Week 34: Easter, Best Choice, and farewell Miss Davis

He is Risen!  Alleluia!
May you and your loved ones be blessed knowing the certainty of the resurrection and the forgiveness that Christ won for you on the cross!
 

IMPORTANT FIELD TRIP FORMS CAME HOME TODAY.
PLEASE SEE YOUR CHILD'S FRIDAY PAPERS

Form copies are also in the document tab - field trips.

BEST CHOICE

It has been a good week!  We thank Ms. Medronica and Ms. Ambria from Best Choice for being our guest educators this week.  It was great for our students to interact with young adults who care about them and were such great witnesses!

Good conversations can take place when comparing modern media such as "Big Bang Theory",  or "Friends" (which is back "in" with young people) or modern music, with "classic" family shows "I Love Lucy", "Full House", "Family Matters", and "Fresh Prince."  What a difference in the conflicts, consequences, and how people deal with problems. What a difference in how families are portrayed.  When we listen to music, watch shows, or play video games it can affect us emotionally, even when we don't agree with the message.  Not all media is bad, but we need to be careful about what we put into our minds and hearts.  God has called us as parents to help our children make wise decisions and set boundaries for them.  (under the websites tab, see CommonSenseMedia for help.  I LOVE this site!! Sign up for their weekly tips.)

Farewell and Godspeed

The class celebrated Miss Davis's last day with a bridal shower and gifts of "teacher goodies" and Target gift card.  We wish Miss Davis the best in her future and know the class she teaches next year will be very blessed by her Christian witness. 

Playing the Disney love song game

Creating our beautiful wedding attire

Bride or mummy??

We love you, Miss Davis!  God's Blessings!

Faith Family Field Day - May 17

On Friday, May 17th, students in grades 1-8 will participate in a “Faith Family Field Day”.  We will eat a picnic lunch, play games, and have one last fun time with our Faith Families!  Zion will be providing cheese pizza from Domino's, goldfish and water for the picnic lunch.  If your child does not want that lunch or is unable to eat that lunch due to allergies, please have your child bring a cold lunch on Friday, May 17th.  Your child will also be spending the afternoon out in the sun, so please apply sunscreen in the morning before your child comes to school.  This will also be a SPECIAL SPIRIT DAY your child may wear a Zion/LHS t-shirt and non uniform bottoms!  

 

Week 33:Good Friday/Happy Easter!

Jesus Completes Our Salvation

Our Religion unit is not merely the focal point of all of our studies of our Christian faith this year; it is also the focus of the entire Bible. And by God’s grace, it is also the focus of our entire lives! Our studies in math and science and social studies are essential for daily life; but it is in our study of Scripture that all these blessings find their true purpose and meaning through life in Christ. God blesses us with intelligence and abilities and talents, and He guides us to use these for our personal welfare—it is true. But He also desires that we use these blessings for the good of others and for the glory of the Lord.

Our focus in this unit has been on Holy Week and the events surrounding it. Here, we see God’s covenant promises coming together and being fulfilled in Christ Jesus. We cannot save ourselves; only Jesus could do that for us, because He is the sinless Son of God. Amazingly, He is also our substitute! He gives His victory to us!

Jesus suffered all things, died on the cross, and arose at Easter to complete our salvation. It is finished! He offers us the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life through His loving grace and mercy. May the comfort and assurance of God’s grace be the very center of your family life together!

We culminated our look at Good Friday this week with a study by Lutheran pastor and archaeologist, Rev. Paul Maier in The Week that Changed the World.    If you are interested in borrowing the DVD, please let me know.

May God bless your family time this EASTER SEASON with the assurance from Jesus that...

In my Father's house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where i am, you may be also.  John 14:2-3

Mrs. Riemenschneider







Poetry SLAM!!   We finished our poetry unit with Miss Davis this week with a poetry slam (this is the modern way to say poetry reading - complete with hot chocolate and snacks!)  The students were able to research a poet and look for all of the elements we had studied in his or her work.  It was neat to see the variety of poetry chosen.  (Sorry - I forgot my camera!)

Our next Literature unit is a novel study on the book  Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. We will be doing a lot of journal writing as well as meeting in book clubs as we read this book. We are exploring the literary elements of foreshadowing, character development, motive, and universal theme as the characters ponder the benefits and downfalls of living forever.  It is exciting to look at the novel through the eyes of faith as we will discuss God's original design in Eden as well as our eternal life in the heavenly home He has prepared for us.  Students are discovering the blessings God gives us in this life through the many stages we live and even more blessings to be received in eternity with Him!  We will culminate the novel with creative projects.


 
Midquarter:We are at the midquarter.  This is a good time to have your child check Sycamore for their grades and help them set goals to finish this year.  And don't forget...AR is 1/3 of the Literature grade. These next weeks will fly by so be sure that your child stays on top of their reading.
 
Best Choicebegins on Tuesday, April 23 at 8:15 a.m.  Students will not want to miss the first lesson! Speaking of which, I sent home a lesson overview with the students for you to preview with them. It gives you a sense of what we will discuss in class next week in case you want to talk to them personally as well. Best Choice does a fantastic job of discussing these topics with middle school students.   Teachers will also email you daily with an overview of our discussions.

Farewell to Miss Davis:
Our class will have a small Thank you and Congratulations celebration for Miss Davis at the end of the day on Friday, April 26.   Miss Davis is graduating from Concordia, Nebraska and getting married in June.  Our room moms have planned goodies and a small gift from the class.  If you wish to add to our gift, we are collecting "teacher" items or $$ towards a gift card.  Please bring them in to me by Wednesday. 

Mark Your Calendar:
Student Council is sponsoring the Junior High Spring Dance in a month, May 17th, 7:00-9:30. The admission cost will be $5. Our theme will be a pajama party! We encourage you to come dressed in your pajamas (appropriate style, please) and bring a stuffed animal friend and/or pillow.

Week 32: Holy Week

I encourage you to worship with your children on these special days ahead.   Sunday, we see Jesus declaring himself not only our King, but the promised Messiah.  On Maundy Thursday we see the remarkable transformation of the Passover into Holy Communion - Jesus himself became our saving Lamb of sacrifice.  Honor the Good Friday on which Christ died for our sins and the temple veil was torn in two - the separation that sin had caused between us and our Lord is no more.  And finally the glorious day of resurrection, EASTER, when we celebrate our victory in Christ over sin, death and the devil.  There is nothing we could ever do to deserve this love.  What a wonderful opportunity we have before us to learn and grow in our faith - to praise and thank God for this glorious gift!!, 

To see a clip from The Gospel of Matthew which we are using in Religion, click this link.  Palm Sunday begins at about 5 min 20 sec.

Church Services for Passion Week…Zion’s services for Passion Week leading up to Easter continue this week.  If you don’t have a church home, Zion would love to welcome you to experience Jesus’ journey to the cross with us!  We have services all week. :) 

Palm Sunday 4/14  8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Living Last Supper Thursday 4/18 at 3:30 and 7pm.
Good Friday  Friday 4/19 at 3:30 and 7pm.
Easter  Sunday 4/21  at 8, 9:30 and 11am. 

From the class bloggers:  Dominic and Carsyn

This week we had lots of achievement tests. The good thing about the tests is we miss some subjects so that means we don't have a lot of homework. We are also finishing up our English paper that is due April 16. This week Ms. Davis has been teaching full days and she is doing great! In literature we had a test this Friday and we have been making our own creative poems including the concrete poem where we make our poem look like what we are writing about.        

What's happening in 6th Grade?

Religion - Passion Week

Lit - Poetry!!   Celebrate National Poetry Month and pop in to see our concrete poems in the hall.

Eng - Research Paper Wrap up!!

S.S. - Wrapping up Europe, the EU, and political cartoons.  Next up: Latin America!!

Sci. - more about Cells!! 

Math - T- Ratios/Fractions/Decimals/Percents
           G -Geometry - 2D and 3D shapes, surface area and volume

Art - The Cross  and Japanese Wind balls

Miss Davis teaching Geometry to G-Math

Our Concrete Poems:

Week 31: Upcoming Events: May trip, Best Choice, Ach. Tests

SAVE THE DATE - Lutheran Heritage Field Trip

Friday, May 10, will be our big class trip for the year.   This is an extended day, arriving at 6:40 a.m. and returning at 5:30 p.m. that evening.  Please mark your calendars accordingly.  We will be studying immigration and the history of Lutherans in our area.  Our day will include a trip to the Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum and Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna, MO.  This is a  colonial homestead where students will learn about the first Lutheran settlers and have an opportunity for trying chores such as gardening, laundry, and grinding corn.  ADDED THIS YEAR is the Missouri National Veteran's Memorial. This is a newly built FULL scale replica of the D.C. Vietnam Memorial that will have it's official grand opening the week after our trip.


Thanks to a generous sponsorship from the PTL, we are able to take a charter bus for the trip and have a few extra seats for more parents to join us.  I already have several parent chaperone volunteers who have not been able to join us on other field trips this year (Niko's mom, Quentin's mom, and one of our pastors).  Further details will come home as the date approaches.

Best Choice in April

After Easter, we welcome an educator from Best Choice to lead our Religion classes.  Through this program, students will be involved in active discussions about setting goals, healthy relationships, puberty, and making God-pleasing decisions. The Best Choice program is designed to encourage children to make lifelong commitments to building relationships, making informed choices, choosing abstinence before marriage, and avoiding risky behaviors.

 Ms. Preusser and I will participate in the classes and continue follow up discussions.  A permission slip is coming home TODAY to sign and return for your child to participate.  To help you prepare for discussions with your child at home, here are the topics Best Choice has used in the past.   I will update you daily with our discussions.  Classes start Tuesday, April 23 (first day back from Easter break).  I pray that you use these as opportunities to open the dialogue with your child and share your values with them.  Research shows parents are still the number one influence on their teens!  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Tuesday: Goals, Risky Behaviors, and Decision Making

Wednesday:  Respect, Friendships, and Healthy vs. Unhealthy Relationships, 

Refusal Skills
Thursday: Male/Female Puberty
Friday: Media Influence, Emotional Consequences, Boundaries, and Avoidance Techniques 

And please remember - Achievement Testing is this week, April 8-12.   Zion uses the Iowa Basic Skills tests and will be testing through their online system.  I talked with the students about how this is one way Zion sees how well we are teaching them as well as highlighting their strengths and pinpointing areas of growth.  Encourage your child to get good rest and eat breakfast each day!  We will have a normal fine arts schedule this week.

Simulating travel and trade in Europe

Before the EU - passport checks

Learning the currency exchange

How do you say "Hello" is Spanish?

After the formation of the European Union

Shopping with the Euro

Travel and trade becomes much easier