1/14/11 Newsletter

Epiphany

Last week marked the celebration of the wisemen's visit to Bethlehem.  We call this season Epiphany.  An "epiphany" is an appearance or manifestation- a showing.  But the wonder that brought the wisemen to Bethlehem was more than the appearance of a star.  It was the manifestation of God Himself, born as a baby, taking on human flesh and with that, taking upon Himself our sins.   Can we think of Christmas without remembering Good Friday?  That wonder that led the wisemen and now leads us to worship Him and see the wonder of his love!

Jesus's Sermon on the Mount

In Religion, have been continuing our walk through the book of Matthew.  Jesus's Sermon on the Mount looks at some tough issues: murder, anger, adultery, sexuality, marriage, divorce, loving our enemies, fasting, worry, judging others and stewardship of God's blessings. 

This brings a wonderful opportunity to share values with your children at home by reflecting on Matthew 5-7 together, looking over our lessons, and/or relating our discussion to values portrayed in society that may be contrary to God's will.   Both God's Law and Gospel are a blessing to us.  His Law reminds us we need a Savior.  The truth of the Gospel reveals that Christ has fulfilled the Law in our place and won the victory of heaven for us! What a wonder thing to celebrate as we recognize the birth of our Savior. 

Some questions that may get your family talking:

"What ways do the media portray love that are different from God's plan?"

"How does our family solve problems when we get angry?"

"What kinds of prayers do we say together as a family?"

"Would you ever consider going on a fast or giving something up for a time?"

"How can we share God's blessings as a family - not just offering money, but time and talents too?"

You are One in 6 Billion!

Sixth graders have been studying human geography in Social Studies.  We are exploring China and the challenges of a large and rapidly growing population.  You might have guessed that identifying cause-effect relationships is an important skill.  Other skills include reading maps, tables, and graphs and drawing conclusions from data.  In this chapter, students are identifying factors that contribute to slowing population growth as well as meeting energy, food, and job needs for large populations.  We are using simulations to help model some of these concepts.

Next, our study will move to Japan as an model for exploring population density.  Our activities will introduce the issues related to high density and students will learn the effects densityhas on transportation, housing, land use, and even the health of people.  Through each country we study, students make global connections and look for ways God calls us to be good stewards of our resources and a blessing to those less fortunate than ourselves.

By the way - world population will roll over the 7 billion mark in late 2011!!