Another New Teacher!

New Teacher!

Meet Hannah Damsteegt 

I am an enthusiast of the Spanish language and the culture of countries in which Spanish is spoken. I graduated from Calvin University in 2015 and started my first teaching job. In 2016, I was hired to work at International School Tegucigalpa- located in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I worked as a 3^rd grade homeroom teacher, teaching English to my students. While there, I furthered my educational journey by completing a master’s degree in Inclusive Education with an Extension in Bilingual Education with Nyack College. I am passionate about teaching and forming young minds while using a foreign language as the vehicle to do so.

 

I chose to work at HCS because I believe and resonate with the Christian Reformed worldview that everything points back to God. I believe in the importance of a Christ-centered education for students. I want to play a role in preparing and equipping the minds of our students so that they may go off into the world ready to love and serve the Lord and then reciprocate Christ’s love to others.

Working in Spanish Immersion allows me to share God’s gift of language with young minds. Learning a foreign language allows one to better interact with others in our community who speak that language. Looking at this from a Christian perspective, we are more equipped to live with one another in shalom while bringing God’s transformative touch with us as we love our Neighbor as ourselves.

 

Outside of the classroom, I enjoy working out, trying out new recipes in the kitchen, and buying new succulents. 

Adaptive Schools

I will be out of the building on Monday and Tuesday of next week engaging in learning organized by Doug Greer for the full instructional team. Katie Clausing will be serving as principal in my place. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me as I may or may not be checking my phone under the table ;)

MAP Testing

The final week of MAP testing and Delta Math opens the week of May 9. 

Quarter 4 Running Records

• Running Record Expectations ** see THIS DOCUMENT

• The level that you are putting into the Q4 data spreadsheet is a student’s INDEPENDENT LEVEL and this is the same running record that you will hand in to me which will then be passed along to next year’s teacher.

• If you have been putting INSTRUCTIONAL LEVELS on your progress reports to parents, you can just continue that for the last report card–the reason for this is that if you have not communicated to your parents the difference between the instructional and independent level, then just putting the independent level could make them panic as it will most likely be lower than the instructional level.  We will also review this next year as well and discuss what we want to report on our progress reports in terms of students and their reading progress.

Help Available

We are planning an 8th grade service day for June 1st and in the past have sent some 8th graders to assist in each of your buildings. This has ranged from helping art teachers get their rooms clean to sorting books in libraries, and much more. In the past there have also been specific teachers who appreciated 8th graders doing some cleaning, organizing, or purging in their classrooms. If your elementary students and teachers will be out of the building that day some have also left lists for the 8th graders. We would love to bless your buildings and staff members on this day! Students typically present in your buildings from approximately 10am - 1:30pm, and will bring a lunch with them. I will be moving between buildings to check on students periodically, and we always do our best to send trustworthy and motivated individuals!

If you have any interest in welcoming 8th graders on June 1st please let me know by Friday!

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Ditto is in need of donations. And we want to make it easy for HC families to help! Next week the Ditto truck will be parked at Rose Park accepting your donations during drop off and pick up hours. The greatest need at this time is for high quality clothing and household goods/decor. We will not be taking furniture at this drop off event.

Rose Park: Tuesday, May 3 @ 7:30-9:00am and 2:30-4:00pm

This past year, Ditto blessed all HC and ZCS students with a $325/student tuition reducing grant. Now's a great time to help support the resale store that supports each of our families. Thank you for your participation!