Great Student Blogs!

Hi Families and Students!  Just a reminder that if you have not been on your student’s blog or their friends in quite a while, you are going to want to check them out!  You can see what books they are reading, how Valentines Day originated and more!  Stay tuned because next students are interviewing each other.  Read on to see what your students are writing about on their blogs these days!

Summer Library!

childrenHi Gang! Don’t forget that you can come up here on Tuesday mornings from 10-12 to the Georgetown Summer Library Program! We’ve got lots of books here that you haven’t read, so come on up and take advantage of it!  Another perk is that you may run into friends or teachers from school! I will be working the library on July 19! So come on up, as many of you that can, and we’ll have a small reunion in the library!

Coins For Books!!

state michigan

The competition is on this year!  Let’s see which Michigan team has the biggest fans at Georgetown prior to their showdown in Lansing on November 2nd, the Saturday before we kick off our Book Fair.

This is the fun part, if MSU fans bring in more coins Mr. Kooiker will wear MSU colors and if U of M fans bring in more coins Mr. Bowen will wear U of M colors on Wednesday, October 30th for Spirit Day!  Which team will it be?  Help us decide with your loose change!

Along with supporting your team your loose change will help us purchase book for classroom libraries.  This helps get more kids reading and those kids reading more.

The All for Books money we collect also helps readers beyond our school and community. Scholastic Book Fairs matches monetary donations with a donation of up to one million books to the Kids In Need Foundation and Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc.

Please send in your donation prior to October 29th.  Baggies and book slips will be sent home the week of October 21st.  We’ll be weighing the coins at 3:00 PM on Tuesday, October 29th to determine the winner!

Please join us on October 30th and wear your favorite team’s apparel.  

Your act of kindness helps to bring more knowledge, imagination, and love for reading into the lives of our students.

Thank you!  Mrs. Havens, Chair of Book Fair and Georgetown Staff

Raz Kids Ready to Go!!

Screen Shot 2013-10-08 at 3.42.02 PMThe Raz-Kids site is set up and ready to go this year, everyone!  The log-in for our class is lquigleyb. Please make sure to write this down somewhere that is easily accessible for your second grader.  Every Raz-Kids quiz that your student passes with 100%, counts towards their Reading Counts goal as well!  Their time on the computer reading also counts towards their 15 minutes a night on their Book It calendars.  This just provides one more way for your second grader to enrich their reading practice!  So keep on reading everyone!!  -Mrs. Q

 

Reading Counts Begins This Week!

childrenHi Parents!

Reading Counts begins this week for our second graders.  Your child should be coming home each night with a book from the library in their backpacks to read.  They are to read the book either by themselves or with you.  When done, please have your child write the title on the form in their book baggy, you initial it, and check whether or not your student is ready to take their quiz.

When your children get to school, they will be reminded to sign up for a Reading Counts Quiz first thing in the morning.  At 10:00 (open library time), a volunteer will take the students to the library and help them get logged in to take their quiz.  If they pass their quiz, the student will turn in their book and check out another one.  If they do not pass their quiz, they will bring their book back home to read again, and re-take the quiz when they get back to school the next day.

The children will be taught during our computer class, how to monitor their progress with Reading counts.  You will notice at the top of their sheet in their baggy, I have assigned a number of points that will be your child’s goal for this trimester.  (Ends around Thanksgiving time!)  I will also send home a computerized sheet from time to time, so you can see how your child is doing as well.

This is FUN for the students, and is PURELY MOTIVATIONAL!  There is no grade associated with this, only prizes.  So please don’t be overly stressed out if your student forgets their book from time to time, or occasionally the library is closed.  Your student can simply read one of their books at home and bring it in and take a quiz.  The most IMPORTANT thing is that they are reading every night!  I tell the students to get in at least 2 quizzes a week if they can.

One more FYI, our library day is Thursday.  Although, once your child is reading and taking quizzes, it will hopefully be a part of their daily life!   We will also have Raz-Kids again this year.  Those quizzes will count towards Reading Counts goals too, but they must score 100% on the quiz for those to count.  (Another good idea if they forget to bring a book home- have them get on Raz Kids!!)

Thanks for sending me such great kids!!  We are loving it every day!  Have a great week!

Parent Volunteers Needed!!

girlatcomputerCalling all available parent volunteers!  We are looking for a few moms to help with Reading Counts quizzes every day, except for Thursdays, to help monitor students taking Reading Counts quizzes.  This will involve getting students on and off the computers in a timely fashion, reading books with students, and sometimes reading a quiz to a student.  If you are interested, please contact Mrs. Q via email and let her know the day you would be available.  We will need parents for Monday, Tuesday, and Friday from 10 am to 10:30 am and also on Wednesdays from 9 am to 10 am. Thanks so much for your help!

 

Reading Counts Begins!!

This year your child will be coming home every night with a Reading Counts book. Your child chose this book from the library and it should be in his/her independent reading level. To support your child’s growing reading skills, it is recommended that your child read at least 15 minutes every night.  If your student was unable to get a book from the library, just use a book from home for their Reading Counts book.

In your child’s Reading Counts baggy, you will find a log sheet to keep track of the books that your child reads, and check off whether or not your child is ready to take a quiz. It is recommended that your child read the book at least 2 times before taking the quiz (chapter books are the exception to this rule). Upon returning to school, your child will be reminded to sign up for a Reading Counts quiz. After your student has taken his/her quiz, he/she will enter their score. If a child completes 8/10 questions correctly, they will have passed the quiz and a new book will come home. If not passed, your child will bring the same book home to read again. After 24 hours have passed, children are able to retake the comprehension quiz.

There are comprehension tools in their baggy to use to aide children during and after reading. These are a “Check for Comprehension” bookmark and a “Retelling Rope”. Students should be able to tell you the who, what, where, when, and how of any book they read. Please keep in mind that Reading Counts is a reading incentive program and should be nurturing our growing reader.  Good luck and happy reading!!!

Dr. Seuss Book Shout Out!

Parents!

Could we please borrow any and all Dr. Seuss books you may have at home for this Wednesday, the 28th?  We are putting on “Dr. Seuss’s Reader’s Cafe” for the pre-kindergarteners and we need lots of copies of these books!  If you could please make sure your names are in them and send them to school, I would sure appreciate it!  Thanks a bunch!!

Dads Who Bust Through Books!

TN_family_11If 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