Hillside Monday Memo
Click here for Principal's Letter below

Hillside Parent Organization
Carrie Thomas, HPO Co-President, carriethomas@comcast.net
Lynn Dixon, Memo Coordinator 689-8348 lynn@eugenedixon.net
Office, Cheryl Lindsey Secretary 687-3475
Attendance/Tardy Message Line 687-5044

SKY CAMP:  IT’S NEXT WEDNESDAY!!!  Thank you all parents who have helped and who will be helping at SKY Camp next week.  Individual Volunteer Schedules will come home in next Monday's envelope.  Please bring it to SKY Camp with you.  There are still a number of students who have not yet handed in their permission and health forms.  All students MUST have ALL forms in to me in order to board the bus - no exceptions.  Archery class is in need of large cardboard pieces to hang up the targets.  Please bring to Ms. Piazza.  SKY Camp happens rain or shine, so please send appropriate clothing and outer gear with your child.  Thanks, and cross your fingers for warm sunshine!  Diana Richardson, SKY Camp Coordinator, iananddiana@comcast.net, 687-4629

LIBRARY:  Please get any old library books in by Tuesday the 3rd of June.  We will not have any more check out this year.  The brown bag book swap is on Wednesday, 6/4.  Join in for the fun of something new to read this summer!

HILLSIDE CLOSING CELEBRATION:  It’s June 16th, 6:30-8:30pm.  Please let anyone know who might like to come say goodbye.  Spread the word!

GREEK FESTIVAL:  The third graders host the Greek Festival on Friday, 6/6.

FIFTH GRADE NEWS:  We went to Ashland and had a fantastic time.  While on the trip, we were able to see The Clay Cart, a wonderful Sanskrit play, have an event filled camping experience, & visit the Science Works hands on museum.  We had an amazing group of parent chaperones and very well behaved children.  Thank you to all!  Linda Smart

FIRST GRADE NEWS:  Ms. Piazza's class went to the aquarium today! 

NO SCHOOL:  Friday the 13th is a grading day.  There is no school. 

IDEAS FOR SUMMER:  The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art has many summer family activities and camps.  Check them out at jsma.uoregon.edu.

END OF THE YEAR SLIDESHOW:  We need to know if the parents whose children have a "no release of info" on their school file want their students to NOT to be in the slide show which will be shown during the June 16 closing event celebration. Let the classroom teacher know with a written note. We want to respect privacy of all concerned.

Photo Submissions Request for Closing Event:  Nora Hagerty (instructional assistant) is helping staff prepare for the year-end school closing slideshow and is soliciting submissions of photos from current and former staff and families (people, field trips, events, projects, etc.). Some of the images will be included in a digital slideshow presentation. Please contact Nora via email: hagerty_n@4j.lane.edu, or leave a message at the office: 687-3475, PRIOR to actually submitting images. We'll be able to receive JPGs or TIFs of less than 5MB, or actual photos to scan (not responsible for photos). Please spread the word to Hillside families you know. THANKS!

LETTER FROM THE PRINCIPAL, DR. PAMELA IRVINE

May 30, 2008

Dear Parents and Families:

I spoke in a previous newsletter about racial microaggressions, those brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. Oftentimes, people truly do not realize they are being insensitive since such slights are embedded in our (white) culture. The same situation also occurs with people who have disabilities or for those who have a mental illness. Recently, a member of Congress jokingly commented that it would be nice to have an elected official “who didn’t seem like he should be in remedial education.” This is a hurtful and insensitive remark for all of those wonderful students and adults who may have needed a boost to increase their academic success (which is all of us in at least one area or another). However, the insidiousness of such remarks is that they often do not surface on our radar. We speak of people confined to a wheelchair, students call one another retard or say, “that’s so gay,” and numerous other references in a day. As I was writing my newsletter last week, I thought of our weather as being schizophrenic. And then I stopped and thought about what that comment really connotes. The message here is that none of us are perfect, but that we need to be aware of the language we use. We should also gently point out to others when they use hurtful or insensitive language. It is the only way we will ever be able to make a difference.

A recent survey, Project Tomorrow’s Fifth Annual Speak Up Survey, found that only 3 percent of elementary age students say they do not play electronic games on some kind of device. On average, across all grades K-12, students are playing games approximately eight to 10 hours a week. As a result, teachers are increasingly becoming more interested in the use of games to increase student engagement (65%), address different learning styles (65%), focus on student-centered learning (47%), and to develop problem-solving and critical-thinking skills (40%). As they say, if you can’t beat them, join them.

Next week our featured composer will be Joseph Haydn. We will be listening to the first movement from Symphony No. 6. In this symphony, Haydn planned to write music that would paint a musical picture of morning. He nicknamed his music, “Le Matin,” French for “the morning.” Haydn decided that a violin playing very softly at the beginning would give his music the feeling of the quiet before the sun rises. The music gradually grows louder to give the feeling of the sun rising brightly.

Students participated in the Farm to Market activity on Thursday. The building was divided into two groups. One group (rooms 2/3, 6, 7, 8, 12, and 13) went to the gym at 8:15. They rotated among five stations, spending approximately 12 minutes at each. At 10:15, the remaining classrooms went (rooms 9 10, 11, 14, 16). At lunch time, children were treated to an expanded salad bar with items from a to z. Ask your child if he or she remembers what some of the more obscure letters stood for!

We have many, many field trips in these last few weeks, to near (Albertsons, Washington Park) and far (Ashland, the coast). Please make sure you read the information coming home from your classroom teacher and return permission slips and other required forms promptly. Also, make sure your child is at school on time each day. Every year we have at least one heartbroken child because they arrived after the bus or group left.

We celebrated our last Family Book Club meeting this past Wednesday evening. This year long activity was made available to us by a Target grant written by Deborah Tanner, the Title I teacher and student achievement coordinator. This has been a wonderful program for families and we congratulate Deborah and her staff--Twila Lorange, Judy Piper, and Gail Bakke--on a job well done.

Enjoy these last, few, hectic weeks of school!

Dr. Pamela Irvine, Principal
Adams and Hillside Elementary Schools