Week 37: And you shall be my witnesses

 What does Christ's command to his disciples mean to a sixth grader?  (Mt. 28:19-20, Acts 1:8)  This is the topic we explored in our religion classes as we have looked at the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and early church. As the disciples were instructed to witness in first Jerusalem, then to the neighboring countryside, then to the ends of the earth, we Christians are encouraged to be witnesses where we are at: in our school, workplaces, and families then reach out, even to the ends of the earth.   Where do we get equipped for such a task?  In Word and Sacrament - with the fellowship of believers.  

In our last weeks, students had opportunities to learn of the witness of the early disciples.  We researched online devotion to share where students can stay connected to God's Word over the summer. Kids wrote and shared devotions based on contemporary Christian music. (Will be posted soon in their Google Classrooms).   If you have gotten out of the habit of worship or devotional time with God - this is an opportunity for you, too, to be enriched by the Holy Spirit.  I encourage you to be involved in summer worship both at home and in your travels.   Invite a friend or neighbor.  We, too, have the power of the Holy Spirit and can look for those opportunities for God to use us to spread his word!

 

                Zion's Summer Worship Schedule (June-Aug)
                 Saturday Worship:  5 PM
                 Sunday Worship:  8, 10:30AM

                 Monday Worship: 7:00 p.m. 

 

Dear families:

Thank you for all of your support and partnership this year.  I have appreciated your prayers, your notes of encouragement, your time working with your child on projects, and your child.  It has been a pleasure being a part of your lives this year.  May God bless your family this summer!     

      

                  In His Service,

                  Mrs. Riemenschneider  

 

 Our Memories video 

Playing coordinate plane battleship

Telling our "immigrant" stories

 

Field Day art:  Hands up for a Great Year

Tube Relay

STEM - straw building

The cup flip challenge

Hula Hoop relay

Stomp rockets!

 

Week 36:

With Mrs. Donner at a wedding, we had a chance to meet Miss Dubberke who subbed in her room Friday.  She will be my teaching partner in 6th grade and is already helping coach the Jr. Cougars girls basketball.  We welcome Miss D. to our staff.  Mrs. Donner will be our technology coordinator next year.

 Students were busy this week....

    Learning about the work of the Holy Spirit through Peter, Stephen, and Philip

     Attending the Geography Bee

     Creating our own video games  (Have your child show you Scratch projects)

     Exploring statistics

     Sharing Tuck Everlasting creative projects

    Tracing bodies to share about the different systems (respiratory, nervous, etc)

 Whew!  We are still learning!!

    

    

 

 

 Here's our exciting last week of school:

Mon. May 22 - wrap up classes, Yearbook signing, "Immigrant Day" in S.S.

Tues. May 23 - wrap up classes, PE - Field Day 

     **Wear athletic dress and sunscreen to school and bring a refillable water bottle.

Wed. May 24 - wrap up classes, PE, cleaning - Board Game afternoon

     **Bring an extra bag to take home supplies

Thurs. May 25  11:00 grades 5-8 closing chapel

                        class pizza party - We have enough class party funds to provide pizza and drinks for the                                                          lunch on the last day of school.

                        3p.m. dismissal:

 

Field Trip Photos Here is the link to our Google Photo album. Enjoy!

Week 35 Field Trip Fun

 

God blessed us with an overcast day an just a few sprinkles for our adventures.  Our first stop, the MO Veterans Memorial, was a powerful part of our day and the students got to see a beautiful way to honor our military.  We saw a video, learned the story of making of the wall as well as several people memorialized there, did a scavenger hunt in the museum, and used thewall-usa.com/ to find the name of a soldier, chaplain, and nurse on the wall and learn their story.    I highly recommend a trip there for your family.

Then we drove another 30 minutes to Altenburg where we toured Trinity Lutheran Church (c.1867) and the log cabin that had been the first seminary.  Our Lutheran historians were wonderful storytellers who made the history of the Saxon immigrants come to life for us.  How amazing to see God's care for his people despite many hardships.  Finally we headed to Saxon Memorial.  At the homestead, we picnicked, tried a few typical kids' chores, saw cabins, a blacksmith shop, carpentry shop and more.  The kids did a good job of listening and show respect for the history of the artifacts here.  Of course the kids' favorite was play time and social time on the bus.  Thanks to the parents who chaperoned and helped make the day run smoothly.  Thanks to Zion Parent Teacher League for sponsoring our comfy bus - we rode in style!

 A few photos are below.  We will great a Google Photo album for parents to add their images for all to see!

 Back in the classroom....

 I can't believe we only have 2 weeks left!  I so enjoy working with your children and I have seen them grow socially, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. We are packing in the last 9 days with lots of learning along with memory making moments and fun! 

OUR LAST UNITS:

Religion - Witness of the Apostles and us!  We are learning about Peter, Stephan, Phillip and Paul.  The kids will write devotions based on Contemporary Christian songs

English - Research papers came home this week.  Have your child show you Mrs. Donner's video comments on their writing.  Next:  using our writing/tech skills to create video games

Math - both classes are working with inequalities.  The way spring break and achievement test fell this quarter, we are only having a Super Quiz (double weighted) and not a "test" to wrap up our studies.  We will take the diagnostic one final time.

S.S. - Immigration and our connections to other countries

Sci. - Human Body

Art - Japanese Windball

Lit:  We are finishing our Tuck Everlasting novel with creative projects.  We round out the year reading Greek Myths

Important dates:

Tuesday May 16  Concerts : 6:30p.m. band/strings  7:30p.m. choirs

Friday, May 19  Last day to take AR tests

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL - COLD LUNCH (except Thursday - pizza party)

Mon. May 22 - wrap up classes

Tues. May 23 - wrap up classes - Field Day

Wed. May 24 - wrap up classes, cleaning - Board Game afternoon

Thurs. May 25  11:00 grades 5-8 closing chapel

                        class pizza party - We have enough class party funds to provide pizza and drinks for the                                                          lunch on the last day of school.

                        3p.m. dismissal: 

   

 

Do you know the Love and Logic of Chores ??? 4 minute read

More photos to come....

Week 34 Thank you!

 

I have been overwhelmed by the cards, notes, cookies, gift cards, candy, snacks, smiles, prayers, and other surprises this week.  I love each and every one of your kids so much!  It is a joy to teach them.  I am so blessed to be able to share the love of Christ with them and partner with you in both their learning and their faith walk.  I would not trade my calling as a teacher for anything in the world!  Thank you!

 

 

 Best Choice See your daily email from this week for the topics we discussed in Best Choice.  I pray these can be good discussion moments for you at home. 

 

From the Class Blogger BY Nicole May 5 2023

There was no school monday. Tuesday we had best choice. The teachers got a lot 

of snacks for teacher appreciation week. Wednesday we had chapel and Thursday 

we got to see the little kids in Joseph. Today we learned about windball art.

 

Field Trip Friday - We learned students will need a COLD LUNCH on Friday.  Teachers will provide snacks and water bottles.  Please remember to arrive in classrooms between 6:30-6:45 a.m.  Our return will be by 5:30 p.m.   

 

  

 

Mrs. Tracy talking about Future Goals and risky behaviors

Novel discussion time!

Go, go, go, go!!   Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat