Max the Puppy

This year at Hillwood, the Grantzs' got a new puppy named Max. Max is a black Labrador retriever. Max was adopted when he was six-weeks-old, and he was adopted after Zach, our school's last dog, passed away. During the school day, Max stays at the Grantzs' friends house. Max is very playful, and likes to chew on things. In the spring, Max was 8-months-old. Mr. Grantz got Max from a hunter who lived in San Jose.

The dog before Max was named Zach, and he was loved dearly. Zach passed when he was fourteen-years-old. Zach's middle name was Northstar, because he had a diamond on the middle of his chest. Zach grew up living in this school, and Max will grow up in the school.

Max lives in the school with the Grantzs', and, like Max, and hopefully will live here the rest of his life.

Preview the Hillwood Yearbook

Take a look at the first forty pages of the Hillwood yearbook at Blurb.com, where we are getting the book printed on demand for $26.95 per book (not including shipping). You can still order a book directly from Blurb. You can even order last year's book here.

Every student is pictured in the yearbook at least twice, and the book was written and produced by the upper graders. Anya Jensen designed the cover artwork, and the photographs were taken by the upper-graders, the Grantzes, and Mr. Clarke.

If you ordered your book with the school, you should receive your copy on the last day of school. Once the books are passed out, everyone can sign each other's book as a token remembrance of our time together at Hillwood. Just imagine reading your yearbook in 25 years!

Learing to Draw

At the end of each Friday we draw! Thanks to Rubina's mom, Anna, who volunteers, she teaches us how to draw well. She usually comes between 2:15 and 3:00 and tells us what we are going to draw or paint about. The school now has clipboards so we don't use tables any more but just clip a piece of paper to the clipboard and draw. Anna even has her own website: AnnaSeven.com. It's where she shows paintings that she makes. The two images above are images from her website. The first one is called "The Heat" and the one to the right next to it is "Lion for My Daughter". Some drawing's the class liked a lot is drawing teapots and making fans out of rice paper.

Zach: An Old Dog With a Young Heart

Zach is not man's best friend, but child's best friend. Zach is Hillwood School's black labrador retriever. Zach, or as I call him, Zachy, at the time, is almost 14-years-old. Though he does not retrieve, he still follows...well...children.

Before Zach

Before the Mr. and Mrs. Grantz had Zach, the school had another pet dog, Balthasar. Balthasar was a Bouvier DeFlanders, a breed from France.

Baby Zach

Mr. and Mrs. Grantz got Zach, in Vacaville, his name was Chaser, because he would chase children, which he still does just at a slower pace. When they noticed the star on Zach's chest, they renamed him Zacharia Northstar Grantz.

Adult Zach

Now that Zach is a school dog, he literally lives in the school, he gets fed by Claire, a 4th grade girl. When I first met Zach, he was only 6-years-old. He now has a hernia in his right leg, so I guess that makes him a lefty.

Other Pets

When I was in Kindergarten there was a bunny, snake, puppy, and of course Zach. I think of Zach as my own dog, I've known him longer than my own dog. I love Zach so much and he will always be in my heart.

The Hillwood Yearbook, 2009 – 2010

Below, you will find a sampling of Hillwood Academic Day School's Yearbook for 2009–2010. This was the first year for a school yearbook, and it was created by the staff of The Hillwood Herald: Brigette, Julian, Julien, Irene, Zach, Anya, Camryn, Lance, Brandon, Rubina (listed by grade).

The book both captures fun memories of the school year and gives the Hillwood community and prospective families a look into our school day. This year's highlight: Zack, the dog!

You can still order a Hillwood yearbook online at Blurb.com.

Hillwood Academic Day School by Hillwood Uppergrades 2009-2010 | Make Your Own Book

Hillwood Academic Day School by Hillwood Uppergrades 2009-2010 | Make Your Own Book

School's Out — Get Ready for Hillwood's June & July Session

You may also take a look at the first 15 pages of the Hillwood yearbook online. Yearbooks should arrive in time for graduation. You can also order one online.

Hillwood Academic Day School by Hillwood Uppergrades 2009-2010 | Make Your Own Book

Life at Hillwood

With its small number of students, Hillwood Academic Day School's atmosphere produces a family like feel. Because of the size of the school and its pupils, teachers are able to direct more attention toward each student, children feel more encouraged to learn and don't feel held back. Everything about this school, the teachers, the classrooms, even the backyard, feels comfortable with its intimate essence.

When I was four and a half, newly enrolled in Hillwood, I was so excited to be learning how to read. Though "See Spot Run" doesn't seem like much, it was a big deal for me, a kid who was tired of knowing only the alphabet song and how to count to 100 in pre-school. Here, I felt the supportive and familiar character of the school from the beginning. Now in the eighth grade, working on algebra and excerpts from The Odyssey, I still feel inspired by the great teachers here.

It's also very nice to be in a place where you know everyone's name and where everyone knows yours. Being in such a small group makes me feel not so inclined to just follow the crowd. I think that such a relaxed environment can bring out a person's individuality because you don't feel the peer pressure as much as you would in a class of 30.

Classes that are offered include: math, English, science, history, art, Spanish, and chorus. In addition, we also have a period on Friday morning where the uppergraders work on the school's blog, The Hillwood Herald, directed by parent volunteer Ms. Moorhead. The academics, are taught by the teacher of the class, art, by parent volunteer , Ms. Anna H., Spanish, by Senorita Lidia, and chorus, by Ms. Schmitt. Our K-1st grade teacher is Ms. Dawson, our 2nd-4th grade teacher is Ms. Tom, and our 5th-8th grade teacher is Mrs. Woods. In the kindergarten and first grade classroom, beginner's books like Fun with Dick and Jane and those by Dr. Seuss line bookshelves. Starting from the second grade, students work on their multiplication and division. In the uppergrades, we work on pre-algebra and algebra as well as Shakespearean writing and Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

(Is this long enough? Should I add more?)
by Brigette W.

Hillwood Academic Day School Yearbook

Cover: Brigette

Title page

2–3: Life at Hillwood [Brigette] (500 words)

3–4: Life at Hillwood [Irene] (250 words)

5–6: History of Hillwood [Camryn] (250 words)

7–8: Zack, the dog [Anya]

9–10: Muir Woods — the Cabin [Zach]
Hillwood Annual May Overnight [Anya]

11–12: Music at Hillwood [Rubina]
Miss Schmitt bio [Rubina]
First person: How music and art have affected my life [Brigette]

13–14: Art at Hillwood [Rubina]
Your mom's bio [Rubina]

15–16: Field Trips: City Hall (Zach), movie outing (Julian G.), Exploratorium [Brendon], De Young [Brendon]
June Talent Show [Brigette]

17–18: October outing [Lance]

19–20: Holiday Talent Show [Brendan]

21–22: Mrs. TKTK Day [Julian F.]

23–24: Giants Day [Julien G.]
First person: What sports has done for me [Julian G.]
Walk-a-thon [Zach]

25–26: Field Trips: theater show [Camryn], Academy of Science [Brendon],

27–28: Kindergarten/first-grade students [Irene, Camryn]
Miss Dawson bio [Camryn]
Mr. Grantz bio [Zach]
Mrs. Grantz bio [Zach]

29–30: Student Photos

31–32: Lower-grade students [Lance, Anya]
Miss Tom bio [Lance]
Miss Caine bio [Lance]
Miss Marta bio [Anya]

33–34: Student photos

35–36: Upper-grade students [Julian F., Julien G.]
Ms. Woods bio [Julian F.]
Spanish Miss Lidia bio [Brandon]

37–38: Student photos

1. Anya
2. Brendon
3. Brigette
4. Camryn
5. Irene
6. Julian F.
7. Julien G.
8. Lance
9. Rubina
10. Zach

39–40: Index [Zach]

Top stories:
Health care reform
Miep Gies
Obama's state of the Union
Martin Luther King

Yearbooks for Hillwood? Let's decide!

Wow! 2009–2010 was and is an exciting year! More students enrolling in Hillwood, The Hillwood Herald, and reading classic novels in class. Now, we have an idea of making a yearbook for the school.

Yearbooks are annual books that record the school year's highlights, popular past-times, and photos of the students. Most yearbooks have pictures of every class and also the graduating class of that year. There are also pages filled with major trips, projects, and school spirit weeks.

For Hillwood, the yearbook will be slightly different from other usual yearbooks. Of course, there will be the class pictures, but we will also include past blog articles, the history of our school, interviews with students, and teacher comments.

For the lower-graders, we can include popular singers, movie stars, lego updates, and sports news.

Hillwood Yearbook Publishing Ideas

Some ideas for our yearbooks include:

~The Stock Contest for 7th to 8th graders; write down the chosen stock companies

~A staff page with names, ages (optional), position at school, and something personal about them

~Graduating class and attending high schools in fall semester; include names, ages, etc. under picture/photo of student

~Kindergarten graduating class. Include photos of field trips, events, etc. on page.

~Achievements for "Person Who Read Most Books," "Honor Roll," "Best Halloween Costume," "Most Athletic Person," "Top Student in Blog Class," etc.

~List of Top Field Trips

~Favorite Singer/Movie Star

~Muir Woods Overnight

~"Traveling Around the World" page where kids can send in articles about going on vacations

~Ideas of summer activities

~Favorite sports and games

~Funniest moments in each class

~Most memorable moment in each class

~Book reviews

~Favorite lunch at Hillwood

~Favorite pet/animals

~Top books read in class this year

If you have any more ideas, please comment below =).

Credits go to Irene, Brigette, and Anya