Reminders:

Please wash and return towels in a reuse bag and snow gear (when needed) in a separate bag. Thank you!  🙂

February 17-20: Winter Break (no school)

March is Reading Month and author Cherie Okonski, author of “The Secret of  Gumper the Rabbit” is coming to ZCS Monday, March 13, 2023.  

Author and illustrator Cherie Okonski will be visiting all Y5’s, Kindergarten, First and Second Grade classrooms to read the book and share with students all about the inspiration behind it.  

Mrs. Okonski is a professional portrait artist who combined her fine artistry and childhood imagination to create and introduce Gumper the rabbit and Oink the guinea pig to the world of make believe.  “The Secret of Gumper Rabbit” is her first children’s book.   

“Gumper the rabbit was born different from others -but aren’t we all born with our own unique gifts and talents? Dreamed into existence 25 years ago, Gumper waited to be introduced into the world when it was ready for him.  He was created to make a difference in the lives he touched when hearts were open to receive his message”.  

-Cherie Okonski

All proceeds of this book will be used to support children and families impacted by congenital heart conditions at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids.  

If you would like to purchase a book for your student, please fill out the order form (sent home Friday afternoon) and send to your child’s classroom teacher along with payment (check or cash).  

All orders will be due by February 22nd. 

What We Are Learning:

We used our five senses to explore our snowy playground. Thank you Maestra Patrick for leading us on our hike.

Paisley was our friend Up In Lights this week. She shared her joy for animals and people. We met her dog, Knox. Everyone loved meeting another friendly dog.

Math: We continued to work on adding and subtracting this week through listening to story problems, creating our own and representing the math story with manipulatives. Our new Math curriculum encourages students to talk through their thinking. This is amazing to hear and see when our students are working in partners.

We had fun on Valentine’s passing out cards and having new centers.

Bible: This week we read stories about Jesus with his friends, Mary and Martha. We learned the importance of taking time to learn about God. That should be a priority every day. We also read about a man named Zacchaeus. We saw how Jesus befriended him even when others would not. We saw a great example of how we should reach out to others and show kindness even when it is difficult.

Daily 5: Your children continue to work so hard at reading and writing during our daily 5 time. There are times for independent work and small group reading and writing.

Writing Workshop: We continue our work on writing pattern books. This week I was amazed at the hard work your children are doing! I see a lot of attention to sounding out words and handwriting.

Reminders:

Please wash and return towel in a reuse bag and snow gear (when needed) in a separate bag. Thank you!  🙂

February 14: Valentine’s Day You may send in valentines for the class. We have 16 students. You do not need to write names in the to sections, but please have your child write his/her name on the from. We will have holders for valentines at school 🙂

February 16: Outdoor learning in the afternoon! Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather conditions.

February 17-20: Winter Break (no school)

What We Are Learning:

Math: We continued to work on adding and subtracting this week through listening to story problems, creating our own and representing the math story with manipulatives. Our new Math curriculum encourages students to talk through their thinking. This is amazing to hear and see when our students are working in partners.

Daily 5: Your children continue to work so hard at reading and writing during our daily 5 time. There are times for independent work and small group reading and writing.

Writing Workshop: We continue our work on writing pattern books. This week I was amazed at the hard work your children are doing! I see a lot of attention to sounding out words and handwriting.

Phonics: This week I showed pictures and we sounded out the word and wrote it out. We focused on CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words. We use a roller coaster motion to focus on the beginning, middle and ending sound.

We explored ramps and things that roll in Engaging God’s World this week.

We also had a SUPER time on 100th day!

We may or may not have eaten some of our 100 fruit loops 🙂

We were just walking down the hall and Zero the Hero appeared!!

Liam was Up in Lights this week! We learned that he is really good with animals. His family dog, Winter, was so gentle. Liam also read a book to our class.  Great job!

Reminders:

Please wash and return towel in a reuse bag and snow gear (when needed) in a separate bag. Thank you!  🙂

Wednesday, February 8: Kindergarten and First Grade Chapel, 9am

February 14: Valentine’s Day You may send in valentines for the class. We have 16 students. You do not need to write names in the to sections, but please have your child write his/her name on the from. We will have holders for valentines at school 🙂

February 17-20: Winter Break (no school)

What We Are Learning:

Writing: We are working on writing pattern books. This week was a big step in deciding what word pattern to use (for example: I like, Look at the, The, I see) and then writing it on each page. The kids are working hard! Sounding out words takes a while and it takes practice.

Phonics: We met the at family. We talked about some families all having the same last name. The at family of words all end with at. Different first names (letters) make different words. We wrote real words (bat, cat, rat, mat, fat, hat) and had fun with silly words (zat, gat, wat)

Daily 5: It was so nice to meet with all of the small groups during daily 5 this week! This means the rest of the class is also working hard so we can all learn during this time.

Math: We told math stories and then used manipulatives to show the math problem in the story. The kids were able to practice telling a story. This is a fun way to practice math while eating or playing with toys.

Handwriting: We are practicing being careful forming letters. This helps writing become more neat, but also helps writing letters become a little easier. This week we practiced H and K and then reviewed B, P, M, N, D, E, F.

We had lots of fun sledding on Thursday!

We had silly fun on 2/2

Isaiah was our friend Up In Lights this week! We were able to listen to his favorite book (with special pictures that show up when he uses a flashlight) and we were able to pet his super soft bunny.