Monthly Memo from the Principal

It is almost the end of our first semester this school year and it has been a great one! So many fun things will be happening this month. Please be sure and read each weekly update from your teacher to stay in the loop about what is happening in class. Let us know if you are not receiving emails from our campus. We want to keep you all "in the know".

We thank each and every one of you on a PHEnomenal first semester. We have a few weeks to go, so keep up the great work. Just a reminder that school starts at 7:30 AM and we do not get out of school until 2:45 PM. Every minute counts! Please have your child to school on time.

This month we will be collecting items to help support our community. The following efforts are underway RIGHT NOW and we would LOVE your participation and donations:

• Hill Country Giving Tree- Please check out our Giving Tree in the PHE front foyer- items due by December 13
• LISD Clothes Closet- Please consider checking out the Leander ISD PTA Clothes Closet and donate the gift of time
• Please consider donating new socks and underwear (all sizes) to help support Nurse Heidi and the LISD Clothes Closet; accepting donations in the front office until December 20

Again, we are thankful for your children and what you all mean to our campus. Please let us know if we can support you or your family in any way.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!

Heather Robbins

Principal

Pleasant Hill Elementary

512-570-6400

heather.robbins@leanderisd.org

www.phe.leanderisd.org

Follow us on Twitter: @hrobbinsPHE and @PHEHuskies

Please let us know if you have any questions or needs before the break!

If your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader signed up for the annual PHE Spelling Bee, please encourage them to practice using their book provided from the front office.

If you are going to attend the bee, please use this RSVP form for an easier and faster check in.

Please stop by the front office at PHE and sign in to go check out our growing lost and found.

All items not claimed by Thursday, December 19 will be donated to a local ministry that Friday, December 20.

Join in on the staff fun and dress up on these days. These days are just for fun and are optional.

December 4- Holiday Hustle...wear your fun work out gear

December 5- Which WHO are you?...dress up as your favorite Whoville or Grinch character

December 6- Mad about plaid...wear your favorite plaid

December 9- Holiday movies...dress up as your favorite holiday movie character

December 10- Merry and bright...wear anything sparkly or bright

December 11- Winter workout...wear your fun holiday workout gear

December 12- Candy Cane Lane...wear all red and white clothes

December 13- Polar Express!!! Wear your favorite pajamas

December 16- Elf yourself...dress up like an elf

December 17- Toasty Tuesday...wear your holiday socks, scarves, and slippers

December 18- Holiday hair, don't care...wear holiday hats or hair accessories

December 19- Wear your favorite cute or fun holiday sweater

December 20- Wear your favorite holiday shirt

On Friday, December 13, we will be hosting our annual campus-wide Polar Express Day! All students are welcome to wear pajamas to school to celebrate. We will be serving hot chocolate to all classes. Each student will come home with their very own believe bell as well!

From Coach England about Silver Shoe:

Hello Parents,

We're excited to announce that our 2nd Silver Shoe Event of the year for K-5 is coming up on Friday, December 13 during your child's PE class. If you're new to PHE, this is an event where each grade class competes against each other to see who can run/walk the most laps in 20 minutes. This will take place outside in our south parking lot during your students' specials time. Please feel free to join us to either run/walk or cheer on your child.

All laps will be recorded and the class with the highest average laps per student will be named the fastest class. Our class winner from each grade will have the honor of signing our Silver Shoe Trophy and will display it in their classroom until the next event. We will also give out a spirit stick for the class that shows the most spirit per grade!

To help make this Silver Shoe successful, we are looking for volunteers to do things like count laps or helping with the water station. If you are interested and are an approved volunteer through LISD, please click on the link below to sign up for a time slot. Thanks in advance for donating your time!

Silver Shoe Volunteer Sign up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FACAE2FA6FCC16-51997554-silver?useFullSite=true#/

Link for becoming a LISD volunteer:

https://www.leanderisd.org/volunteering/

Below are the class times your child will be running for Silver Shoe:

Kindergarten - 10:15 - 11:05

1st Grade - 9:20 - 10:10

2nd Grade - 7:40 - 8:30

3rd Grade - 1:35 - 2:25

4th Grade - 11:15 - 12:05

5th Grade - 12:15 - 1:05

Please go to our Husky Helpers website to check out what they are supporting here at the Hill!

Here are a few items to check out:

December Silver Shoe

The next Silver Shoe will be held on Friday, December 13th, during K-5 specials. Please sign up to volunteer here. Room Parents, please send this out to your classes. Let's see which grade can get all spots filled first!

Winter Book Drive & Giving Tree

Many of our students, especially in Early Childhood (Pre-K, ELE, ESLE), do not have age-appropriate books at home that belong to them. Ms. Green and I are working on a book drive with the goal of sending students in need home with their very own book for winter break. I'm looking for someone to help manage this book drive and make it a success. She will also open up the Paws on Print book trailer, I believe on 12/17, so be on the lookout for volunteer spots.

The Giving Tree is up in the front narthex. Stop by to grab a tag and support HCCM/Blue Santa!

Multicultural Night

I just sent out an email to the members of the Multicultural Night planning committee from my personal email (maria.taylor1995@yahoo.com). If you'd like to help plan this exciting new event, please let me know. Sign-ups for participants will be available starting in early December.

Lost & Found

Lost and Found is overflowing! If you're interested in helping to get items back to their owners (especially if you have ideas) contact myself and Lindi Burg.

LEEF Gala Basket

We have been invited to help put together a PHE basket for the LEEF gala! Below is some more information. If you'd like to help put this together (we didn't participate last year) let me know. I have some basket-making supplies in the volunteer portable.

As some of you know, at our Gala we have a silent auction and at our auction we have people bid on our OUTSTANDING campus baskets! Last year we had a record number of campuses donate baskets and together they raised over $4000! This equates to one of annual line items that pays for dual credit textbooks for those students in need. This. Is. Amazing!

Challenge: Let's see if we can beat the number of baskets collected by campuses last year and raise even more money for our students and staff of LISD! Last year 22 of you donated baskets which was record breaking--we got this!!! Gala campus basket spreadsheet here. Once you choose your basket please fill in the spreadsheet with your campus name and contact info.

Contest: We will be once again having a contest among campuses for the best basket. We will bring in some of our outside community supporters and sponsors to help with the voting (LEEF DOES NOT vote). Last year we provided the winning campus food for your PTA/PTO meeting and for second place we provided a sweet treat for the staff. If you have an idea in mind that you think would be super motivating to your communities to help then please let me know. We are all about it!

Thank you for your help in promoting our biggest fundraiser of the year and helping to make an impact on ALL students and staff of #1LISD!

Rally Day at the Capitol

A note: while we do not have a PTA or an incorporated organization, we are still in a sense part of the Leander ISD Council of PTAs which runs things such as the Clothes Closet and advocates for all students at the district and state level. Thus, I share relevant information from them to you. If you have an older student who is particularly interested in learning about advocacy and legislation, this is a great event to consider. It also looks like it may be an excused absence, with RSVP and I assume appropriate documentation of attendance.

The next advocacy opportunity is RALLY DAY at the Capitol on Monday, February 24th,2025! Thousands of Texas PTA members from across the state travel to Austin to participate in a student and adult caucus, a "parade-style" walk to the Capitol steps for a Rally, bring a lunch to picnic on the lawn, meet with legislators, and participate in informative "literature drops." As you can imagine, this is an empowering event for students and adults alike! The purpose of Rally Day is to let the Texas legislature know that the Texas PTA is a large advocacy group and that we are united in our efforts to improve public education for students, educators, and families.

If you are interested in attending Rally Day (remember that you can bring your children to participate in this exciting event) please fill out this interest form HERE.

A brief Rally Day zoom meeting will be held Wednesday, January 8th at 6:00 p.m. for LISD PTA members with specific information about the schedule and events for the day.

Christine Palazzolo- Gisewhite (2nd grade)- 1st Place

Jessica Pickle (4th grade)- 2nd Place

Latasha Calcagni (1st grade)- 3rd Place

Nikki Del Barto (Special Programs)- Honorable Mention

And a HUGE thank you to our judges Tom Robbins, Principal of Leander Middle School and Jon Houser, husband to our assistant principal, Lauren Houser. They had a tough and spicy job, but were up for the task! We had such a good time with food and fellowship during this event.

Can't wait to do it again next year!

Multicultural Night, henceforth Huskies Around the World, is a new (but oft-requested) event for the 2024-2025 school year intended to acknowledge and celebrate our students’ and community’s cultural backgrounds. We want to invite our community to set up a booth representing their country or culture. There will also be opportunities to perform, read a book, or tell a story.

EVENT DATE: January 16th

EVENT TIME: 5:30-7 PM (sensory-sensitive time from 5-5:30 PM)

WHO CAN SET UP A BOOTH? Any PHE student, group of students, or even an entire class! Please note that while we want the booth to be student-led, there should be an adult present during the event.

WHAT SHOULD MY BOOTH HAVE?

• Information on your country/culture, usually on a trifold or poster board but get creative!
• Examples of food, attire, language, and other things that make your country/culture unique
• A way to mark "passports" of event attendees (a stamp, marker, sticker, etc.)

You will not be able to hang things on the wall or use the floor in front of or beside your table, so please plan accordingly.

Finally, we are compiling a book of recipes and would like each booth to submit one recipe. You do not have to make and bring an example, but you are welcome to if you'd like. Please email your recipe to phehuskyvolunteers@gmail.com no later than January 7th. We will send email reminders.

Questions? Contact the Husky Helpers (phehuskyvolunteers@gmail.com).

SIGN UP FOR A BOOTH: https://forms.gle/W59wRkR1tH3r3FwG6