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.

A couple of weeks ago, the Lego Robotic team competed in a tournament. It was the school’s first competition and although the teams didn’t advance, the scores were quite impressive. A big thank you to Dr. Becher and Mrs. Suggs for their support of the program.

Eventhough it was a short week, rigorous learning was still happening! In Mr. Cumings' class, students had to complete several different science experience. Below, students are working on the computer to solve their science questions.
Here the boys are making a light circuit.
Below, this group of girls were making magnets.


Mrs. Nowakowski-Grimm's glass celebrated with a "Thanksgiving Writers Coffee House". Students read stories and poems they had been creating over the past several weeks.


In Ms. Atkinson's class, students were using iPads to practice multiplication facts.
OHE celebrated our annuaul Pajama Day. Below is Mrs. Robert's class with their PJ's on.


The OHE PTA honored the staff with pies. Yum! I have never seen so many types of pies!

Last Saturday, many of our 5th grade students attended the Texas Science and Engineering Festival. It was a great weekend field trip and everyone had lots of fun and learned lots of science.


On Tuesday night, parents came to learn how to put together a quality science fair project. At OHE, all students will complete a science fair project. In grades PK-2nd, it will be a class project unless the student wants to complete an independent project as well. 3rd - 5th graders are required to submit an independent project. More information will be forth coming about science fair.

As I walked the kindergarten classes this week, it was great to see the our students active in learning.
Students were:
Making Words


Practicing Reading


And, working on patterns. AB, AAAB,

On November 1st and 2nd, our first graders learned about Dia De los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to remember friends and family members who have died. Students brought in pictures of loved ones.

What another great Fun Field Day. The weather was a little cool but the students had lots of fun. Thank you Mr. Emerson for the great action shots.

Today the 5th grade students listened to presentations from the Magnet Middle Schools, Kealing, Fulmore, and Ann Richards. If you are interested in the possibility of your child going to a magnet school, please check with your child. They should have received applications. Also remember to start saving work samples. Since teachers return all the work to students, you will need to decide which work samples to submit.

Today was also our first Cafeteria Lunch Bunch. The class per grade level with the best cafeteria behavior gets a reward - popcorn. Each day the cafeteria monitors give Gold Paper Chain links to classes that demonstrate appropriate behavior during lunch. Then at the end of the month, the monitors tally the gold links. The class per grade level with the most win. Today it was Mrs. Lumbreras, Mrs. Fraser, Mrs. Lauri, Mr. Hoover, Mrs. May, Mrs. Juusola, Mrs. Baxter and Mrs. Wiley's classes.

Next time your on campus, look at all our new signs. Mrs. Suggs has painted teacher name plates for all the classrooms and room name plates for areas such as the cafeteria, office, computer lab, conference room, nurse, etc. Thanks Geeta!

Once again HEB is honoring the accomplishments of outstanding public schools, teachers, principals, and districts across the state through the HEB Excellence in Education Awards. Anyone can nominate by going online at www.heb.com/education. With such an awesome staff here at OHE, I feel confident there should be lots of nominations.

Don't forget tomorrow is PTA Skating.

At OHE, we celebrated Halloween in different ways. We began the morning with Ms. Brown leading us in the "Monster Mash".

A tradition at OHE is for the 4th grade students to perform safety skits for the younger students.

On Thursday, the 1st graders performed their musical.  It is fun to watch the students to see which ones "shine" on stage.

Starting on Monday, OHE will continue with our annual UNICEF fund raiser. As part of Oak Hill's 15 year tradition, the fifth grade class passes out the UNICEF boxes to each student in the school. The 5th grade students give a brief presentation about the importance of helping others, especially other children. For the last five years, Oak Hill has raised over $1,500 to help needy children around the world.  You child should have received their UNICEF boxes today.  Please fill with coins and return.  

I know that I always say exciting things happen at OHE, but it is really true, especially during our Friday assemblies.  Today the OHE choir made their first school performance and sang several songs.  With the last game of the World Series tonight, I thought it only appropriate to share the following song.

Also during assembly, an appearance was made by our "OHE" skaters.  It was a way to encourage students to sign-in up for the PTA Skate event November 5th.  If you watch all the way to the end, you might even catch a glimpse of me.  I was really scared of falling and hung tightly to Mrs. Barre.

After all the excitement from assembly, the Oak Hill Rotary made their annual presentation of dictionaries and thesauri to the 3rd and 4th graders.  A tradition that has been around for many years.

Then during my daily trip to the cafeteria to see how lunch was going for students, I caught a glimpse of the following sandwich.

The things Moms (and maybe Dads) do to make their children smile.  What a clever idea!

Remember that even though Monday is Halloween costumes are not appropriate for school.  It was be a regular day as will Tuesday.  At least as normal as we can make a day after Halloween.

On Wednesday this week, Jose-Luis Orozco a bilingual author, visited the campus.  Our students are fond of his books, De Colores, Diez Deditos — Ten Little Fingers, and Fiestas.  Sr. Orozco had our students and staff dancing. 

It has been a wonderful opportunity this week having two authors visit our campus. 

 Thursday evening the Austin City Council recognized Oak Hill as a "Partners in the Arts and Humanties". We received the award because of our partnership with the Dougherty Arts Program and Creativity Club. Stop by my office if you would like to see the certificate and award.

Today was the Student Council's first spirit day.  There were twins everywhere. 



 Teachers even got in the act.  Below is Ms. Atkinson and Ms. Dillon.

 What a 5th grade extended team!  Always ready for some fun.

 They look like twins but they are our 1st grade triplets!

 Ian and Ryan aren't twins but brothers.  Maybe one of these days I'll remember which is which.