Highlights from our week…

This week was one of those weeks where I feel like your children were growing right before my eyes! I continue to hear more and more Spanish and I have seen several students step up to be very positive, helpful leaders in our class. God has blessed your children with compassionate hearts and a desire to help those around them. I pray that God will continue to grow these gifts in them!

Ken’s turn to be the mail carrier!

Making fancy jewelry

Fall sensory play- corn!

God’s promises are for all of us.

Important Dates:

• October 20-21: No School (CEA Convention)
• November 4: Grandparent’s Day! (Pass this date on to grandparents/friends please! More information will be coming soon!)

Important Information: 

• Are you new to immersion education? Have you watched your older children advance through the immersion program but have questions about this approach to education? Are you wondering what is expected of you as an immersion parent? You are invited to learn more about immersion education and meet the coordinator of the language immersion programs, Jodi Pierce. This will be an informal round table discussion time for parents to learn and ask questions about immersion education, More information will come, but for now please consider reserving one of the following times to attend: October 24 @ 9:00 AM or October 24 and 7:00 PM.
• As fall sets in, just a quick reminder to update the extra clothes in your child’s backpack to pants instead of shorts 🙂  It is also a good idea to have a coat or sweatshirt as the temperature can change drastically in one day.  We love Michigan weather! 😉

Check out how much we’re learning and growing in Christ!

Bible: This week we finished our unit on Creation, Noah, and The Tower of Babel. We finished talking about Noah by reflecting on God’s promises. His promises were as true for Noah as they are for us today. God made his promises for Noah and for each one of us. The kids created a rainbow painting and revealed their own names that I had written in white crayon as a reminder that God’s promises are for them. Later in the week we built a tower together and talked about the Tower of Babel.

Literacy: On Friday we shared a special treat to celebrate reading for 10 minutes on 5 different days! We also picked out  new books for our book boxes. This was VERY exciting for your kids and was even brought up again at the end of the day when we shared positive things from our day. This coming week I hope to introduce another one of the Daily 5 choices, Read to a Friend. We will work to build our stamina and measure as we go along just like we did for Read to Self.

We have been focusing our attention on nouns and articles. We’ve learned that nouns have genders in Spanish. This week we learned that the articles also change when the number of objects changes. In English this is like adding an -s or -es to make a word plural.

• Reading strategy: Determining importance of text
• Read aloud: MIs Cinco Sentidos (My Five Senses)
• Vocabulary Words:
  • los sentidos (the senses)
  • la lengua (tongue)
  • la nariz (nose)
  • tocar (to touch)
  • los ojos (eyes)
• Phrase of the week: ¿Puedo ir al baño? (May I go to the bathroom?) This was an important phrase after learning how to ask for a drink last week!
• Letter of the week: Ee

Math: This week we began talking about addition and subtraction. We read a picture book about adding animals. We practiced using our fingers, math manipulatives, and even acted out addition and subtraction problems.

Exploring God’s World: Our read aloud book connected very well with our unit on the 5 senses. We talked about which body part we use for each of the 5 senses and reviewed this vocabulary in Spanish.

Play: This week was an exciting week of play as we opened 2 new centers- the post office and a new sensory bin of corn! The kids took the corn kernels off the husk, a great fine motor activity, and had fun playing with the kernels left in the bin. Toward the end of the week we had lots of fun writing letters to friends and family and pretending to mail them. If you have any stationary you are not planning to use or if you are willing to tear used stamps off of envelopes (it’s okay that they’re not sticky anymore) we’d love to use them in our classroom post office please!

Handwriting: This week we practiced the letters B and P. Before practicing the strokes on our chalkboards with the chalk, sponge, and paper towels, we practiced on our friends’ backs. Such a great tactile way to learn and so much fun! (Pretty relaxing too!) 🙂

En las Luces: Eli was up in lights this week and, although, I missed his presentation because of the funeral on Monday, I heard there were donuts! Yum! At first I thought Eli loved the taste of donuts, but come to find out he loves the smell! Eli also loves Michigan football and the Panthers. 🙂

**If you haven’t already done so, please check under the “Other Resources” tab for our Up in Lights schedule and an English translation of the instructions! I will send the packet and special animal home with your child 1 week before your child’s turn!

At one point this week I was able to step back and just watch your children for a moment. I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude for the privilege of leading them this school year. Thank you for partnering with me in that responsibility. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to be a better partner for you or your child! I couldn’t do my job without you! I am learning more about each of your children every day that I spend with them and am falling more and more in love!