I’m not sure what happened to my Silly blog entry but it has disappeared. As you can see, mud bogging is quite silly especially when we are trying to see who can get the muddiest. My dog loves to ride with me too.

Happy Silly Hunting

TRAIL MIX

As a way to show the difference between mixtures and solutions, we will be making and enjoying Kool-Aid (solution) and trail mix (mixture). Please send in an edible unwrapped item in the zip lock bag provided. Items such as: cereal pretzels, chocolate chips, M&Ms, and mini marshmallows are just a few ideas that work out great for this activity. (NO PEANUTS PLEASE!) We will need the bags returned to school by Tuesday, November 24. Thanks for your help!

We will have a Social Studies test on Tuesday. This will cover the regions of Michigan. Please help your child study the regions Michigan can be divided into, the unique regions of Michigan, and the regions of the U.S. that Michigan is a part of.

Also, please ask your child about why the regions are divided this way. What are the similar features and characteristics of the regions?

Let me know if there are any other questions.

Thanks for your support!

The entire class will be participating in Poetry Academy. The children will meet with our wonderful volunteers (Mrs. Tiesman, Mrs. Sitzema, or Mrs. Fellows) every Wednesday to pick a new poem and review last weeks poem. The children are encouraged to read it to at least 10 people during the week. This is will allow each student to focus on fluency, expression and confidence. This will open the door for our future unit in Writer’s Workshop. In the Spring, we will have a poetry reading in which parents or grandparents are invited to come.

If your child is interested in completing some additional activities for poetry, please explore the following sites:

http://www.shelsilverstein.com/indexSite.html

http://www.jackprelutsky.com/flash/index.html (Click on the sun that says ENTER)

Our class is beginning a new science unit. We will be studying basic concepts in chemistry, finding out how materials interact with each other and whether it is a mixture or solution. The children will learn what happens when simple materials, like gravel, salt, and water, are put together. They will also learn techniques for separating the resulting mixtures and solutions. We will investigate combinations of materials, like baking soda and calcium chloride (the salt used to melt ice on roads), that react when mixed, producing new products, like chalk, carbon-dioxide gas, and table salt. These are exciting discoveries. This is more than we need to do for this unit but it is loaded with experiments.

Today we did an experiment with static electricity. Thanks for volunteering Morgan!

Return Composition Book: November 19th

Today your child is coming home with an empty composition book. The goal is to have your child write 10 minutes a night (yes, they can do more if they choose). They will write in a special, quiet place and reflect on an event from the day. You will need to trust that they are doing it and maybe help them by setting a timer. They do not need to share what they wrote with you because some of the pieces aren’t ready to be shared and I promised them that they are writing only for their eyes (but they can share it with others later if they choose).

Things we are learning:

Our lives are made up of not only what happens to us but also our responses to what happens to us. (Add feelings to our stories)
Pay attention to details and write about what you are thinking during the day.
Both readers & writers need to form pictures in their minds. Form a picture in your mind and write about it. Show Don’t Tell!
Stop and Ask, “What was I thinking/feeling?” Give clues that reveal your thoughts and feelings. Add thoughts and feelings in the heart of the story.

On Thursday of this week, we hosted the very talented Crevier Family from South Dakota. Bruce, Diane and their nine children spun basketballs on their fingers, road unicycles, trained our staff to do ball catching tricks, and fed applesauce to four very brave student! They entertained us for over an hour (two presentations back to back) and we were in awe of their skills. If you watch this slide show with your children, I am sure that they will be able to share more than these photos portray!

Many thanks to our PTC for funding this assembly. We appreciate ALL that you do for us.

Save the Date!

Just a quick note to SAVE THE DATE for our 2009 Georgetown Holiday program!

Although it seems like a long ways away, it will be here before you know it.  So mark it on your calendar!
December 10, 2009 at 7:00 pm, Resurrection Life Church*
More details will be coming from Mrs. Bretz soon.

*This is the facility that we rent for our school wide performance.

You have another opportunity to RSVP for our upcoming December 1st Kids Art Fair! An RSVP form and Art Fair information will be sent home with students this week.

Please note that returning your RSVP to Mrs. Brouwer does NOT mean that you must purchase your child’s framed artwork.  The RSVP just lets the Kids Art Fair people know how many frames to ship to Georgetown for the event.  So please RSVP if you plan to attend and celebrate your child’s creativity, enjoy a fun make-n-take art project, and register for some cool door prizes to be given away during the evening.

Also – Georgetown’s December Kids Art Fair does not take the place of the annual district-wide Student Art Show, which will be held as usual in April 2010.

We hope to see you at Georgetown’s Art Fair on December 1st between 4-7 PM!  Volunteers are still needed to help out – please contact Mrs. Brouwer!

Email:  jbrouwer@hpseagles.net

Phone: 616.797.9797 ext. 22412
Art Blog http://josettebrouwer.edublogs.org