Welcome to Mr. Chew's Class website!
My name is Mr. Chew and I am a fourth grade teacher at New Groningen Elementary School. I graduated from Hope College, where I studied Elementary and Special Education (Learning Disabilities).
Mr. Chew as a teacher: I focus a lot of my attention to creating a fun, safe, valued, and loved, environment for my students to learn in, which I feel develops a positive working environment for all students. Station learning is the basis of my teaching. I would prefer to be a guide on the side, offering real life and inquiry based learning into my lessons, focusing the student's learning towards ways to apply the tasks at hand to everyday activities. Learning is not a skill we use for 14 years of our lives, under the confines of a school house, but rather a life skill that we must instill upon our children. When learning is fun, it becomes routine.
Mr. Chew as a person: I grew up on the east side of Michigan for the majority of my life. My father, while working for one of the big 3 automotive companies, was transferred overseas when I was 6 years old. We lived in Taiwan for a year and a half before moving to Tokyo, Japan for 3 more years. While life was much different overseas, it provided a great experience for me at such an impressionable age. Once we moved back to the states, my involvement in athletics grew. I am a huge sports fanatic and was a multi-sport athlete growing up. I was privileged to have had the opportunity to play Lacrosse, Soccer, Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, and run Track through high school. My primary focus once high school started was football and track. I played 4 years of football and ran track for 3 years in High School and eventually ran 4 years of varsity track for Hope College. Now that my years of team sports have concluded, I play golf, snowboard, and fish regularly in their respective seasons and coach the Middle School lacrosse team in Zeeland.
Mr. Chew as a teacher: I focus a lot of my attention to creating a fun, safe, valued, and loved, environment for my students to learn in, which I feel develops a positive working environment for all students. Station learning is the basis of my teaching. I would prefer to be a guide on the side, offering real life and inquiry based learning into my lessons, focusing the student's learning towards ways to apply the tasks at hand to everyday activities. Learning is not a skill we use for 14 years of our lives, under the confines of a school house, but rather a life skill that we must instill upon our children. When learning is fun, it becomes routine.
Mr. Chew as a person: I grew up on the east side of Michigan for the majority of my life. My father, while working for one of the big 3 automotive companies, was transferred overseas when I was 6 years old. We lived in Taiwan for a year and a half before moving to Tokyo, Japan for 3 more years. While life was much different overseas, it provided a great experience for me at such an impressionable age. Once we moved back to the states, my involvement in athletics grew. I am a huge sports fanatic and was a multi-sport athlete growing up. I was privileged to have had the opportunity to play Lacrosse, Soccer, Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, and run Track through high school. My primary focus once high school started was football and track. I played 4 years of football and ran track for 3 years in High School and eventually ran 4 years of varsity track for Hope College. Now that my years of team sports have concluded, I play golf, snowboard, and fish regularly in their respective seasons and coach the Middle School lacrosse team in Zeeland.