Hello Hemmeter Families,

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of meeting New York Times Bestselling author, Amanda

Ripley. Mrs. Ripley is the author of the book, The Smartest Kids in the World and How They got

That Way. It was a wonderful, thought-provoking evening. One particularly interesting part of

her presentation was how schools use parents. At dinner that evening, I had the opportunity to

talk to her more about this idea. Mrs. Ripley encouraged schools to use parents as “multipliers”

for learning. She encouraged schools to look beyond using parents for fundraising

opportunities, but also provide them with strategies and tips to support academic learning.

She specifically praised our math night at Hemmeter. This night gave parents the tools to

multiply the students’ opportunities to learn because they have multiple people supporting the

learning process. My favorite quote from Amanda about this topic was when she said, “Don’t

just use your robocalls to remind parents about Chipotle night, use the robocalls to share

reading comprehension strategies.” I accept Amanda Ripley’s challenge to share more

information with parents on how they can help support the instruction in the classroom. The

Scholastic Book Fair provided my first opportunity.

The Scholastic Book Fair is one of my favorite events of the year. I love to see the students

browsing the books and skipping back to class ready to dive into a new adventure. Erin Casey

and her crew of volunteers have done an amazing job this year. One of the items they put out

was a “spin chart” for parents to read. The wheel spins and it tells the correlation between

minutes spent reading and reading achievement. For example, students that spend 6.5 minutes

reading every day score in the 60th percentile in reading achievement. Students that spend

21.1 minutes reading every day score in the 90th percentile in reading achievement. The

display also provides a brochure on how you can help your child develop stronger reading skills.

Here are some of the tips for how you can be a multiplier and improve reading comprehension

for your child.

• Set the example. Let your children see you read. Your reading behaviors will have a

strong influence on theirs.

• Allow children to choose their own books to read. They will be much more likely to read

the whole book if given the chance to self-select what they want to read.

• Have a collection of books in the home. When kids have easy access to books, they will

read more.

• Update your collection of books routinely to keep pace with your child’s tastes and

preferences. Adding books to any library at any time increases a child’s chance for

success.

• Encourage your child to have a personal reading space. Call it their idea space. Any

space within the home can be an idea space with the simple addition of books.

• Provide time for your child to read daily. This will strengthen his/her reading skills and

help them establish a healthy, daily habit.

• Help kids get a library card. They are free and provide all kids with great access to a

wide range of books all year long.

(From Scholastic)

You have probably noticed the Hotline comes later in the month than it has in previous years.

This allows us to include the minutes from the HPTC meeting. The HPTC minutes provide an

informative and comprehensive record of events and happenings in the school.

Warmly,

Jim Bailey

Mrs. Pratt’s STEM Catapult Project

In an effort to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) in our classroom, I

posed a problem to the class. A castle was surrounded by water and the villagers needed food.

How would we get them the food using only a few given materials? The students discussed

ideas and concluded that we would have to build a machine. I showed them several real

pictures of old and new style catapults. Then we began to build. After all of our catapults were

constructed, we launched them in waves to see which styles were most successful. Whether or

not the food made it to the castle, we had a great discussion on how to make our catapults

more successful in the future. It was amazing to see the creativity and determination the

students have!

Here is a link to a video of the catapult project:

Mrs. Pratt’s Catapult Video Link:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/854e07426f5f465b95f1/

Fifth Grade Vocabulary Costume Projects

On Friday, October 31, fifth grade students constructed and wore costumes to

school that depicted the meaning of one of the vocabulary words they’ve learned

so far this year. The students were asked to be extremely creative in their designs.

Some of the words chosen this year were indelible, luminous, senility, judiciously,

IT’S IMPORTANT TO SELF-REFLECT….IN SCIENCE!!!!

There are many forms of writing, and it is a skill to be used in all

subject areas. The students in Mrs. Kelsey’s fourth grade science

classes learned how to write a self-reflection regarding what they

learned within a unit on insects. A key question considered

throughout the unit was: What do insects and humans have in

common?

Reflection from Mia Polson:

Your HPTC has been very busy the month of October. First, I would like to thank Kelly

Duvendack for her work with the Hemmeter Family Directory. It is a huge job, and she

worked very hard to make sure each family received a perfect book. Thank you, Kelly! I

would also like to thank Amy Denay and Luann Bugbee for their coordination of a very

successful used book sale. We were fortunate to raise over $700 that Luann will use in our

library. Also, thank you to Nicole Royer and Serina Ortega for coordinating the Mom- 2-

Mom sale.

We are also very excited to have approved the purchase and construction of a few

new items for our playground. Look for new artwork on the asphalt as well as new wall ball

courts, a gaga pit, shed, as well as many new toys and games. This purchase would not have

been possible without the generous support of our Hemmeter families, both present and

especially the past. THANK YOU!! We are trying to construct as many as we can before

the snow flies…but I did just read the forecast, and I’m not sure how much time we have

left. If you are interested in participating in any aspect of the playground projects, please

let us know.

Square 1 order forms will be available right before Thanksgiving for many of your

gift-giving needs. There will also be a Beef O’Brady’s fundraiser night on November 19.

Remember: All funds raised enable our students to attend field trips and participate

in extracurricular activities such as DI and Junior Lego League. Please do not forget

to join the Hemmeter Parent Teacher Council page on Facebook for the latest updates.

I am so thankful to the Hemmeter family, including teachers, staff, and students,

for their awesome ability to give their time, talent, and treasure to our school. None of

what we do would be possible without this support. Thank you! Have a safe and wonderful

Thanksgiving holiday.

Physical Education News

October was a great month to get outside and be active. During the month

of October, students worked hard on their soccer unit. We worked on

fundamental skills such as dribbling, passing, kicking, and goaltending. The skills

they worked on during P.E. will benefit them whether they are playing on an

organized team or in their own back yard!

During the month of November, Hemmeter students will be practicing Sport

Stacking in Physical Education. Sport Stacking is an exciting individualized & team

sport where participants stack & unstack twelve plastic cups in a predetermined

sequence.

Sport stacking helps students develop bilateral proficiency, which assists in

equal performance on both sides of the body. By increasing bilateral proficiency, a

student develops a greater percentage of the right side of the brain, which houses

awareness, focus, creativity and rhythm. Stacking helps train the brain for sports

and other activities where the use of both hands is important, such as playing a

musical instrument or using the computer.

If you are interested in learning more about this great sport, please go to

www.speedstacks.com or contact Mrs. Bordeaux.

SCRIP for the Holidays

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Are you traveling out of town to visit family? Stock up

on Speedway gift cards or browse the list of available gas cards at shopwithscrip.com. Are you

making the feast for your loved ones? Use our Meijer or Walmart scrip before heading to the

store.

The Great Lakes Scrip Center is offering limited time denominations for the holidays. The

following will be available until Christmas break:

Amazon.com: $10

AMC Theaters: $10

Barnes and Nobles: $5

CVS/pharmacy: $10

Groupon: $10

Meijer: $10

Outback: $10

Panera Bread: $5

Pizza Hut: $5

Target: $10

Starbucks: $5

Walmart: $10

If you’d like to order these cards, write them in on the bottom of the weekly order form, or log

on to shopwithscrip.com and fill out your own order.

Thanks for supporting SCRIP!

Emily Deibel

SAVE THE DATE!!

Friday, February 27, 2015 is SPARK Day

The Wonderful World of SPARK XXVIII is a full day of hands-on

enrichment classes for all students at Hemmeter Elementary. This day

is planned and paid for by HPTC. We will need parent volunteers to

help the day run smoothly. If you are interested in helping out, please

save the date and look for the volunteer opportunities sign-up sheet in

late January.

Thank You! Thank You!Thank You! Thank You!Thank You! Thank You!Thank You! Thank You!

Thank you Hemmeter families for making the Used Book SaleThank you Hemmeter families for making the Used Book SaleThank you Hemmeter families for making the Used Book SaleThank you Hemmeter families for making the Used Book Sale a HUGE a HUGE a HUGE a HUGE success! We appreciate those who donated, those who helped price the books, those success! We appreciate those who donated, those who helped price the books, those success! We appreciate those who donated, those who helped price the books, those success! We appreciate those who donated, those who helped price the books, those who worked the sale, and of course those who shopped! With this great team who worked the sale, and of course those who shopped! With this great team who worked the sale, and of course those who shopped! With this great team who worked the sale, and of course those who shopped! With this great team

efforteffortefforteffort,,,, we were able to raise $780.20 to purchase new nonfiction ewe were able to raise $780.20 to purchase new nonfiction ewe were able to raise $780.20 to purchase new nonfiction ewe were able to raise $780.20 to purchase new nonfiction e----books, fiction, books, fiction, books, fiction, books, fiction, and pictand pictand pictand picture books for our school library. Great job everyone!!ure books for our school library. Great job everyone!!ure books for our school library. Great job everyone!!ure books for our school library. Great job everyone!!

HPTC & Friends of the LibraryHPTC & Friends of the LibraryHPTC & Friends of the LibraryHPTC & Friends of the Library

Kids Run the Nation

Kids Run the Nation is wrapping up our second season at Hemmeter this week. We had 118 K-

5th graders participate this season. The kids learned about pacing, warming up, cooling down,

stretching and healthy “energy foods.” Their enthusiasm for physical activity has been great this

season. We have seen kids who could barely run 1 lap at the beginning of the season

completing their full 1 mile “practice” run. Thank you to all the lead coaches and parent

runners. We couldn’t have done it without you! A special thanks to Dawn Stevens, Eli Chilatis

and Angie Hirschenberger for leading our little runners. The time and energy you give every

week is invaluable!

Our season will culminate in a 1-mile fun run on Saturday November 22nd at 10:30 a.m. If you

would like to come and cheer for the runners, please feel free to join us. We are starting at

Hoyt warming house and will be ending at Andersen Enrichment Center. Our runners will have

snacks after the race that will be donated by HPTC.

Pre-registration for next year will be going on in May. If your child is interested in running next

season, please be sure to complete that form.

Thank you again to all of our participants, coaches, helpers and parents. We could not have had

such a successful season without you!

Hemmeter Parent Teacher Council Minutes

November 5, 2014, 6:00 PM, Ms. Lewis’ room

I. Call to Order/Welcome: Jennifer Jaffe at 6:00 p.m. In Attendance: Jennifer Jaffe, Jenny Boelter, Jaime Huffman, Sarah Jane Deibel, Jim Bailey, Jill Rummler, Josh Mosher, Becky Mosher, Jenesa Niswonger, Emily Deibel, Jennifer Sederlund, Karrie Baskins, Jamie Barnes, Rachel Chalraw, Julie Weisenberger, Cathy Champagne, Kelli Stricker.

II. Housekeeeping Items: a. October minutes were submitted by Jennifer Jaffe and accepted as written. b. Thank you note for acknowledging her birthday was received from Alison Pratt. Thank you cards from the staff were received for the dinner provided by HPTC at Math Curriculum night. c. October Financial report submitted by Jenny Boelter. Fundraisers made: Goodrich- $211.25, Chuck E. Cheese 87.07, Scrip $382.95, Used book sale $784.20

HPTC paid for Author visit from Aaron Zenz, Field trips, Super SideKick assembly, Teacher dinner on Math Curriculum night. Ipads through Scrip funds are coming.

III. President’s report by Jen Jaffe a. Thank you to Kelly Duvendeck for 5 or 6 years of doing the directory. They look amazing, and she is careful and quick in getting them done. We need a volunteer to continue this next year. b. Thank you to LuAnn Bugbee and committee for the Used Book Sale that raised $784.20, with most books priced at $.25. Leftover books were donated to charities for St. Mary’s Emergency department and a Homeless organization in Saginaw city. c. Thank you to the Staff for the Math Curriculum Night – great feedback from parents. d. No volunteer was found for Hemmeter Harmony, so we don’t have a school choir this year. We will still have a school fundraiser night at the Spirit hockey game. Jaime Huffman suggested we try to get on the list for the 2 kids that get to ride the Zamboni.

IV. New Business: Playground Equipment Proposal Jennifer Jaffe presented Emily Deibel’s Playground Equipment proposal. A surplus of funds raised through SCRIP over time needs to be used for the benefit of the school. Emily researched and priced equipment that will maximize the playground area and engage students during recess, especially when confined to the blacktop in winter.

Mr. Jim Bailey shared that a committee of parents and teachers met last year and identified iPads and playground improvements as our students’ biggest need. Also, discipline problems disappear when kids are engaged on the playground. This proposal will open up more areas so the kids can spread out.

Jill Rummler shared that the community will also benefit from an improved playground, so previous students can also benefit from their contributions to SCRIP.

Emily Deibel moved to allocate up to $12,000 of the SCRIP surplus funds to purchase new playground equipment and storage facilities. The equipment includes 6 wall-ball courts, GaGa Pit, reusable stencils for blacktop games, shed and assorted toys. Rachel Chaltraw seconded, and the motion passed with unanimous approval.

We will need 4 committees for building/assembling: 1-GaGa Pit, 2- Stencils (Deibels

will do this), 3- build the shed, 4-purchase playground equipment. VOLUNTEERS

please contact HPTC at hptchemmeter@gmail.com or on Facebook.

V. Vice-President’s Report: Jaime Huffman Kids Run The Nation – we are part of the Saginaw chapter of a national program. On Nov 22 our runners will be participating in the Reindeer run with Girls on the Run. A nominal fee was paid by the school and individual fees, snacks and medals are all provided. They have asked for donations of post-race food for runners. Jaime proposed that $100 from the miscellaneous fund be allocated to purchase bananas for the race. It was approved with 18 of 18 votes. It was recommended that Jacks fruit market could provide a discount on the bananas for school purchase. We need parent volunteers to assist on Nov 22.

VI. Faculty Report: Jill Rummler - Teachers are all busy with report cards. Here are some highlights for each grade:

Kindergarten – · Firefighter Brian is coming November 13th

· Thanksgiving Feast will be held the week of Thanksgiving

· Working on Square 1 Art First Grade –

· Working on writing a friendly letter

· Will write friendly letters to people they are thankful for the week of Thanksgiving. Second Grade –

· Landform projects will be on display in the hall the week of November 17th

· Clickers – Mr. Bailey modeled a lesson on how to use the clickers. (Each student gets a

clicker, which is wirelessly connected to the Promethian Boards. The teacher can ask a

question and then see immediately how many students got it right. Teacher can privately

review individual answers. The kids love it.)

Third Grade –

· Mrs. Weber – Her class formed their own student council and set their own goals to help their class and the school. They recently accomplished a goal to clean the playground. · Social Studies Project – “Dress up a person for an activity in Michigan” - Given a template of a person to dress up as something you do in Michigan (Ski, collect rocks, etc.)

Fourth Grade –

· Social Studies – Studying government and memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution.

· Science - Working on self-reflections from science notebooks – recently finished Insect project. (Mrs. Rummler recently used 4th grade notebooks to teach her second graders how to write.)

· Hartley – Week after Thanksgiving

Fifth Grade –

· Raised $346.00 for the Make a Wish Foundation selling pumpkins

· Vocab costume party was a hit · Working on Genius hour – 1 hour in the lab per week to research anything of interest. Students choose a question to answer and choose a way to present what was learned. · Thank you to Mahar Tool and the Kessel family for funding our Young at Art first and second grade field trip to the Temple Theater – Skippy John Jones

· Music (Mr. Rodriguez) – Tryouts for 5th grade musical Shrek are going on this week · Student Council (Mrs. Kahl) – Brainstorming Spirit Days and possible community service projects

· Thanks so much for providing us with dinner on Math Night!!!! A lot of positive feedback from teachers, who liked presenting in teams. · Thank you from Mrs. Bugbee to all who were involved with the Used Book Sale. $784.20 will be used to purchase new books and non-fiction e-books (like Science).

VII. Principal’s Report: Jim Bailey Congratulations to David Jaffe (newly elected) and Mike Colucci (continuing) on the school board. Thank you to Nicole Royer for organizing the Mom to Mom sale this Saturday, 11/8 and Sherie Boss for doing Chess Club.

Coding in Elementary School: Mr. Bailey

Mr. Bailey has been working with the students on coding, and was able to take some students to present to other districts about what our students can do.

A video on why our students need coding was shown. Internet entrepreneurs got their start as children. Coding teaches you how to think: to break down problems and persevere. Technology and computers affect every industry and career, but there are more jobs than qualified workers.

Hour Of Code Worldwide is a project with a goal of getting 100 million students involved. Code.org provides curriculum for K-1, 2-3, 4-5 online with 20 hours of instruction each. Code-able has age level curriculums, including a game for 4-5 graders where they create their own game like Flappy Bird. There are web-based programs linked on the school webpage so kids can do coding at home. Lightbot, grades 2-5, has a free flash version and a $3 app.

There will be a day for parents to come to school and participate in the Hour of Code so they can also learn how to code and participate.

VIII. Committee reports:

a. Rachel Chaltraw (School Store): planning to add a tie-dye shirt for the holiday order and discontinue sweats since they don’t sell well. (Becky Mosher said Fun Fair will switch to plain shirts so tie-dye will add variety). Rachel has some stock for the store to help with order corrections. b. Jennifer Sederlund (Box Tops): Check for December projected to be $2,283.00, subject to official review. Meijer stopped running their bonus boxtop receipts which eliminated about $700 from our normal collection.

-If anyone orders Hanes T-shirts (Teams? Work?) a copy of your invoice will give the school $.10/T-shirt. Rachel to check price difference and see if school store should switch to Hanes. -Labels for Education has reduced product offering by consolidating vendors, but offers a $250 Visa gift card option. Principal and HPTC board to discuss options with Jennifer. c. Becky Mosher (Fun Fair- March 21): First meeting Nov 21 @ 6:30 at Rachel

Chaltraw’s house. We need one parent per game to run the game and pass on each

year. Looking for someone to head the Auction next year, after training with

current volunteer this year.

- Becky will do the Raffle License. d. Next Meeting Wednesday, December 3 at 6:00 (Mr. Bailey will be at Hartley with 4th

graders).

IX. Adjourned at 7:18 pm.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED THE FOLLOWING COMMITTEES NEED A FEW EXTRA HANDS… PLEASE CONSIDER VOLUNTEERING.

• Kids Run the Nation – volunteers needed to help at the final race on November 22.

Please check the HPTC Facebook page for more info or message Jaime Huffman.

• Scholastic Book Fair – volunteers needed! Go to signupgenius.com and create a

membership. It’s free and easy! Then, use Erin Casey’s email address to find our Book

Fair sign-up: eccasey912@sbcglobal.net. If you have any questions, send Erin an email.

• Playground improvements - We will need 4 committees for building/assembling: 1-

GaGa Pit, 2- Stencils (Deibels will do this), 3- build the shed, 4-purchase playground

equipment. VOLUNTEERS please contact HPTC at hptchemmeter@gmail.com or on

Facebook.

• (Fun Fair- March 21): First meeting Nov 21 @ 6:30 at Rachel Chaltraw’s house. We

need one parent per game to run the game and pass it on each year. Looking for

someone to head the Auction next year, after training with current volunteer this year.

• Hemmeter Directory: Volunteer to do the school directory next year.

HELPFUL DATES

November 13 – Papa John’s Night November 19 – Hemmeter Night at Beef O’Brady’s November 20 – Square 1 Artwork order forms are sent home. November 30 – Square 1 orders are due (either online or through school) December 3 - Next HPTC meeting December 4 – Hornet Shop (spirit wear) order forms due with product delivery before the holidays! December 11 – Papa John’s Night December 16 – Square 1 art will be delivered to students at school