November is a time where we focus on Thanksgiving. I know that I am very lucky to have a wonderful and supportive family, nice home, and the ability to do a job that I have al-ways wanted to do. I am very thankful to have the opportunity to work with the out-standing staff, students, and parents of Hilltop Elementary School. The professionalism of the staff and the smiling faces of our students truly make my job very enjoyable. I want to take a moment to thank all of the people who make Hilltop the best school around:

Our Board of Education

Mr. Geordan, our Superintendent

All of our Central Office Staff

Our outstanding PTO

Canfield Bus Drivers

Mrs. Palumbo, our school secretary

Mr. Ware, our head custodian

Hilltop Teachers and Support Staff

Hilltop Students

All of our supportive Hilltop parents Without all of these groups working together, we would not be able to accomplish any-thing. So again, I offer everyone a giant

Thank You!

Principal’s Message

Lobby Update

We have started a project to update our lobby. Phase one included a new welcome sign and black CARDS panels in the ceiling. Future phases will include finishing the black cei-ing tiles, new lighting, and an honor wall for past principals of Hilltop. Phase one of the project was paid for by a generous donation of a current Hilltop family. No tax payer monies were used.

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Volume 3, Issue 3

November 2015

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1. We will hold Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday, November 19th and Monday, November 23rd from 4:00-7:00 pm. You

should have received a conference time from your child’s teacher by this point. If you have not, please contact your teacher or the office as soon as possible. This is a great time to check on your child’s educational progress so far this year.

2. Our Fall Fundraiser pick-up will take place on Thursday, November 19th from 4:00-7:00 pm. Since many of the items need re-frigeration, we will be unable to store any items that are not picked up. These items will be returned to the company.

3. A reminder that our Birthday Book Sale will also be taking place during our Conference Nights. Please stop in the library either before or after your Parent-Teacher Conference. Help us achieve our goal of purchasing 21st century materials for our children's education.

4. Tuesday, November 24th will be Ohio State/Michigan Day. Children are encouraged to dress up in their Buckeyes or Wolverines gear. Not a fan of either team? Students can wear their favorite team’s colors or dress in red and black and show their Cardinal pride. Team jerseys and apparel only. Hats are acceptable. No face painting will be permitted.

Upcoming Events

Community Service As we enter the Holiday Season, it is a good time to reflect on how fortunate we are to be a part of the Canfield Schools and community. It is also a great time to teach our children to help those who may be less fortunate. With this in mind, Hilltop Elementary School will be participating in two community service programs this holiday season. Toys for Tots: The U. S. Marine Corps Reserve “Toys for Tots” Program collects new, unwrapped toys during November and December each year, and distributes those toys as Christmas gifts to less fortunate children in the community in which the cam-paign is conducted. Please consider donating to this great program. Collection boxes can be found at the front en-trance of the building. This campaign runs from now until December 18th. Koins for Kids: Koins for Kids is a charitable campaign to raise money and awareness for Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley. This campaign was created to start a tradition of giving to benefit the children and their families who are serviced by this world class hospital. The “Koins for Kids” campaign has raised more than $100,000 for the Akron Children’s Hospital. Local school children participate in the campaign by participating in fundraising activities and personalizing holiday snowman decorations in exchange for donations to the hospital. The schools raising the most funds in each county will receive an ice cream social plus a DJ for a school dance. We will be collecting for “Koins for Kids” from Tuesday, De-cember 1st through Friday, December 11th. Hilltop Elementary School has been one of the top performing schools in Mahoning County for the past four years. Please help us continue that tradition.

STEM Week

T HE HILLT OPPER

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics or STEM is a key issue in creating the workforce our country needs! Stu-dents at Hilltop Elementary School in Canfield will participate in STEM week beginning on November 16, 2015. The students in grades K-4 will participate in hands on experiments, learn how technology has changed, and be exposed to a variety of STEM fields. The students will experience a variety of activities from making tinfoil boats and salt volca-nos to a giant Mindcraft game. The school district’s Student Resource Officer, Steve Gartska who will showcase the use of technology in law enforcement, in particular finger printing.

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Kindergarten Update

T HE HILLT OPPER

2nd Grade Update

4th Grade Update

1st Grade Update

3rd Grade Update

First Grade will be busy this month learning about Native Americans and life in the Plymouth colonies for the Pilgrims. We are using our reading strategies to read stories and books in class and at home. We are also working on using ex-pression in our reading. We are using our writing skills to write good sentences and using our sentences to write re-sponses to a prompt. In math, we are learning to use different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems. We are becoming good detectives and looking for clues and key words in word problems so we know when to add or subtract. In science, we are observing the changes that are happening in our environment as fall starts heading to-ward our next season.

Guided Reading is in full swing and the students are learning to read text on their level with fluency, expression and purpose. They are developing their writing skills as they respond to text in a variety of ways. We are studying the elements of different genre in order to make us better readers and writers. Many third graders are involved in our early morning walking program under the direction of Miss Groll, an exercise science student from YSU. In Math stu-dents are deepening their understanding of multiplication using units, arrays, doubling, skip counting, and multiples. We have been discussing the scientific process and are involved in a unit study of rocks and soil. We look forward to another great learning experience during our STEM Day later in the month!

In fourth grade, the students are hard at work. In science, skills of a scientist and the scientific method are what we have been learning. Ask your child what their favorite experiment is so far this year. In social studies, the students have been learning about Ohio's place in the United States and our environment. In math, we continue to work on multiplication and division facts. We are also learning strategies to help us problem solve. In English, the students continue to work on writing excellent sentences and organizing them into paragraphs. In reading, we continue to in-troduce new skills and review the ones we have already discussed. The students are also reading books independ-ently at their own level.

Children are excited about Guided Reading groups and talking about books. We are learning about the differences between fiction vs. non-fiction. Students have been enjoying biographies, plays and informational books. We look forward to sharing many books with each other this year.

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Art

T HE HILLT OPPER

Physical Education

Early Dismissal

If you are picking your child up from school before the end of the day, please notify the office by noon. Recently, we have had several calls as late as 3:00 pm asking for students to be notified that they would be picked up early. It is very difficult to make dismissal changes that late in the school day due to the disruption to end of the day procedures. Thank you for your cooperation.

Library

Music

As we head into Fall in the Art Room, we will be celebrating America and American artists. We are such a diverse country! Each grade level will approach their projects from a multicultural standpoint. We will be looking into the ways in which each student can become aware of and take pride in their own cultural identity while gaining respect and appreciation for other cultures in America.

During the month of November, students continue to review rhythms, as well as focus upon musical pitch and mel-ody through listening examples, movement, and songs and singing games. Composers of the month include the fa-mous Americans John Philip Sousa, Scott Joplin, and Aaron Copland. Grade 2 students will begin to prepare for their Holidays Around the World presentation, scheduled for December 17.

In November we will be bowling using the bowling kits from Camelot Lanes. Students will learn the correct grip, ap-proach and delivery of the ball. Older students will learn some fun lead up team bowling activities, become familiar with bowling vocabulary terms and learn how to keep score in bowling. Younger students will work on rolling lighter balls between partners, rolling balls at rubber pin targets and then to using the bowling lanes like the big kids.

The annual Birthday Book Club will be held 11/19 & 11/23 during conferences! Last year we raised enough to cover almost half the cost of Hilltops new books for the libraries and classrooms. We hope to get even more "Birthday Books" sponsored this year to support Hilltop's goal of purchasing 21st century materials for our children's educa-tion. If we reach our target of 150 Birthday Books, Mr. Maroni has agreed to allow the entire school to have a "Pajama Day" and have time to "cozy up with a good book" during school.

Please come see us in the library before or after your Parent-Teacher Conference!

400 Hilltop Boulevard

Canfield, Ohio 44406

HILLTOP ELEMENTARY

SCHOOL

Phone: 330.533.9806

Fax: 330.702.7051

We’re on the Web!

http://cvms.canfield.k12.oh.us/

~hilltop/

Canfield Local Schools Vision Statement

We will meet each student's individual learning needs, leading to a top 10 ranking in the State of

Ohio by 2017.

Canfield Local Schools Mission Statement

As a community, we educate, motivate, and innovate for individual lifelong success.

Quotes of the Month

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"If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember: You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."- A. A. Milne, Christopher Robbin to Winnie the Pooh

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our

aim too low, and achieving our mark."- Michelangelo