What's Happening on the Hill?

We are now in our second full week of instruction. It has been amazing being in our classrooms and witnessing the hard work of some incredible teachers and faculty. We've had meetings with dedicated PTA leadership and am amazed at how they have the best interest of students in mind. It is wonderful working with dedicated parents. We are focusing our language arts instruction with a new curriculum this year (Core Knowledge Language Arts or CKLA). Our adopted math program is iReady and we are utilizing science resources through a program called Mystery Science. Our teachers are working hard to align these programs with Utah State Core Standards. Teachers have spent hours in professional development this summer in adapting these programs to their instruction. Our early out on Mondays support this collaboration and work amongst teachers. Next week, we will begin our Acadience Reading and Acadience Math screeners. These are state required. These assessments last approximately 3-5 minutes each and are administered by instructional technicians in our building. You will receive the results of these screeners.

Mark your calendars for September 6th from 4:30-7:00 p.m. The PTA will be setting up at 4:00 and will be ready to welcome families at 4:30 p.m. We will have hotdogs, face painting, dinosaur dig, nine square, corn hole, art booths, tug-of-war and lots of other great activities. Refer to the information sent home and posted about the online/silent auction. We appreciate the efforts of our PTA. They are always looking for support and help with these activities. There will be a booth to purchase school shirts as well.

School starts at 9:15 a.m. Our playground is busy each morning with students who are arriving as early as 8:45 a.m. We welcome students who need to be here early, however, we encourage you to drop your students off just prior to school starting. Our teachers are welcoming and opening their doors just prior to the start of the day at 9:05 a.m. The drop off line in front of the building is still long. Remember that you can use the side drop off which, at this point, is under utilized and doesn't have a long line. Please avoid the use of the bus lane to drop off or pick up.

Thanks for your patience in student pick up. Again, we encourage you to utilize the different options of the front, side, or even have students cross the main crosswalk to the other side of the street for pick up. Please teach your children to be flexible and meet you as you pull all the way forward. Additionally, we have crosswalks to support you and your students safety. Please take the extra time to teach young children to cross through traffic only at crosswalk areas.

Communicating with Teachers about Transportation Changes: Our teachers have time to read emails in the morning, however, they often don't read emails again until the end of the day. If you are communicating about a transportation change at the end of the day, please don't assume the teacher will read an email sent in the middle of the day. You are always safest when you call the office and have this information relayed through the secretaries if a change is made in the day.

Our students eat in the lunchroom first and then go outside to eat.

We have worked hard to observe our processes and make adjustments as necessary. Please note that all students have the option of staying in the lunchroom to eat after grade level dismissal is made. We have a separate table set aside in the lunchroom for this purpose. All students have the option to stay, and are reminded of this daily. By allowing this for all grade levels, we are adjusting for those students who eat quickly, and for those that need more time. Students who have a home lunch take their lunch bags outside and put them in their classroom cart and then they are free to enjoy their recess break. By having students responsible to get their lunch bags in the right classroom basket, we have cut down on lost lunch bags.

This is a reminder that free and reduced lunch applications MUST be reapplied for each year. If you applied last year and have not applied again this year, you may need to contact our school lunch clerk to see your status.

Please support us by keeping your lunch accounts current. You may be unaware that we don't have a budget for lunch accounts at the school. This is a separate budget system, so keeping your account current it critical. If you need support with any of these things, please contact the office.

Many of you may not know that on our school web page, at the bottom, is a calendar. This calendar merges holidays, Nebo School District, as well as Orchard Hills Elementary. calendars. You can actually clink on the link and it will send the information to your Google calendar. This calendar has been updated with the dates that we currently have for the year. Additionally, we do our best to inform you with emails, texts, and classroom news. If you are not receiving these notifications, please check your email settings in your parent portal.

Aug. 30: Online/Silent auction opens

Sept 4: Hearing Screening

Sept. 6: Fall Carnival 4:30-7:00 p.m.

Sept. 13: School Picture Day

Sept. 16: District Development Day - No school for students

Oct. 3: School Community Council 3:45 p.m.

Oct. 9-10: Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences (watch for sign-ups from teacher)

Oct. 16: Orchard Hills Dance Festival (1-3:30 p.m.). For those new to our school: Our students prepare grade level dances and perform them outside in our beautiful fall setting. Parents and community are welcome to come and celebrate students and enjoy the beautiful backdrop of nature that is our playground!

Oct: 17, 18, 21: No school for students (Fall Break)

Oct. 22: Red Ribbon Weeks Begins

Oct. 31: Halloween Parade: Morning Kindergarten 10:00 a.m., School Parade 2:45 p.m.