Hills Garrison

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It seems hard to believe that summer has drawn to a close. We hope you enjoyed a happy, healthy and fun- filled vacation. With the start of school today, we would like to bring a few items of importance to your attention. The staff of Hills Garrison School looks forward to the challenge and excitement of a year together with all of you and our 2^nd year of kindergarten and the Head Start Program.

TRAFFIC FLOW: The right side parking lot is for staff parking. Visitors should enter from Route 102 and cautiously bear left, then proceed straight and turn into the drive or parking lot in front of the building. The front driveway is for quick student drop-off; please pull to the end of the benches in an effort to keep things moving. If you are going to get out of your vehicle, you must use the front visitor parking lot. No vehicles may stop and block the driveway. It is a fire lane. Please note the driveway going around the building is only for buses, service and emergency vehicles. Cars must yield for school buses.

STUDENT ARRIVAL: Duty teachers begin to supervise at 8:20 A.M. The student day starts at 8:45 A.M. and being on time is an essential habit to establish. There is a new district policy for Attendance, Tardiness and Truancy included in the Parent/Student Handbook. As the fall months approach, be mindful of the weather. Young children appreciate having a jacket, sweatshirt, hat, mittens, etc. when unexpected changes occur in the weather.

CALL-IN PROGRAM: We have a school CALL-IN PROGRAM in effect at Hills Garrison School. If your child is going to be absent, you are responsible for calling the school by 8:30 A.M. If we do not hear from you, we will try to make calls to your home and/or work to verify the absence. We know that you will agree with us that this procedure is in the BEST INTEREST and SAFETY of your child. Please call the school at 881-3930 to report your daughter/son’s absence.

SNACK TIME: Every class sets aside a SNACK TIME during the day. This is a very important part of your child’s day. It is a time to replenish their energy by eating/drinking the things you have packed.

SUMMER READING (Grades 1 – 5): Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the required summer reading. There is no more important activity to support learning than through reading fun and interesting stories. Summer Reading has been shown to do the following for the student:

Encourage a love and enjoyment of books

Provide exposure to a variety of genres

Increase vocabulary knowledge

Increase reading fluency

Develop background concepts and general knowledge

Provide models of good writing

Provide maintenance of reading skills learned during the school year

Provide a sense of participation in the community of readers

The required book was given to your child with their report card in June. Classroom teachers will be doing special activities related to the book read during the first days of the 2010-11 school year.

MEDICATIONS: The school nurse can only administer medications when a prescription from a doctor directs her to do so. Please keep this in mind when you bring a prescription item to school. All medicine must be brought in by an adult and logged in by the nurse or other school official. NO medicine may be transported by a student.

NO SMOKING/TOBACCO USE: The use of tobacco products is strictly prohibited in all school facilities, and on school grounds and vehicles on school grounds, throughout the Hudson School District.

Today, each child brought home this “School to Home Communication” folder of information and important forms to be filled out. This folder will be used to go between school and home, so please send it back each day with your child. Your help and cooperation with these items will be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please feel free to call the school at any time at 881-3930.

Cordially,

Lois Connors Marilyn Martellini

Assistant Principal Principal

Hills Garrison Playground Project

The playground project is well under way. Many thanks for everyone's hard work, commitment and support. Click on the thumbnail image to the left or click here to read more about our fundraising efforts / upcoming events, the playground design, and our committee. We will provide regular updates so you can keep tabs on our progress and to find out how you can help.

Hello,

Good News! New playground equipment has been delivered. The HGS playground committee has been working quite hard on this project; we’re excited with the progress that has been made. A community build date has been scheduled for June 20^th , starting around 9AM. We’ll have plenty of work to be done even if you don’t like the manual labor. We’ll be mixing concrete, digging holes, putting together equipment, spreading wood chips and raking. We’ll also need help feeding our volunteers and keeping them hydrated. I welcome anyone who can make it and be a part of this exciting day. There will be a parent volunteer sheet going home next week, for additional help. There is a staff sign up sheet in the mail room. I hope to see you all there! Remember, there’s a job for everyone.