What is Book of the Month?

Ms. Brown's Book of the Month for February:
"This is the Dream" by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander

Welcome

The East Hills School is an elementary school that educates more than 500 students in the second through fifth grades in a warm, welcoming, and enriching atmosphere. Its multicultural population is representative of more than twenty different nations.

Our philosophy, and that of the Roslyn Public Schools, is to provide, through education, an opportunity for, and an inspiration to, each child to continue a lifelong quest for truth and knowledge. Furthermore, we believe that each student has the right to the opportunity to grow to capacity in intellect, emotional maturity, and aesthetic appreciation while accepting responsibility to self and others.

This philosophy is our governing credo. It is the basis for our building-wide collegial atmosphere and aura of respect and dignity. The youngsters are offered myriad opportunities for involvement such as vocal and instrumental music, intramural sports, an after-school art program, computers, 5th Grade Class Council, community service projects and lunchtime enrichment workshops.

In addition to these extensive offerings our regular day is also filled with exciting and enriching programs for all. These include numerous curricula related field trips, cultural arts presentations, monthly nutrition days, our annual book fair, and our 3C's character education program.

These offerings enhance our basic program in which instruction is delivered in a continuum of hands on, interdisciplinary lessons involving all staff members. Thematic units are presented throughout the school; a literature based reading program is employed in the primary grades and a novel based approach is implemented in the fourth and fifth. Process writing experiences are linked with the reading of literature to create a comprehensive language arts program for all students. Computer instruction, as with science, is accomplished in both the classroom and building laboratories. Special areas of study such as library/media, physical education, speech, art and enrichment are also deeply integrated into the classroom program.

We constantly strive to expand the experiences of our children. Staff training is extensive and continuous throughout the year. Parent support is astounding.

It is our remarkable staff and involved parents who have joined together to make East Hills such a wonderful school.

East Hills Stands Tall!

October 5-9 was National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week, and it was also "Stand Tall" Week at East Hills! The heart of the anti-bullying activities centered on the book "Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon" by Patty Lovell. This wonderful and inspiring story makes any child who feels less than perfect cheer with joy to meet Molly Lou Melon, a girl who doesn’t let anything — or anyone — shake her belief in herself. Each class was given the book for their classroom library, and each classroom teacher read it aloud to the students.

The week's activities were coordinated by two of our staff members, Ms. Rachel Look and Mrs. Christine Flanagan, with support from the East Hills "Bucket Filler" Team.

Students and staff were busy all week discussing strategies, writing anti-bullying poems and slogans, and designing posters. All week they shared and implemented ideas that will enable them to protect themselves and others against bullying.

The highlight of the week occurred on Friday morning at our "Stand Tall" Pep Rally. The energy was electric as students felt the strength of standing together as a community against bullying. We sang, we cheered, we shared strategies. Most importantly, all East Hills members made the promise to:

We know that we can count on everyone in the East Hills family to continue to support this empowering experience by helping our children to "Stand Tall" for themselves and others.

The Verizon FiOS news magazine show "Push Pause", on FiOS1, will air the East Hills School's "Stand Tall" story on Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30. The program times are 10:00 am, 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm.

Commemorating 9/11 with Good Deeds

The Federal government proclaimed September 11 a national day of remembrance and service. All Americans are encouraged to perform a good deed in memory of those who gave so much eight years ago.

At East Hills, we believe that doing a good deed on September 11 aligns perfectly with our Bucket Filling campaign. To honor the date, we asked each child on September 11 to write on a card the good deed they planned to do. It could have been a onetime kindness ("Today I will…") or an ongoing service ("Every Saturday, I will…"). Each child then placed his/her card in a bucket. By the end of the 9/11 commemoration, our East Hills’ buckets were overflowing with good deeds!

Our Bucket-Filler Mural represents our school-wide mission to create a community of bucket-fillers. This concept was developed by Dr. Donald O. Clifton in the 1960’s and adapted by Carol McCloud in her beautiful book, "Have You Filled A Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids." Bucket-Fillers are those who help without being asked, give hugs and compliments, and generally spread their love and good feelings to others. At East Hills we have adopted this concept as our school-wide theme encouraging students to make positive choices every day.

We are very thankful to Mrs. Shari Wexler and Mrs. Jen Bravo for their time and effort put into creating our spectacular mural and we are very proud of all our “Bucket-Fillers” who contribute to its beauty every day.