11/21 Week 17 Cup Stacking and Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you all for the birthday treats and goodies.  The kids really made my day!  Here

 are a few highlights of the week:

Our STUCO led a wonderful chapel reminding us to give thanks for the many talents and

 gifts God gives us.  Ask your kids about the “game show.”    We gathered car loads of food 

and STUCO delivered them to the seminary.  We gave turkeys with all the fixings to families 

that stayed on campus for the holiday and stocked their food pantry!  Thank you for your

 generosity!

Students are studying North America in S.S. and have brought home a “Family Roots” 

 project that I hope sparks some interest in learning family history.  The class was instructed

 that not all sections need to be complete as family dynamics and history vary.  They will

 use it to begin a peek into your family’s story and adapt as needed.  They will turn this in 

before Christmas.

Christmas art is also in full swing.   6th graders will display their nativities in the Jr. High 

Christmas Art display in the church basement on Dec. 11.  Watch for more info.

And don’t forget, our Advent service is the Wednesday we return, Dec. 3 at 10:00 a.m.

 and 7 p.m.  Our Religion lessons tie in nicely as we shift  to our textbook and look at the 

time between the Old and New Testament in preparation for the Messiah.  We will get to

 Jesus’ birth next week and follow his life over the next few months. 

 

  

God's blessings to you and your families this Thanksgiving time. I am so thankful 

for each one of your children in my class this year. What a blessing they are to me! 

 Thank you, parents, as well, for the support you give to your children and to me.

 I hope you enjoyed the holiday week with family and friends!  

 

Trivia for students:  Name the artist of this famous Thanksgiving painting: 

 

 

Modpodge our Nativities

Using the Chomp Saw

Acting in Lit.

Win at Social - finding our breakout huddles

Discussing FOMO

World Cup Stacking Day

 

5th and 6th Grade Advent Services

The songs are learned, dramas getting polished, and practices winding down; 

preparations are nearly complete for our Advent Services on Wednesday.   It is time

 now for families to join in the preparation! The Advent season prepares us for the 

coming of Christ.  Please plan to join us for one of the services to hear the message

 of how God works in our hearts to prepare us for his coming.  Details about our 

worship services are below.  Blessings to your families this Advent season!

Thank you,

5th and 6th grade teachers

ADVENT WORSHIP:  WEDNESDAY, December 3, 

Times:  10:00 A.M. (chapel with Zion students) and 7:00 P.M.     

  Family and congregation members are welcome to attend either service.

Arrival for the evening services: between 6:30 - 6:40. 

• 6th graders meet in classrooms in JH 

• 5th graders meet in church basement  

 (Pre-service musicians should check in with their teacher at 6:30 and then proceed

 to the church)

Dress:  Students should dress nicely for both the morning service and the evening 

service. 

Morning – standardized school dress (or costume)

Evening – standardized school dress or “Sunday best” -  avoid jeans and 

      clothing with writing (unless costume)

After the evening service:  Parents may pick up students from the Welcome Center 

in church.

** Reminder: As students are leading worship, please refrain from photography during

 the service.  We would be happy to stage pictures after the worship service ends. 

11/15 Week 11 Winter Dance and More!

 

11/14/25   Nora W  and Evan Sweet

This week we started our Christmas project. We

 also had our veteran service. We also started

 to finish our advent service. Also coming up is thanksgiving

 break and the thanksgiving food drive.

 This week we also finished our novel.

 

Dear Parents,

Second quarter is in full swing!  Students are working hard to learn our songs and

 drama for Advent.  We are eager to lead you in worship on Dec. 3.  In S.S., we have

 been busy studying physical features in North America and creating “postcards” from 

key features.  Math sees us learning the Order of Operations (see the video posted on

 the Daily Assignment Sheet linked below if you need a refresher.)  This will lead into

  writing and solving algebraic expressions which the G class started this week.   And 

finally, we wrapped up our study of the Reformation in Religion.   Enjoy hearing our 

modern take on Luther’s 95 Theses - who would have used social media today instead 

of the church door bulletin board.  

6R Reformation Padlet

WINTER DANCE News from Student Council

Hi everyone!  Our Winter Dance is Friday, December 5th from 7:00-9:30 PM. The doors 

will open at 6:50 and students will have to pay a $5 entry fee but have a chance to win a 

door prize! Once students arrive, we ask that they do not leave early that night. The theme 

is Polar Express and we encourage everyone to wear their coziest Christmas/Holiday

 jammies! Snack and drinks are provided so no outside food or drink is allowed. This 

event is for Zion students only. See you there!

Blog link : 

Daily Assignment sheet:

When illness hits!

It's that time of year!   It's no fun being sick and especially no fun trying to do school from home. 

* Please email me and Mrs. Holtz if your child is ill and indicate whether you are able to pick up HW

*Books and materials are available at 3:00 in the school office foyer

*The Daily Assignment Sheet is where to find assignments  (link above and in GC- homeroom).  Note tabs at the bottom for the correct week and look for links to lesson slides, etc

 

If a child is sick multiple days,  I encourage them to work one day at a time (vertically) down the assignment doc to stay organized and complete one day's work at a time.  Not all assignments are digital, so not all are not posted on an individual student's Google Classroom homepage.  Remind your child to email teachers questions.    Here is more from our Family Handbook:

In general, when students return they should have prepared as a minimum the lessons due the first day of their absence. All lessons should be made up within the same number of school days as were missed, up to three school days. In special circumstances a parent may request a teacher or administrator to consider an extension. Prior to a planned absence, a parent may request advance assignments with the understanding that these assignments may not yet be available. Assignments that have been provided in advance are due on the day the student returns; otherwise the assignment is subject to late-work penalties.

11/7 Science Fun!

 As you read, enjoy listening to Zion Band from 10/17

 And the Performance Strings from 10/24

 

 

From the class blogger: 11/7/25  Nora W. -

 

This week we had the rocket launch! Out of all of Zion's history 

we saw the most clever rocket go the highest. We had some really

 cool art using tessellations.  Also all sixth graders and fifth 

graders are practicing advent. And on this friday we are doing 

a new project in literature and my partner is Olive. And our 

topic is ATH. and we are doing a poster for it.

Thank you so much for listening!! 

 

Literature: novel study:

WHAT IF...

...the government could force you to sell land?

...we had laws on what you could grow on your farm? or that said NO PETS ALLOWED?

...your family was limited to one or two children?

Would you exist?

I hope talks about our Literature novel have popped up in your family conversations.  Students began the novel, Among the Hidden by Margaret Petersen Haddix, and I have to put a STOP sign in the novels to get them to put it down.  Through the novel we discuss literary elements like characterization and conflict, but also propaganda, morals, and faith.  I hope this introduction to dystopian fiction is engaging for your child.  (The series makes a great Christmas gift!)  Shadow Children Series

 

Dear parents,   

We loved to see some of you at the PTL Education night.  If you missed it, we will try to share

 a parenting tidbit each week this month.  Also, Amy Maas highly recommended reading/listening

 to The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt, which shows impacts of both technology and

 “overparenting” our children.  Insightful!

Middle School Life Skills: - helping launch your child into being an independent adult

• Staying home alone for brief periods of time

• Cleaning bathroom (bedroom, vacuuming, dusting can be learned at younger ages)

• Doing laundry/changing bedding independently

• Cook simple meals

• Mow lawn/shovel driveway

• Look after younger siblings/ neighbor children

• Do homework independently

News and reminders:

**Veteren’s Day service is Tuesday 11/11 at 8:00.  Strings and the music appreciation class will play.

**Thanksgiving Food Drive for Concordia Seminary is WEDNESDAY.  6th grade is asked to bring 

other proteins (peanut butter, almond butter, canned meats)  to help stock the shelves of their food pantry. 

 The Seminary is where our church body trains future pastors, many of whom have families.  Monetary

 offerings will help pay for turkeys.

**Advent practices have started!  Our drama is digging into the Old Testament to look at how Biblical 

figures foreshadowed who Christ would be.  If your child is auditioning for an instrumental piece, 

please be practiced and have your instrument and music here on THURSDAY 11/13. Remember our

 services are on Dec. 3 at 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.  Actors should be practicing their lines. 

No School Nov. 24-28 for Thanksgiving Break!

**Check out the photos from our “living cell” Mrs. Arens created with the Science class.  What a great 

way to learn the functions of the organelles!  Other units of study:  Algebraic Expressions in Math, 

North American geography in S.S., and the inspiration of Normal Rockwell in art - and a look at the 

human figure as Bubble People!

 

SCIENCE FUN!

 Mighty Mitochondria

                               The Organelle Centrioles

The Cell as a Whole

Gavin                                                 The Nucleus Working             as the                                                                  Together Chloroplast 

10/25 2nd Q and Reformation

 

Parent/Teacher Conferences are just around the corner and we can’t wait to meet 

with you next Thursday, 10/30.  See below for your scheduled time. Let me know

 if you need a change.

Thank you for your Walkathon donations! Because of you, we are able to donate a 

record-breaking $6,918.50 to Bethlehem Lutheran Church. That money will help

 so many people. 

Attached are pictures from our science lab last week.  The students went “fishing”

 for beans and learned about the importance of sustainability rules.  Ask what happened

 to their fish supply each time there were new developments in fishing? 

 Here are a few reminders and updates:

No School: Thursday, 10/30 (conferences) and Friday 10/31 (Fall Break)

Tuesday 11/11  Veteran’s Day Chapel

 We  encourage you to share an invitation to family and friends who are veterans 

to attend worship with us this day at 8:10-8:45 in the church sanctuary.  

Wed. 12/3  ADVENT SERVICE led by 5th and 6th graders: 10am and 7pm

 

From the class bloggers:

20-25 week

Avery- This week we are learning more about 

Martin Luther. We also took a science test on 

Thursday. Additionally we wrote a fictional 

newspaper article about The King of Mazy May. 

We have a project called “our Global Invaders” 

which is due on Monday. In art we have been 

learning about tessellations with our art project. 

Another thing to note is that TJs pizza fundraiser is coming up soon. 

Rachel- This week we had alot of these different tests and had 

no vocab this week in english. We started a new book called 

“Among The Hidden” and it's really good except we have 

homework on the book. The characters are Mother, Dad, 

Matthow, Mark, and Loke so far.

 

Sending Cross Country to nationals!

Soccer City Champs!!

Building cubes and prisms in math

Our new unit studies surface area

Happy Reformation!  Blessings to the Confirmands!

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted 95 theses on the local church "bulletin board" calling people to debate the truth of the Bible and how the church had strayed from that truth.  Our class is learning about Luther's life as well as the amazing discovery he made:  WE ARE SAVED BY GOD'S GRACE  - not by good works or money or penance.  This led to a reform of the church and the creation of Protestant churches around the world.

We are reading a biography of Luther written as if Luther visited

sixth  graders at a Lutheran school and ate lunch with them for the week, modeled after the Table Talks Luther actually had with students for much of his life.  We are also using clips from the Luther Movie made in 2003.  Though there are some fictional details added, the heart of the movie shows Luther's struggle to understand God and share with the world about God's love.  (Note if you watch- the movie is PG-13 for some violence and language.  Sections for class have been selected as appropriate for students and our study.)  We will make modern "social media" videos for students to share Bible verse that refutes the false teaching of Luther's day.

This weekend our eighth graders at Zion Church are being confirmed in their faith at the 10:30 worship service. Blessings as they confirm the faith they have received by God's GRACE!

 

Enjoy a few photos from our Red Ribbon Week!

Character Day for RRW

Travel day!  These are the beach lovers....

Explorers!

Destination T-shirt crew!

Fun in the sun!  We had a great Red Ribbon Week  Thank you STUCO!!