Page Hilltop Paws-itively News

Dear Page Hilltop Families:

On Monday, January 24th we will begin an annual tradition - the Great Kindness Challenge! Our GKC will involve various activities all of which have one focus - spreading & sharing KINDNESS.

This past week you should have received an email that detailed the upcoming events/activities that our school community will be involved with. Hopefully, you have had a chance to review all this news information and share it with your children.

There are activities in which the students will be involved at school. There are also activities which the students will hopefully do at home with their families. To make it easier for you to plan your participation over the next few weeks, we are sharing a calendar with you. We have highlighted (in yellow) activities that you may choose to do as a family.

We hope that students and families will participate as much as possible. These will be valuable learning activities that will help our students / your children share & receive kindness.

KINDNESS MATTERS ..... EVERY DAY ..... EVERY WAY

Thank you, as always, for sharing your children with us!!

Fred Deppe, Principal

Matt Lutinski, Assistant Principal

• Wednesday, February 2nd - Groundhog Day
• Wednesday, February 2nd - Virtual School Council Meeting @ 3:30 pm
• Thursday, February 3rd - Virtual PTO meeting @ 7:00 pm ZOOM LINK
• Monday, February 7th - Progress Reports sent home
• Tuesday, February 8th - Potential 100th Day of School
  
• Wednesday, February 9th -- Early Release -- Dismissal @ 1:45 -- Lunch is served
• Monday, February 21st - Friday, February 25th -- February Vacation

Page Hilltop is looking for people interesting in providing coverage for classroom teachers and paraprofessionals (on an interim substitute basis). Interested applicants must submit a copy of this application. Applicants, if hired, will need to complete a CORI in the main office and also be fingerprinted. Please email Fred Deppe, at fdeppe@asrsd.org if you have any questions.

As long as the forecast stays clear, our 100th Day of School will take place on Tuesday, February 8th, 2022. Stay tuned for details on how we will be celebrating this special day of school.

Ms. Gruskowski: Ms. Gruskowski's 2nd-grade class had a special mystery reader last Friday who read Most Marshmallows. The special mystery reader was 4th-grader, Brielle M. After reading the story, students were able to create their own marshmallow character using real marshmallows. Thank you, Brielle!

Ms. Messina: Ms. Messina's 4th-grade classroom was introduced to the idea of reciprocal teaching on Thursday, 1/20. Students began by participating in "Buddy Reading" with a few of their peers.

Last Friday, 1/14 Page Hilltop was full of maroon and white for our January Spirit Day. Take a look at some of the pictures below that capture the school spirit that was present last week!

We have 3 days left, during the 2021 - 2022 school year, on which our students will have a half-day dismissal (12:15). These dates are...

• March 16th
• March 31st
• April 1st.

Please note that, on these days, students will be eligible for a free bag lunch. Lunches will be distributed to students before their departure at 12:15.

Susan Parker, Director of Food Services, will be sending out additional information in the coming weeks. There will be an online registration process to receive a lunch. Stay tuned ......

Students are nominated by any educator in the building. Criteria to earn Student of the Month includes, but is not limited to, EFFORT & ATTITUDE, good work ethic, excellent behavior, positive role model, going above and beyond in the classroom and within our school. Rewards include recognition among grade level during lunch, laminated certificate, paws ticket, and special lunch bunch with 3 friends.

Mr. Deppe and Ofc. Bigelow would like to thank all of our PH family members, who are involved with the afternoon pick-up of our students, for their cooperation and compliance with this year's procedures. Our goal has always been to maintain a safe and efficient process for the transfer of all students. Those of you who have been involved with after-school dismissal (whether every day or only some days) know that we changed the vehicular line-up to include a "loop" through the high school parking lot. This change was initiated solely for overall traffic safety.

• We needed to avoid having vehicles backed out onto Washington Street
• We wanted to ensure the safety of parents/students utilizing the crosswalk area
• We wanted to provide parents with an opportunity to park in the high school lot and walk up to the PH entrance to meet their child(ren)
• We wanted to provide for an easy exit of Buses 1 & 2 who must cross through the lower lot
• The system has been flowing smoothly and we usually have all students dismissed within a 15 minute period

WE ARE NOW ASKING FOR YOUR COOPERATION AS WE INITIATE A MINOR CHANGE

Effective this Monday (24th) we will institute a simple change for vehicles as they go through the high school lot. We are moving you over a single lane as you swing through the lot

• Please take your 3rd left (to swing through the parking lot). Up until this point, you have been using the 4th lane to turn into. There will be a sign directing you to turn here.
• You will then swing around the high school lot (as you have been doing) and come out through the 4th lane (which is one lane further away from the football field).
• So the overall procedures are the same. We are just switching it all by a single lane.
• In case you are curious as to why we are doing this, it is to free up the lane closest to the football field from traffic so that the high school staff may easily exit their parking spaces when they come out.

AGAIN thank you all for your cooperation! It is appropriate that we are making this change on the 1st day of the Great Kindness Challenge as we help our HS colleagues!

Looking for something beneficial that your child can work on at home to continue their learning? Students, in grades K-2, have access to Lexia and can log in at home if they are looking for something to work on to improve their literacy skills. All students K-5 can also work on math lessons on Zearn.

Please find the links to these online tools below...

• Lexia Reading CORE5
• Zearn

Students should have their usernames and passwords written down in their folders. If not, please email your child's teacher for this information.

February PTO Meeting: Thursday, February 3rd @ 7:00 pm ZOOM LINK

PTO Website -- LINK

PTO Facebook Page -- Link

Are you an Amazon shopper?

Did you know just by shopping with smileamazon.com you can help support PH!?

Create a FREE SMILE ACCOUNT and link it to Page Hilltop.

Share with family and friends so they can help support PH too!

BOX TOPS
YES, Page Hilltop can still earn with Box Tops!
Here is a video on how to Scan with the Box Tops Mobile App YOUTUBE BOXTOP

SCRIPS YEAR ROUND
The PHT PTO scrip program is a simple and effective fundraising program.
Please email Amanda Lewis at alewis@asrsd.org with any questions regarding the Scrip Program.
Go to: https://www.shopwithscrip.com/how-to-enroll and click Join Your Existing Program
1. Enter the Enrollment Code: 298736BL13535
2. Complete the Family Registration page
3. Start Shopping!

Parents/Guardians can still enroll students in our weekly COVID safety checks (pool testing) by completing the consent form on the CIC website. Pool testing is completed every Monday (with the exception of holiday weeks) and parents/guardians are only notified if their child is positive.

Wednesday is the cutoff for enrollment to be in next Monday's pool testing.

Directions to provide consent for pool testing...

1. Go to https://www.cic-health.com/consent/ma?district=null
2. Click "Consent Now"
3. Select your school district "Ayer Shirley School District"
4. Select your school "Page Hilltop Elementary School"
5. Click "Sign Consent Form for a Minor"
6. Follow the following prompts