Reflections of the Week:
Let your children be a child! Try to avoid putting any grown up demands on them or worries for as long as you can.
Let's normalize taking pictures of our everyday moments and not just our big, flashy ones!
Parenting Tip When You Feel Overwhelmed!
2nd Six Weeks Respect Agreement: Demonstrate You Matter
Learners are working on unpacking what it means to demonstrate others matter. See the tip below of how you can honor this agreement at home this week!
October Spill With Hill:
Happenings Around Hill!
Besties in K/1 launched this week with book buddies! Kids got to do a little reading inventory with each other and read some of the sweetest books together!
Hands on collaboration in 6th grade science this week! What an intentional tasks for learners to engage in that allowed them to process, communicate, and get quick feedback from Mrs. Norcross.
Being in Mrs. Mason and Mrs. Tovar's rooms this week for learning was a complete joy! These ladies are so passionate about teaching our learners!
Our teachers have really great visuals on their boards as a way to communicate with learners about the expectations of their block and time together. This visual helps learners know what is coming up, what our daily tasks are, and what is expected of them.
The use of manipulatives in 4th grade math this week as we begin introducing division. LOVE the use of conceptual understanding FIRST when introducing this big process in math.
Interactive math notebooks and daily math spiral warm ups are really engaging our 6th grade math learners. Ms. Walker does a wonderful job ensuring her lessons are aligned, relevant, and on track with the curriculum!
The use of color coded systems is really helping our 3rd graders learn their RACE/RACER strategy in depth! Great to see what they are already producing this early in the year!
Look at ALL these Scottie Sprinters! This is REMARKABLE!
SEL time was alive and well this week. From assigning class jobs to morning meetings to self identifying how we feel, space was created for our learners to be in tune with their feelings and emotions.
Intentional Small Group time was seen with the use of instructional aides to help learners with their blends/sight words!
October Book of the Month:
Last week I recommended the new podcast from Unruffled that I have been listening too. For the rest of October, here is a book that I think would be a GREAT read! It is a HUGE need to address for our generation of children.
Hill Elementary October School Fundraiser is kicking off!
Highlander Families, Through the month of October we will be doing Pick A Date to Donate Fundraiser to raise money for our Student Activity Fund. Your students will be coming home today with a folder that has the calendar and a money collection sheet attached. The best part about this fundraiser is that it can be done ONE calendar per family. Once you have filled up the calendar, you can turn the filled out envelope WITH ALL YOUR STUDENTS NAMES AND HOMEROOM TEACHERS on the money collection sheet. At the end of the month if the calendar is not full THAT IS OK, turn in what you raised. Extra donations may be made at any amount when your calendar is full. COLLECTION SHEET MUST BE TURNED IN WITH MONEY. A digital calendar is also posted below if you would like to post on social media for friends and family not local! If you have any questions please call the Front Office at 682-867-2300!
(No electronic payments will be accepted. All checks need to be written to Hill Elementary) All calendars due November 1!! AS SOON AS THE CALENDAR IS FULL, YOU CAN TURN IT IN AT ANY TIME!!!!!
Need to Knows:
- Picture Retakes are November 7th!
- Our October School Fundraiser is still going the rest of this month of October! If you have questions about it please reach out to Sherry Lopez or Whitney Durr!
- Our attendance goal for the year is 94.9%. We are going to begin calling home to kids whose attendance is less than 90% beginning next week. Every 3 weeks Mrs. Durr will make these phone calls to see how we can support you. If attendance is excessive you will be required to come up and meet with myself or Mr. Baylor to come up with a plan to improve.
- Hill Running Club and Hill U is back on Wednesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons!
If you have anything you want me to address in my November Spill with Hill please fill the link below:
If you have any feedback for me to address specifically for this month of October please click the link below!
Upcoming Dates:
- October 22nd: Student Council Meeting after school!
- October 23rd: Running Club @ 7:00 AM and Hill U from 3:35-4:30 in the PM
- October 24th: Under Our Wings 5/6 grade girls Mentor Meeting from 3:30-4:20 in Stem Lab
- October 28-31: Red Ribbon Week (see graphic below!)
- October 28th: Fall Coffee with the Principal: 9:15 in person at Hill and 5:15 via Zoom (link to come)
- October 31st: Fall Parties
- November 1st: School Wide Election Day
- November 1st: Reflections Entries are Due
- November 1st: Trunk or Treat. See link if your family wants to have a trunk! https://forms.gle/pspk4BK8KzLx56PKA
- November 7th: Picture Retakes
Hill Lunch Times:
Important Dates for the Year:
Under Our Wings 5th/6th Grade Girls Mentor Meetings:
If your child signed up to be an Under Our Wings mentor for the school year, see our after school meeting dates below. This form also went home with each girl who signed up and if you need an extra copy please email me! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pyv0ualatdImmAooILvPZGRMBc-7kAa8iZv1NBsRhiw/edit?usp=sharing
Party Dates for 2024-2025 School Year:
- October 31st: Fall Parties
- December 20th: Holiday Parties in AM
- February 14th: Valentine's Party in AM
End of Year Awards and Party Date for 2024-2025 School Year:
- May 13th: PK EOY Award and Party
- May 14th: Kinder EOY Award and Party
- May 15th: 1st Grade EOY Award and Party
- May 16th: 2nd Grade EOY Award and Party
- May 19th: 3rd Grade EOY Award and Party
- May 20th: 4th Grade EOY Award and Party
- May 21st: 5th Grade EOY Award and Party
- May 22nd: 6th Grade EOY Award and Party
- May 23rd: Last Day of School and Dismissal @ 12:10 PM
STAAR Testing Dates for 3rd-6th Grade:
- April 10th: 5th and 6th Grade Reading STAAR (Closed campus, no visitors)
- April 15th: 3rd and 4th Grade Reading STAAR (Closed campus, no visitors)
- April 17th: 5th Grade Science STAAR (Closed campus, no visitors)
- April 23rd: 5th and 6th Grade Math STAAR (Closed campus, no visitors)
- April 25th: 3rd and 4th Grade Math STAAR (Closed campus, no visitors)
PTA Link! Click Here for ALL THINGS PTA!:
How do I put money on my child's account?
Click here to put money on your child's account! https://paypams.com/
How do I become an AISD Approved Volunteer?
Click here to become an AISD approved volunteer: https://www.aisd.net/community/volunteer/
Hill Creed: 24-25 SY
If you need to re-apply for Free and Reduced Lunch, please do so below with the link!
Attendance Shout Outs/Raffles will continue in 24-25!
Let's keep coming to school on time! Beginning at 8:10 I will do attendance raffles! I will get on the loud speaker and randomly select 5-10 kids and if they are at school in class, they will get to come to the office for prizes! Our campus wide goal is 94.9% attendance rate or higher. It's COOL to come to SCHOOL!
Beginning and End Times and Drop Off and Pick Up:
- Doors open at 7:50 AM and learners may go eat breakfast or walk straight to class
- The Tardy Bell rings at 8:20 AM. PLEASE have them here prior 8:20. 8:10 is IDEAL!
- We dismiss at 3:35 PM. Kindergarten will wait inside the front foyer until they hear their learner being called over the walkie talkie and then help their child walk out front to either their parent who walks up or help put them in their car. 1st-4th grade will dismiss out the front doors. 5-6 grade will dismiss from the back of Hill and walk around to either the park if they are a walker or front of the school if they are a car rider. PK will dismiss from the PK POD, same as last year. LOTS of our learners walk to the park or walk home. All other learners will walk out the front of the school with their teacher and we will call your name through the drive thru lane. We will then walk each learner to their car! We are ONLY on duty at the park until 3:50. PLEASE SUPERVISE your learner after 3:50. Mr. Baylor and myself deal with a LOT of park drama (LOL) so your supervision is highly important after 3:50.
Attendance/Tardy Policy for 24-25 SY:
You can click below to see the entire 24-25 Attendance Plan, but here are the big rocks:
No checking out early after 3:00 PM each day. If there is an emergency, a doctor's note will be required the following day or when your learner returns to school.
- More than 5 absences or 5 tardies: a letter will be sent home
- More than 9 absences: a parent/family meeting will be required with myself, counselor or AP. Family Meetings with learners who have more than 9 absences and tardies. We will jointly create an attendance plan to monitor and track attendance and ensure that learners are in school, present, and not missing more than 8% of their entire school year.
- Reinforcements such as 6 weeks attendance parties/lunches for learners who have perfect attendance
- Raffles every 4 weeks with learners who have been present every day at school
- 6 weeks GL parties for the GL with the highest attendance to date.
Join Our Hill Facebook Page!
https://www.facebook.com/HillElementaryHighlanders
Follow Our Hill Website!
https://www.aisd.net/hill-elementary/
How do I contact my child's Teacher? See below for ALL email addresses of all staff at Hill!
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2024-2025 AISD Calendar:
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