| Special Activities | |
| Fun Lunch/Pizza Day | At Hillcrest School, we have Fun Lunch and Pizza Day every month. Pizza Day and Fun Lunch are special days when kids (who order it) get a hot lunch from a predetermined restaurant. Order slips come out at the beginning of the year. Students put money inside an envelope and send it off to school. When Pizza Day and Fun Lunch come around, you get the food that you ordered. |
| Variety Show | The Variety Show is a time when kids audition and show their talent to the rest of the school. The acts span from comedic "Blue Women Group" skits to talented piano players. Every act is entertaining and the annual show is looked forward to by all students and teachers. The performers practice several times after school, running through the entire show. They also practice by themselves on their own time. There are three performances: one for primary (kindergarten-3rd) students during school, one for intermediate (4th-6th) students during school, and one for the parents during the evening. |
| Field Day | Every year, on a set date, all of the children go outside to play games that has somthing to do with moving your body and exercising it. One section of the schoolyard is called the field section and is where the actual games take place. Some games in the contest consist of a Frisbee throw, stuffed animal throw, long jump, over/under race, running in and out of cones, base running, obstacle course, stretcher race, and golf. |
| Book Fair | |
| Reflections | |
| Special Programs | |
| Special Education | Hillcrest houses District 58 primary and intermdiate Developmental Learning Programs. The intermediate program goes into the community to learn functional life skills 2 to 3 times a month. Students in our program participate in regular education specials as well as reverse mainstreaming. The intermediate program hosts feasts and celebrations to culminate units of study. Primary and intermediate teachers develop the curriculum to meet the individual needs of each student. |
| Extend/TSP | Extend and TSP (Topical Studies Program) are programs for every school in the district. They are programs that gifted students attend. Once a week, Extend students are bused to Whittier School, another school in the district. TSP students meet once a week at Whittier School. While there, these students interact with other students of the same grade and learn things they would not be able to learn in their regular classroom. The students in TSP are second through third graders. The Extend students are fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. |
| Student Council | This program lets all Hillcrest students from fourth through sixth grade have voices in democracy. Our officers and representatives are chosen by the fourth through sixth grade students. The officers and representatives vote on and hold spirit days, like hat day, candy drive, crazy hair day, p.j. day, and more. Representatives are voted on by classmates. Without the student council, Hillcrest just wouldn't be as fun as it is now! |
| Math-A-Thon | Math-A-Thon teaches students more math while raising money for St. Judes Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Students receive a workbook with 200 problems and get people to pledge money for each problem they complete. If you raise a certain amount of money, you get a gift (like a shirt or gym bag); a win-win situation plus it is a ton of fun to do the math problems. |
| Orchestra | Students in grades 5-6 have the option to be taught a string instrument to play music in an orchestra. The fifth graders are shown the instruments and are told a little about how each are played. The orchestra teacher also plays a little tune on them. The instruments are cello, viola, and violin. There are two kinds of orchestras -- beginning and intermediate. The instrumentalists meet once a week in one of the unused classrooms. They are taught in small groups of five or six students. They are taught how to play the instrument and how to read music. Beginners start by learning how to play pizzicato (plucking) and then how to play arco (bowing). The orchestra practices at O'Neill Middle School on Mondays after school. The entire orchestra consists of all the string players on the south side of Downers Grove, grades 5-6. The intermediates are the second-year players who play more difficult music in a different orchestra. They meet every Tuesday after school at O'Neill. Both orchestras have two joint concerts at O'Neill. Each has a pianist who was taught by a private teacher. |
| Band | The band teacher teaches 5th grade (or beginner) and 6th grade(or intermediate) band students individually during the school day at Hillcrest. Group sessions are held after school at O'Neill Middle School for beginning band students and intermediate students. For that hour at O'Neill, the band works as a whole to produce wonderful music. They have two concerts a year and, at each one, both the beginners and intermediates play two different concerts. It's two for the price of one. |
| Safety Patrol | |
| Assemblies | |
| Science Fair | |
Jump Rope for Heart |
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