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School Wide Vocabulary Focus

describeOne of our School Improvement goals is VOCABULARY:  Deliver consistent common vocabulary instruction in grades K-5.  Each child’s vocabulary size in early grades is a predictor of the reading success in later grades.  This year we will teach 28 key VERBS – one per week.  

Our first word is DESCRIBE: to tell in your own words.  In addition, we will expand the meaning of this word by teaching synonyms such as portray, tell, explain and report.

Each word will have a song that helps with word knowledge and memorization.  Our song for DESCRIBE.  Credit to Mr. Scott Barry, producer of this music.

 

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Vocabulary Work with Mrs. Speidel

Mrs. Speidel, our Speech and Language Pathologist, is working with all teachers to improve our instruction in vocabulary.   Knowing words well will help us improve our comprehension while reading many types of texts and also improve our word choice in writing.  Mrs. Speidel’s work is based on the work of Sara Smith and the Expanding Expression Tool.

This teaching strategy is called, “How well do YOU know a word?”  Teachers are implementing this vocabulary strategy in their classrooms throughout November.  In early December, a baseline assessment will be taken on all students to determine how we should improve our instruction in January.

To view a sample lesson, click on:  VOCABULARY 

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Book Fair Coming Up!

Dear Families:

Our school will celebrate the power of reading at the upcoming Scholastic Book Fair. You are invited to help our school create a culture of reading, build our school libraries, and you will have the opportunity to shop and select books with your child for your home library! A portion of all the proceeds will go back to our school – your support makes a difference!

The more your children read with you at home, the better their comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Check out this reading research and find more information on how you can support your child’s reading life at home:
http://s-bf.com?u=48xm

Please mark your calendars to visit our Book Fair and help your child discover their next favorite book. 

Save the date!

Book Fair dates: March 9, 2020 – March 13, 2020

Shopping hours: Mon-Thurs 9a-3:30p & Friday 9-10:30a

Special activities: Shop during conferences on March 9 & March 11 from 4-8p

NEW In-School and Online Shopping Options! Book Fair eWallet, our new digital payment option, allows your student to shop the Fair cash-free. Can’t make it to the Book Fair? Shop The Scholastic Store online to choose from over 6,000 products! Visit our homepage to access eWallet or shop online: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/georgetownelementaryschool

Additionally, our school is collecting funds for our scholastic book fair’s all for books program. The funds raised will be used to help teachers build classroom libraries and give all students more access to books they’ll love reading.
We ask for your support by helping your child seek loose change. Please have them bring it in to their teacher by Monday, March 9.
We will be having a friendly competition with this by having the kids put their money toward Michigan or Michigan State! Make sure you add who you are voting for on your baggie.
On Friday, March 13 we will celebrate the winning team by wearing their colors to school! Go Blue! : )

See you at the Book Fair!  Until then, happy reading!

Yours truly,

Mrs. Reagan

Principal

Georgetown Elementary

Here is the schedule for all of the classes

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Snow Day: Tuesday 3/5/19


This is me… when I got the call this morning.

I am so tired of winter weather that makes the roads unsafe…and closes schools.

 

Be  a learner and go on Mobymax.  If you haven’t tried out MOBYMAX SPELLING or Vocabulary…give these a try.  I know some teachers are using these modules, so this would be a good time for you to review.  ALWAYS work on your math facts through MOBY.

And you can ALWAYS read and enter your minutes at the end of the day. All kids who do some sort of learning will be entered into a drawing for BARNES and NOBLE GIFT CARDS.

And be safe and stay warm!

Sign, Mrs. Reagan…who cannot believe we have had 10 snow days.

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Encourage your child to do at least 30 minutes of learning (see below).  Thanks to our AMAZING PTC (made possible by your WALK•A•THON Donations), $10 Barnes and Noble Gift Card (one per grade) will be given to randomly drawn students.

Options for learning:

  1. Read a book or two or three.  ONLINE Learning record for reading minutes.
  2. Learning on MOBYMAX or RAZ-KIDS through Clever.com:
  • Log into https://clever.com/in/hpseagles
  • Select log into other google account.
  • Type in district username followed by @hpsstudents.net
  • Type in password – if your child doesn’t remember the password, choose TIME TO READ instead!
  • Select Elementary Apps
  • Find MOBYMAX, STUDY ISLAND OR RAZ KIDS….get started!

Students have until 8 pm tonight to participate

 

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Final WORD of the WEEK: TRACE

Throughout this school year, we focused building-wide on learning 29 POWERFUL and IMPORTANT VOCABULARY WORDS.   These words are frequently used verbs that are key to understanding reading, math, science and social studies concepts.

Next year, these words are divided up per grade level, allowing for more connections across the content areas.

Our final word for this year is TRACE.

  • DEFINITION: Follow the course of development of; find or discover by investigation
  • SYNONYMS:  Outline, copy, sketch, find, track, follow
  • TRACE JINGLE:  “Trace the steps from the start.  Follow it, outline it, part by part.”
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Word of the Week: EXPLAIN

explain

Our word for this week is EXPLAIN which means to define something or make it clear.  This is a word that teachers use on a daily basis and many of our students encounter this word in texts and on tests.

The first six words we learned (retell, explain, compare, contrast, describe and distinguish) are introduced and taught extensively during the kindergarten year.  This week we begin our focus on seven words that are considered first grade words.  This year we are introducing the words to all students (k-5) so that next year we can focus more deeply on words for each grade level throughout the word.

Definition: Define something or make it clear

Jingle: Here’s a link to a song to help remember the definition of:   explain  

If you want to check your understanding of the words we have learned so far, try out this vocabulary quiz.  Match is my favorite.  Gravity is HARD!  You can also try out the study cards.

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Week 7: October 17-21, 2016

Top Earners for Each Grade
Top Earners for Each Grade

We are excited to begin our 6th week of school.  Every classroom I enter is filled with students who are engaged in math, reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary and problem solving skills.   Learning is taking place everywhere you look.

I ended this week by celebrating our TOP GRADE LEVEL EARNERS for the WALK•A•THON with a JET’s PIZZA LUNCH.  Milena, Megan, Amelia, Brynn, Max and Olivia.  Each person shared one of their talents and I learned that I was eating lunch with a reader, dancer, dirt biker, pianist, writer and expert cleaner! Lunch with them was the highlight of my week!

We will honor several WALK•A•THON Winners this week.  The TOP EARNING CLASS will go on a LIMO RIDE to PIZZA RANCH on Monday.  On Thursday, I will take the TOP EARNERS BOWLING during the afternoon.

Wishing you a wonderful week!  Enjoy the forecasted warm, sunny October weather.

Mrs. Reagan

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Week 6: October 10-14, 2016

eagle

We had a perfect day to show our EAGLE PRIDE on Friday.  The students and staff were in Maize and Blue — supporting the Super Fans and the Drum Line in the front loop.  At the end of the day, many students demonstrated their throwing skills by dunking Mrs. Ball and Mrs. VanderStel!

Check out the video below to see highlights of both events.

Remember…Friday is an early dismissal.  The busses will be boarded by 12:15.  If your child is parent pick up, please be here between 12:10-12:15.  We want to make sure all 560 students are accounted for before we let the busses leave.

No word:  Review week for Describe, Identify, Retell, Compare and Contrast

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Word of the Week: CONTRAST

contrast

So far, we have learned the definitions for DESCRIBE, IDENTIFY, RETELL, and COMPARE.  This week we focus on the word CONTRAST.

Contrast is the opposite of compare.  They are easy to confuse which is why we want our students to learn the meaning of each.

  • Definition: Find differences between two or more things
  • A song to help learn the meaning:   contrast
  • “Contrast to find different things, See how many you can bring!”