Category: Principal’s Posts

October Principal Newsletter

Dear Hayden Peak Families,

Happy October!  It’s a beautiful season, one that is especially fun at school.  Our students are working hard in every grade and subject.  Here are some things you might like to know:

This week is Green Ribbon Week, sponsored by PTA, to highlight student safety.  As part of the week, students are invited to walk to school on Wednesday, October 6.  Because we are already a walking school, this day highlights our safety rules and safe walking routes, and students who walk will receive a treat as they get to school.  Each day this week students are invited to dress for school spirit.  Monday = sports attire, Tuesday = crazy hair, Wednesday = bright or neon colors, Thursday = crazy socks, and Friday = pajamas.  Let’s all be safe!

In literacy, our students are learning in a new way for thirty minutes of their day.  Called “Walk to Read,” all students in grades K-6 are given a short literacy assessment to determine exactly what they need to know next to become mature readers.  From earliest skills (like knowing the different sounds in a simple word) to advanced comprehension and writing, students work in groups of five or more with teachers and reading assistants to learn these skills in three-week cycles.  At other times of the day, classes work as a whole to continue learning phonics skills, practicing more than they have done in recent years.  Older grades work on advanced phonics with multi-syllabic words while younger grades work on foundational skills.  These new programs are shown to effectively improve reading skills for all children.

Speaking of academics, elementary schools are now on a quarter system (instead of trimester), and the first quarter ends October 15^th.  Teachers will have progress reports ready for you at parent teacher conferences November 10^th and 11^th.

Just after first quarter ends, we break for Fall Recess.  There is no school for students from October 18^th through the 22^nd.  Have a wonderful week off!

Halloween is coming up. We will celebrate at school on October 29^th with parties in individual classrooms.  Please contact teachers if you would like to help with your children’s parties.  Our parade will be virtual again this year.  Please email a picture of your children in costume to haydenpeakelem@jordandistrict.org by October 25^th, and we will have the parade ready to view in classrooms on the 29^th.

In music and art, Mrs. Michaelis and Mrs. Foote are preparing for our Veteran’s Day program that will be held at 9 and 9:50 on Friday, November 5^th, with half the classes performing at each assembly, in order to preserve more social distancing in the gym.  We invite all veterans and their families to attend one of the assemblies.  More information will be coming home soon letting you know which classes will be performing at each assembly, and giving more information for veterans.  We are grateful for your service to the citizens of our country.

We are excited to celebrate student birthdays at school.  Last year, we introduced a birthday cart that visited each classroom once a month to give small prizes to that month’s birthday children.  It became something students requested to continue, so we will!  We combine July with January, so every student gets a birthday recognition.

Please let us know how we can help your family’s experience at Hayden Peak be the best ever.

Kindest Regards,

 

Jennifer Fisher                                    Cathryn Ford

Principal                                          Assistant Principal

It’s almost Spring!  I can feel it!  I’m writing this newsletter by a sunny window on Sunday afternoon. It’s so nice to see the coldness of Winter fade away.  Spring is the season of change.

We have some changes happening here at school too.  As many of you know, our Administrative Assistant (secretary), Peggy Bawden, is leaving after 21 years at Hayden Peak. She is leaving to become the administrative assistant (secretary) at the new elementary school.  It’s been hard for all of us to watch her go.  Mrs. Bawden has managed the emotional climate at Hayden Peak with fun holiday and monthly traditions for teachers, academic and attendance recognitions for students, kept staff in the know about meetings and trainings, and supplied substitute teachers in classes when teachers have to be out.  She has made sure the budgets are operational, as well as supporting virtually everything else that goes on in our campus.  A whole generation of students have been the recipients of her love and caring.   We know the new school will have a better start and wonderful first years because Mrs. Bawden will be there, but we will miss her deeply.

Taking Mrs. Bawden’s place is one of our own, which we are excited about.  Jeniffer Murphy has been running our student computer lab and recently was promoted to the digital learning coach in our school.  She will now be the administrative assistant (secretary) at Hayden Peak.  She knows all our students and all our traditions.  She brings her own deep skill set and support of students and teachers.  I asked Mrs. Murphy to tell us a few things about herself.  This is what she told me: “After many years working for large corporations like Microsoft and United Airlines, I followed my kids to school.  I have spent the last 15 years working in the schools using my skills in technology supporting administrators, teachers, and students.  I started at Hayden Peak five years ago after moving to Utah for my husband's job.  I have worked in the classrooms with the Meet the Masters program, the computer lab, and recently as a digital learning coach. In my free time I enjoy reading, quilting, crafting and spending time with my family. I am so excited to continue to work with our staff, students, and families in my new role in the office.  Hayden Peak is a great place to be and I look forward to this new adventure!”  We also are looking forward to having Mrs. Murphy in the front office.

Instructional methods change too, and our teachers are deeply immersed in some new programs offered by Jordan District.  As research into best practice becomes more evidence-based and scientific, our district adopts programs with significant results.  Our younger grades have begun using a program that enhances the understanding of phonemic awareness (the ability to distinguish speech sounds that will later be represented by combinations of letters).  Teachers and reading assistants received training on this program in the Fall.  Now, teachers in the upper grades are receiving training on a phonics program that helps students decode multi-syllabic words.  We have a district assigned literacy coach in our building as well as a teacher on special assignment as an instructional coach, and our teachers are continuously improving their skills.  We are excited to be part of a school where all of us are lifelong learners.

As always, let us know when you see ways we can improve our work with your children.  We are excited to see them grow, as we welcome another year of Spring.  Happy Sunshine!

Jennifer Fisher, Principal

Cathryn Ford, Assistant Principal

Click to print a copy of Principal's Newsletter March 2020

Dear Hayden Peak Families,

Holiday greetings to each one of you this amazing month of December, a time of year when many of us leave our homes and return to them in darkness while still generating extra light throughout the day for celebrations of kindness, generosity, and goodwill.  Though we only meet at school for three weeks this month, our school calendar is bursting with tradition.  Some of the celebratory happenings in our Hayden Peak community are listed here for you.

Event	Dates and Times	Participants
Holiday Boutique	December 5th 11:30 – 1:00 (during lunch) 3:05 – 4:00 (after school)	Students at school purchase gifts for friends and family for $1 each
Flannel & Plaid Day	December 6	Students and staff
Ugly Sweater Day	December 13	Students and staff
Pajama Day Sing-Along/Reindeer (Teacher) Games	December 20 9:00 a.m.	Students and staff (not a program for parents)
Harmony Holiday Performance	December 9 2:00 in the gym December 10 6:00 p.m. West Hills Middle School	Daytime, students Evening, families
Drama Troupe Presents: “North Pole’s Got Talent”	December 13 9:00 in the gym December 13 1:30 in the gym	Students and staff Parents
West Hills Band and Choir	December 3 9:15 a.m.	Students and staff
Copper Hills Madrigals	December 12 2:15 p.m.	Students and staff

We hope your needs are met this holiday season.  While we don’t do a formal Santa program here at school, if you are in need or have extra to give, please call our office and we can try to support both giving and receiving.   Additionally, we want our students to stay warm.  We send our children (and the adults who watch them) outside every day the weather (including wind chill) is above 20 degrees Fahrenheit, unless it is raining or snowing hard.  Sometimes our students get caught outside as a storm sweeps in, and it’s important that all students have warm coats.  Gloves, boots and hats are also very helpful.  Help your children come to school prepared, and If you don’t have warm enough clothing, let us know.

As you know, our Winter Break extends from after school on Friday, December 20^th through Sunday, January 5, 2020.  If possible, keep or start some reading traditions while students are out of the classroom.  It’s especially fun to read a book together, parent and child taking turns reading pages, discussing simple story elements like character, setting, plot, conflict and theme when reading fiction, and summarizing sections of text when reading non-fiction.  Also, have great conversations about events in your own family history or places you have visited, or dreams for the future.  Reading comprehension is built around background knowledge and vocabulary, and the conversations you have at home directly contribute to success at school.

Please be safe as you travel this month.  On icy days, we give students a few extra minutes to get to school, so take your time if the roads are treacherous.  Throughout this season and as we begin 2020, may your homes and our classrooms be places of peace and goodness.  Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Jennifer Fisher, Principal

Cathy Ford, Assistant Principal

December Principal Newsletter (Click to view/print)

Dear Hayden Peak Families,

It might be cliché, but at Hayden Peak we are focusing on gratitude this month.  Studies continuously emerge linking gratitude with physical, social and emotional well-being.  Grateful people sleep better, have fewer aches and pains, exercise more often, and have more satisfying relationships.  People who live in gratitude report being happier and having less depression.  Gratitude helps with resilience and increased self-esteem.

How can we practice gratitude with children?  Writing thank you notes together nurtures relationships and authentically uses emerging literacy skills.  Delivering and reading the notes in person add the dimensions of building terrific memories and practicing oral communication.  At home, families can create a list of blessings and add to it throughout the month, or individually keep gratitude journals by writing three things at the end of the day each person is grateful for.  You can find free gratitude journal apps for mobile phones, and one positive use of screen time might be to keep a gratitude text or email thread with grandparents or other extended family members, with a challenge for each person to contribute one grateful comment each day.

We are grateful at Hayden Peak for our terrific faculty and staff.  In addition to the most important work of student learning, a school is a place busy with meals and housekeeping, landscaping and custodial work, and maintenance that includes keeping people mostly happy whether it’s 100 degrees outside or 5 below.  (We had an uncharacteristically cold indoor recess day in October when the wind chill outside made it feel like 18 degrees!)  Our office and support staff manage illnesses, injuries, lost teeth and medications as well as all the business of keeping a school stocked with supplies, substitute teachers when needed in classrooms, and children safely checking in and out throughout the school day.  (They could tell you a hundred more things they do each day.) We are grateful for each of them.

Our teachers look forward to meeting with each of you during parent teacher conferences November 6-7.  Thank you for making time to celebrate your children’s growth and set goals for improvement.  If you have not yet made an appointment, please log on to Skyward today to schedule this very important meeting.  Each of our teachers are deeply committed to the work of learning, and we are grateful for the work they do each day.

Thank you for the contributions you make for the well-being of our school community, the grace you extend to us when we fail to do things perfectly, and for sharing your amazing children with us.  We at Hayden Peak wish you a wonderful November and a Happy Thanksgiving.

Jennifer Fisher
Principal

Cathy Ford
Assistant Principal