BEATING THE ODDS

LAKE HILLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL was recently named among 8 area schools for surpassing predictions of student achievement based on demographics. This is the second year the Michigan Department of Education compiled the BEATING THE ODDS list, intended to recognize successful programs rather than struggling schools. The study identified schools that performed above their predicted levels, based on risk factors such as percent economically disadvantaged and percent students with disabilities.  This past year Lake Hills was also recognized in the top 10% of all Michigan schools for their academic achievement.  Congratulations to us!

SNOW CAMP offers two exciting days of outdoor education at Camp Pendalouan for our fifth grade students.  Walt Whitman once said:  "Now I see the secret of making the best persons; it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."  The YMCA facility is a four-season camp nestled in a secluded bay of Big Blue Lake in Montague.  Students will spend January 25-26 in outdoor education.

WORLD'S FINEST CHOCOLATE is being sold by students to help raise their tuition for Snow Camp.  Profit from the sale will be applied to individual accounts.  All monies from the candy bar sale must be returned by Thursday, December 1.  Please provide a check or money order made payable to Lake Hills School.

Student Council Representatives Anna, Mason, and Kaitlynn show their excitement about the candy bar fund raiser for outdoor education that began this week.  Fifth grade students are raising money to attend Snow Camp at YMCA Camp Pendalouan in January.

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT will provide lessons in understanding various types of businesses and production models.  Local businessman David Brockmyre will be presenting these five lessons to our class after Thanksgiving. 

REPORT CARDS for our first trimester will be sent home on Monday, December 12.  Students will receive a standing in relationship to specific standards in reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, and work habits. 

DETERMINATION is the theme for our guided reading groups this trimester.  Students are reading realistic fiction adventure stories by authors Louis Sachar, Gary Paulsen, and John Gardiner.  Each group also focuses on the application of specific reading strategies in their study and extensive vocabulary development.

Grace, Sam, Justin, and Macy read together in their guided reading group.

Kearstin enjoys her favorite cereal during our recent Compliment Party.

Monopoly was included in the recent Compliment Party as well. 

THANKGIVING BREAK begins Wednesday, November 23.  Classes will not be held from November 23-28.  School resumes on Tuesday, November 29.

CHANGING TO LEARN is a 14-minute documentary about the role technology has played at Lake Hills in recent years.  Produced by Kirby and Jeffrey Chittenden earlier this year, the video was presented as a part of a technology conference at Arizona State University in March.  Just click this YouTube link to view it online.

GOOD TIMES FOR ALL

THANK YOU for taking the time to meet in parent-teacher conferences this week  It was a pleasure to meet with almost all classroom families these past three days.  School resumes on Monday, November 7. 

DESTINY will be the theme in our Reader's Workshop beginning next week as we launch a focus on adventure in our literature groups. Novels by Gary Paulsen, Louis Sachar, and John Gardiner will allow guided reading groups to reinforce reading strategies taught in whole-class lessons.

PUMPKINS can provide a great opportunity for students to collect data and establish such landmarks as range, mean, median, and mode. More than 6,400 seeds were harvested in our recent exploration.  The mean mass of our 12 pumpkins was 2.2 kilograms while their median circumference was 61.5 centimeters.  Three pumpkins established a mode for 22 veins in the set.  The mean seed count totaled 536.3 seeds per pumpkin.

Macy and Nate determine the circumference of their pumpkin using a centimeter tape.

Kaitlynn and Jesse begin to scoop out hundreds of pumpkin seeds to include in our data analysis.

OUR CLASS recently earned their tenth unsolicited compliment for their classroom behavior.  We will enjoy our first Compliment Party this month and spend a few extra hours in a Monopoly Tournament and enjoying our favorite cereal.

THE CANDY BARS for our Snow Camp fund raiser will be arriving in a few weeks.  Students will have at least two weeks to sell the kits they ordered last month.  A date for the annual outdoor education program at YMCA Camp Pendalouan will be announced soon.

OUR HALLOWEEN PARTY this year included a special feature of Fear Factor where students were asked to consume all sorts of mixed up food appearing as rather gross concoctions, even for a fifth grade palette.

The beef stew looked good until Mrs. Scarpino decided to put it in a blender for Kaitlynn and Kelly.

Alexis goes searching for the hidden gum during the desert round of Fear Factor.

Grace seems to be enjoying the "maggots" on her cracker.

Caleb truly puts himself into his work and play.