The Ryan Rap - Gull Lake Community Schools

RYAN RAP
The Ryan Rap
TEAM Ryan
“We believe it is our job to engage and educate all students by
promoting responsibility, confidence and life-long learning.”
Thomas Ryan Intermediate
9562 East M-89
Richland, MI 49083
(269) 488-5060
Fax (269) 488-5061
Upcoming Events
Thomas M. Ryan Intermediate
Happy Spring Ryan Families!
Our third and last set of conferences are
coming up on April 26th. Our third conferMarch was a jam-packed month of extra
ence session is to ensure that teachers
activities at Ryan. Our students and staff and parents have an opportunity to dishad a wonderful time celebrating all of the cuss remaining concerns or to answer end
special reading events and we are looking of year/next year questions. Our teachers
forward to our reading month assembly in will be contacting families if they feel a
April to honor the grade level with the most third conference would be beneficial for
reading minutes.
you and your child.
With our unusually warm temperatures in
March, students were able to enjoy some
extra time out on our playground. As we
welcome April, we want to remind our
families the importance of having students
bring the right gear for outside play. The
playground can become quite muddy, so
please pack extra shoes/boots for your
child to wear. It’s also important to have
your child prepared for the wide range of
temperatures so we recommend having
your child have his/her coat as well as a
lighter jacket for the warmer days.
BIG NEWS—This year we are having our
first Ryan Variety Show—Shimmer!
Please keep your eyes open for information to come home the Monday we return
from Spring Break. It will be a quick turnaround on the sign up with applications
due April 13th. Our variety show will be on
April 24th 6-8 p.m.
We hope everyone is able to enjoy the
spring break week and we look forward to
the return of our students on April 9th! --Mrs. McCaw
No School:
Spring Break
3/304/8
School Resumes
4/9
PTO Evening Mtg.
4/12
6pm
5th Grade Band
Fitting
4/16
PLC Early Release
day Dismissal @
2:25
4/18
All School Reading
Assembly /
Celebration
4/20
2pm
Earth Day
4/22
“Shimmer” (Ryan’s
1st annual Variety
Show)
4/24
6pm
1/2 Day for Students
4/26
(Dismissal @ 12:20)
Parent Teacher Conferences by appt. only
3rd Grade Spring
Concert
5/1
6:30p
TEAM RYAN
Treat others with Kindness & Respect
Excellent Attitude
Always Responsible
Make Safe Choices
Today a Reader,
Tomorrow a Leader
One of the
Ryan Reader
teams ready
for competition.
Although reading is the focus for March at the Thomas M. Ryan Intermediate, a special reading night
was recently held. On March 15, from 6-8 pm,
Ryan students, parents and teachers came together
for the first Literacy Night celebration.
Held in conjunction with the Ryan Readers, a contest where teams of readers compete on their
knowledge of specific books, the Literacy Night offered a variety of fun and informative sessions for
parents and students run by the Ryan teaching staff
and administration. Activities included bookmark
making, a book walk (remember cake walks?), a
poetry slam, a book swap, a Q&A session, and
more. Mrs. Jasiak from the Richland Library was
handing out treats, and the students of Mr. Nott
shared stories and fun.
Even Parents participated!
Reading is so important to the development of students and leaders, and this night showed all that it
is also great fun!
Our third grade students will be spending some time in May focusing on Careers. It is never too early to
start conversations with children about what they hope to be when they “grow up”. Having early discussions with children can help connect daily learning in the classroom with future career options. Students will
be introduced to the six career pathways (categories) and will begin to brainstorm jobs they may be interested in learning more about. On Friday May 11 in the morning, students will have a chance to experience a
mini-Career Day. Third graders will sign up to hear from three different presenters who will be speaking
about their career and how elementary learning can connect with what they do on the job. Encourage your
third grader to share what s/he learned in this introduction to careers.
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Ryan PTO Report
Next Meeting: April 12
@ 6pm
Thank you to all of those who filled out the
Committee Volunteer List.
Popcorn sales have been a hit and it’s great
to have such a great group of parents.
Thank you to Jen Thompson for her leader-
ship.
For all of you who volunteered for staff appreciation, we will be contacting
you in April. We will certainly need all the volunteers who are willing to help.
Conferences are April 26th and Teacher appreciation week is May 7th-11th.
Meals will be served during conferences, and a lunch is planned for Friday May 11 th.
We are asking for donations for $10 gift cards as well as food & drink donations.
Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in donating or helping in any way.
The New GaGa pit is moving forward. Special thanks to AVB for donating the materials and to Brian
Klok for volunteering his skills and equipment. We will need volunteers to help build when the date
it set. More to come…
Box Tops has been a success for the short time we have been implementing it. Thanks to all the
parents and teachers! We will be announcing the winners of the class pizza parties soon.
If you need more information on any of the above items, please contact [email protected]
Aesthetic Education:
5th Grade Goes to “Carnival of the Animals”
e
n
o
i
t
n
Att
!
The Ryan
Office….
Is accumulating
quite a collection of
smaller lost & found
items…. and some of them
are quite valuable!! If your child is missing
eye glasses, cell phones, electronic
games, or jewelry, we might have it in the
office! Be sure to give us a call or stop by.
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Through our Aesthetic Education program at Ryan
Intermediate, 5th grade students had the opportunity to go on a
field trip to Chenery auditorium to see a performance by the
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra with the Grand Rapids Ballet
Junior Company entitled
“Carnival of the Animals”. The
animal theme involves
elephants, donkeys,
kangaroos, swans and horses
through music, dance and
poetry. Students have spent
several weeks working with a
teaching artist as well as their
classroom teacher in
experiential workshops in
preparation for attending this
performance.
Ryan Rap
Reading Month Fun
By: Kara Wesley
Would you like
to hear what we
do when it’s
reading month…
then read on to
find out. Mrs.
Cushman’s, Mrs.
Ells’ (our 5th
grade buddies)
and Mrs. Koets’ (our 1st grade buddies) get
together once a month. This usually happens in
the multipurpose room. For reading month we
read books with our buddies and decorated
Harding’s bags with our favorite characters and
titles. Our 5th grade buddies also read us books
they made in their
class. We do this to
help our 1st grade
buddies get better at
reading and because
everyone loves to
read just for fun!
March
Measuring
By: Sam Beckett
Don’t you like to go outside? Do you like to
measure? How about BOTH?
In the middle of March we got to go out and
measure in the unexpected warm March
weather. Mrs. Cushman’s class went outside
to measure things like; the sidewalk, the
distance across the middle of the track and the
doorway. The distance across the track was
our biggest measurement. We did this
because we would rather go outside to learn
than sit in a stuffy room and do a worksheet.
And of course, we
did it at school. I
think I’ll remember
that day because of
all the sun.
Did you know that Ryan has a
steady stream of volunteers that
visit our school every day? We depend on the help of MANY in order
to meet the educational needs of
every child. We depend on volunteers to help in the classroom, the
office, in the lunch room, on field
trips and even outdoors in our gardens and on our playground! Our volunteers are parents,
grand-parents, community members, high-school and college
students and even dogs! If you are interested in helping at
Ryan, please speak with your child’s teacher or call the office
at 488-5060.
Officer Coles and “Emma”
stopped by for a visit to
help our students understand the importance of
TEAM Ryan behavior.
“ That was a quick hour!”
“I always leave here feeling so happy!”
“I wish I could help more often, everyone in this school is so nice.”
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Look at those PEEPS!!
The 5th grade ExCEL students have been using their
creative thinking skills and artistic abilities to design
Peeps dioramas. Their goal was to incorporate Peeps
into a diorama scene, while also using humor and puns
to add interesting details. The students could choose
from several different categories (such as current
events, historic events, songs, artists…)
They did an excellent job incorporating puns and humor into their dioramas whenever possible. Some ExCEL dioramas that were created this year were: “The
Black-Eyed Peeps,” a Peep (Jeep) dealership, “Rolling
in the Peep,” “Lady Peepa,” and many other fantastic
ideas!
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Ryan Music
Notes.
The Third
Grade is continuing to prepare for our “Spring Fling” concert on May 1 at
6:30PM in the
Ryan Gym. Classes are choosing and rehearsing their favorite songs, and will
work more on instruments in the final trimester of school.
The 4th Grade has just finished our unit on pitch, and are beginning a class composition unit, followed
by our extra fun recorder unit. Money is being collected for the recorders at this time for students who
wish to purchase one to keep.
A big thank you to everyone who worked hard at our 5th Grade musical, “The American Dream.” Lots
of parts were covered, characters costumed, and songs learned. Mr. Woolf is hoping to see increased
support for GL Vocal Music so we can get our HS musical back! We will finish the year with a unit on
pitch and compound triple meter.
The Ryan Choirs are busy preparing for our spring concert on Tuesday, May 22, at the Richland First
Presbyterian Church, as well as performances at a nursing home and a veteran’s tribute at the VA Medical Center. We are working on some beautiful and fun songs in 2
and 3-part harmony. Katy Perry’s “Firework” will be our awesome closer!
Gull Lake Ryan Odyssey of
the Mind Teams Compete
in Regional Tournament
The Ryan Intermediate was well
represented at the Odyssey of the Mind
Regional Tournament held in Delton on Saturday, March 17. Ten teams of Ryan students competed in four
different problems. The students were creative, enthusiastic and most of all, good team members as they
competed with over 50 teams from around the region. Besides performing their long term problems they also
participated in the Spontaneous Challenges which were very thought provoking this year! At the end of the day
there were some tired but happy kids at the trading and awards ceremony. Four Ryan teams placed high
enough to go on to the State Tournament which will be held in Caledonia on
April 21st. These four teams were: Gull
Lake Brainstormers, Awesome.com, Got
Yeti? and the Shredders. We
congratulate all of the teams for
participating in Odyssey of the Mind and
wish the best of luck to the teams
continuing on to State!!
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The following “student leader pages” have
been created by our Student Council
Newsletter committee.
April and Easter Jokes, by Zach
Q: When do monkeys fall from the sky? A: During Ape-ril showers!
Q: Where does the Easter bunny eat breakfast? A: I HOP
Q: What kind of music do bunnies like? A: Hip Hop
Spring Clothes
By Clara Sandell
This is a little poem about spring
clothes.
Shirts are short sleeved
Pants can be short, too
Raincoats are useful, when it rains on
you.
If it is hot, wear something cool,
Nice weather is near,
Gee, Spring is here!
That was some advice about how to dress in the spring.
And here is a little bit more.
If it is cold, wear some layers, so if it gets hot, you
can take them off. Here is
some gear to protect you
when you are outside: umbrella, rain coats, rain
boots, spring jackets, windbreakers.
If you don’t like rain, I’ve got a little saying for you. April
showers bring May flowers.
Girls on the Run
Did you know that Mrs. Hawkins, one of
our 5th grade teachers is a Girls on the
run liaison? Mrs. Hawkins sends notes
home to parents, gets supplies for
practice, and makes sure girls reach their
goals that they have set. There are four
teams practice at Ryan Int. track and two
teams practice Kellogg El. The teams
practice two days a week for ten weeks.
At practices the girls will learn about
team building, healthy choices, and
problem solving, and doing your best.
They will also run on the track. On May
24th all six teams go to Waldo Stadium at
6:00pm and run a 5k (3.1 miles) with
other teams from the Kalamazoo area.
Good Luck girls!
So now, I hope that you know how to dress in the spring,
and now you are prepared if it rains or if it is sunny.
Odyssey of the Mind Competition
By Hannah Lord
On March 17th groups from around west Michigan come to Delton to compete against others for the 2012
Odyssey of the Mind competition. There are 6 different problems: Weird Science, You Make the Call, Hide
and Peek, Odyssey Angels, Ohh- Motional Vehicle, and To Be Or Not To Be. There are approximately 14
teams representing Gull Lake. Most of the teams practiced over 4 months! Congratulations to all the Gull Lake
teams! Will anybody be going on to the state competition???
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SPRING!
April Weather 2012
By Mason Busch
By Makenna Martin
Can you believe Spring is already here?
Winter was very short this year and there are a
lot of sad skiers and snowmobilers. In fact the
winter from December through February 2012,
was the 4th mildest winter in recorded time here
in the state. April weather looks to be warm and
sunny! Michigan in the Spring is one of my favorite seasons. Soccer, baseball, tennis, golf,
football and so many other sports are coming to
life!
My research has indicated that the highest predicted temperature for April is supposed
to be 67 degrees. The lowest predicted temperature is 33 degrees. The forecast for April
does call for above-average warm temperatures,
but cold weather at some point in the next few
weeks is almost certain. Now, we all know that
this IS Michigan and the weather can sure
change quickly.
No matter what happens, be sure to wear
sunscreen or sun block to protect your body
from sunburns!
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