What a week! The student council campaigning took over the hallways and walls. The students were quite creative with their posters and stickers. But today was the big day! Speeches and then the election. The students did an amazing job delivering their speeches. I am always impressed that they can get up in front of their peers and recite their speech. Afterwards, the 4th and 5th grade students returned to class to vote. Our 2012-2013 Student Council Board is: President – Kael S.; Vice President – Ben W.; Secretary – Sarah L.; and Treasurer – Jake O. Congratulations to all the candidates and the newly elected Board.

Wednesday was our second annual “Bring Your Dad to School” Day.  We had an amazing turnout.  At least 339 Dads were present!  Dads started in the cafeteria with their child and then followed them to class.  Some teachers had activities for the Dads to complete while other classes had Dads observe the students doing their normal routines.  Afterwards, Dads returned to the cafeteria for a debrief with me. 

Students in grades 3^rd – 5^th spent the week determining who was going to be Student Council Representatives for their homeroom classes.  Elections were held and our new Student Council Representatives met with Mrs. Caporal today to discuss expectations.   Next week, 4^th and 5^th graders will campaign for Student Council Treasure, Secretary, Vice-President, and President.  The hallways will be full of campaign posters next week. 

Next Wednesday is Bring Your Dad to School Day.  This is a day when we celebrate Dads or male role models here at OHE and show them how students’ days begin at school.  Dads will start in the cafeteria with the students at 7:30 and then move to the classrooms.  At 8:15 Dads will be dismissed from the classrooms and can either leave or join me back in the cafeteria.  If a Dad or male role model is unable to attend, moms are welcome to participate. 

Friday at 8:30 is my first Principal’s Coffee.  One agenda item will be to discuss the new elementary report cards.   Hope to see you then. 

On Tuesday, authors Margaret Peterson Haddix and Lisa McMann, visited OHE and spoke with our 5^th graders.  Each author explained how the idea of their books were formed and the strategies used to formulate each idea.

 Students had the opportunity to ask questions  and purchase the authors’ books.  Some even had the authors autograph their copy.

OHE has been issued a challenge.  It is called “Fuel Up to Play 60” and it challenges us to “Get Healthy” by eating healthy and exercising.  The PE teachers are asking everyone to take the pledge and agree to doing something or stop doing something in order to be more healthy.  I have agreed to limit my chocolate ration to just 2 times per week.  (usually it is several times a day!)  Stop by the bulletin board outside the cafeteria to see who has taken the challenge. 

Over the summer, OHE was presented with a reading challenge by our PTA to read 2500 books.  In OHE fashion, we surpassed that limit.  We  read 3433 books!  Below are pictures of the top winners in each grade level and faculty. 

I would like to start by thanking everyone for their support while transportation resolved the bus overcrowding situation.  The new "zebra" bus started today and the other buses were under the student ratio.  I shouldn’t have to remove any more students due to buses being overcrowded. 


You have heard me say many times that schools are much more fun when students are in them.  That is definitely the case here at OHE.  I have spent most of the past 9 days either in the cafeteria or classrooms.  Those, believe or not, are actually my favorite places because I can interact with students.  Plus, watching a bunch of four and five-year-olds eat can be a pretty comical experience.  Try it sometime.  Students love to have their parents eat with them, especially if they bring something special for lunch. 

Classrooms are fun places as well.  Students are engaged in their learning and eager to demonstrate that learning to me.  As I visited kinder classes, students were busy learning about science.  Some classes were discussing matter and what that meant, while in other classes students were observing, exploring, and predicting. 

 

Just about in all the intermediate grades, students had been busy writing.  Hopefully you will see their products next week during Back-to School Night.  I think you will be impressed. 

Back-to-School Nights are from 6:00 – 7:00. 
PK -2^nd is September 10^th
3^rd – 5^th is September 13^th.

I would also like to thank everyone who helped with our PTA family fun night’s Ice Cream Social.  It was a great opportunity with mounds of ice cream and plenty of music.

Welcome back Oak Hill Eagles!  It has been a great first week of school.  The students have transitioned back into school well.  Oak Hill is such a better place when students are here. 

The staff and I spent time over the summer planning for the upcoming year and learning how to bond as a team.  With so many new faces, I felt that learning how to work collaboratively was important.  To demonstrate how to work together, the staff and I completed several different tasks. Below Mrs. Faulkner and her partner, Mrs. Barre built a tower using marshmallows and spaghetti.  The task was to see who could build the tallest tower in ten minutes.  

Then on the first day of school, Mrs. Faulkner attempted the same activity with her students to show them the importance of being a team.  I think the student towers were more creative than the teachers, but don't tell them I said that.

 

As I walked the building the week.  Students were already engaged in learning.  In Mrs. Palmer's PE class, students were jumping rope.

 In Mrs. Calabrese's class, students had already learned what "independent" reading meant and what it looked like.

We also learned this week that two of the students in Mrs. Grimm's third class last year had their poetry selections chosen for publication. 

With one week under our belt, we are ready to start our reading tutoring programs for our primary students.  The programs are called Reading Rangers and SOARING.  Volunteers work with our struggling first and second grade readers.  If you are interested in helping, there is a sign-up list outside the computer lab door or you can sign-up on our website.

I would also like to thank everyone's support for being calm with the bus overcrowding concern.  I think the situation is finally resolved.  If your student rides the rabbit bus, please look for letters changing the route.

As usual, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask.

Have a great Labor Day Holiday weekend. See you back at school on Tuesday.

As many have noticed, I am back in the office.  Several years ago when the district inreased the work days of elementary principals, I didn't think it would be a big deal.  But now that I am sitting in the office and there are few people around, I wish we still had summers off.  Luckily this week, OHE is hosting a couple of summer camps.  So, there have been a few students around the school.

Mrs. Conaway and Mrs. Hill conducted their annual 'transition to 1st grade camp'.  I don't think that is the actually name, but the concept for the camp.  Below the students are creating flowers with food, which was based on a book they had read.

 Mrs. Reynolds also hosted an art camp.  I've seen clay molding, paper mache, and self-potraits. 

Hope everyone is having a great summer and enjoying all the rain.  Stay tuned with the Eagle Eye for updates and future events. 

Each AISD elementary campus can receive $4,000 to expand the Active Play Project, which uses playground stencils featuring nutrition messages to encourage physical activity. In addition, the funds and Active Play Project support the district's Fuel Up to Play 60 initiative, a partnership between the National Dairy Council and National Football League, which increases awareness and access to nutrient-rich foods and physical activity opportunities. Through the project, students can engage both physically and mentally with the playground stencils, which feature messaging about fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low fat dairy foods. Now that OHE has the stencils, we can receive the funds and use the stencils to promote health eating and activity choices. 

Southwest Fellowship Church, one of our community partners, came to help paint the stencils.  With their help and some of our own families, stencils were painted all over the playground. 

Thank you to everyone that helped!!!

I was going through my dropbox of photos and realized that I hadn't sent a blog for awhile.  Here are some of the events students participated in the last two weeks of school.

The OHE Choir performed Harmony High and we all left thinking school would be a much better place if everyone sang all day!

 Throughout the year, classes earn links for great behavior in special areas and lunch.  On the last day, teachers came to assembly wearing their class chains! 

 Another tradition on the last day of school, is the 3 Ring Circus.  It is a time, with the help of lots of parents, that students rotate through 3 events.  This year the 3 events were Mr. Bower's band - The Posse, Mad Science, and One World Theater.

I hope you have a great summer and look for my next blog with the updates that were added to the playground.