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!