Blog Post for Week of February 25, 2013

2/25-3/5, 2013

Holland State Park






Dear Parents,

What beautiful sunshine we enjoyed today! With all of the snow we’ve been experiencing these past few weeks, it’s so nice to be able to enjoy the sun!  I am looking forward to a full, five-day week this week!  

Next week there is no school next week Monday, March 4, as teachers prepare to meet Monday afternoon and evening with parents for conferences.  We will also have conferences on Tuesday, March 5, both in the afternoon and evening.  If you have not yet signed up for a conference time, please sign up by Wednesday, February 27.   It is truly a blessing to meet together and discuss your child’s progress and future goals.  If you have not yet returned the yellow parent questionnaire, please do so soon, as your feedback will help us address specific areas during our conference time.

Because of conferences next week, I will be sending home next week Tuesday's home day lesson materials (for 3/5) on Thursday(2/28) this week.  On Wednesday, March 6, I will send home material for the rest of the week.  This week's blog post details lessons through next week Tuesday.

I want to thank you for your continued support for the School/Home Collaborative program, and for attending one of the information meetings that were held during the past two weeks.  You should have received an email last week, which provided an overview of the information shared.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, as we continue to share about upcoming developments!

This week we will focus on prayer during our Bible lessons, as well as during devotions.  I look forward to a greater focus on the Lenten season too, as next week we will begin reflecting on Christ’s triumphal entrance, and the events leading up to His death and resurrection.  As we draw closer to Easter, it is my prayer that each student will see Jesus more personally as his/her Savior and Lord.  We will begin sharing “Resurrection Eggs” next week.

We are looking forward to enjoying time with family groups on Monday. We will be spending time sledding with our family group friends and enjoying lunch together. Please remember to send along snow pants and warm winter wear for your child.  Also, if you have not ordered the ZPS hot lunch sandwich choices for Monday, your child will need to bring a lunch from home.   Some of our students have not yet been to their family group, so we will be sure to help them feel connected with others in their group!  

Reading Assessments:  I have been working to assess students during our school days, but would appreciate having the opportunity to assess some students on Tuesday or Friday this week.  If you would be willing to bring your child to school for about 20-30 minutes on Tuesday or Friday, perhaps before or after a “special”, please let me know.  

Science presentations will take place this week Wednesday and Thursday in our classroom.  On Wednesday, students in 1^st and 2^nd grade will present at 11:10 and on Thursday, 3^rd-5^th grade students will share their work at 11:10. Parents are welcome to stop in during the presentations if you are able!  We will begin the next unit – Earth’s Natural Resources this week!!  See the blog for additional information.

The elementary musical will be held on Tuesday, March 12 at the Zeeland Community Reformed Church at 7:00 PM.  There will be a dress rehearsal in the afternoon of Tuesday, March 12 for students in grades 2-4.  We will be leaving school at 12:40, traveling by bus to the church, and returning to school by 3:15.  Please plan to make arrangements to have your children at school by 12:30, so they can attend this important practice and can feel prepared for the musical that evening!  If your child is unable to attend the practice, please let me know.  I will accompany our students to and from the rehearsal.

There are a few upcoming field trips to keep in mind:

March 14- 3^rd grade trip to the Van Andel Museum.

March 21- 1^st grade trip to Frederick Meijer Garden.  Please let me know if you are interested in attending with your child.  The cost is $5 for parents.

March 21- 4^th grade trip to Lansing- more details to follow.

*SHC Field Trip:  We are also working to put together an outing for our SHC group!  We’ll let you know as the date and details come together!

Book Orders are due this week Wednesday, please.

This is the final week to send in the BOX TOPS!  Our class has done a great job!  If we average 30 box tops or more per student, each student is eligible for a candy prize.  Bring in the Box Tops!

Candy Sale is this week Wednesday.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Walters

2/18-2/22/13= Notes and Lesson Plans

2/18- 2/22/13 Notes and Lesson Plans

8th grade and SHC buddies work together!

Dear Parents,

I hope you are enjoying the beautiful snow this weekend! With the sun shining on the snow, it was breath-taking! It is like a scene from a postcard! I hope you are able to enjoy the snow this weekend with your family! I have posted the lessons for next week Tuesday through Friday on the blog.

Here are a few things for the week ahead:

Reminders:

No School on Monday, February 18- Winter Break Day. 

Wednesday, February 20- All School Chapel at 9:30. Parents are welcome to attend!

Thursday, February 21- “Make-Up” Meeting for parents who were not able attend the information meeting last week. Please let me know if you are unable to attend this meeting and I will be happy to meet with you individually.

Parent Teacher Conferences: Conferences will be held on Monday, March 4 and Tuesday, March 5.  There is no school on Monday.  Conferences begin at 3:00pm-8:00pm on Monday, and 1:00pm-8:00pm on Tuesday for our class.  The online sign up will open for families beginning on February 18. See http://www.virtualparagon.com/zcs/ or visit the ZCS Website. You should have received a letter in the mail with the ZCS password. If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

A Spring Conference Questionnaire will be sent home this week.  Please take this opportunity to share items you would like to talk about during conferences.  I look forward to meeting with each of you.  Please return the questionnaire to school by Wednesday, February 27.

Monday, February 25- Family Groups activity and Hot Lunch Notice: On this day we will have a Family Group Activity (sledding and then lunch), so it is important for you to read this information. There will be an order form in your child’s folder on Wednesday.

Family Groups for students in first through eighth grade will meet on Monday, February 25. Family groups will be eating lunch together and then, if there is snow, they will be sledding. There will not be regular hot that day; instead, Zeeland Food Service will offer a sack lunch-with a choice of ham on a bun, or turkey on a bun. They do need to know ahead of time how many lunches to make. I will be sending home an order form for those who would like to have a sack lunch instead of hot lunch. Please return the form to your me by Thursday, February 21. Prices are the same as regular hot lunch and the cost will be deducted from your child's hot lunch account.

Upcoming Field Trips: 

In addition to these trips with our friends in other classes, we are planning to have a trip with our class as well.  More details coming soon!

Feb. 19- 5th Grade – Visit to G.R. Symphony at Central Wesleyan Church.

Feb. 25- 4th Grade – Visit to the Power Plant. We will need a driver for this trip. Please let me know if you are available. Students will leave school at about 10AM and return by lunch time. 

March 14- 3rd Grade- Visit to G.R. Historical Museum 

March 21- 1st Grade Trip to Fredrick Meijer Gardens – Students will be leaving school right away in the morning and return around noon. Please let me know if you would be willing drive for this trip. The parent fee to attend is $5.00. 

March 21- 4th Grade Trip to Lansing

Box Tops: Please continue to send in Box Tops for Education. February is the last month for the school-wide contest!

Sub Sale Fundraiser for the ZCS teacher Philippines Trip: The Sub Sale order form is posted on the blog. Orders are due on Tuesday THIS WEEK, Feb. 19. Pick up for the subs will be during conferences.

Have a great weekend! I look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday, February 20!

Blessings, Mrs. Walters

Science Presentations!

2/19/13 Lessons

Dear Parents,

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

This week is absolutely flying by, as we have had "School" days only Wednesday and Thursday this week due to the snow/ice day on Monday.  Next week will have a similar feel, as we again will have only two days at school because of the scheduled Winter Break.  Enjoy the long weekend with your family!  I look forward to seeing your children next week Wednesday, February 20!  I have posted next Tuesday's lesson plans.  The remaining plans will be posted by Friday.  Enjoy the rest of the week!  Have a great learning day with your children!!! I praise God for each of you and pray that HE will fill you with his joy and peace!

Mrs. Walters

No School Today- Revised Lesson Plans!

Lesson Plan Revisions for Monday/Tuesday- Feb. 11 and 12

Dear Parents,

Well, we certainly have had our share of interesting, snowy, icy weather!  I am sad that I won’t see our class until Wednesday!  I hope you are enjoying the extra day at home with your kids this week!  Because we are not meeting today, here are the revisions for Tuesday’s “home” day!  I’ll also e-mail each child’s spelling list, so you can work on those tomorrow!  

COMFY/COZY Day on Wednesday!  I think that we need to have our own special COMFY/COZY day at school too, since we’ve been having so many of these days at home!  Students may wear PJ’s, or just comfy clothes to school on Wednesday!  We’ll have an extra special reading time too, so students may bring a special pillow or blanket too!

Spelling:  Write the “Home” list; Send the “School” list back to school on Wednesday.

Practice an “active” way of learning words- clap and spell, jumping jacks with each syllable, etc- be creative!

Word Sorts- I’ll hand these out on Wednesday.

Reading- Continue with the next chapter, or re-read the books sent home last week.  Read an extra 15 minutes!! :)  Discuss the reading strategy of “Visualizing” - using our 5 senses.  Students may write examples from their reading- add a sticky note to a page where they noted an example of visualizing-Can they find an example for each sense? 

Math:  Please do both Monday and Tuesday’s work.  Please let me know if this is too much, but hopefully you’ll be able to spread out these 2 assignments over Monday and Tuesday!  (We’ll look at the quizzes on Wednesday.)

Bible:  See Monday’s assignment- Un 6, L. 1.

Handwriting:  Continue at least 1 page of practice.  

Science- Continue with lessons.

Thank you for your continued work with your child!  I appreciate your diligence!!

See you on Wednesday!

Blessings,

Mrs. Walters

February 11-15, 2013

February 11-15, 2013

This week we will be celebrating Valentine’s Day! Students are excited to exchange cards together, and have a small party.  However, I’m looking forward to having a great discussion about God’s great love for us, through his son, Jesus, and how then, can we respond to that amazing love!  During the week, we will be taking a look into I Corinthians 13, and the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4-9.  I encourage you to look at these verses together with your child this week as well.   Deut. 6:4 tells each of us how God wants us to love him wholeheartedly, but also gives great encouragement to each of us as parents in the following verses!  I continue to pray for each of you and your families as you guide and instruct your children on a daily basis.  May the Lord bless your week!

Here are a few things to keep in mind this week:

1. Reminder:  No School next week Monday- Winter Break Day.   Even though we have had a few unexpected snow days, we will be having a planned day off next week Monday, Feb. 18.  Enjoy the long weekend!
2. I will post next week’s lessons on Tuesday this week.  I will send home student lesson materials on Thursday so  you can begin the school week next Tuesday – a home day. I’ll see students Wednesday next week!
3. Thursday, February 14- Parent Information Meeting for you- parents of currently enrolled students.  We’ll meet in the media center at 3:40.  Your children may play outside, or may wait in our classroom, working on their laptops, or playing with the 8^th grade helpers.  I’m excited to share about plans in progress for next year!
4. Valentine’s Day Party will be on Thursday.  Students may bring their Valentine’s to school anytime this week! 
5. Support for World Vision ministry:  Last week, Ellie, Anna, and Kenzie handed out an information sheet about a dream of theirs!  They shared with all of the SHC students from our class and Mr. Heeres’ class too, about their passion and dream to reach out to others and help provide houses, animals for farming and food, and clean water to those in Africa.  Our class is excited about working together to raise money for this great idea!  We have talked about ways students may be able to earn some money towards this project by possibly doing extra jobs around the house, or shoveling a neighbors’ driveway, collecting pop cans, etc.  The possibilities are endless!  We talked about how we wanted to serve others in our community at Christmas when we donated socks to the Rescue Mission, and now God has put this idea on the hearts of these girls, and now our class, to reach out to others around the world!
6. Ahhh- I realized that I did not send home the February Book-It pizza recording sheet yet!  I’m so sorry!  Hopefully you’ve been keeping track of minutes read and can color in a couple of pizzas already this month!  Many of you are super faithful with completing this reading incentive!  Keep up the great work!
7. Book Order forms will also go home this week.  They are due next week Wednesday, February 20.  Checks should be made out to me, please, not to ZCS.
8. Sub Sale Fundraiser for ZCS teacher trip to the Philippines.  Pleas see the link on the right for sub sale order form information.  Orders are due on February 19 and can be picked up during conferences on March 5.
9. Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Monday, March 4 and Tuesday, March 5.  There will be no school on Monday, March 4, and evening conferences will be held. I will be scheduling conferences on Monday from 3:00-8:00p.m. and Tuesday during the school day as well as evening meetings.  See information about registering through the ZCS online sign-up system soon.
10. Elementary Spring Musical- Tuesday, March 12- more details to follow!

Have a great week! 

Mrs. Walters

February 4-8, 2013

Blog Post for February 4-8, 2013

Dear Parents,

We have certainly had our share of snow days during these past two weeks!  I hope you have enjoyed the beautiful snow and as I have, marveled in the beauty of God's creation when we are blanketed with all of the snow!  I pray that everyone is able to return to school on Monday, healthy and ready to go!  Be sure to send snow pants, boots, etc. with your child, as students continue to go outside for recess, until the temps drop to near zero!

I am thrilled to see students' amazing science project presentations last week!  They shared knowledgeably and with confidence their understanding of our unit study about matter!  I hope to have the pictures and videos shared on the blog soon!  We have a few more presentations to hear this week!
We are also beginning the new science units, studying Magnets and Energy.  See the pacing guide for February, listed in the lesson plans this week.

• Report cards have been posted and are available for you to view online.  If you need additional help accessing your child's report card, please contact the office for password information.  See the Parent Portal login:   https://ic.oaisd.org/campus/portal/zeeland.jsp
• Book It:  Please turn in January reading goal sheets by Wednesday.  New forms will be sent home on Monday for February.
• Box Tops- If you have box tops to turn in for January, please send them to school with your chil on Monday.
• Magazine Orders- The turn in/cash box day will be on Monday.

Have a great safe, warm week!

Blessings,

Mrs. Walters