Author: Amy Hoekstra

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Pillow Polo: Who are the Champions?

spinning studentIt was an exciting game of Staff vs 5th Graders Pillow Polo Game on Friday.  The staff team is a year older and the 5th graders…still 10 and 11.   This year we managed to recruit Mr. Rob as our goalie, knowing that strategy will need to start giving us an edge against these agile, fast and competitive teams!

It was a close game with some accusations that the staff members were cheating.  Remember when I referenced the word strategy up above? As a disclaimer, I would all to be aware of the “baby rule” which states “…if at anytime, the ball  goes into play near a child under four, the principal must pick up the ball, walk 10 feet and throw the ball toward her team’s goal.” You can find this on page 6,539 in the manual held in the Library of Congress Soccer Section.

Thanks for a fun game 5th graders!  You are an incredible group for us to learn and play with on a daily basis!

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Welcome to Liam Reifschneider!

On January 10, 2010, Mrs. Reifschneider (aka Mrs. R) had her baby boy, Liam!  They are now Liam Ryan.home and doing very well.  Liam is being well taken care of by his older sisters who are providing lots of tender loving hugs and cuddles.  Miss Barbieri is serving as Mrs. R’s long term sub.

As spring approaches, we will keep you posted on the arrival of two more babies…Mrs. Kok and Mrs. Stadt’s.

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Megan Assink is a STAR!

Megan, a second grader in Mrs. Greenlund’s class, is a star in our hearts–and now a star in Megan Starthe local media!  As her friend Allyson wrote, “Megan is a star because there is a movie kind of like Megan.”  That movie, Extraordinary Measures, is a true story of a family’s fight (the Crowley’s) for the development and approval of a drug to treat Pompe’s Disease which affected his two children and also affects our Megan as well.

Megan and her family have been featured by the following media services:

Fox News

WZZM-13

And…the  Grand Rapids Press (1/16/2010). You can also view photos of Megan and her friends in the GR Press photo gallery.

Movie trailer for Extraordinary Measures

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PJ’s + Popcorn = Phun Phriday

Mark your calendars for JANUARY 29, 2009!  PJDAYThis will be our annual PJ, Popcorn and Phun Phriday (fun Friday).  Stuffed animals are welcome accessories to the PJ wear on this comfy, cozy school day.   This day is very popular each year–and is our most requested theme day.  Check out the photos from our 2009 PJ Day.

It is with the help of a certain 5th grader (Maddie S.) that this event has been scheduled once per year since our opening in 2006.  Maddie will be moving on to Baldwin Middle School next year and I am hopeful that she finds a suitable PJ DAY ADVOCATE to replace her!

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Weekly Events, 1/11/2010

We are headed into our 18th week of school!   With the holidays behind us, the winter months provide ample time for us to build uninterrupted focused time on learning higher level skills in reading, math, writing, science and social studies.  As writers, we will use these months to select a piece to be revised and published for our spring JUST WRITE CELEBRATION (Week of May 24, 2010).   Keep your eyes and ears posted to our classroom blogs for details about other learning events that will be taking place.

Have a terrific week!

Events 1/11/

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Bean Bag and Book Donations Needed

This winter, we will be hosting a 12 week intensive reading camp for select students in our building.  These students have worked exceptionally hard to build their skills in reading and often spend the bulk of their days practicing strategic reading with several different staff members.

The reading camp will build in time for readers to practice their skills by READING during the school day.  When we worked with  Dr. Richard Allington in early December, we realized our students are engaged in skill instruction during the school day but not enough time for reading practice.  If you are ball player, this would be equivalent to being shown how to catch a ball but not receiving enough time to practice throwing the ball.

Our students can be found reading under tables, on the hallway benches or inside lockers for a change in reading locker readerlocation!  Our goal is provide an alternative comfy bean bag seating areas for longer reading periods. In addition, we would loved to have any of your gently used books for these readers.  The bean bags and books will be mobile so that staff members can help the readers find alternative locations during these quiet reading times.

If you are willing to donate VINYL bean bags and/or gently used books for this project, please send bring these to our library. Mrs. VandenBerg will be helping us to collect and organize materials for this project.

Thank you for your donations!  We look forward to providing time for our readers to build their reading levels with time to read.

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Super Science Saturday

GVSU RMSC

The Math and Science Center at GVSU would like to invite you to attend their super science Saturday which held in January. The event this year is coordinated with the International Year of Chemistry 2011 and Grand Valley State University’s 50th Anniversary. There will be Interactive, hands-on science fun for K-12 students, teachers, parents, and community members! No registration required!

Date: January 29, 2011

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Padnos Hall, GVSU Allendale Campus


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First Week of the New Year!

As I look ahead to our first week of 2010, it looks like calm–a great way to help everyone ease back into the early morning wake up’s and full days of learning.   If your family life was anything like mine over the holidays, all of our schedules were disrupted:  sleep, eating, playing and traveling.

Getting back into “normal” routines and schedules for school can create anxiety for some children–and relief for others.  If your child is nervous about going back because of early bed times and anticipating the upcoming work load, ease the worries by explaining that other children and even teachers are feeling this way.

Do the best you can to get everyone back on more normal sleep and eating schedules as soon as possible.  Also, be sure to send healthy snacks to school so that teachers can make sure that everyone has a morning break to hydrate and refuel.

Finally, the beautiful snowy weather has created a winter wonderland on our playground.  Please make sure that your child has all necessary winter clothing so that recess time can be comfortable and fun!

Here’s to a great start to the New Year!

Blog Jan 4