Hilltop Newsletter April 14th, 2017

(Infant/Toddler = 0-3 years, Children's House = 3-6 years, Lower Elementary = 6-9 years, Upper Elementary = 9-12 years, and MS is only two with 12-14 years) the children go through a cycle of being the younger, middler, and older in the community. This process enables the child to benefit from their classmates first as mentors and later as proteges. That third year of the cycle, things come together both academically and socially, as they become the leaders in the classroom. Their expertise and confidence is palpable!

Then they "move-up" to the next program and a whole new world of social and academics opens up to them. They progress through the next three year cycle, growing and gaining confidence again as leaders.

Join the conversation as teachers present what lies ahead. What will be different in schedules, lessons, homework and personalities? What can you do to support this next stage of development at home?

What happens in Upper El? What is the transition like for a student moving up to the middle school?

This is a time to ask those questions and prepare for what lies ahead.

For parents of students transitioning from

Kindergarten to Lower El, Lower El to Upper El,

and Upper El to Middle School.

Please join us on Monday, May 1 at 6pm to hear about the new expectations and experiences that come with a move from one program to the next.

Certainly, if your child is indeed moving-up to a new program next year, we highly encourage you to come. All parents are invited if you are generally interested in what the future holds for your child at Hilltop.

RSVP here for the evening and for child care if needed.

The Bargain Hunt is ON!

We have 18 families who are signed up to sell at our tag sale on April 29th!

Don't want to sell? Come and shop - great deals on sporting equipment, toys, books, household goods, some furniture, etc.!

AND come see the Lockyear family's new food truck! They'll be selling rotisserie chickens on the circle. You don't want to miss that!

ALSO WANTED: To borrow - electric griddles for the pancake breakfast portion of our program.

Email Amelia to reserve a table or if you have a griddle we can borrow - $10 per table - you sell and keep proceeds. Thanks!

Saturday, April 29th

*7:30am - noon

In the Arts Barn

*come when you want, but tag sale people are an eager bunch - Doors open at 7am for set up.

Contra Dance

We also have a new addition to the contra dance this year: acclaimed photographer, Christopher Irion, will also be offering his sensational Photo Booth portraits at a very reasonable price as another way to fundraise for our Odyssey. We are very lucky to have this chance, as he is a very busy man and his work is extremely high quality, so we are excited to take advantage of this opportunity! Here is a sample of his work:

Toddler Program

Happy Spring!

The crocuses are blooming, the buds are out on the trees, and the snow has finally disappeared! Spring is an exciting time of exploration and discovery for toddlers. It also offers a great opportunity to see just how much the children have grown in confidence and capability during the winter. Children who moved gingerly around the playground in the fall are now scrambling over rocks, using big shovels to move heaps of sand, and pulling each other in wagons. Their bright faces and strong bodies show how proud they feel of their accomplishments!

And a couple of pictures taken inside the classroom this week:

Mark your calendars: Saturday, May 6th, is our annual playground clean up morning. Stay tuned for projects planned!

After the break, please remember to send in water bottles, sun hats, and warm weather clothing. We still have plenty of sunscreen from last fall for all the children.

Enjoy the break! See you back on Tuesday, April 25th!

Ellie, Amanda & Marco

Birch Room

Happy Spring!

The weather has finally changed over, and our classroom has followed with new works featuring a spring theme. The children have been exploring materials about birds, eggs, and seeds. We've also added some new geography materials to our cultural area, including additional land forms and works featuring flags from around the world.

Now is great time to check your child's cubby to make sure there are extra spring clothes for the warmer weather. Also, remember to send a sweatshirt or light jacket- our first recess is still pretty chilly.

Have a great vacation week!

-Cheryl, Serina, and Mariam

Willow Room

Have a Great Spring Break! See you on Tuesday, April 25th!

Pasture and Layla share their pottery with each other.

Olders share pottery with each other.

A visit from Jonathan's daughter, Josephine.

Lower El

We had a great time at VINS, thank you to those who chaperoned!

Have a wonderful Spring Break, see you when we return on Tuesday, April 25th

and on Friday 4/28/17 Lower El Author's Tea at 8:45am.

Upper El

The Upper El is always looking for adults to help teach our electives, a one hour session with 5-12 students that will meet on the 4 Thursdays starting on April 27th. In the past, electives have focussed on knitting, woodworking, computer programming - you name it. Please contact Tom or Jen if you have any ideas!

Classroom Play Practice

Theater Rehearsals

The Performance

Middle School

What do you do with the vast myriad of experiences, interactions, observations, and questions that we individually and collectively collected during our week in Alabama? Does a simple written reflection, "My Alabama Odyssey", do justice to the depth of our exploration? We don't think so. The tradition at the middle school is to collaboratively create a performance that comes from circle conversations, small group collaborations, and singular creative endeavors. The process requires ideas building on ideas, excellent listening skills, a great deal of self-direction, the pursuit of individual passions, and the courage of one's convictions. Currently students are in the music room working on songs, huddled around computers experimenting with 3D graphic animation, and imagining scenes, characters, and situations. This vibrant, exciting, sometimes frustrating, deeply creative, and challenging process will result in a performance that will be performed on Monday, May 8 and Tuesday, May 9 at 7pm in the Arts Barn Theater. We invite you to witness and enjoy the results of this extraordinary effort.

Of course math studies never sleep in the middle school. Students are currently engaged in a great array of math projects including: fractal art, line drawing with functions, math quilts, exploring simultaneous equations using student constructed see-saws, modeling exponential decay through the dropping of bouncy balls from great heights, and probability studies.

Enjoy the break!

Math Project - its all about fulcrums

Math Project - Tessellation

Working on Animations for the Middle School performance

Before and After Care

The Book Mobil is Back on the Road!

Hilltop Helpers

A big THANK YOU to Hazel for providing our students and staff with delicious pizza each week!

Julia Fedoruk in the Middle School would like to thank all of you who have helped refugees through donations of clothing and funds to Carry Me Home, the Brattleboro-based 501c3 non-profit that sends clothing to refugees in Eastern Europe. We are currently shipping spring items, with special focus on items for refugee children who have begun attending schools in Greece. We are also beginning to stockpile fall/winter items to begin shipping in late summer. Please bring items from the list below to the collection box in the lobby. Carry Me Home is also in need of funds to pay for shipping. A 44 pound box costs $164 to ship. Please make donations via Indiegogo Generosity , or leave a check made out to Carry Me Home With Love in the collection box.

NEEDED ITEMS (In gently-used or better condition, washed, without stains, rips, or holes)

Clothing:

Adult (men's and women's small or medium, no L or XL please) and children's (all sizes) items:

-long pants, jeans, and leggings

-long skirts

-long or short sleeve tops

-sweaters and sweatshirts

-new underwear

-socks

-raincoats and winter coats

Shoes:

-rainboots and sturdy shoes, all sizes

-men's flip flops sizes 8-10.5

For shipping:

-Essentials brand vacuum storage bags, size large, 17.5 x 27.5 inches. These are intermittently available at the Dollar Tree Stores in Brattleboro and Keene, and fit our shipping boxes perfectly.

You can find more information about Carry Me Home on Facebook or via email. You may be interested in PBS Frontline's Exodus , a documentary on the refugee crisis that aired in December 2016 and is still available to watch on line.

Many thanks to Brattleboro Tire, 558 Putney Road in Brattleboro for donating

snow tires for our Hilltop van . Please visit Dan and the boys at Brattleboro Tire for your car's needs and be sure to say "Thanks" on Hilltop's behalf.

www.brattleborotire.com or call them at 802-254-5411.

Community News

Summer Language Camp August 7th-10th

Express Fluency is offering Spanish, French, and Latin classes August 7th-10th, at BUHS. The classes run from 9-12pm each morning (9-11:30 Thursday). They will engage and delight students ages 7- adult. World-class language teachers are coming to Brattleboro from OR, CO, LA, MN, ME and MI to teach these classes and teachers from all over the US are coming to observe them and participate in teacher workshops in the afternoons.

Offerings Include:

Elementary Spanish taught by Annabelle Allen (Ages 7-11)

Beginner Spanish taught by Grant Boulanger (Ages 12-adult)

Intermediate Spanish taught by Becca Lynch Nichols (High School to adult)

Beginner French with Tina Hargaden (Ages 12-adult)

Beginner Latin* with Justin Slocum Bailey(Ages 12- adult)

We expect these classes to fill up, so recommend registering early.

More info and registration can be found here:

http://expressfluency.com/product/camp/

Full time student price: $125 (before June 1st)

*A note about Latin from Elissa McLean: My daughter (Emmy, age 12) and I took Justin's Latin class together last summer and had the best time! Justin is a gifted teacher and he literally brings Latin to life in the class. Before the class I was honestly a little unsure of why anyone would want to take a Latin class, but now I recommend it to everyone. There are so many connections to English and all the Romance Languages. This would be a great class for someone facing PSATS or SATS, wanting a base from which to explore many other languages, interested in science and medicine, and so much more! Plus, it is a ton of fun. Emmy and I still remember the Latin from the class now 7 months later and its like we have our own secret language at home.

Creating with Clay Summer Camp 2017

Green Mountain Girls Camp

News Flash! Green Mt Camp for Girls, the beloved 100 year old summer camp in nearby Dummerston has openings for girls ages 4-13 this summer! They are welcoming 4 year olds for Session #1 (June 19-23) for day camp from 8:30-4:30 and all other ages are welcome to come for the day or stay the night as this is a Try Me Camp week! Arts and Crafts, Drama and Dance, Nature, Music, Sports and Games, Swimming and so much more! They also have a pay by the day option that week if you have limited availability! Financial Aid is available if income eligible! This is a great chance for you to check out the camp during a time when our summer program hasn't started yet and there are still openings! Call Billie at 802-257-1751 today or go online to register at u nder the Come To Camp tab.