HILL HAPPENINGS
#HillHasHeart Edition - December 2020
A Note from the Principal
Greetings Hill Elementary Families,
With the recent pause to switch to online learning through December 8th and our plan to return to face to face instruction on December 9th, I wanted to express our commitment to you, our families regarding your child’s education. We will continue to do what we can to help and I appreciate once again, your partnership during this unprecedented time. We know that communication is key, so please reach out if you have questions or concerns. I've also included a family check-in below. I recognize that these times are hard for so many of our families and students.
We are eager to see all our students on Wednesday, December 9th as we transition back to face-to-face learning! In the eight days we will have together before the holiday break, we have some holiday spirit planned. (See below) You will also receive information on chromebooks so that students have them while they are at school. Please stay tuned for more information on that.
We appreciate all the support you have shown your child(ren) and our staff during remote learning. Again, thank you for everything! I continue to be inspired by the way our Hill School family comes together during challenging times.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Burke, Proud Principal
Hill's Ten Days of Christmas!
We are Here to Help-Important Contact Information!
While it is always best to reach out to your child's teacher first, below is a list of other Hill Staff that you may want or need to contact. Please remember that we are here to help!
Mrs. Burke, Principal-Email: jburke@davisonschools.org ; Hill Phone Number: 810-591-0839
Mrs. Ganabathi, School Counselor-Email: aganabathi@davisonschools.org; Hill Phone Number: 810-591-0842
Mrs. Debbie Alderson, Secretary to the Principal-Email: dalderson@davisonschools.org; Hill Phone Number: 810-591-0839
Mrs. Julie Talaska, Secretary: jtalaska@davisonschools.org; Hill Phone Number: 810-591-0839
A December Must Read - For the Kids
Positivity Project (P2)
As you know, Hill is a partner school, which means all of our families get free access to awesome resources that reinforce the character traits and teaching we are doing at school. There is a character card that explains the character trait, a grade-appropriate video to show the character trait in action and some questions that are great conversation starters at home.
Click here to check out P2 for Families (password: P2).
This week students will begin learning about the Other People Mindset (OPM) element of Knowing My Words and Actions Affect Others. There is not a family link for this character trait. So, I'm sharing a video clip with a great example of this message below.
Counselor Corner with Mrs. Ganabathi
Take a look: https://www.loom.com/share/6ab73edaf0d145d78bfb57ee928aa6a4
Music Notes from Mrs. DuPrey
WOW, I am so proud of all of the kids and how well they seemed to transition to virtual learning. For every assignment I had over 150 assignments that came in, and there were many students who turned in every single assignment. Your dedication to school and your work ethic did not go unnoticed and I was so proud of the kids and their families.
For the remainder of the year, the kids and I will be singing holiday songs in the music room, and doing different holiday music activities. One of our favorite things to do is a boomwhacker play-a-long. Each child gets a tube that is pitched to a specific note, and is a unique color. When their note comes up on the screen they play, and if everyone is able to play their note to the steady beat, it makes a really great song. It is a lot like a hand bell choir, except we use tubes instead of bells.
Happy Holidays to you and your family,
Mrs. DuPrey :)
Fitness Fun with Mr. Whitman
Hello Hill Families!
I’m so excited to return to in person learning. I’ve missed the kids so much. As we return to school on Wednesday, here is the PE schedule for the next 8 school days.
Week 1- Wednesday 12/9 to Friday 12/11
Mrs. Craig, Mrs. Strine, Mrs. Buzzell, Mrs. Halverson, and Mrs. White
Week 2- Monday 12/14 to Friday 12/18
Ms. Robertson, Mrs. Fulcher, Mrs. Schaepkens, Ms. Richards, and Ms. Turkovics
Please make sure your child has gym shoes during these scheduled weeks. We will be wrapping up our volleyball unit before moving to bowling and basketball after the new year.
In the event that we ever pivot to online learning again, please make sure your child is checking their specials classroom on Google Classroom. Music, PE, and STEM assignments are posted there daily. We hope you’ll find time to complete those activities if we’re ever learning from home again.
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Mr. Whitman
Library Corner
Wow, I cannot believe how time has flown by! It feels like just yesterday we were starting school and now here it is December. The month of November was a very fun month that was full of celebrations and I am so excited to share them with you!
We started the month by celebrating the season of Fall. In the Kindergarten and First grades we read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. We imagined we were like Leaf Man and traveling wherever the wind took us. We flew over chickens, ducks, rivers, and prairies until we landed and wondered if Leaf Man was lonely. In the Second, Third , and Fourth grades we read about An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves to make a scarecrow. It was a lot of fun guessing what she would swallow next. We then finished off our celebrations by creating our own unique leaf rubbings. It sure was a lot of fun to see all of the different creations!
The second celebration of the month was kindness. For this all grades K-4 read the book The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig. Through this amazing book we learned what it means to be kind and how we can show kindness in our lives everyday. We finished this celebration by creating kindness chains that I used to decorate our library for Thanksgiving.
Our last celebration of the month was Thanksgiving of course! For this all grades K-4 learned a little about one of our favorite authors, Dav Pilkey. Dav Pilkey has authored and illustrated many different children's books; however the two he is most famous for are the series of Captain Underpants and Dog Man which the kids absolutely love. The book we read for Thanksgiving was titled ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving which was written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey. In this book a classroom of students go to a Turkey Farm and learn the turkeys will be served at Thanksgiving dinner the next day. The children save the turkeys from Farmer Macknugget and instead have them as guests at their Thanksgiving feasts. We finished this celebration by creating turkey puppets. The kids had a great time with this one!
Just a quick reminder, if your child brought home a book over our three weeks of virtual learning, please make sure to have them bring it back to school so that they can check out a new one before Christmas break.
Happy Holidays!
PTO NEWS
Hill Families,
The Hill walk-a-thon raised $4,975. Money raised stays at Hill Elementary and funds things such as all the Classroom software and Apps, classroom supplies, book giveaways (three times a year), Harvest Day Activities, Field Day, Family Picnic every June, technology upgrades (Chromebooks) and much more! Thank you Hill Families for your continued support!
Participation Prize: Every student at Hill will receive a voucher to receive a donut and cider from Porter’s Orchard. This can be redeemed at any location. There is a location within the Davison Farmer’s Market or the Orchard in Goodrich.
We'd like to recognize Declan and Lochlyn Swenor who requested to pass their first and second prizes on to other students. Declan and Lochlyn will help distribute prizes when we return to school. Thank you to all or our Hill students and families for your support!
First Place: Callie Asher
Second Place: Addison Jackson
Third Place: William Anderson
Kindergarten (Three way tie): Kason Batoha, Kaden Batoha and Benjamin Hitchcock
First grade: Grant Woods
Second grade: Paige Oliver
Third grade: Dylan Woods
Fourth grade: Sean Banwell
Our next PTO meeting is on Monday, December 7th at 5:30. The meeting is virtual and the link for our meeting is below.
Topic: PTO Meeting
Time: Dec 7, 2020 05:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7145281177?pwd=K3R5aTlhWEJ6cjdtZzhlUG1iclIxZz09
Meeting ID: 714 528 1177
Passcode: Hill2020
PTO email: Hillptogroup@gmail.com
20/21 PTO Officers
PTO President: Jill Lobban
PTO Vice President: Drianna Keltner
PTO Secretary: Lindsay Brandon
PTO Treasurer: Danielle Wenzel
Mark your calendar:
- December 7th: 5:30 PTO Meeting (Zoom link above)
- December 9th: Return to face to face instruction - Welcome back to students!!!
- December 18th: Popcorn from the principal...free to all students. Classroom Christmas parties- info to come from teachers.
Connect with Hill Elementary
Email: jburke@davisonschools.org
Website: https://www.davisonschools.org/
Location: 404 Aloha Street, Davison, MI, USA
Phone: 910-591-0839
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavisonCardinals/
Twitter: @proud_principal