the Forest Hills Flyer

October 2024

A Note from the Principal

Forest Hills Families,

September was awesome, and we enjoyed seeing everyone at our Back to School Bash! October started with a bang as we welcomed hundreds of grandparents and special guests for Goodies with Grands! Thank you to our AMAZING PTO for organizing these awesome events! Our Scholastic Book Fair will continue through the second week of October.

Beginning in September, we sent out our first round of chronic absentee warning letters. These letters will be sent home monthly with any student who is trending towards chrnoic absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism is defined in the State of Alabama as any student who accumulates 18 total absences (unexcused and/or excused). Please remember that if your child misses school, you must send in a doctor's note or parent excuse. Students are allowed 5 parent notes per semester. 1 absence = 1 parent note.

Please be sure to check your child's folder on October 9th for his/her report card. We are so proud of our students and the learning that took place during the first 9 weeks. Please contact your child's teacher if you would like to schedule a Parent/Teacher conference for October 10th.

We will have another Family Night on October 24th at 5:30. More information will be sent home with your child, but be sure to mark your calendar as we will be showing parents how to support their child at home. We will have some more GREAT door prizes!

I would like to end by sharing how special it has been to see our first cohort of 5th graders take ownership and leadership positions at Forest Hills. Many of you have noticed that each morning we now have 5th grade Office Assistants to help with front office tasks....these students have helped with making deliveries, organizing lost & found, walking students to class and so much more! We also have 5th grade Library Assistants that are helping with check-ins/check-outs, shelving books, and assisting younger students find the "just right" book. In the coming weeks, we will elect our 5th grade Student Council Officers. To say I am proud of these student leaders would be an understatement!

I hope that each of you has a wonderful Fall Break! If I can ever be of assistance to you, please call, email, or stop by! GO FALCONS!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Fowler, Principal

#WeAreFalcons

Digital Device Policy

Test security measures & FCS Code of Conduct ban any electronic devices or smart devices during the school day. Such devices include smart watches, cellphones, tablets, etc. Any violation of this policy will be considered an FCS Code of Conduct offense and warrants disciplinary action. Thank you for ensuring your child does not bring a digital device to school!

There will be no school for students October 10-14.

All students should come dressed for a picture on October 17. Butler Studio will be taking fall make-up pictures as well as classroom group pictures. An order form for group pictures will come home in your child's folder before picture day.

HEY PARENTS!! Does your child need healthcare coverage? You may be surprised by how much you can earn and still qualify for ALL Kids. Check out the ALL Kids Income Guidelines and APPLY TODAY!!

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.

Happenings on The Hill

Kindergarten

Fall is a really fun time of year in Kindergarten! In reading we are practicing producing rhyming word pairs, reading high-frequency words & decodable readers, asking & answering questions about our stories and writing our opinion. In math we are practicing comparing numbers within 10, sorting & counting objects, & making ten in different ways. We will celebrate the 50th day of school on Oct. 18th & K students can dress like they are from the 1950's. This is always a really fun day of learning! We have started our fall units which will include things like autumn, nocturnal animals, pumpkins, and the farm. We will be taking a trip to Isbell's farm on October 23rd & are so excited to see it in person!

1st Grade

First grade students just concluded a wonderful month with tons of celebrations! Our little Falcons participated in Florence City's homecoming where they had many dress-up days and even hosted a pep rally with the high school band, football players, and cheerleaders. Coming up in October, students will continue to build their reading fluency. Students will transition from reading numbered sentences to reading passages. In math, students are working hard to recognize number families and how to create addition and subtraction equations to match. We will soon begin adding and subtracting within word problems. Go Falcons!

2nd Grade

Second graders are growing their wings every day. We have just begun a new unit in our reading series called "Earth in Action". We are excited to learn about Earth and the ways our planet changes over time. In math, we are adding and subtracting two digit numbers using many different strategies. Please be sure to review the parent letter that was sent home regarding our reading assessment plan for unit 2. Thank you for your continued support. We are so proud of this hardworking bunch!

3rd Grade

We are ready to FALL into learning in 3rd grade! This month we will be learning about Extreme Weather in our Reading unit. Students will do an informational writing piece at the end of the unit on their chosen type of extreme weather. In Math, students are continuing to master their multiplication facts and we will be beginning to relate division to multiplication in the coming weeks.
On October 7th we will take our field trip to the Cook Museum in Decatur. We look forward to a fun day learning about science!!
We can’t wait to see the creative book character pumpkins that our students bring in on October 25th. Look for more information to be sent home by your child’s teacher about this optional project.

4th Grade

4th Graders have been learning about famous scientists and inventors in their reading stories. They are enjoying these stories about people making a positive difference in their community or country. This month they will read stories about the Wright Brothers and Space explorers. We are so proud of our students and the conversations they are having on this topic.

In Math, students are starting to learn about patterns in multiplication and division. Knowledge of basic facts is so important to the success of deeper math problem-solving. Practicing multiplication facts at home up to the 12s will be beneficial for your child. Students will be exploring energy and waves in the Science Lab this month. Check out their awesome science website: https://sites.google.com/florencek12.org/fhes4thand5thscience/home

5th Grade

We are looking forward to a busy and fun October. We have enjoyed visiting with our "Grand" people and look forward to our whole class Book Fair visit the week of October 7th. We will be attending our first field trip of the year to the Space and Rocket Center on October 8th. We are looking forward to learning all about rocket fuel and seeing the awesome exhibits. In science, we are finishing up our Living Systems unit with a fun environmental engineering project investigating solutions for cleaning up oil spills. In the next couple of weeks, we will begin our Space unit called "Navigating the Sky". We will begin learning all about Earth and Earth's place in the universe. The field trip will help lead us right into this learning!
In math, we are learning all about decimals! We have been comparing and rounding decimals and will soon start adding and subtracting decimals and then multiplying and dividing decimals. As we move into our next unit and second nine weeks, Reading/ELA is looking forward to exciting new content! We will learn new suffixes and roots to sharpen our word analysis skills, dig deep into learning about cycles in nature, and further develop our writing skills to produce high-quality pieces of writing. Be on the lookout for our newly updated writing rubric to see how our students are growing!

Dental Care Resource for Lauderdale County

The Alabama Department Public Health (ADPH) is excited to announce that we have entered into an oral health partnership with Singing River Dentistry-Russellville, AL. Singing River will be providing in-kind preventive dental visits for expectant mothers and children ages 1-17 who are uninsured and/or underinsured. The services provided include radiographs, "cleanings," exams, and treatment plans. Children are also eligible for sealants. There is no cost to the patient.

All the patients have to do is call to make an appointment with the Singing River Dentistry, Russellville office, (256) 460-4191, mention they were referred by ADPH (WIC Dept, etc.), and have the attached dental brochure (flyer) in hand with them at their scheduled appointment.

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NW AL Free Dental, English.pdf

NW AL Free Dental, Spanish.pdf

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UPDATE! Falcon Hub App

Did you know that you have access to our school calendar with all scheduled school events through the Falcon Hub App?! All you need to do is go to settings, follow Forest Hills, navigate to the home screen and tap Calendar!

Falcon Hub App Video