Enjoying our picnic.

This winter has been unbelievable! Just as we were starting to get into the swing of things again it hands us a delay and another snow/ice day! Despite the weather we were able to get a lot done this week and are working hard. It is a time of year that we see so much growth! There is an opportunity coming up soon to talk to you about your child’s growth. March 5 ZCS will have optional parent/teacher conferences. If you would like to sit down face to face to celebrate your child please sign up (details coming later on that process). We can talk about your child’s spiritual, emotional, and academic growth. If you receive a personal email from me, that simply means I’d like you to sign up for a conference. This doesn’t mean I am necessarily concerned, but that I feel that face to face time would be good. If you don’t receive an email from me, you may still sign up. More details on all of this will come in the next week.

Our picnic was a huge success. Thank you to all who donated fruit! It was fun sharing our salad together! I hope you all had a good week and here’s to hoping that next week feels a bit more “normal!”

Important Dates:

• February 11: Field trip: For the Kidz Gymanstics
• February 13: All School Chapel 9 a.m.
• February 14: Valentines Party
• February 15-18: No School Mid Winter Break
• February 22: 100 Day
• February 28: No PM Elementary Bus
• March 5: Optional Parent Teacher Conferences

A Few Additional Reminders:

Our Field Trip is scheduled for this Monday February 11 at For the Kidz gymnastics in Wyoming MI. If you signed up to drive please make sure that the office has a copy of both your driver’s license and your proof of insurance before we leave or you will not be able to drive any children. I sent home driver’s guidelines for those who are driving us which need to be signed and returned! Thank you for your willingness to drive and your help in this regard. One other matter of importance is we are in need of car seats so if at all possible if you drive your child to school could you please bring a car seat in for them on that morning or even the day before. That would help us immensely!

We will be starting our new incentive next week. After we fill our jar we will be having backwards day. The kids will be able to wear their shirts backwards, if they choose, and we will be doing our entire day backwards. Starting in the morning by singing our goodbye song!!!

100th Day is approaching soon! It is scheduled as of now for February 25. I will get back to you on that. We will be doing lots of fun activities that day to celebrate the number 100! One thing we will be doing is dressing up like super heroes! Mr. McAboy will be dressing up like Zero the Hero that day and surprising us in our room as well! Please feel free to use anything you have at your home to make your child into a super hero, be creative and have fun! Do not stress about this as all of your children are super heroes already! We just want this to be a fun day for the kids!

For Valentine’s Day we will be having a party from about 11:00-11:45 on the 14th. It would be great if your child brought in valentines to pass out to the whole class (20 students). You do not have to label the “To” section of the valentines just the “From” section. This will make it much easier for the students to hand them out! Also these may be either homemade or purchased, whatever you prefer.

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we studied the story about Jesus blessing the children which culminated in saying our verse Matthew 19:14. We also continued learning about the ministry of Jesus with the story of Zaccheus.

Word Wall Word: come; please continue to practice the word wall words in your child’s bag.

Daily 5: This week I was able to meet with each group once. They should all be coming home with one new book to read. As always, continue to listen and encourage them as they read. Also make sure to practice the blending cards. Some children are still not confident with these because they are unsure of a few letter sounds, so keep working on these too!!! These are all such important parts of becoming good readers.

Math: This week we worked together on putting items together to make a new number. We are continuing to add to our knowledge of addition.

Science: We went outside and observed our motion on the playground. Learning words such as backwards, forward, fast, slow, up, down etc. They enjoyed adding to their knowledge of motion.

Up in Lights: This week Colten VanRoekel. His mom and dad and little sister and brother were able to come and share about him as well as stay for lunch. Colten’s mom also brought a treat for everyone and it was delicious! We are so happy that Colten is a part of our class, his kind heart is loved by everyone!

Practicing our ice-skating!

Afternoons: This week we added a fun dimension to our playtime. We worked together to make a skating/hockey rink. This is great opportunity for the kids to use their math, writing and reading skills as we made a concessions stand, skating “plates” with sizes, and shoe lockers. We will continue to make this an option for play as long as we can keep indoor voices while playing “hockey.” 🙂  We also enjoyed our normal recess, snack and art time as well as being able to do a round of Daily 5 when everyone was present!

Working together at our concessions stand.