Final Principal Update!

QUEST Families,

I hope this message finds you well. As we approach the end of the school year, I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for your unwavering support and encouragement throughout the year. Your partnership with our school has been invaluable, and we are grateful for your continued involvement in our community.

QUEST Mock Evacuation

On Tuesday morning, prior to students arriving, our teachers rehearsed our evacuation should we ever need to reunify parents with their students again. The goal is to add buses next year, so that students can become familiar with evacuations and evacuations where we may be leaving. Our goal is to ensure staff continues to be well trained in order to support our students.

Important Dates

As we wrap up the year, please be aware of several important dates. 

• June 8: Field Day (all visitors should communicate with the classroom teacher prior) 
• June 13: QUEST Graduation (at the HS @ 1:30 pm) 
• June 16: Moving Up Day: 2:30 pm
• June 19: No School
• June 20: Full day
• June 21: Half-day for students
• June 22: Half-day for students (final day) 

Information Night/ Ice Cream Social Change

Over the last few years, QUEST has noticed that our Information Night seems to lack strong attendance. Our school has a goal of building community, and in order get a feel for what our families want, we provided a survey earlier this year. According to the 89 families that took the survey, the preference is to shift toward an Open House/Back-to-School Night. Please feel free to review the data below. 

• Next year, we will no longer have Information Nights. QUEST will have a Back-to-School Night on September 20th for the entire school. 
• This night will also be the Ice Cream Social (on September 20th)--meaning, we will have NOT have an Ice Cream Social over the summer. Although we traditionally enjoy it over the summer, please note that staff no longer have a work day during the normal Ice Cream Social time. Meaning, it would be hard for us to have all the staff available. Because of this, it is best to loop it into one night in September. 
• For our K students who used to rely on the Ice Cream Social to get to meet their teacher, we will have a specific orientation the day before school starts--we want to make sure they are ready to go! 

As always, please reach out with questions. We recognize that changes come with mixed excitement, however, we do believe that having all of this on one night is for the best for our larger community! 

As we shift to summer mode, I want to take a moment to wish you all a wonderful summer filled with reading, inquiry, and adventure! I hope that you take this time to explore new books, ask questions, and satisfy your curiosity. And let's not forget to indulge in some delicious ice cream to beat the summer heat! Remember, learning doesn't stop just because school is out, so keep your minds active and continue to grow and learn.

Have a safe and enjoyable summer, and I look forward to seeing you all back at school in the fall!

Respectfully,

Derek Warren

QUEST Principal

Student Council Update

Thank you for supporting Student Council Events this year. Our events included : Homecoming Float, Trivia Night, Family Craft Night, Coloring Contest, Earth Day Clean up, Spirit Weeks and QUESTival. Stay tuned for fun events next year!

Health Office Update

 

Level Updates

Kindergarten

Kindergarten is finishing up the year with so much excitement. We have grown so much and learned a ton. We have so much to look forward to June! As we tie up loose ends with all of our units of inquiries in reading, writing math and science we are getting ready for some really exciting events! We have Music with Missy outdoor concert, our first Field Day, meet our new teachers, we will send our big kid buddies of to Merton Williams, cheer on graduating graduates from the High School, go on a trip to the Zoo, have an end of the year song performance and Kite Flying Frenzy and enjoy some Kona Ice! What a year it's been ! Primary here we come!

Primary

The Primary students are having a blast being busy right now.  We just went on a field trip to the Stone Tolan House where we saw how life has changed over time.  Many students found the outhouse and the water well to be very interesting.  Then we finished up the trip with going to the Fish Hatchery at the Powder Mills Park. This tied into our new planner, on how "Living things are interdependent."  We learned how humans support the fish in our rivers and streams and why humans do this kind of work.  We follow it up in class learning all about bees and how humans need bees.  We also make a lot of connections with the book "The Lorax," by Dr. Seuss. We are going to celebrate the end of the planner and school year by watching "the Lorax" movie as a whole Primary Team in the auditorium and then the following day we are going to head to the Seneca Park Zoo, where we will get to look at many different animal habitats.  Both of these awesome field trips were funded by our PTSO and our school fundraiser.  

We can't believe that some of our friends will be heading to Elementary next year.  Thank you to all of the families for your support over this school year.  Over the summer keep reading. 

Elementary

It is hard to believe it but the end of the school year is already upon us!  The year has really flown by!  The Elementary level classes are wrapping up the school year with two planners.  Currently, students are working on a science-based unit about ecosystems.  Students are studying wolves and seeing the role that one animal can plays in balancing an ecosystem.  We are looking at animal adaptations and how they help animals survive.  Students are also using their knowledge of ecosystems to answer the question “Should wolves be reintroduced into the Adirondack Park in New York State?”.  This question connects with our current writing unit on persuasive/opinion writing.

Our final planner is titled “How We Express Ourselves”.  Each teacher at the Elementary level  will teach a lesson that focuses around civil rights in some manner.  Classes will circulate to each classroom to learn about that standard.  This will be a fun and engaging way to complete our last planner at the end of the school year.  

Some of the fun school wide events we have occurring at the end of the year are Science Fun Day, Field Day, Graduation, High School Senior Grad Walk, and Moving Up Day.  Thank you for your help and support with those events!

Intermediate

Intermediate Level just finished  Exhibition with our grads and are currently working on our last planner of the year, Decisions We Make.  During this planner we are discovering ways that the decisions we make everyday influence the world we live in.  We’ve enjoyed making eco-columns, looking at plant cells with our microscopes and  are investigating deer overpopulation and how that impacts our ecosystem.  We are looking forward to Graduation, Science Day,  Field Day and the Grad Lock-in.

Special Areas

• Artwork will be coming home! Be on the lookout for a backpack stuffed with projects starting the week of June 5th.  
• Thursday, 6/8 is Field Day with the rain date 6/9.

Join the QUEST BAND!!!

The 2023-2024 school year will soon be upon us, and now is the opportunity to sign-up for the QUEST Band Program.  The Hilton Central School District begins instrumental music in the 4^th grade.  Students can also start in 5^th or 6^th grade.  This year, your child will have an opportunity to learn how to play a band instrument and become part of our successful instrumental music program as well. If your student is interested in participating, please contact Mrs. Lancia at hlancia@hilton.k12.ny.us or 392-1000 ext. 6068.