Friday, May 30, 2014

Tiny Tails To You! Petting Zoo made it to the Annex Cafeteria on Tuesday, even after some heavy rains. Pre-K students had a fun time petting small animals such as: bunnies, chicks, guinea pigs, hedge hogs, a blue tongue skink, bearded dragon and a chinchilla. Some animals were so cozy and soothed by gentle hands, that they fell asleep. Even Mrs. Gerber hopped right in with the fun but chose to stick with the soft fuzzier animals.


 



Ms. Underwood celebrated with students who helped out in the library this year. They ate lunch and watched "How to Train a Dragon" while eating popcorn and cookies.  

Fourth grade performed their western on Thursday. It was a full house at the OHE Corral. Students sang songs about heading West by horse and wagon, locomotive, and steamboat- in search of gold!  They struck it rich with Ms. Brown and Ms. Tobias leading the way!





The afternoon ended with an exciting basketball game (silent auction donation from 2nd grade) between Second Graders, called the "OHE Super Eagles" and the Second Grade Teachers. Coach Shaw led his team to victory.  Great fun was had by all!



Last night was also the AISD Salute - Teacher of the Year Celebration at the Long Center.  Mrs. Steinle, OHE Teacher of the Year; Mr. Gerber, OHE Teacher of Promise, and Mrs. McGregor, OHE Teacher Assistant of the Year were all recognized at the event.

It was an exciting morning at the assembly today with a surprise Flash Mob performance by our No Place For Hate Coalition.

Check out the video below (or on our youtube channel):

Did you know that classes can adopt the chickens for a week and they get to keep the eggs!  This week was Ms. Grotrian's class. Typically, a class receives between 12-14 eggs per week.  The students have named the chickens.  The one with feathers on her feet is Chirp, and she lays green eggs.  Maggie also has feathers on her feet but doesn't lay green eggs.  Tiny is the smallest and lays the smallest eggs.  The class celebrated today with french toast.  





Today after the assembly, was another OHE tradition, the 2nd grade talent show. Many students showed their talents from singing, doing karate, performing a song with sign language, doing gymnastics, telling jokes, playing instruments, dancing and even showing us some magic tricks. These kids are very talented and brave. It is hard to get up in front of a crowd.


A special thank you to Mrs. Nowakowski-Grimm, who filled in as an Administrator this week. You will see her again in the office next week helping while Mrs. Baxter is out.

And yes, it is the last week.  Can't believe another year has gone by.  There are still some teachers that need parents to help for 3 Ring Circus.  Touch base with your teacher if you can help or sign up here. We'd love help anywhere as some classes are in more need than others! Thank you.

Friday, May 23, 2014

On Monday about 60 5th grade Library Club members  and all of the 1st grade classes met for their final Reading Buddy Day. They celebrated with a Beach Blanket Read-O where they took some of their favorite books and their beach towels out to the black top and enjoyed some time reading together. This reading buddy group has met almost once a month this year. At each meeting, small groups gather and share books while they get to know each other. It is great to see the relationships grow as they share a love of reading!
The Library Club members have done a great job this year helping in the library. They have earned points throughout the year by checking their assigned shelf making it neat and displaying books to catch students' interest, helped students in the library find books, ran errands for Ms. Underwood, monitored the hall (and modeled appropriate behavior) during the Pledge and Moment of Silence, and helped during Book Fair. They have been a great group of kids, and they are looking forward to their end of the year celebration next week!



 On Tuesday, Bernadette Nason, was a storyteller on campus.  One 5th grade student described her as "epic".  I learned that means way cool.
 Also on Tuesday, an OHE parent has made it a tradition to celebrate staff members that have been at OHE for 25+ years.  This year we celebrated Mrs. Lynch and Mrs. Faulkner. I think together they had over 50 years of OHE experience!
On Wednesday, Nic a 5th grader, received his Silent Auction Item and ate on stage with Sgt. Mitchell.  He and his friend had lots of fun asking Sgt. Mitchell questions.
 Nic also received another one of his Silent Auction Items on Friday as Principal for the Day.  Here is what he had to say about the experience. "It is fun to be principal for the day. Plus, Dr. Mitchell is  the most awesome principal I have ever seen. Plus, the cafeteria was exhausting with so many questions to be answered by all the kids!"

Thursday evening, we had 5 of our Take Flight students Graduate from the program.  These students have been attending sessions everyday for 2 years!  What an accomplishment!  Plus, a huge thank you to Ms. Ashorn and Mrs. Moody for teaching the program.

Did you know that Mary, the Cafeteria Manger has retired?  Bill, the person who has been substituting while Mary was out, has accepted the position and will be the new Cafeteria Manger.  Please give him a huge OHE welcome the next time you see him.

Did you see the news crew on campus again?  Our gardens are getting lots of press.  This time is was with Mr. Cumings and our Gardening Club.  I'll let you know the air date once we know.

Last week I mentioned that our Music Memory team would be competing on Saturday.  They did great.  Of the 18 team members, we had about 5 perfect scores and lots of 2nd and 3rd place winners.

For those that haven't heard, I will be out for part of the week.  Demetrie and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary.  Helping Mrs. Baxter while I am out will be Mrs. Nowakowski-Grimm.  She has been working on her Principal Certification all year and this will give her some great hands-on experience.  (Don't give her too much trouble :))

Friday, May 16, 2014

Can you believe we only have 2 Fridays left of school?!  

This year's student council celebrated their accomplishments for the year Monday.   They completed their last service activity by visiting Querencia Retirement Home and then returning to campus to feast on pizza.  I am proud of our Student Council.  They learn so much about the concept of giving.  Also thank you to the Oak Hill Rotary who partners with the student group and leads them through the year. 


Track club has been rained out many times this year and again on the last day.  But that didn't stop the students from honoring Mrs. Palmer.  Thank you Mrs. Palmer and the other parent volunteers for supporting this program.  I know I cherished my dots for each round I completed. 

Our kindergarten students took a field trip to the Crowe's Nest and had lots of fun.  





As you know, OHE has a wonderful volunteer based reading program for our 1st and 2nd grade students.  Today they graduated.

Soaring 2013-2014
I volunteer in the program also and have learned so much about struggling readers and how to help them.  If you are looking for a way to volunteer next year, this is an excellent way.  Plus you immediately receive the benefits because the student you mentor loves working with you.  If you would like to know more about the program and how it supports our students, here is a video about our program.


For the past several years, two parents have really helped shape, organize and recruit for our SOARING program, Bridget Brown and Kelly Woytek.  Kelly is leaving us next for bigger students.  She was presented with a lab coat with her name on it "Dr. Kelly Woytek". She will be teaching "Viruses" at Texas State in the Fall. And thus ending her 4+ years of heading up Reading Rangers. Thank you Bridget and Kelly!


Tomorrow the OHE Music Memory Team has their competition . I wish them the best of luck.  

Also, it is that time of year that OHE begins collecting books for our summer "Drop and Swap".  Bring in your read books for a new book to read.  

Friday, May 9, 2014

Book Fair week is always fun and full of excitement.  This time was no exception.  It was a definite Fiesta.  Our newly created Ballet Folklorico group danced for the school on Cinco de Mayo and again during Family Night for Book Fair.








 It was also Kinder Round Up, and we met many of the new students that will be attending OHE in the fall.  The students were so excited about being on campus.
Second graders have been studying the Butterfly Cycle.  After making caterpillars in class, they released the 'hatched' butterflies outside.





Also this week, we celebrated Teacher Appreciation.  It is just overwhelming the love and kindness shown for the OHE staff.  We had Rudy's BBQ on Wednesday and massages today.  Plus, without the staff knowing, students with the support of one of our amazing parents, created a video explaining how they felt about their teachers. Students even dressed up in costume to make the video more interactive.
Next week is the STAAR retest for our 5th graders.  We still have a few students needing to pass.  It won't be a No Visitor Week but please be mindful when you are on campus.  

Have a great weekend and have a great Mother's Day.  

Friday, May 2, 2014

Today the following 3rd graders' posters were chosen by La Sertoma.  This project is a tradition for 3rd graders which is aligned to their science TEKS.  Congratulations:  Kiara B, Katie D, Victor G,Eva G, Sarai L, Kelly M, Vivian-A N, Jessica R, Ian S, Sasha T, Olivia T, and Nicole V. We are very proud of you. 

The following students were selected to participated in the district Music Memory contest. Congratulations!
3rd grade team: Kiara B, Eve, G, Campbell G, Sophia M, Dat N, and Ridley O. 
4th grade team:  Tallulah B, Lucy G, Diego L, Aram M, Sam V, and Hazel W.    
5th grade team:  Alanna A, Ethan C, Leena J, Visahn N, Gabrielle P, and Anya T.                              
During assembly this morning, we honored the OHE amazing volunteers.  Students and Staff were asked questions like, "What is a Volunteer?", "How much money do Volunteers earn?", "What do the Volunteers do at OHE?" and "What would your job be like without Volunteers?" There were some amazing answers, which I quite agree with.  The video is posted on below and on our youtube channel, just in case you can't see it.  It is worth watching.  


Today was also the last Principal's Coffee for the year.  The topic of conversation was "Students and Social Media."   If you would like more information, please refer to the following sites.  

www.stopbullying.gov