In devotions we are making Advent Chains and on each chain there is a Bible verse and we have to answer how does it relate to Christmas.

The best part of my week was getting to eat lunch with Alyssa today.

Good Morning to you all!

It has been a good, albeit busy week for my class. In addition to the normal schedule, we have had Community Crews for Wednesday’s lunch, and Family Groups Thursday. The theme for the Family Groups was “Christmas Fun”. We made Christmas chains, listened to carols, played a game or two, and learned the origin of a few Christmas traditions. All in all, it was a very enjoyable time. On Tuesday, the class went down and spent some time with their “Preschool Buddies”, and made countdown chains for the days leading up to Christmas. I have included some pictures below. Special thanks to Lisa Klamer’s preschool class for having us come down! Today, the kids were entertained at lunch by the 5th grade band playing Christmas carols. They did an incredible job, very impressive!

Classes have been going smoothly as I have continued with the fractions in math(unit test prior to Christmas break), properties of matter in science(including an interesting lab comparing the properties of various substances). We finished up our unit on the Last Days of Judah in the Bible class, and the kids did very well on their assessments. We are now beginning the unit, Judah’s Return.  In Language Arts, the papers are finished, and the class is doing a variety of activities to highlight the Christmas season. Your son or daughter should have come home with a Christmas ornament that they made with Mrs. Keyser. They also were entertained by Mrs. Keyser reading the Max Lucado book, “The Tale of the Three Trees”. Mr. Hutt has been finishing up with the Mid-Atlantic colonies in social studies.

A couple final reminders for you to note. First, we are still looking to collect new hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves for the Fishers of Men ministries before next Thursday, when we walk there to present them.  Please try to include this in your shopping plans this weekend, so we have a nice turnout next week. Secondly, Liz Culver and Holly Heres are still looking for people to use Signup Genius for items for the Christmas party next Friday. During the afternoon, the kids will be watching the movie, “The Nativity Story”, and it comes with a PG rating. I have included a copy of the permission slip below, and will send home a hard copy for you to sign and return. There is a link at the end of the paragraph for you to click on and see why it carries a PG rating.

The Nativity Story

Dear Parents of 5th Graders ~

After the New Year the 5th grade will be kicking off our Bible unit on the birth of Jesus. A number of years ago a movie, the Nativity Story, was suggested to us as a fairly accurate portrayal of the Christmas story. This real-life portrayal of what it might have been like that first Christmas is well done and is quite true to the Biblical account (with some exceptions and differences which we will discuss in Bible class). We do need your permission to let your child watch this movie because it is rated PG. Below is a permission slip to watch The Nativity Story next week Friday. Also, here is a link to a review of The Nativity Story that Focus on the Family put out when The Nativity Story originally was in theaters ~ https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/nativitystory

Sincerely,
Mr. Hutt
Mr. Keyser
Mrs. Nunez
Mrs. Rodriguez
Mr. Zhang

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I _________________________ give my child _______________________ permission to watch The Nativity Story with the whole 5th grade class on Friday, December 21, 2018.Thanks so much, and have a Blessed weekend! Paul Keyser

PS I am truly starting to feel very much at home here at ZCS! Your kids are the main reason I am feeling this way! Thanks for raising a great group of kids!!