December 2018 archive

21
Dec
2018

12 – 21 Weekly Update

categories: Weekly Update
Dear Mom and Dad,
What was one really cool thing you did this week?
The Legend of the Candy Cane.
Tell your parents about the Fishers of Men Ministry
They had a lot of donations from different places. They give a lot of people food
From,
Cora
Merry Christmas!!
I am actually writing this Thursday, so I am assured to have it written for the kids to do their blogs on Friday. As we close out 2018, I am reminded what an absolute joy it has been to be your children’s teacher these last couple of months. They are truly a pleasure to teach, and have made me realize that I am not ready to retire, and look forward to the prospect of spending the rest of the year here. We do continue to pray for Mrs. Hall, for continued strength and good health. I will be hoping to hear sometime in January whether I will be here until June or not.

It has been a pretty crazy week with lots of interruptions to the normal schedule, and so therefore, we are not much further than we were last week curriculum wise. We will be switching math classes once again in January. My class will be finishing the second half of unit 3, and Mr. Hutt’s class will be beginning unit 4.

The class really appreciated going to, and touring the Fishers of Men Ministries facility. I know they appreciate the fact that they are helping those less fortunate than they are. It gives them a great feeling of satisfaction, knowing they are helping keep families warm this winter!

We had Chapel yesterday morning, and everyone had an enjoyable time with all the singing that we did. It was so precious to see the Kindergarteners sing to us all. Chapel was highlighted by “highlights”, when Mr. McAboy spoke to the class with blue hair in honor of the struggle that Jacob Feak is going through. Many of your sons and daughters have sported their own blue hair(as you know when they come home from school) to support Noah and his brother’s fight with cancer. Please pray that Jacob can come home from Ann Arbor in time for Christmas.

We held our classroom Spelling Bee yesterday, and I want to congratulate Cora Boerman(1st), and Noah Feak(2nd) for advancing to the grade level Bee to be held in January! Those who participate thoroughly impressed me with spelling prowess! Study those word lists over break!!!

Thanks to Liz Culver, and Holly Heres for spearheading this year’s Christmas party, and all of you who volunteered to donate things for the cookie decorating! Please ask your son or daughter about the movie they watched this afternoon, “The Nativity Story”. It should be a very powerful film!

I hope and pray for you all to have the most Blessed of Christmas’s with your kids and family this break! Please know that I will miss them, they are a wonderful group of kids!!

Very Sincerely,

Paul Keyser

14
Dec
2018

12 – 14 Weekly Update

categories: Weekly Update
Dear Mom and Dad,
Share with your parents what you have been doing each morning in Devotions. Give a specific example if you can.
We have been doing a advent chain. We read a Bible verse and we explain how the verse relates to Christmas.

What was your best part of the week?
Mrs. Keyser read the story The Tale of the Three Trees. She brought in little props to act the story out.

From,
Cora
Good Morning to you all!

It has been a good, albeit busy week for my class. In addition to the normal schedule, we have had Community Crews for Wednesday’s lunch, and Family Groups Thursday. The theme for the Family Groups was “Christmas Fun”. We made Christmas chains, listened to carols, played a game or two, and learned the origin of a few Christmas traditions. All in all, it was a very enjoyable time. On Tuesday, the class went down and spent some time with their “Preschool Buddies”, and made countdown chains for the days leading up to Christmas. I have included some pictures below. Special thanks to Lisa Klamer’s preschool class for having us come down! Today, the kids were entertained at lunch by the 5th grade band playing Christmas carols. They did an incredible job, very impressive!

Classes have been going smoothly as I have continued with the fractions in math(unit test prior to Christmas break), properties of matter in science(including an interesting lab comparing the properties of various substances). We finished up our unit on the Last Days of Judah in the Bible class, and the kids did very well on their assessments. We are now beginning the unit, Judah’s Return.  In Language Arts, the papers are finished, and the class is doing a variety of activities to highlight the Christmas season. Your son or daughter should have come home with a Christmas ornament that they made with Mrs. Keyser. They also were entertained by Mrs. Keyser reading the Max Lucado book, “The Tale of the Three Trees”. Mr. Hutt has been finishing up with the Mid-Atlantic colonies in social studies.

A couple final reminders for you to note. First, we are still looking to collect new hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves for the Fishers of Men ministries before next Thursday, when we walk there to present them.  Please try to include this in your shopping plans this weekend, so we have a nice turnout next week. Secondly, Liz Culver and Holly Heres are still looking for people to use Signup Genius for items for the Christmas party next Friday. During the afternoon, the kids will be watching the movie, “The Nativity Story”, and it comes with a PG rating. I have included a copy of the permission slip below, and will send home a hard copy for you to sign and return. There is a link at the end of the paragraph for you to click on and see why it carries a PG rating.

The Nativity Story

Dear Parents of 5th Graders ~

After the New Year the 5th grade will be kicking off our Bible unit on the birth of Jesus. A number of years ago a movie, the Nativity Story, was suggested to us as a fairly accurate portrayal of the Christmas story. This real-life portrayal of what it might have been like that first Christmas is well done and is quite true to the Biblical account (with some exceptions and differences which we will discuss in Bible class). We do need your permission to let your child watch this movie because it is rated PG. Below is a permission slip to watch The Nativity Story next week Friday. Also, here is a link to a review of The Nativity Story that Focus on the Family put out when The Nativity Story originally was in theaters ~ https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/nativitystory

Sincerely,
Mr. Hutt
Mr. Keyser
Mrs. Nunez
Mrs. Rodriguez
Mr. Zhang

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I _________________________ give my child _______________________ permission to watch The Nativity Story with the whole 5th grade class on Friday, December 21, 2018.Thanks so much, and have a Blessed weekend! Paul Keyser

PS I am truly starting to feel very much at home here at ZCS! Your kids are the main reason I am feeling this way! Thanks for raising a great group of kids!!

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07
Dec
2018

categories: Weekly Update

Dear Mom and Dad,

One thing I learned from Mrs. Keyser about writing is: pre-reading strategies

One thing new this week that we are doing is: advent chains in class and at home.

My favorite part about this past week was: social studies because we learned about the New England colonies.

From,
Cora

 

Another week has flown by, one more week closer to Christmas! We have been very busy in the classroom this week. In ELA, the kids should be finished with their opinion pieces, and I highly encourage you to have them show you. Mrs. Keyser has helped the measurably to fine tune their writings. The class is taking a quiz in grammar today, and hopefully will show mastery of subjects(simple and compound) predicates, and conjunctions. We continue to work on spelling, word work(the activities associated with spelling), and cursive each week. We are also continuing to work on reading strategies as well. In Bible class, the kids will be taking a quiz this coming week on the various Kings of Judah, and about their reigns. We have had some very good discussions regarding these times. We switched our math kids again, and my group is midway through the chapter on fractions. We are multiplying fractions and mixed numbers, with an emphasis on the distributive property. The remainder of the kids are with Mr. Hutt, and they are a few sections behind in the same chapter. Science has been interesting this week as we have spent time using properties to describe various items. The class was each given their own rock or mineral, and was asked to describe it on an index card using the properties we had discussed in class. Today, they will take another student’s card, and try to identify which rock their card is detailing. In Mr. Hutt’s social studies class, the kids have been continuing with their study of early America’s colonization, this week focusing on the Mid-Atlantic colonies, as well as the New England colonies. Lots going on to say the least!

We have almost all students having paid their $2 for the Christmas party(pizza and drink), and about half have brought their shoebox size box in to transport their art projects home in the near future. Thanks to all those parents who have signed up for “Remind”. It is truly a great way to quickly connect with parents. If you haven’t signed up, open your messaging screen on your phone, and in the “to” line, type “81010”, and then in the message box, type “@keysersk” and you will be added to my class. Hope you all have an incredible weekend. Paul Keyser