We hope this blog finds you all healthy and safe during this time of our “stay at home” orders.  Please reach out if you or your family are in need of ANYTHING!!  There are free lunches and breakfasts being offered at several Hudsonville Public school parking lots for ALL students.  There are many resources available during this time.  Please be sure to reach out if you have ANY questions or needs!!   

• Monday, March 30:  2 days worth of breakfasts and lunches will be given.
• Wednesday, April 1:  3 days worth of breakfasts and lunches will be given. 
  • Hudsonville High School – 5037 32nd Ave.
  • Riley Street Middle School – 2745 Riley Street.
  • Baldwin Middle School – 3835 Baldwin Street.
  • Alward Elementary School – 3811 Port Sheldon Street.

Kindergarten Families,

What a week of learning that soooo many of you are doing!!  I AM SOOO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU!!! The photos of learning that I have been able to add to our “Photo Album of Home Learning” really show what an amazing group of Kindergarten families we have!!  

Be sure to check out the MANY different optional “Educational Fun” links that we have been adding to during this time.  I also have added 3 new resources:

Sight Words (along the top of the blog-right under the chalkboard rainbow): https://jbaker4.edublogs.org/sight-words/

Google Classroom (along the left side of the blog under the Educational Fun tab): https://classroom.google.com/u/0/c/NTYwODMxNTk2NzFa

April Morning Work (along the top of the blog-right under the chalkboard rainbow-this will be updated next week with more morning work pages for you to use if you choose): https://jbaker4.edublogs.org/april-morning-work/ 

 

Here are some ideas for options of learning this upcoming week:

Morning Message: 

Good Morning K team.  Wow!  I saw him jump so high on his trampoline with his sister! We hope you have a wonderful week!  

Love,

Mrs. Baker

Popcorn Words of the week:  him, jump

Math:

• Draw or use objects to show partners of a number (2 circles + 3 triangles = 5 shapes).
• Find missing partners (If I had 5 crayons and I wanted 8 all together what would be my missing partner?  3.  For example:  5 + __ = 8).
• Practice counting from a given number up to 100 (start counting at 60 – 100).

Reading:

• When you read look for snap words (sight words)  – use your snap word superpower!
• Practice sight words – Sight Word flashcards can be found at the top of our blog.
• Read everyday!

Writing:

• Practice writing sentences with our sight words of the week in them (him, jump)
• Think of a true story/small moment story that you can write about.  Write a beginning, middle, and end.  (For example:  First I got my boots and coat on.  Then I walked to the trail.  We walked to the lake.  It was beautiful.)

Social Studies:

• What has been your favorite thing you have done during this stay at home time?  Draw a picture of yourself, label it, add color.  

Keep up the good work Kindergarteners and families…I am so proud of you!! Thank you for “zooming” with me the other night, it truly made my day! I’ll be in touch about another zoom meeting this week!

I want to say thank you so much! Yesterday, on behalf of my kindergarten class, Lucy and her mom stopped over to bring me a gift of books (and book gift cards) for our classroom library in memory of my dad. I am so touched by your thoughtfulness! It brought tears to my eyes when I saw all of the books and the sticker inside each book. My mom was at my house when Lucy and her mom came over. I was happy that my mom was with me to accept the gift. 

One of my dad’s favorite things to do was to come to school on Fridays and read with the kindergarteners! My mom is anxious for us to get back to school so that she can start coming to read again. It will not be the same without my dad there, one of the many places he will be missed.

Thank you again, you are all so kind!

Hi Kindergarten families,

I can’t believe this is the second week of learning at home. I miss you all so much! I am happy to see that many of you have been working hard on our online learning using Clever. This is a new type of learning to all of us, so thank you so much for your patience! 

~Jen

Popcorn Words: as, has

Kindergarten Message:

Hi Kinders,

I miss all of you so much! It has been so long since I’ve seen your cute faces! I am so proud of how hard you’ve been working! I love to get the pictures you’ve been sending me and seeing as many of you as I can! Keep working hard and being good listeners for your parents. Sending all of you a big hug!

Love, 
Mrs. Baker

Math: 

• Work on adding and subtracting within 10 (or up to 20 for a challenge). 
• Grab a handful of Legos and count them. Make a pattern with the Lego colors! 
• Count your stuffed animals. Use them as a way to create story problems–There were 4 animals playing in the field, but the bunny hopped away. How many animals are left? Try writing the equation to go along with your story!

Reading:

• Keep being an AVID reader! Find different spots to read around your house and always keep a stack of books nearby.
• Don’t forget to checkout YouTube for our teacher read-alouds! We are having fun recording books for you to listen to, I hope you’re enjoying them!
• You could record yourself reading a book and send it to me!

Writing:

• Practice writing upper and lowercase letters.
• Write a letter to a friend in class or Mrs. Baker (3768 Bantam Dr. Hudsonville), Mrs. DeGroot (3391 Stephanie Hudsonville) or Mrs. Santana (7709 Bass Creek Dr. Hudsonville). We will write you back! This is great practice in letter (and envelope) writing. 
• Write a morning message each day and include our popcorn words in it. 

Reminders:

• Please remember to use the Educational Fun links on the blog. Raz-kids is a great resource for reading! 
• I love to get the pictures and videos you are sending me of the kids learning and playing. I have been posting them to the Photo Album of Home Learning under the Educational Fun links. 
• Remember to make a picture to hang in your window to spread some cheer! I had fun painting mine yesterday…my kids each painted one too! 
• Also, check out our school blog for information on grab-n-go meals and other essential items.  The meals are available to ANY CHILD who may be in need. We are here for you!  Sending you all hugs and love during this time.

We miss all of you so much and think about each of you all the time!! We can’t wait until we are back together learning again!! Hugs to all of you from Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Santana and Mrs. DeGroot!! xoxo

Here’s my picture… (it’s through the screen, so it’s not a great picture)

Hello sweet kinder families! With all of the changes and craziness of this week, the Georgetown staff has been working together to make this the most successful experience it can be! With that being said, we have been receiving lots and lots of emails with helpful tips and tools, and Mrs. Reagan asked that we pass along some information to you.

If you would like to use Moby Max at home, here is a friendly parent guide on how to access this resource and navigate the website.

Moby Max Parent Guide

Also, we have been figuring out new ways to stay connected socially while we are all at home. A really fun way we can do this is by sharing videos back and forth using a website called Flipgrid! This is a website that the entire school will be using, so it will be fun to click through the videos and see some familiar faces. You might even get to see your bus buddy!!! I will post the link below so you can have some fun with this!

https://flipgrid.com/georgetownrocks

When you click on the link, you will be asked to enter your school email. This will be your kinder’s username + hpsstudents.net

The next thing you will have to do is enter a code which is: 22faf4f1

Your kinder will then be able to create a video that all of their friends from school can watch. Mrs. Reagan asked the kiddos to share where they are learning at home and show everyone their pet or favorite stuffed animal! 

I know this is overwhelming and new to all of you. Trust me when I say it is just as new to us! So please just remember to BREATHE and enjoy the extra time you get to have with your sweet babies!!! Also, if you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out to me. I love hearing from you and seeing all the pictures you have been sharing! It has been breaking my heart not being able to be at school every day with my wonderful kinders, but the emails and pictures help brighten my day!!

The last link I wanted to share with you is a link just for parents. Mrs. Reagan created another Flipgrid link in hopes that parents could use this as a way to lift each other up by sharing any homeschooling tips you might have or fun ideas other families could try. 

Here is the link: https://flipgrid.com/parenttipsges

The only thing you will be asked to do is enter this code: Ges3909!

Please do not feel pressure to upload videos or use the resources we share with you! This is the time for you to figure out what will work best for you and your kinder. This might look different for everyone… and that is OK! We will all get through this together. I am sending my love to everyone. Stay healthy!

Looking for an easy way to view our Teacher Read Alouds?  Check out our Kindergarten Teacher Read Alouds by using this Youtube link (these are being added to daily): 

Kindergarten Teacher Read Alouds

Thank you to EVERYONE for being patient, asking questions and tackling this new “Learning at home” adventure with us!  You will find below a message from Mrs. Baker.  Also, you will see that under our “Educational Fun” tab we added many new links that may be helpful and enjoyable to explore. 

Our plan is to provide you with a weekly update on skills you can work on from home.  This is all new territory for all of us.  As we navigate this new norm PLEASE feel free to reach out to us with ANY questions.  Be sure to let us know if there is anything you may need as well.  Our HPS website does have many resources available to those in need.  

We are missing you all so much!! 

Hugs from home,

Mrs. Baker

Message from Mrs. Baker

Good morning Kinders!  Happy 1st day of “Learning at Home.”  Your teachers can’t wait to see how amazing you do while you are working on your at-home learning.  We have added a few additional educational websites on our blogs.  Have fun exploring these over the next few weeks.  All Kinders have or will be receiving Clever information soon.  If you have questions please reach out and we will get back to you with problem-solving.   Below you will see a week of learning ideas.

Our Morning Message:

Good morning K team!  I could see the sunshine this morning.  Would you say good morning to a friend?  We should work hard today.

Love, Your K team teachers

Popcorn Words of the week:  could, would, should

Math:

• Focus on writing #’s 1-20 (can you go higher?-go!)
• Number identification 1-20 (can you go higher?-go!)
• Workbook pgs. 198-213 (skipping pgs. 201-204). *If you do not have your Math book the concepts to work on are: completing addition problems with numbers 1-8, cylinders and cones objects, counting objects up to 10, one-to-one correspondence, writing number sentences that match the picture (for example 10 stars total = 1 purple star and 9 yellow stars. 10=1+9). 

Writing:

• Focus on writing letters to those you can’t see during this break.
• Practice writing uppercase and lowercase letters

Reading:

• Enjoy some time reading each day – to someone, to yourself, to a stuffed animal.
• Find our popcorn words of the week or past in books or around you.

Socializing:

• We would LOVE to build a photo album of Kindergarten Learners. Feel free to send us a picture of your Kinder and how they are learning or having fun during this unprecedented time.  We will share them on our blog to keep us all connected.  

We miss our Kinders already!!  Please enjoy the time together and be sure to reach out if you or your family are in need of ANYTHING!  Our school blog has many resources on it for those who may need a grab-n-go meal and other essential items.  We are here for you!  Sending you all hugs and love during this time.

Love, 

Your Kindergarten Teachers Team

Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Blauwkamp, Mrs. Bohl, Mrs. Stutz and Mrs. Tindall

POPCORN WORDS: about, went, home

READING: This week during reading, we practiced reading non-fiction texts and talking like an expert about the books we read. The Kinders read books with groups and found things they thought were WOW about the books. Then they marked them with a sticky note and shared what was WOW with the class. We also practiced having reading playdates with non-fiction texts. They did a great job sounding like teachers and playing school while reading non-fiction books!

WRITING: During writing this week, we wrote persuasive letters to incoming kindergarteners. We wrote about the problem of kids playing too rough on the playground. We wrote a greeting, reasons why this is a problem, a solution to the problem and then ended with signing a petition saying we will play safe on the playground. The Kinders did a great job writing a letter!

MATH: We started math this week with Dr. Seuss themed math. We had fun with red fish, blue fish…adding the number of red fish and blue fish together and then finding a total. We also practiced our addition and subtraction this week. I’m so proud of how hard they are working on this and how great they are doing! We also practiced doing dot-to-dots with higher numbers and drawing teen numbers. Way to go Kinders!

DR. SEUSS LITERACY FUN: We had a lot doing different Dr. Seuss themed literacy activities this week! We practiced syllables, stretching out words with 3 sounds, and learning about the H brothers. It is fun to learn Dr. Seuss style! 

MYSTERY READERS:

Briella was thrilled when her mom walked through the door and surprised her as a mystery reader! Briella was especially excited because it was her birthday! Her mom had fun reading a book to the class! It was fun to have her visit our classroom! 

It was fun to have one my students from last year come and read to our class this week! Bella was in my class last year and it was so fun to have her come back to read to us! Bella lives next door to Marisa and they are good friends! Marisa was thrilled to have Bella read to us and Bella did a great job!

CLIFFORD READING FUN: We had fun reading Clifford books and enjoying a “dog treat” afterward! 

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, March 9: STEAM; Parent-Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, March 10: Music; Take Home Books; Book Fair look day!

Wednesday, March 11: Gym; Parent-Teacher Conferences; Book Fair buying day!

Thursday, March 12: Art; Take Home Books

Friday, March 13: STEAM; Take Home Books

Please send a working flashlight with your Kinder tomorrow for flashlight Friday reading. We are going to have a fun morning reading with the lights off and using our flashlights.