Information and Reminders:
Thank you for those who signed up for parent-teacher conference. If you have not sign up yet, please do so by March 15 at 10:00pm.
In social studies, we are learning about history through photographs, books and artifacts. Students are encouraged to bring to school any evidences of the past. We set up a little display area for all the things students bring to school. (It is totally optional)
Wonderfully Made: Penny Sprick March 13-17 Ben Van Dyk April 10-14
Please finish and send your child’s timeline the week before your child’s special week. During your child’s special week, it is a wonderful opportunity to have lunch with your child, bring in pets, or share special talents your family members may have been blessed with. Just inform me ahead of time what is your plan.
March Birthday Celebrations
Ben Brower Monday, March 6
Max Harris Tuesday, March 21
There is a new email for you to report absentees. The address is attendance@zcs.org
Please copy me by sending the email and include the following information: student name, teacher, and reason for absence.
First Grade Field Trip: Thursday, March 16 Meijer Garden We will leave by 9:00am. Each student need to bring a packed lunch, there will not be time to get hot lunch. Thank you to Ben Wickstra, Abby Allen, Torey Heinz and Erin Harris for driving the field trip. Please bring all the boosters you have. Each attending parent needs to pay $5.00 for the field trip. (You can give me the money in the morning of the field trip.)
March is the Reading Month: We have special activities each week throughout the month of March to celebrate reading. On March 15, we are going to have a Blackout Day. Students are encouraged to bring flashlights to read for 20 minutes on that day.
March 14: All of our first graders and second graders will participate in the musical. Please have your son or daughter at Community Reformed Church (10376 Felch St, Zeeland, 49464) by 6:50. You may bring them to meet their teachers in the gym anytime after 6:40; please do not drop them off earlier, as there will not be supervision before then. If possible, please have them wear jeans and their Star Quest t-shirts, which will be sent home next week.
Book orders for Amanda Barton is due on March 20. Checks for Amanda Barton’s books should be made out to Amanda Barton! NOT ZCS!!
Save the date! Ann Hemmeke is working on putting together another dinner at the WeiWei Palace for the Mandarin families. The date will be Saturday, April 22 at 6pm. More details are coming soon!
From the Immersion Coordinator
Do you teach a specific dialect of the language or have a preference of where the native speaking teachers come from? No, we do not focus on dialects or specific regions where Spanish or Mandarin is spoken. Actually, we prefer to expose our students to as much variety as possible when it comes to variations in the languages. This helps the students gain a more diverse vocabulary, better comprehension skills, and a broader command of colloquialisms. In fact, just this week I watched a group of 2nd graders realize that peanut butter has a different name in Ecuador than in México.
Curriculum
Language Arts
-Reading Strategy:
We started a new read aloud called The Box-car Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. It is a great realistic fiction which corresponds to the writings we are going to work on. We will spend time studying the author’s skills to a great beginning this week.
-Writers’ Workshop: We learned to create problem, solution, beginning, middle, and end of realistic fiction. This week we will focus on adding conversations and create a good beginning.
Math
-First Grade: We will create our own polls and collect data. We will also introduce comparison bars.
-Second Grade: We will learn about time this week, we’ll talk about AM/PM, hours, and minutes.
Social Studies
This week we are going to learn that our families have a past. Photographs of families can tell us about family life in the past.
Science
-First Grade: We will learn weathers in spring when the weather is warm(probably in March). We will start learning the animal unit in April.
-Second Grade:We will be studying friction this week, we’ll learn how it changes the way an object move.
a
Bible
We will talk about a new king for Israel; victory and disobedience; David and Goliath; David at Saul’s court