Newsletter 21
We had a good week and ended the week on a high note as we take our field trip to learn and review motions! It is so fun to see the Kindergarteners in action and learn through many, many movements. Next week we will be celebrating 100th Day of school on Monday! The children are also welcome to bring in little Valentine treats that they can go ahead and deliver in their friend’s boxes on Monday/Tuesday.
What did we learn and What will we learn?
Mandarin/Language Arts: We continue to practice recognizing words, making meaning as well as practicing reading strategy as we read together in class. There are some things in framework that I used to guide them through as they work, that I am starting to have the children try working on by themselves ? We are transitioning towards more independence in Mandarin tasks as well! We have been reviewing each choices in our daily 5, and have been trying to transitions independently. The children are getting really familiar with the each different components of framework that we introduced, practiced and assessed each week.
Bible: We shared 2 more miracles this week – Jesus calming the storm and Jesus catching fishes! We had a good conversation talking about how when Jesus calms the storms, it’s like when we have hard things going on in our life too. We have to have enough faith that God will take control 🙂 We also talk about how when Jesus tells His disciples to go and catch men, that means Jesus wants us to go to the world and tell many, many people His story and introduce them to Jesus! I love sharing Jesus’ miracles stories with the children because it reminds all of us how powerful and mighty He is. Next week we will talk about Jesus healing the lepers, the blind as well as feeding 5,000 if time permits.
Memory Verse/Fruit of the Spirit: We introduced the February Memory Verse and Fruit of the Spirit. We will dive more into them this month.
Math: We continue to practice our addition and subtraction, we continue to work on teen numbers and doing 10+some more to make them, as well as discovering partner groups. Please continue to find opportunities for your children to practice their number writing and ask them if the number looks right if it’s written backwards. You can also start practicing addition/subtraction concept with them through different opportunities at home (like counting plates on the table as you set up dinner, adding/subtracting with cereals/snacks before they eat, etc!) Have the children show you how they count with their fingers as well as through drawings!
Exploring God’s World (Sci/SocStu): We are practicing directions in Science and Social Studies. In Science we focus on different direction words like front, back, left, right, inside, outside, in front, behind, in between as well as in the middle. In Social Studies we are learning about North, South, East, and West. The children are making connections of the terms that they know in English, but now learning it in Mandarin. Our field trip to For the Kidz was so much fun as we explore motions out of class/school!
Writing: This week I introduced conferencing officially with the children. I model how conference looks like when we write, and tells them that every Thursday and Friday we would have a period of time when I would be focusing on meeting with each child to discuss and talk about their writing. The children are getting used to the idea of finding words in their books, on the wall or asking their friends. In the next weeks we will continue to focus on writing stories, and also learning the steps before officially publishing a story.
Play: The children continue to enjoy playing school with each other! They would reenact the whole day including morning work as well as going home routine. This week some children also write each other notes and deliver it into their friend’s valentine boxes. We also started some of our 100th Day Celebration activities and I can tell that the children are SO EXCITED!
Things to Note:
Spring Field Trip Sign Ups: Looking ahead, there are 2 field trips coming up – Garden Crossings is on March 24th, Friday (8:45-10:30AM), and Critter Barn/Timbertown is on April 20th, Thursday (8:45-3:15PM Whole Day!). We still have 2 spots for Garden Crossings Chaperones! Here is the Signup Genius Link for Chaperone sign up. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d4ea5a922a6fc1-spring1
Box Top: Feel free to send in box top anytime, and when you do, please label S.Sulayman on the bag and write down the total amount of box top collected. Thank you!
Book Bags: Please continue to practice reading with your children, as they need practice to read/recognize the Mandarin characters, and practice different reading strategies! Please make sure book bags (and all the books inside) are send back to school on Mondays – I start meeting with groups right away and need some books bag in order to rotate them in our different groups (since we have limited amount of books). Thank you so much for practicing reading at home with your children!
100th Day Snack Challenge/Project: We are celebrating 100th day of school this coming Monday! I encourage you and your child to participate in our challenge/project, and if you are, please send in the 100th Day snack on Monday, February 13th. Please make sure it is peanut/tree-nut free, also coconut (and coconut oil) free! I Since the children are laying the snacks out on a paper, please make sure that the 100th snacks are dry snacks.
Valentine Quarters: We are raising money for our sponsor child in the Philippines this month. The heart sheet attached is the sheet your child will be turning in at the end of February. For each “task/job” they completed, you are welcome to tape a quarter (or more) on the heart sheet, or collect it in a bag and cross the heart out. We will learn to love the others during this time of the year, as we earn money to support our friend Wayne at Philippines.
Classroom Valentines: We are also going to show our love to our neighbors by having classroom valentines. It is optional – if your child is thinking of sending valentines please make sure it is peanut/tree-nut free, also coconut (and coconut oil) free! If your child would like to send their friend a valentine they can do so any day next week until Thursday, and the box will be send home on Thursday.
Mandarin Homework&Flashcard: Homework and Flashcard this coming week are from U4W2. Please continue to help me in keeping your children accountable for following stroke order and word proportion on Homework, and recognizing characters for Flashcard. Thank you for all you do at home!
From the Immersion Program Coordinator – Do you know what the threefold goal of immersion education at ZCS is? We aim to advance the students’ academic achievement, cultural competency, and insist on high level performance in the target language. We are privileged to do this all within the Christian environment of ZCS. If anyone you know would like to tour our program to see immersion education in action, feel free to connect with Jodi Pierce, the Language Immersion Programs Coordinator at jpierce@zcs.org.
What’s Coming Up?
Specials: Monday – Spanish, Art, Tuesday – Music, Spanish, Wednesday – Library, Spanish. Thursday – Spanish.
Featured Friend: Abi 韩明慧 is featured on the week of February 13th. That will conclude our Featured Friend! It’s been a joy to get to know all of our friends and welcome families into the class 🙂
100th Day Celebration: February 13th. This is the day for 100th Snack Day Challenge!
Classroom Valentines: Feel free to send valentines in any time this coming week. I will send home the box on Thursday, February 16th.
President’s Day – NO SCHOOL: February 20th.
All-School Chapel: February 23rd, 9:10AM.
Quarters for Wayne DUE: February 28th.
Prayer Requests:
Please continue to keep our class in your prayers – In light of 100th days pray for continue growth and progress 🙂 I’ve seen so much growth and progress in the children this year, and I am so proud of them! Continue to pray for perseverance and patience, as well as the courage to take more independence in daily routines as well as in the learning process. In light of valentines day pray for loving, kind and safe friendships. Prayers that the children will continue to learn to love God, and the people around them.
谢谢！
－黎老师