Just a Note

It was so good to be back with your children this week! It was fun to hear their stories and share about our different adventures over spring break. I think they were happy to see their school friends! 🙂

This coming week we have another round of aalpa- a language proficiency assessment/project with 3 parts- interpretive (listening to a song and answering questions about it) interpersonal, (talking with a friend about the sun and moon,) and presentational (creating and sharing a poster about the sun and moon.) There is nothing extra you need to do at home except help your child rest well at night and bring healthy snacks and a water bottle like always, so they can think clearly and do their best. We will not be covering any new grammar or word feature content the next couple of weeks as we’ll focus this time on the aalpa. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Have a great weekend!

Melissa

Important Dates

• Apr. 15-19: Delta Screener window

• Apr. 16: Elementary Worship (2:50-3:10)

• Apr. 17: Chapel (9:10) and Family Groups (9:40)

• Apr. 19: ZCS Auction

• Apr. 19: Young Author Visited (rescheduled from 3/22)

• Apr. 23 & 24: Muffins with Moms/Ma’ams

Reminders & Announcements:

• Lice: A case of lice has been confirmed in our class. Please see the letter that went home today (Friday, April 12) with instructions about what to do at home. Checking your child’s hair periodically and placing jackets and backpacks in the freezer or dryer on hot for 30 minutes is a good precaution. 
• Book Bags: Today I heard a teacher describe this week after break as a “re-entry period.” Such a good description as we all get used to school routines again- me included! Just a reminder book bags need to come to school on Friday mornings. We’ll put new books that we’ve practiced already at school in the bag and send them home to practice over the weekend and the following week.
• Science Materials: We have plenty of shoe boxes, but could use some more toilet paper or paper towel tubes please. Thank you!

What We’re Learning Right Now

Math: Unit 5- Adding up to 100 (Students use place value understanding and properties of operations to add within 100.)

Bible: Solomon

Bible Verse: Proverbios 3:3-6

Science: “Oh Say Can You See!” (sound and light waves)

Social Studies: Unit 3- How do we learn about places?

Writing: Realistic Fiction- incorporating the elements of character, setting, problem, and solution

Mentor Text:

Grammar Feature:

Word Feature:

New High Frequency Words:

Sylables of the week:

Just a Note

This week I spent a lot of time reading several books 1:1 with each student to try to identify their instructional level (the level they can’t read super easily, but easily enough to learn from.) I am blown away by how much every child has grown since I last did these assessments in January! Thank you for all the ways you support your learners at home!

We also had a lot of fun reading by flashlight today. We covered some tables with large sheets to make a quick fort and read by flashlight inside our forts.

We’re looking forward to a good 4-day week next week and a break the following week! We pray you have a safe and fun spring vacation! I will not be writing a blog post next week, but, as always, reach out if you have questions!

Have a great weekend!

Melissa

Important Dates

• Mar. 28: Elementary Worship; 2:50-3:10

• Mar. 28: Dress Like a Book Character Day

• Mar. 29-April 5: No School – Spring Break

• Apr. 8: School resumes

• Apr. 11: Society Meeting (not required, just FYI)

• Apr. 15-19: Delta Screener window

• Apr. 16: Elementary Worship (2:50-3:10)

• Apr. 17: Chapel (9:10) and Family Groups (9:40)

• Apr. 19: ZCS Auction

• Apr. 19: Young Author Visited (rescheduled from 3/22)

• Apr. 23 & 24: Muffins with Moms/Ma’ams

Reminders & Announcements:

• Sickness: It seems a stomach bug has hit our class pretty hard. We’re doing all we can to help each other stay healthy here at school. Please remember our school policy- students must be fever, vomiting, and diarrhea free without meds for 24 hours before returning to school. Hopefully a nice long spring break will help us all get healthy again!
• From the Immersion Director, Jodi Pierce: For the last several weeks, we have been exploring the journey of raising bilingual and biliterate children. I wanted to take this opportunity to look back over the main points. First, cherish these sweet years when your child will curl up and listen to you read a good story. Please read aloud to your child in English daily! However, rest assured that it is best if you do not try to teach them to read in English. We begin our literacy instruction in the target language for many reasons, and it is best to wait for formal English reading instruction until their immersion language reading develops to a confident level. Even though you might not understand your child’s language of instruction, it is important to be an active listener when they read out loud to you. You can engage with them by asking questions about the story, but do not ask for a direct translation. Finally, provided your child reads 15-20 minutes in the target language for practice at home, for any reading beyond this, let your child take the lead in choosing the language. If you have any concerns or questions about your child’s reading development in either language, please reach out to your child’s teacher. You can also connect with me (Jodi Pierce, jpierce@zcs.org) or our reading specialist, Marianne Raitz.
• Please Help Keep Our Students Safe! Parents, please take a few minutes to remind yourselves of our arrival and dismissal procedures. We ask you to follow these steps for the safety of all of our students. If you have specific questions, please feel free to email zcsinfo@zcs.org. This document reminds you of the where, the when, and the how. The why is easy…SAFETY! Thank you for taking time to refresh your memory.

  2023-2024 School Day Arrival & Dismissal Protocols

• TRIP is easy! The ZCS Tuition Reducing Incentive Program is a simple way to earn “free” money on things you are already purchasing to reduce tuition. Order gifts cards & e-gift cards on the RaiseRight app or online (even while you are shopping) or buy gift cards at school on Friday mornings. Just click here and follow the steps to start saving right away! Email Jennifer Schafer at jschafer@zcs.org for more information or with any questions.

What We’re Learning Right Now

Math: Unit 4- add and subtract multiples of 10, compare and represent two-digit numbers, represent the base 10 structure of numbers

Bible: Pascua (Easter)

Bible Verse: Mateo 28:1-8

Science: “Oh Say Can You See!” (sound and light waves)

Social Studies: Unit 3- How do we learn about places?

Writing: Realistic Fiction- incorporating the elements of character, setting, problem, and solution

Mentor Text: Siete Ratones Ciegos

Grammar Feature: Irregular verbs in the past have an irregular root.  Special endings are used for these verbs.  Ex: poner, pongo, puse 

Word Feature: In Spanish words that have the accent in the last syllable are called “palabras agudas” Ex: can-ción, pa-pel

New High Frequency Words: el niño, el año, íbamos, el papá, sola

Sylables of the week: ña, ñe, ñi, ño, ñu

Just a Note

One special thing about our class is that each child belongs to a small group. My prayer for these groups of about 4 classmates is that they will offer one more chance for connecting, playing, building trust, and strengthening community. So far we have played in our small groups in our classroom and on the playground. Each group got to create their own group name, which the kids thought was very fun. Sometimes students will be working together and other times they’ll just be having fun or enjoying being together!

Important Dates

• October 12 & 17: Parent teacher conferences in evening, school in session
• October 16: Elementary Worship, 2:50-3:10 in the media center
• October 18-20: No School (CEA Convention)
• October 27: Grandparents’ Day (1/2 day)
  • Also end of 1st marking period

Reminders & Announcements

• Book Bags: This afternoon your child should have taken home a blue bag with 3 or 4 books in it. Some of these books are full of the syllables we’ve been studying the last couple weeks. Some of the books are ones we read together in our guided reading groups this week. All of them would be great practice for your child! We talked about keeping reading fun at home. Your child may practice reading their books to you, a sibling, a pet, even a stuffed animal! We talked about finding a comfy spot to enjoy the books. Should this routine ever be difficult (we all have those days,) just put them away and enjoy reading to your child in whatever language you are most comfortable. Please return the book bags to school every Monday (or the first day of the week.) I’ll work hard to help your child remember to bring his or her bag home on the last school day of every week. Per school policy there is a $10 fee for any lost or damaged books.
• Parent/Teacher Conferences: We’re looking forward to this special time of collaborating and celebrating together! Please also fill out this Google Form to help us anticipate any questions and prepare to use our time well!

What We’re Learning Right Now

Math: Unit 1: Add and subtract within 10 and represent and interpret categorical data.

Bible: Unit 2- El Mundo que Hizo Dios/The World God Made (Creation, The Fall, Noah and The Flood, Tower of Babel)

Bible Verse: Salmo 119:11

Science: Plants- characteristics, life cycle, and how we use them in everyday life

Writing: Practice appropriate letter formation, writing a complete sentence, using capital letters, spacing between words and punctuation marks at the end. We can tell stories in pictures and in words. Our illustrations should relate to the story. We can stretch words by saying them slowly out loud and record the sounds we hear. (I’m excited to start working in small writing groups this week!)

Mentor Text: Mi lugar (We just didn’t get to it last week. We’ll try again. 🙂 )

Grammar Feature: Nouns can be feminine or masculine, singular or plural.  The articles have to correspond. We’ll practice identifying nouns and talk about how to use them in our sentences. We’ll also talk about common and proper nouns and remind ourselves to capitalize proper nouns.

Word Feature: Capitalization rules and syllables with Tt (ta, te, ti, to, tu)

New High Frequency Words: tengo, de, el tío, ver, más

Dear Families,

As I look back on this year my heart is filled with gratitude. Your kids have grown as language learners, authors, readers, scientists, and mathematicians. They have made new friends and learned more about what it means to be a good friend. They have grown in their faith, learning more about Christ , how God has worked in the lives of people throughout history and still works in our lives today, and how to burn brightly for Him. They have learned to be more resilient, persevere, be proud of themselves, and humble themselves before God. Wow, God is good!

I’m thankful for each child entrusted to our care this year and the opportunity I’ve had to be a small part of their learning at ZCS. I’m thankful for you, their parents, for partnering with me and always supporting me in and out of the classroom. (It was a big year for the Izenbaard family!)

There will not be a blog post next week, but other important and special things will come home like your child’s baton, summer reading bookmark, and other artifacts of learning. Please look for these in the coming days. I pray you have a restful and fun summer. Please don’t be strangers as your child moves on to 2nd grade! They’ll always be “my” students!

In His love,

Maestra Izenbaard

Important links:

Hot Lunch Menu: May hot lunch menu

Important Dates:      

• May 29: Memorial Day Vacation/Band marches in parade/K-2 Walk

• May 30: Family Group Games (Afternoon only – June 1 rain date)

• June 2: Last Day of School  Y5-8 – ½ Day, end of 4th marking period

Reminders & Announcements:

• Memorial Day Parade: On the morning of Memorial Day there is a parade in Zeeland and ZCS 1st graders are invited to march if they would like to! There is no famous blue jacket like in kindergarten, but it is a fun time of remembering those who have served. Please sign up here if your child would like to march. More details are on the top of the document. We will be looking for 1-2 parents to join us. If you’re interested, please reach out!
• Family Group Games: Throughout the school year your child has met with a family group, a group of 1st-8th graders. On May 30 we will be doing a variety of field day style games with our family groups friends who are 1st-5th grade. Comfy clothes and tennis shoes are suggested. We’ll be outside most of the afternoon. If you feel sunscreen or bug spray is an important option for your child, please fill out the waiver from our school nurse (see Blue Note) and send a bottle to school with your child’s name on it.

Dear Families,

It was an exciting week! On Tuesday morning the kids got to show what they’ve learned and what they’re reading to learn next by doing the MAP test for reading. On Wednesday afternoon it was finally our turn to check out the 4th graders hard work on Market Day! We look forward to lots more learning and fun end-of-year things, including a field trip, chapel, family group and spiritual journal entries in the coming weeks!

Have a great weekend,

Maestra Izenbaard

Important links:

WAAG The WAAG (Week-at-a-Glance) is your one-stop shop for what your child is learning and is updated each week with the big ideas we’ll be covering in each content area.

Hot Lunch Menu: May hot lunch menu

Important Dates:      

• May 24: Family Groups – 9:00 a.m., All School Chapel – 9:30 a.m.

• May 24 & 25: All Belong works on video at ZCS

• May 29: Memorial Day Vacation/Band marches in parade/K-2 Walk

• May 30: Family Group Games (Afternoon only – June 1 rain date)

• June 2: Last Day of School  Y5-8 – ½ Day, end of 4th marking period

Reminders & Announcements:

• Memorial Day Parade: On the morning of Memorial Day there is a parade in Zeeland and ZCS 1st graders are invited to march if they would like to! There is no famous blue jacket like in kindergarten, but it is a fun time of remembering those who have served. Please look for a Google form soon asking if your child would like to march. We will be looking for 1-2 parents to join us. If you’re interested, please reach out!
• Family Group Games: Throughout the school year your child has met with a family group, a group of 1st-8th graders. On May 30 we will be doing a variety of field day style games with our family groups. Comfy clothes and tennis shoes are suggested. We’ll be outside most of the afternoon. If you feel sunscreen or bug spray is an important option for your child, please fill out the waiver from our school nurse and send a bottle to school with your child’s name on it.
• All Belong Video: Please see this note from our marketing and communications team:
  • We are excited to announce that Zeeland Christian School has been selected by the nonprofit organization, All Belong, to be featured in a video highlighting our inclusive education community. All Belong will be filming on our campus on May 24 and 25.To ensure our school is well represented and we all look our best, we are asking that students wear ZCS clothing if possible, or clothing without words and/or other brand logos. Thank you for your support!
• John Ball Zoo: May 26th We have our spring field trip to the zoo! Please fill out this form by the end of the day Friday if you’d like to join us!

Dear parents,

This week students were happy to start working on their addition with carrying to the next ten. This is a hard step to go through, so if you can help them practice more at home this will be great for them to have as extra activity to work with. They are excited to learn more and get ready for second grade. They are also working hard with Maestra Izenbaard to be able to finish their evaluations the best they can. This is a great opportunity for them to grow and for us to know where they are at.

Next week they will continue working on their aalpa and we will have more challenging work to continue going in unit 5 for math.
Thank you for all your help and support.

For bible kids are starting their journals and we believe this will help them get more blessed to understand how God is working in their lives. They are so important to God and to us.

If you have any question or what to talk to us about something please send us an email, we are happy to hear from you.

Maestra Solis

Important links:

WAAG The WAAG (Week-at-a-Glance) is your one-stop shop for what your child is learning and is updated each week with the big ideas we’ll be covering in each content area.

Hot Lunch Menu: May hot lunch menu

Important Dates:      

*May 1-5 Teacher Appreciation Week
*May 10 Elementary Worship
*May 11 ½ day (Tulip Time Parade)
*May 24 Family Groups – 9:00 a.m.
*May 24 All School Chapel – 9:30 a.m.
*June 2 Last Day of School Y5-8 – ½ Day

Reminders & Announcements:

• This week, April 24-28, and probably some of the next will be devoted to the spring aalpa, (add.a.lingua language proficiency assessment.) This is a special project withe 3 parts: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational. We will be talking about where the sun and moon go at nighttime and what children on the other side of the world might be doing when we’re sleeping. We will learn a new song/poem and answer questions about it, talk with a friend about the sun and moon and children in China, and make a poster about what we learn. This is an important teacher tool, but isn’t reflected on the report card. The scores aren’t typically shared with parents, but if you’re interested, please let me know and I’m happy to send you the information! Questions? Please ask!
• John Ball Zoo: May 26th. we have our spring field trip to the zoo. All parents are welcome and we would love you to come join us. For you to be able to come, please fill this survey. 
• MAP TEST: Math: Thursday, May 11th. 9:00am-10:00am /// Reading: Tuesday, May 16th. 9:00 am.-10:00am.

Dear Families,

During the last weeks, we started to talk more about inventors and how they got inspired by nature to create new things. Students are creating new projects using recycled materials to create new things based on something of our nature. This has been so much fun for them and had enjoyed their previous time investigating more about inventions.

We also started to learn greater than and less than in math class. We are working on fun games about animals eating the greatest numbers.

This week he hopes on having chapel and learning more about Easter. We are also continuing to work on numbers that are greater than and less than others and counting by 10s with numbers that do not end in a zero.

As we have a short week and lots to look forward to with spring break at the end, I will not be writing another blog post next weekend. As always, please reach out if you have any questions!

Have a great weekend!

Maestra Solis

Important links:

WAAG The WAAG (Week-at-a-Glance) is your one-stop shop for what your child is learning and is updated each week with the big ideas we’ll be covering in each content area.

Hot Lunch Menu: April hot lunch menu

Important Dates:      

*April 19: All School Chapel – 9:00 a.m.

*April 20:  Prospective Family  Showcase: 12:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.

*April 22: Sports’ Physicals – City On A Hill Ministries

*April 28: Elementary Worship

*April 29: Totally Free Car Wash – Hosted by 7th Grade

Reminders & Announcements:

• Photos: