Monthly Archives: October 2019

October 21, 2019

Dear parents,

Due to the short week ahead, this newsletter will cover the next two weeks of curriculum and notes. I look forward to connecting with all parents at parent/teacher conferences on this coming Monday and Tuesday.

I will be absent tomorrow afternoon (Monday, Oct. 22) due to a doctor appointment. Apple Tso will cover for me. Also, I have a professional development day this coming Tuesday. Ann Hildenbrand will sub in the morning. Apple Tso will sub in the afternoon.

The weather is getting colder. Please make sure your kids bring a coat with him/her to keep warm during recess time. Thank you for helping your kids keep warm and have fun during recess.

I often have kids telling me that he/she does not have enough food for snack or lunch. Sometimes some kids don’t have food for snack when he/she gets hot lunch that day. Please check with your kids if he/she has this problem and make sure your kids have enough food for snack and lunch every day, as this is essential for learning. Thank you for helping your kids be physically ready for learning.

Announcement:

Parent/Guardian Teacher Conferences

Parent/Guardian Teacher Conferences will be held on Monday and Tuesday, October 21 and October 22 from 4:00 – 8:30 p.m.  All instructions for parents to sign-up are in this letter.

Grandparents and Grandfriends’ Day

Grandparents and Grandfriends’ Day is coming soon, on Nov 1! Here is a map and here is an invitation with more information about the day. We are looking forward to it!

Ottawa Food

“There are approximately 23,660 food insecure families in Ottawa County. Ottawa Food is an organization that has created a Find Food database that helps users search by zip code or date to find food resources available within the county. You can find more information on food pantries and other food resources HERE.”

3rd-4th grade musical

Please notice: There was a date change for the 3rd-4th grade musical. It will now take place on December 10.  Since we have a mixed grade group, and 2nd graders are not usually included, Kevin Schonewill (the music teacher) have made it optional for 2nd graders to be part of the musical. If your child plans to attend, you need to order a t-shirt for him/her. Check out the digital order form 2019 Parent Letter- CD and T-shirts.  I have also sent home hard copies last Friday. Even though the return date says October 22, Mr Schonewill will take orders into the next week as well.

Gift & Magazine Sale

Our annual gift and magazine sale has begun!  All orders must be turned in by Tuesday, October 22. *PARENT PRIZE* Sell 12 items and receive a FREE roll of wrapping paper (automatically added to your order) Email jschafer@zcs.org if you have any questions.

Important Field Trip Parent Driver/Chaperone Information

Please make sure you check in the front office using the security sign-in system BEFORE the day of the field trip. We need a background check on all field trip drivers/chaperones before the day of the field trip.

  • If you have already signed-in the front office this school year, they are all set.
  • If you haven’t already signed-in this year, you must sign-in PRIOR to the day of the field trip so we can run the background check before you go on the field trip.

Tuesday Lunch Helper for October 22: Melanie Lamer

Tuesday Lunch Helper for November 5: Abby Allen

Thank you for helping out in the classroom!

Featured Friend:

If your kid is the featured friend for that week, please have him/her bring in pictures on Mondays. They may bring in up to 6 pictures, but please bring in one picture of him/her in the past, one recent picture and one picture of his/her family.

Week of October 21: Chelsea Pyle

Week of October 28: Ethan Shafer

Field Trip Driver Sign-up

Field Trip sign ups for the 2nd/3rd grade will be on a combined sign up genius this year so we can keep better track of drivers. Please see below for the sign-up link.
Thank you for your help!  We could not do this without you!!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f45acaf2aa1fd0-2nd3rd

TerraCycle

Here is a detailed list of everything we accept to TerraCycle at ZCS. Please look it over carefully, as the program changes a bit each year and even during the year. TerraCycle Info

Upcoming events:

October 21-22 Parent/Guardian/Teacher Conferences (Y5-8) – Evening

October 23-25: NO School CEA Conference and Professional Development

October 29 Family Groups 1:00-1:40 p.m

November 1: Y5 – 8th-grade Grandparents/Grandfriends Day 9-Noon. Chapel at 9 AM

November 7: NO PM Busing

November 7: Picture Retake Day

November 8: NO AM or PM Busing

Curriculum Corner

2nd Grade Math:

Unit 2: Addition within 200
  • Add three or four 2-digit addends
  • Unit 2 review and practice

Unit 3: Length and Shapes

  • Measure Length
  • Recognize and Draw Shapes
  • Estimate and Measure

3rd Grade Math: Unit 1 Multiplication & Division with 0-5, 9 and 10

  • Multiplication and Area
  • Multiply and Divide with 4
  • Use the Strategy Cards
  • Building Fluency with 2s,3s,4s, 5s, 9s, and 10s

Writing

We will revise and edit our personal narratives.

Mandarin High Frequency Words to Produce and to recognize:

For this coming week, we are going to review words already learned. There will be no test. I will not sent home homework sheet this coming week.

For the week of Oct. 28, we will go back to the normal. Students will learn a new set of words. I will send out normal homework sheets on Monday. There will be a test on Friday for words to produce and to recognize.

Pinyin:

Able to recognize “i” and “u”.

Grammar:

  • A plural form of the personal possessive adjective shows belonging but does not indicate owning.
  • The English word “if” should be translated as 如果 or 是不是 in different contexts.

  • Modal verbs come before main verbs and express permission, desire or obligation, warning, need, or hope.

Bible:

Unit 3: In the Beginning

  • Creation: Days 4-5
  • Creation: Days 6-7
  • Adam and Eve: Life in Eden

Unit 4: The Fall to Babel: Need for a Savior

  • Fall into Sin
  • Cain and Abel

During our devotion time, we are learning a new song called Fruit of the Spirit 圣灵的果子. Here is a link to this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvhflHtVUC4

Bible Memory 1

Please help your kids practice Bible Memory at home.

Due date: Tuesday, October 22.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

于是，神照着自己的形象创造人；就是照着神的形象创造了他；他所创造的有男有女。

创世纪1:27

Bible Memory 2

Due date: Friday, Nov. 8.

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease”

Genesis 8:22

大地尚存之日，播种、收割，寒暑、冬夏、白昼和黑夜必然循环不息。

创世纪8:22

Reading:

We will read Miyanishi’s dinosaur series in the coming two weeks.

We will also learn how to determine the main idea of an informational text.

Science:

Students have chosen several spots to test out how location influences temperature. We are going to test it out this coming week.

We’ll also begin collecting weather data and planning our meteorology reports.

2nd Grade Social Studies:

Unit 2: Where is my community and what is it like

Lesson #4: Making a Map of Our Local Community

Lesson #5: Transportation and Our Local Community

Lesson #6: Landforms and Bodies of Water

 

 

 

 

 

October 14,2019

Dear parents,

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your wonderful birthday gifts this past Friday! Special thank-you to Abby who made this celebration so thoughtful and warm! Thank you very much! It’s my great honor to play such a big role in your kids’ life for around nine months. I pray that God will lead and help me to be a more Christ-like loving servant in the classroom to leave a good impact on your kids. I also ask for your prayers for God’s presence and leading as we interact and learn together everyday. Thank you very much!

This Thursday (Oct. 17) noon, I need to attend a meeting. I’m looking for a parent volunteer to look after the kids during their lunch time. He/She will need to be in the classroom from 11:55-12:20. If you are willing to volunteer, please email me. Thank you very much in advance!

This Tuesday afternoon I need to leave at 3:15 for a doctor appointment. Eva Xu will be in the classroom when I leave and supervise the kids until all are picked up.

I’ve attached some fun pictures from this past week at the bottom.

Announcement:

Gift & Magazine Sale

Our annual gift and magazine sale has begun!  All orders must be turned in by Tuesday, October 22. *PARENT PRIZE* Sell 12 items and receive a FREE roll of wrapping paper (automatically added to your order) Email jschafer@zcs.org if you have any questions.

Parent/Guardian Teacher Conferences

Parent/Guardian Teacher Conferences will be held on Monday and Tuesday, October 21 and October 22 from 4:00 – 8:30 p.m.  All instructions for parents to sign-up are in this letter.

Semco Energy

Unless you opted out, your child should have come home with your home kit. By Wednesday, October 16, please fill out the Home Energy Worksheet that came home.  Please let me know if you need another copy, OR you can go online here http://ThinkEnergy.org/semco to fill it out and use our class code. If you choose to do it online, please let me know and I will email you our class ID number. If students return the sheet, they each get a color-changing pencil, and our classroom receives $100 for supplies. Thanks for your support!

Important Field Trip Parent Driver/Chaperone Information

Please make sure you check in the front office using the security sign-in system BEFORE the day of the field trip. We need a background check on all field trip drivers/chaperones before the day of the field trip.

  • If you have already signed-in the front office this school year, they are all set.
  • If you haven’t already signed-in this year, you must sign-in PRIOR to the day of the field trip so we can run the background check before you go on the field trip.

Tuesday Lunch Helper: Betsy Shafer

Thank you for helping out in the classroom!

Featured Friend:

If your kid is the featured friend for that week, please have him/her bring in pictures on Mondays. They may bring in up to 6 pictures, but please bring in one picture of him/her in the past, one recent picture and one picture of his/her family.

Week of October 14: Matt Moeller

Week of October 21: Chelsea Pyle

Field Trip Driver Sign-up

Field Trip sign ups for the 2nd/3rd grade will be on a combined sign up genius this year so we can keep better track of drivers. Please see below for the sign-up link.
Thank you for your help!  We could not do this without you!!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f45acaf2aa1fd0-2nd3rd

TerraCycle

Here is a detailed list of everything we accept to TerraCycle at ZCS. Please look it over carefully, as the program changes a bit each year and even during the year. TerraCycle Info

Upcoming events:

October 17 ZCS Prospective Family Open House – 7:00-8:00 p.m.

October 21-22 Parent/Guardian/Teacher Conferences (Y5-8) – Evening – School in session. Please take a look at THIS LETTER for more details of what you need to know and how to sign up to meet with us.

October 23-25: NO School CEA Conference and Professional Development

October 29 Family Groups 1:00-1:40 p.m

November 1: Y5 – 8th-grade Grandparents/Grandfriends Day, 9-Noon. Chapel at 9 AM

November 7: NO PM Busing

November 7: Picture Retake Day

November 8: NO AM or PM Busing

Please notice: There was a date change for the 3rd-4th grade musical. It will now take place on December 10.

Curriculum Corner

2nd Grade Math:

Unit 2: Addition within 200
  • Explore 2-Digit Addition
  • Addition with sum over 100
  • Addition Method
  • Buy with pennies and dimes

3rd Grade Math: Unit 1 Multiplication & Division with 0-5, 9 and 10

  • Multiplication and Area
  • Multiply and Divide with 4
  • Use the Strategy Cards

Writing

This week, we are going to learn how to break a story into paragraphs and the norms when starting a new paragraph. We are also going to start to build our personal dictionaries.

Mandarin High Frequency Words to Produce and to recognize:

Students are going to get a new set of words. There will be a test on Friday for words to produce and to recognize.

Pinyin:

Able to recognize “o” and “e”.

Grammar:

  • Some characters attach to the end of adjectives to make nouns: 学 ‐ ology，家‐ ist
  • Phrases that describe nouns like “who speaks Chinese” or that show possession “her son,” always come BEFORE the head noun in a sentence.
  • We use 小 before a noun to show affection to people younger than we are or to show that something is small.
  • We need to use 的 to show an object belongs to someone. 我(I)+的= my,  你(you) + 的=your

Bible:

Unit 3: In the Beginning

  • In the Beginning God…
  • Creation: Days 1-3
  • Creation: Days 4-5

During our devotion time, we are learning a new song called Listen Quietly. Here is a link to this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvhflHtVUC4

Bible Memory

Please help your kids practice Bible Memory at home.

Due date: Tuesday, October 22.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

于是，神照着自己的形象创造人；就是照着神的形象创造了他；他所创造的有男有女。

创世纪1:27

Reading:

I’m reading a series of a Japanese author’s book to the kids. His name is Miyanishi. This series is about a truck called Xiaohong and his friend delivering goods. I have read them some of the series. Students love those books. I look forward to having fun reading with them again this week.

Science:

We will continue to use the patterns found in the graphical representations to predict weather. Also, we are going to investigate how location of a temperature monitoring system affects the accuracy of the data collected.

2nd Grade Social Studies:

Unit 2: Where is my community and what is it like

Lesson #2: Where is Our Community?

Fun Photos:

 

 

 

 

October 7, 2019

Dear parents,

As you know, it’s been a difficult week for the ZCS family. We continue to beg God to heal Will Hemmeke and to give the peace that passes all understanding for all of the Hemmeke family. As they mourn Marissa, heal emotionally, and support Will in the days ahead,  please continue to be vigilant and bold as you pray.

Announcement:

Parent/Guardian Teacher Conferences

Parent/Guardian Teacher Conferences will be held on Monday and Tuesday, October 21 and October 22 from 4:00 – 8:30 p.m.  All instructions for parents to sign-up are in this letter.

Semco Energy

Unless you opted out, your child should have come home with your home kit. By October 13, please fill out the Home Energy Worksheet that came home on Friday. You can go online here http://ThinkEnergy.org/semco or turn in the hard copy that came home. If you choose to do it online, please let me know and I will email you our class ID number. If students return the sheet, they each get a color-changing pencil, and our classroom receives $100 for supplies. Thanks for your support!

Important Field Trip Parent Driver/Chaperone Information

Please make sure you check in the front office using the security sign-in system BEFORE the day of the field trip. We need a background check on all field trip drivers/chaperones before the day of the field trip.

  • If you have already signed-in the front office this school year, they are all set.
  • If you haven’t already signed-in this year, you must sign-in PRIOR to the day of the field trip so we can run the background check before you go on the field trip.

Tuesday Lunch Helper: Melanie Lamer

Thank you for helping out in the classroom!

Featured Friend:

If your kid is the featured friend for that week, please have him/her bring in pictures on Mondays. They may bring in up to 6 pictures, but please bring in one picture of him/her in the past, one recent picture and one picture of his/her family.

Week of October 7: Harper Lubbers

Week of October 14: Matt Moeller

Field Trip Driver Sign-up

Field Trip sign ups for the 2nd/3rd grade will be on a combined sign up genius this year so we can keep better track of drivers. Please see below for the sign-up link.
Thank you for your help!  We could not do this without you!!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f45acaf2aa1fd0-2nd3rd

TerraCycle

Here is a detailed list of everything we accept to TerraCycle at ZCS. Please look it over carefully, as the program changes a bit each year and even during the year. TerraCycle Info

Upcoming events:

October 11: NO PM Busing

October 11: 9 am All School Chapel

October 17 ZCS Prospective Family Open House – 7:00-8:00 p.m.

October 21-22 Parent/Guardian/Teacher Conferences (Y5-8) – Evening – School in session. Please take a look at THIS LETTER for more details of what you need to know and how to sign up to meet with us.

October 23-25: NO School CEA Conference and Professional Development

October 29 Family Groups 1:00-1:40 p.m

 

Curriculum Corner

2nd Grade Math:

Unit 2: Addition within 200
1. Represent numbers in different ways
2. Combine ones, tens and hundreds
3. Compare numbers within 200
We took the Spring Delta Math Screener last month. If you would like to see your child’s results, please send an email to Maria Klompmaker (mklompmaker@zcs.org). 

3rd Grade Math: Unit 1 Multiplication & Division with 0-5, 9 and 10

  • Building Fluency with 2s, 5s, 9s, and 10s
  • Multiply and Divide with 3
  • Multiplication and Area

Writing

This week, we are going to learn different types of endings to give our narrative writing a hug at the end.

Mandarin High Frequency Words to Produce and to recognize:

Students are going to get a new set of words. There will be a test on Friday for words to produce and to recognize.

Pinyin:

Able to recognize “d” and “ang”.

Grammar:

  • 半 helps express half the quantity of the noun. If 半 comes before the measure word, the sentence means “half”, if it comes after a measure word, it means “and a half”

 

Bible:

  • Examining Bible Concordances
  • Studying Bible Footnotes
  • Looking at Bible Maps

During our devotion time, we are learning a new song called Listen Quietly. Here is a link to this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvhflHtVUC4

Bible Memory

Please help your kids practice Bible Memory at home.

Due date: Friday, October 11.

9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.

Psalm 119:9-12

9 少年人用什么洁净自己的行为呢？

就是要遵守你的话。

10 我一心寻求你，

求你不要容我偏离你的诫命。

11 我把你的话藏在心里，

免得我得罪你。

12 耶和华啊！你是该受称颂的；

求你把你的律例教导我。

诗篇119:9-12

Reading:

Reading Strategy: Ask and Answer Questions While Reading.

Science:

Communicating and Analyzing Weather Data:

Students will learn how line graphs and weather maps are used to communicate weather data. They will use the patterns found in the graphical representations to predict weather.

2nd Grade Social Studies:

Unit 2: Where is my community and what is it like

Lesson #1: Exploring Maps

Lesson #2: Where is Our Community?

Anemometer Photos: