Elk Hills School District

Weeks 7-8 brought a robust schedule!

In week 7 we continued with Walk to Learn assessment and regrouping, we saw growth in 56% of our students in literacy groups and 42% growth for students in math intervention! Week 8 brought upon the second round of literacy and math intervention, this round will run through October 17th.

We held our last Power League Flag Football game on 9/23 and our last Power League volleyball game on 9/26, but some of our 7th/8th grade girls went on to compete in a separate volleyball tournament in Buttonwillow on 9/27. Our volleyball season will conclude with our Small Schools COED Volleyball Tournament on 10/10 at Maricopa, which will include 7th-8th grade students.

Our 2nd and 3rd grade students visited the Bakersfield College Planetarium to learn about outer space and our TK/K-1st students attended the Kern County Fair to learn all about animals, thank you to all the parents who chaperoned these events! The learning trips are essentials to connecting the real world with what our students learn in school.

We hosted our second Community Bingo Night.Thank you to everyone who continues to show support by donations and/or coming to the monthly event. This is a free event open to everyone, we encourage you to join us! It’s a good time!

October 2nd marked Custodian Appreciation Day! Each class filled out a card thanking Cowboy for his hard work every day to keep our campus safe and beautiful for all of us and I heard many students and staff thanking him throughout the day. Let’s all remember to clean up after ourselves to make Cowboy’s job easier!

October’s Character Strong Pillar is: Responsibility. Students were brought into the auditorium on 10/3 to learn about what it means to be responsible and how they can show those attributes at school as well as at home. Students who earned enough ELKS Tickets were then able to play a student vs. staff kickball game in the afternoon as a reward for their awesome behaviors and ability to show the ELKS Way everyday!

All students were treated to our annual Book Tasting event on 9/26 and 9/27, this year’s theme was McBooks. Students entered the Reading Room by grade for about 30 minutes each where Mrs. Linnell read aloud to them. The students then went to different tables to “taste” different books from both the fiction and nonfiction genres and make a wish list of books they would like to read in the future. They also received a delicious snack from McDonalds. This is a wonderful event that our Literacy Intervention Team works hard on every year and the students are “lovin’ it!”

Our first classes to reach 20 days of 100% attendance received their first pizza party of the year on 9/29. Shout out to 3rd grade and 7th grade for achieving that goal so quickly this year! Keep up the amazing work! Our 100% for 20 attendance incentive gives each class the opportunity to win a pizza party for having 20 days of classwide 100% attendance- the days do not have to be consecutive, but the more days of 100% classwide attendance, the more pizza parties they can earn throughout the year!

The Elk Hills PTO held its first meeting of the 25-26 school year via Zoom and had an amazing turn out! Thank you to everyone who joined! The PTO will continue to hold virtual meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of each month- all are welcome so be on the lookout for the Zoom link and join us!

September was a very busy month for us all at Elk Hills and there’s no slowing down! Be sure to check the calendar on Parent Square as well as notifications sent out about upcoming events to be sure you’re in the know! Also, be sure to check your students’ back packs on a regular basis for fliers, certificates, homework, and other important items that may be sent home throughout any given week!

Upcoming Events:
10/6-10/17: Cycle Two of Walk to Learn
10/8: Great Shakeout Earthquake Drill
10/8: Mentorship Meet-Up
10/9: TK-1st Community Career Speaker: Hall Ambulance
10/10: End of first quarter
10/10: Small School League 7th-8th COED Volleyball Tournament @ Maricopa
10/10: TK/K, 1st, and 4th to have 100% for 20 Attendance Pizza Party
10/13-10/17: Parent Teacher Conferences (minimum days all week)
10/20: Classroom Spelling Bees begin (grades 1st-8th)
10/21: University of Southern California learning trip for 6th-8th grade
10/23: TK-1st learning trip to Cherry Acres pumpkin patch
10/20-10/24: Walk to Learn Reassessment/Regrouping
10/27-10/31: Red Ribbon Week (more info to come!)
10/28: Elk Hills Family Movie Night @ 5PM (more info to come!)
10/30: Community Bingo Night 5PM-6:30PM
10/31: Trunk or Treat @ 9AM

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held October 13-October 17. Please sign up today on the Parentsquare app. We look forward to discussing your student's progress with you! Please note that we will have early dismissals at 1:30pm for the entire week. The after school program will be available until 4:30pm (no transportation) if needed. Thank you!

Join us in the Elk Hills School District gym for the last Power League Volleyball game of the season tomorrow, September 26, 2025 at 12:30PM. Snack bar available, cash only.

Community Bingo Night is tonight, Thursday, 9/25/25, from 5:00 PM-6:30 PM in the Elk Hills cafeteria! This a free event open to all! We hope to see you there!

Weeks 3-6 at Elk Hills were jam packed with learning, field trips, continuing traditions, and forming new friendships and bonds!

September 2nd marked the first day of Walk to Learn! Students went to their reading and/or math intervention groups for small group instruction Monday-Thursday. The first cycle of Walk to Learn concluded on September 18th and assessments and regrouping began this morning! Our next round of intervention groups start on September 29th.

September 5th also marked the first time we held a First Friday Character Strong assembly! Students went to the auditorium to learn about September's Character Strong Pillar: Respect. They watched a short video on what it means to be respectful and they got the chance to tell us what respect means to them and how they can show respect to each other, to staff, and to their families.

We started a new partnership with the Bakersfield Museum of Art to give our 5th grade students weekly art enrichment. Mrs. Iman comes most Fridays and gives a lesson in art theory/history and then the students work on an art project that will be entered into the museum for an art show later in the school year! The 5th grade class had their first lesson on September 5th, and they were very intrigued by it.

Elk Hills 6th-8th grade students hit the ground running with multiple Power League Flag Football and Volleyball games!

We had our first Mentorship Meet-Up of the school year on September 10th. This is the fifth year running our Staff/Student Mentoring Program. Every student is assigned a staff mentor, and all staff members are assigned a small group of mentees. Everyone participates in this program and we meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month from 1-1:30PM for a small group activity. Our mentorship program is a hit with everyone and offers an extra layer of support for each one of our Elks! Ask your student about their mentor today!

On September 12th we hosted our third annual Grandparents’ Day Celebration! We had over 100 grandparents show up to be recognized and loved by their grandchildren! Thank you to everyone who came out.

Mrs. Cassandra held the first weekly Study Hall for our 6th-8th grade students. Study Hall is available to 6th-8th grade students every Thursday during their lunch recess to catch up on missed work or work on upcoming projects/assignments. Space is limited so they must sign up to ensure their spot.

Mr. Medina took his 7th grade class to CSUB for a science-based learning trip on September 19th. Students who attended spent the day exploring the university campus and learning about science-related topics!

Last but not least, our Student Council candidates gave their speeches and the students got to vote. Results to be announced soon!

September has been a busy month on the Elk Hills campus!

Upcoming Events:

9/22-9/25: Walk to Learn Assessment/Regrouping
9/23: Power League Flag Football @ General Shafter @12:30PM
9/23: 2nd and 3rd to BC Planetarium
9/23: Virtual PTO meeting @ 6:00PM (Zoom link will be posted to Parent Square)
9/24: TK/K & 1st to Kern County Fair

9/25: Book Tasting TK-4th
9/25: Community Bingo Night @ 5PM
9/26: Book Tasting 5th-8th
9/26: Power League Volleyball @ Elk Hills @ 12:30PM
9/29: Walk to Learn Cycle Two Begins