Week 11: Reformation and Red Ribbon Week

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 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 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 have been selected as appropriate for students and our study.)

We will wrap up our Reformation this week as we examine Luther's motto: Grace Alone,  Faith Alone, Scripture Alone.

Veteran's Day Service: 

Friday, November 9, 2018

8:15 - 8:45am in the church sanctuary

Zion Lutheran Junior High conducts a Veteran's Day service every year, and we are excited to extend an invitation for anyone to join us.  The Boy Scouts will conduct a flag ceremony, and following the service all Veterans are invited to stay for a group photo and accept our appreciation for their service.

Concordia Wind Symphony

Thank you, Concert Band, for helping make the symphony concert extra special last night!  I hope you also enjoyed seeing the larger symphony from Concordia Chicago, my alma mater!  I was never in symphony, but I played in their handbell choir. 

 

From the Class Bloggers:

 Grace and Maddie

     This week has been so much fun. It was great to see everyone all dressed up. Monday was wear your Red, White, and Blue. Tuesday was Sports Day. Go Cards! Wednesday was superhero day. Calling Drew's Avengers. Thursday was Crazy Hair Don't Care. Everyone looked CRAZY
Friday was Spirit Day. Show that Red, White, And Black Zion Spirit. Everyone had so much fun. Can't wait for Halloween next week. So excited :)

Crazy Hair Don't Care

Thanks for doing the door. Great job!

Don't Let Drugs Rob Your Life.

School Spirit Day

Thanks, Room moms for our Harvest Party Treats

TMath used Alge-tiles to model algebraic equations

Sharing our superhero offerings

 We are blessed to have the opportunity to share Jesus with those who need Him.  Today we collected 292 Superhero toys in memory of our friend, Drew Albritton.  The superhero items will be given to Friends of Kids with Cancer, a local organization, and will GO to kids in treatment for cancer.  Thank you Zion students for GOing and getting superhero toys that will share Jesus!




PHOTO BOOTH at the HARVEST PARTY

Week 10: Creation Semisaurus & Advent

Museum packed into one truck. Super cool!

Very cool fossils and gems.

They were SCARED!!

From the class bloggers

Grace and Dominic
This half week was great.  We had a English test on Wednesday about nouns. We got to go to the Creation Semisaurus on Tuesday and had a Creation speech on Wednesday. He talked about Dinosaurs in the Bible. Did you know there were graveyards for Dinosaur bones? God created Dinosaurs on the sixth day with all the other animals. A couple references in Job tell about Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs have hollow bones but they were strong.Were Dinosaurs on the ark? Yes, There were many different species of dinosaurs. The word dinosaur comes from 2 greek words meaning terrible, powerful, and wondrous and the second word meaning lizard. A 800 year old Buddhist temple in Cambodia has carvings in the wall of dinosaurs. This speech was so fascinating and we learned so much. This week has been great. Especially the 4 day weekend.


 Hark - The Students Lead Advent Worship!
On Wednesday, December 5 at 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m, grades 5 and 6 will lead the first Advent worship services at Zion Church.  This is a wonderful opportunity for our students as they help our congregation prepare for the Lord's coming.  Attendance is expected at both services, so please mark your calendars now and keep the date open.  Let me know of any conflicts right away as parts will be assigned soon. We are eager to begin preparations for leading worship as December will be here before we know it.

During the coming weeks, all students will learn songs selected to reinforce their message.  Students will also have opportunities to try various roles in the service, such as special drama, music, or “behind the scenes” parts.  Part of our Memory Work assignments will shift focus to learning songs and lines.  Students will also have an opportunity to share their special musical talents.  Any student who has had two years of music lessons or is in the Concert Band may offer to play for the services.  Selections must be:
     1)  sacred music related to the Advent or Christmas seasons of the church year
     2)  practiced and ready to audition the by the second week of November.

Week 9: End of 1st Quarter

We had a terrific field trip despite the dreary weather!  The students learned about local history and environmental clean up and played a fun "Secret Spy" scavenger hunt.  We learned about Renewable energy and had opportunities to try our hand generating energy through solar panals and wind.  We had TONS of fun bowling, too.  A special thanks our parent chaperones for taking their day to be with us.  See photos below.


End of the Quarter/Conferences
Today marked the end of the 1st quarter.  What a blessing to already see your children's growth in faith and knowledge.  It has been a challenging time of sickness again, and I appreciate all of the help with your child at home to help keep up with absent work. 

I look forward to visiting with many of you about your child's progress at our conference on Thursday.  If you have not signed up yet - just login to Sycamore and click on My Family - My PT Conference.  If you are unable to attend that day, I will share your child's presentation including my comments.  Please follow up with me if you have other concerns.  Per administration's direction, conference times will not be rescheduled.  Please take a few minutes to help me prepare for conferences by following the link below.

Pre-Conference Form


Current Units:

Literature:  Completed our unit on Fiction/Nonfiction with a look at author's perspective, tone, inferences and symbolism.  We read a character sketch of Mark Twain written by his 13-year-old daughter, Susy.  This will lead into writing our own character sketches as we have finished viewing  The Prince and the Pauper.  (The kids loved this old black and white film!)

S.S.   We explored thematic maps and using global information systems which involve layering thematic maps to find information about physical features, climate, vegetation and how they affect population and economic activity.  Focus: US and CANADA world region.

TMath -  Tested on decimals and decimal operations last week.  Using fact families to understand how to use inverse operations to solve for a variable.  We have LOTS of math vocabulary to learn!

GMath - Completing Ch. 2 on solving 1 step algebraic equations with an emphasis on how to take a word problem and write an equation that follows the story plot.  Up next: Number Theory: Divisibility, Primes and Composites

Other 2nd Quarter highlights...
Reformation Study in Religion
Earth Science