Just a Note

Elementary singing, Lunar New Year, and 100th day of school- what a fun week to be at ZCS! I love this time of year because the kids are so ready to learn. They’ve got the routines and school structure down pat. We’ve gotten to know each other well. There is so much learning that takes place in the next few months! We’re looking forward to another week of fun with Valentine’s Day next week!

Have a great weekend!

Melissa

Important Dates

• Feb. 9: Lunar New Year Celebration Starts- (see note below)

• Feb. 14: Valentine’s Day Celebration

• Feb. 15: Schedule switch – Friday specials schedule

• Feb. 16-19: Winter Break – No school, no pd

• Feb. 23: All School Chapel (9:10) and Family Groups (9:40); Pastor Appreciation Breakfast

• Feb. 29: Optional Parent/Guardian Teacher Conferences; School in Session

• Mar. 1: Half Day of School; no PD

• Mar. 12: Night of Worship (6:30)

Reminders & Announcements

• Kingergarten/1st Grade Chapel: Friday, February 23 all kindergarten and 1st grade classes will be leading some singing during chapel. You are all invited to attend this special time of worship. If you’d like to join us, please see the note below from our front office to make your morning run a little smoother. 🙂Pre-Registration For February 23 Chapel Now Available!

  Parents, we encourage you (and grandparents/friends) to Pre-Register for chapel on February 23rd to avoid sign-in lines!! Please share the good news!!

  • Pre-Registration is now a sign-in option for parents/grandparents/guests when attending chapel! 
  • Pre-Registration allows guests to skip the line and pick up their badge at the front desk. No waiting in line to scan in!
  • Guests are eligible to pre-register IF they have signed in at the kiosk in the office previously WITH their driver’s license.  
  • Pre-Registration will be open until 5:00 PM on 2/21/24  

  Pre-Register using THIS LINK!

• Request for Materials for Science Project: Your kids are super excited about the special science project we’re working on! They are designing a solution to a common problem people have. Their design is meant to imitate an animal or plant characteristic (think Velcro is like burrs from plants.) The students will choose an animal or plant characteristic and use it to help them design their model. They’ll draw a model of their design and explain how their design helps solve the every-day problem. They’ve been doing an awesome job and are excited! If you have extra shoe boxes, empty water bottles, clean food containers, and things like that will you please send them in? Thank you!
• Valentine’s Day: We’re looking forward to a day when we can focus on God’s love for us and our love for each other! Your child is invited to bring a valentine for their classmates (18 students.) On Wednesday morning we’ll spend some time in valentine math and literacy centers and passing out valentines. We are all set for snacks/drinks. Thank you to the family who is donating!
• 新年快乐–Happy New Year! Join us for our Lunar New Year Celebration! 
  On Friday, February 9, more than 1.5 million people will begin their two week celebration of the Lunar New Year. The Mandarin staff, students and families are excited to celebrate as well. The community is invited to join the celebration on Friday, February 9 at the Holland Fish and Game Club from 5:30-8:00pm. It will be an open house-style celebration with Chinese food for purchase, cultural crafts and activities, a traditional Dragon Dance and more! Students are invited to wear red on Friday to kick off the celebration!
• A note from Kendra Walters, music teacher, about worship night: The first graders will be joining the 2nd & 5th graders for a beautiful night of worship on Tuesday, March 12 at 6:30pm at Community Reformed Church (10376 Felch St). Please bring your child directly to the stage at 6:20pm. After their songs, they will come back to sit with you for the remainder of the service. This is their first official musical performance at ZCS so please help us in getting them excited for it and dressing them accordingly. We’re excited to see you there!
• From our Immersion Director, Jodi Pierce: Do I need to teach my child to read in English? The answer to this question is a resounding no! you do not need to teach your child to read in English. In fact, our best advice is please do not begin teaching your child to read in English–we’ve got this covered! There is actually a fair amount of research that shows us that introducing English reading instruction too early in the immersion students’ literacy development can be detrimental. We want the students to develop a strong base in the immersion language first, so that the transfer of reading skills to English can happen most efficiently and with the least amount of confusion. This being said, many of our students develop literacy in both languages at about the same rate. Therefore, please let your child take the lead in his or her reading growth; if s/he shows a natural desire and inclination to read in English, you can provide the opportunity. I imagine this looking like a child navigating English reading in a board game you are playing together. Maybe your child loves to read street signs or is trying to follow the words on the screen at church. These are natural points of interest for a child and have an authentic purpose. By all means, you should support and applaud them for their efforts! However, you can put away the English flashcards (unless your child loves it and begs for it), you should not require that they read a certain number of minutes or pages in English each night, and you do not need to expect them to reach specific reading levels in English. As I said before, the best thing you can do to help them grow in English literacy is to read out loud to them each day in English and be sure they have access to books in both languages at home.

What We’re Learning Right Now

Math: Unit 3

Bible: Unit 8- Judges

Bible Verse: Salmo 18:1-3

Science: Special Project- inventing a solution to meet a human need by observing God’s creation and his animals and plants.

Social Studies: Unit 2- How do we get what we need or want? Begin Unit 3- How do we learn about places?

Writing: Small Moments- Choosing a favorite small moment story and editing. We will celebrate their hard work and every student will get to share his or her story with a friend!

Mentor Text: El Pinguino Taky

Grammar Feature: Possessive adjectives, “tónicos,” are written after the noun. They are “mio/miso, tuyo/tuyos, and suyo/suyos. For example, you could say, “La mochila es mia.”

Word Feature: The suffixes -dad, -ismo, and -anza are at the end of some words to form nouns. (Ex: bondad, esperanza, optimismo)

New High Frequency Words: llamar, allá, cállense, tener, dime

Sylables of the week: lla, lle, lli, llo, llu