Nietling News
Room 122 May 2023
DISTRICT NEWS
Memorial Day Weekend and Other Important
Dates
Friday, May 26, 2023 will be a half day. Students will
be dismissed at 12:20 PM. There will be no school on
Memorial Day wich is Monday, May 29, 2023 . The
final week of school also includes several half days.
➔ May 26: Half-Day for Scholars (am) |
Non-Work Day (pm)
➔ May 29: No School - Memorial Day
➔ June 7-9: Half Day for Scholars (am) | Records
Flex (pm)
➔ June 9: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR
SCHOLARS
SCHOOL-WIDE NEWS
New Staff at North Park by Fiyori
Ms. Ritsma. She gets here at 7:30 AM. She likes the
people the most. She mostly comes to see children. She
hopes that children will learn and have a great time.
Mr. Morse. He likes the people the most and the
history of the school. He least likes some people that
come during the school day and do stuff like take
bricks off the building… WHAT?!
Mr. Hall. He likes the people the most and says
everybody has been so welcoming to him. Mostly he
has nothing he does not like. (YES!) He mostly checks
in with kids. He hopes to grow as a community.
Ms Sam. She likes the people the most. She mostly
deals with student records, early dismissal and kids
being late for school. Last but not least, she started
working here in October 2022.
.
GRPS Teacher Named Teacher of the Year
Stephanie Nielsen, a kindergarten teacher at Shawmut
Hills, has been named one of 10 Regional Teachers of
the Year and now is a finalist for the Michigan Teacher
of the Year award.
GRPS School Board Has Gone on the Road
The school board has begun holding some meetings in
the community. The board meeting scheduled for
Monday, May 15 will take place at Southwest Middle
High School - Academia Bilingüe at 6:30 p.m.
Recess by Jude
The students in Ms. Nietling’s, Ms. Jovanovic’s and
Ms. Ostrander’s class have recess outside at 1:00 after
lunch. Kids play at recess. They play gaga ball,
football, and more. They get recess Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We have a
playground at recess for playing. There is also a
basketball court for playing basketball and a big field
for soccer.
The Broken Mast Mathias J. Alten
GRAM by Zach
North Park Montessori third
graders went to GRAM
(Grand Rapids Art Museum)
on March 3, 2023. The third
graders saw several pieces of
art, including Cascade, The Hunt, The Tornado, and
Sunlit Interior. The third graders saw more. The reason
why they went is because they need to learn how to tell
what people mean when they are painting, so they
know what they are thinking. The third graders took
notes and listened to the guides.
First Grade Field Trip
All first grade students at North Park will go to
Blandford Nature Center on May 24, 2023 to learn
about plants and seeds, as well as the interdependence
of plants and animals. They will leave at 9:15 and
come back at 11:30. This will be a fun field trip!
Lunch by Jack Barecki & Cameron Tomaszewski
Ms. Nietling’s class eats lunch with Ms. Jovonovic’s
class and Ms. Ostrander’s class. They have lunch after
the middle schoolers. After lunch, they have recess.
Lunch is a very loud place. People do not get quiet
when the lights are off. People cut in line! Why would
you cut in line? They probably want to be in line with
their friends.
Gina prepares breakfast and lunch. She works in the
lunchroom from 6:30am to 2:30pm. The thing she likes
best about her job is seeing kids.
Grammar Drawers by Henry R.
Kids work on grammar drawers to get smarter.
Teachers give lessons to kids so they can understand
and learn how to do them. There are grammar drawers
in each E1 classroom. Each drawer has cards you can
make sentences with. There are drawers for nouns,
articles, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, pronouns,
conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections. Students
usually work on grammar drawers in the morning.
Library by Juliette
North Park has a library. Students check out books and
sometimes do crafts in the library. They practice their
reading skills and discover new books. Ms. Sarah is the
person who checks out the books to students.
Wednesdays at 2:20 p.m. is Ms. Nietling’s library time.
Students get to keep their books for one week long and
on Wednesday they can return them or renew them.
Ms. Sarah orders books every year. GRPS gives North
Park a budget to spend for those books.
Art Class by Florence
All the students at North Park have art class. Room
122 goes to art class Monday at 1:35 p.m. The art room
is downstairs. Art is good for your brain, good for
problem solving, and makes the world beautiful. It can
capture our imagination. Most people like art. Anyone
can be an artist. The art equipment costs a lot of
money. Cave people were the first people to make art.
Music Class by Ford and Hannah
The school music teacher is Ms. Sam. We learn music
and music notes using instruments like rhythm sticks,
egg shakers, and lots of other things. Ms Nietlings
class goes on Tuesdays at 1:35 - 2:15 and some other
classes go on Tuesdays but at different times. The
music room is room 116. In music we have to be kind,
be responsible, and try our best. We call those rules
rockstar rules and if we follow the rules, each week
there will be one kid who gets to sit in a really
comfortable chair. We go to music class to learn music
and we like to have fun. In music we have 3 stars and
if we keep all those stars throughout the month we get
a piece of candy at the end of the month. Each year we
have a spring concert in E1 at the gym. Parents may
come and see the concert but if they don't have time
they can come and pick up their kid outside.
Physical Education Class by Maddie
Physical Education (P.E.) Class is to get your heart
pumping and keep you healthy. All North Park students
get P.E. class. They have P.E. in the gym. Room 122
has P.E. on Thursdays at 1:35 p.m. The P.E. Equipment
can cost between $10 and $150. The P.E. instructor’s
name is Ms. Kieren. She prefers the class to be called
P.E. rather than “gym.” Students run, jump, and play
games like Doctor Mario, cup stacking, bowling,
soccer, basketball, dodgeball, and volleyball. At the
end of P.E. class we usually do deep belly breathing.
During Kids Heart Challenge, some kids get keychains
at the end of class.
Kids Heart Challenge
Maddox and Ramona interviewed Ms. Kieren.
Kids heart challenge helps raise money for the
American Heart Association (AHA). This money is
used for research, education and equipment. During
class, students learn how to help hearts stay healthy.
They learn how to spot a heart attack or stroke.
Throughout the fundraising period, North Park
friends and family donate to the AHA. Kids can earn
prizes for fundraising. The dragon keychains and other
animals are little incentives. Each keychain has a
reminder for the kids to help them keep their hearts
healthy. For example, Breeze helps remind kids to stay
away from smoking. Kids do NOT have to do
fundraising for Kids Heart Challenge, but all students
will learn about heart health during PE throughout the
fundraising period. AHA gives some of the money
back to our school in the form of gift certificates for
new PE equipment to strengthen the PE/health
program.
Kids heart challenge was created by the
American Heart Association and the professional PE
organization in the US as a way to fight the very high
percentage of deaths caused by heart disease.
LOCAL NEWS (Room 122)
Class Rules by Xavier
The classmates in Room 122 came up with the class
rules in the beginning of the year. They all signed a
contract. The rules are about getting to work, reading
quietly, and things like that. Sometimes the class can
earn points for fun activities when they are all
following the rules.
Ms. Neitling By Henry F.
Ms. Nietling is a teacher in room 122, North Park
Montessori. She comes in to work at about 8:15am,
and she leaves at about 5:30pm on Monday and on
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays she
leaves at about 5:00pm. There are 25 students and
about 380 works. She sometimes wishes she had more
time to spend with all the students. She likes teaching
beacuse it is challenging. Ms. Nietling was inspired by:
Dr. James Sawyer, Drew, Ms. Kathy, and Ms. Mikrut
and many others.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE HALLWAY?
An investigative report by Everett
This journalist was spying on people in the
hallway. Here is what he observed.
A lot of the stuff that happens in the hallway is
snack, chatting, and Lexia. Some kids are goofing off.
Some kids are getting a drink of water.
There is a lot of off topic chatter in the hallway
during work time. For some reason it is not just the
kids talking about stuff that is not school related, it is
also the TEACHERS.
The weirdest thing that was observed was this:
People were DUMPING THEIR WATER BOTTLES
ON THE FLOOR. WHY!?!!!!!?????????
Plants by Evie
There are at least 170 plants inside North Park. There
is a type of plant that has stuff like snot called aloe.
Other kinds of plants include cactus, fern, and pothos.
Here is an illustration of the plants
growing in the hydroponic tower in
the hallway.
The Technology by Elliott
Room 122 has Chromebooks and tablets. Students
use this technology to access Xtra Math, Typing.com,
Lexia, and Happy Numbers.
We use these programs for learning. Xtra Math
helps students do math faster. Typing.com helps
students learn to type. Lexia helps students learn to
spell and learn to use proper grammar. Happy Numbers
helps students do math. Students also use Google Docs
to write stuff like THIS!
There are some limits to the technology. We can
only watch educational videos. We can not play video
games. Teachers and other people can block certain
sites.
Guest Readers by Roman
Ms Keiren, Mr. Andy, some parents, and even the
Mayor of Grand Rapids read to the students in
Room 122 in March, because March is Reading
Month. They came to our room, picked out a
book, and read it to the class. Thank you!
Orthodontics by April Mystery Guest (continued)
This journalist surveyed After the presentation is done, the class has to guess
the class to find out how who the mystery guest is. The student can bring
many students are getting something that the mystery guest used when they were
alive or if they are currently alive. We have one
orthodontic treatments.
mystery guest every day until the end of the year.
Here are the results:
3 braces & expander, 2 just expander, 6 might get orthodontics
Students do Mystery Guest because it teaches them
about famous people and how the world changes
Store by Kevin because of them.
Ms. Nietling started the class store in 2019 when
she saw another class do it. In the class store, there are Quiet Ball by Holden
toys and stickers and sometimes gum that students can Room 122 plays Quiet Ball at the end of the
buy with fake money. day, but not everyday. The students sit on the tables
Students earn the fake money. They earn a base pay and try to catch the ball.
of $5 by doing class jobs. Students can also earn You have to be quiet to win Quiet ball. In
bonuses for helping with work, giving lessons, getting Quiet Ball, you can’t talk or else you’ll be out. You
ten works done in a day, or making learning mistakes. can’t put your legs on the table. You can’t put your feet
Students can be fined for things like exiting the on the ground or else you’ll be out. You have to catch
classroom without permission, blurting out of turn, or the ball. If your feet touch the ball you are out. The last
being disrespectful. one out is the winner. It’s fun!
Students also have to pay taxes. The tax is 10% of
what students have at the time the store opens. If over Timeline of Life
$100 in taxes are collected, Room 122 will get a pizza by Tucker
party!
This year, the class started earning money in March The Timeline of
in Room 122. They do it to learn math, money and Life is a long, scroll-like cosmic work in room 122. It
economics. takes a long time to do it. Here are some questions and
answers about this work.
YMCA Nutrition Classes Q: How many periods of time are on the timeline?
by Caleb A: 13.
Ms. Tessa came to teach North Park Q: Why do we do the timeline?
Montessori about food. Ms. Tessa A: To learn about Earth's history.
came on Thursdays. She came in Q: Who made the timeline
different classrooms to do that. She A: Ms. Hall printed it. Ms.Neitling and some third
came to teach all the different types grade helpers laminated it.
of food. She did fun activities and we ate healthy Q: How many living organisms are on the timeline?
snacks. A: 93.
Q: How many words are on it?
Mystery Guests by Charlie A: 57
Mystery guest is an Q: How do we do the timeline?
annual activity that the A:We have an control scroll and a blank scroll. We put
classes participate in. the things on the blank scroll to match the control.
Students dress up like a Q: When was the timeline made?
famous person and tell A: 2022
their class about their Q: How long is the timeline?
life. A: 6 feet 10 and a half inches.