November 3: Grandparents Day! Please turn in Gifts of being Grand and Fall Questionnaire’s for Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 8: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch

November 8-9: Parent/Teacher Conferences – Evening – K-8 School in session

November 9: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch

November 10: No School

Parent Teacher Conferences– I am looking forward to meeting with each one of you on November 8 or 9. This is a wonderful time of celebration and I can’t wait to share with you all of the great things your kids are doing! You may sign up for one time slot using the link on the ZCS Parent Page. The sign up will be open until November 1 at 10:00 PM. Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to meet with me! I’m looking forward to it!

Kindergarten Readiness– Has your child mentioned working with Mrs. Pyle, Mrs. Tibbe, or Ms. Stuursma? Every kindergartener at ZCS has been assessed using a kindergarten readiness evaluation. This is something all schools in the Ottawa area will be doing next year. ZCS decided to get familiar with the assessment this year so that we can be even more prepared for next year. I spoke with Mrs. Tibbe about the results they’re seeing and she was very pleased!

Picture Retakes– If your child would like his/her picture retaken, please SEND YOUR CHILD’S UNCUT PICTURE PACKET to school on picture retake day- November 9. This serves as the reorder form and is necessary. If your child missed getting his/her pictures taken, there are new picture envelopes in the office for ordering.

Helpful Links
-2017-2018 ZCS Family Directory: The ZCS Family Directory contains staff, Board members, and family contact information as well as class lists. The directory remains in Google Docs, has been fully updated, and will continue to reflect the most current information. Please email zcsinfo@zcs.org to request changes or updates. (Remember to take notice of the tabs across the bottom of the document for easy access to each section!)
-2017-2018 ZCS Family Handbook: The ZCS Family Handbook contains information such as school start times, cancellations and delays, calendar, dress code, hot lunch information, etc. It can be found on the ZCS Parents page. Scroll down to find the link.

Thanks for reading all of these reminders!  It is a busy time of year and I don’t think it really slows down until after Christmas.  I will try to keep reminders at the top of the page so you can reference them when you need to.

We have a great week of learning this week. Along with academic pieces, it was so neat to start applying things that I was reminded of at CEA.  This week Miss Kelly and I would ask students if they were being helpful when we saw a behavior that needed re-directing. We often talk about encouraging each other and trying our best. Using these words helped the kids reflect on their behavior and implement changes.

We added the word “go” to our word wall. Most of the class new this word immediately.  When I asked how, they smiled and said, “It’s on our bathroom door!”  Such smarties 🙂  It was also fun Friday during “Mr. Meyer Singing” that students were pointing out word wall words on the screen when song lyrics appeared.  How awesome!

In Handwriting this week we practiced letters V and W.  Fitting these big slanted lines in a defined space can be tricky, but after a few practices, the kids were doing very well! We also used the chalkboard to practice writing numbers 1 and 2.  We talked about writing numbers the school way.  For some, it was making number 1 even more simple by just making a big straight line.  We practiced 2 by using a big curve then a little line.  This was so fun to see the improvements in writing a two!

In phonics, we have been noticing syllables.  We practicing clapping and counting the syllables in many different words, then made a book using a chant that we needed to think of our favorite food to insert into the sentence. The class enjoys making these books. 🙂

In writing workshop we continue to practice writing stories and labeling.  I am enjoying watching growth in this process as well.

In Math we continue to build our number knowledge by comparing numbers, recognizing groups of numbers as well as practicing simple addition and subtraction.

In Exploring God’s World we used maps to walk from our classroom to the gym.  We highlighted to route that grandparents may take when they come for grandparents day.  We will have maps ready for grandparents and children to use together.

In Bible it is still a highlight for me to watch your children enjoy opening their Bibles to follow along with the story.  This week we read about Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Esau.

We enjoyed celebrating Abigail during her week Up In Lights!  It was exciting to meet her dog, Ella on Friday.

October 19-20: CEA Convention (No School)

October 27: All school chapel 9:00 (you are welcome to attend!)

November 3: Grandparents Day! Click here for the official invitation.

November 8: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch

November 8-9: Parent/Teacher Conferences – Evening – K-8 School in session

November 9: No PM Bus / No Hot Lunch

November 10: No School

Dear Families,

This week your children continued to grow socially, emotionally and academically.  We worked through quite a few situations of talking to friends to express how we feel and navigating sharing and taking turns. It was a good week of growth!

Here is what we focused on academically…

We added the word see to our word wall. In our poetry this week, we found three of our word wall words: see, the and a. I encourage you to keep the word wall books available to your child to read together. When you are reading other books or at the store or in the car, continue to look for these words and read them together.

In Math, we compared numbers and use the vocabulary “more” and “less”. We also reviewed shapes and worked on addition and subtraction.

In Bible, we focused on Abraham.  We talked about Abraham’s faith to move his family to a new land and God’s promise to Abraham to have children. We also practiced our new Bible verse: As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, day and night will never cease. Genesis 8:22.

In Writing we sketched stories of our field trip to DeGraaf. We also practiced labeling by labeling Mrs. Bronsink! The kids had to figure out what part of me to label and what letter to write for the beginning sound. I was covered with sticky notes . Next week we will label a few other things that aren’t on me. 🙂

We reviewed our five senses with a book in Exploring God’s World.

In Handwriting we practiced letter H and K. I was very impressed by the growth in writing K!

In Daily 5 we continue to Read to Self and are starting to introduce Work on Writing. We have also practiced using the iPads that will be part of Listen to Reading. We needed to learn how to open the case, open the app and each student has a log in for our reading app. They also practiced logging out and closing the iPads. All of these steps are necessary for your child to learn so they can independently and successfully do this part of Daily 5.

In the afternoon we continue to rotate centers that focus on math and literacy.  We also enjoy our time for play. It is such a fun time to see how your children cooperate with others and express their creativity.

Next week we have a short week, but we will make the most of it!  I have you enjoy a few extra days with your family.  I look forward to seeing teachers from other Christian schools and learning from them at CEA.

It was another full week of Kindergarten! It is amazing how much growth is evident in the class already this year.  I love to see them proud of themselves when they are learning new things.

In Bible this week we reviewed the story of Noah and remembered that God keeps his promises.  We also experimented with a tower building project. Each table group needed to build the tallest tower, but they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. We saw how difficult it was to work together. We read the story if the Tower of Babel and tried to remember that we too, need to put God first and not our own selfish wants.

In Math this week we continued to practice adding and subtracting to 5.  We combined Math with our Science unit not the 5 senses by taste testing apples. We graphed our favorite apples and compared the numbers. Ask your child which apple they liked the best!

In Daily 5 we continue to Read to Self. The class is doing so well and is so excited when they spot their word wall words in their reading books. We are also starting to add Work on Writing to our Daily 5 time. In Writing Workshop, we have worked on oral story telling and have just launched sketching our stories. We will continue sketching this week and add labeling. All of these steps build towards writing stories with full sentences 🙂

We only have a few friends left in My Book of Friends.  I have seen such growth in drawing! I also love to see the excitement when the friend’s name is revealed.

In Handwriting this week we practiced N and M.  We continue to work on writing names the school way, especially using uppercase only on the first letter and writing on the line.

Our Interactive Read Aloud this week was the book No, David!  This is such a fun book to read with the class 🙂 We focused on inferring, using clues from the pictures and story. We could infer that David was often told no.

In phonics we continue to build our letter sound knowledge.

Our Up In Lights friend this week was Violet.  It was such a blessing to celebrate our friend. We enjoyed listening to her favorite Clifford book, learning that her favorite color is red and looking at pictures of her family. She took such good care of the elephant during her week as well.

Coming Up…

October 19 and 20: NO SCHOOL, CEA for teachers

November 3: Grandparents Day 9:10 *look for an invitation in red folders this week.