Archive of ‘newsletters 2017-2018’ category

Newsletter 34: Week of June 3

Week Overview

What a fantastic week! We started our week with the Memorial Day parade and the kids did a wonderful job marching in the parade and honoring those who protect our freedoms here, especially remembering those who gave their lives to do so. Thank you for your help in keeping everyone safe and getting all of the jackets turned back in. Fridayday the kids proudly presented their PBL projects. They worked so hard on those projects and it was such a blessing to be able to share them with you! I am one very proud teacher! Thank you for celebrating with us! Thank you, as well, for bringing in the yummy cookies!

The week ahead of us brings another field trip and lots of celebrating the end of the year. We will spend time intentionally slowing down, soaking in our time together, and reflecting on God’s faithfulness throughout our school year. I plan on savoring my last moments with your children, the students I have fallen so deeply in love with this year!

This is our last newsletter this year, and I want to say one more time how grateful I am for all of you! Thank you so much for all your support and help this school year. Thank you for your prayers, your encouraging words, and all your hard work! I couldn’t do my job without you!


Important Dates

June 5: All-school chapel 9:00

June 6: Field trip to Farmers Market and Kollen Park. Please pack a sack lunch for your child. We’ll be back to school about 12:45.

June 7: Last day of school- no pm bussing


Reminders

  • Batons: Each child at ZCS receives a baton in kindergarten. Inside the baton is a personal note I wrote for your child. Please read these notes with your child, write a note of your own if you want, and pass the baton to your child’s 1st grade teacher next fall. (There is also a letter inside the baton explaining in further detail how this ZCS tradition works.) I do not hand the batons out all in one day, but rather we do a few each day. When I pass the baton to your child we lay hands on your child and pray specifically for them. Please watch for a baton to come home this week if it didn’t already.
  • Countdown to Summer Continues!
    • Monday: Water Day (There is NO need for a bathing suit.)
    • Tuesday: eXchange autographs
    • Wednesday: Wear Yellow
    • Thursday: Zip up your bags and Zoom home!
  • Summer Learning:
    • Bookmarks: Read 20 books over the summer and earn your way into an ice cream party next school year! This went home last week.
    • Books List: Our reading teachers have compiled a great list of books to read over the summer! Please check it out here: K-2Summer-Reading-Ideas-1g2i69a-1vtgev3
    • Summer Review Packet: With a little help from TeachersPayTeachers the kindergarten teachers at ZCS have been compiling a set of optional review activities for you to work on with your kindergartener this summer if you would like to. This went home this past week.
  • Bus Tags: All students who typically ride the bus may turn in their bus tags to their bus driver on their last bus ride, either to or home from school.  Kids who are not riding anymore this year, or who don’t typically ride at all, may bring them to the office now.

Curriculum

Bible: In this unit we are talking about the first church and Paul’s journeys. This week we learned how God healed people through his disciples.

Literacy: This week we talked about question words. Our new knowledge helped us create the invitations to our PBL celebration.

  • Reading strategy: Inferring
  • Read aloud: El Mundo Marino
  • Vocabulary words
    • nadar (to swim)
    • el coral (coral)
    • la mancha (spot)
    • la almeja (clam)
    • la aleta (fin)
  • Word wall word: ¿cuándo? cuando (when)
  • Phrase of the week: ¿Cuándo vamos a recreo? (When are we going to recess?)
  • Letter of the week: review of vowels (a, e, i, o, u)

Math: We continue learning about 3D shapes. This week we learned a fun chant and some motions to help us remember how to identify each shape.

Exploring God’s World: Another huge thank you for all of your support during our PBL! Thursday was a very exciting and long-anticipated day! This coming week we’ll head to the farmers market to put many science/social studies concepts into practice. We’ll practice trading money for the goods we’d like to buy and will learn more about goods and services.

Writing Workshop: We continue working on How-To books. As a class your kids wanted to write about how to do a PBL. 🙂 Many kids are also choosing to write books from their own list of ideas.

Newsletter 32: Week of May 20

Week Overview

I was struck several times this week by how much Spanish your kids are speaking! I had a few minutes to spare in Kalamazoo before graduation so I stopped at one of my favorite children’s book stores and bought your kids a surprise to show them how proud I am of them! 🙂 We read our new Elephant and Piggy book together on Friday! If you haven’t read those books, you should give them a try! They’re one of the rare finds that is funny for adults and kids. 🙂


Important Dates

May 28: Memorial Day Parade- I will plan on your child marching unless I hear differently from you.

June 1: PBL Presentations 9:00. Please join us in the music room to celebrate and hear about our projects. Afterward please you’re invited to  our classroom for some cookies.

June 6: Field trip to Farmers Market and Kollen Park. Please pack a sack lunch for your child. We’ll be back to school about 12:45.

June 7: Last day of school- no pm bussing or hot lunch


Reminders

  • Countdown to Summer Continues!
    • Monday: Number Fun
    • Tuesday: Joke- Wear Orange
    • Wednesday: Popcorn Day
    • Thursday: Quiet Day
    • Friday: Rocking to our Favorite Music

Some pictures from this week’s countdown activities. Thank you, Stella, for the popsicles!


Curriculum

Bible: We continue learning about parables. This week we covered the The Midnight Visitor. We learned that God is always listening to us. He knows the desires of his hearts. Even though His plans are sometimes different than what we ask for, He’s always working for our good. We also covered The Wise and Foolish Builder. We talked about building our lives on Jesus and his promises to be able to stand strong even when problems or storms come. We added a rock to our parable bags. Maestra DeKruyter taught The Good Samaritan.

Our last Bible verse for Kindergarten:

Por tanto vayan y hagan discípulos de todas naciones, bautizándolos en el nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo, enseñándoles a obedecer todo lo que les ha mandado a ustedes. Y les aseguro que estaré con ustedes siempre, hasta el fin del mundo. Mateo 28:19, 20

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19, 20

Literacy: We finished the aalpa! I’m so proud of all of the kids! The results aren’t something I typically share with parents, but if you’re interested in knowing how your child did, please let me know! I’m happy to share them with you, but they’re really meant to inform my instruction, help your child set goals for the future, and help your child’s 1st grade teacher know where to begin instruction at the beginning of next school year. They’re definitely not “top secret,” but are really more meaningful from a teacher perspective than a parent’s at the kindergarten level, in my opinion. Still curious? I’d love to chat and share them with you.

This week we learned about the letter Ww. When we made a list of all the W words we know we noticed that most of the words used an uppercase W. We reviewed that this means these words are probably names of people or places. W isn’t a very common letter in Spanish and most of these names come from English. We also learned how to name our preferences by saying I like, Me gusta, and I love, Me encanta. 

  • Reading strategy: Inferring
  • Read aloud: Franklin dice “te quiero.”
  • Vocabulary words
    • el regalo (present)
    • el globo (balloon)
    • la mosca (fly)
    • feliz cumpleaños (happy birthday)
    • cansado (tired)
  • Word wall word: gustar (to like)
  • Phrase of the week: Me gusta ____. (I like ____.)
  • Letter of the week: Ww

Math: In math we started learning about 3D shapes. This week we compared a circle and a sphere.

Exploring God’s World: On Friday we met with our 7th grade buddies again. This time we used some technology to support our research. It is amazing to me to hear the Spanish in our classroom when your kindergarteners and the 7th graders are working together!

Writing Workshop: We’re working on our how-to books unit. This week we used the steps to make a pb&j sandwich from last week to create a class book.

Newsletter 30: Week of May 6

Week Overview

What a full and exciting week! On Wednesday we celebrated our Small Moments writing unit by sharing our stories with Maestra Zondervan’s class.

We also celebrated making it to 20 minutes of 100% Spanish with a special reader, Olivia’s grandma, and cupcakes. Gracias, abuela, and Klamer family!

Our countdown to summer allowed us opportunities to play with sidewalk chalk, blow bubbles, and share apples with caramel. Thank you for your donations to this FUN!

We finished the week meeting our amigos secretos and making fun memories at pizza-themed centers.Thank you to all the families who helped make our morning run so smoothly! I really appreciate your donations of ingredients and time!


Important Dates

May 9: 1/2 Day (Tulip Time) 11:50 dismissal time

May 10&11: No PM busing and No hot lunch

May 28: Memorial Day (No School) Kindergarteners are invited to march in the parade. (More details soon.)

June 1: PBL Presentations 9:00

June 6: Field trip to Farmers Market

June 7: Last day of school- no pm bussing or hot lunch


Reminders

  • 1/2 Day Wednesday: Dismissal Wednesday morning is at 11:50. There is bussing that day, but not on Thursday or Friday.
  • Memorial Day Parade: This week I will send a letter home with specifics about the parade. This is an optional thing, but a fun way to represent our school and support our town/country. If I do not hear from you, I will assume that you are coming. I am looking for a few parents willing to march with us please. Send me an email or catch me in the hallway if you’re willing!
  • Countdown to Summer: I am blown away by how quickly this SignUp Genius filled up with generous people willing to help us celebrate God’s faithfulness this school year! We are still looking for someone willing to donate filled water balloons please. Click here if you’re willing! Thank you!

Curriculum

Bible: We continue learning about parables. This week we learned that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and made a pipe cleaner staff. We also learned the parable of the sower and collected some seeds for our parable bags. We decided we want to be like good soil that produces fruit for God’s Kingdom.

Our last Bible verse for Kindergaten:

Por tanto vayan y hagan discípulos de todas naciones, bautizándolos en el nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo, enseñándoles a obedecer todo lo que les ha mandado a ustedes. Y les aseguro que estaré con ustedes siempre, hasta el fin del mundo. Mateo 28:19, 20

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19, 20

Literacy: This week our letter brought an extra challenge as it makes two sounds! In Spanish the letter Cc makes a hard sound /k/ and a soft sound /s/. We played language detectives and noted that Cc makes /s/ when it is followed by an i or an e. In grammar we also learned that the pronoun lo can be used in place of nouns. In English it is similar to saying “it.” Check out our phrase of the week to see this special new word in context.

Have you noticed more books than normal in your child’s book bag? This is because next weekend they will not be bringing books home. On Monday we are starting a special literacy project called the aalpa. We’ll begin with the interpretive activity, reading a book and answering some comprehension questions about it. I’ll be working with kids in small groups on this project instead of working on take home book reading strategies, so there will be no new books to take home next weekend. I hope you enjoy practicing some of the “old” books with your child and working on those comprehension strategies like predicting, inferring, and retelling!

  • Reading strategy: Inferring
  • Read aloud: La familia de Clifford
  • Vocabulary words
    • el pueblo (village, town)
    • el cachorro (puppy)
    • el collar (collar)
    • la ciudad (city)
    • el avión (airplane)
    • el bombero (fire fighter)
  • Word wall word: ¿cómo? (how)
  • Phrase of the week: ¿Puedo llevarlo a casa? (May I take it home?)
  • Letter of the week: Cc

Math: In math we are talking about numbers that are greater, mayor, or less than, menor. 

Exploring God’s World: We began step 1 of our PBL on animals this week. I reminded the kids that they are scientists! They were very excited about studying many different animals. Together we decided it’d be easier for their teacher if they worked in groups and studied fewer animals. 🙂 Everyone wrote the name of the top 3 animals they’d like to research. This weekend I will do my best to form groups that allow everyone to study one of their top 3 animals.

Writing Workshop: As I’m sure your know, Friday we met our amigos secretos to whom we’ve been writing for the past month! It was an exciting day to be a Spanish immersion kindergartener!

Up in Lights: Lauren was Up in Lights this week! She loves suckers, her new house, and singing Tu Ti Ta! If you aren’t familiar with the song yet and are ready for some giggling, ask your kindergartener about this fun school song!

Newsletter 29: Week of April 29

Week Overview

I am so proud of your kids! They continue to work hard and love each other well. This week we started a new Spanish incentive plan. Everyone starts with 10 gems at the beginning of the week. If someone accidentally slips into English that person give me a gem. Sometimes I recognize excellent Spanish, especially Spanish during an unstructured time, with an extra gem. On Friday we “cash in” the gems. Each gem=1 minute of free choice time. Each gem lost=1 minute of helping the teacher with something in our classroom. 🙂 Today we cashed in our gems for the first time!


Important Dates

May 4: Pen Pal Pizza Party

May 4: Fun Night

May 9: 1/2 Day (Tulip Time)

May 10&11: No PM busing and No hot lunch

May 28: Memorial Day (No School) Kindergarteners are invited to march in the parade. (More details soon.)

June 6: Field trip to Farmers Market


Reminders

  • Farmers Market: On Wednesday, June 6 we’ll be heading to our last kindergarten field trip, the Farmers Market! From there we’ll head to Kollen Park for a picnic lunch. We will not be eating hot lunch that day. We will be back to school about 12:45. “Morning kids” are welcome to stay until then! If you need to pick your child up at the normal 11:50 time, please meet us at Kollen Park.
    • We are still looking for a couple more drivers for this field trip! It’s a little more hands-on so I’d like to make the groups a bit smaller than normal if possible. The only way to do that is with your help! 🙂 We’ll be leaving about 9:30 that morning. Please use this link to sign up. Thank you!
  • Pen Pal Celebration: Thank you to everyone who signed up to help! I’m looking forward to this special day! A few reminders…
    • If your child attends 1/2 day please plan on picking her/him up by our classroom.
    • If your child attends full day our pizza is actually 1/2 English muffin with pizza sauce and cheese. It would make a great main dish of a lunch. It would be very appropriate to send along some sides like fruits, veggies, etc. please.

Curriculum

Bible: We continue learning about parables. This week we read the parable of the Lost Son or the Prodigal Son. Each time we read a new parable your child completes a simple project. We’re collecting these in a bag to bring home at the end of our unit.

Literacy: Over the last 2 weeks we’ve talked about the verb estar to describe the location of a person or thing and to describe an action in progress in the first person. This week we learned how to describe actions other people are doing right now. In English this would be equivalent to present progressive verbs in the 2nd and 3rd person. Sound hard? You’d be surprised how often your students use this tense without even realizing it! This is the beauty of immersion. I get to introduce your children to the “fancy names” of things they say every day. 🙂

  • Reading strategy: Inferring
  • Read aloud: El pez arcoiris y la cueva de los monstruos
  • Vocabulary words
  • el pez (fish)
  • la cueva (cave)
  • el brazo (arm)
  • la piedra (rock)
  • el arcoiris (rainbow)
  • Word wall word: ¿qué? (what) que (that)
  • Phrase of the week: ¡Hablemos solamente español! (Let’s only speak Spanish)
  • Letter of the week: Kk

We’re also talking about rhymes. On Monday Maestra Angelica and I led small groups in a rhyming activity. On Friday we finished our Cat in the Hats by adding rhyming words to the stripes in his hat.

Math: Our math lesson took us to the grocery store this week! It was fun using fruits, veggies, and other pretend food (or empty containers) to practice addition and subtraction in a very familiar context.

Writing Workshop: We wrote to our pen pals two more times this week! Your kids are very excited to meet them! We also wrote a small moments story about the Critter Barn.

Up in Lights: Brooklynn was up in lights this week! Her parents, older sister Madilynn, and puppy Sophie joined us! Brooklynn shared some of her favorite books and, after seeing how many colors she chose as her favorite, it wasn’t surprising that one book had a rainbow theme. 🙂 We love you, Brooklynn!

Newsletter 28: Week of April 22

Week Overview

We had an awesome week! Our field trip to the Critter Barn and Lawrence Park was such a fun day! I’m so proud of the kids for coming out of their comfort zones and trying new things- petting new animals and even milking a goat! Thank you, thank you, thank you to the parents who helped out!


Important Dates

May 4: Pen Pal Pizza Party

May 4: Fun Night

May 9: 1/2 Day (Tulip Time)

May 10&11: No PM busing and No hot lunch

June 6: Field trip to Farmers Market


Reminders

  • Farmers Market: On Wednesday, June 6 we’ll be heading to our last kindergarten field trip, the Farmers Market! From there we’ll head to Kollen Park for a picnic lunch. We will not be eating hot lunch that day. We will be back to school about 12:45. “Morning kids” are welcome to stay until then! If you need to pick your child up at the normal 11:50 time, please meet us at Kollen Park.
    • We are still looking for a couple more drivers for this field trip! It’s a little more hands-on so I’d like to make the groups a bit smaller than normal if possible. The only way to do that is with your help! 🙂 We’ll be leaving about 9:30 that morning. Please use this link to sign up. Thank you!
  • Pen Pal Celebration: Please follow this link to sign up for volunteering during our pen pal celebration or to bring pizza ingredients if you are able and interested! Thank you!

Curriculum

Bible: We started our new unit on parables this week. We read the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin. We learned that God loves us so much and seeks us out when we are far from him.

Literacy: This week we talked about the verb “estar” again. Last week we learned that this important word is used to describe the location of an object or person. This week we learned that it’s also used to talk about present progressive verbs. In English these verbs end in -ing. This time we focused on how to express something in the form “I am ____.” Estoy ______.

  • Reading strategy: Inferring
  • Read aloud: Sana Ranita Sana
  • Vocabulary words
    • la cucharada (tablespoon)
    • curar (cure)
    • enfermo (sick)
    • el abrazo (hug)
    • las caricias (pats… think on the head or pats on the shoulder :))
    • linda/o (cute, sweet)
    • cariñosa/o (loving)
    • las cosquillas (tickles)
  • Word wall word: bueno (good)
  • Phrase of the week: Yo también. (Me too!)
  • Letter of the week: Jj

Math: We got to use lots of manipulatives in math this week as we represented teen numbers as 10 and some more. Almost everyone has finished the math test! I hope to send this home next week.

Writing Workshop: We wrote to our pen pals again this week! This time we drew them a picture of ourselves in a special place and practiced using our new phrase, “Yo estoy en ____.” to describe our picture.

Exploring God’s World: Our Exploring God’s World unit took us to The Critter Barn this week! Thank you, again, to everyone who helped make this day so amazing! We learned about many different animals including goats, chickens, ducks, cats, rabbits, and cows. I’m excited to use this adventure to give one of our Daily 5 writing choices a memorable context.

Up in Lights: I struggled to get this picture in our blog last week so here is Clara’s picture to celebrate her Up in Lights week last week! We love you, Clara!

Newsletter 27: Week of April 15

Week Overview

It was a great week back! We are in the home stretch of our school year! In the spring it is so exciting to think back on how far your kids have come. We have a lot of exciting learning opportunities coming up in the next couple months! Now if we can only get the weather to cooperate. 🙂


Important Dates

April 19: Full-day field trip to Critter Barn (Please see note below.)

May 4: Pen Pal Pizza Party (See note in writing workshop section below)

June 6: Field trip to Farmers Market


Reminders

  • Critter Barn: This week I sent a letter with some details about our trip. Please see the same details below:What about 1/2 day students? If your child normally leaves before lunch on Thursdays they are welcome to join us for the full day on the 19th. If this is a problem, please let me know and we can make other arrangements.

    What’s the plan for lunch?  We are going to be at the Critter Barn all day, so you will need to pack your child a lunch to eat. To make lunch the easiest we can, it would be helpful if you sent your child’s lunch in a sack that can be thrown away at the Critter Barn. Keeping track of lunch boxes could be tricky. We will have a large cooler or bag to keep the lunches in so please label your child’s lunch. Also, it may be best to pack foods that do not need to be kept cold. Please pack a juice box or plastic water bottle for a drink.

    What should my child wear? The Critter Barn does not cancel for rain so please dress your child appropriately. I would suggest either boots or old shoes and clothes that could get a little dirty. We will spend time both indoors and outdoors.

    What’s the plan in the afternoon? Weather permitting, we will spend some time at Lawrence Street Park right in Zeeland. We will be back to school by 3:15 in time for the bus and pick up.


Curriculum

Bible: We finished our Easter timeline and celebrated Jesus’ resurrection together. Your kids are doing a great job practicing their Bible verse!

“El ángel dijo a las mujeres: -No tengan miedo; sé que ustedes buscan a Jesús, él que fue crucificado. No está aquí, pues ha resucitado, tal como dijo. Vengan a ver el lugar donde lo pusieron.” Mateo 28:5-6

“The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:5-6

Literacy: This week we talked about the verb estar, to be, and how to use it to describe where someone or something is. We had fun working with a friend to move Beanie Babies around the classroom and try to explain where the animal was.

  • Reading strategy: Inferring
  • Read aloud: El Hallazgo de Franklin
  • Vocabulary words
    • la cámara (camera)
    • el camino (path)
    • la fotografiía (photos)
    • el parque (park)
    • las llaves (keys)
  • Word wall word: hola (hello)
  • Phrase of the week: ¿Hacemos fila?
  • Letter of the week: Hh

Math: We started new spring-themed math centers this week! During math centers time I’m leading small groups of students through our unit 3 test and the kids are doing awesome!

Writing Workshop: We had fun writing small moments stories about our spring break experiences! We also received our first letters from our secret pen pals!

On Friday we wrote our first response to our pen pals. The kids were really excited! Each child is paired with someone in Maestra Zondervan’s class. On May 4 the kids will get to meet their pen pals and we’ll have a special homemade pizza party. Please don’t say anything to your child about who their pen pal is. if you’re interested in helping on our pizza party pen pal day or sending in pizza ingredients, I’d really appreciate it please! This week I’ll send a SignUp Genius with those opportunities.

Exploring God’s World: We finished our classroom book on living things. Each child created two pages of our book- one about a living thing and another about a non-living thing.

Up in Lights: Clara was up in lights this week! She has big dreams of being a school teacher. She brought her chickens to school with her! We also got to celebrate her birthday. Thank you for the yummy brownies, Clara! It was an exciting morning! 

Newsletter 26: Spring break :)

Week Overview

At the beginning of the week I prayed God would use me to teach your children something new about Easter and to help them know that Jesus died for them specifically because he loves them so much. I have been incredibly blessed by your children as we journeyed through Holy Week together. Discussing the story with your children is the highlight of my Holy Week so far this year.

During “good news” each morning  we heard lots of hopeful stories about trips and fun things your kids hope to do in and around Zeeland. I pray you have a wonderful break together and a very blessed Easter!


Important Dates

March 30-April 7: Spring break 🙂

April 19: Full-day field trip to Critter Barn 


Reminders

On Monday please help your child remember:

  • beach towel
  • library book
  • take-home guided reading books

I thought it might be helpful to include this for after break. We’ll transition back together! 🙂


Curriculum

Bible: As we read through the stories we open a new Resurrection Egg and add to our timeline. Your kids are asking great questions and making comments that show me they are walking with God. It’s been an extra special week in Bible! When we get back from break we’ll add The Resurrection to our timeline and take them home.

“El ángel dijo a las mujeres: -No tengan miedo; sé que ustedes buscan a Jesús, él que fue crucificado. No está aquí, pues ha resucitado, tal como dijo. Vengan a ver el lugar donde lo pusieron.” Mateo 28:5-6

“The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:5-6

Literacy: This week we reviewed the following “tricky” letters: Qq, Ññ, and Yy. We also reviewed reflexive verbs, action words that are done to oneself, for example, washing one’s hands, Me lavo las manos. In art I noticed the kids are working on an Eric Carle project so we read the book, La Mariquita Malhumorada, by the same author and talked about how to be a good friend.

Math: We wrapped up our last round of math centers before switching to new activities. During math centers time we’ve been working on addition, (paying close attention to the parts that make up a bigger number,) counting by 10s to 100 and identifying teen numbers.

Writing Workshop/Exploring God’s World: This week we combined these two subjects and began a class book on living and nonliving things. So far every child has created a page about a living thing. We’re digging a little deeper and asking ourselves, “How do we know it’s a living thing?”

 

Newsletter 25: Week of March 25

Week Overview

We had a good week together! It feels like spring may finally be almost here and I’m so proud of your budding learners! Thank you for your prayers as I was out sick on Friday and have been trying to recover this weekend.


Important Dates

March 28: All school chapel 9:00- everyone is welcome!

March 30-April 7: Spring break 🙂

April 19: Full-day field trip to Critter Barn 


Reminders

  • Enrollment Forms: Please turn in enrollment papers to the school office this week! It is so helpful to have this information to plan for next school year. Thank you!
  • Auction Donations: Please turn in the form indicating you will donate pop or money for our auction this spring. The committee is hoping to have a good idea of how much is coming in by the end of this week. Thank you!

Curriculum

Bible: This week we learned about Palm Sunday. We talked about the power behind Jesus entering in on a donkey and the people expecting a king. We will continue to learn about the events of Holy Week and add them to a timeline this coming week. Below is our new Bible verse:

“El ángel dijo a las mujeres: -No tengan miedo; sé que ustedes buscan a Jesús, él que fue crucificado. No está aquí, pues ha resucitado, tal como dijo. Vengan a ver el lugar donde lo pusieron.” Mateo 28:5-6

“The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:5-6

Literacy: This week we talked about reflexive verbs. This kind of verb is used to express that one does an action to oneself. Often they are used when we talk about routines. For example, I get myself dressed, I brush my teeth, I wash my hands.

  • Reading strategy: Inferring
  • Read aloud: Corduroy
  • Vocabulary words
    • la tienda (store)
    • la gente (people)
    • el botón (button)
    • la muñeca (doll)
    • los pantalones (pants)
  • Word wall word: muy (very)
  • Phrase of the week: Yo fui al ____. I’m went to ____.
  • Letter of the week/handwriting letter: Ññ

Math: We continue to talk about teen numbers and search for groups of 10 inside the bigger number. This week we used every day objects like pasta, sea shells, paper clips, and seeds to make the teen numbers, including the groups of 10.

Writing Workshop: We continue to practice writing stories with Small Moments. I’m so proud of the hard work each one of your kids is putting into their writing!

Exploring God’s World: On Friday we explored a real living thing- worms! I can’t wait to hear about their experience when I see your kids on Monday!

Up in Lights: Adrian was Up in Lights this week! He showed us many of his favorite things including the songs he can play for us on the keyboard! Adrian, you have a spark like no one else! We’re so glad you’re in our class! 

Newsletter 24: Week of March 18

Week Overview

I feel like March is flying by! I know it’s been and continues to be a busy few weeks so I want to thank you for sticking with us and supporting us in the amazing ways you do. I couldn’t do my job without you and partnering with families like yours makes my job worth doing!

Some of our highlights from this week included: hot crayon during purposeful play, hat day on Friday, and celebrating our Spanish proficiency with an art project.


Important Dates

Wednesday, March 21: Wacky Wednesday (Dress in mismatched or wacky clothes/hair)

Friday, March 23: Bring a flashlight (We will “camp out and read.”)

March 28: All school chapel 9:00- everyone is welcome!

March 30-April 7: Spring break 🙂


Reminders

  • March is Reading Month: There are lots of fun activities planned for us by our 2nd grade teachers! Please see the dates above and let me know if you have any questions!
  • Field Trips: A few more people signed up to join us at the market! We are still looking for a couple more drivers (ideally 2-3) for the Farmers Market on June 6. The market is usually quite busy so I prefer to have smaller groups. We will be gone for a full morning, but will be back by 12:45. If you’re interested please sign up here. Thank you!
  • Hope College Science Camp: This summer Hope is offering a variety of camps. If you’re interested please check out the options here. 

Curriculum

Bible: This week we wrapped up our unit on miracles. Some of the miracles we learned about are: Jesus healing the blind man, Jesus walking on water, Jesus calming the storm, Jesus feeding the 5,000, the great catch of fish when the fishermen placed the net on the other side of the boat, and Jesus changing the water to wine. Next week we’ll begin learning about Easter and the events leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection.

Miracles Bible Verse: Pidan, y se les dará; busquen, y encontrarán; llamen, y se les abrirá. Mateo 7:7

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Literacy: We continued learning about verb conjugations. This time we focused on third person plural. In English this would be the pronoun “they.” In Spanish we say “ellos,” “ellas.” The same conjugation is used for the second person plural, “ustedes.”

  • Reading strategy: Visualizing
  • Read aloud: El Diente de Franklin
  • Vocabulary words
    • el diente (tooth)
    • la hada (fairy)
    • la almohada (pillow)
    • la dentista (dentist)
    • la moneda (coin)
  • Word wall word: este (this) yo (I)
  • Phrase of the week: Yo voy a ____. I’m going to ____.
  • Letter of the week: Yy

Math: Our math time this week was spent working on a practice worksheet to reinforce several important skills including: finding groups of 5 in bigger numbers, adding, and subtracting. We also learned to identify two sets of object as equal or not equal and how to look for parts inside a bigger number.

Writing Workshop: We continue to explore books with Small Moments. Right now most kindergarteners are writing about Visser Farms or jumping on the trampoline at For the Kidz Gymnastics. We continue to work on visualizing our story, then touching the pages and telling the story, and finally writing the story.

Exploring God’s World: We continue to talk about living things. This week your child identified and colored the living things in a coloring page.

Up in Lights: Stella was Up in Lights this week! She invited her parents, younger brother, and baby sister. She was very excited to show us part of her collection of Boxcar Children books! Stella LOVES reading! She even brought a bookmark for each friend in our class. Thank you, Stella! We love you!


From the Immersion Coordinator, Jodi Pierce

Where can I learn more about immersion education?
In addition to add.a.lingua’s parent site and blog which many of you have joined (http://addalingua.com/parent), the CARLA website gives a plethora of options for learning more about immersion (http://carla.umn.edu/immersion/). This is the website for the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition which is a resource for immersion educators around the world. The U.S. Department of Education funds 9 language resource centers and this is the one that focuses on immersion education. While much of the site is geared towards professional educators, some parents also glean great research-based information and tools from this site.

Newsletter 23: Week of March 11

Week Overview

We had a great 4-day week! It felt very different to be “alone” with your kids again. Usually when kindergarteners are asked to adjust from one person, Maestra Medrano, being in charge to another it takes a little time. I’m super happy with the way your kids have adjusted! I wouldn’t trade those 8 weeks, but it is good to be back to “normal” again!


Important Dates

March 23: Camping day- wear your camping gear and bring a flashlight to read

Friday, March 16: Hat Day! Wear a hat- your “thinking cap.” 🙂

Wednesday, March 21: Wacky Wednesday (Dress in mismatched or wacky clothes/hair)

Friday, March 23: Bring a flashlight (We will “camp out and read.”)

March 28: All school chapel 9:00- everyone is welcome!

March 30-April 7: Spring break 🙂


Reminders

  • March is Reading Month: There are lots of fun activities planned for us by our 2nd grade teachers! Please see the dates above and let me know if you have any questions!
  • Field Trips: I’m looking forward to our field trips coming up! Thank you for signing up to drive! We are still looking for a several more drivers for the Farmers Market on June 6. The market is usually quite busy so I prefer to have smaller groups. We will be gone for a full morning, but will be back by 12:45. If you’re interested please sign up here. Thank you!

Curriculum

Bible: This week we learned a new song and discovered the lyrics teach us about two of the miracles Jesus performed. Many of your kids knew the song in English. If you’d like to listen to the song in Spanish you can find the YouTube video we used here.

Miracles Bible Verse: Pidan, y se les dará; busquen, y encontrarán; llamen, y se les abrirá. Mateo 7:7

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Literacy: Winter is almost over, but we enjoyed one more winter story, The Mitten. We practiced visualizing the setting and the characters. Then each child created their own mitten and animals and practiced retelling the story.

Math: We opened up some new math centers! They include lots of subtraction, addition and teen number practice. Most of them have a Dr. Seuss theme which we’re enjoying during this month of reading.

Writing Workshop: We continue to explore books with Small Moments. This week we learned about adding details and telling the events in order. On Friday we practiced telling a small moments story from Visser Farms and next week we will write our words on the pages of our first written small moments story.

Exploring God’s World: Our Is It Living? unit took us to Visser Farms this week! We learned how many living things such as potatoes, carrots, and flowers make it from the ground to our tables at dinnertime.


From the Immersion Coordinator, Jodi Pierce

How do we test our students’ language fluency?
In addition to the twice yearly aalpa* which is administered by classroom teachers, we contract with Language Testing International (for Spanish) and Avant (for Mandarin). These are internationally recognized companies that do objective fluency testing for both students and adults. In 5th and 8th grade our Spanish students take these tests and receive ratings in speaking, reading, writing, and listening. We have tested our Mandarin students in 3rd grade and above in these four areas this year and last year. It is exciting to see our students reaching the high levels of fluency reflected in their scores!
*In kindergarten we complete the aalpa project just once in the spring. Our class will be doing it in May.

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