures with friends from Pitch Hill. We are starting with sol and mi. 2nd graders are starting to read standard notation. We begin with quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth notes. 3rd graders are composing their own rhythm pieces using our friends from Note Neighborhood. 4th grade just finished our unit on tempo.Next up: Nutcracker!!
Mr. Campbell’s Class: Fourth graders are learning about changes in dynamics called crescendo and decrescendo. They continue to perform rhythm chants and simple tunes on the xylophones and non-pitched percussion instruments. Third grade students are learning about a simple accompaniment on the xylophone called a bordun. So far they have learned to play a steady beat bordun and a broken bordun. Second grade students are excited to begin to reading rhythmic notation in both duple and triple meter. Kindergarten and first grade students are continuing to learn how their singing voice is different from their head voice as well as the difference between high and low sounds. First grade parents, ask your child to sing you John Kanaka or Old King Glory! Kindergarten parents, ask your child about Three Birds in a Tree or Jump Jim Joe!
Physical Education
Hello to All! Friday will be the day that we finish up our Bopper Hockey unit for grades 1-4. We are extremely impressed with the progress each grade has made with their stick handling skills and their ability to work together as a team. Second grade was introduced to tournament play and learned very quickly. In Kindergarten we are continuing to play cooperative games and slowly introducing team games. As for the next two weeks, we will be pulling out the obstacle course for all grades which all the students are very excited about. The obstacle course is the highlight of the year and gives the students a great exercise!! Please remember that for the next two weeks, all students must wear socks in order to participate. Thank you!
FLES
Kindergarten is busy learning how to say and represent numbers 1-10 in Spanish! Students have learned the song, “Cuentan conmigo” (Count with Me) and are busy completing their books “Los números 1-10” where they are practice writing the numbers in both word and number form and are representing each quantity on a ten frame! To wrap up their feelings unit, first graders are taking their first verbal assessment. Second graders are reviewing the numbers they already know how to say and Spanish (0-20) and practicing different ways to represent the number with number bonds, pictures, and base ten blocks. Students will extend their knowledge to saying and representing numbers 0-30. Meanwhile, in third grade students are still mastering how to initiate conversations with others and asking different questions to get to know a person. Finally, fourth graders are working in partners to discover just how to use the classroom to really develop their vocabulary and complete given tasks.
Throughout the course of the week you will find your child’s World Kindness Day Projects in their backpacks. Ask your child about the bilingual story we read,Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (¿Has llenado una cubeta hoy?). Here are some questions to ask: What does it mean to be a bucket filler? Bucket dipper? How can YOU be a bucket filler?
As a friendly reminder, don’t forget to visit the FLES website, nunez-fles.weebly.com to find the latest updates, resources for at home practice and much more!
Library
Kindergarten and First Grade are learning the golden rule. Why do we need manners? What would life be like without manners? Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller is a funny look at manners and kindness with real tips. Check out the bulletin board outside the library for a look at the book and some responses to it by the kids. Second Grade is deep into Tall Tales—did you know that Paul Bunyan married and had two children? The Bunyans is Audrey Wood’s take on the family’s part in creating landmarks including Bryce Canyon, the Continental Divide, and Big Sur. The students are then divided into small groups and asked to make up a quick Bunyan Family story to explain the Hastings Palisades rock slide. Third and Fourth Grades have ventured into the surreal land of Chris Van Allsburg, learning to read his stories between the lines. Third is reading The Garden of Abdul Gasazi and pondering the duck versus dog question, using clues from the text and pictures. Fourth is discovering what The Wretched Stone might be a metaphor for, as well as looking at the narrative told as a ship’s log. As holidays approach, if you are a gift giver, remember: A BOOK IS BEST! Consider this list from Nia House Learning Center: Children’s Books About Human Rights @ http://www.niahouse.org/blog-fulton/2016/11/3/40-childrens-books-about-human-rights-social-justice
MakerSpace
Ozobots, Ozobots, Ozobots! Thanks to a generous grant from the PTSA, students in grades K-4 who visited MakerSpace got a chance to explore with the Ozobots. They learned the basics of coding and created color specific codes to give directions to the robot. The consensus was that Ozobots are the “coolest”! Parents - don’t be surprised if the Ozobot ends up on your child’s holiday list! Follow me on Twitter @hohjned to see the Ozobots in action.
Hillside Elementary School
Website: www.hohschools.org
Location: 120 Lefurgy Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, United States
Phone: 914-478-6270