Highlights since our last board meeting:

·      The Foundation recently sent a mailing to all residents announcing the Mercedes-Benz car raffle that will be held on March 10, 2009. If you need additional raffle forms, they are available on our website in the Recent News section.
 

·      Principal, Mr. Schillaci, reports that Indian Hill has a lot of very talented musical youngsters and that the band and chorus students did a wonderful job performing for families at their December concerts. Mr. Schillaci said they were fortunate to have had some Satz and High School music students perform for Indian Hill children and that it was great for his students to see what possibilities they have when they move up to the “big” schools.
 

·      The annual Geography Bee took place at Indian Hill last week. Mrs. Bradley reports the competition ended with a nerve-wracking tie-breaker between the winner and runner-up. Congratulations to all who competed.
 

·      Indian Hill’s science expert, Mr. Tom Woods, put together a great presentation about liquid nitrogen for the entire student body. It was described as “awesome to see”!
 

·      Congratulations to three eighth grade students who were selected to be published in the Creative Communication anthology – A Celebration of Poets.
 

·      Congratulations to the Satz students and their advisor Marian Amitrani for winning an award in the 2009 American Mathematics Competition AMC 8:
 

·      The Poetry Out Loud Contest was held Tuesday, January 13, in the HHS auditorium. The students who participated were classroom winners and each recited two poems. The first place winner will now move on to the next level of competition at Two River Theater in Red Bank.
 

·      The National Honor Society Induction ceremony will be held Thursday evening at Holmdel High School. This year they will be inducting 102 students; very impressive!

Activities towards meeting district goals:

Character Education

·      Village School has “kicked off” their school-wide character ed program where each month students will be honored for demonstrating six different pillars of good character: Respect, Caring, Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Fairness, and Citizenship. The students will receive a paper sneaker each time they are recognized. At the end of each month, names will be pulled out of a hat and those students will receive a prize. The more times a student is recognized, the more chances they have to win!

Differentiated Instruction

·      Indian Hill continues to move forward with the Learnia training. All teachers have been trained and most of the students have completed the first test. The information received from the results will help drive discussion about differentiating instruction for individual students in all classes. Additionally, the BSI teachers and literacy coach have been working with classes to demonstrate differentiation in the area of literacy. Many of these activities will be set up in the Reading Room once all the supplies are in and ready to roll.