Week 18: Preschool Buddies

Reading to preschool buddies



From the class bloggers:

By: Riley and Olivia P.

    

This week we finished our novel, Among the Hidden. On Wednesday the 3 and 4 graders
 had their advent service about the promises of God. We learned about many things during
 the second quarter. We are all working hard on studying for our upcoming tests, along with
 our projects in Science, and Literature. Friday we had our very first junior high dance after 
school. Next week is the last week until Christmas break. We are all very excited!


From Mrs. R:

All about waiting....

In Devotions we have been using a Jesse tree, where each ornament reminds us about God's work in our lives and the wait for God's perfect timing - both in the sending of his Son as our savior and the wait for his return to take us to our heavenly home.  Even these big kids are still thrilled to light the candle on our advent wreath each morning.   I hope you and your family can take the time to read the Christmas story again from Matthew and Luke.  Reflect on the simplicity of the story as God's perfect plan unfolds for our salvation.  Note Zion's Christmas service times are on the calendar to the right as you plan your family worship time this holiday.

In Religion we have been looking at the beginning of Jesus's ministry and the call of the disciples, both the original 12 and how we are called to follow the Savior.  

On Monday we met our Preschool buddies and read aloud to Mrs. Linneman's class.

 In Literature we wrapped up our novel unit and students are working on unique projects to share their creative responses:  alternate endings, adding a new character, imagining the protagonist as an adult reflecting back, "selling" the novel in a commercial or researching population issues around the world.  The kids will share their projects with the class.

Social Studies saw our city planning teams debate the merits of urban growth and how to best meet the needs of special interest groups.   

Math has been all about fractions!  G-Math jumped into fraction operations and are using notes in a foldable to remember the differences.  T-Math is at the foundational concepts of divisibility, factors, and Greatest Common Factor. 

Art let us explore a great American artist, Norman Rockwell, and his gift of telling the story of everyday people in his paintings.  Students are using his inspiration to create their own "magazine" covers for the December issue of the Saturday Evening Post. 


CHRISTMAS PARTIES will be hosted by our room mom on FRIDAY.   I'll send more details out later in the week, but it will probably be enough food to count as lunch.  Remember, noon dismissal on Friday as we end the 2nd quarter and start our Christmas Break.  


 

Week 17: Christmas Service project, Winter Dance

December 2 - 6, 2019

By: Riley Mudd and Adam Lorenz          

    

Monday and Tuesday we practiced for our Advent service 
which we performed on Wednesday at 10:10 am and 7:00 pm. 
We have continued reading our class novel, “Among The Hidden”. 
In gym we started playing and learning about basketball. 
Thursday and Friday we were preparing for our Geography Bee
 later this month. Friday, we helped pack goody bags and create cards
 for the foster children. We did this for the organization the Birthday Party 
Project who sponsored our walk-a-thon this year.


From Mrs. R:

What a thrill it was to hear your kids share the message of our Savior
this week, through song, drama, and art!  Thank you for getting kids to the service
and all your help behind the scenes with learning songs/parts.  Together we are Called 
to Care and serve a Savior who loves us so much that he put aside heaven to
live with us, be our friend, and rescue us from sin.  I pray the service gave you a
new perspective on the Advent season and the special days ahead.

AR UPDATE!!!  Renaissance updated their website.  Parents need to re-register with Home Connect to get emails about your child's progress.  See the letter that came home today.

 

Snack station

Card station

Packing station

Coloring cards

Packing station

All of the gifts that we bought and raised

STUCO Dance  

Student Council sponsors a dance next Friday, Dec. 13 from 7:00-9:30 for Zion's junior high.  This is a social mixer in the Commons and a chance for kids to get together for a time of fellowship, snacks, and fun.  Students can be told this is not a "date night" nor should they "ask" anyone to go as a "date." Students who choose to attend hang out with lots of different people.  Mr. Debrick will talk with the sixth graders next week about how they are getting older and learning more about socializing in positive ways - face to face and not from behind a screen.  One of my favorite parts of his talk is when he lets kids know that just because they dance with someone, they are not "getting married."  We all have a good laugh, but it also helps kids understand they are learning how to act around each others as boys and girls.   Please take this opportunity to tell your child about your first dance and what your values and expectations are for them.  (and no - they don't HAVE to go - but it is a lot of fun!!)  The cost is $5 - exact change is helpful. 

Week 16: Midquarter and Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration.   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 are able to enjoy this holiday week with family and friends!  

 

Midquarter

 

Monday marked the midpoint of 2nd quarter.  It is a good time to talk with your child about the Friday papers that came home, check grades on Sycamore, and help them set goals for the 2nd half.  A great goal?  READ over the break!  Get those AR points before the last week of December!!!  And your kids are not too old to read with you.  You can model fluency and have great conversations over books.  Traveling?  Listen to audio books in the car.

 

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you have about your child's progress.  

 

 

ADVENT IS HERE !

5/6 ADVENT WORSHIP:  WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4 

 

The songs are learned, the dramas are getting polished, and practices are 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,

5^th and 6^th grade teachers

 

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

  

Arrival for the evening services: Students are to meet in the JH building (6^th grade in our homerooms, 5^th grade - upstairs) between 6:30-6:45 P.M.  (Pre-service musicians should check in with their teacher by 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 flash photography during the service.  We would be happy to stage pictures after the worship service ends. 

Our church technology team will be creating a video of the service for us.

Week 15: Novel Study begins

From the class bloggers:  Aaron and Lily

This week was a fun week! We started the week out with a Literature test.
 For memory we had A Shoot Shall Come Forth out of Jesse. A season to sing
 was on the next day and had a mid quarter memory quiz. Galatians and
 Ephesians and a song for advent of our choice. Our Cell project is due on Monday 
and our prezi for Social Studies is due Tuesday. Jv boys basketball has a game on 
Friday against Ellisville and varsity had an away game on Thursday. Advent practice 
is coming along great and our advent service is on Dec 6.This week we had a special
 birthday too! Mrs. Reminschneider had her birthday on Tuesday and the class had 
Culvers ice cream.This week was an exciting week. 

 Thanks to all for helping make my birthday special! Mrs. R. : )

Thanks to all for contributing the the Thanksgiving Food Drive. Our STUCO wrote a special chancel drama reminding us about how to be thankful in all circumstances. It was a wonderful reminder of all of God's blessings!
 

GMath simplifying expressions by combining like terms

Novel unit intro

STUCO skit at chapel

2nd Step - reading body language and facial expressions

 

 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.  It also coordinates with our next  S.S. unit on Urban Sprawl in which students are taking on the roles of local citizen activist groups to debate how best to plan a city for population growth.  Ask your child about it!

  P.S.  Need a gift idea?  This is the first of a series of seven.  Scholastic has the The Shadow Children series for $28. I'll place our last Scholastic order before Christmas on Saturday, Dec. 7.   Email me any gift order and I'll send them to the office for you to keep the secret!

Week 14: World Cup Stacking Day

From the class blogger: Aaron K.

This week was a good week. We started learning our Advent songs for memory and sang them 
in our second song rehearsal of this years Advent service. The kids in 6th grade that have an Advent
 parts are busy working on them. We had our first Snow Day of the year on Tuesday because of the
 icy roads. Also, we finished our background on our Christmas canvases. These canvases will go
 up in the halls on December 10. I hope everyone had a good week.

 

From Mrs. R.

What's happening?

Religion - We have begun our study of the New Testament!  Student's got into our textbooks with a look at the Kairos of God - his just right time for sending us a Savior.  A perfect tie into the coming Advent season.  Check out the Religion tab above for more details.

Math-G math is learning the LCM, Distributive Property, and the algebraic concept of combining like terms.  We will supplement the Pearson text to review fraction concepts before jumping into operations with fractions in chapter 4.

T math wraps up solving basic algebraic equations with a test Monday.  Remembering long division and where to place a decimal is important in solving those equations.   Next up will be the fraction foundations of understanding divisibility, factors, GCF, and LCM.

S.S.-

In Social Studies we held the "Great Lakes Debate" looking at the conditions of this ecosystem from the 1960's until present day.  Pollution, invasive species and habitat loss are all examples of Human-Environment Interaction.  

Students will be involved in research of these environmental issues around North America and present their findings with an online presentation tool called Prezi.

Lit.-  We wrapped up Short Stories by exploring literary conflict and will start a class novel unit next.

 

Art- Our Christmas paintings are off to a great start.  Students are enjoying learning to work with acrylics on a larger canvas.  Mark your calendar to stop by the JH Christmas Art display in the main school building Dec. 10th (after 9:00 a.m.) and 11th.