Yesterday OHE had the privilege to hear from Nicholas Rodriguez.  Currently, he is performing in Les Miserables at the Zach Scott theater along with a current OHE student, Will S.  I have always enjoyed seeing previous students and learning what they are doing now.  To know that someone from little ole’ OHE has performed on 6 continents, is just impressive- especially since he left OHE in 86!  His first grade teacher, his Assistant Principal, and art teacher (Ms. Cantu) were all here to show their support.  He was great with the students and really encouraged them to ask questions. He explained to students how he went from OHE to Broadway.  He indicated that it began here at OHE in 4^th grade which was his first stage performance but that it was all his experiences that helped him know what he wanted to do.  

Nicholas with his first grade teacher.

 Nicholas with me.

 And Mrs. Faulkner

 And with his co-star, Will S.

 And with Ms. Grotrian's Class.

That is one of the things that makes this campus unique – all the experiences provided for our students.  Just read through the previous blogs and the rest of this one just so see all the different experiences OHE students receive. 

Second graders ventured to Inner Space Caverns this week.  Not sure what they were more excited about, the cave or rocks they purchased.

 The Oak Hill Rotary distributed school supplies during morning assembly. The student council was there to receive all the supplies. 

 Next week begins our annual, “Trick or Treat for UNICEF” drive.  Be on the lookout for UNICEF boxes coming home.

The school has been busy implementing many of the schoolyard habitat grants we received.  This week 5^th graders with lots of volunteer and KAB support built 10 plant containers.  There will be two containers for each grade level.  Grades are determining now what type of plants to plant.  Tomorrow to support “Make a Difference Day”, students, teachers and volunteers will be on campus continuing our habitat efforts. Come on out.  We would love all the help we can get. 

Did you know that OHE students have the opportunity to run the track several times a week?  Depending on their age, they can run before school from 7:15-7:30 and after school on Fridays.  There were over a hundred students/teachers/parents running the track last week. 

Check out the Eagle Eye this week for its “Did you know” question.  

As teachers held conferences on Monday, the PTA Teacher Appreciation Committee hosted a Soup Luncheon for us.  It was a yummy treat.  Thank you to everyone who made soups.  

Wednesday was “Wear Orange for Bully Awareness”.  It was a sea of orange.

With the support of the PTA Grant Committee, Mr. Cumings won the State Farm Grant. The money will be used with the Gardening Club to support the efforts of our butterfly garden and restore some of the bird habitats in the area.    

 3rd - 5th grade students participated in the Austin Jazz Workshop.

I would like to say thank you to Mrs. Castaneda, who helped us out this week in the cafeteria while Pinky and Janelle were out.  THANK YOU!!!!

The 1st grade reading program - Reading Rangers is still needs volunteers to work with the students.  We only ask for 30 minutes once a week.  I have participated in this program for three years.  The student I tutored my first year is now a third grader.  One wouldn't think that working with a student just thirty minutes once a week would make a difference, but it does. The student I tutored came to me last week and said, "Dr. Mitchell I miss reading with you.  I think you are my best friend!"  Wow, to have a student say that to you makes it all worth while.  Let me know if you would like to help.  

Today was the first Student Council Meeting.  This is when the new officers are sworn into office.  The neat thing about this event is that the Past Student Council President swears in the New Student Council President.  It is always fun to see previous students.  Thanks Kael for coming back.  Stay stunned for this year’s Spirit Days.  There are some great ones!

Earlier this morning one of our parents sent the following email related to our OHE gardens.  Because I know the hard work that has gone into and continues to go into these gardens, I thought it was important to share.  “Dropping my kindergartener off at Assembly today gave me the chance to pause at some of the beautiful native gardens by the main building. I love how bright and beautiful blue mistflower gets this time of year, and looking at it made me wonder if there was tropical milkweed as well since the mistflower is a food plant for Monarch butterflies, but the milkweed is a food plant for the Monarch caterpillars. Lo and behold, not only did you have the milkweed a couple of plants over but there were several caterpillars chowing down! They were big and plump and will be heading to chrysalis stage soon. I took a couple of shots to share with family and thought I'd share with you in case there was a way to let teachers and students know to keep an eye out (attached). It's Monarch migration season and they are on the decline this year. It is fantastic that Oak Hill's gardens are helping this population as they move south to their wintering grounds in Michoacán, Mexico! Way to go Oak Hill Elementary and the parent volunteers who made these gardens possible!”  Thank you Grounds Committee, Gardening Club, and Teachers.

Monday is Parent Conference Day.  If you haven’t scheduled your conference time, please get with your child’s teacher.  We will see you back on Tuesday. 

Did you know that OHE has an Outside Classroom?  At the back corner of the playground, a classroom has been created.  Classes are able to take the learning outdoors.  Below is Ms. Smith’s third graders.

 Mr. Cumings also took his 4^th graders out during writing time so they could edit their papers. 

One of the OHE Lego Robotics team is working on a campaign slogan for tornadoes. Sgt. Mitchell was asked to speak with the team.  Over the course of Sgt. Mitchell’s career as a Police Officer, he has had to help get people to safety during some of the local tornadoes.  He was able to provide some important tips to the team.

Our Reading Rangers and SOARING Reading tutoring programs began this week.  These programs support students in 1^st and 2^nd grades.  It was exciting meeting my two first graders.  OHE is fortunate to receive UT HBSA students that help with our 1st graders. 

Have you seen the updates to our chicken coop?  Ben S., an Eagle Scout candidate added an additional fence around the coop.  He has added a bench and repainted the bus lines too.  Thank you.  By the way, one of our OHE chickens has laid the first egg!

In Mrs. Bentley’s class this week, students participated in experiments related to solids, liquids, and gases.  

This is Hispanic Heritage month.  Ms. Underwood has set up a display in the library of books for students to come check out and learn more about Hispanic Heritage.  The dates of Hispanic Heritage Month are September 15 through October 15^th.  Several countries celebrate their independence day during those weeks: México, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The celebration also includes October 12th, Columbus Day.  Many of the books are bilingual in Spanish and English.  Stop by and check out a book.

This is also Bullying Awareness Month.  (Bet you didn’t know there was a month for that!)  AISD Police Officer Gary spoke during assembly this morning.  He gave tips to students as to what to do if they were bullied or even if they see bullying happening.  This is a great time for you too to speak to your children about the topic of bullying.  Ms. Ahumada, our counselor, will also being conducting lesson in the classroom related to bullying.   To help spread the awareness, we encourage students wear orange on Wednesday, October 9, which is "Unity Day." "Unity Day" is a day where we all become one and take a stand against bullying. Let's all wear orange and show our support for kids who are bullied! 

We finally have our 2013-2014 OHE Student Council Board.  Ben W. is President, Josh M. is Vice President, Brooke W. is Secretary, and Caroline L. is Treasurer.  I am so proud of these four students as well as the other 16 students who ran for a position.  I know the Student Council will continue to do great things this year.  

For the past several days in PE, students have participated in the Child Safety Program presented by the Public Works Dept. COA.  Make sure you ask your child about what safety measures they should be using. 

Also this week, third through fifth graders have been conducting student council elections.  Next week, 4^th and 5^th grade students will be campaigning for positions on the student council board.  The student council here at OHE complete several service projects throughout the year.  Here is this year's student council:

Last night, at the PTA General Meeting, we were excited to have AISD school board member, Amber Elenz, stop in and say hi. She talked about getting involved and joining your local PTA, and encouraged us to find out more about the Austin Council of PTAs (ACPTA). She said that PTA is a great way to have your voice heard about important topics on education.  

One of the roles of the PTA is to educate parents and to do so, the PTA will have speakers come give presentations on interesting topics. The guest speaker at last night's meeting was Bernadette Noll, author of Slow Family Living. She gave us tips on how to slow down and enjoy family time with just a few tweaks here and there in your schedule. It was very educational and inspiring!

Have a great weekend!

Since the rain is coming down while I write this blog, I’ll take the time to remind you about the importance of raincoats, boots, and/or umbrellas.  There are many times throughout the day students might walk in the rain.  Loading the buses is definitely one of them.  Keeping a little rain poncho in the backpack is a great idea. 

Along with all the wonderful rain, we have also been transitioning two new teachers to OHE.  Karen Spruce is our new 5^th grade teacher.  She is coming to us from Barringtion Elementary where she taught 5^th grade math.  Prior to that, she taught 4^th grade math and science.  She will be part of our new 3-way rotation with Ms. Osio and Mrs. Petty.  Her 5^th grade class starts Monday. Denise Reynoso is our new 2^nd grade teacher.  She is coming to us from Lucy Read where she just began teaching Pre-kindergarten.  2^nd grade letters will go out Monday letting families know of the new position and identifying which students will be in the class.  Her class will begin on Wednesday. 

It is that time of year for PTA Reflections. This is typically not a required activity for most  students, but students are highly encourage to participate.  The theme this year is Dream, Believe, Inspire and the students can do a multitude of different projects types. Check out this link for more information, http://ohepta.org/Reflections.html .

Some of the classes held Student Council representative elections this week other classes will complete them next week. From  those representatives elected in class, the officer candidates will be found.  Student council is a great asset to our school.  We encourage students to participate.

We also finished our “Celebrate Freedom Week”.  Each day during morning announcements, Mr. Cumings would read important facts related to our US Constitution.  We ended the week with the 5^th graders singing a song related to the constitution.  

Many of the grade levels are using a new technology program, Class Dojo, as a way to encourage students to work and participate in class. Some grades like 4th grade are using it to determine the Personal Development grades on report cards. Additionally, emails can be sent to parents immediately as to how a student is doing in class. Below is an example of Mrs. Faulkner using the program as her class worked on a writing assignment.

Last year, OHE implemented to the of “Peace Areas” in the classrooms. This is a place students can go to work out problems, to calm themselves down, and/or to just have a quiet place. Below is an example from Mrs. Hernandez’ class.

In Ms. Grotrian’s class, students are recording information related to their class Read Alouds. This is a great way to analyze the literature being read.

We had a great visit with author Rebecca Janni who shared her writing process, her latest story, and a few songs. What fun having Ms. Brown up there singing with her! Mrs. Janni left extra autographed copies at our library for people to purchase. If you are interested, please let Ms. Underwood know.

Next week starts the Beginning of the Year (BOY) assessments for the primary grades. Make sure you ask your teachers about the results from the test.

Also for those of you new to my blog, I give special treats for students I mention or show a picture of in the blog. They just need to come to my office to receive it.

Have a great weekend!

Do you ever sit back on Friday nights and go, "Where did the week go?" That's how I feel writing my blog this week. It’s only the second week of school and already it feels like we have been back longer than that. Maybe because here at OHE we get right into the swing of things and students are already actively learning. I am quite impressed with all the reading, writing and math I’ve seen walking through classrooms. The students appear eager to learn and are really trying to impress their teachers. The week culminated with our annual Ice Cream Social. This is a wonderful, relaxing event outside. It reminds me of a neighborhood block party. Kids are off in the distance (on the playground, soccer field, and/or running the track) while parents are busy saying hi to friends they haven’t seen over the summer and introducing themselves to new parents. It is also a time that “older” students come back and say hi. I think that is one of my favorite things. It’s great to know they want to come back to OHE, and we enjoy seeing how grown-up they have become. Thank you Mrs. Spedale for organizing such a great event. Remember Monday night is Back-to-School for everyone. Be patient! The parking will be extremely limited. So come early and be prepared to walk.

Everyone made it through the first week of school! It was a long week, but we have all survived. As I walked classrooms, students were already busy learning. I already saw students on computers, working on math activities, and engaging each other in critical thinking activities. Teachers spent lots of time setting clear expectations and modeling appropriate procedures. So, I know these activities will continue throughout the school year.

This morning during our first assembly, the winners from our summer reading program were recognized.

I was quite impressed with the number of books read, especially by Mrs. Hamelwright. Congratulation to these fine Eagles, as our individual grade level winners: Kinder – Emil C. read 113 books First – Ella M. read 251 books Second – Haylee T. read 115 books Third – Olivia T. read 60 books Fourth – Tallulah B. read 42 books Fifth – Ashton W. read 38 books Teacher – Mrs. Hamelwright read 40 books Sometime this year, each of the above will work with Ms. Underwood to select a new book for the library. These books will have an acknowledgement of their success in the front of the book. Look for all reading participants names on the “wall of fame” in the cafeteria. Honorable Mention for these first graders who also read more than 100 books: Emma T. read 200 books and John L. read 110 books. Our school goal was to read at least 2500 books over the summer in order to earn additional recess on a day this Fall. The grand total was 2552 books – way to go!

Remember that Monday is a holiday, so we will see you back here Tuesday. Also don’t forget about the Ice Cream Social next Friday. This is always a popular event. Enjoy your long weekend .

Welcome back OHE Eagles!  Hopefully everyone had a great summer and spent their time away from school having fun.  It has been a busy summer here at OHE.  With Extend-a-Care on campus daily and teachers hosting summer camps, there were always students around the campus.  The staff and I spent the past few days together preparing for the upcoming year.  As many of you have heard on the news, OHE was one of only 11 AISD schools to receive all three distinctions for TEA based on our STAAR scores.  We are very excited and proud of the students.   

It was great seeing everyone at Meet the Teacher.  The students were so excited to meet their teachers and put their school supplies in the rooms.  There are lots of people I need to thank that helped make the event happen.  First, obviously is the teachers.  Many came in weeks early or stayed late into the night so that their rooms would be ready.  Second, are parents.  Mrs. Kane came up and decorated all the hallway bulletin boards.  Mrs. Sendera organized the workroom.  Tons of parents came up weekly to water the flowers and feed the chickens.  Mrs. Reaves brought breakfast one day, which was donated by Shane Moe.   Mrs. Floyd, Mrs. Cantu, Mrs. Castaneda, Mrs. Sendera, Mrs. King, Mrs. Latimer, Mrs. Ivie, Mrs. Edwards, and Mrs. Suggs, to name a few, opened all the school supplies and organized them for distribution.   For all the others who helped and I didn’t mention, I apologize.  It takes so many volunteers to help get the school year off to a good start.  Please know that OHE appreciates all the support.  

Have a great last weekend before school starts and we will see you early Monday morning.

Just wanted everyone to see that even over the summer there is always something happening at OHE.

It must have flown into one of the soccer nets.  Mrs. Baxter and a parent, Don, freed the owl and it happily flew off. 

OHE has also had a long standing teacher decide to try her skills on another campus.  Mrs. Calabrese has accepted a Kindergarten position at Baranoff Elementary.  She has been an amazing asset to this campus and will definitely be missed. We wish her the best of luck.

With Extend-A-Care on campus and some of the summer campus starting, OHE hasn't been as quiet as normal.  Hope you are having a great summer.