Author: Amy Hoekstra

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A Surprise Guest Teacher

TOOTHACHEMrs. Veldman came to school today and did not look like she felt very good.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said, “I’ll tell you the truth…I have a terrible ache in my tooth.”  First I made a connection–I told her that this reminded me of one of my favorite Shel Silverstein poems, Crocodile’s Toothache. Next, I did what any reasonable principal would do:  Sent her straight to the dentist.

This meant that I got the best job of all:  Taking over as the guest teacher in her first grade classroom!  We were very busy reading, and writing,  spelling and so much more.   The first graders did an excellent job helping me to know the routines…and also assisting me with finding all the items I misplaced throughout the day.

I must tell you that these children are absolutely brilliant in every single way.  Their READ TO SELF time was so quiet and focused that I lost track of time and accidentally let them read one more minute than was allowed for–a whopping 21 minutes! (There was only room to mark 20 minutes on the bar chart…so we had to problem solve to add the extra minute.)

We used fourth grade math (double digit subtraction) to figure out our minutes read throughout the day.subtraction They were quite good at figuring out how to do this…and even shared their math strategies aloud.  (Although I did tell them to not try double digit subtraction on their own!)

Enjoy a few great photos from the day.   It was perfect and fun in every way.  And…Mrs. Veldman…we do hope your tooth is feeling better!

Thank you first graders for being such great teachers for your guest teacher.

Hugs from Mrs. Reagan


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Spring is here…and so are the wheels!

bikeI know…I know…here we just get excited about a new season and Mrs. Reagan rolls out all those ol’ rules again!   Think about it this way, it wouldn’t be a season change at school if we didn’t have to remind you about some basic rules to keep everyone safe on the playground.  ripstick

So it’s official…spring is here and this is a short list of things to remember:

1.  Things with wheels cannot be ridden on the playground during the school day.   If your parents approve riding a bike, skateboard, ripstick or heeley’s to school, that is a-okay with me.  However, as soon as you get onto the school property, YOU MUST:

  • Park your bike at the rack
  • Pick up your ripstick/skateboard and carry it onto the playground
  • Stop wheeling on heeley’s

skateboard2.  After school, you may not ride your ripstick or skateboard until you get onto the sidewalk that leads to the bike path near the paper gator.  This is for SAFETY reasons!  We have many children walking to the cars to meet their parents.

3.  After school, please WALK your bike to the same area before you get on it.  This is a safety issue.

And, finally, please respect our fourth and fifth grade safeties who are trying to make sure all children make it out of school and on their way home safely.   If they remind you to pick up your boards, sticks or walk your bike…please do as they ask, respectfully.

Mrs. Reagan

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The Week Ahead: March 23-27, 2010

Spring began with a blanket of snow which has melted in time for our cool, dry week ahead!   Please make sure that you check our HUGE stock of LOST items in Lost and Found.  I would love to get these items matched up with owners before spring break.

MEAP parent reports arrived on Friday, March 19.   These should be arriving home early this week.  Each report explains the scoring systems that is used by the Michigan Department of Education.  Overall, our school and district performed very well on all components of the MEAP.  As a state, our MEAP scores continue to rise—showing the hard work of these past five years.  We are very proud of our students.

Calendar march 23

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Exciting News!

Raey Guang

Our penpals are coming to visit!   We found out at the beginning of this month that a group of students, teachers and parents will be making the journey from Taiwan to Michigan to meet us.   Currently, they are scheduled to arrive in Michigan on May 29 and visit our school on June 3rd and 4th.

For those of you who are new to Georgetown within the past year, our school was matched with “sister school” in Taiwan in September, 2008.We have been communicating with Raey Guang Elementary through email and blogging.  The BLOGPALS site contains highlights of our Link for blogcommunication together.  You can access this from the left sidebar by clicking on the map of Taiwan.

In addition, several of our students are matched with students from Raey Guang.  They are emailing one another, sharing information about their families, interests and school life.  You can read some penpal correspondence between:

Raey Guang School is situated in Pingtung City, Taiwan.  Matthew Lawrence created a google map to show you have to get from Hudsonville to Pingtung.

As we learn more about the visit, we will post information on Blogpals site and link it to this blog as well.

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Read, Read and Read Some More

R = Reading Wimpy Kid Books RULES!We are heading into our final two weeks of Bustin’ Thru Books Boot Camp!  Camp ends on March 27.  So far, the 93 campers involved have read over 30,000 minutes!  We will announce the total minutes read during our spring Talent Show on April 1, 2010.

In addition to Boot Camp, we have a school wide incentive called Raising A Reader. Parents enter minutes read from home and we enter minutes read from school.  The contest is sponsored by the International Reading Association and Parent Magazine.  We are hoping to win $5,000 for new library books.

For those who are looking to stock up on great books for home, our Parent Club is book hearthosting a Book Fair this week.  The event will be held in the Sensory Room which is located in the Early Childhood Wing.  While looking at the offerings on Friday (a sneak peak with two students named Lexi and Matthew), I found several I wanted to buy myself.

I was thrilled to see that one of my favorite authors,  Lois Lowry, was featured at the book fair.  A few years ago, I had dinner with her–and I felt like the luckiest person the world!  She spent dinner talking about her children, friends and life in Massachusetts.  Lois Lowry was everything I thought she would be–talented, insightful, caring, giving and funny.

Her book, Crow Call, is a personal narrative based on an experience with her father when Crow Callhe returns from the war.  This book focuses on the relationship between a parent and child  and the way they reconnect after being apart for so long.   Even though Lois’ experience took place after World War II, this book would be relevant for military families today.

Several of our readers have written book talks about books they have read and enjoyed.  You can check these out on Mrs. VandenBerg’s Library Blog.

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The Week Ahead: 3/15/2010

The days are getting longer (Day Light Savings Time) and the weeks are getting busier!  As you will see by the calendar below, many events are taking place this week.  These are simply the hightlights–please check your child’s classroom blog for more event details.

I am hopeful that you can attend the March 16th PTC meeting at 7 pm.  Our superintendent, Nick Ceglarek will be speaking.
Here’s to a great week ahead.

march 15 aMarch 15 b