HILLSIDE
May 2015
HAPPENINGS
May Birthdays
Berkley Weidner
May 9th
Grant Fedorov
May 13th
Connor Gaiser
May 22nd
Serenah Leskin
May 28th
Another school year is coming to a close and what an amazingly
fun-filled year of learning it has been! Our school-wide “Under the
Sea” theme provided for many fond memories, including our recent field
trip to Adventure Aquarium in Camden. We celebrated our students’
incredibly special Hillside experience with the completion and unveiling
of the Colligas Mural Project! We have applauded innumerable student
strengths and successes at our Friday morning assemblies throughout the
year!
We wish to express our gratitude to all of you for helping to make the
2014-15 school year a great one, and we hope to see you at our Carnival
and Hillside Student Art Show on Friday, June 5th from 3:30-8:00 p.m.!
Be sure to check out the Scholastic Book Fair that night too!
Excellence in Education,
Donna and Sharon
2697 BROOKSIDE ROAD • MACUNGIE, PA 18062 • 610-967-3701 • WWW.HILLSIDESCHOOL.ORG
Admission & Community
Outreach
It seems we are all deeply engaged in the race to the finish of the
current school year; June 11th is approaching so quickly! Classrooms
are buzzing with play practices, hatching chicks, news broadcasts
and Lego robotics trials. In Admission, we are experiencing a rush
of enthusiasm and interest in The Hillside School as we look toward
enrollment for the 2015-16 school year!
Since our last Hillside Happenings report, we have fielded 21
new inquiries, conducted 22 tours of our facility and welcomed
8 applications for entrance in the fall of 2015. Of the 8 admission
applications we have received, 5 are definitely mission appropriate
students and have been offered admission; the other 3 decisions are
pending additional information.
Upcoming Events
May
11-21
12-13
14
20-21
22
25
28 Parent Conferences
Noon Dismissal
Canvas Family Event
Noon Dismissal
Snow Make-up Day
School Closed
Field Day
June
3-10
5
11
12
Scholastic Book Fair
Carnival & Student Art Show
Last Student Day - Full Day
Last Teacher Day
Keep sharing your Hillside stories – They are far-reaching!! A family
who will soon be moving to the Lehigh Valley from South Carolina
inquired this morning and will be touring tomorrow, in addition to
three other families already on the schedule. A new enrollee for the
fall learned of Hillside from his grandfather’s friend. There is absolutely no question that we are fulfilling a need for students
with learning disabilities!
We are always looking for new ways to share our unique mission with the community! The Hillside School was represented
at the Lower Macungie Community Day this past week where many from the township had the chance to check us out. Each
time a student is observed at his/her nursery school for admission purposes, we have the opportunity to share pertinent
information about our educational program with the Center’s Director and teachers. When we place The Hillside School
logo magnets on our vehicles or share any of our Hillside Facebook posts, we invite others to inquire about who and what
we are.
Many thanks for helping us spread the word about The Hillside School. Never underestimate how important you are to our
continued success…and don’t forget to send in your reenrollment commitments for the 2015-16 school year!
Development, Communication & Marketing:
On Saturday, May 2, The Hillside School sponsors/donors, parents, faculty, staff, community and volunteers celebrated at “Off
to the Races at The Hillside School” Gala. With 300 guests, exceptional food, over 200 silent auction items, amazing music,
and the Kentucky Derby LIVE, the evening exceeded expectations. Guests cheered on their favorite horses as American
Pharaoh crossed the finish line ahead of the competition. The school is hoping to net close to $75,000 which will be applied
to scholarships and educational programming. A special THANK YOU goes out to all who participated! Please hold the
date for next year’s GALA, Saturday, April 30, 2016 here at The Hillside School.
The Development & Marketing office continues to plow forward until school ends this year. Upcoming fundraising events
include our last canvas event for the school term on Thursday, May 14th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the school. At $40 per
person, we will be trying our talents at a beautiful “Hot Air Balloon” scene. Join us for our second annual “Carnival &
Hillside Student Art Show,” Friday, June 5th from 3:30 – 8:00 pm. There will be rides, games, face painting, food, and
amazing art from The Hillside School students.
Lastly, we are reaching out to all…our 2014-2015 ANNUAL FUND is within $20,000 of our GOAL by June 30, 2015. Please
consider us in your philanthropic giving. THANK YOU!
2697 BROOKSIDE ROAD • MACUNGIE, PA 18062 • 610-967-3701 • WWW.HILLSIDESCHOOL.ORG
Business Office:
FINANCIAL AID FOR THE 2015-16 ACADEMIC YEAR:
Financial aid applications are currently in the review process and award determinations are being made for next year.
Awards are based on demonstrated individual need, The Hillside School Financial Aid Policy and the total financial aid
funds available.
If you have not already done so, please complete the Parent’s Financial Statement online at sssbynais.org/parents.
need help completing the PFS, contact SSS at (800) 344-8328. Our school’s SSS code is 3907.
If you
Your 2014 Form 1040 and supporting documents should be submitted directly to The Hillside School.
Please contact Darlene Stack, Business Manager, at 610-967-3701 or [email protected] if you have any questions.
CARNIVAL
& Hillside Student
ART SHOW
Friday, June 5th
3:30 - 8:00 p.m.
2697 Brookside Road  Macungie, PA 18062  610-967-2252
2697 BROOKSIDE ROAD • MACUNGIE, PA 18062 • 610-967-3701 • WWW.HILLSIDESCHOOL.ORG
Classroom Updates
Quad 1
Mrs. Newman’s kindergarten/first grade class studied
and planned many topics. We worked through a nutrition
unit. Most of our lunches and snacks look much healthier
these days. We worked on creating costumes in art and
practiced memorizing lines for our Under the Sea play. The
schoolwide field trip to the Camden Aquarium was a huge
success for our age group. In Project Read we are working
through consonant blends. Saxon math has us busy with
math facts, manipulating shapes and counting above the
number 130! Happy Spring everybody!
Mrs. Morgenstern’s second/third grade class had a great
time presenting our “Wild Weather Reports.” They are
now hanging up in the hallway. Check them out during
conference weeks! This month we will continue our unit
on life cycles. We had baby chicks and now we are getting
caterpillars. In a few weeks we will have butterflies! We
also will be starting our unit on “Fairy Tales.” We even
will get to create a fairy tale ourselves. Just a few more
weeks until the end of school!
Mrs. Harakal’s third grade class is happy to report that
our embryology unit has come to a successful conclusion
with the hatching of seven healthy chicks. We have been
really excited and have worked hard to achieve this great
result! We were able to carry the chick theme right across
the curriculum, and it was lots of fun for all! Next we will
try our hand at raising Painted Lady butterflies! We are
also finishing up our biography reports with the assistance
of Mrs. Clarke, and our class book has been sent to the
publisher. A special thank you to Mr. Redmond and Mrs.
Cohen for their help with this project. Next on our agenda
is our study of plants, seeds and spores.
Quad 2
Mrs. Sonntag’s fourth grade class will conclude the unit
about Pennsylvania history and will focus on learning
about plants. Toward the end of the month and into June we
will learn about simple machines. Students in room 8 are
anxiously awaiting another mystery reader or two during
the month of May. A book report assignment has been
assigned to the students that includes reading a chapter
book of their choice. Some of us are using Learning Ally to
enhance our reading experience. We will then create games
about the books we chose. We look forward to playing the
games at the end of the month! The class book that we are
all reading is Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry.
Comprehension strategies and learning new vocabulary
words will be a focus of this book. We are also involved
with participating in a short play with Mrs. DeAngelo’s
class called, “Under the Sea,” featuring sea animals and
Jacques Cousteau. Students will work cooperatively to
create a power point presentation about Jacques Cousteau
while having fun participating in the play. This is the last
month we will be counting Box Tops for Education. We
have enjoyed working together and helping our school.
Please send all Box Tops to school by May 25.
Mrs. DeAngelo’s fourth grade class enjoyed a Lehigh
County 4-H presentation, ”Meet the Plants.” We learned
through hands-on activities what plants need to grow and
why they are important to us. We planted squash or turnip
seeds and are busy watching them grow. We cleaned up
trash around the playground area with our friends from
Mrs. Newman’s class on Earth Day. Our class is busy
working on animal research reports in the library with
Mrs. Clarke and in the classroom. The reports are nearing
completion and will be displayed on our bulletin board
near the end of the month. We enjoyed informative lessons
on magnetism in the Science Lab with Dr. Kibelbek. We
were exposed to many hands-on activities to help us
understand magnets. Later this month we will begin a unit
on simple machines in science.
Quad 3
Mrs. Edelman’s sixth grade class has formed strong
friendships together to form a fantastic class of students.
We are working hard to stay focused and bring our ancient
civilization and forces and motion content units to a close
worthy of future seventh graders. We are completing film
poster book reports and exciting narrative stories. With
Mrs. Lopez’s class, we presented our Under The Sea
Titanic Presentation to the entire school, and received rave
reviews! We enjoyed tremendously our trip to Adventure
Aquarium and are looking forward to our end of month
Bike & Boat trip with the entire middle school.
Mrs. Lopez’s sixth/seventh grade class has been working
extremely hard to have a strong finish this year. We are
completing riveting persuasive essays which require
research to promote our arguments. We are also adding
a counterargument and will be defending our papers in a
presentation against Mrs. Lopez and Mrs. Clarke during
library time! We are turning our book reports into movie
posters complete with actors and actresses. Mr. Redmond
is assisting our creative skills in art class! We are learning
about natural selection and domains of life in science
class and have completed a fun natural selection activity
where “mutations” were involved. During social studies,
we are learning about ancient Greece and the beginning of
democracy. We will soon complete a web quest and a 2D
visual to coincide with our research.
Mr. Luchansky’s seventh/eighth grade class is beginning
Ben Mikaelsen’s, Ghost of Spirit Bear (sequel to
Touching Spirit Bear) as an independent read with weekly
comprehension checkpoints. In addition, for our inclass read, we are diving into a renewed 1950’s classic,
Flowers for Algernon. Class discussions and notes are
increasingly student driven here in Room 12. We have
recently wrapped up the Executive Branch in civics, and
will next be tackling the Judicial Branch. The whole
class is excited to get back into S.T.E.M. Class with Dr.
Kibelbek for the remainder of the year. Everyone should
be on the lookout for our 2015 Under the Sea project that
is currently in production and will be coming out in only
a few short weeks at an assembly near you!
2697 BROOKSIDE ROAD • MACUNGIE, PA 18062 • 610-967-3701 • WWW.HILLSIDESCHOOL.ORG
Quad 4
Mrs. Hanosek’s and Mrs. Kuntzman’s fifth grade classes had an exciting April with the opportunity to go on two field
trips! Our first was to Historic Philadelphia. We toured the Betsy Ross House, the Liberty Bell, the Constitution Center and
the U.S. Mint. We had a rainy start to the day, but it turned out to be beautiful for the afternoon! We then had the opportunity
to go to the Camden Aquarium on our whole school field trip. We had a wonderful time touring the aquarium, listening to
a presentation on animal adaptations, and seeing a 4D movie—complete with shaking chairs, air, and water effects! As part
of our fifth grade time together, the students made kites “from scratch.” We then went outside and had fun making them fly!
If you have a chance, come by and visit our rock collection. Will you be able to identify all of the rocks?
Specialist Updates
Mrs. Jones - Physical Education: All students are finishing scooter activities and games. On to tennis next!
Jump/Hoops for Heart update: We raised $3,600 for the American Heart Association! A big thank you to all my volunteers,
you are all wonderful. The thank you gifts have been distributed to all students.
Field Day: Our annual Field Day will take place Thursday, May 28 with a rain date of Friday, May 29. Our Under the Sea
theme will be carried out during this fun event. A lot of fun water related activities for all!
Good Sport Awards for March: Jacob Ford and Finn Koller. Congratulations to two deserving boys.
Mr. Redmond - Arts: This month in art the students have been working hard on self-portraits, cloud machines and under
the sea costumes. Some of our upcoming projects are working in printmaking making collagraphs and weaving paper and
newspaper into 2D & 3D projects. We will be working hard to finish all of our projects for our end of the year ART SHOW,
which will be June 5th. I am so proud of all of the artwork that our students at Hillside have created. The students works of
art are truly inspirational and showcase each individual’s creative strengths!
Mrs. Ashmar - Speech and Language: In the Month of May, during whole class lessons, students have been learning how
to give good directions to each other: use specific names, give the directions in the order you want the listener to follow,
check to see if the listener understood the direction, modify your direction if necessary, and don’t give extra informationkeep it simple. I am in the process of sending out a Language Tips Paper about this. Students also have been learning about
cause and effect relationships and how to identify the difference.
SUMMER PROGRAMS
July 6 - 17, 2015
Exploring the Rainforest
A choice of three programs:
Summer Academy (students entering grades 1 - 6)
Full Day 9:00 am - 3:30 pm : Academics, Computer & Recreation
Half Day 9:00 am - 1:00 pm : Academics
Half Day 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm : Computer & Recreation
Study Skills (students entering grades 6 - 8)
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Understanding Executive Skills (students entering grades 6 - 8)
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
You can find detailed information about these programs on our website
www.hillsideschool.org/education/summer-programs/
or call Pam DeAngelo, Summer School Director at 610-967-3701
2697 BROOKSIDE ROAD • MACUNGIE, PA 18062 • 610-967-3701 • WWW.HILLSIDESCHOOL.ORG