A week in review: February 11-14

MORE SNOW DAYS!  What a crazy winter it has been! I am praying that we have seen the last of the snow days and we can get into a “normal” routine again. This coming week will still be a bit different being that we do not have school on Monday and I will be gone on Thursday and Friday to watch my daughter at the B1G Championships! I already have a sub lined up and I can assure you she is AMAZING! She subbed last year for me when I went to this meet and the kids absolutely loved her! Also, I wanted to thank all of the parents who chaperoned the trip to For the Kidz gymnastics. We had a great morning! Enjoy your extended weekend!

Important Dates:

  • 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:

100th Day is approaching soon! It is scheduled as of now for February 26. 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 those of you who still have students going half days if you want to add any afternoons you may do so this week.

I sent out information regarding signing up for Parent Teacher Conferences this week, if you did not get the link from the office and would like a Parent Teacher Conference please let me know.

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we discussed the story of Mary and Martha and how God sometimes likes us to be still and listen to Him.

Word Wall Word: come

Daily 5: In our condensed week I was able to find a time to meet with each child at least once. They should have a new book in their bag again. They enjoy pointing out word wall words when they read! Ask them which ones they see, they love to share! Continue to work on the word wall words and blending cards in their bags as well as any sounds they may not have mastered yet! We are becoming better readers every day! It is so exciting to watch them grow!

Phonics: This week we started learning about word families. We started with the –at family and we will be continuing to work on different families as the year progresses. We talked about going through the letters of the alphabet to see which ones make words when attached to –at.

Writing: We continued on making pattern books. This week we made books that started with I like… We also talked about the direction words go, always from left to right, and once again talked about capital letters at the beginning of sentences and punctuation at the end.

A week in review: January 22-24

Due to the weather and in service day it was a very condensed week! Wednesday was a bit mind boggling to most of the students. They simply could not believe after only an hour that it was time for lunch! We fit in as much as possible and enjoyed the weather at recess. The snow is always so much fun for them, other than putting all the snow clothes on! I hope you all had a great week and try to stay warm this weekend!

Important Dates:

  • January 28: Field Trip to For the Kidz gymnastics
  • February 13: 100th Day
  • February 14: Valentine’s Party
  • February 15-18: No school Winter Break

A Few Additional Reminders:

Our Field Trip is scheduled for January 28 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 will also be sending 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 also be keeping an eye on the weather. If ZCS happens to have a snow day the field trip will be cancelled and will hopefully be rescheduled. We will also be looking at the roads we will be traveling on to determine if it will be safe for us to travel. Please watch your email on Monday morning.

We only need 5 more “bugs” in our jar to reach our goal for our class incentive. I am anticipating that we should reach the goal by Friday. I would like to plan our picnic for Wednesday February 6. Please let me know if you would be willing to bring some pre-cut fruit in on that morning to add to a class fruit salad for our picnic. Also, please still send a lunch with your child as I will just be adding a snack along with our fruit salad and a drink box! I will send another reminder about this towards the end of the week!

100th Day is approaching soon! It is scheduled as of now for February 13. 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, but just the From:. This will make it much easier for the students to hand them out! Also these may be either homemade or purchased, whatever you prefer. Leah Russcher’s mom, Lisa will be heading up this party and will be sending out sign ups for volunteers and donations soon! Thank you Lisa for doing this!

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we had chapel and were honored and privileged to hear our guest speaker Cleopatra Kennedy. She has been actively involved in the civil rights movement and as a gospel singer. She shared stories of many of her experiences with us and then we were able to go back to class and discuss what we heard. We had a great discussion about how people were unkind but can still be that way today. We talked about being kind to everyone and that often people are unkind because they don’t know and have a relationship with Jesus. It was an amazing time of reflection about the difference Jesus makes in our lives.

Word Wall Word: am

Daily 5: After assessing each child’s reading I have constructed some new reading groups and goals for the kids. Each child should be bringing one new book home with them this weekend. They also should have a bag with word wall words and our new consonant, vowel, consonant cards to help them say each sound and then blend them together to work on sounding out words. Please work on these with your child at home! I will also be sending a Sign Up Genius soon for volunteers to help during our Daily 5 to listen to our kids read and practice sight words.
Math: This week we took a unit review test to see where we are at with simple addition and subtraction as well as the numbers 1-10 and a few new shapes.

Phonics: This week we had picture cards and practiced listening for long vowels and then finding the vowel on our pocket chart. This was helpful for the students as well in reminding them that vowels have 2 sounds unlike consonants.

Writing Workshop: This week we continued with our pattern books, as well as making pattern books in the writing portion of our Daily 5. We attempted to write 4 pages on our own. It is still relatively difficult but we will be working on this for several more weeks. I am encouraging your child to listen for sounds and write what they hear. The perfectionist in many of them makes this extremely difficult. We continue to talk about what matters is not perfection but being willing to try their best!

Up in Lights: This week Lindiwe Weeda was Up in Lights. We loved looking at her baby pictures and are still hoping to have mom come visit as the snow day prevented that! Lindiwe is a blessing to our classroom!

Afternoon: We continued our normal afternoon rituals of quiet time, play time, snack and recess. Also, because we have everyone here on Tuesdays and Thursdays we are now able to add some extra Daily 5 during the afternoon!

A week in review: November 5 – 9 2018

Reflections

As I’ve been reflecting over this past week I think a good place to start this letter is  2 Corinthians 12:10, “Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake:for when I am weak, then am I strong.”  Sometimes I believe we need to walk through difficult times, as the ZCS community has done this past week, to experience the amazing strength that God provides.  I want you to know that although this situation is not ideal I am so happy to be able to have the opportunity to step in and teach your children for the rest of the year.  I believe God in his providence led me here for this moment.  A little background for those of you who don’t know me well; 10 years ago my husband and I had our fourth child, shortly after his birth we found out he was born with a form of Down syndrome.  So to make a long story short we ended up finding this beautiful community known as ZCS.

I have been involved with the school as a substitute teacher, a long-term sub, and an aide in this classroom.  I absolutely love your children and will do everything in my power to make sure that they don’t miss a beat and this transition goes as smoothly as possible.  I ask for your prayers and support as these first few weeks will be a lot of learning and adapting until we settle into our new “normal.”

Introduction

I would like to introduce myself and tell you a bit about who I am. I grew up in Hudsonville, MI, which is where I currently live and earned my degree in education from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids.  I have been married 25 years to my high school sweetheart (a child bride🙂) and have four children.  We attend Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville.  Our oldest daughter, Bailey, is a senior at MSU majoring in dietetics. Our second daughter, Taylor, is a sophomore at MSU and majoring in special education as well as a part of the MSU swim team.  Our third daughter, Lindyn, is in eighth grade at Jenison Jr. High and is involved in choir, orchestra and play productions. Our fourth child, Treyton, is in third grade here at ZCS and has his three sisters wrapped around his little finger! My hobbies include running, sometimes marathons, and I am an avid sports fan.  My favorite teams are the Denver Broncos, the Detroit Tigers and MSU everything.  If there is an MSU football or basketball game you will usually find me there with my girls, as well as, of course, watching Taylor and the MSU swim team!  I also love to shop and bake; with three girls there a lot of opportunities for both!!! I hope this helps you feel like you know me a bit better and please ask me any questions, I love to talk!

Important Dates

  • November 20: All school chapel (9am)
  • November 20: Friends-giving Celebration (see below)
  • November 21-23: Thanksgiving Vacation

Thoughts for Today

  • I know that Kaleigh had volunteers sign up for things through December and I am thinking I will probably be able to use most of you.  For this coming week however I will NOT need any of the volunteers.  Thank you for your understanding with this as I’m working to get the curriculum flowing again and working through some minor kinks.  Please do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions. My new email is larnold@zcs.org  Please email me at this address from now on as this is what I will be checking! Thank you!
  • One change this week….we will be having library in the afternoon on Wednesday instead of the morning due to a scheduling conflict.
  • I would like you to know in advance that I will be gone on Friday November 16.  This is something that has been on my schedule since August.  Taylor has two big swim meets that I have been planning on attending. One such meet is this weekend at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and the other key meet I plan on attending is the B1G Championships in February at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. I already have a substitute for Friday and I will talk to your kids about it this week.  Please make sure they understand that I am not leaving. I will only be gone for one day.  My heart is torn on this one but I know the college years are fleeting for my daughter.  Thank you so much for your understanding on this.
  • On November 20 we are going to have a Friends-giving celebration together. I would love for you to send in 20 BITE SIZE 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. Thanks for helping us celebrate Thanksgiving together.
  • PLEASE continue to check your child’s hair for lice. Also, continue to put your child’s coats, sweatshirts, hats, and gloves in the dryer for 30 minutes on high to help prevent the spread of lice. I sent home the towels again today for a 30 minute dryer ride. 🙂 If you notice lice on your child, please contact me or the school office immediately. I know it’s not fun and sometimes embarrassing, but we are here to help and support you!
  • 🙂Many of your parents turned in their Gifts of Being Grand pages during Grandparents Day. If you need another copy of the form please click here.  I would love these by the end of November. Thank you for helping to create a lifetime memory for your child.

Curriculum

I will normally go through and tell you subject by subject exactly what we did but with the craziness of this week I am going to condense it a bit.

We were able to get in Daily 5, math-practicing counting and writing numbers, writing workshop which included labeling, we also learned about the first Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it along with making Oreo turkeys. Our word wall word this week was we. Finally in handwriting we did the letters X and Y.

Weather

Please do your best to follow these guidelines as it makes our transition to going outside much easier!

Ready or not (I’m never fully ready) I think that time of the year is quickly approaching! A few notes about snow gear that will make things run a lot smoother in our classroom:

  • Please clearly label all of your child’s gear- this includes boots! A tip- sometimes hand-me-downs have a label with a different name. Please cross it out and write your child’s name. 🙂
  • Please send the gear in a reusable bag like the ones we use for towels.
  • I will work hard to make sure the bag goes home every night. Please check to make sure gear is dry by the morning. This might mean throwing it in the dryer. (Hey, it’s good lice prevention too!)
  • We do our best to keep our wet/dirty boots outside of our classroom where we often sit on the floor. (Wet buns are not fun!) I will mark a place in the hallway– one for each child- where your child may take off and neatly place his/her boots.
  • Before school students may go outside without snow pants- it really isn’t that long of a recess. Snow pants are required for all other recesses. 
  • I will take your lead on what you would like your child to wear on the bus ride home. Just let me know!
  • It is SO helpful if you encourage your child to at least try to independently take their gear on and off. Practice, practice, practice! I love to help kindergartners zip their coats, but our goal is to encourage independence by the end of the first few weeks.

Thank you for your help as we make the transition to colder weather together!

Thank You!

I appreciate all of the love and support you have already shown to me this week (and treats!). I am looking forward to the remainder of this school year.