Henry Hill Elementary School

Today is the last day of school at Henry Hill Elementary School where I taught 3rd grade for my first three years of teaching. It's also where I did my final term of student teaching while in the Ed Program at Western Oregon University. Before we knew about our move to Idaho, I had planned to be at Henry Hill for the last day. It's not only the last day of school for the kids, but the last day for the school itself. Due to budget cuts, the school will be closing. I know it sounds silly, but my heart aches because of this. Just like any school there were some things that could have been better, but there were so many things that were done WELL too.

All students and staff met in the gym each morning for Morning Motion where we all danced together (one warm up song, one choreographed fast song, and one cool down with stretching), we recited the pledge of allegiance and the hand pledge "I will use my hands and my words for helping myself and others - Yo usare mis manos y mis palabras para ayudar a mi mismo y a otros". We encouraged bilingual education and tried our best to support it even if we weren't the bilingual teacher for our grade (that would be me ha ha). And we also promoted the idea of FAMILY. We needed to treat one another with love and respect and as teachers we tried our best to make the learning environment meet every students' needs. In my classroom, I wanted students to feel comfortable

Martina was my 3rd grade partner teacher while I was at Henry Hill. My last year we strived to teach units together with the whole 3rd grade so that the Spanish and English speaking students could learn together as often as possible.

During my last year we had some pretty extreme behavior/bullying problems and made many house visits with the school counselor Pam. The kids would get nervous when they saw us walking the streets after school because they knew we were going to someone's house to have a talk with their parent! I learned through that the importance of empathy, compassion, and support when dealing with parents. So often, the parents would tell us they had no idea what to do with their child's behavior anymore and they asked us for help. Teaching is definitely not just a 9-5 job.

As I mentioned before, we promoted FAMILY at Henry Hill. Our staff (most of us) were definitely like family. We pulled a few different all-nighters at Relay For Life and 24 Hour Relay to raise money for good causes.

We trained for and completed half marathons together

We celebrated weddings together

They even had me back for a baby shower last year - even when I was no longer teaching there! Family forever

I think my students taught me just about as much as I taught them over the years. I learned how to set up my classroom and make it student centered. My goal was to have a classroom where students felt comfortable, welcomed, and ready to learn. 

Our heart maps hanging that tell about each student in the classroom, their book boxes in the windowsills, and reading pillows on the floor are just some of the things I loved about our classroom

I loved how we were able to gain a love of reading as a class and not only enjoy reading as individuals, but as partners

I learned that some kids learn better at a desk...

some kids learn better on the floor...

and some learn better in the coat closet

Most of our special moments took place right here in our reading corner. We learned how to become better readers together and how to practice our reading strategies individually and with others. We set goals for ourselves and checked in with the teacher each week to see our progress. We had so many amazing moments at this carpet, sharing adventures through read alouds and through our personal narrative writing.

Every so often when I referred to my students and our class as "family" I would have one student comment on how we weren't really family. I would respond to their comment with the fact that I spent much more time with them each day than I did my own family, which is why they were just as important to me as my family and why I treated them with love and respect like I did my own family.

I know all the kiddos will move on to a different school and teacher and be just fine, but Henry Hill will always hold a very special place in my heart.