It has been a busy week at OHE.  Many students received their Silent Auction Awards by eating on stage like the 3rd grader winner, Kael, above with friends or in the Young at Heart Library with me as in the picture below with kindergartner winner, Devon.

5th grade Silent Auction winner, Maggie with her friends.  All being watched over by our new mascot.

Ryan, our 2nd grade winner.

Will, the 1st grade winner and friends.

Today was also Student Council Hippie Day.  These students are from Mrs. Bentley's 2nd grade class.

Mrs. Calabrese with her first grade class.

It is hard to tell with such great looking costumes, but I think these are some of the girls in Mr. Kennedy's 3rd grade class.

Look at Mrs. McDonald.  She went all out.

Silent Auction winner, Morgan, received her special bedtime story from Mrs. Polan this week.  What a fabulous idea!  It looks like her brother and sister enjoyed it as well. Morgan also won "Lunch with a Cop".  She has had lots of special treats at OHE lately.

Mrs. Faulkner rewarded her winners Ella, Sadie, Lauren, and Nathan with a Movie Party in her room!

Even with all this fun, there was some learning happening.  "Dr. Devon" was Mrs. Conaway's Scientist of the week and demonstrated how a building would withstand an earthquake.  We learned that buildings made out of sugar and peanut butter don't last well in earthquakes!  Mrs. Conaway's class also observed a Bald Eagle that has eggs that are supposed to hatch any time today.  Go to
http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/index.html
to watch as well.

 At the Silent Auction the Carr Family bid on the "Principal for the Day".  Major Carr was the winner and was my shadow for the day.  We walked all of the classes and wrote up observations in two.  We had lunch duty in the cafeteria. We checked on the picture schedule which was really off but it was being handled.  Thank you to all the parent volunteers helping with pictures. 

 Ryan Blaydon won lunch on stage with some of his 2nd grade friends.

 Mr. Carr and I observed Mrs. Mendrek's class in PE.  Mrs. Palmer was teaching students how to perform different gymnastic skills.  Here is one student on the parallel bars.

 Here students climb up the trestle.

 In the background a student is climbing the cargo net.

 They love the rock wall.  Both Mr. Carr and I like the rock wall as well if it was much higher.

 Students can either roll sideways down the tumbling mat or front ways.

 This picture shows students climbing the ropes and stall wall.  The ropes happen to be Mr. Carr's favorite gymnastic activity. 

Finally, Mrs. Palmer helps a student walk across the high balance beam.  This happens to be Mr. Carr's younger brother, Chapell. 

Mr. Carr stated that his favorite part of the day was walking through the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes because the students were all doing so many different and exciting activities.  He said that he didn't realize that I spent so much time walking around all the classes and that 5th grade lunch duty was frustrating because all the fifth graders talked way too much, mainly because he was one of them. It was great having an extra helper.  We had a great day. - Dr. Mitchell and Mr. Carr.

You should have received an AISD parent survey several weeks ago.  If you have not returned the form, please return it next week so we can submit them to the district.

Our spring GT assessments are complete and parents will be notified next week of the results.

If your on campus during lunch next week, our silent auction winners will be eating on stage.  Additionally, the student who won the "Principal for a Day" will shadow me on Monday.  We are both quite excited. 

I hope you are enjoying the updates we are making to the campus.  The front of the building has been painted with updated colors.  No more 70s orange!  Plus flagstone has been added to the flag pole area so students don't have to walk in the mud.  Don't forget tomorrow is OHE clean-up day.  The grounds committee could use lots of support.

Remember there is no Friday assemblies until April 29th.

As I walked through kindergarten this week, I saw some young scientist at work.  Mrs. Polan's class is growing Wisconsin Fast Plants.  Students will observe the life cycle of a seed in less than 40 days!

This week PTA honored the OHE staff for teacher appreciation week.  Each day there were wonderful surprises in the lounge, power drinks, snacks, coffee, yogurt, sandwiches, and today we were given massages.  Additionally, parents volunteered to cover classes while teachers went off campus for an extra long lunch with their team. Thank you for all you support this week.  It was a great treat right before spring break.

Due to gymnastic equipment in the gym, OHE will not have Friday assemblies until April 29th.  At that time, we will get caught up on Eagle of the Day students by announcing two weeks worth of winners per week. Students having birthdays during the week, will be allowed to come to the office each Friday until April 29th to receive their birthday pencil.

Class pictures are March 28th.  I am looking for volunteers to help be runners. If you are interested, please send me an email.  The company usually offers an incentive for helpers.

Third grade students have been working on biographies for several weeks.  Researching information related to a person of their choice.  This week Mrs. Grimm's and Mrs. Lagerquist's classes held their final presentations.  

Today we recognized students who received awards at the Regional Science Fair.  We are so proud of these students.

I hope everyone has a great, safe, and relaxation spring break.  See you on March 21st. 

We had lots of fun at the carnival.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  Thanks to all who helped and participated.  It was absolutely a success!

The Austin Energy Regional Science Festival this past Saturday, February 26, 2011 at the Palmer Events Center.  Our Eagles excelled at this competition. The following is a list of our students and what they earned at the regional science fair: 

Student Name	Place	Grade Level	Name of Project
Shannon R	2nd	5	Crazy Colors
Mia M	1st	5	Flower Power
Claire P	1st	5	Bubble Mixture Test
Samuel M	2nd	3	Winging It
Sarah L	1st	3	The effect of soil types on the growth of radishes
Wesley E	2nd	5	Poppin' Corn
Terra E	2nd	3	Empty vs. Full
Amber W	2nd	3	All About Chickens
Ian B	2nd	1	How Fire Uses Air to Burn
Ryan B	2nd	2	Angle Shooter
Ian J	2nd	4	Should You Let Your Plants Drink Sodas?
Jace B	2nd	4	The Great Guacamole
Keller K	2nd	4	What a Cat Wants

Congratulations to all our students!

It's that time of year and TAKS testing has begun.  On March 1st, our 4th grade students take the Writing TAKS test.  Because of testing security, parents are not allowed to be in the area where students are taking the test.  Therefore, the 4th grade side of the building will be off limits as well as the cafeteria during 4th grade lunch time for parents and guests.

If you haven't signed up to work the carnival next week, please visit the attached link.  There are still many booths and slots available. http://carnivalsignup.ohepta.org/

On a different note, if you are a parent that likes to keep up with your student's grades, please visit http://www.austinisd.org and sign-up for parent connection.  If you need help, contact Naomi in our OHE office.

This week with the support of Book People and Ms. Brooks author Barney Saltzberg came and visited our kindergarten students.

Also this week, our pre-kindergarten and PPCD students learned about transportation.  My husband, Sgt. Mitchell, was eager to show them his patrol vehicle.  Oh how they loved the lights and sirens!

Spring parent conferences are Monday.  Since the spring conferences have not traditionally been mandatory, we have decided that for any student that has performance or behavior concerns a conference must be held.  If you haven't been contacted by the teacher and want a conference, just let the teacher know. 

As you know, AISD is facing a financial crisis. Unfortunately, our school will be impacted.  A reduction in force is a very serious matter, and AISD employees will be adversely affected.  According to our projections for next year, OHE is losing 6 teaching positions (1 4th, 1 3rd, 2 2nd, 2 kinder positions), 1 teaching assistant position, and 1 office clerk position.  Each of the employees was notified on Wednesday if they were on the Reduction in Force (RIF) list.  Out of respect to those employees and the uncertainty of their situation, I have chosen not to publicize their names.  I ask that you respect that decision as well and understand how difficult this is for our campus, especially since last year OHE went through a similar reduction process.  The campus is eager to begin planning for next year and as the plans are created I will continue to inform you of those decisions. As always, please come to me if you have any questions or concerns.

On a much more positive note, the Austin Jazz Workshop was on campus Thursday.  Our 3rd - 5th grade students enjoyed the performance and some even were able to participate.  There was a special guest appearance by our own Mr. Bowers!

Also, this is shout for carnival volunteers.  Carnival is only 2 weeks away, and we still needs volunteers to work grade level booths.  You are able to sign-up on line.  Please visit the website.

It has been an exciting day here at OHE!  Student council organized our first costume day.  Chick-fil-A was here passing out their new spicy chicken biscuit sandwich. Mrs. Roberts' class performed a "Brain Pop" activity during assembly. It was popcorn reward day at lunch, and we ended the evening with our PTA Rock-n-roll Fun Night.  Enjoy the pictures!

OHE Families,

As many of you have witnessed, the district has used the "School Messenger" system to notify parents of important situations related to district, recently the close of school last week.  If you have not received these notifications or would rather a different phone number be used, please let the our front office know so we can make the change in the system.  School Messenger can also be used at the local campus level.  Today, I used it to call 1st grade parents to inform them the field trip had been canceled due to the weather. 

Since school was canceled last Friday, the student council costume day has been rescheduled for this Friday.  Also on Friday, Chick-fil-A will be on campus early distributing their new spicy chicken biscuit sandwich.  Come and enjoy. 

Need costume ideas?  Mrs. Phillips' 4th grade class created newspaper costumes thanking our newspaper adopter.  The class uses the Austin American Statesmen in multiple ways: research, math problem solving, writing, and fun etc.