ADVENT WORSHIP:  WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4   

Students have enjoyed some lighter work loads as we have been practicing music, narration, and drama to lead worship next week.

 Times:  Wed. 12/4 -  10:00 A.M. (chapel with Zion students) and 7:00 P.M.    

Arrival for the evening services: Students are to meet in their classrooms no later than 6:45 P.M.

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. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 God's blessings to you and your families this Thanksgiving. 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. Enjoy the holiday weekend with family and friends!  

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

How was School Today?

If you ask this questions, you likely get a one word answer: "Fine" or "OK".  Help your child talk about their day by knowing a little about what we're learning:
 
Religion:  We are studying the tabernacle and God' leadership of the Israelites.  It was wonderful to connect the term "tabernacle" which means "dwell with us"  to Jesus - Immanuel - God with us!  It is pretty cool to look at our leadership in worship for our Advent service as we see how the Israelites worshiped.  Together we thought of these things to honor the Sabbath and help make worship a meaningful experience.

    *pick out clothes the night before
    *get a good nights sleep and eat breakfast
    *help get a sibling ready for church
    *pray
   *read the bulletin/wall prayer
    *participate: sing, read the liturgies
   *listen
   *turn off electronics
   *look at art, paraments, symbols and think about what they mean
  *think about why a hymn fits with the Bible verses or message
   *take the bulletin home and read the Bible verses for the next week


Social Studies:  Great Lakes Ecosystems and Urban Sprawl - After finishing our Great Lakes study, students presented views on pollution, invasive species and habitat loss in an online Prezi - a more advanced form of powerpoint, with the capability of inserting photos, graphs, and video.  Now we shift focus to looking at the problem of Urban Sprawl and investigate city planning.  Students are taking on the role of city planners as we investigate 3 North American cities. 

English:  Verbs, Verbs, Verbs!  Did you know there are 6 verb tenses? past, present, future, past perfect, present perfect, and future perfect tenses?  Confused?  Us too!  But as the meanings come clear - we are seeing just how specific communication can be.  Imagine coming from a foreign country where verbs do not change for time or in subject/verb agreement!!

Literature:  Our second half of the Short Story unit has us explore theme - a message about life conveyed in a story.  We are currently reading a Jack London story set in the Alaskan Gold Rush and will be writing newspapers to reflect the historical setting and review the plot.

T-Math - Understanding variables and one step equations. We will test after Thanksgiving on the second half of chapter 2.  This Thursday, students registered for the online resources our text has to offer and had a chance to view a few homework tutorial videos.  They located the online version of the text, workbook, and practice worksheets as well.  Great resources available for extra practice!!

Quilling Art

Here are a few examples of our fall art project:

Thank You Mrs. K!

On Tuesday, Callie's mom spent some time discussing communication skills with our class.  Students learned about the dangers of a TRIANGLE of information rather than addressing a concern to the person directly involved.  Through role play and discussions, students looked at sharing feelings ,what good and bad communication looks like, and how to honor God in our relationships.  Did you know that only 40% of communication is through our words?  Eye-contact, facial expressions, and body language say so much!  Thanks, Mrs. K., for helping the students take a step back and put some thought into our words and relationships!

 

 Student Blogs

Students now have several posts on our blogs.  Use the tab above to locate Kidblog and read our latest post about Veteran's Day.  (Some students have edits to make before their blog will be posted).  Kids love to see that others have been reading their writing.  Please comment on one of the posts your child as written.  Think of sending this link on to grandparents or other family and friends.

 

Typhoon in the Philippines

The Lutheran Church is responding to the Nov. 8 typhoon that struck the Philippines.  Over 10,000 people are feared dead and 3 congregations of our partner Lutheran churches have been affected.  Check the following blog link for further information and an opportunity to donate.  Keep the citizens in your prayers!   LCMS response - Philippines

Book Orders

Book orders came home today.  Orders are do either online (class code GV2FP) or by sending in a check.  The online selection is much broader than the fliers - just search for a book you are interested in ordering.  There will be one more order before Christmas.   Email me if you'd like the order set aside for a gift.  I can leave it for you in the office.  What a great way to encourage your child's reading!

 

 World Cup Stacking Day

 

 

Friendships and Relationships

 On Tuesday, students saw a wonderful production of "The New Kid" by Metro Theatre.  An immigrant to America faces the challenges of making new friends when language and culture are barriers. Students got to look at how to develop a friendship along with how to stand up for oneself in the face of discrimination and bully behavior.    (Ask your child about the creative way the playwright depicted the language differences.)

In Literature this week, we read "The Southpaw" about a fight between friends where the kids never really talked through the feelings that were bothering them. Rather they got angry and tried to get back at each other.   (Ask your child about the clever way the story was written and how they made inferences to figure out the plot.)  We discussed how God created our feelings and how to practice listening by "echoing" feelings and making "I" statements to get to the heart of a conflict between friends. 

With these topics fresh, I have invited Callie K's mom to talk to the class next Tuesday.  Mrs. K. has a background in social work and will be teaching about communications skills students can learn to use in their relationships as brothers and sisters in Christ.  We look forward to her visit.

 

Veteran's Day Remembrance

   Monday, Nov. 11  Junior High classes will gather in the church for a special Veteran's Day chapel.  Families and Veterans are invited to join us from 8:10 - 8:45 a.m.

Art in Action

Students are doing a project called Quilling

Quilling takes small paper strips and manipulates them into a variety of shapes and desins.

Happy Reformation!

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 has been 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.  As we wrap up our Reformation study next week we will examine Luther's motto: Grace Alone,  Faith Alone, Scripture Alone. As part of our study, we used clips from the Luther Movie made in 2013.  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 were selected as appropriate for students and our study.)

What's Going On?

T - Math -  Focusing on understanding word problems and how variables can represent unknowns.
S.S. - the Great Lakes Ecosystem and how humans affect the environment
Eng. - Verbs, Verbs, Verbs!  Watch for a creative look at the Thanksgiving Turkey working with verb tenses.
Lit - Analyzing short stories, focusing on characterization and motives.
Art - Spatial concepts:  Symmetry and Positive/Negative space.  Did you see our Perspective Rooms?  They will be on display for another week in the JH entry.

Red Ribbon Week

Students have enjoyed celebrating the healthy bodies God has given us and learning more about preventing drug abuse.  Highlights of the week included special morning announcements by Student Council and planning and decorating our door.  Student recalled a lot from their 5th grade D.A.R.E. experience, yet were still amazed by some of the facts presented by our STUCO.  Kudos for a job well done!

Mustache Day

Superhero Day