the Forest Hills Flyer

A Note from the Principal

Forest Hills Families,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful winter break! I would like to begin by celebrating our December attendance! Little J.R. was a fun addition to our campus during the month of December. Thanks to all of his clever shenanigans, we improved our attendance from this time last last year in a big way! Our goal is to always keep attendance rates above 95%....WE DID IT! Let's keep this positive trend going in the 3rd nine weeks!

Our coupon book fundraiser begins today and runs through the month of January. This is an easy way to help raise funds for our amazing school! Funds generated will go towards classroom upgrades and campus improvements.

As we enter the colder months of the school year, please be sure to label all of your child's jackets, hoodies, pullovers, and coats. Each year we have to donate hundreds of lost items!

Please make plans to attend our family engagement meeting later this month. All families are invited and feedback will be gathered for the upcoming school year. We have some awesome doorprizes you won't want to miss!

Please be sure to review the ACAP graphic below. It has all of the dates that ACAP tests will be administered for students in grades 2nd-6th. No absences will be pre-approved for testing dates. This year, students will take a practice assessment to help familiarize themselves with testing parameters. The tests will also provide teachers great real-time data so that we know exactly what your child still needs to work on before the ACAP assessments in April. Digital devices such as phones and smartwatches are not permitted in any ACAP test or in school at anytime.

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

Sincerely,

Mrs. Fowler, Principal

#WeAreFalcons

All students are encouraged to participate in our FREE breakfast program in our cafeteria each morning from 7:00-7:30 am. You can find the January menu above. Other breakfast items from home should not be brought into the school.

Parents are encouraged to make sure their children are on time for school each day. Instruction begins at 7:30 am and students are counted as tardy after 7:35 am. Please note that Class I tardy offenses are cumulative for one semester only (meaning all students begin the second semester with zero tardies). Please review the chart below.

Use the link below to add money to your child's lunch account. While breakfast and lunch are free for all students, this money can be used to buy extra food at lunch or ice cream. The cafeteria will begin serving ice cream on September 29. Your child will have the opportunity to purchase ice cream for $1.00 one day each week.

Add money to your child's lunch account!

Purchase the 25-26 yearbook using the website above or by returning the order form that was sent home with your child!

6th grade parents - please send a baby picture of your child for Awards Day to ktittle@florencek12.org ASAP!

CLICK HERE FOR THE COUNSELOR'S CORNER

Kindergarten

We are so excited to welcome our Kindergarteners back to school! In Reading, we will be focusing on reading and writing CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. We will also be working on correct sentence structure. In Math, we will be working on understanding addition and subtraction. Our Units this month include: New Year/ Goals, Martin Luther King Jr., Polar Bears, Penguins, and Winter! In January, Kindergarteners will begin receiving Ice Cream once a week in the lunchroom. The cost for this is $1. Please see a note that will be sent home by your child's teacher with more information about this. Also, Kindergarteners will begin taking AR tests this semester! The goal is for your child to receive 20 points in the 2nd semester. If you have questions about this, please reach out to your child's teacher! We are looking forward to a great start to the New Year!

1st Grade

January is off to a great start in 1st grade! In reading, we are working on fluency and becoming confident readers—reading every chance they get makes a big difference. In math, we’re putting all the strategies we’ve learned to use as we solve word problems within 20. We’re also excited to celebrate the 100th Day of School toward the end of January—teachers will be sending home more information about this soon. We are looking forward to a wonderful second half of 1st grade filled with learning, growth, and fun!

2nd Grade

Second grade is ready to roll into the second half of second grade! As we begin a new semester we will be spending lots of time reviewing routines and procedures. We were so proud of the students' focus and perseverance during December. We had a lot of fun completing different festive writing prompts. Now that the IReady assessments are behind us, we will be continuing our reading unit on "Our Community at Work." In math, we are excited to continue three digit addition and begin three digit subtraction. It is amazing to see the growth of the students throughout this year. We are so excited for what is to come!

3rd Grade

Happy New Year!!
Third graders will be learning so many new and wonderful things this semester! In math we will begin talking about fractions and continue to help students reinforce and memorize their multiplication facts. In reading, we will continue our unit on “A Changing Nation.” In coordination with that unit, students will be participating in the Super Citizen program. This is a free program brought to third graders in Florence City Schools as a way of learning about how to be a contributing citizen in our community. We will attend the Super Citizen Kickoff at Florence High School on Friday, January 16th. Look for a permission slip to come home soon.
Please continue to check your child’s binder every day. We are looking forward to an exciting 2025!!

4th Grade

We will be continuing to read stories about different heritages in our reading unit. This is a great opportunity for families to have conversations about their heritage. We are in our fractions unit in Math. Anytime you can relate fractions to real-life experiences (cooking, crafting, construction, etc...), it is a great benefit to your child's understanding of fractions. We are looking forward to a great second semester of learning!

Our Montgomery Trip is not until March, but don’t forget that the final trip deposit is due February 2nd. This is only for those students and chaperones who paid the initial deposit in November to reserve their ticket.

5th Grade

Welcome back 5th grade! We are excited to get into the second half of the year. In math, we are continuing our lessons on fractions moving into multiplying and dividing fractions. As always, we will continue to spiral review the skills we have previously taught to keep them fresh on our brains. In ELA, we will begin working on narrative writing. This will give students a wonderful opportunity to share stories through structured writing and strengthen their grammar skills. We will also continue working on our reading comprehension skills as we practice summarizing and finding the theme of various pieces of writing. Finally, we will begin intense review of all of our reading skills as we prepare for the ACAP Test later this semester. In Science, students will be starting a unit on Earth's Interactive Systems, beginning with Water Distribution on Earth.

6th Grade

Welcome to January! As we kick off the new year, our 6th graders are diving into some truly fascinating topics across all their core subjects. Here is a quick look at what’s happening in the classroom this month:

📚 English Language Arts (ELA)

This month, we are shifting our focus to informational texts. Students will learn how to navigate non-fiction by identifying the central idea of a passage and distinguishing the key supporting details that back it up. They will also practice their own informational writing, focusing on how to organize facts clearly and objectively to teach a reader about a specific topic.

🧪 Science

Get ready for a journey through the solar system! Students will explore the complex interactions between the Sun, Earth, and Moon. We will be investigating how these relationships create natural phenomena like the phases of the moon, the change of seasons, and tides.

🌍 Social Studies

We are stepping back in time to begin our unit on World War II. Students will start by looking at the global landscape leading up to the conflict, the major powers involved, and the significant events that shaped this turning point in modern history.

🔢 Mathematics

In Math, we are moving into the world of rates and unit rates. Students will learn how to compare different quantities and use ratios to solve real-world problems—like calculating speed or finding the best deal while grocery shopping.

Walkers!

Beginning Wednesday, September 10th, we will have a staff member on duty as a crossing guard from 7:00-7:30 am at the intersection by the school parking lot entrance and Forest Hills Baptist Church. The crossing guard will hold traffic so that students can safely walk onto campus. We will also have a crossing guard help students across the intersection shortly after dismissal each afternoon (estimated time between 2:35 & 2:40). Parents are encouraged to meet their walkers at the Forest Hills Baptist Church parking lot. Please know that if you choose to let your child walk home after being released to the church parking lot, dismissal traffic will still be flowing, so parents should advise their students to use caution if walking home. We will also have a staff member continue to release other walkers to the track area, but this will now be occuring between 2:35 & 2:40. Please remember that parents MUST sign the waiver below before a child is permitted to be a walker.

Permission & Waiver to Walk Home

If you live within 2 miles of the school and would like for your student to walk home in the afternoon, please contact your child's teacher and request a waiver be sent home. Students will not be allowed to walk home without a signed waiver on file in our office.

Counselor Information

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

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