Just an Update!

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Mrs. Q

Hi Students and Families!
A few things are coming up on the radar for our 4th Graders here at Georgetown. First just an announcement about our Halloween party. The party will be held on Thursday, Oct. 30th from 2:30-3:30 pm. I want to remind all students that at Georgetown, we have a policy of not bringing any play weapons of any type that go with our costumes to school. I also want to remind 4th Graders not to choose costumes that are overly scary looking. We have younger children that we are bus buddies with and others in the building, and we do not want to make them afraid. So please keep that in mind when choosing a costume for school that day. Finally, students will just bring their costume to school, and we will dress up for the party during our last recess of the day.

Report cards for the first trimester will be coming home that following Monday, November 3. We will also begin parent/teacher conferences that week. I look forward to meeting with all of you wonderful parents about your children. We have such a great group of kids! Georgetown will also be hosting a book fair that week. It will be open during the evening when parents may stop in to shop for books as well.

Lots of fun things to look forward to! Hope everyone has a great rest of their week!
-Mrs. Q

Technology Day Oct. 1st!

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Mrs. Q

Hi Parents,

This Wednesday, Oct. 1, the students have voted to have a “Technology Day” as their first incentive for awesome classroom behavior and improved learning skills. This would mean “allowing” your student to carefully bring their expensive technology to school ONLY IF YOU ARE OK WITH IT. I have explained to the students that their parents are taking a risk to allow them to bring the item to school. My promise to you, parents, is that when we are not using the items, I will have them in a locked cupboard. I will be sure that we are all on appropriate sites, playing appropriate games, and listening to appropriate music when we can spare a few minutes for fun in between our various subjects. At the end of the school day, we will be sure the items are placed carefully in each student’s backpack to go home. However, it will also mean that your student will be responsible for the transport of the item to and from school and that could be the risk you would undertake. So I will leave it up to you and honor your decision. I do have 2 iPads here at school that can be used, and I am sure we can also partner up with other students who do bring their “technology”. Thanks so much for supporting our students making great choices here at school!

Walkathon!!!

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Mrs. Q

Our school would like to extend a special thank you to all of our Georgetown families. Our walkathon raised $14,300 . We are so thankful for all of your support. Your generous donations and fundraising will go towards new technology for our school. Isabelle was one of the fundraisers who will join Mrs. Reagan at her house in May for a pool party. A special thank you to the parents who came to help out with the event. We could not have run this event without you!!!

2 Q Update!

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Mrs. Q

Hi Everyone!

It will be a wonderful 2 weeks here before Christmas break! We have a few exciting things coming up! Everything from snow cones to Diversity Day, another writing celebration and holiday party!! I love this time of year! The children’s energy is charged with anticipation.

Just a couple of things to be aware of:

1. Many students are complaining that their gym shoes are too small and don’t want to wear them to gym. Unfortunately, this poses a safety issue for the gym teachers, as once the floor has lots of mud and dirt on it, it becomes very unsafe to run around on and students slip, fall down, and get hurt. We would like to ask you to please replace their tennis shoes with larger ones that they may keep in their lockers. If your family is struggling with financial hardship right now, please let us know and we will find a way to provide shoes for your child. Thank you!

Your student is writing an “All About” book right now and may ask to bring something in for our next Writing Celebration on Dec. 20th. We are putting on a “All About Museum” for the first graders and they may want something for their exhibit. The students will mainly be teaching the first graders from their books and this is purely “optional” to have something to go along with their books. All live animals would have to be checked out with me, and possibly accompanied by an adult. 🙂 Please remember this is purely optional! A stuffed animal is perfect too!! lol

Unit 3 in math is all about measuring. If you need a centimeter ruler at home, let us know, we do have some paper ones to send home. We are learning the difference between centimeters and inches. 🙂

This week we are on Unit 11 for spelling. Remember all words can be found here on the blog under the spelling tab. Next week (Dec. 17th), we will not have spelling words, we will just review all words we’ve had thus far. We will not have a homework packet next week either. My gift to you!!

And last of all, our Holiday Party will be Friday, Dec. 21st at 12:40 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Let me know if anyone needs help with Christmas stocking items. I will surely be glad to help!

I am so grateful for these beautiful children you entrust in my care every week! I wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Love, Mrs. Q

2 Q Update! 10/12/12

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Mrs. Q

Hi Everyone!

Wow! We are off to a great start! The kids are doing a great job of learning every day! I have a few things to mention:

Limo Ride and Pizza Party! This will be this Thursday, Oct. 18th! The limo will arrive at school around 11:10 a.m.! Parents are welcome to come and snap a picture or two of us getting in the limo! We will also post some pictures on the blog too!! Please have your child dress up a little for this experience as we want to feel special for our limo ride!! We will be going to Pizza Ranch and having our lunch and then returning back to school. I will have a special movie for fun that day too! It’s going to be a fantastic day!!

Reading Counts- We are off to a strong start! Students are reading every night and taking quizzes! Great job! We also have volunteers coming in to help guide the students with their quizzes and make sure that they are getting new books. Remember, we only have small snatches of time during the day to get our books and if we can’t get down there, your student can always read a book from home, bring it in, take a quiz, and then bring the book back home.

Math- This next week will be taking our Unit 1 Assessment over story problems. If you notice your student has been coming home with 1’s or 2’s on their morning math sheets, it would be great if you could go over story problems with them. I have some great math sites here on the blog that your student can go to and also get additional practice. Just get them to the site (like IXL math), find the addition/subtraction story problem section, and have them practice.

Reading Levels-You may have noticed that your student has come home with Reading Counts books that seem to be at an easy level for your student. This is because their level for Reading Counts was set at their last level in first grade. This is to insure success as these kiddos get used to taking Reading Counts quizzes. This next week, I will be beginning to individually test each student to see how much new progress they have made. Their new level will be boosted for Reading Counts right after we finish testing!

Have a great week!

2 G Summary! 9/26/11

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Mrs. Q

Hey Everyone! Happy Sunday/Monday! This is the 2 G Summary! My nick name for the second grade update! I will try to keep you updated each week with what is going on in our classroom! We have lots to say – so here goes!

First, a big thank you for all of the supplies you have contributed to our classroom! We could not make it without all of the wonderful donations from our families. We will put it all to good use for sure!

Next, our Walk-a-Thon was a success on Thursday! The rain held off and we were able to walk for 45 minutes to an hour! Most students made their goals they had set for themselves! Thank you again everyone for your contributions! These days we are doing more with less and we are very thankful as a staff for your help! Parents if your student is still collecting money for their packet, they can send it in this week. (More pictures at the end of the post!)

Third, our field trip news! I apologize everyone that I have not yet been able to notify those moms/dads that have been chosen as chaperones, due to waiting on background checks to be completed. I was notified on Friday at the end of the day that those are now complete! So I will be sending home notices to those parents who are chosen. The kids and I will pull names from a hat. Just a note, moms and dads, if you really want to come and you are not chosen, just plan to drive yourself or carpool with a few other moms and meet us there! You may not be able to ride the hay wagon with us, due to room, however, Klackle’s has a great gift shop and lots of baked goods! I’m SURE you will find some way to entertain yourselves while you wait for us! 🙂 The field trip is October 4th at Klackle’s Orchard in Greenville.

Now for our subjects we are learning in school! Thank you for getting those homework packets in on Mondays or sooner! Reading Counts is off to a good start! Some answers to questions my wonderful students have asked are as follows: Yes, books should be sent to school EVERY day. That way your child can read them during Daily 5. Yes, every student should be trying to read every night for at least 15 minutes! The calendars can be sent in on Monday, Oct. 3rd. And moms and dads, I am reminding your students daily that it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to get their things into their backpacks for school. 🙂 So often I hear, “my mom forgot to put it in.” 🙂

I will be contacting some parents to help on a weekly basis with Reading Counts tests. I would need these parents to come in on Mondays or Thursdays at 3:00. Please shoot me an email (lquigley@hpseagles.net) and let me know if this would be something you would like to do! Overall, all subjects are going well. In math, practicing addition and subtraction facts would be EXTREMELY helpful. See the site I have listed under my blogroll for a good site to make your own flash cards.

Ok! I think I have been very long-winded!! Sorry about that! I’ll try to be briefer in the days to come! Have a great last week of September! – Mrs. Q

It’s That Time Again . . .

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Mrs. Q

Ah Parents . . . It’s that time again for me to write my final posting to all of you for this year. I always write these with mixed feelings – sadness and hope. Sadness, because I have enjoyed the year with your children, have loved every minute that I’ve spent watching them learn and grow, and now it is hard for me to say good-bye. Hope, because I feel that each one of your children has so much potential for the future! I will be watching them through the next few years, checking on them, and certainly saying prayers for them as well. I hope that it has been a satisfying year for you as parent as well, in terms of your child’s education. I have a little survey attached to this post and I would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to fill it out. I will use this information to help me improve my practice of teaching.

For this final week, a few notes:

Please send a paper grocery sack on Tuesday, June 7th. We will be filling these bags with all of our “treasures” from our desks and lockers that have gathered over the year! Almost everything will be coming home that day.

Field day is Wednesday, June 8, from 9:15 a.m. to roughly 1:00 p.m. Please send a water bottle with your child. It also helps if they are in tennis shoes and covered from head to toe in sunscreen. Thank you also to all of the parents who were so kind to donate doughnuts for our fun day!

Last day is Thursday, June 9 and we dismiss at 1:00!

I will be working the Summer Library on Tuesday, June 21, July 12, and July 26! We are open from 10 a.m. to 12! Please feel free to bring the kids up to see me! I would love to see them and talk about how their summer is going! Maybe they could check out a book or two . . . ! 🙂

Again, parents, thank you for your awesome support this year! Have an absolutely fantastic summer and I will see everyone again in the fall!

Love, Mrs. Q Please see survey below!

Mrs. Q’s Final Survey

Mrs. Q’s Update! 5/23/11

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Mrs. Q

Wow Everyone! Time is really going to go fast now! I can hardly believe that we are down to the final 3 weeks of school. What a phenomenal year! Your children have grown so much! I have mixed emotions. I am sad that we are getting to the end. I also feel so happy that we have really learned a lot of things that will help us on this journey we call life. Next year everyone will only be across the hall from me, so I can still get hugs and check in with how each and every one of my students is doing.:)

A few final details:

This week is our last week for library. Please hunt and dig for all of our school library books and send them in. While you are looking, if you would check for my classroom books too, I would greatly appreciate that! All of my books have my name in the front cover, so that’s how you will know if it is from our classroom.

This week is our last homework packet! I know this will bring tears to everyone’s eyes, but yes, it has to be done. NO MORE HOMEWORK PACKETS AFTER THIS WEEK! So get this last one done as soon as you can and then you are free!!! 🙂

Please, please, please continue to read over the summer!! Every student has made significant gains in their reading ability. However, we do have data that proves that our reading skills go down over the summer if students do not read. So please, parents, get your students involved in a summer reading program or offer an incentive yourself! My own kids would earn their money to spend at the Hudsonville Fair by the number of books they read all summer long. Just keep an easy chart to fill out on the fridge and have the kids keep track! The more they read, the more they got to do at the fair!

Finally, for the last 11 days of school, beginning this Wednesday 5/25, we are going to celebrate the end of Second Grade by spelling out every letter of SECOND GRADE with an activity that corresponds to each letter. Watch for a note coming home tomorrow 5/23, because we will need a few donations to help with that!

As always, I thank you for sending me the best kids in the world! I just love all of you so, so much!

Mrs. Q

Mrs. Q’s Update 5/8/11

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Mrs. Q

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our Moms! Hope you have a wonderful day today!

It’s hard to believe that we are in May already! Only 4 and a half weeks to go! Things are going to pick up and fly by with record speed from now until June 9!

Some dates to note:
Just Write Celebration – May 17th from 9:00-9:40 a.m.
Memorial Day – May 30th, No School
Field Day – June 8th
Doughnut Day & Dress Like an Athlete Day – June 8th

Last Day – June 9th, Dismissal at 1:00

We have several academic goals to reach before our last day. We will be doing a unit on MEAP test taking, learning strategies for reading and taking the test. In science, we will finish up our plant unit and follow that with a final social studies unit on Hudsonville. In computers, we will have a two week keyboarding session in which Mrs. Ploeg will be teaching us proper positioning for our fingers. Readers’ and Writers’ Workshops will continue and we will be polishing up our final work in both of those areas.

Parents, if any of you are interested in providing tutoring for your student over the summer months, please just send me a note and I will email you names and phone numbers of available tutors.

It is such an honor and a privilege to work with your students! This will be a great finish to a really wonderful school year!

Love, Mrs. Q

OUTDOOR DISCOVERY CENTER FIELD TRIP

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Mrs. Q

Our field trip this morning was quite the adventure! When we first got there Mr. Doug greeted us and we went into a building where we got to see taxidermy and live animals. Then the students got to make landforms out of Playdough and show off their knowledge they learned in the classroom!

The weather cleared up for a bit and we got to go outside. The students played on the playground for a little bit and then we took a nature walk on the trails led by Mr. Doug. Our second graders are quite the investigators! They discovered many wild plants and seeds which Mr. Doug was able to tell us a lot about. We learned where plants can grow and how they live.

Just as we were starting to finish up our walk it started to rain again and we headed back home. All in all it was a great trip and the children had so much fun learning and having real life experiences in nature! Thanks to all the parents that were able to come and we missed the ones that couldn’t!

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN LEARNING!

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Mrs. Q

Thank you for supplying dry snacks to include in our trail mix last Friday! The kids had a blast and learned all about Mixtures and Solutions! Ask your second grader what the difference is : )