Highlights from our week…
It was wonderful to be with your kids again after a long weekend! Often I’m a bit nervous to come back after a break, but the class transitioned back very well! It was exciting to switch our classroom over to Christmas. I love celebrating this time of year with Kindergarteners because they are so filled with awe and wonder. This advent time of waiting takes on new meaning through the eyes of a child! Jesus truly is the reason for our celebrating this season and we will keep our eyes fixed on him as we celebrate Christmas together.
Important Dates.
The next couple weeks are busy and I understand that there is lots going on both in and out of school. Please pay special attention to these important dates and reminders and, of course, let me know if you have any questions!
- December 7: Book order for Letters From God due
- December 9: No hot lunch and no pm bussing
- December 9: Scholastic Book Order Due (See below for details.)
- December 19: EMPTY shoebox to school
- December 22: Christmas Chapel 9:15 AM
- December 23: Class Christmas Celebration
- December 23: No hot lunch and no am OR pm bussing
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December 24-January 8: Christmas Break
Important Information
- Winter clothes – It is quite the sight outside my window right now! God’s handiwork is beautiful (but COLD) in Michigan winters! Two of my favorite inventions for Kindergarteners is velcro and reusable bags. 🙂 It would be very helpful if you could please send your child’s winter clothes (snowpants, hat, mittens, etc.) to school in a reusable bag. They hang very nicely on our hooks and help us keep track of where our own things are. Please also label your child’s clothing so that if something does get lost it is easier to find! We will wear our gym shoes (or other shoes if your child prefers) in our classroom and keep our boots for outside only. We will go outside at least once every day that we can, so please be sure to pack winter clothes in the reusable bag and bring boots every day! You might want to check the winter clothes each evening to see if they need to go in the dryer before the school the next morning.
- Scholastic Book Order – This month we will be ordering books from Scholastic! These make great gifts for your kids and help our class earn free books as well! Please follow this link to access Scholastic Book Clubs and use the code MH4J6 for our class. The book order will be due Friday, December 9.
Check out how much we’re learning and growing in Christ!
Bible: This week we began learning about the Christmas story. The first character to come on the scene was the angel, Gabriel. The kids thought it was pretty cool that we have a Gabriel in our class! We talked about Gabriel’s important message for Mary and then made the first character of our Nativity scene, an angel.
Literacy: Daily 5 is quickly becoming a favorite time of the school day! This week I met with every student in a small group setting at least once. For me, this time of working with your children in a smaller group is so special!
This week we talked about the letter Tt. Someone quickly brought up the song Tu, Ti, Ta and so, of course, we had to sing it several times this week! It is a hoot! Ask your Kindergartener to sign it for you whenever you need to lighten the mood in your home. 🙂
In grammar I introduced adjectives. Like articles, adjectives, describing words, are “friends” of nouns because they are often together. We played detectives and tried to figure out what would be revealed in my PowerPoint presentation based on the adjective clues.
- Reading strategy: Questioning
- Word wall word: tu (your) tú (you)
- Phrase of the week: Me gusta _____. (I like…)
- Letter of the week: Tt
Our culture lessons this week brought us to Guatemala! Maria, an exchange student who has been staying with Lily’s family visited our class and shared some things about her home country. Thank you, Maria and the VanderVeen Family! Please join me in praying for them all as Maria heads back to Guatemala in the next couple of weeks.
Math: This week we practiced writing the numbers 7 and 8. With Maestra Geurink the class also completed a math page which practiced skills like drawing 7 objects and connecting dots in the correct number order, (dot to dots.)
Writing Workshop: This week we celebrated our hard work and the amazing growth your children made in the most recent writing unit! We danced and walked around the classroom until the music stopped. Then we searched for a new friend to share our stories with until the music started again. All of the Kindergarteners should be very proud of themselves!
Play: We have been playing lots of house this week! One of our trees is just for playtime and the kids have been having a blast decorating it!
Up in Lights: Collin Miller was Up in Lights this week! One thing that makes Collin special is that his favorite song is Edelweiss. Thank you for introducing our class to that beautiful song! You are a precious child of God, Collin, and we’re so glad your family joined ZCS this year!
Afternoons:
- Monday: art, rest, read aloud, recess, snack, play
- Tuesday: rest. play, recess, snack, last round of Thanksgiving math centers
- Wednesday: rest, play, recess, snack, December calendar
- Thursday: rest, play, recess, snack, new Christmas math centers
- Friday: rest, play, recess, snack, K-5 singing
This time of the year is so special! I love to celebrate Jesus’ birth together and there are lots of special ways we get to do that at school and at home. This week we experienced a concert from the 5th grade choirs. Beautiful! I pray your family feels God’s presence in a special way this season!
Blessings on your week ahead!
Melissa
From the Immersion Coordinator…
Have you noticed extra talking in your child’s immersion classroom? If you have sensed more noise, chatter, or interaction in your child’s classroom, you should be encouraged! Learning a new language means using the language. Immersion teachers are continually stopping to allow their students to produce language, to interact with each other, and to experiment with the new vocabulary and grammar. This results in classrooms that might seem louder and more interactive than we remember as children, but it also results in more learning and more student engagement. Next time you walk down the hallway and hear the students in an immersion room, you can know they are growing in their new language.