Hillis Hound Happenings

At Hillis, we recognize appropriate student behavior with a system that allows each student to have their ticket filled and submitted for prizes and recognition during our Friday announcements and the monthly Hound Pack Rally. Our building goal this month was to have 500 tickets earned by all students in grade kindergarten through 5. We are proud to share that our students earned 563 tickets! To help us celebrate meeting the goal, Drake football players came during our Friday recess and played a variety of games with all Hillis students!

If your child will be going home in a way that is different than usual (such as if your child usually rides a bus home but will be parent pick up today) please notify the school as early as possible. We need to be able to adjust their dismissal process to keep them and every other child safe and getting home in a timely manner.

Please notify us by 2:20 PM at the latest so that we can communicate the updates to your child's classroom teacher and our dismissal team. The time between 2:20 PM and the end of dismissal is very busy with almost 300 children going home. Notifying us after 2:20 PM of a change in transportation leads to delays for families and uncomfortable uncertainty for children.

We appreciate your cooperation!

Studies say about a third of kids aren’t getting the recommended amount of sleep. Exhaustion doesn’t always look like yawns and naps. It can mean more challenging behaviors for little ones and difficulties with learning and sports for school age kids.

Children between the ages of 5 and 12 need anywhere between 9 and 13 hours of sleep every night. Having an earlier bedtime might not be something your child will be excited about, but it will set them up for success in the long run!

Attendance is one of the most important predictors of a child's academic success - no matter what grade the child is in. Thank you for doing your best bringing your students to school every day and on time! This month, the grade with the best attendance is 4th grade - congratulations!

In Second Grade students have been working hard to learn about schools around the world. Students performed Readers Theater's about different schools and performed for their classmates to celebrate their new learning. Students have been writing stories with similarities and differences to Hillis and another school. Second graders read their stories to kindergarten students.

Mr. Egge, Mrs. Franz, Mrs. Joyce

3rd grade is off to a spectacular start of the year. To say we are working hard would be an understatement. From writing a four-paragraph essay to discovering and utilizing square unit measurements the students are being challenged in a variety of ways.

We are wrapping up our module about learning around the world and will begin exploring frogs at the end of the month.

Math is always an adventure. We started the year learning multiplication. Our current unit focuses on measuring the area of figures using different sized square units. At the end of October, we will dive back into adding and subtracting numbers within 1,000.

We are having a splendid year and enjoy all our third graders! We are THE HILLIS HOUNDS!

Ms. Gevock, Mrs. KP, Ms. Lowe

4th grade has fully embraced fall. Recess must have fallen leaves involved. We have been working in Poetry since August. Students have read the book “Love That Dog” by Sharon Creech. They have learned what inspires poets to write their poetry. Now they have written an original poem and are writing an essay on what inspired them to write their poetry.

In math we are all about fractions. Equivalence, comparing, and groupings. The 4th grade teachers would like to encourage all 4th graders to continue working on their multiplication facts. They are super important throughout the school year in math.

Mrs. Bloom-Gilbert, Mr. Gaskin, Mr. Suceska

We have so much fun in the music room- I wish you could see their smiles while we are playing our music games. They bring me so much joy! The students have been working hard on our rhythm concepts and we are getting ready to transition into our melody unit. Some of the music concepts we have worked on so far include steady beat, vocal exploration, movement exploration, folk dancing, musical form and rhythm. We use a lot of games to learn our concepts so the students are always busy and engaged in our learning!

It is my goal to provide fun musical experiences in the music room so the kids can become lifelong music enthusiasts and music makers. It is my sincere hope to build musicians that want to carry music with them throughout their lives and that learning to be “artful, tuneful and beatful” in the music room, will create humans that will one day sing to their babies, dance at their weddings, rock out in the car with friends on a road trip, and maybe even use music to help soothe the tough days. It is my honor to be their music teacher and watch them grow from year to year. Thank you for sharing them with me.

Please mark your calendars for our annual K-5 music concerts on Thursday, February 27, 2025 at Hoover High School’s auditorium. More details to follow. I can’t wait for you to watch them SHINE!

This month during classroom counseling we are learning about staying safe in case of an emergency using the standard response protocol from the I love you guys foundation. Learn more here: SRP The "I Love U Guys" Foundation. Students are also learning about our mental health by identifying and understanding feelings. At school we talk about how all feelings are ok, but it's important that we manage them in appropriate ways. Here are some tips for talking to your student.

October

29th - Picture Retake Days

31st - Classroom Fall Celebrations

November

Penny wars (more to come!)

4th and 5th - NO SCHOOL - Election Break

12th - PTO meeting at 6pm

27th, 28th, 29th - NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break