A week in review: December 10 – 14, 2018

‘Tis the Season

The Christmas season is definitely in full swing now! We have been busy this week doing many fun things for the holidays, such as making our Nativity, working on our Christmas gifts, practicing for our upcoming Christmas chapel and building our stamina for the Jingle Jog! On top of this we are continuing to do all of our normal curriculum! Our class has been busy but still soaking in the joy of this season!

IMPORTANT DATES:

December 17: Jingle Jog
December 20: All school chapel at 9:00. You are all welcome to come and the kindergarteners will be leading!! Your children are all very excited about this!!
December 21: Class Christmas Celebration!
December 24-January 4: Christmas break

A Few Additional Reminders:

Jingle Jog! Our class will be jogging on December 17 from 9:00-9:30 am. If you would like to cheer the kids on, please come to the gym. Students may wear Christmas pajamas (they can wear t-shirts if you think they would be too hot). We will wear our gym shoes for the jog. This is a mini fundraiser for our sister school in the Philippines. If you like to donate please send your gift in a clearly marked envelope by Wednesday, December 19.

The Classroom Christmas Party will be held on December 21. A special thanks to Kristin Tubergan for heading this up! It is always such a fun time for the kids!

Thursday Afternoons: On January 10 all students will begin to attend on Thursday afternoons. If you want to add any additional afternoons please let me know at this time! I am looking forward to having two afternoons with the entire class!

New incentive: After finishing filling our bucket of bears and having our pajama day we are now starting a new behavioral incentive! Our reward after 25, yet to be determined, items in our bucket will be a picnic on the floor in our room! I will be bringing in some big blankets and some picnic food on top of whatever your child eats for lunch! It will be a fun and unique experience to all eat “picnic style” together!

Curriculum:

Bible: We continued through the story of Jesus’ birth, learning about the shepherds and the wise-men and then making a replica for our Nativities! Thank you to all the moms who have helped! We couldn’t have done it without you! Many of the children have already said Luke 2:6,7 and have done an incredible job!

Word Wall Word: is

Daily 5: This week we added “read to someone” to our Daily 5! We now have all five options up and running during Daily 5. I was able to meet with all the reading groups at least once this week and I can see their love for reading continuing to grow! The book bags usually go home on Friday but I’m noticing that I often forget to send them home with my Friday half-dayers! This week I am going to try and send them home with everyone on Thursday as Friday will be a busy day in our classroom!

Writing Workshop: We are continuing to work on making lists. This week we worked a bit on brainstorming and coming up with words that remind us of winter!

Phonics: We worked on saying words slowly and writing the sounds we hear. We practiced writing three letter words in the consonant, vowel, consonant format.

Playtime is always a favorite!

Math: This week we went outside for our math lesson. We are working on simple addition and subtraction and we created math equations on the playground. We subtracted as friends went down the slide and added as friends went across the monkey bars!

Interactive Read Aloud: We read Olivia by Ian Falconer and learned about drawing conclusions based on clues in the book.

Engaging God’s World: This week we learned about the difference between wants and needs and how God always provides for us.

Up In Lights: This week Eden Bronsink was up in lights. Eden’s mom visited us from the room next door (she is the other K teacher) and shared pictures and fun facts about Eden and her dad came and read us a book in an amazing accent which the kids loved! She also had lunch with her mom and dad and big sister Elle! Eden adds so much life and joy to our classroom and we are happy she is a part of it!

A week in review: December 2 – 7, 2018

Christmas is Approaching!

This week our kindergarten room was filled with learning and laughter as always, but the greatest part of this week was sharing the Christmas story with your children. They are so eager to learn about Jesus and sharing this story with them brought so many incredible discussions as to why it was so important that Jesus came to this earth! It was so amazing to watch their faces as they realized that without Jesus coming to this earth as a baby He would not have been able to save us! We talked about how truly great the sacrifice he chose to make was! What an awe inspiring thought to think about how much He loves us! May you continue to surround yourself with His love during this season!

IMPORTANT DATES

December 14: No PM bussing
December 17: Jingle Jog
December 20: All school chapel at 9:00. You are all welcome to come and the kindergarteners will be leading!! Your children are all very excited about this!!
December 21: Class Christmas Celebration! More details to come.
December 24-January 4: Christmas break

A Few Additional Reminders:

Jingle Jog! Our class will be jogging on December 17 from 9:00-9:30am. If you would like to cheer the kids on, please come to the gym. Students may wear Christmas pajamas (they can wear t-shirts if you think they would be too hot). We will wear our gym shoes for the jog. Mrs. Miller will send home papers soon describing the fundraiser part of the jog. It is to raise money for our sister school in the Philippines.

Bucket of Bears: We are now just a few bears away from earning our pajama/stuffed animal day! We will be having the option to wear our pajamas for the jingle jog so I will try to fit in an additional day before Christmas break to have another pajama day! As soon as we reach our goal I will let you know!

Decorating: If you enjoy decorating and would be willing to help spruce our kindergarten chapel up a bit let me know. Anything from a small Christmas tree to poinsettias, snowflakes or balloons. We will also be standing on risers so it would be great to have a few things to decorate the sides of those! If this is something you enjoy please let me know we would love your help!

From the Immersion Program Director, Jodi Pierce: Wondering how kids learn language? So are we! Join Betsy Sneller, language researcher at Georgetown University (also known as Mr. Sneller’s daughter and a grad of ZCS), and Jodi Pierce, director of ZCS’s language immersion program, for a short presentation about language acquisition on Tuesday, December 11 at 7:00 in the media center. Betsy will talk about how researchers study language acquisition, what the field has uncovered so far, and some of the exciting questions they are still researching. Come with any questions you might have! The content will definitely be applicable for both immersion and non-immersion parents. This entry was posted in newsletters 2018-2019 on December 7, 2018.

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we started our study of Luke 2. We learned about the angel who came to Mary to announce the coming of our Savior and about the journey to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. We talked about how life changing this is to us now! We then started our nativity project. We have made an angel, Joseph and Mary. This week we will continue with the shepherds and wisemen. We are also working hard on our verse, Luke 2:6,7. In addition, we are practicing some beautiful Christmas songs for our upcoming Christmas chapel.

Word Wall Word: up

Daily 5: This week we continued our Daily 5 as well as started building stamina while reading to someone. I am hoping to add this to our Daily 5 this week. Please take time to read the books that come home with your child in his/her book bag on Friday and return it on Monday! If they struggle, encourage them to use the pictures to help them decode some of the words. This is an important step in the reading process!

Writing Workshop: We continued working on making lists this week. We all used clipboards as we sat on the rug and made a list of our favorite animals. I am encouraging them to write the sounds they hear and that it doesn’t have to be “perfect.” This can be very hard yet so important as they develop into young writers.

Phonics: This week we emphasized beginning sounds. I got into the Christmas spirit for this and pulled some items from a stocking and had them write down the first sound in the item I pulled out. They did AMAZING! When you are at home take time at dinner to ask them sounds they hear at the beginning of words on your table, such as fork, spoon and plate. They love this and will be so proud to share their knowledge with you!

Math: We learned to look for groups of 5 this week. Also, the concept of having five and some “extra” left over led us into simple addition.

Up in Lights: Brooks Compagner was Up in Lights. His dad came in to share about him and, along with his dad, his mom and little sister joined him for lunch. A special treat was having Brooks’ Nana, a former kindergarten teacher at Holland Christian School, come and read to us a fun book about penguins while also giving us a little science lesson. She taught us about the different types of penguins as well as some of their characteristics. At the end of her time she gave us all a bag of goldfish, a penguin’s favorite treat! Thank you Nana, we love having you in our classroom!

Afternoons: Being so close to Christmas the afternoons were a little different from the norm this week. We were able to make Christmas trees, which are on the wall in the hallway, and we started our Nativity project. We also practiced songs for our Christmas chapel. In addition we were still able to enjoy snack, recess, play and quiet time! I really enjoyed having the whole class stay the entire day on Tuesday! So fun to watch everyone participate together during play! What an incredible group of kids

Hot Wheels track building has helped us develop the skill of working together toward a common goal. The boys have built some amazing things and are loving it!

A week in review: November 26-30, 2018

It feels like I should say welcome back after having almost a week off for Thanksgiving break! Hard to believe our first snow day came in November! Because of the shortened week we were extremely busy trying to get as much done as possible. We are still working on filling our bucket of bears to earn a pajama day. Right now we have 18 bears and are working towards our goal of 25. Once we reach 25 I will let you know and give you a date to send your child in their pajamas! Also, if they prefer not to wear their pajamas that is absolutely fine, they are welcome to just wear comfy clothes. This week also begins the start of the Christmas season and lots of fun activities to go along with it! I am so looking forward to the next few weeks in our kindergarten room! Please take time to enjoy this season with your family!!

IMPORTANT DATES

  • December 20: All school chapel at 9:00. You are all welcome to come and the kindergarteners will be leading!!
  • December 21: Class Christmas Celebration! More details to come.
  • December 24-January 4: Christmas break

A Few Additional Reminders:

JINGLE JOG: The last week before Christmas break we will have a Jingle Jog. This is a fun run that Mrs. Miller has her gym classes do every year. The class will have an opportunity to run around the gym and through the hallways and families are welcome to come and cheer their kids on! As of now I do not know the exact date but will let you know as soon as I do! The purpose of this fun event is to raise money for our sister school in the Philippines.

NATIVITY SCENE: This week we will be beginning our project! Two things we are still short of are rubber bands and a bag of cotton balls. If you happen to have any extra at home and would be willing to part with them it would be a big help in creating our project. Thank you in advance as this is a big help!

BOOK BAGS: Every weekend your child should be coming home with his/her book bag. They are all starting to read books now from our leveled library and should have them in their bag. Please take time to read them with your child, as they are very excited to be reading books by themselves, and return them on Monday. They are proud readers!!!

VOLUNTEERS: For this upcoming week the only volunteer I have listed is for the Tuesday lunch. If you are signed up to volunteer at a different time this week please let me know and I will try to adjust our schedule accordingly. Thank you for your help and understanding in this regard.

CURRICULUM

Bible: This week I introduced our new Bible verses, Luke 2:6-7. “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” We started our talk about Jesus’ birth but we will fully dive into this beautiful story next week as we begin our Nativity scene project.

Word Wall Word/Morning Work: up

Daily 5: This week we added another activity to our Daily 5 called word work. This allows your children to have more exposure to letters or words through either the ipad, worksheets or manipulatives. This has made our Daily 5 a busy but rewarding time in our day.

Writing Workshop: This week we started working on how to make a list and what we can use lists for. So far we have done a list of friends and a list of colors. We also finished up our drawing and labeling unit and all of the students were able to “fix and fancy” their favorite story and share it with the whole class on the “big screen” by way of the projector! I also find this to be a great way to expose them to public speaking at a young age! They did amazing!

Phonics: We incorporated phonics into our writing workshop this week. When we worked on our lists together we said words slowly which allowed us to hear many of the sounds in them. They are starting to realize that they can spell by listening to sounds!

Up in Lights: In the last few weeks we have gotten to know more about Dominick Terpstra, Avaleigh Dykema and Elsie Wiersema. It has been so fun to get to know a bit more about them and what they enjoy! It has also been so nice to have parents and siblings join us for lunch! We all look forward to this part of the week and I am so grateful for each member of this class!

Afternoons: Now that everyone is here all day on Tuesday we are able to so some of our everyday curriculum on Tuesday afternoon which is such a blessing during this busy time of year! This past Tuesday we worked on our “Book of Friends” and have just a few more friends to go! The kids absolutely love spelling their friends’ names and drawing their picture to go with it! We also continue to have quiet time and play time (which was extra fun this past week as I was able to bring some different toys from my house 🙂 ). In addition this week we had all school singing, art and math centers.

As always, if you need anything please don’t hesitate to text or email me. Praying that you all enjoy this special season with your families!