Holmes has a greenhouse!  

Our students have been planting, watering, and getting ready for spring!  We have also partnered with, The People Center to transplant some of the plants grown in our greenhouse to their outdoor community gardens.  There will be fresh produce to share!  A big thank you to Mrs. Highhill, Mrs. DeVries, Student Council, and Emma Wahlberg for all of their hard work and dedication this project.

Ask your child what they are growing, what they have witnessed out in the greenhouse, and what they think of this amazing opportunity!

What a crazy weather weekend…which led to a SNOW DAY in April!  I could not believe it!

To support the work of helping students put their technology down and do something “different”, new, interesting, and just without technology, I put out a “Snow Day Challenge”:

Snow Day April 16!

Sleep in! Build a snowman! Make it tech free and let us know what you do! I just might have some train tickets for you!! I will look for your pictures, emails, and posts!

💕Mrs. Smits

A BIG thank you to all the teachers that shared this challenge and to all that reached out to share with me the ways their children put their technology down and spent some time enjoying the day!  Such great ways to be present and mindful…Your brain is happy!

I also had some families reach out to me without pictures and I appreciate your participation too!  Thanks!

Here are their pictures:

I have had the amazing opportunity to work with every student at Holmes and interact with classrooms to teach them the power of their brain.  One area that we chose to focus on was the AMYGDALA.  This is the emotional control center of the brain.  When we can take the time and have the strategies to slow or calm this part of our brain down, the rest of our brain works better.  We can think, make clear decisions, move carefully, and store so many great facts!  The way to do this is to teach our students strategies to calm and/or slow down their amygdala.  It will also allow them to calm and/or slow down their bodies.  Mindfulness is the avenue.

This last round of lessons, along with our “Mindful Mondays” have given me ways to teach the children how to mindfully listen and mindfully breathe.  When our students can pay attention to their breathing, they can calm the thoughts that come and go from their mind.  They can pay attention.  We have all learned how to “Sit Like a Frog” and “Move Like a Sloth”.  You should ask your child all about these and maybe they can show you.  Frogs are purposeful in their movement, they are not easily distracted, they pay attention and still move small part of their body and breathe.  They are a good visual for practicing mindfulness.  We even have a school mascot that will help us remember to practice.  We know that mindful listening, breathing, and moving takes practice.  We are committed to practicing.

I have included a short video that shows the importance of teaching children mindfulness.  I have found that it helps adults too!

My family and I sat down to watch the movie, “Wonder” last night.  I know…it was out a long time ago…but none the less…we watched it last night.  I cannot believe the impact it had on me.  Have you seen it?  If you have not, I highly recommend sitting down with your family and watching it.

There are so many messages and themes that can be pulled out of this movie.  There are many things that we can talk about with our children in terms of small, subtle messages and big picture messages.  You will find messages of the importance of friendship, how to have tolerance, the power of inner beauty, and family interactions that make you think…  It has bullying, tearful moments (lots for me), and laughter as well.  It is worth your time.  I promise.

It is a movie that throughout your time watching, you can say…”How does that make you feel?”  “What would you do in that situation?”  “What will happen next?”  “Why do you think they acted that way?”  These conversations with our children are important and this movie is an easy way to get the conversation started.  It is worth your time.  I promise.

I would love to know what you and your family had to say about it when you watched it or when you watch it.  Let me know!

It is March and you know what that means…  March is Reading Month!  We will spend the whole month adding some fun activities for school and home AND we will engage our students in reading, reading, reading…

We sent home a colored packet for parents to help from home and we will send reminders of upcoming events in the Holmes Happenings.  I have also attached the calendar in case you want another for the fridge!

Click here:  MIRM Calendar 2018-2adfmg8

Our first D.E.A.R (Drop Everything And Read) event was a Beach Themed Kick Off !  We had the whole school decked out in beachy clothes and their beach towels – READING!  Check out these pictures!

More to come…

Did you know that the word of the month for January was COOPERATION?  The reason I am looking back is because we completed this awesome project as a school and I just have to share it!  All month we talked about what cooperation looked like, sounded like, and felt like.  To culminate the work we had done, we had each teacher read the book, Only One You.  Each student then received a rock (donated by Mike Rose Landscaping – Thank you!).  They took the rock to art and decorated it with their own fish.  They then added words (motivational and inspirational) to complete the rock.  We then took all the rocks from every student and created our own river.  It is amazing…  So many things can work so well when we work together – COOPERATION!  I just had to share.

Exciting News!

Holmes Elementary and Jeffers Elementary were 2 schools out of only 13 schools in Michigan that were nominated by the Michigan Department of Education to receive a National Blue Ribbon Nomination.  From here, we complete an application to see if we can become a National Blue Ribbon School.  We have received some media attention…  Check out the links below…

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/Education/2018/02/19/Two-Spring-Lake-schools-nominated-for-national-award

Two schools, one district nominated for National Blue Ribbon Award

This month our word is PERSEVERANCE.  We will spend time talking about what this word means and how students can use it in their everyday life.  Each classroom has a poster they can refer to and will be completing activities and talking about important people in our history and our world that display or had to have perseverance.  It is a perfect time to talk about the Olympics and all the hard work and perseverance that each athlete will have to show or had to have to get where they are today.

This month we will also have the “Perseverance People” stop by each week to add quotes throughout the school that can motivate us and help remind us to persevere.

How can you help your child at home?  You can continue to give them the words to use that create and foster that growth mindset…

“You don’t have it…YET”

“You CAN do it…”

“Try again”

“Yes…it is hard, but you can persevere”

Thanks for all you do at home!

We are closing up January and heading towards February…  I cannot believe it!  We have had a great month of cooperation at Holmes.  We have practiced many ways of being cooperative and many classrooms have earned their COOPERATION spirit sticks.  Ask your child all about it!

                           

Hi Everyone,

I wanted a place to share the fabulous work of our students and a way to share all the great things we do at Holmes that focus on our curriculum and culture.

Please check in often or sign up to receive updates when I add to the blog.

Sandra Smits