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Allowing Our Children to Be

I follow the DAILY OM site that provides helpful strategies for physical and mental health, as well as tips for daily omparenting.  I received an update yesterday that is a helpful reminder to me, on the parenting end of my life, to work at not CONTROLLING all that my children do and think.  As someone who manages an elementary building of many staff and hundreds of wonderful children, I have a tendency to manage my family, too.   I share this link knowing that parenting is a work in progress for all of us!

To read the post from Daily OM, read on:
“Truly loving our children requires us to set them free and practice non-attachment.  Trust and allow.

Parenting asks us to rise to some of the most difficult challenges this world has to offer, and one of its greatest paradoxes arises around the issue of attachment. On the one hand, successful parenting requires that we love our children, and most of us love in a very attached way. On the other hand, it also requires that we let go of our children at the appropriate times, which means we must practice some level of nonattachment. Many parents find this difficult because we love our children fiercely, more than we will ever love anyone, and this can cause us to overstep our bounds with them as their independence grows. Yet truly loving them requires that we set them free.

Attachment to outcome is perhaps the greatest obstacle on the parenting path, and the one that teaches us the most about the importance of practicing nonattachment. We commonly perceive our children to be extensions of ourselves, imagining that we know what’s best for them, but our children are people in their own right with their own paths to follow in this world. They may be called to move in directions we fear, don’t respect, or don’t understand, yet we must let them go. This letting go happens gradually throughout our lives with our children until we finally honor them as fully grown adults who no longer require our guidance. At this point, it is important that we treat them as peers who may or may not seek our input into their lives. This allows them, and us, to fully realize the greatest gift parents can offer their offspring —independence.

Letting go in any area of life requires a deep trust in the universe, in the overall meaning and purpose of existence. Remembering that there is more to us and our children than meets the eye can help us practice non-attachment, even when we feel overwhelmed by concern and the desire to interfere. We are all souls making our way in the world and making our way, ultimately, back to the same source. This can be our mantra as we let our children go in peace and confidence.”
Share the OM: To email this to a friend, click SHARE
To discuss this article, click DISCUSS

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Go Lincoln Logs!

Log Flag

Cool boysMrs. Reagan reads  Love That Dog to our class everyday.  One day, she stayed for indoor recess.  We made a BIG lincoln log castle.  We asked her to take a picture and put it on the blog.  She said she would if we wrote a story.  This is the story.

Cool LogsBy Jordan, Brayden, Connor and Evan  (The Lincoln Log Experts from Mrs. Kuieck’s class)

*Mrs. Reagan reads this story to all the second graders.

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BLOG BITS from the OFFICE 2/4/10

STUDENT PICK-UP…….. Please parents as a friendly reminder from the office….  if you are doing student pick-up after school please be aware that school is dismissed at 3:40pm and the students should be picked up no later than 3:45pm.  Just remember to take into consideration when the weather is inclimate to allow for extra travel time.  Thank you!

YEARBOOKS.….  Extra, Extra, read all about it.  Yearbooks came in last week and should have already gone home with the students that had purchased them.  We do a have a FEW EXTRA in the office that are available for purchase.  These will be sold on a first come/first serve basis and will be $10.

DONUT SALE SUCCESS!!! A big thank you to Georgetown for making our donut sale a huge success!  We sold 225 donuts and are now able to pay for our gymnastics!  Thank you for being such a wonderful and supportive school!   Mrs. Kok and students.

CLASSROOM BASKET RAFFLE…..  You should be receiving a note from your child’s classroom with their selected a basket theme.  Donations for these baskets can be sent to their classroom up until Thursday, Feb 25th.  Each classroom will have a box to drop off basket donations.  If you’d rather make a cash donation, send cash or check (made out to Georgetown PTC) to your child’s teacher.

These baskets will be on display in the main hallway outside the library March 1-3th, during the school day AND during conferences. You or your child can purchase tickets during lunch time or conferences where the baskets are on display.  Cost for a ticket is $1 The Raffle Drawing will take place on Thursday, March 4th.  Proceeds from this raffle will be going back to your child’s classroom.  Please come and try your luck on winning a basket!

Please see the attachment for the list of teachers and their basket theme.     Classroom Baskets Blog Letter 2010

5th GRADE UPDATES…….. We have tentative dates for this year’s 5th grade music testing, fitting, and parent meetings.
5th grade orientation at each Middle School (meet with counselors, tour of building, music testing, music concert with 6th graders)

  • Wednesday, March 17th Baldwin Street MS
  • Thursday, March 18th Riley Street MS
Instrument Fittings at each elementary (the 5th graders get to try different instruments)
  • April 13 –Georgetown April 21, 22  Rental Nights: Parent meetings to find out about how to get an instrument (band and orchestra only)

BOX TOP COMPETITIONS…..  Just a reminder about the LAST box top competition.  This started on January 4 and will continue through March 19.  There are two levels of the competition… the first is the top classroom from each wing EC, 1st/ 2nd, 3rd/4th, and 5th; and the second is the top boy and girl from each wing.  Please help support Georgetown by participating in this great program.  There are three ways in which to participate: 1.) CLIP box top coupons from your favorite products.   2.) SHOP at your favorite online stores through the Box Tops MarketplaceSM (www.btfe.com/marketplace) and up to 8% of your qualifying purchase will be automatically donated to your school.   3.) PURCHASE BOOKS through the Box Tops Reading RoomSM at Barnes & Noble.
FAMILY FARE REMINDER………Family Fare has just given us our “Cash for Class” dates.  Please help support our school as you do your grocery shopping during these dates.  The first dates that will be coming up are FEBRUARY 21-27. The second week for this event will be held from APRIL 18-24. This is a great way to help out our school without even having to go out of your way!
COMMUNITY ED NEWS…..Posted below:
One is for Babysitting Classes, one for Tae Kwon Do and the last is for Girls Softball clinics.  If you have further questions please call Community Ed at 669-1740 ext 3 and you may also register online at www.hudsonvillepublicschools.org.

COMMUNITY NEWS…….
The Hudsonville Community Education Department will be offering a seven-week workshop on becoming an Love and Logic parent starting Thursday, March 18 (skipping the week of Spring Break) from 6:30-8:00 at Park Elementary. The topics covered will include how to: raise responsible kids using the Love and Logic philosophy, respond to kids with empathy, design appropriate consequences, avoid power struggles, share control through choices, and use enforceable statements.  The cost of the workshop is $10 to cover the cost of materials.  Childcare is provided free of charge.  To register, please e-mail Kristi Sherrington at ksherrin@hpseagles.net.



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Spring-ish Book Fair, March 15-19

Technically March does not fall in the spring, but it is close enough that I can wish my way toward it!  We wanted you to get the date for our book fair on on your calendar and keep this in mind:

There will be a SPECIAL drawing on MARCH 4 for vouchers to use during the

Georgetown Elementary PTC Book Fair. The book fair will be held March 15-19.

There will also be a wonderful variety of books being raffled.

Continue to encourage your child to make their goal for this special drawing!

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BMS Orientation Dates

As we move into the new year,  we are getting set  for our new kinders and preparing our 5th graders for middle school.  Orientation, instrument fittings and information nights are posted below.  Mark your calendars!   A note from Mr. Powers, the BMS principal, outlines the time line for these dates on this letter:   Parent Letter-6th Grade Timeline

Orientation for our 5th graders at Baldwin  Middle School (meet with counselors, tour of building, music testing, music concert with 6th graders)—Parents do not attend this event.  Your child’s teacher will accompany the class during the school day.

  • Wednesday, March 17th Baldwin Street MS
Instrument Fittings (the 5th graders get to try different instruments) held at school–parents need not attend:
  • Tuesday, April 13  at Georgetown, 1:30 to 3:30 pm

Rental Nights: Parent meetings to find out about how to get an instrument (band and orchestra only):

  • April 21 and 22  (Details will be coming in March.)
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Bustin’ Thru Books Reading Log

Bustin’ Through Books Boot Camp began this week!  Every child who participates logs  minutes read  book heartinto an online reading log.  Readers can also use this log for  minutes read in the classroom and at home.  EVERY MINUTE COUNTS!

If you would like to have your reader  add  minutes read at home, the reading logs can be found on the tab above called:  BUSTIN THRU BOOKS There is a log for each child who is a camp member.

This photo graciously contributed by Adrian DeJesus, Love of Reading; 365 Project

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Dads…We Need You!

Jeff Wressell, Chief Operating Dad of DESK (Dad’s Empowering Super Kids) and organizer of the volunteers for Bustin’ thru Books has asked me to do another blog shout out for Dads.  He has received several volunteers, but needs more.  If you are interested…read on:

If you are a dad of a  child at Georgetown and have wondered how you can volunteer at school, we have the opportunity for you!  Jeff Wressell has organized a volunteer program called D.E.S.K (Dad’s Empowering Super Kids) and this will kick off in partnership with our  Bustin’ Through Books program.  The philosophy of DESK can be found here:  Dads Vol Program

Please consider participating in this opportunity!  We would love to have you participate and be present in the school.

To find out more about the program, visit BUSTIN’ THROUGH BOOKS.

To volunteer, complete this survey:  DADs WHO BUST THROUGH BOOKS

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The Wolf Moon

Wolf MoonYes….our full moon this weekend is called the “wolf moon.”  This name comes from Native American stories of wolves howling at the biggest and brightest moon of the year.  The wolf moon is in fact 30% closer to us at this time…so the wolves howl for good reason!

The photo above was taken by a Andy Waller, a photographer that I follow on my 365 Project. More information can be found on the year’s biggest full moon on the Red Orbit site as well as the  National Geographic site.

I have been featuring the moon since it’s beautiful appearance over Georgetown in December.  During this month, we were graced  two full moons (one called a blue moon) and now we have the wolf moon of January!  I wonder what February will bring!

I also wanted to share beautiful photos of the full moon in Anchorage, Alaska and a great collection on Flickr.  Enjoy!

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Welcome to February

January flew by and seems like a blur to me!  The month of February opens up with Ground Hogs Day, settles in with  Valentine’s Day in the middle and wraps up just in time for Parent/Teacher Conferences (March 2-4).

I have kicked this month off with a new blog theme.  This theme allows more options in font selection, posts per page and pushes me to learn more about html code and css.

Remember that you can search for any post by typing a single word or phrase into the “search” tab to your right.  You can  scroll through the posts page by page (like a newspaper) at the bottom of this page.

Here’s to a great week ahead!

Feb 1 2010

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More on Lice…

Lice 2

We have received many questions via email, phone and office visits regarding our unexpected visitors, lice.  In an effort to provide as much information as possible and reduce anxiety about this itchy topic, I would like to share the following:

  1. We became aware of the lice outbreak at our school on Wednesday, January 27.
  2. If a child is found to have lice (school discovery or parent report), a notification letter is sent home that day with all students in that classroom.On Thursday, January 28, school personnel suspected head lice on another child.  We contacted parents and with their approval checked this child.
  3. We then used our investigative skills to identify areas where the lice could spread.  These areas led us to other children that may need to be checked.  All parents were then contacted by phone before we checked their children.

Please know that my primary goals are to focus on facts about head lice and the dignity, respect and honor of the children.  Because head lice creates an intense emotional reaction for parents, children and staff, it is very important that we handle this with sensitivity and normalcy…and a healthy dose of appropriate humor and lightness.

PREVENTION and EDUCATION are key.  On a prior blog post, I shared TRUTHS and TREATMENT details.  I received an email from Amy Steindler of LICE HAPPENS.  She wanted us to also keep in mind the following:

  • A live louse can only live about a day off a human head.  They need those blood meals and the temperature and humidity of a human head—they have evolved and adapted for those specific conditions.  We say that any louse found off a head is a dying louse—it’s just a matter of time.
  • Lice off a head are unlikely to mate or lay eggs—they can barely get around anywhere except on a head, due to the specialization of their claws.
  • Nits (eggs) are unlikely to survive as long as 10 days—even nits that are on a head have very little chance of hatching if they’re more than ½ inch from the scalp.  Nymphs, the newly hatched critters, need to be very close to a scalp, as they need their first blood meal very soon after hatching.

I will keep you updated as we work to get rid of our unexpected visitors!  Thank you for all you are doing to educate your children about prevention practices.

Your friendly principal and Lice Inspector General, Mrs. Reagan

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