Our Valentine Party will be from 2:30-3:20 on Friday, February 12th. Yes, the children will be exchanging Valentines. I have included a class list if you didn’t have one. Valentine List

In honor of the upcoming Olympics, we are setting a reading goal for GOLD. Starting on February 12th, for every 30 minutes that a child reads they will color in a flag to place in the hall. Each second & third grade classroom will represent a different country. We will be researching our designated country, reading many nonfiction pieces about the Olympics, supplementing math activities and having some fun. Our closing ceremony will consist of a competition between 2nd & 3rd grade classrooms on Friday, February 26th. Please support us by reading at home so that we can fill the hall with our flags.

Our focus has been on asking questions to understand stories, make predictions and infer. Wondering or asking questions helps readers understand what they read by actively engaging with the story and thinking about what the author is trying to say. Asking questions also helps readers remember what they read. The goal is to encourage the students to use questions regularly to make sense of their independent reading.

Before your child reads to you, talk about the title and the cover of the book. Do any questions come to mind about the book. You can help your child understand the story by stopping every so often as they read and discuss questions such as:

• What questions do you have, or what are you wondering at this point in the story?
• What did you picture in your mind as you listened/read to this part of the story?
• What words helped you get your mental picture?
• What do you think might happen next? Why do you think that?

Your child has had quite a bit of practice with this so if the respond, “I don’t know”…don’t accept it. By talking about the story, your child’s understanding of the information will be much higher. Keep up the great work!

Many of the students are keeping track of the amount of minutes they read per day and calculating it at the end of the week. They are so excited to see such large numbers as every little bit counts. It is said, that reading 90 minutes per day can increase your reading skills by two levels.

Our focus has been on imagining stories from ordinary moments. The children have collected ideas, developed characters, established settings and are now adding details to the events of their realistic fictional pieces. They will be revising and editing this week as they prepare to publish next week. I am amazed with their progress in this area!

They have also finished their “on demand” pieces. If you recall from Parent Teacher Conferences in the Fall, we will have them independently complete a personal narrative in which to grade. It was absolutely silent as the children diligently completed their stories. I am anxious to see their progress!

We are almost finished with unit 7 in math, which focused on multiplication and division: repeated groups, arrays, and area. It will be important that they practice the review sheets that come home for both multiplication and division. The facts that we have focused on thus far are: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10. There are some online games posted under my math links. The children do review basic facts at the start of math time daily.

Children typically have math homework every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please encourage your child to complete their homework and return it to school.  I have been hearing many excuses lately as to why the work is not finished. Also, remember that it is your child’s responsibility to do the work. All of the items sent home have been taught in class.

We finished our unit on the exploration of sound. This was a review of material presented in second grade and contained many hands-on experiments. The children encouraged exploring vibrations, changing pitch, and making instruments. We will now be discussing Light Energy.

Yes, we do have head lice in our school!  Please read Mrs. Reagan’s post for more details.

If you are a dad of a wonderful child at Georgetown and have been wondering how you can get into school during the school day, we have the opportunity for you!  Jeff Wressell has organized a program that will help DAD’s have a volunteer presence in our school.   The volunteer group, called D.E.S.K (Dad’s Empowering Super Kids) will kick off with our Bustin’ Through Books program.  The philosophy of DESK can be found here:  Dad’s 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

Georgetown families showed tremendous support for our building community service project, “Takin Down Cancer-Community for a Cure.”

It took four trips into the bank on Friday to deposit the coins and cash raised. Our school raised over $1,000 on Friday alone. WOW!

For the week Georgetown brought in $2,784.85 by collecting coins, cash donations and having a couple of class coin wars. If you add in the the monies acquired through t-shirt sales bought by staff and a few students we raised well over $3,000.00.

The organizers of the event are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support by our Georgetown family and are extremely appreciative.

As a teenager involved in the event said, “Your school is the BOSS!,” and ” You are my hero’s.”

Well, I think that sums it up!

Thanks again for yet another successful building community service project!

Many of our families and staff members have connections to the people in Haiti — either through mission trip experiences, social outreach programs or adoption agencies.  We have been asked to seek donations for a medical team that will be leaving with supplies next week.

If at all possible, we would like to ask anyone that is able to bring ANY OF THE ITEMS LISTED BELOW for donation to this medical mission.  Dr. Tenhaff, a local doctor with the Georgetown Medical Center, will be participating in this trip and is one of the doctors seeking much needed supplies.

• Medical Supplies:  antibiotic ointments, gauze, bandaging of any kind, any unused antibiotics (pills) they can use, tylenol, ibuprofen (adults and children)
• Miscellaneous supplies: sheets, blankets, hand sanitizer, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, diapers, formula
• Non Perishable: beans and rice (this is the basic staple of the people)

For those who would prefer to donate money, please make checks out to BYRON CENTER BIBLE CHURCH HAITI MISSION.  Checks should be placed in an envelope marked:  HAITI MISSION and sent to the office.  We will make sure that these checks are included with the donated items.  (Dr. Tenhaff attends this church and works directly with the medical clinic in Haiti.)

Thank you for any help you can provide.    If you are interested in following the best site for up to date information about the desperate situation in Haiti, visit the New York Times Lede Blog.