December Principal's Update

Families, 

In December, our emphasis within the IB Profiles is on the attribute of caring, and the timing couldn't be more fitting. With initiatives such as the Joy Shop, Giving Tree, and the overall spirit of the month, instances of care are plentiful. additionally, December signifies the commencement of the second marking period. We appreciate the successful beginning and extend our gratitude for your ongoing collaboration as we enter this new phase! 

12/22/23 Reminder!

12/22 is a half day of school. Please contact the attendance office if you are picking your child up on the half-day. Our parent pick-up is at 11:25, and our buses pull away from the school at 11:45! 

Applications for QUEST 

According to applications we receive, 93% of the people who apply to be part of QUEST do so because of word-of-mouth. That is, they've spoken with a current QUEST family and it has sparked their interest. 

We will be sending out applications for the 2024-2025 school year in the near future, with an application deadline, for new potential Kindergarten families, by February 2. Please join me in celebrating and getting all the good from QUEST out into the community. Your opinions are a huge help! 

Testing Save-the-Date & Need-to-Know

This year's NYS assessments in ELA and Math (grades 3-8) as well as Science (grades 5 & 8 only) will be administered as computer-based assessments. In preparation for the transition to testing on Chromebooks, we will be holding a computer-based testing simulation on January 18th. In addition:  April 15-16 (ELA), April 29-30 (Math), May 14 (Science) during the school day. This short simulation will be for practice purposes and does not count as an assessment or grade for students. 

I hope you and your family are afforded a restful break at the end of this month. 2024 will be here before we know it, and I remain confident that it will be a great year for our QUEST community. 

Be well,

Derek Warren

QUEST Principal 

Level Updates

Kindergarten:

Kindergarten is in full swing. Our kinders were able to experience their very first QUEST Feast. They had a blast! They visited the creek for a nature walk and demonstrations. They also ate a feast prepared by their hallway community! They are looking forward to exploring their new planner “Let’s Celebrate”. During this planner they will inquire and explore celebrations and holidays. This is a perfect time as they prepare for their upcoming celebrations! JOY Shop is right around the corner to. Kids will have the opportunity to purchase homemade gift for their family members. Many of the homemade gifts will be made by QUEST students and families.

Winter is upon us too! KInders will preparing for outdoor weather by practicing becoming independent when dressing themselves in their winter gear! We are excited for it to snow so we can get outside for some winter play!

Tip for Kinder parents: Have your littles practice dressing in snow gear. Time them. See if they can continue to beat their time each practice!

 

Primary:

The primary team has been hard at work! We are just finishing our planner How The World Works. The kids have learned all about land features and slow and fast changes in nature. We are now beginning a social studies planner under How We Express Ourselves. The central idea is families are diverse and change over time. We will be inquiring into characteristics that define a culture, how artifacts help us to learn about the past, how tradition and heritage shape culture, and how culture is expressed. We have asked each family to send in some artifacts or pictures of artifacts to help us. It is a great time to tell family stories and share traditions!

We also finished up our personal narrative writing unit. We will continue to write narrative small moment stories so please keep reminding kids of stories that have happened to them that they can write about at school! We will be moving into writing nonfiction stories and asking them to be experts on topics they can write about. Please keep reading with your child each night. Fiction and Nonfiction make good read alouds. We will continue to send home books for the kids to read each night so please be a cheerleader for your developing reader!

Thank you for all of your support!

Elementary:

Currently the Elementary Level classrooms are wrapping up a unit of study on Indigenous Cultures. Students learned about the Haudenosaunee and researched about other cultures to explore the unique way of life that each group of people had. Some classes shared their knowledge through presentations and plays during the Thanksgiving Feast Day celebrations. The Elementary level also enjoyed hearing Perry Ground, a member of the Onondaga Nation, share stories from the Haudenosaunee Culture. Later in December, members of the Parma Historical Society will be joining us to discuss the Haudenosuanee connection to our local area, along with sharing some artifacts.

Our next planner is a science based unit about forces and how information is transferred. Students will be engaging in a variety of hands-on lessons to investigate different types of forces, see how waves can transfer information, and learn about binary code.

Intermediate:

Intermediate students are well into the routine of the school year and working hard! For inquiry, the intermediate grade level is currently immersed in the Early Human planner where they are exploring the transition from the Old Stone Age to the Neolithic Era. Reading groups have begun and for writing, students are finishing up their informational unit and working on their final pieces. In 6th-grade math, we're concluding the ratios, rates, and percentages unit and moving on to fractions. In 5th-grade math, the focus is on solidifying multiplication and division skills while also working on volume. Upcoming in January will be the sled race, in December classes will start preparing their designs and the sled building process.

Special Areas:

All students have been learning a variety of dances during their Music and PE classes this month! Next week we will welcome guest judges from all over the district to check out our dances! Everyone will get a chance to show off their best moves during our Annual Dance Showcase on Thursday, December 21st at 9:00am. Families are welcome to join, but please note that there will be limited space and standing room only since the whole school will be in the gym at that time. Although standing room is limited, we will record the performance and share it out for all to view.

Health Office Updates

6th go 7th Grade Information Night

Math Club

Giving Tree

 

Student Council

 Student Council recently had their first meeting, and it went great!

PTSO Update

 

Library Updates

Did you know that students have access to thousands of e-books on their Chrome books? Students can access SORA from home on their Chromebooks in a few easy steps.  

• Visit
  https://soraapp.com/home 
• If SORA doesn't login automatically, choose Monroe 2-BOCES and Hilton Central School District. 
• Use the "Explore" tab at the bottom of the screen to find e-books and audiobooks. Students can borrow two books on SORA at a time for approximately three weeks. Books are returned automatically- no need to worry about due dates. Students can check what they have borrowed, as well as return or renew books by clicking on the "Shelf" tab at the bottom of the screen. 
• SORA is also available as an app and follows the same steps to sign-in! Search Sora, by OverDrive Education in the Apple App Store or Google Play. 

Mrs. S recommends these SORA titles for December 😊
Another Christmas by Susan L. Roth
Chanukah in Chelm by David A. Adler
The Lemon Sisters by Andrea Chang
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davis 

Happy reading 😊 

Band Students of the Month and Perfect Attendance

 

Here are the Band Students of the Month for November!

McKenna Barton

Chiryn Burdick

Caleb Davis

Carmine DeLucia

Dominic Dimino

Olivia Duque

Witt Duque

Emma Green

Jonathan Green

Mason Hacker

Alexis Koch

Maeve Law

Ben LeBeau

Skyler Lucas

Matt Mammarello

Nicholas Munding

Ani Nabewaniec

Carter Picente

Jacob Sauer

Alex Schuler

Vinny Sciortino

Greyson Sullivan

Sarah Wayner

Spencer Wendel

Colin white

Colin Witcher

Cadence Yerry

Jason Zornow

Here is perfect attendance for this semester of band

Zaiden Achter

McKenna Barton

Sophia Case

Olivia Duque

Witt Duque

Jaxon Eakes

Spencer Floyd

Armando Freytes

Jordon Gangross

Gabby Gotham

Avery Green

Alexis Koch

Skyler Lucas

Jacob Merrill

Nolan Meyer

Evelyn Pestilli

Alex Pincelli

Parker Place

Olivia Plaisted

Torryn Reed

Alexander Schuler

Patrick Shaw

Sebastian Smyth

Liam Stevens

Evan Szczepanik

Sebastian Szczepanik

Adeline Warren

Olive Warren

Gavin Webber

Cadence Yerry

Jason Zornow

Our Corner of the World

 

November Principal's Update

Dear QUEST Family,

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to connect with many of you during the past month, whether it be through conferences or our school-wide events. As we continue through this academic year, it is truly heartening to witness the core value of collaboration permeating every facet of life here at QUEST.

To those that are Veterans, thank you for your service. A extra thanks to our Veteran on staff, Mr. DePrez!

Report Card Conversations

I'm excited to inform you that your child's term 1 report card will be accessible in the Campus Backpack on November 22nd. These reports offer a chance for reflective discussions focused on your child's growth. I encourage you to engage in a conversation with your child about their report card, using some of the following prompts:

What are you most proud of accomplishing this term?
In what ways have you demonstrated growth?
Are there any areas in which you'd like to make improvements in the upcoming marking period?
Which IB Learner Profiles have you found to be instrumental in your success this marking period?
Reflect on the goals discussed during our three-way conference – how might they contribute to your success?

IB Profile of the Month: Open-Minded

The IB Learner Profiles serve as our toolkit for achieving international-mindedness, action-oriented behavior, and personal growth. Each profile challenges both students and adults alike.

For the month of November, our school community is focusing on the attribute of being open-minded. I encourage you to engage in conversations with your children about what open-mindedness means to you. Do you apply this profile at your workplace, within your family and friend circle, or when navigating the world? Your insights on this profile are invaluable in fostering your child's understanding.

🎉Half Days on 11/14 and 11/21 🎉

A friendly reminder that our students will have half-days of school on 11/14 and 11/21. If you plan to pick up your child, kindly notify our attendance office at questattendance@hilton.k12.ny.us the night before. Additionally, there will be no school on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th due to the Thanksgiving Holiday.

The QUEST community values the strong partnerships we share with our families. Should you require any assistance or support for you and your family, please don't hesitate to reach out.

With gratitude,

Derek Warren Principal at QUEST

QUEST Feast

Next week QUEST will be celebrating the 29th Thanksgiving as a school. The first official Feast was in 1994 but Darrel Dupra's REACH kids put on the first demos in 1992 when QUEST was housed at Village Elementary. While this tradition has changed and evolved over the years, it still holds true to bringing the entire school community together and all helping make a meal and enjoying it together as a school. This year, Elementary students will be presenting demos for the first time in connection to their planner on Indigenous People. If you have time please consider joining us down at the creek on 11/17 or perhaps volunteering to help prepare/serve the meal. If you are interested and able please use this sign up that has been created by PTSO. Your child's teacher may send a separate sign up for donations. Thank you for all you do to support your QUESTie and the school!

Student Council News

Thank you for everyone who helped out at Make a Difference Day. The concert clothing drive was a success, and we were able to add to our donations and help many families out.

We just held our Student Council Elections. We want to thank everyone who ran for an officer position. It was a very close race and we had many students run. Our 2023-2024 officers are :

President : Penny
Vice President : Liviarose
Treasurer : Rose
Secretary : Lulu


Save the Date for our first event WINTER TRIVIA. This will be in the QUEST auditorium on Wednesday, December 13th from 5:30-6:30.

PTSO Update

 

October Band Students of the Month

 

Evelyn Ballard

Joey Benza

Sophia Case

Liviarose Childs

Caleb Eichas

Macyn Eisenhauer

Spencer Floyd

Gabby Gotham

Avery Green

Caine Infantino

Kayla Lippold

Jacob Merrill

Nolan Meyer

Evelyn Pestilli

Alex Pincelli

Grace Pincelli

Parker Place

Olivia Plaisted

Lillian Schuler

Callie Stevens

Liam Stevens

Evan Szczepanik

Sebastian Szczepanik

PJ Shaw

Sebastian Smyth

Emma Spreter

Penny Tracey

Raymond Trice

Adeline Warren

Olive Warren

Gavin Webber

Special Areas Update

 

Sleeping Beauty

 

Our Corner of the World

 

Picture Retakes

 

Lego League

 

QUEST Lego League will be starting soon! We are looking for parents of 3^rd -6^th graders who may be interested in helping to run Lego League after school this year. This is not a full-time commitment and will run every other week. If your child is interested in building, STEM, or Robotics, and this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, please email Tracey D'Alonzo at tdalonzo@hilton.k12.ny.us for more information. 

Elementary Kids Ski Free

 SKI NY Passport Program Offers Free Lift Tickets for 3rd and 4th Graders for the 23-24 Season

More Ski Areas Accepting the Passport Anytime!

 

SKI NY aims to introduce more kids to skiing and snowboarding with its Ski & Ride Passport Program, which offers free lift tickets for 3rd and 4th Graders with an adult ticket purchase.

Since the 1999-2000 ski season, the SKI NY Passport Program has introduced thousands of kids to alpine winter sports. This year, there are more ski areas that will be accepting the program during holiday periods, see iskiny.com for the full list of 20 plus participating ski areas.

“This program is key to the future of the sport of skiing and offers a great way to start,” said Scott Brandi, President of SKI NY.

The Ski & Ride Passport Programs is available all season long with a processing fee of $41 per Passport, per child. Parents must apply online at iskiny.com and can ski the next day as the Passport is electronically delivered once processed via email to the parent.

The Ski & Ride Passport Programs aims to grow the sport of skiing for future alpine skiers and riders. SKI NY is working the National Ski Areas Association to bring more people into the sport. Find out more at iskiny.com.

October Principal Update

QUEST Families

I hope the month of October finds you and your family well. Our school is in full swing, and it has been really great to see so many families participate in our start-of-the-year events! One of the ab Thank you so much for your partnership.

District Improvement Team 

The Hilton Central School District has a District Improvement Team, and we are currently looking for anyone that is interested in joining. This group is currently focused on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity action plan, and your input would be welcomed. If you are interested in joining or learning more about the commitment, please reach out to Derek! 

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 (to view, please stand in the grass as students will be walking along the sidewalk!). 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.

Change to Parent Pickup Time

Starting on 10/16/23, our announcement for students to come down for parent pick-up will occur at 3:25 versus 3:20. Because we have had a wide gap from the time parent pick-up is announced and when the buses are dismissed, this extra five minutes will be put to good use (instructionally!). If you pick your child up, please be aware of this five minute difference in practice! 

It's Almost Conference Time

Conferences are starting in many rooms, and our goal is to have all of our conferences with families complete by Thanksgiving. At QUEST, your child is also invited to the conference so that they can take ownership (agency) over their learning. 

We look forward to conferencing with our students and our families, so please be on the lookout for a sign-up from your child's teacher! 

PTSO

QUEST families are amazing! Our PTSO set a new record for fundraising, a new record for the book fair, and we have had consistently high turnout for our events--thank you, families. Our school is founded on partnerships, and all of our great events are possible because of this. Thank you!

Please be sure to check out all the information on this month's blog--it is packed full of good stuff. As always, reach out if there is any way I can be of support. 

Yours in Education, 

Derek Warren

QUEST Principal 

Level Updates

 Kindergarten

The kindergarten team is off to a super start. We are making new friends and learning routines. We are exploring our 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 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 read A LOT of books and story time is a favorite time!

Exploring math materials is really fun too.

We love our kindergarten play time on Fridays when we get to see our kindergarten teammates!!!

We love our new school!

Primary

The primary team is off to a great start! We have been learning routines and working on being a classroom family! In reading, we are getting groups up and running if they are not already. Look for books to come home soon. Older friends should read each night for twenty minutes and younger friends should spend ten minutes reading at home. Read aloud stories count toward these minutes and are a great way to spend time together while modeling fluent reading. Don't forget to talk about the story together too! In writing, we are composing narrative stories that are true stories that have happened to us. Please help your child come up with ideas to write about by talking with them and reminding them of events that have happened. For example, holiday stories, summer stories, vacation stories, tooth stories, etc. Please help your child make a list of topics that they can write about during writing time and send it in to school. 

In math younger friends are counting and beginning addition and we are playing lots of games to reinforce this. Older friends are learning to recognize and count coins, tell time to the hour and half hour, practice addition and subtraction facts, and will be starting story problems soon. Our first planner is How We Organize Ourselves (Government) and involves inquiring into democracy, the purpose and levels of government and patriotism. We are all learning to sing some patriotic songs! Next, we will be moving into a science planner next that is about the Earth's features. We love teaching your children and are excited for the rest of the year!

Elementary

The Elementary Level is off to a great start! Our first unit of study is all about forces, interactions, and energy. Students will be looking at how energy and matter interact, how energy can be transferred, and how humans use their understanding of the natural world and its resources. The unit started off with students learning about kinds of energy and identifying the types of energy different everyday objects represent. Classes made solar ovens to convert the sun’s energy into heat energy and cooked s’mores inside the ovens. Students will also be working with electrical circuits, building a “roller coaster” to see how speed and energy go together, and learning about renewable/nonrenewable energy sources.

The Elementary Level classes are beginning routines to incorporate more Spanish into our day. Students are completing Spanish Language sheets on a regular basis and practicing speaking in Spanish while in their classroom.

Intermediate

Intermediate students have been busy this school year. Our current Central Idea is analyzing data and cycles helps us make predictions. We have been exploring The Got Water kit which has us looking at Earth's systems and how they interact. Ms. Reese has arranged for Glen Johnson to come to speak to our kids about the weather and how patterns and data are used to predict the weather. In writing, we have been focusing on informational writing pieces and how to write with the purpose of informing our audience. We are all reading Esperanza Rising and investigating the historical context as it applies to the story. In math, the 6th graders have been learning about factors, multiples, prime factorization, and order of operations. The 5th graders have been exploring and learning different whole-number multiplication strategies for finding the products of 2 and 3-digit numbers.

Our Corner of the World

Musical

QUEST MUSICAL COMING SOON!

 

The musical will be announced during Wednesday morning meeting this month!  This opportunity is available to all students in grades 3-6. Students must be responsible, independent, and comfortable singing and dancing on stage!   All students will be required to audition.  Paperwork will be available in the Main Office starting on Monday, October 16th.  Contracts will be due on Friday, October 27th.  No late paperwork will be accepted!

Library News

We are off to a great start in the library! Thank you to all of our families who supported the book fair this past month and helped to promote a culture of reading at QUEST!

We kicked off October with a new hallway display featuring apples, pumpkins, and leaves illustrated by QUEST students. We are also inviting students to guess how many leaves are in our fall estimation jar!

This month, kindergarten is reading books by Mo Willems and Primary is reading books by Melanie Watt as we discuss the role of authors and illustrators in a story. Elementary and Intermediate are learning how to use SORA and Destiny to search our library catalog and read e-books. Students can access SORA from home on their Chromebooks in a few easy steps.

1. Visit https://soraapp.com/home
2. If SORA doesn't login automatically, choose Monroe 2-BOCES and Hilton Central School District.
3. Use the "Explore" tab at the bottom of the screen to find e-books and audiobooks. Students can borrow two books on SORA at a time for approximately three weeks. Books are returned automatically- no need to worry about due dates. Students can check what they have borrowed, as well as return or renew books by clicking on the "Shelf" tab at the bottom of the screen.
4. SORA is also available as an app and follows the same steps to sign-in! Search Sora, by OverDrive Education in the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Happy reading 🙂

Mrs. Shippers
Library Media Specialist

Student Council News

Elections

We are looking forward to another great year of student council! Officer positions include president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Elementary students may run for secretary and treasurer positions. Intermediate students may run for president and vice president positions. Candidates will give speeches during the whole school meeting on November 1st. Voting will take place on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7th. Applications for officer positions will be available for interested students starting on October 11th.

 

In addition to officer positions, each classroom will also select a student council representative. Classroom representatives will be selected after November 7th. If you have any questions, please reach out to Emily Tracey (etracey@hilton.k12.ny.us) or Valerie Pond (vmccormick@hilton.k12.ny.us). Thank you!

 

Make a Difference Day – Saturday, October 28

Come volunteer at Make a Difference Day this year on Saturday, October 28. QUEST is hosting a gently used clothing concert drive at the Hilton Community Center. If your family wants to volunteer email etracey@hilton.k12.ny.us or vmccormick@hilton.k12.ny.us for more information. Below is the agenda for the day. There are multiple volunteer opportunities.

9:00-9:30 am – Breakfast/Sign-at LeBeau Field 

 9:30-9:40 am – Opening General Information 

9:45 am – Depart to Worksites  

10:00 am-12:30 pm – Projects Around Town 

 12:35 pm – All Volunteers Back to the High School