Dear Families,

I hope you had a restful and relaxing winter break! It was wonderful to see all of the students last week. We have been busy gearing up for an exciting month! Next Thursday, January 16^th, we have “Back to the 80s” Day for the 80^th day of school (pending any snow days!) Please feel free to dress your child in some fun neon colors for this special day! January 25^th is our school’s performance of Aladdin at Mount Pleasant Middle School at 3pm. Please be on the lookout for a future email to purchase tickets. It’s sure to be a fun event! Our “Hill on Hill” basketball game where Burnet Hill teachers will be playing against Riker Hill teachers is scheduled for February 6^th at 6:30pm. The cost is $5 per person and all proceeds will go to Livingston Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Tickets will be on sale soon.

Before the break, a survey went out to 5^th grade students to see if they wanted to be a part of the Burnet Hill “Weekly News Crew.” Many students signed up. I will meet with them tomorrow during their recess to review their job assignments. They will “take over” the news with everything from being school photographers that teachers can “book” for special classroom events, to video editors. I will be teaching them how to use WeVideo.com to edit our weekly news segments. They are excited for this special opportunity!

We are so excited to announce Mrs. Susie Fjeldal as our Burnet Hill Elementary School 2020 Teacher of the Year! It is a well-deserved honor for this fantastic teacher. We look forward to honoring her at an upcoming Board of Education Meeting. Congratulations, Susie!

As always, check out our day-to-day happenings on Twitter, HERE!

Please join us on February 26, 2020 at 7:00PM for a Social Emotional Learning Parent Academy hosted at Riker Hill Elementary School! Sinead Crews, Director of School Counseling, and the elementary school counselors will present an informative program devoted to exploring social emotional learning with K-5 parents! During the program, parents will have the option of attending two break-out sessions on specific topics relates to students' social and emotional development as well as learn about resources and strategies. Please RSVP by completing the form below to help in our planning and organizing: https://forms.gle/vBG3RHih5MbJgUYMA   

Date: February 26, 2020

Time: 7:00PM - 8:15PM

Location: Riker Hill Elementary School 

Best,

Sara

Dear Families:

We had a great week at Burnet Hill! Our Kindergarteners took at trip to Hillview Farm! They were able to see the workings of a farm and experience the many types of animals that live there and how they are raised. They just missed the rain! Our fourth grade students had a visit from the Livingston Police Department. Officer Joy talked to the students about cyberbullying and internet safety. I think they were surprised to learn that most apps have an age requirement of 13 years old! Our fifth graders had a visit from author Jason Kruas who told his story of rescuing his dog through his book, Belly Rubbins for Bubbins. Kraus taught the kids about animals shelters and how they take care of animals until they find a forever home. He also encouraged the students, “If you see something, say something” if a human or animal is being mistreated.

All of our students participated in Chalk Talk. Students thought about positive messages that they wanted to make visible in the Burnet Hill Learning Community. They used sidewalk chalk to write and decorate their message for all to see. We covered the entire blacktop, as well as the front sidewalk with positive thoughts!

The whole school also participated in our first ever Color Run. We started off with our PRIDE students racing around the field. Then we gathered the school age students in the front parking lot to announce that we raised $2,500 for Livingston Neighbors Helping Neighbors! The PRIDE students cheered on the big kids as they visited each color station. The kids were able to run around several times and had a blast running through the clouds of color. We ended the whole event with the fifth graders throwing up packets of color. I savor each event with our fifth graders in their last year at Burnet Hill! Check out Twitter for more pictures.

Please remember to schedule a Parent Teacher Conference with your child’s teacher. They are the week of November 4^th. If you have not scheduled a conference, please sign-up online (see previous email) or contact your teacher directly.

Best,

Sara

Dear Families,

Please be sure to follow us on Twitter HERE to see what happened this week at Burnet Hill!

We had another great week at Burnet Hill! The children have been busy exploring all sorts of curricular concepts through hands-on experiences. In Kindergarten, we had the Seeing Eye from Morristown visit with Nancy, a pup in training. They learned about how seeing eye dogs help those with a visual impairment, how the pups are trained, and cared for. In first grade, the students explored apples. They graphed their favorite kinds, used them to make artwork, and labeled the parts of an apple. Thank you to the parents who came in to help! Fifth grade has been busy debating in Social Studies class. They learned about Christopher Columbus and the Taino Indians. Students were in groups and took on issues such as natural resources, land ownership, and slavery to debate in front of “King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.” They had a blast and learned a lot!

Our whole school came together for our monthly Community Meeting. Ms. Ferraro swore in our new Student Council Officers, who promised to work hard for the students of the school. We watched THIS video about the meaning of the word “empathy.” Then we practiced developing empathy by reading the poem “One Inch Tall” by Shel Silverstein. Many of the students were able to put themselves in the characters “shoes” to practice having empathy! Next, we shared a few more students who were “Caught Being Kind” because we have had too many for just the Weekly News! Lastly, the Bobcat came for a visit. Mrs. Weiner’s class earned the Bobcat Award for their spectacular effort in their related arts classes!

Please remember that the Color Run is Friday. Only parent volunteers are invited at this time. If you ordered a shirt, it should come home Thursday afternoon. If you did not order a shirt, consider having your child wear white. If not, please be aware that your child may come home with some extra color. Please have your child “dress for a mess!”

To help children improve gross motor skills, and increase physical activity levels, our physical education teachers are offering an extra gym class to select students.  The class is small by design, allowing us to work closely with your child to enhance or improve age appropriate skill performance.  The Developmental P.E. class will meet once a week for about 30 minutes with Mrs. Jackie Gronek.  In late October, the class will meet at 7:35 a.m. and is in addition to the regular physical education class time.  A consent letter detailing the program will be sent home shortly for those students who may qualify.  If you have any questions, please contact John Manfreda or Jackie Gronek at jgronek@livingston.org.

Have a great week!

Sara

Upcoming Events-

10/24 – Bake Sale

10/31 – Halloween Parade @1:15

11/01 – Pretzel Delivery

11/04 – Half Day, Parent Teacher Conferences

11/05 – Half Day, Parent Teacher Conferences

11/06 – Half Day, Parent Teacher Conferences

11/07 – No School

11/08 – No School

11/11 – Picture Day Retakes, Club Pictures

11/12 – HSA Meeting @7:30pm

11/18 – Author Visit

11/18 – BHE highlighted at BOE Meeting

Dear Families,

We have had a busy, exciting week at Burnet Hill! We kicked off the week with our first school store of the 2019-2020 school year. The students were excited to buy all sorts of things during their lunch period on Monday. The nose pencil sharpers were particularly popular!

On Tuesday, our Pre-K through Second Grade students received an important Fire Safety talk from our local Fire Department. The students learned about creating a meeting spot outside in case of a fire. It was a bit wet, so our assembly was inside, but some classrooms were able to peek outside and see the fire truck, too! Thank you to our amazing Fire Department for this informative and important presentation!

The weather has been chilly, but we are still heading outside if it is sunny. Please remember to dress your child appropriately. Many children have been signing out pedometers to track their steps at recess; they are busy preparing for our upcoming Color Run!

On Tuesday’s HSA Meeting, our District P-6 Math Supervisor, Angelina Rodriguez will be presenting about our new math program (Math in Focus) that Kindergarten and First Grade teachers are using. Please join us at 7:30 for this presentation.

Please note that conferences are the week of November 4^th. The sign up codes for Parent Teacher Conferences will be emailed out tomorrow, Friday, October 11^th, at 12pm. You will be able to sign up for a Parent Teacher Conference through the website https://ptcfast.com/. You will need your teacher’s Class Code to sign up. The class codes will be emailed tomorrow. Please log on as soon as possible, especially if you have multiple children and need to coordinate days. Thank you for your patience as we try this new process.

Best,

Sara

Upcoming Events:

-October 14^th – No School; PD Day for Staff

-October 15 – 7:30; HSA Meeting, Math Presentation

-October 25 – Color Run

-October 31 -Halloween Parade; 1:15pm

-November 1 – Pretzel Delivery

-November 4, 5, 6 – Parent Teacher Conferences; Half Days

-November 7, 8 – No School

Dear Families,

We are ready for another exciting week at Burnet Hill! Please note that tomorrow will be the last day that Color Run forms will be accepted. I have attached an additional copy if you need one. 

Please note that Picture Day is this Friday, October 4th. Please contact the main office if you need another Picture Day form. 

We had a fantastic week last week! It was wonderful to see many of you at Back to School Night. I hope you found it informative and helpful. We will have Parent-Teacher Conferences the week of November 4th and you will be able to spend more time with your child's teacher. We will be using an electronic sign-up form, which will be out soon. 

Last week our first grade classrooms unveiled their classroom libraries. Children had a "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony" to celebrate the opening of the library, which included baskets of "just right books." The children were happy to dig in and sample some fresh new titles! On Friday they enjoyed "Flashlight Friday" and used a small, special flashlight to make reading even more exciting. 

This week our Walking Track will open at recess. Children can sign out pedometers and walk with friends while counting steps. We want to encourage children to be healthy in a fun and safe way, while also providing more choices at recess. 

As always, please follow us on Twitter to see the daily happenings at BHE! If you would like to sign your child up for our Winter Musical, Aladdin, please click HERE. 

Have a great week,

Sara 

Dear Families:

We had a fantastic, busy first full week at Burnet Hill. We ended our week with our annual tradition of bringing our book baggies and books back to last year’s teacher. We got to see old friends, visit our previous teacher, and return our “just right books”, since we now have “just right” books in our new classrooms! Students who were new to Burnet Hill met in the Common Area with myself and the school counselor, Ms. Byrne. We talked about what we liked about Burnet Hill and what we missed about our previous school. Kindergarten students visited our fifth grade teachers to hear a story! Everyone had a blast during this well-loved tradition.

We also started our first Burnet Hill Weekly News Broadcast. Each week I will select a few fifth graders to present “Caught Being Kind”, a Classroom Spotlight, as well as Weekly News. We will film it in front of our newly painted green screen in the Common Area. It will be played for all students each and every Monday. For right now, it will not be distributed via the internet for a variety of privacy reasons. It will be playing at the television in the main entrance, so please enjoy it there!

I wanted to provide you a few important safety reminders, as well:

-Please note that no one is permitted to drive on campus at the end of the day (2:30 onward), for the safety of our students

-There are absolutely no K-turns or double parking allowed on Ridge or Byron, as this also poses a safety risk to our students

-Please do not prop open doors at any time; please do not let any other adults into the building – each adult must buzz in separately

This year, instead of a Walk-a-Thon, we are having a Color Run the afternoon of October 25! Letters went home in your child’s backpack today to participate. They can also order t-shirts or Fun Packs. All proceeds to go Livingston Neighbors Helping Neighbors. You can also volunteer through the HSA to help shower our students with color during the run. Please see their website for more information.

As always, remember to follow us on Twitter!

Best,

Sara

Dates to Remember:

-9/20: Family Picnic, 5pm

-9/24: Back to School Night, 6:30pm

-9/30 & 10/01 – No School

-10/04 – Picture Day and First Pretzel Delivery

-10/14 – No School

-10/15 – HSA Meeting, 7:30pm

-10/25 – Color Run, 1pm

-10/31 – Halloween Parade, 1pm

Dear Families,

We have had two great first openings days of school! I loved seeing many of you on the blacktop yesterday morning. It was a wonderful opportunity to see old friends and greet new friends. On the opening day of school, teachers worked on getting to know their students, helping them get to know one another, and start to build a classroom community. Students learned procedures and routines, and had their first related arts or “special” class.

Today was another fantastic day. Children felt more comfortable and all of our routines went a bit faster and smoother. In the afternoon, we had our first schoolwide Community Meeting. Each month the entire school community comes together to celebrate all things Burnet Hill. We often learn new strategies for making friends or being kind. Today was no different! We started the Community Meeting with a read aloud – “All Are Welcome” by Alexandra Penfold. We talked about how Burnet Hill School is a safe place and we want all students to feel welcome and cared for. Then we talked about the expectations in the hallway, café, and playground. I asked students what behaviors we needed to practice in order to keep everyone safe, promote learning, and to be kind. They came up with great ideas! I’m going to put their shared ideas on posters to hang around the building so that they can feel invested in creating the expectations for the common areas of the school. Next, we talked about the Winter Musical, Aladdin. You can find more information about it HERE. Students in grades K through 5 can participate. We also watched a video by our favorite little dude, Kid President. It was about how to make a new friend. We talked about how it can be awkward, but making new friends and learning about what makes is different is what makes the world interesting! You can watch the video HERE. Last, we got a visit from our mascot, the Bobcat! Each month students can earn the prestigious “Bobcat Award” for classrooms that exceed expectations in their related arts classes. We can’t wait to see who wins next month!

Thank you for your support, patience, and flexibility this week. The first few days of school can be difficult to fall into new routines, check backpacks, make lunches, etc. We appreciate all of your support! As always, you can follow us on Twitter HERE to see what we have been up to the past few days!

Have a great weekend – quick reminder that on Fridays (tomorrow!) we wear our BHE school spirit gear or colors!

Best,

Sara

-September 10 - HSA Meeting, 7:30, Media Center

-September 20 – Family Picnic, 5:00pm, Field

-September 24  - Back to School Night, 6:30pm

-September 30 – Oct 1 – No School

-October 4 – Picture Day