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Just Write Celebration was Just Perfect

Thank you to everyone who celebrated our writing with us last week!  We had visitors from all places–near and far—and visitors who were special to us in many ways (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, cousins, friends, teachers, principals, board members and administrators).

Our stories (students and staff) were published on posters, lockers, in classrooms and in published books via  lulu.com.  If you did not get a chance to visit last week, please stop by this week.  The posters will remain up through June 7 when the writers will bring them home!

The slide show below highlights some of the events that took place.  We concluded the week with our traditional JUST WRITE PERFORMANCES.  Each grade level team (PK-5) selected a story worth performing.  This year we also had a new category…the specialists (art, music and pe) who selected a story that lent itself to the specials. These stories were video recorded and can be found on the JUST WRITE tab above.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we loved performing them for the students.

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Georgetown’s Millionaires Club

In October of this year, Mrs. VandenBerg (our librarian) launched the Georgetown Millionaires Club.  As a result of Mrs. VandenBerg’s counting skills, we can officially announce that we have 12…TWELVE….XII….MILLIONAIRES at our school!

We announced the millionaires at the opening of our JUST WRITE PERFORMANCES on Friday, May 28.  All but one was surprised that they had read over one million words each this school year.  The one student not surprised was Matthew Lawrence who was the first student in our building to reach this mammoth goal.

Each millionaire received a certificate and a MILLION WORDS T-SHIRT.  In addition, these students will be honored with their names on a plaque that will grow more and more names over time.Million Words Front

Congratulations to: Linnae, Nathan, Bryce, Aliya, Alison, Austin, Jon, Ryan, Matthew, Marisa, Cielle, Ryan.

Millionaires 12

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Ice Cream with Isabella

Isabella Icecream

I saved my last silent auction student time for 3:00 Tuesday because I knew it would be extra-special.   I had already had the pleasure of working with Matthew as Principal for the Half Day,  Lunch with CJ, and Recess Power to Spencer.

Isabella, one of the sweetest first graders in the universe, wanted to have ice cream with me at WHAT’S Isabella ice creamTHE SCOOP, the happening ice cream shop not far from our school.  While eating a blue birthday cake ice cream cone, Isabella told me that this was a time she would always remember.   At that moment, I knew I was with one special girl and we settled in to the red booth for great conversation about our favorite things.  We shared our favorite colors, friends, and flowers to name a few.  We talked about our birthdays and our families.  We talked and giggled so much that were a wee bit late getting back to Georgetown…but still made it on time!

Thank you Isabella for making this time one that I will forever remember.  And, of course many thanks to Isabella’s parents for making this possible with their donation to the silent auction.

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Chinese for Lunch, Anyone?

One of the items that I offered at the silent auction was LUNCH WITH THE PRINCIPAL.  The winner of this exciting opportunity was CJ Coxen, a fourth grader in Mr. Gort’s room.  When I asked CJ where he wanted to go out for Chinese—which is a proposal I have never had for lunch.  Chinese

Today we headed out to Great Lakes Chinese Restaurant for lunch.  Once we were seated in our booth, we ordered our drinks and made our first trip to the buffet.  CJ pointed out the best dishes, we made our selections and then settled in for lunch.  The food was great and the conversation even better.  CJ told me about his awesome spring break in Cleveland where he saw the Caveliers play.  I learned about his favorite players–and why basketball is his preferred sport.

On the way back to school, he gave me a tour of his neighborhood and showed me where all the other cool CJkids from Georgetown live.  (Now that I know where everyone lives, I can drive by and drop off extra homework!)

Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Coxen for supporting the silent auction and providing me with this great opportunity to hang out with CJ.   We had a great time…and a great lunch!

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Spencer: King of 4th Grade Recess

The biggest winner of the Teacher Silent Auction was the Lamer Family.  As you know, the staff of Georgetown Elementary offered up  TIME WITH KIDS as items to bid upon by those who attended the carnival.  However…it is fair to say that there were several other winners as a result of the bidding done by parents.  One such winner is Spencer who’s parents had the top bid for “ABILITY TO CALL AN EXTRA RECESS FOR YOUR GRADE.”

As a fourth grader, Spencer earned the right to select a day and time for his fourth grade classes to have an additional recess.  I met with Mr. Gort (Spencer’s teacher) to determine best options and Spencer was declared the king of recess for Thursday, May 20.

THREE CHEERS FOR SPENCER!

Spencer

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Pool Party with the Principal!

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In early September, we held a Walk-a-thon to raise money for Parent Club events in our school.  The top five money earners won a pool party with me…at my pool!  We took advantage of the summer like weather and played at my pool today.  We ate subs, drank sprite, sprayed each other with water, and laughed nearly the entire time.  Enjoy these photos…and many thanks to Tom, Sheyla, Madison, Paige and Brooklyn for all you did to raise money for our great school.

PS:  I asked them if they thought the top prize next year should be pool party at the principal’s again and they all said, “YES!”  So good luck to all you for next year.

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Counting Down our Final Days: 14

As we enter week 38 of school, we are feeling the days fly by.  This is a very big week for us–a week that celebrates all of the hard work we have put forth in reading and writing school wide. When you enter the building, you will see our stories on the walls, doorways, lockers, windows and display cases.   Huge thanks to the team of six parents who posted almost 200 posters for us Friday afternoon.   I want to also thank Scott Cheyne and his team at Engineering Supply for providing us with unbelievably great service and pricing for the posters.

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All times and days for grade level celebrations are listed on the calendar below.  Please remember that you can download a copy of your child’s class book of writing on lulu.com.  The books are also available for purchase — and these are delivered right to your home.

british flagThis week we also welcome six Hope Liverpool University student teachers to our building.  Watch the blog for updates throughout the week.

And, remember to stay up to date on all upcoming events by following your child’s classroom blog.  These days will go by so quickly…and we want to make sure you are informed of all the events ahead.

Have a great week!   Stay cool…and enjoy the taste of summer weather that is ahead for us.

Blog 1Blog 2

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The British Are Coming!

Hope LiverpoolIt is that time of the year when we host student teachers from Hope Liverpool University. Each May term, Hope College participates in an exchange program with Hope Liverpool.  Just as we host their teacher candidates, the Liverpool schools host Hope College teacher candidates.

The goal of the program is to help these future teachers experience global teaching and Liverpool emblemlearning settings and through that experience understand the commonalities and differences in helping all learners to achieve.

In May of 2009, we hosted nine Liverpool students.  This year, we will host six teacher candidates and they will be placed in grades 2, 3, 4, ECSE and Mrs. Kok’s cognitively impaired classroom.  Some names you may be hearing in your home are:  Miss Browse, Miss Davis, Miss Duffy, Miss Hamilton, Miss McGregor, Mr. Stalker.   If you come to visit during our JUST WRITE celebrations, be sure to introduce yourself and welcome them to Georgetown.

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Girls Who Run and Plant!

GotRGeorgetown is fortunate to have a team of parents (Elly Bainbridge and Jennifer Waters) who have voluntarily led Girls on the Run (GotR) this spring.  This program is a ” non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running. The GotR curricula address all aspects of girls’ development – their physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual well-being.”

Every Tuesday and Thursday for the past several weeks, they have GotR 1been meeting to train for the 5K GotR event.  In addition to the training, the team took on a service project for our school choosing to plant flowers outside our school and cleaning  up the school grounds, removing several bags of trash, sticks and rocks (and one broken bird egg) from the lawn and playground.   The team raised donations to purchase the flowers and potting soil!

If you have not yet seen the beautiful work they have done, check on these photos taken by Jennifer Waters.

Kudos to the team for training and completing the 5K Race.  And a warm thank you to all of you for the work you have done to keep our school beautiful and clean.

Rachel Shereda; Abigail Shereda; Lexi Keur; Naomi Gatling; Kelsey Gelder; Hope Assink; Emmy Norton – from Alward; Alison Vredevoogd; Cielle Waters-Umfleet; Happy Bainbridge; Kenadie Baareman; Sydney VanderKolk; Naomi Klooster; Emma Lamers; Maria Maldonado; Sydney Wieringa; Taylor Truman

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Final Principal of the Day Blog Post

Principal of the Day

When my class found out I was going to be principal of the day,  some of them begged me to give them a detention.  I told Mrs. Reagan this.  So, after lunch I called into my classroom from the principal’s office.  I asked Miss VanArkel to have all students who wanted a detention to raise their        hands.det 2detMiss VanArkel counted and told me that 19 kids wanted detention.  I then announced:  For those who want detention, you must put your heads down and be quiet for 5 minutes. I heard a big groan!

pacman

My final announcement of the day is thanks to Mr. Hahn.  He is the school psychologist who was in one ofMR. hahn the meetings with me and Mrs. Reagan.  He asked me if I knew it was Pac Man’s 30th Anniversary today.  Mr. Hahn thought I should make an announcement.  Mrs. Reagan thought it would be a good idea…at the END OF THE DAY not the middle of the day.

To read my first blog post of today:  FRIDAY DETAILS

To read my second blog post of today:  CAMP VIDEOS

To  hear my final school announcement:


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