Once again thank you for your generosity not only for my birthday but also for the donations for His Harvest as well as for Marcus, our sponsor student from our sister school in the Philippines. We are truly blessed and I am so thankful for each of your children! It is hard to believe that we are already to Thanksgiving week. I am looking forward to continuing our discussions at school about having thankful hearts! I pray you all enjoy the holiday with your family and friends.

On another note because we have a shortened week I will not be sending a newsletter over the holiday weekend, but, as always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me!

Important dates:

November 26: Friendsgiving

November 26: all school chapel 9 a.m.

November 27-29: Thanksgiving break

December 16 OR 18: Jingle Jog

Additional information:

On November 26, this Tuesday, we are going to have a Friends-giving celebration together. I would love for you to send in 16 BITE SIZED PIECES of your child’s favorite food. We will then each get to try and enjoy your classmates very favorite food. I welcome you to be as creative or simple as you wish. Please send the food in pre-cut and ready to eat. If it’s a food that should be eaten warm you could send it in a thermos or glass container.

In preparation for our study of the Christmas story, please have your child send in one shoebox and five empty toilet paper rolls. As soon as we return from Thanksgiving break we will be starting our Christmas project! Thank you to those who have already brought theirs in!

In this time of giving, ZCS is going to bless His Harvest Stand, a local food pantry, with cereal and peanut butter. Encourage your child to choose a favorite box of cereal or jar of peanut butter at the store, and bring it to school by Tuesday, Nov. 26. A table will be set up in the front hallway for drop off or have your child bring it to our classroom. Please help us fill the shelves of His Harvest Stand! Thank you for blessing others in our community.

You may start hearing about the Jingle Jog. This is a fun jog Mrs. Miller has her gym classes do each year. We will have a certain day and time that are class will jog around the gym and down the halls. As of now the day is set to be either December 16 or 18, I will let you know as soon as I find out! This fun event is to raise money for our sister school in the Philippines

Book Bags: I will be sending a letter out later this weekend about our book bags. It is a more detailed explanation of how we will be using them this year!

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we continued our study of Moses and read the story of the ten plagues as well as the Red Sea. We talked about God’s power and provision even when things seem impossible.

Word Wall Word: up

Daily 5: I was able to meet with each group once this week. We are beginning to send home books for you to read with your child. If your child has not received books yet, they will be coming soon! Even though we are beginning to read full words, we continue to work on letter identification and sounds. During our word work portion of Daily 5 this week we practiced labeling and cutting on our own!

Math: This week we continued simple addition and subtraction as well as adding on from 5. We will also be continuing to write math sentences with + – and =.

Writing Workshop: This week we worked on labeling what we often eat at Thanksgiving dinner, if we couldn’t remember we worked on labeling what we has to eat earlier during the week!!

Phonics: This week we used white boards and worked on saying words slowly to pick out sounds we heard and then wrote them on our boards.

Handwriting: This week we practiced upper case N, M, H and K.

Science: We are continuing our study of God’s earth. We learned last week that the earth is made of water and this week we went outside and collected other earth materials and then sorted them. We learned that the earth is also made up of soil, sand and pebbles.

Up in Lights: This week Nathaniel Klein was up in lights. His mom and sister came in to share about him! We learned a really fun new dinosaur song as well as enjoyed some dinosaur fruit snacks! (I bet you can tell what Nathaniel loves!) Nathaniel is a joy to have in class and is always willing to help!! Thank you Nathaniel!

It is hard to believe we are less than two weeks from Thanksgiving and that we have had our first snow day! I’m hoping that is not a sign of things to come! We had a very busy week fitting everything into four days. Thank you to the moms who came to help us with our I-pads during Daily 5! Also a huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered to donate or help with the cutting for our Nativity project. I appreciate all of you! Also, looking forward to next week, I will be gone on Friday and Miss Tracy will be substituting. My daughter has her big middle of the year swim meet in Indianapolis and I’m excited to go watch her swim!

Important Dates:

November 26: Friendsgiving (see below)

November 26: All school chapel 9 a.m.

November 27,28,29: Thanksgiving break

Additional Information:

On November 26 we are going to have a Friends-giving celebration together. I would love for you to send in 16 BITE SIZED PIECES of your child’s favorite food. We will then each get to try and enjoy your classmates very favorite food. I welcome you to be as creative or simple as you wish. Please send the food in pre-cut and ready to eat. If it’s a food that should be eaten warm you could send it in a thermos or glass container.  If you would like to donate large paper plates, plastic table clothes and napkins. Please send in any time. If we receive more than one donation, I will use them in the future! This is a crafty group and we use a variety of materials throughout the year. Thank you!

In preparation for our study of the Christmas story, please have your child send inone shoebox and five empty toilet paper rolls. As soon as we return from Thanksgiving break we will be starting our Christmas project! Thank you to those who have already brought theirs in!

In this time of giving, ZCS is going to bless His Harvest Stand, a local food pantry, with cereal and peanut butter. Encourage your child to choose a favorite box of cereal or jar of peanut butter at the store, and bring it to school by Tuesday, Nov. 26. A table will be set up in the front hallway for drop off or have your child bring it to our classroom. Please help us fill the shelves of His Harvest Stand! Thank you for blessing others in our community.

If you still haven’t turned in the Gifts of Being Grand papers please turn them in when they are completed, as they will be going into your child’s spiritual journal.

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we began our study of Moses. We read together from our children’s Bibles, the story of his birth and how he went to live with Pharoah as well as the story of the burning bush. We talked about how God was always with Moses and how he has the power to do the impossible!

Word wall word: we, me

Math: This week we worked on simple addition and subtraction both in small groups and as a large group. We talked about adding and subtracting in our everyday life at home. I did a skit for them with plates set out for my family at dinner and explained that a lot of evenings we have to add places or take away places because my children are so busy! I also had them count the number of people in their family and figure out how many would be left at home if they weren’t there because they were having a party with Mrs. Arnold! Have them practice counting things at home and then adding or taking away from it. They love it! We also learned a little bit about what a math equation looks like and practiced writing one. We talked about how they are like a math sentence.

Daily 5: I was able to work with each child at least once this week, practicing sounds or reading simple books. We are still working on figuring out the I-pads and are beginning to master it! My hope is that by this coming week we can do all the activities independently! Thank you again to the moms who have come to help with this!

Writing Workshop: We are continuing to work on labeling. We are listening for initial sounds to help us label things. This week we labeled a scarecrow.

Phonics: We are continuing to work on syllables. Counting words with up to 4 syllables!

Up in Lights: This week Luke Worley was Up in Lights. Luke’s mom came to share about him, including some of his favorite things. Luke loves Froot Loops and beads so she also brought some of each to share with everyone in our class. Luke has added so much to our classroom with his smile and amazing sense of humor. It is a joy to watch the children help Luke when a need arises. We are truly are learning to be the hands and feet of Jesus! We love you Luke!

Afternoons: This week we enjoyed play time, math centers and quiet time, as well as kindergarten singing and an amazing group from Hope College came and did a performance for us based on a book we read entitiled, The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet!

It was nice to have a “normal” week back in school.  We are really starting to dig deeper into our learning. I am happy with how much the kids are enjoying the beginning phases of reading! Remember to keep practicing the word wall words at home! Prayers that you all are finding time to enjoy your family and friends as this time of year gets so very busy!

Important Dates: 

November 26: Friendsgiving (see below)

November 26: All school chapel 9 a.m.

November 27,28,29: Thanksgiving break

Additional Information: 

On November 26 we are going to have a Friends-giving celebration together. I would love for you to send in 16 BITE SIZED PIECES of your child’s favorite food. We will then each get to try and enjoy your classmates very favorite food. I welcome you to be as creative or simple as you wish. Please send the food in pre-cut and ready to eat. If it’s a food that should be eaten warm you could send it in a thermos or glass container.  If you would like to donate large paper plates, plastic table clothes and napkins. Please send in any time. If we receive more than one donation, I will use them in the future! This is a crafty group and we use a variety of materials throughout the year. Thank you!

In preparation for our study of the Christmas story, please have your child send in one shoebox and five empty toilet paper rolls. As soon as we return from Thanksgiving break we will be starting our Christmas project! Thank you to those who have already brought theirs in! Also, for this project we will need some fabric as well as a few people who would be interested in cutting the fabric for our Nativity scene.  We will also need volunteers to come in and help us put our project together.  Please be looking for a sign up genius for all of these things very soon!

In this time of giving, ZCS is going to bless His Harvest Stand, a local food pantry, with cereal and peanut butter. Encourage your child to choose a favorite box of cereal or jar of peanut butter at the store, and bring it to school by Tuesday, Nov. 26. A table will be set up in the front hallway for dropoff or have your child bring it to our classroom. Please help us fill the shelves of His Harvest Stand! Thank you for blessing others in our community.

If you still haven’t turned in the Gifts of Being Grand papers please turn them in when they are completed, as they will be going into your child’s spiritual journal.

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we finished up our story of Joseph and how God reunited him with his family. We also started working on our new verse, Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” We talked a lot about what this verse means and how Joseph’s life is an example of this!

Word wall word: go- Please continue to review our sight words: a, at, I, look, see, the and go!

Math: This week we used magnifying glasses and were detectives looking for groups of 5. We practiced simple addition by adding one or two or sometimes more to the number 5!

Daily 5: This week we added both listen to reading (which involves I-pads and the kids love) and read to someone (we practiced sharing a book and reading elbow to elbow and knee to knee with our friends) to our Daily 5 routine. We are working on becoming more independent and I am hoping by the end of next week we will be ready to start choosing our Daily 5 activity on our own! Thank you to the moms who have come in to help us as we get started!

Engaging God’s world: This week we started our study of God’s earth. We learned that over 70% of the earth is made up of water. We used an inflatable earth beach ball and tossed it around and took count of how many times our index finger landed on water vs. land. This helped to solidify our guess that there is more water than land on God’s earth!

Handwriting: We practice making the letters D, P, B and R the school way.

Phonics: This week we studied syllables and what they are. We practiced clapping as well as putting our hand on our chin to see how many times it moved down to figure out how many syllables were in a word. We also counted the number of syllables in our favorite food and said a poem to go along with it!

Up in lights: This week Evelyn Bassow was Up in lights. Her mom came on Wednesday to share about her and also brought a special turkey treat! Evelyn is a great helper in class and always has a smile on her face. We are blessed to have her as a classmate!

Afternoons; Our afternoons were once again filled with art, math centers, music and quiet time. We are also learning the value of cooperative play as we have been playing house, grocery store and zoo. It is fun to watch the children work together to create a learning and fun environment for our play times!

What a blessing it was to meet so many wonderful grandparents and friends. It was far and away the highlight of our week and so fun to see your children interacting with them! We had a wonderful chapel followed by visits to our room to do many fun activities with our grandparents! Please thank them all for coming! I would also like to give a huge shout out to those who volunteered in our room, it would not have been possible without your help!!! Thank you again!

Important Dates:

November 7: Picture retakes: if your child is planning on this please let me know.

November 7: No P.M. bussing

November 8: No A.M. or P.M. bussing

November 26: Friendsgiving (see below)

November 27,28,29: Thanksgiving break

Additional Information:

Picture retakes are November 7. If you are having your child do this please let me know.

On November 26 we are going to have a Friends-giving celebration together. I would love for you to send in 16 BITE SIZED PIECES of your child’s favorite food. We will then each get to try and enjoy your classmates very favorite food. I welcome you to be as creative or simple as you wish. Please send the food in pre-cut and ready to eat. If it’s a food that should be eaten warm you could send it in a thermos or glass container.  If you would like to donate large paper plates, plastic table clothes and napkins. Please send in any time. If we receive more than one donation, I will use them in the future! This is a crafty group and we use a variety of materials throughout the year. Thank you!

Curriculum:

Bible: This week in Bible we started the story of Joseph, We read from our Bibles and discussed how Joseph must have felt about his brothers betraying him and then being in jail. We also talked about how God was able to help Joseph interpret dreams and that even when it is hard we need to trust God and His plan.

Word Wall Word: Our word wall word this week was at. Ask your child if they know how to spell it! We even worked on that this week! Continue to review our sight words: a, at, I, look, see and the.

Math: This week we finished up learning about shapes and did out first real math test. We had to learn how to sit real quiet and not close to anyone else! They did a great job and it enabled me to see how much we have grown during the first two months of school.

Daily 5: This week we started doing some “real” rounds of Daily 5. We worked on writing, some word work activities, read to self and working with me in a small group. Next week we will add listen to reading on our I-pads as well as reading to someone. Thank you to the moms who have signed up to help in the next few weeks. 

Engaging God’s World: This week we finished our study on maps by walking through our school and following a map to find the different places we visit during our school week. They practiced highlighting the different places we went so they could show their grandparents when they came!

Up in Lights: This week Noelle Amid was up in lights. Noelle’s mom came to share about her and also brought us some of Noelle’s favorite food, cupcakes! It was so fun learning about Noelle, she is so fun to have in class and always adds joy to our day!!

Afternoons: This week we continued to enjoy art, music, and math centers. On Friday we watched the Veggie Tales video about Joseph to follow up on our story from earlier in the week!