Tara Hills Elementary School

A colleague drew my attention to the comment from May 4, 2012 which references the work of my kindergarten students. The spelling standard for Kindergarten is section 1.2 of the Written and Oral English Language Conventions of the English Language Arts Content Standards. The standard requires students to spell independently by using pre-phonetic knowledge, sounds of the alphabet, and knowledge of letter names. My students work meets this standard. The three students who chose to write about dinosaurs made that choice independently and used their knowledge of consonant sounds, short vowel sounds, and long vowel sounds to spell without any help from me. Instead of choosing simple consonant-vowel-consonant words like cat or dog, these three students challenged themselves to hear the seven sounds in the word dinosaur. I am very proud of them.
--Submitted by a teacher

Tara Hills Elementary School is located on a lovely green hill with a clean and safe building. The young children are in school uniforms and the children are well behaved. However, the Kindergarten teachers have a problem with spelling. For the past 3 months, there has been a display of kindergarten's school work which consist of one paragraph and a drawing. The word dinosaur is misspelled on three of the displayed paragraphs. The students wrote "dinosor" instead of the correct spelling dinosaur." It reminds me of the Will Smith movie,The Pursuit of Happyness, a true story, based in the bay area. He removed his son from a school when the teacher was unable to spell the word happiness.. I also spoke with another mother who pulled her sons out of Tara Hills because the vocabulary words given to third graders to learn were words such as "boy, light". I am still waiting to see how much longer it will take for some in administration to notice the misspelled words.
--Submitted by a parent

We transferred to Tara Hills in the middle of the year 2011 (Feb) from the Central Valley due to a job promotion. It was already hard on our son with leaving friends, leaving a city he was born in as well as living in a hotel for 45 days while we looked for a home. This school was a God send and Ms Pinney is the best, you '"SEE" her everyday outside directing traffic, you "SEE" her in the hallways and she knows every child by name. The teachers are great, and work very hard (4th grd Mrs Tuttle-5thgrd Mrs Tran) my son loves it here and loves him some Ms. Pinney. I am in Law Enforcement (15yrs) and my husband is retired Military, we are happy to see the discilpine that is provide via the principal Ms. Pinney.
--Submitted by a parent

Tara Hills has come a long way since i have been there. Its very organized, The faculty and staff are very friendly and helpful. Met the principle, she was very nice and seemed to have everything in order. Bernadette is awesome, and Ms. Anderson is great with the kids. Very safe enviroment. Very happy to have my son go to Tara Hills. =)
--Submitted by a parent

I love the Principle.She runs a tight ship and I respect that. She is a busy lady but Ive seen her take the time to stop and say hello to my daughters and ask how their doing..very sweet.Bernadette is awesome.The lady that works in the front and controls traffic and guides the children is so on top of her game.I love her high fives and smiles..I am trully happy both my daughters attend this school..
--Submitted by a parent

test scores are rising and there is a family feeling as a community! there is a garden that grows food and an afterschool program.
--Submitted by a parent

This is an average kind of elementary school and the teachers are basically overwhelmed but do try.
--Submitted by a parent

Clean safe learning enviorment. Wonderful teachers and falcuty. Great school!
--Submitted by a parent

Tara Hills is a great school with excellent teachers and staff! Mr. K. was great as principal and we will miss him.
--Submitted by a parent