Monthly Archives: February 2019

A week in review: February 19-22

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I am so looking forward to this next week and thinking that we may have 5 days! It has been a long time. I feel like this week went well and that things went well with the substitute for the two days I was gone. It was very exciting watching my daughter swim but I missed all the kids and am so looking forward to Monday!

Important Dates:

  • February 26: 100 Day
  • February 28: No PM Elementary Bus
  • March 1: No PM bussing
  • March 5: Optional Parent Teacher Conferences

A Few Additional Reminders:

100th Day is this Tuesday and I can hardly believe it has finally arrived! We will be doing lots of fun activities that day to celebrate the number 100! One thing we will be doing is dressing up like super heroes! Mr. McAboy will be dressing up like Zero the Hero that day and surprising us in our room as well! Please feel free to use anything you have at your home to make your child into a super hero, be creative and have fun! Do not stress about this as all of your children are super heroes already! We just want this to be a fun day for the kids!

March 5 is Optional Parent Teacher Conferences please email by Thursday, February 28 to let me know what you would like to focus on during our conferences-social, emotional, or academic. Thank you in advance!

Just a reminder that library is on Wednesdays. Lately we have been missing quite a few books and library just isn’t as fun when we can’t get new books!

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we studied the Lord’s Prayer and made a little book to remind us of it. This coming week we will begin studying about the miracles of Jesus.

Word Wall Word: my

Daily 5: This week the students should each have one new book in their bag. We also added a different activity to our word work portion of Daily 5, putting three letter words together in consonant vowel consonant format. Please continue to practice their word wall words and blending cards and as always keep reading with them!

Phonics: This week we worked on listening to words in consonant vowel consonant format and tried to figure out the beginning, middle and end sounds. We also played a little game to reinforce our knowledge of syllables.

Math: We worked on learning different ways to make ten by grouping 10 crayons into different amounts and then making math equations.

Writing: We are continuing to write pattern books. This week we specifically talked about where to finish your sentence when you run out of room at the end of a line. (return sweep)

Engaging God’s World: We are continuing our study of motion. This week we used different sizes and shapes of balls and experimented with how they moved and what affected that movement. We are continuing to learn new positional words as we study as well; words such as under, over, behind etc.

Handwriting: I and T

Up In Lights: This week Ellie Dekker was Up in Lights. Her mom and dad came and shared about her and her sisters also came to have lunch with her. Ellie has a smile that lights up our classroom and we are so blessed she is a part of our class!

Up In Lights: Last week the Up in Lights portion of my newsletter somehow got deleted so I wanted to share about Dylan Stewart as well! His mom came to share about him and then his dad brought him lunch along with his two brothers! Dylan’s fun spirit is an amazing part of our class and we are so blessed to have him as well!

Afternoons: This week we were able to get back into a bit more normal pattern with our afternoons including Daily 5, math centers, art, recess, quiet time and play time. It is so nice to have our entire class all day on Tuesday and Thursday!!!

A week in review: February 11-14

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MORE SNOW DAYS!  What a crazy winter it has been! I am praying that we have seen the last of the snow days and we can get into a “normal” routine again. This coming week will still be a bit different being that we do not have school on Monday and I will be gone on Thursday and Friday to watch my daughter at the B1G Championships! I already have a sub lined up and I can assure you she is AMAZING! She subbed last year for me when I went to this meet and the kids absolutely loved her! Also, I wanted to thank all of the parents who chaperoned the trip to For the Kidz gymnastics. We had a great morning! Enjoy your extended weekend!

Important Dates:

  • February 15-18: No School Mid Winter Break
  • February 22: 100 Day
  • February 28: No PM Elementary Bus
  • March 5: Optional Parent Teacher Conferences

A Few Additional Reminders:

100th Day is approaching soon! It is scheduled as of now for February 26. I will get back to you on that. We will be doing lots of fun activities that day to celebrate the number 100! One thing we will be doing is dressing up like super heroes! Mr. McAboy will be dressing up like Zero the Hero that day and surprising us in our room as well! Please feel free to use anything you have at your home to make your child into a super hero, be creative and have fun! Do not stress about this as all of your children are super heroes already! We just want this to be a fun day for the kids!

For those of you who still have students going half days if you want to add any afternoons you may do so this week.

I sent out information regarding signing up for Parent Teacher Conferences this week, if you did not get the link from the office and would like a Parent Teacher Conference please let me know.

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we discussed the story of Mary and Martha and how God sometimes likes us to be still and listen to Him.

Word Wall Word: come

Daily 5: In our condensed week I was able to find a time to meet with each child at least once. They should have a new book in their bag again. They enjoy pointing out word wall words when they read! Ask them which ones they see, they love to share! Continue to work on the word wall words and blending cards in their bags as well as any sounds they may not have mastered yet! We are becoming better readers every day! It is so exciting to watch them grow!

Phonics: This week we started learning about word families. We started with the –at family and we will be continuing to work on different families as the year progresses. We talked about going through the letters of the alphabet to see which ones make words when attached to –at.

Writing: We continued on making pattern books. This week we made books that started with I like… We also talked about the direction words go, always from left to right, and once again talked about capital letters at the beginning of sentences and punctuation at the end.

A week in review: February 4-8

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Enjoying our picnic.

This winter has been unbelievable! Just as we were starting to get into the swing of things again it hands us a delay and another snow/ice day! Despite the weather we were able to get a lot done this week and are working hard. It is a time of year that we see so much growth! There is an opportunity coming up soon to talk to you about your child’s growth. March 5 ZCS will have optional parent/teacher conferences. If you would like to sit down face to face to celebrate your child please sign up (details coming later on that process). We can talk about your child’s spiritual, emotional, and academic growth. If you receive a personal email from me, that simply means I’d like you to sign up for a conference. This doesn’t mean I am necessarily concerned, but that I feel that face to face time would be good. If you don’t receive an email from me, you may still sign up. More details on all of this will come in the next week.

Our picnic was a huge success. Thank you to all who donated fruit! It was fun sharing our salad together! I hope you all had a good week and here’s to hoping that next week feels a bit more “normal!”

Important Dates:

  • February 11: Field trip: For the Kidz Gymanstics
  • February 13: All School Chapel 9 a.m.
  • February 14: Valentines Party
  • February 15-18: No School Mid Winter Break
  • February 22: 100 Day
  • February 28: No PM Elementary Bus
  • March 5: Optional Parent Teacher Conferences

A Few Additional Reminders:

Our Field Trip is scheduled for this Monday February 11 at For the Kidz gymnastics in Wyoming MI. If you signed up to drive please make sure that the office has a copy of both your driver’s license and your proof of insurance before we leave or you will not be able to drive any children. I sent home driver’s guidelines for those who are driving us which need to be signed and returned! Thank you for your willingness to drive and your help in this regard. One other matter of importance is we are in need of car seats so if at all possible if you drive your child to school could you please bring a car seat in for them on that morning or even the day before. That would help us immensely!

We will be starting our new incentive next week. After we fill our jar we will be having backwards day. The kids will be able to wear their shirts backwards, if they choose, and we will be doing our entire day backwards. Starting in the morning by singing our goodbye song!!!

100th Day is approaching soon! It is scheduled as of now for February 25. I will get back to you on that. We will be doing lots of fun activities that day to celebrate the number 100! One thing we will be doing is dressing up like super heroes! Mr. McAboy will be dressing up like Zero the Hero that day and surprising us in our room as well! Please feel free to use anything you have at your home to make your child into a super hero, be creative and have fun! Do not stress about this as all of your children are super heroes already! We just want this to be a fun day for the kids!

For Valentine’s Day we will be having a party from about 11:00-11:45 on the 14th. It would be great if your child brought in valentines to pass out to the whole class (20 students). You do not have to label the “To” section of the valentines just the “From” section. This will make it much easier for the students to hand them out! Also these may be either homemade or purchased, whatever you prefer.

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we studied the story about Jesus blessing the children which culminated in saying our verse Matthew 19:14. We also continued learning about the ministry of Jesus with the story of Zaccheus.

Word Wall Word: come; please continue to practice the word wall words in your child’s bag.

Daily 5: This week I was able to meet with each group once. They should all be coming home with one new book to read. As always, continue to listen and encourage them as they read. Also make sure to practice the blending cards. Some children are still not confident with these because they are unsure of a few letter sounds, so keep working on these too!!! These are all such important parts of becoming good readers.

Math: This week we worked together on putting items together to make a new number. We are continuing to add to our knowledge of addition.

Science: We went outside and observed our motion on the playground. Learning words such as backwards, forward, fast, slow, up, down etc. They enjoyed adding to their knowledge of motion.

Up in Lights: This week Colten VanRoekel. His mom and dad and little sister and brother were able to come and share about him as well as stay for lunch. Colten’s mom also brought a treat for everyone and it was delicious! We are so happy that Colten is a part of our class, his kind heart is loved by everyone!

Practicing our ice-skating!

Afternoons: This week we added a fun dimension to our playtime. We worked together to make a skating/hockey rink. This is great opportunity for the kids to use their math, writing and reading skills as we made a concessions stand, skating “plates” with sizes, and shoe lockers. We will continue to make this an option for play as long as we can keep indoor voices while playing “hockey.” 🙂  We also enjoyed our normal recess, snack and art time as well as being able to do a round of Daily 5 when everyone was present!

Working together at our concessions stand.