Week Overview
It was SO good to be with your precious kiddos for a full week again! CEA was a great time to recharge, reconnect with other teachers, and learn some new strategies, but I missed your kids! We picked up on Monday right where we left off before our long weekend. In fact, I was amazed with the Spanish output I was hearing and we began a language incentive plan! On Tuesday we began the next phase on add.a.lingua’s target language-only timeline and the kids are now expected to speak to me only in Spanish. If they use English, I rephrase their comment or question in Spanish and they repeat me. We uncovered the letters of our first secret word, otoño, and enjoyed a fall treat together. We’re already well on our way to uncovering the next surprise word! I’m so proud of your kids and their hard work! Please continue to encourage them and pray for them as we continue to raise the Spanish expectations and continue our journey toward Spanish fluency!
Important Dates
November 3: Grandparents Day! Click here for the official invitation. More information to come!
November 8: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch
November 8-9: Parent/Teacher Conferences in the evening – K-8 School in session
November 9: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch
November 10: No School
Reminders
- Parent Teacher Conferences- God is doing amazing things through your kids! I am looking forward to meeting with each one of you on November 8 or 9. This is a wonderful time of celebration and I can’t wait to share with you all of the great things your kids are doing! You may sign up for one time slot using the link on the ZCS Parent Page. The sign up will be open until November 1 at 10:00 PM. Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to meet with me! I’m looking forward to it!
- Questionnaire: If you haven’t already filled out the questionnaire to help guide our time together, please do so by clicking here! It would be very helpful if you would please fill these out by Friday, November 3. Thank you!
- Gifts of Being Grand- I have already received a few of these- thank you! Please help me connect with grandparents by passing along these precious keepsakes. I sent home a letter detailing this form and what to expect on Grandparents Day. I’ve also included this information under our resources tab on this blog. I’ll add the Gifts of Being Grand to your children’s spiritual journals, a collection of pieces created throughout their years at ZCS. I would love to have these by Grandparents Day please and will have extra copies that day if anyone needs them. Thank you!
- Kindergarten Readiness- Has your child mentioned working with Mrs. Pyle, Mrs. Tibbe, or Ms. Stuursma? Every kindergartener at ZCS has been assessed using a kindergarten readiness evaluation. This is something all schools in the Ottawa area will be doing next year. ZCS decided to get familiar with the assessment this year so that we can be even more prepared for next year. I spoke with Mrs. Tibbe about the results they’re seeing and she was very pleased!
- Picture Retakes- If your child would like his/her picture retaken, please SEND YOUR CHILD’S UNCUT PICTURE PACKET to school on picture retake day- November 9. This serves as the reorder form and is necessary. If your child missed getting his/her pictures taken, there are new picture envelopes in the office for ordering.
- Helpful Links
- 2017-2018 ZCS Family Directory: The ZCS Family Directory contains staff, Board members, and family contact information as well as class lists. The directory remains in Google Docs, has been fully updated, and will continue to reflect the most current information. Please email zcsinfo@zcs.org to request changes or updates. (Remember to take notice of the tabs across the bottom of the document for easy access to each section!)
- 2017-2018 ZCS Family Handbook: The ZCS Family Handbook contains information such as school start times, cancellations and delays, calendar, dress code, hot lunch information, etc. It can be found on the ZCS Parents page. Scroll down to find the link.
Curriculum
Bible: We continue to talk about God’s faithfulness in keeping his covenant with Abraham. Right now we’re learning about Jacob and Esau. This coming week we’ll learn how God took care of Jacob even as he fled from his brother, Esau.
We also continue to practice our Bible verse below:
Genesis 28:15 Yo estoy contigo. Te protegeré por dondequiera que vayas, y te traeré de vuelta a esta tierra. No te abandonaré hasta cumplir con todo lo que te he prometido.
“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
Literacy: We started the next choice in the Daily 5! We are working on building stamina in read to someone. It made me heart smile to see your kids enjoying books together! Some of the pictures up top of this post are of the kids in the first round of read to someone.
Our letter of the week was a consonant for the first time! This meant that we began to combine consonants and vowels to form syllables! We even combined some syllables to form words! We made some exciting and powerful steps toward reading this week!
In grammar this week we learned about a special ending some Spanish words have, -ito or -ita. This ending is used to speak lovingly or to show that something is small. For example, a small dog (perro) or a puppy might be called perrito. A cute kitten (gato) might be called gatito.
- Reading strategy: Making connections
- Word wall word: la mamá (mom) y (and)
- Read aloud: Así Vamos a Escuela
- Vocabulary Words:
- disfrutar (to enjoy)
- techos (roofs)
- las zancadas (steps)
- la campiña (countryside) *Some of our Kindergarten friends made connections between this word and where they live!
- el titubeo (hesitation)
- apurados (rushed, hurried)
- los patines (skates)
- Phrase of the week: Ya terminé. ( I’m finished.)
- Letter of the week: Mm
Handwriting: Right now we’re taking a break from writing letters and are learning to write numbers 1-5 the school way.
Book of Friends: We “met” Levi and Greta with Maestra Larson on Thursday morning! There are just a few more friends to meet and we will be finished with our Book of Friends!
Math: This week we compared numbers 6-10. We’re learning important words to describe numbers as more, más, and less, menos. We originally learned these words when we compared numbers 1-5 and this week’s lesson was a great review.
Writing Workshop: We continue to practice drawing our stories. This week everyone drew a story about one of our indoor recesses. We blew up balloons and worked together to find the best strategy to keep them off the floor.
Exploring God’s World: We’re nearing the end of our PBL on mapping and can’t wait to share the map we made with our grandparents this week! On Monday I will send a letter detailing all the parts of our PBL and including a map of our school that you may share with grandparents if you’re able. If not, I’ll have extra copies in our classroom on Friday.
Afternoons: We play hard, rest hard, and work hard every afternoon. We’re continuing to work hard in our math centers. In play we opened a sensory bin of corn. I brought a toy kitchen into our classroom and the kids have enjoyed playing restaurant and house.
Up in Lights: Thank you, Nichols family, for sharing so many wonderful things about Levi! It’s clear he is a precious gift from God. One unique thing Levi shared was his tackle box. The kids were very interested in seeing the fly fishing lures! We love you, Levi!
From the Immersion Coordinator
What will Grandparents’ Day in the immersion classroom look like? While we do our very best to always expect only Spanish or Chinese in our immersion classrooms, Grandparents’ Day is one day where we bend the rules a little. While each teacher might do it a little differently, the teacher will always address the students in the target language and the students should talk with the teacher in the target language. However, the students may certainly speak with the Grandparents in English! The teachers will either speak directly with the grandparents in English or some teachers in the older grades may challenge their students to do the translating for their grandparents. We look forward to welcoming all the grandparents/friends on Friday!
Week Overview
This week was full of positive learning and growing! On Friday, for the very first time in kindergarten, the kids were able to choose which Daily 5 activity they wanted to do that round. Some chose Read to Self and others chose Work on Writing. On Monday we learned a new game, circunloquio, to help us describe a word if we don’t know the word in Spanish. This helps us stay in the target language and not slip into speaking English. Many children are becoming more comfortable at school. We had some very good conversations about using our words and bodies to love and respect others. I’m very proud of your children for all that they are accomplishing so far in kindergarten! God is so good!
Important Dates
October 16: I will be out of the building for a science conference. Maestra DeKruyter is amazing and will take great care of your children!
October 19-20: CEA Convention (No School)
October 27: All school chapel 9:00 (You are welcome to attend!)
November 3: Grandparents Day! Click here for the official invitation. More information to come!
November 8: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch
November 8-9: Parent/Teacher Conferences in the evening – K-8 School in session
November 9: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch
November 10: No School
Reminders
- Gifts of Being Grand- Please help me connect with grandparents by passing along these precious keepsakes. I sent home a letter detailing this form and what to expect on Grandparents Day. I’ve also included this information under our resources tab on this blog. I’ll add the Gifts of Being Grand to your children’s spiritual journals, a collection of pieces created throughout their years at ZCS. I would love to have these by Grandparents Day please and will have extra copies that day if anyone needs them. Thank you!
- Parent Teacher Conferences- God is doing amazing things through your kids! I am looking forward to meeting with each one of you on November 8 or 9. This is a wonderful time of celebration and I can’t wait to share with you all of the great things your kids are doing! Beginning October 25 at 9:00 am you will be able to sign up for one time slot. Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to meet with me! I’m looking forward to it!
Curriculum
Bible: This week we started talking about Abraham. God made a promise to Abraham that he would give him many children and grandchildren and that he would bless Abraham’s family. God’s plan of salvation was already taking place! We took a “trust walk” with a partner to get a better feel for what it means to trust. I also assessed each child on the Bible memory verse, Genesis 8:22. They did a fantastic job! Our next verse is below:
Genesis 28:15 Yo estoy contigo. Te protegeré por dondequiera que vayas, y te traeré de vuelta a esta tierra. No te abandonaré hasta cumplir con todo lo que te he prometido.
“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
Literacy: This week we talked about proper nouns. These are names that use a capital (mayúscula) letters. Kindergarteners completed their first word sort individually and did a fantastic job!
- Reading strategy: Making connections
- Word wall word: si, sí
- Read aloud: Este soy yo
- Vocabulary Words:
- la sonrisa (smile)
- la fresa (strawberry)
- el ratón (rat)
- el cabello (hair)
- los cachetes (cheeks)
- la lana (wool)
- la luna (moon)
- Phrase of the week: No entiendo. ( I don’t understand.)
- Letter of the week: Ii
Handwriting: We worked on writing uppercase and lowercase Ii. We’re working on making the point at the top of lowercase i medium-size. 🙂
Book of Friends: We met Addison and William this week! We got to create their pages and discovered they both have and I in their name.
Math:This week we used math manipulatives to determine which number is more (más) or less (menos.) We compared numbers up to 5.
Writing Workshop: We continue to practice drawing our stories. This week everyone drew a story from our field trip to De Graaf Nature Center. I love the sounds in our classroom lately while everyone is so focused on their work as great authors!
Exploring God’s World: This week we started our PBL, (project based learning,) which is centered around mapping and Grandparents Day. I told the kids that my dad and I were planning on trying a new restaurant in Allegan today. We’d be meeting halfway between my house and his house in Kalamazoo and I needed to figure out how to get to the restaurant. Some ideas they gave me were to “ask my mom,” use a gps, and finally, use a map! We’ll continue this discussion about maps next week and tie it in with Grandparents Day. I’ll send information explaining our project and the idea behind PBL in your child’s red alert folder soon.
Afternoons: In play I was excited to see that the firefighters have started making maps to help them save the people who call in to the station! 🙂 I’ve also seen children playing house. They had some valuable conversations as they tried to find a role in the family for each child who wanted to play in that center.
We opened a new set of math centers this week! The four new choices are: coloring apples to match uppercase and lowercase letters, sequencing numbers 1-10 to make a scarecrow puzzle, “writing the room” (logging which numbers they find in the 10 frames around our classroom,) and a roll and color pumpkins activity. Since these activities do include worksheets I want to remind you that, even if your child completes the same worksheet twice, it is still valuable practice! These worksheets aren’t something that can be memorized and filled in without practicing the math skills and objectives. I am trying to balance keeping track of which centers each child completes while still allowing the freedom of choice to motivate the their learning.
I’m Finished, Now What? When kindergartners finish eating their lunch or snack early or have “down time” in our classroom they may visit the “I’m finished, now what?” center. I like to include activities to practice math and literacy concepts, fine motor development, and love for reading in this center. Sometimes the activities are open-ended and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes students have time to finish the activity and sometimes I ask them to clean up and move on before they’ve had a chance to finish. That means, occasionally, your child will bring something home that appears to be unfinished. They may finish it at home, but it is not homework. It’s not that they aren’t completing their assigned tasks on time, it just means that they didn’t have time to complete both tasks. They may also visit the center more than one time/day so you may see a repeated activity in your child’s red alert folder. Please let me know if you have any questions!
From the Immersion Coordinator
Should we be concerned about the MAPS test being offered in English when our immersion students have had limited exposure to English?
Our students in 3rd grade and above have begun MAPS testing this week. While this test is fully in English, the results will still be valuable for individual and programatic data. Research has consistently displayed that standardized testing is still reliable regardless of the difference in language of testing and language of instruction. However, we do interpret the results of our immersion students through the lens of immersion; there are certain areas where we would expect our immersion students to be lower (for example–spelling) for certain grade levels. Conversely, there are also areas where we would expect them to be higher. The intent of these tests are to show individual student growth over time. It will also give us valuable information from which to compare our various programs at school. Offer your children an encouraging word as they anticipate these assessments and remind them to be confident as they approach the English…we know the skills transfer between languages and we are confident in our immersion students’ adaptability!
Week Overview
I spent some time in Kalamazoo this weekend with family and friends and many were asking how the school year is going so far. I told them how much I genuinely care for your children and am thoroughly enjoying the time I spend with them at school! To me it has felt like a very smooth transition. The fall of kindergarten, especially in a second language, leaves kids feeling very tired when they get home to you at night, but I hope you are feeling the same way I am about the start of school! I feel like we took some very big steps forward this week. We began the second option of the Daily 5, work on writing, started transitioning to the next writing workshop unit, completed some tough math lessons, and learned a lot of Spanish!
Important Dates
October 16: Maestra Izenbaard will be out of the building for a science conference. Maestra DeKruyter is amazing and will take great care of your children!
October 19-20: CEA Convention (No School)
October 27: All school chapel 9:00 (you are welcome to attend!)
November 3: Grandparents Day! Click here for the official invitation. More information to come!
November 8: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch
November 8-9: Parent/Teacher Conferences – Evening – K-8 School in session
November 9: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch
November 10: No School
Reminders
Library: Tomorrow (Monday) we will visit the library again! If your child would like to pick out a new book, please help them remember to bring their old book to school and put it in the bin in our classroom.
Curriculum
Bible: We finished talking about Noah and did a painting project. The kids painted a rainbow, the symbol of God’s promise to Noah, and discovered their own names hidden on the paper behind the rainbow! This reminds them that God’s promises are for each one of them as well. At the end of the week we read about the Tower of Babel. As second language learners this story is very interesting, I think, as it marks the day God created different languages.
Please continue to practice this verse with your child as you see fit. I plan to assess it in a week or so.
Genesis 8:22 “Mientras la tierra exista habrá siembra y cosecha, frío y calor, verano e invierno, días y noches.”
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Literacy: 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
Making Ee crowns 🙂
Handwriting: We worked on writing uppercase and lowercase Ee. The lower case e was especially tricky for some of our class, but I saw lots of improvement as the week went on!
Book of Friends: We met Stella and Lauren this week! We got to create their pages and discovered they both have our letter of the week in their names!
Math: We talked a lot about shapes this week! Each kindergartener created a book about shapes as we studied each of the shapes individually.
Writing Workshop: We’re transitioning from oral language to drawing our stories. Before we draw a story we make a movie of the story in our heads, take turns sharing our story to a friend and listening to a friend’s story, and, finally, we draw our stories. This has been going very well for our class! So far every kindergartener has drawn/told a story about a time they ate something delicious. This led to a great reminder about our 5 senses!
Exploring God’s World: Science, writing workshop, and our mentor text read aloud all tied in nicely this week as we continued talking about our 5 senses!
Up in Lights: Kate was up in lights this week! She shared many of her favorite things with us. One of the things she loves most is her family. She brought her dad to school with her and he brought along a real firetruck! It was a very hands-on, memorable, and fun way to learn more about Kate and all the things that make her so special! Thank you, Schrotenboer family!
Afternoons: This week we made the October calendar. Each month we’ll make a calendar in the afternoon. (I’m sorry, I know that means sometimes your child will not be present when we make it.) This is an optional way to keep track of the days with your child. Things you might try with the calendar include: marking off the days as they pass, marking special days to come that month like birthdays or holidays, practicing counting or other vocabulary.
We also spent our afternoons playing, resting, and doing math centers. The kids opened up the fireman bin and have been really enjoying being firefighters! (I bet you can guess what insprierd that! 🙂 ) Some kids are choosing to act out scenarios and others are choosing to do firefighter-themed art.
From our immersion program director
What is the Three-Fold Goal of immersion education?
As an immersion program, we are striving for excellence in three areas. 1) Academic Achievement: We expect our students to learn the same content that is expected of our English-track classrooms. 2) High language proficiency: We strive to have our students speak the language accurately and at an age-appropriate level of proficiency. 3) Cultural Competency: We hope our students will be sensitive to cultural differences and navigate culturally embedded situations with grace and empathy. As a Christian school, we can add that our first and foremost goal is to integrate our faith into all components of our learning and growth at Zeeland Christian.
Week Overview
Is that correct? Week of October 1? Wow, that went fast! This week we continued learning “school things” as well as how to share God’s love and become good friends. I can tell your kids love each other by the way they greet each other in the mornings and their concern for each other if someone isn’t at school that day. Our highlight this week was definitely our field trip to De Graaf Nature Center. Thank you to the moms and dads who helped as drivers or sent in food and drink for our snack. It was a very special morning, one I hope the kids remember for a long time. I think everyone learned something new about animals and the 5 senses. We had a gorgeous warm fall day for a walk on the nature trail and didn’t mind that the ac was turned on in the indoor classroom. 🙂
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‘I think the snake feels like a basketball.”
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Do you see the turtle?
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Please don’t fall in! 🙂
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sense of touch
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I love our class!
Important Dates
October 3: Picture Day
October 6: No PM busing/no hot lunch
October 19-20: CEA Convention (No School)
Reminders
- Pictures: We will do a picture exchange in November, but you do not necessarily have to order pictures from school to participate. You may use pictures printed from home or any other source. More information about picture exchange will come home soon.
- Yearbooks: Are available for order at the same time as school pictures on the order form. (Package #14) This is the ONLY time yearbooks will be available for order this year. Don’t miss out!
- Library: Tomorrow (Monday) we will visit the library again! If your child would like to pick out a new book, please help them remember to bring their old book to school and put it in the bin in our classroom.
Curriculum
Bible: This week we focused on Noah. God protected Noah and his family because they trusted in him. God made important promises to Noah that are still true for us today.
Please continue to practice this verse with your child as you see fit:
Genesis 8:22 “Mientras la tierra exista habrá siembra y cosecha, frío y calor, verano e invierno, días y noches.”
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Literacy: Our linguistic focus this week was indefinite articles, un and una. In English this is like saying “a ___” as opposed to “the ___.” All nouns in Spanish have a gender. Masculine nouns use un and feminine nouns use una. We are excited to add these indefinite articles to our word wall!
- Reading strategy: Determining importance of text
- Read aloud: Clifford va a la escuela (Clifford Goes to School)
- Vocabulary Words:
- olfatear (to smell/sniff)
- deslizado (slippery)
- descubrir (discover)
- precioso (precious)
- curiosidad (curiosity)
- meterse en lios (to get in trouble)
- Phrase of the week: ¿Puedo tomar agua? (May I have a drink?)
- Letter of the week: Uu
Handwriting: We worked on writing uppercase and lowercase Uu. Normally we use a wet sponge, then a dry paper towel, and finally a piece of chalk to practice forming our letters the school way. Before doing this, this time we wrote the letters on a friend’s back.
Book of Friends: We met Norah this week! Your kids are getting really fast at guessing whose name is being revealed! Each time we meet a new friend, I try to emphasize that God made that person unique and special.
Math: I introduced the concept of addition this week! We used red and blue squares to represent a number 1-5. We noticed that some friends had all red squares, all blue squares, or a combination of the two colors. This led to a discussion of the different numbers we add together to make that sum.
Writing Workshop: Our current unit in writing workshop is oral language. This week we brainstormed ideas of stories we can share with others. We’ll have a chance to add to our list several times. We also learned about: making a movie in our heads to think about a true story that already happened that we’d like to share, taking turns with a friend to share our story and listen to theirs, and listening well to our friend’s story.
Exploring God’s World: Our science lessons this week took us to the nature center! It was fun to learn in this new context.
Up in Lights: We’re looking forward to starting this coming week! Please visit our “other resources” page on our blog to see the date of your child’s turn and the English translation of these papers.
Afternoons: We started new math centers this week! There are 4 centers including: constructing with 2D shapes, planting play-doh apples on the tree according to the number on the mat, building patterns with frogs, and 1:1 correspondence/fine motor with math manipulatives.
From our immersion program director
What/who is add.a.lingua?
add.a.lingua is an independent business that provides support and curricular frameworks to schools with immersion programs. Being housed in Zeeland Christian, they have office space and a classroom in our school (currently used by our Mandarin K class). While our immersion program and their business grew up together working hard to develop the Spanish and Mandarin skills of our students, they now work with 17 other schools across the country as well. They provide us with valuable research-based recommendations and feedback. We are blessed to have them present in our school and to serve as a model school for them. Occasionally, they will be present in our classrooms observing, leading tours, or filming our students (with parent permission).
