Principal Update

QUEST Families,

Happy October. I hope you and your family have enjoyed some of the fall fun that Hilton has to offer, and that you are finding your family in the back-to-school groove. Things are busy at QUEST, and we continue to grateful for the opportunity to work alongside your family. We have many updates this month, so please review our family blog at your convenience. 

QUEST Reporting System

The QUEST reporting system, or the mechanisms we use to communicate your child's achievement as a learner, has had a couple shifts. You will notice these changes as we move toward three-way conferences, but I wanted to take a moment to highlight the shifts and the why behind each shift. 

Shift 1: There are no longer G, for goals, listed directly on the QUEST report card. Now, the report card will only have a 1,2,3 rating for each content area indicator, or an S (support)/I (independent) for the Approaches to Learning section (learning behaviors).

History of this: In the past, the teacher would bring the progress report, or report card, to the conference. Students would have goals, and the goals for the student would be established and marked on this report by using a G (for goal). So the report card would have some ratings (1,2,3) and some G's if that was a goal for the student. 

Why we made this change:  It was noted by many that this created confusion for parents when reading the report card. In addition, there were inconsistent amount of goals being established, and students often were not aware of what their goals were once the conference was over. This contradicts the purpose of a student establishing and having learning goals to work toward. 

Shift 2: We have created a new document, which you will see at the three way conferences, to record student goals and the school/home actions that help the child achieve the goal(s)! All student goals will center around the AtL's (Approaches to Learning). 

History of this: Different staff were using different forms for this process. In addition, the amount of goals varied . 

Why we made this change: The point of goal setting is student agency. That is, students owning their learning. As a school, we envision our students leaving QUEST after Intermediate as agents of their learning; as learners, they would know who they are and what they need, and can advocate for needs. This approach aligns us vertically as each level has a prescribed amount of goals, but we also have a common form to walk students through that process. You will see this form at the goal setting meeting.

Goals would later be followed up upon at Portfolio Share, which occurs in late February-early March. 

Halloween

Halloween is fast approaching, and our school will have an outdoor parade around the bus loop on 9:30 am on 10/31. Please feel free to join us. If you wish to participate with other classroom-wide activities, please chat with your child's teacher about opportunities. 

What if we do not celebrate Halloween? 

If your family does not celebrate Halloween, please be sure to communicate with your child's teacher so that we can prepare alternate opportunities for your child.  

What is allowed and not allowed to be worn to school on Halloween? 

• No blood should be part of the costume that is worn to school.
• Toy weapons that go with the costume should not be brought to school.
• If a child has a mask with their costume, they should bring that in their bag; their classroom teacher will instruct them when it is an appropriate time to put it on.
• Costumes should not be offensive or discriminate against others.

Thank you for your continued partnership. Please do not reach out should you have any questions. 

Respectfully,

Derek Warren

QUEST Principal 

Library News

 

Dear QUEST families,

After 22 years of living the QUEST life I am reluctantly saying goodbye!  We relocated to the east side of Rochester and I am changing school districts. It has been such an honor and privilege to work with the families, students, and staff at QUEST! You will always be in my heart! Happy wishes for a continued love of books and all things literacy, both robotic and print!  Miss Kennedy Shuterleff will be my replacement for the school year so please reach out to her for any needs! Onward and Upward! 

 New Library Staff: kshurtleff@hilton.k12.ny.us 

Sincerely, Stephanie Harney 

Concert Wear Drive

 

Student Council Update

Make a Difference Day

When: Saturday, October 29 from 10:00 AM - Noon

Where: Community Center

What: Join the Hilton community for Make a Difference Day. We will be working at the community center to help with the concert wear clothing exchange. We will be sorting clothing and helping students and parents to “shop” for gently used concert wear.

If you and your family are able to attend, please sign up using the following link. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Thank you!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E094CA4A82BA7F85-make

 

  

Student Council Elections

Students who are interested in running for an officer position for student council need to see Ms. McCormick or Mrs. Tracey for an application. Officer positions include president (intermediate students only), vice president (intermediate students only), and secretary/treasurer (elementary students only). Applications are due on Friday, October 28th. Speeches will be read the following week. The election will be held on Election Day, November 8th. Following the election for officer positions, classroom representatives will be chosen. Thank you for your support!

Band Students of the Month

 

Congratulations to the October Band Students of the Month!

Evelyn Ballard

Andrew Burdick

Warren Burke

Olivia Colon

Andres Freytes

Nathan Gammariello

Alexis Koch

Cole Lenzi

Caleb Moore

Grace Pincelli

Addison Potter

Emma Potter

Sebastian Smyth

Penelope Tracey

Wesley Walke 

Violet Whitehead

Cadence Yerry

Level Updates

 Kindergarten:

The kindergarten team is off to a super start. We are making new friends and learning routines. We have started or Unit of Study for Inquiry:

This Is Us

Central Idea:
We are unique.
Lines of inquiry
How are we unique

• What makes others unique
• What makes a learning environment unique
• How are we all connected
• We are excited about exploring new books and math materials too.

We are showing that we are caring and can cooperate nicely. Friends are sharing with each other while we learn and play and help each other adjust to kindergarten.

We have met some older friends in the building. They have helped us to the bus. We love our new school!

We are hoping to take a trip to Kelly’s Apple farm sometime in October. We are looking forward to many other new experiences too. J

 

Primary:

The Primary Classes are excited for our new year!  We are happy to welcome Mrs. Elias and all of her teaching experience and positive energy to our team.  

Classes began the year by creating class routines.  These routines start good habits to make for a successful year.  One routine we all have been working on is asking students to read independently. Students should sit in one place with a book for at least 10 minutes. Miss Monfiletto's friends can read for 20 minutes!  Please make sure your child is practicing reading every night. Take turns between reading to your child and them reading to you.  Reading is the best way to support your child.

Students have also been learning that they all have stories to write.  No story is too boring, it's all about the way you write it.  Right now, when students write at home, praise them for just getting a story on the paper.  Spelling and handwriting will come, but we need students willing to write so they can practice those other skills.  One favorite story of our primary classes is "The Veggie Monster," which is an entire story about a boy eating a single pea!  Always remind your children that anything that happens to them could make a good story.  In the words of Mrs. PJ, "Put that story in your pocket and pull it out at writer's." 

Support your child in math by practicing counting and writing numbers, practicing addition and subtraction facts and playing with coins to learn their value and names.  

Our first planner has been "Who We Are," and we have been learning all about what a community is, our community, community helpers and how we can be super citizens in our own communities.  All of the primary classes had the opportunity to tour the Parma Public Library and the Hilton Volunteer Fire Station.  Deputy Strapp, of the Monroe Sheriff department came to QUEST and taught us about his job and car.   Dr. Kosiorek, Mr. Giest, Mr. Dale and Mrs. Paolini taught us about their roles in our school district and how rules and laws impact their jobs.  Students have learned different strategies to handle conflict, why we have rules and how we can help.  

In a few weeks we will start the next planner, "How We Organize Ourselves," through maps and physical land features. We will learn about map features and tools we use to navigate our world.

Elementary:

The Elementary Level classrooms are off and running with the new school year.  September was spent establishing routines and getting reacclimated to the school environment.  We are happy to reintroduce hallway meetings each morning and the schoolwide auditorium meetings on Wednesdays.  Students are enjoying the opportunity to come together as a whole group.

Our first planner is a science based unit on weather.  The central idea is that weather and climate follow predictable patterns.  We will look at how geographic regions have unifying characteristics, how patterns of change are used to predict weather, and solutions humans can design to reduce the impacts of weather related hazards.  This unit offers many hands-on, authentic learning opportunities which the students truly enjoy.

Intermediate:

The intermediate team is absolutely enjoying our current unit of inquiry, Every Action Has a Reaction. Our lines of inquiry are: An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment. This week we created inertia crash test dummies. In this activity, groups attempted to demonstrate the law of inertia: Newton's first law states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an option in motion wants to stay in motion. We created ‘crash test dummies’ (using ping pong balls and wooden cars) and collected data on how speed influences the distance that our crash dummies went when they hit a barrier. We learned valuable lessons about the importance of seatbelts and energy.

Students are working diligently to set goals that will help support our learning. We will share these goals at our upcoming 3-way conferences. This year, our focus will be on using the Approaches to Learning (ATLs) to drive our goals.

To add a little more fun into the mix, the intermediate level is also beginning preparations for our FEAST demonstrations down at the creek. Thank you for sharing in our enthusiasm for a great start to the year!

Our Corner of the World

 

Library Update

Welcome to the Quest Library Media Center!

QUEST students from Kindergarten to Intermediate have been using Cubelet Robots! These are robot blocks that help teach important problem-solving skills. Students learn, collaborate, and design to engage in engineering, and computational thinking. Through using three different blocks, one for power, one for sensing the environment, and one for action, they can build an endless number of robots. This is the beginning of understanding that we can use robots to accomplish a variety of tasks, starting with play. Students reflect upon the robot they have created and can make changes to produce new outcomes. It is wonderful to watch them engaged in early engineering! Next up, Dash and Dot Robots in November and December!

                                     

Your student will be able to borrow books for a ten-day period unless they are being used for an inquiry project which allows them to keep books as long as needed. We have auto-generated overdue emails that send from our catalog system. Please do not panic when you get them. They are just a reminder to return the items as soon as you can!


Kindergarten and Primary classes have library every week for lessons. We have a flexible schedule, which allows all students to come to the library to exchange books whenever necessary. Elementary and Intermediate classes use the Library for research and lessons designed to meet the demanding IB curriculum.



LOAN LIMITS:

Kindergarten: 1 book

Primary: 2 books

Elementary: 3 books

Intermediate: 3 books



*Extra non-fiction books are allowed on each record in addition to personal fiction reading titles.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, feedback, or support. VOLUNTEERS are always in GREAT demand! Contact us if you are interested in more information.

PTSO Update

 

Yearbook Update

 QUEST parents, if you missed your chance to get the September discount on yearbooks, don't worry...you can still get 5% off in October!  This will be the final discount on yearbooks for the school year so order now to take advantage of the discounted rate!  Don't miss out on capturing these special memories of this amazing school year!  Please contact your friendly yearbook editors with any questions:

Jessica Schuler jschuler@hilton.k12.ny.us or Deb Bunt debbunt68@gmail.com