Newsletter 22
We had a very fun and a busy week too! It is such a week of celebration with 100th Day, Valentines Day, as well as Mandarin jars filled celebration 🙂 I love love Kindergarten at this time of the year because their language have grown so much that there is a lot of output happening, and they also start to understand jokes now in Mandarin! We are also starting to do many more things independently – and the children take ownership of their learning so much more. I hope you have a great break on Monday, and I will see you on Tuesday!
*I have also introduced part of the framework for next week, and sent home the homework. It is still due on Friday like usual – In the future this is what would most likely happen when we have a 4 day week!*
What did we learn and What will we learn?
Mandarin/Language Arts: We are focusing on adjectives and verbs for our grammar – it is so fun to teach and start hearing the children expand the way that they share news and speak/write their sentences! There are many things in framework that I used to guide them through as they work, that I am starting to have the children try working on by themselves, we are doing great ? We are transitioning towards more independence in Mandarin tasks as well! We have been reviewing each choices in our daily 5, and have been trying to transitions independently. We are almost at the fully independent daily 5 time! The children are getting really familiar with the each different components of framework that we introduced, practiced and assessed each week.
Bible: We shared 2 more miracles this week – Jesus healing the lepers, as well as Jesus healing the blind. We talked about how Jesus give healing to those who are sick, but not only physically, He also give healing to the ones that need Him in their hearts. Next week we will talk about Jesus feeding 5,000, Jesus walking on water, and Jesus raising Lazarus from the death if time.
Memory Verse/Fruit of the Spirit: We had a good conversation talking about kindness and goodness, as we think about how we learn to continue to be kind and good to each other. In light of Valentines Day we also had a talk about different ways we would show our love for God and people around us. We are also practicing our February Bible Memory Verse. Next week I will assess the children’s February Bible Memory Verse and we will introduce March’s Memory Verse and Fruit of Spirit.
Math: We continue to practice our addition and subtraction, we continue to work on teen numbers and doing 10+some more to make them, practicing writing our teen numbers, as well as discovering partner groups. Please continue to find opportunities for your children to practice their number writing and ask them if the number looks right if it’s written backwards. We are also in the introduction section of making and combining shapes using 2D foam shapes. Feel free to encourage your child to spot different shapes on things they see around them! You can also start practicing addition/subtraction concept with them through different opportunities at home (like counting plates on the table as you set up dinner, adding/subtracting with cereals/snacks before they eat, etc.) Have the children show you how they count with their fingers as well as through pictures!
Exploring God’s World (Sci/SocStu): We continue to practice directions in Science and Social Studies. In Science we focus on different direction words like front, back, left, right, inside, outside, in front, behind, in between as well as in the middle. In Social Studies we are learning about North, South, East, and West, as well as reviewing an individual in the earth. The children are making connections of the terms that they know in English, but now learning it in Mandarin. We are wrapping up our Science Motion unit, and we are talking about citizenship and talking about what it means to be a part of our world in Social Studies.
Writing: I got to meet one on one with the children again this week – and got to chat with them about their writing. I have also introduced them a little booklet that they can keep their ideas in when they can’t write down their stories quite yet (because they are working on writing another story). The children are getting used to the idea of finding words in their books, on the wall or asking their friends. In the next weeks we will continue to focus on writing stories, and also learning the steps before officially publishing a story.
Play: The children had such a sweet and heartwarming time on Tuesday as they open valentines gifts and making note cards for their friends and family. A highlight is also on Friday we went out and stayed outside together to play some new games that LiLaoshi taught as a Mandarin celebration! The children voted for “LiLaoshi playing with us inside/outside”, we decided to take advantage of the warmth sunshine on Friday!
Things to Note:
Spring Field Trip Sign Ups: Looking ahead, there are 2 field trips coming up – Garden Crossings is on March 24th, Friday (8:45-10:30AM), and Critter Barn/Timbertown is on April 20th, Thursday (8:45-3:15PM Whole Day!). We still have spots for Garden Crossings Chaperone! Here is the Signup Genius Link for Chaperone sign up. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d4ea5a922a6fc1-spring1
Box Top: Feel free to send in box top anytime, and when you do, please label S.Sulayman on the bag and write down the total amount of box top collected. Thank you!
Valentine Quarters: We are raising money for our sponsor child in the Philippines this month. The heart sheet attached is the sheet your child will be turning in at the end of February. For each “task/job” they completed, you are welcome to tape a quarter (or more) on the heart sheet, or collect it in a bag and cross the heart out. We will learn to love the others during this time of the year, as we earn money to support our friend Wayne at Philippines.
Mandarin Homework&Flashcard: Homework and Flashcard this coming week are from U4W3. Please continue to help me in keeping your children accountable for following stroke order and word proportion on Homework, and recognizing characters for Flashcard. Thank you for all you do at home!
From the Immersion Program Coordinator – Do you know what the threefold goal of immersion education at ZCS is? We aim to advance the students’ academic achievement,cultural competency, and insist on high level performance in the target language. We are privileged to do this all within the Christian environment of ZCS. If anyone you know would like to tour our program to see immersion education in action, feel free to connect with Jodi Pierce, the Language Immersion Programs Coordinator at jpierce@zcs.org.
What’s Coming Up?
Specials: Monday – Spanish, Art, Tuesday – Music, Spanish, Wednesday – Library, Spanish. Thursday – Spanish.
President’s Day – NO SCHOOL: February 20th.
All-School Chapel: February 23rd, 9:10AM.
Quarters for Wayne DUE: February 28th.
Parent Teacher’s Conference Sign Up: March 3rd. – I will send the note through email soon!
Parent Teacher’s Conferences: March 20th and 21st (NO SCHOOL March 20th).
Garden Crossings Fieldtrip: March 24th.
Prayer Requests:
With the weather changes we have a couple of friends that are having some cold/flu! Please pray for health and adjustments of the weather changing 🙂
Please also join me in prayer as we welcome and transition into having our Head of School – prayers for Mr. McAboy and his family!
谢谢！
－黎老师