Forest Hills Flyer

September 2023

A Note from the Principal

Forest Hills Families,

August flew by, and fall is on the horizon! Students have learned about The Falcon Way and how to live with integrity. During the month of August, students will learn about the virtue of kindness.

This newsletter will have some important information regarding attendance, so please read carefully. Also, I wanted to address questions we have received regarding Covid. Please know that any absence from school, including Covid, must be excused. Also, please note that 1 parent note=1 day. One parent note cannot cover multiple absences. If you have questions, please call me or stop by!

Lastly, if you were unable to attend our Family Engagement Meeting, I have included the handouts and presentation at the end of this newsletter.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please call, email, or stop by! GO FALCONS!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Fowler, Principal

#WeAreFalcons

Alabama Attendance Awareness Month

National research indicates students who are chronically absent, in any year between eighth and 12th grade, are more than 7 times more likely to drop out, compared to those with better daily attendance. September has officially been designated as School Attendance Awareness Month 2023. During this special event in our state and nation, real emphasis is being placed on building greater student engagement, public awareness, and family support for school attendance efforts. Please remember that our attendance goal is for every student to maintain a 95% attendance rate. If a student misses more than 5% of his/her school year, the student is at a significant risk of learning loss. Please see the graphics below for important attendance reminders! Each month I will share with you what our school's average attendance rate was for the previous month. Our goal is to stay at or above 95%.

The Counselors' Corner

Each month Mr. Bradford & Ms. Tittle (better known as "Mr. B & Ms. T") create an awesome newsletter for students and families focusing on our virtue of the month. Families will also hear from students about what's going on at The Hill!

Counselor Information

Please scan the QR code below to learn about all of the support services our counselors offer to students at Forest Hills.

zoom_out_map

Falcon Hub App

Be sure to download the FCS Falcon Hub app! This is a great one stop shop for families (and especially those with students at multiple FCS schools).

Falcon Hub App Video

check-ins

Any student who is walking in the building after 7:30am MUST be accompanied by an adult. This is because teachers begin teaching at 7:30 am. Any student coming in after 7:35 am will be considered tardy and have to be checked in by an adult.

Forest Hills Track Club

Socktember

Socktember will start on September 6. Please click on the link below to see what Socktember is all about!

Socktember

Spirit Store Schedule

Grade Level News

Kindergarten

Kindergarten is having a blast practicing coming to school, listening, counting, and much more. We also have had so much fun learning about nursery rhymes. On Thursday, Sept. 21 kindergarteners will be celebrating what we have learned by dressing up as his/her favorite nursery rhyme character! Students may even recite their nursery rhyme to their class if they choose. We will have a parade around the school at 7:45 that morning. All families and friends are invited to come watch the parade!

First Grade

Our first graders have had a wonderful start to our school year! We have challenged our students to learn The Falcon Way, create their own at home book boxes, and use numbers to add within 10. We look forward to our students building their reading fluency and number sense in the coming month. We are so excited for our upcoming field trip to The Children's Museum and Deibert Park in September. Go Falcons!!!

Second Grade

We are off to a great start in 2nd grade! Our students are excited to transition to chromebooks this year as their 1:1 device. Second graders are learning about "Teamwork" in our reading unit and different strategies to add and subtract in math. In October we will take a field trip to the Amish community. We will take a wagon ride through the community and learn about the different products made at each house. We are looking forward to a great year!

third grade

We are off to a great start in 3rd grade!

In math, students have been learning about place value, rounding, and adding three-digit numbers. In ELA we have been focusing on making inferences, cause and effect, and synonyms and antonyms. We have ordered our class t-shirts and expect them to arrive very soon! We are planning a field trip for October, so look for more information to come!

fourth grade

Our 4th graders have been excited to start learning about Alabama History. We have learned valuable map skills to find our place on state, country, continent, and world maps. We are also learning about our Alabama State Symbols. One of our favorite trips that we look forward to all year is our 4th-grade field trip to our state capital, Montgomery. This trip will be in the spring of 2024. Parents, more details will come home soon.