This week has been exploding with energy in preparations for our PTA Carnival. Plus at assembly Friday, we celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday and Texas Independence Day.

Below Mr. Cumings dressed as Sam to not only celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday but with the help of the Cat in the Hat (Ms. Jodi) they demonstrated the correct way to break confetti eggs.



A special thanks goes to Annemarie Read and Paige Ott for organizing the carnival and silent Auction. The night was a huge success.

This year the silent auction brought in over $15,000! Thank you to everyone who purchased something. I can't wait to find out who gets to be the "Principal for the Day"!

New at carnival was the Petting Zoo. The children loved it. Squealing pigs, rabbits, donkeys, goats and more definitely were the hit of the carnival.

Below are 2 of our first graders who have made it almost to the top of the Rock Wall.

Also new this year was the Hamster Ball. The students loved rolling around inside.

Saturday, the Student Council had their first Neighborhood Clean-up. It was definitely needed after carnival night. Over 30 people came to clean,and Mr. Cumings had to jump in the trash barrel so all the bags would fit.

Members from the Oak Hill Rotary, who is partnering with our student council, also helped clean.

I am not sure we picked up every piece of confetti but we left the grounds much cleaner.

We only have one week before Spring Break and with all the excitement that has just happened hopefully there will be a calm week of learning.

Thank you for all your support. We couldn't do any of this without you.

This week Mr. Cumings' class has been working on measurement. In the pictures below, the students had made paper airplanes and were measuring the flight distance for each one.
Friday was Student Council Tie Day. It was fun to see all the different ties.
This year at OHE teachers have had the opportunity to use a day to plan. We call it a PLC - Professional Learning Community. Part of the reason it has been successful is due to our substitute teachers. Many of whom have been past OHE teachers and substituting for OHE for many years. It is great to walk classrooms with substitutes and still see rigorous learning happening. Below is Ms. Schorr,
Ms. Fritsch,
and Mrs. Ledbetter.

February 29th at 8:00 is my next Principal's Coffee. I will be sharing the Dual Language Program that OHE will offer to students next year. Please come and learn more about the program.

As you have seen in my blogs, OHE celebrated "No Name Calling" week by creating projects using technology. The projects are being posted to our website for your viewing (As long as everyone in the project had permission for it to be posted).

Lastly, next week is carnival week! If you haven't signed up to volunteer, please do. Information is available on our website.

OHE began the week celebrating Valentine's Day. It was great seeing so many family members on campus, and luckily I kept the chocolate to a minimum.

This week we continued with our MOY II testing. 4th graders have now taken the writing, reading, and math assessments. 5th graders have taken the reading and math. 3rd graders take both reading and math next week. The science MOY II will be taken by 4th and 5th graders the following week. Obviously, there have been lots of assessments. Teachers are working diligently to analyze all the results in order to modify instructional decisions and tutoring groups prior to the actual STAAR test. We have about 20 instructional days to make sure that our 4th and 5th grade students are ready. If you have any concerns, please make sure you have set up a conference with your child’s teacher.

Speaking of conferences, Monday is Parent Conference Day.

This week OHE celebrated National Counselor's Week. This morning during assembly Mrs. Caporal was recognized and received wonderful comments from students and teachers.

Last night, OHE hosted our first Family Fitness Night. Families had the opportunity to try Hip Hop, Martial Arts, and Yoga. The instructors were fabulous with the students. They were very entertaining and funny while teaching the techniques associated with the class.

For the past several weeks gymnastics has been the theme for PE. The students have lots of time to practice the techniques and then are quizzed on them.

This week at OHE was Science Fair Week. Projects were completed by every student in 3rd - 5th grades and by class in the primary grades. The older students presented their projects first to their class. Then all projects were displayed in the cafeteria for viewing.

Students who wanted their projects judged for the Austin Energy Regional Science Fair had the opportunity to discuss their projects with community members. I received great feedback from the students. One students said, "Dr. Mitchell, the first time someone came to me I just blurted all this stuff out. But then when the next person asked me questions, I was prepared".

There were about 300 projects on display and about 85 students wanted their projects judged for AERSF. OHE teachers judged those 85 projects and had to narrow it down to only 17! What a difficult job they had. Here are our winners.

I am excited to announce that Mrs. Suzanne Baxter is OHE's 20111-2012 Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Baxter has taught at OHE for 21 years and has so many degrees and certifications that I can't name them all. She has been the GT coordinator for the campus for many years. She received her National Board Certification in 2004 and is now working on her principal certification. Mrs. Baxter exemplfies a life-long learner. She will now move on to the district level for Teacher of the Year. Congratulations and Good Luck!

Thank you to all who participated in our annual Applebee's Pancake breakfast. The school raised lots of money and we enjoyed serving the students breakfast as well.

For those that have driven by the school and seen the A-frame blackboards, they were a gift from one of our parents, Geeta Suggs. It is just another way to help us communicate with you.

First grade is hosting their annual can food drive. They are trying to receive 100 cans of food by the 100th day of school, February 1st. All the food items will be donated to the food bank. If you liked to help, send canned food and label it 1st grade.

I would also like to recognize Oak Hill's participation in the PTA Reflections Project. Previously, I announced how many of our students were moving to the next level. Now, eight of those students are moving to the state level. That is more students than any other elementary school. Congratualations!

In order for OHE to receive our "No Place for Hate" status, there are several steps that must be taken. One step is for each student to sign a "Resolution of Respect" form. These forms will be displayed at the entrance of each class. Another step is hold school level events that address bullying. So next week OHE is participating in "No Name Calling". We will begin the week with an assembly explaining the goal of the week. Each day students will wear different shirts to show support. Additionaly, classes are completing projects related to the theme and some will be shown at next Friday's assembly. It should be a great week.


Next Wednesday is my Principal's Coffee. There will be two speakers. Elaine Morrow will discuss her role as OHE's Campus Parent Representative for Special Education and representatives from Small Middle School will be here to address any questions about 5th graders transitioning to middle school.


Wednesday is also PTA Executive Board. It is the time of year to think about next year's board. If you have been saying to yourself that you want to become more involved with OHE but don't know how, this is a great organized way. If interested, please let me know.

As you have heard me say, the student council this year has been busy. Today Student Council Representatives went to all classes to ask what type of equipment was wanted for the playground. The primary students had awesome ideas. Hopefully, the fundraising efforts will continue and some of their ideas can be purchased soon.

I would like to thank all of you who came out for the Fun Run last Saturday. There were over 100 participants. The bicycle winner, Will D, ran 22 laps! I did half of that.

The 5th grade reading buddies had a great turn out this week. The library was overflowing with students. It was amazing to see all the interactions. Sometimes the 5th grader read and other times the 1st grader was the reader.

We received notice that several of our students' reflection projects moved on to the next level. Check the Eagle Eye for names.

I learned this week that this will probably be the last year for the Dougherty Arts Creativity Club at OHE. They are being reorganized with the Parks and Rec programs and will only be available at city rec centers. If you would like to support this program, there will be a meeting January 26th at 7:00 at the Dougherty Arts Center.

This year, the student council decided to raise funds to improve the playground. They purchased a bay of swings for the big building and new soccer nets. Construction on the swings started last weekend and we are now waiting for the concrete to set. The new soccer nets were installed yesterday.

The PTA purchased a bay of swings for the annex playground. Construction for this area began on Wednesday. This area needs more ground work to be done to add the swings. It should be done soon.



Have a nice 3 day weekend. See you Tuesday!

Welcome Back! I hope that you had a wonderful vacation. Mine was great, and I came back in one piece from my skiing trip - just a little sore still.

Even though it was a short week, it quickly returned to normal around here and lots of rigorous teaching and learning took place.

There are several events happening in January. The first one is tomorrow and it is our Fun Run. It was lots of fun watching our teachers this morning tell the students about the event. I hope to see all of you with your running shoes on at the track.

We also have our annual Applebee's Pancake Breakfast on the 21st. When teachers serve you breakfast, the students always want to come.

And don't forget my Principal's Coffee the last Wednesday of the month. This is a great time to ask school related questions and learn more about OHE.

Lastly, we are always looking for reading volunteers. OHE has 2 parent/volunteer run reading programs in the morning. The more volunteers we have the more students we can serve. Below is Mrs. Zierer tutoring one of our students. She also helps organize the program. If you are interested, please let me know.

I wanted to wish each of you a wonderful holiday vacation and thank you for all the support you have shown OHE this past semester. It was great seeing such a turn out of parents and families these last few days before break. Thank you for all the wonderful treats and goodies. See you in the New Year.

It is really hard to believe that there are only 2 days left in the first semester. We have just finished our first round of Middle of the Year benchmark (MOY I) for 3rd – 5th graders and are in the process of analyzing the data. You should expect to hear the results of how your son/daughter did on these assessments within the next few weeks. If you have concerns, please schedule a conference with your child’s teacher.

This week our 1st grade students learned about different cultures and how they celebrate this time of year. Each class of students rotated to a different teacher during the day, and I am sure they would be excited to share with you what they learned.

Second grade students learned about other countries and how they differ from the United States. Parents became the teachers and students rotated through the classes and participated in different activities.

Fifth graders performed to “The Elves’ Impersonator”. The acting, dancing, and singing was absolutely amazing. It was still enjoyable to watch even the third time!

Also this week, Clint Small's Performaning Arts department performed for our 5th graders. This was to help student know what instruments or singing opportunities are available to them in middle school. It was great to see so many OHE alumni in the group.

Over the past several years, we have tried to update the technology on campus. New technology means we must change some of our instructional practices so that students have access to the technology as well. As I walk classrooms, I am amazed by the amount of technology that I observe. Below is Ms. Peterka's third grade class, using several different types of technology: iPads, iPods, and netbooks. OHE recently received about $65,000 for technology updates. You will see a huge change next semester as we receive our order.
If you haven't had the chance to see our OHE Soaring Eagles sing, it is a must. There are around 60 4th and 5th graders. Recently, the have performed for our Book Fair Family Night and a morning assembly.

I want to say thank-you to everyone that supported our Book Fair. During one of our family night's, we had a huge turnout. This was also the same night the choir sang, student council passed out hot chocolate, and pictures were taken with Santa.