Husky E-News

Hillendale families,

I hope that your huskies enjoyed their Snow Day this past week! Our "Heart of a Husky Club" celebrating students who choose to be kind to everyone, do their best, and show they care is off to a great start. I encourage you to ask your children about the Heart of a Husky Club and if they have been recognized!

Our Annual Family Luminaria Trail Walk benefiting our PTO is TOMORROW, Monday, January 13th from 5 - 6 PM. Families are invited to join us on the lower portion of the Hillendale trail to take a winter walk together through a beautiful path of luminaries. Luminaries are available for dedication using the form sent home in students' backpacks before winter break and using the document linked below. All donations go to the PTO. Thank you to Mrs. Walter and Mrs. Wanner for their hard work in making this evening possible for us again this year!

Our Annual MLK Day of Service is on Monday, January 20th from 9 AM - 12 PM in the Hillendale Gym. Students and families from all four UCF elementary schools will come together for experiential service opportunities benefiting our local community. Please see more details in the PTO section below including how you can help and ways to donate materials to make our morning together possible.

Have a great week!

Joshua Leight

Hillendale Elementary Principal

Due to the snow day last week, our annual Family Luminaria Trail Walk is now this Monday, January 13th from 5-6pm.

Families are invited to join us on the lower portion of the Hillendale trail to take a winter walk together through a beautiful path of luminaries.

January

13 - PTO General Meeting - 10:30am in the LGI

13 - Family Luminaria Trail Walk 5:00-6:00pm

20 - School Closed / MLK Day of Service (see details below)

21 - Penny Drive Begins (see details below)

29 - School Closed

February

5 - Bagged Lunch Starts (every Wednesday for 6 weeks 2/5-3/12)
7- Bingo Night (6:30pm-8:30pm)

17 - School Closed
20 - 5th Grade Lip Sync Try-Outs (4pm-5:30pm)

25 - Snow Date: 5th Grade Lip Sync Try-Outs (4pm-5:30pm)
28 - 5th Grade Oldies Dance

28 - Rare Disease Day

The Penny Drive will run January 21st - Feb 3rd! The Penny Drive collects your loose change - any coins or spare dollars are welcome! Money raised goes directly to purchase food for our Bag Lunch program which provides bagged lunches (packed by our students) to local food kitchens.

This is also a fun activity for grades 3-5, as the math classes will count the cash collected each day! We will need parent volunteers to help the students count the change. Sign up here If your child switches teachers for math class, keep this in mind when you select your spot.

Start collecting your loose change - dig down into your sofa, empty those cup holders, and send it in! Collections and counting will start on the morning of Tuesday, January 21st (pm Kindergarten can send their day 1 collections in on Friday January 17th and their last day of collections on January 31st)

At the end of the 2 weeks, the homeroom classes with the highest 3 donations will be recognized - a special day to choose from in coordination with their teacher (e.g., pajama day, popsicle day)! Principal Leight will celebrate Huskies meeting their $2000 donation goal by letting a couple students from each class spray him with Silly String!

1. Donate Supplies: Click here to donate supplies from our AMAZON WISHLIST!

2. Volunteer: Click here to volunteer to help at a station

3. Attend the event with your kids on Monday Jan 20th from 9:00am-12:00pm at HES

This year Hillendale Elementary is working with four community organizations at our Martin Luther King Day of Service Event, Monday, January 20th 9am-12pm. We will host the event in our Cafe/Gym area with our fellow district elementary schools and their chosen organizations.

Pocopson Home is a 24 hour medical care facility in Chester County that provides services for both short term and long term residents. This year our volunteers will make photo books with images from the 1940's and 1950's to help dementia patients connect to their past and inspire good memories.

YoungMoms is an organization based in Kennett Square with the mission to help pregnant and parenting young mothers stay in school, receive the training they need in both vocational and parenting education, and empower them to make healthy decisions for themselves and their families. At the MLK Day event we will make onesies and t-shirts for the participants to receive as Mother's Day gifts this coming May.

STEHM-Martha House is an organization that provides transitional housing to women and children facing crisis situations. We will paint encouraging and uplifting signs for the participants to display in their rooms during their stay and to bring them hope.

Lastly, we will be working with PAWS for People, a local organization that helps people of all needs with support of therapy pet teams. We will be making Kindness Clips for them to give to those they visit. They will be joining us with some of their therapy teams.

Other organizations who will be at the MLK event and supported through projects include: KACS, Meals on Wheels, Ronald McDonald House, and CASA.

For Questions and Information please contact,

Kamille Fox, HES PTO MLK Chairperson, kamillefox@gmail.com,

or

Chelsea Wirth, HES PTO Community Service Chairperson, wirthmomchels@gmail.com

After the initial trial period, NEW DATES have been added for grades 3-5 only. We kindly ask that you initially chose only one library date per child. Once everyone has had a chance to sign up - after January 2nd - we encourage you to check back and signup for more if slots are available.

Volunteers will help to check books in/out and shelve returned books during your 3rd-5th grade child's library class.

Send any concerns or issues to Janette Grieb at janettepgrieb@gmail.com

Questions or comments for the PTO? Email us at HESPTO@ucfsd.net