Hillview Elementary School

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Hillview Elementary School

• Eleventh Quarter Report
• May 6, 2009

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PSK12 Rankings

Hillviews advanced proficient scores earned us
the 1 ranking in Morris County!
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PSK12 Rankings

Out of 1400 schools in New Jersey, Hillview
School ranked 15!
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Key Accomplishments

• Continued to expand video presence on Channel 77.
  Collaborative efforts have been made with the
  Director of Media to have our programs and
  activities broadcast on Channel 77. The Hillview
  Publicity Committee has continued to contact
  local newspapers and submit articles regarding
  our activities and programs. We have also
  continued to add pictures of all our activities
  to our Year In Review wall in the main hallway.
• Grade-level articulation time is maintained
  through Common Planning Time and monthly grade
  level meetings.
• Hillview is proud of its young authors. We have
  hosted approximately 15 end-of-the-unit Writing
  Celebrations to help create ownership and a
  sense of accomplishment for ALL writers from
  Kindergarten through Fifth Grade.
• Teachers have been using materials purchased in
  preparation for the new format of the NJASK.
  Students have honed their skills using Measuring
  Up books in both Language Arts/Literacy and
  Mathematics. Additionally, each teacher has been
  using Empowering Writers books to improve
  students writing.
• Kindergarteners have been learning their sight
  words as popcorn words, since they should just
  pop out of your mouth. They have taken the
  words home on popcorn shape cutouts in a popcorn
  container along with a bag of microwave popcorn.
  Parent continue to be a vital part of the
  kindergarten classrooms during choice and center
  time. Many parents visit on a rotating basis to
  assist with math, language arts, science, and art
  activities in small groups.
• Parents have been visiting first grade classrooms
  to introduce and share their various careers. A
  total of 26 parents have participated thus far.
  First graders have also been improving their
  reading skills in flexible groups, using the DRA
  Good Readers, Good Habits series.

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Key Accomplishments

• Second graders turned into live wax museum
  characters at Hillviews Live Literary Wax
  Museum. They dressed up as book characters and
  came to life when someone stepped on their
  button. All three classes were also involved in
  a Parent Mystery Reader Program with 94 family
  participation.
• For third graders, a unit about the Midwest
  culminated in their annual Midwestern Day.
  Students participated in activities, such as
  planting and dancing, to celebrate their
  learning.
• To improve writing skills, fourth grade teachers
  expanded instruction to include lessons on slow
  motion moments. Students were extremely
  successful in taking small, focused moments and
  showing them through use of dialogue, slow
  motion action, thoughts/feelings and
  observations. After reading historical fiction
  stories students created songs and chants which
  addressed the musical/rhythmic aspect of multiple
  intelligence.
• Fifth graders participated in Pi Day, typically
  celebrated on March 14th. Lessons were
  implemented in the classroom introducing Pi prior
  to the culminating celebration which was held on
  March 16th. Some of the activities included
  measuring and finding the circumference of
  various sized pies, reading literary stories with
  geometry vocabulary, drawing circle designs using
  compasses, graphing, beading the first 100 digits
  of Pi, and incorporating the arts and music.

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Key Accomplishments

• Media Center and Technology
• The annual Read Across America Celebration was
  held in honor of Dr. Seuss birthday. Students
  visited the Green Eggs and Ham Café and were read
  stories by members of the community. Each day
  students were visited by the Seusscycle. Classes
  had the opportunity to walk and read the book, Oh
  the Thinks You Can Think, which was created and
  displayed on bulletin boards throughout the
  building.
• Hillview is thrilled to have received a grant
  from Turning Point Technologies. The grant
  included Turning Point Interactive Software, 32
  wireless response cards, a UB Based RF Receiver,
  a Handheld Receiver with LCD Display and other
  applications which will allow teachers to make
  lessons exciting for students. Several teachers
  have been trained on using the Turning Point
  clickers and have designed several lessons thus
  far to enhance classroom instruction. At this
  point in the year, they will turnkey and train
  other staff so that the technology can be shared
  in classrooms.
• Accelerated Reader continues to be another
  successful initiative that encourages our
  students to read. Students were engaged as they
  worked to earn the motivating prizes by taking
  quizzes in response to the books they selected
  and read independently. Students were encouraged
  and eager to participate in the Accelerated
  Reader program. Hillview is thankful for its
  parent volunteers who work with staff to make
  this program a success for ALL of Hillviews
  students. In March, students who participated by
  taking at least one quiz, were eligible for a
  mystery prize at the end of each week.

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Key Accomplishments

• The second issue of the student newspaper,
  Hillview Highlights, was released. Class 5M was
  responsible for the issue. They brainstormed
  ideas for articles, conducted interviews, wrote
  their articles and published them using MS Word.
  They utilized digital cameras to take pictures
  for their articles. Class 5R is currently
  working on the next issue.
• The faculty book club and the student book club
  have been meeting every other week in the Media
  Center. The student book club The Book Nuts has
  read three novels so far.
• Mrs. Munro and the Bookworm Committee worked
  together to provide an evening program for
  students and their parents Bookwormys
  Superbowl for first graders and Bookwormys
  March Madness for second grade. These events
  were well-attended by parents and students and
  included literature, crafts, food, games, and
  learning activities related to the literature
  selection and theme.

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Key Strategies

• PLAN-DO-STUDY-ACT continues to be the driving
  force behind our school. Specifically, Hillview
  teachers have taken ownership of their students
  academic growth. Every Hillview teacher updates
  their Student Achievement Notebooks quarterly to
  analyze the progress of ALL of their students.
  This information is discussed at PLC and grade
  level meetings in an effort to ensure we are
  using data to drive instruction and to guide our
  improvement plans.
• Data-driven instruction continues to guide
  Hillviews focus. Each Student Achievement Team
  analyzes the strengths and weaknesses across the
  grade level and within individual classes. The
  data gathered from Benchmarks, the SRI, and
  Timed-Writing affords teachers the opportunity to
  customize lessons to meet the needs of ALL
  learners. In addition, the data generated from
  these assessments is used to identify students in
  need of reading, writing, and math support from
  the MLSP teacher and/or the Reading Specialist.
• Collaborative teaching efforts have improved and
  increased between our general education and
  special education teachers. The collaboration
  between our teachers promotes increased
  student-learning while also decreasing the
  student to teacher ratio. Hillviews special
  education teachers, MLSP teacher, speech
  therapist, and reading specialist have increased
  their number of collaborative lessons. Every
  staff member takes great pride in our students
  growth and development. Our efforts to work as a
  TEAM have proven to be extremely beneficial to
  all students and support our growth in all areas.
• Teachers have provided parents with websites that
  they can use to help their children succeed
  across the subject areas.

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Key Strategies

• Both the Reading Specialist and the MLSP teacher
  taught a 2nd grade Lexile reading group. This
  helped to keep class-sizes down and maintain a
  smaller Lexile range per reading group.
• The MLSP teacher works with students on the grade
  3-5 math Concern List based on a pull out
  service. MLSP students have been using the 5 Step
  Method for Problem Analyze, Strategize, Solve,
  Check, and Explain.
• The new Reading Specialist has incorporated
  lessons into grades 3 to 5, teaching students to
  interpret, analyze, and critique the text. These
  lessons gave students the opportunity to learn
  new active reading strategies as well as
  interpret and reformulate meaning from text.
• For additional math support, the MLSP teacher
  taught the 5-step method for problem solving.
  Students also were taught to use problem solving
  strategies (such as logical reasoning, drawing a
  picture, etc.) for use with the math open-ended
  questions.
• In writing, the MLSP teacher taught pre-writing
  and writing techniques for poem and speculative
  prompts in grades 3-5. Lessons that taught
  circular endings, varying sentence structure, and
  fancy words will also enhance student writing.

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Key Strategies

• Based on student needs all lexile groups are held
  at the same time daily for grades 2-5. Students
  identified as reading below-grade level at all
  levels had smaller class sizes than other
  students. Specifically, second graders in the BR
  range were in smaller Lexile groups during this
  quarter.
• Hillviews reading teachers continue to infuse
  active learning protocols through the use of
  student-centered reading strategies during
  flexible, Lexile reading groups. Students are
  explicitly taught how to track their thinking
  through making connections, reacting to text,
  recognizing text evidence, asking questions, and
  other types of inner conversations.
• As a result of cross-grade articulation,
  Hillview teachers are beginning to explore ways
  to include QAR (Question Answer Relationships)
  into their explicit reading instruction as well
  as content area instruction.
• Teachers continue to infuse active comprehension
  strategies according to Strategies That Work by
  Anne Goudvis and Stephanie Harvey.
• Some first graders are engaged in Daily Five
  activities, which has students working with
  partners at five different literacy-based
  stations. Students are taught reading skills and
  strategies from books matched to their reading
  levels.

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Key Strategies

• Teachers have continued to consistently implement
  the writing workshop teaching model. As a team,
  Hillview teachers have tailored their lessons to
  meet the needs of the writers in their individual
  classes and as a grade level.
• Second graders have been practicing their writing
  skills as they compose letters to their pen pals
  from other district elementary schools.
• Dedicating one hour to Writing Workshop daily has
  resulted in a total of 48 hours per classroom
  utilized to improve our students writing skills.
• Hillview is maintaining and improving a common
  language across ALL grade levels in both reading
  and writing. This is evidence that all grade
  levels are teaching essential skills in the
  reading and the writing process. A greater
  emphasis is devoted to the teaching and practice
  of essential learning since teachers do not have
  to devote an exorbitant amount of time teaching
  the vocabulary of key strategies.

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Program Development Goals

• Focused instruction on aligned (horizontally and
  vertically) essential learnings.
• The Principal, MLSP and Reading Specialist worked
  collaboratively to analyze the Benchmark, SRI,
  and Time-Writing assessments and shared findings
  with teachers.
• Developed Ketchup and Mustard Days/All In One
  Fridays to further focus staff on essential
  writing skills according to NJASK and NJCCCS.
• Staff continues to infuse active comprehension
  strategies into all subject areas.
• Equip School with Sophisticated Learning Tools
• Continued to administer the SRI (Scholastic
  Reading Inventory) and Riverside Benchmark
  assessments.
• Administered seventh SRI and seventh Benchmark
  testing.
• Teachers are using the information obtained from
  the SRI to place students in flexible reading
  groups based on their instructional reading
  level.
• Implement DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment)
  in Kindergarten and First Grade.
• First grade teachers assessed their students
  using the DRA, a comprehensive, diagnostic
  reading assessment.
• Teachers are gathering the data to design lessons
  that will focus on each students strengths and
  weaknesses.
• Created an expansive and inclusive technology
  program
• Introduced over 209 technology lesson plans in
  the school (one per teacher per week).
• Reviewed at least 75 lesson plans that require
  student use of technology.
• Delivered 170 hours of dedicated technology
  training for students and staff through the
  Library Media Specialist.

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Program Development Goals

• Increase Active Learning/ Rigor and Relevance
  Methodology
• More teachers are incorporating active
  comprehension strategies into social studies and
  science instruction.
• Implementation of the Writing Workshop Program
• The MLSP teacher continues to take a very active
  leadership role in the implementation of the
  Writing Workshop.
• Teachers have been consistently sharing their
  Writing Workshop rubrics, posters, and other
  materials that support the Writing Workshop block.

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Program Development Goals

• Maintain Teaching Methods that Motivate
• There is evidence that greater implementation of
  the following strategies have been implemented
  and maintained in each classroom on a daily
  basis
• Blooms Taxonomy
• The 61 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham
• Strategies That Work by Anne Goudvis and
  Stephanie Harvey
• - The expectation is that as greater emphasis is
  placed on Blooms Taxonomy Active Learning and
  Engagement will become more visible in each
  classroom as the year progresses. (See the
  Hillview IPI for additional data.)
• In our second year, some teachers are using The
  6 1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham as a
  supplemental resource during the Writing
  Workshop.
• Strategies That Work by Anne Goudvis and
  Stephanie Harvey has been implemented and
  maintained in creating active reading lessons for
  students.

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Instructional Practices InventoryMarch 26, 2009
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Scholastic Reading InventoryReading Results Q9
through Q12
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SRI Grades 2-5Qtr. 3 vs. Qtr. 7 vs. Qtr. 11
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Hillviews Reading Benchmarks 2006-2007 vs.
2007-2008 vs. 2008-2009
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Hillviews Math Benchmarks 2006-2007 vs.
2007-2008 vs. 2008-2009
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Highlights

• HSA Book Swap
• Science Fair
• Grade 1 Bookwormys Superbowl
• Jump Rope for Heart
• Go Red for Women Fundraiser
• Tourettes Syndrome After-School Workshop
• Grade 4 Wildlife Program with Ranger Paul
• Dr. Seuss Celebration with Green Eggs and Ham
  Café
• Grade 3 Character Day and Midwestern Day
• Staff vs. Grade 5 Volleyball Game
• Dedication of New Rock Wall
• Grade 2 Music Show
• Grade 5 Pi Day
• Absolutely Incredible Kid and Staff Day
• Grade 2 Bookwormys March Madness
• Grade 2 Wax Museum

• Healthy Breakfast
• Family Fun Night
• Environmental Program Presented by the Peppermint
  Players
• Monthly School Spirit Days
• Weekly Golden Awards Music Note, Paintbrush,
  Shelf Elf, Sneaker, Lunchbox, Pencil
• Monthly Golden Rule Awards Based on Demonstrated
  Good Character