Have a BLESSED weekend! :)

 Hi, parents!  It has been another FUN week in 4^th grade!  We have been busy and doing so well!  I am super-proud of these kiddos!  THANK YOU for sharing them with me everyday! 

 Our MANY upcoming events and reminders:

*Homework Folders will come home this afternoon filled with graded work.  Please empty these and return the folder on Monday.   Anything with a letter grade lower than a B can be “redone” for half a credit per answer, and turned back in when they return to school the next week.  (Except tests, please.)

 *If you have not done so already, please send back in your child’s Faith Alive Bible.  We use these almost daily during Religion class.  Thanks!

 *Also, if you have not already sent in your signed Behavior, Internet, and Handbook forms, please do so.

 *4th graders will be taking our MAP Growth Assessments next week. 

 *The first PTL (Parent Teacher League) Meeting is next Tuesday, September 10^th, at 6 PM.  PTL provides a great opportunity to support Timothy through fellowship and fundraising. This year, PTL is helping with the financial needs of the TLS School Board’s strategic plans. We would love to have you join us!  If you have any questions, please email Kate Kuecker (kate@twitchetts.com)

 *OASIS Family Night: Families, life is crazy busy and we all long for some time to be restored, to reconnect, and to refresh. Join Timothy Lutheran Ministries again this year for Oasis!  Wednesday, September 11th from 6-7:30pm. Come share a free meal, fellowship, and spend some time in God’s Word. It’s a little Oasis in the midst of the busy. Please scan the QR code to RSVP by September 8th.

 *The 4th grade kiddos have earned their first STAR party for excellent classroom behavior and effort!  I am so proud of them!  This will take place next Friday afternoon, September 13th.  We voted (yay, democracy!) and decided to have a Movie/Snack Party.  I will bring in some popcorn and soda, and you can also send snacks too.  This can be an individual or for the whole class.  Fun will be had by all!  ;) Please congratulate them on a job well done!

 *PICTURE DAY is Monday, September 16th!  Order before Picture Day to receive free shipping to the school. Order online at https://inter-state.com/FlyerEntry/87067VF.

 *Timothy Lutheran will be walking in the Blue Springs Fall Fun Fest PARADE on Saturday, September 21st!  We don’t have all of the details yet, but we’d like for you to mark your calendars!  This is such a fun event!  In the past, the parade begins about 10am, and we wear our Rams t-shirts, uniforms, or Timothy colors (red, blue, white).  It normally begins near the Blue Springs Freshman Campus on Vesper Road, and always ends at St. John LaLande on R.D. Mize Road.  We ask that parents walk (or ride) with your kiddos, please.  Please plan to be there about 9:30 am.  What a way to show and share the love of Jesus with all of Blue Springs!  Come and show our Rams’ pride!

 *Timothy Lutheran School’s 8th annual WALK-A-THON is Friday, September 27th from 1:30-2:30.  We are hosting this fun fundraiser to raise funds for our school—to buy a ClearTouch panel for the7th grade classroom and to put towards a new soccer goal.  All students will be participating and can get pledges for completing their laps around the school’s parking lots.  (Pledge sheets are coming home today.)  If a student chooses not to get pledges, it is okay!  We all are going to walk and celebrate the ENDURANCE God has given us!  We do need parent volunteers if you are available.   We will need people to send in snacks, to keep track of laps, and to stand as route guards and cheerleaders! 

-Pledges can be online!   Please click here: https://timothylutheranschool.com/walkathon/

-Please use this link to volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4DADAB2DA7F58-timothy

-Please use this link to send in snacks:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4DADAB2DA7F58-walkathon

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Here is what we have been up to this week:

RELIGION-This week, we learned about the lives of Jacob and Joseph, and talked about how God has an amazing way of turning our lies and our sin into truth and love. We discussed God’s Laws and His expectations of us, as well as the Good News of the Gospel—that we cannot by ourselves follow God’s Law perfectly, but JESUS did it for us!  Because if this, we get to live with him forever!  We have such an amazing God!  We also began creating “A Book of Blessings.”  We discussed how God created this beautiful world and all that is in it for US!  We thanked God for each letter of the alphabet, and the blessings that go along with it! 

LANGUAGE ARTS- This week, we read another portion of pour novel, Because of Winn Dixie!  We met Otis, the owner of the pet store, and Miss Gloria Dump, a neighbor lady, who just needed a friend.  We had wonderful discussions about being a good friend, and how to not “judge a book by its cover.”  These chapters actually led us into a great discussion about how we should be kind to others, and really be in tune to their feelings.  We talked about verbal and non-verbal cues.  This is a very intuitive class!

 We also discussed cause and effect, and found examples of this in our story.  We reviewed how to write complete sentences, making sure it had a noun, verb, and was a complete thought.  We talked about how to write sentences in 4th grade style, with more detail!   We have been working on DOL (Daily Oral Language) where we use editing marks to correct sentences that are just a mess!  ;)  We have done one together and one on our own.  You will see these come home this week.  Each child graded his or her own as we corrected them as a class.  Please continue to urge your child to read those book report books!  Thanks!

SPELLING Words for the Week of September 13th:

Story: “Because of Winn Dixie” (Chapters 16-26)

skill, crime, grind, tonight, brick, flight, live, chill, delight, build, ditch, decide, witness, wind, district, inch, sigh, fright, remind, split

Challenge Word:  melancholy

MATH- This week, we all worked with the vocabulary words digit, period, and place value.  We worked with putting numbers in standard, word, and expanded forms.  We also read numbers up through the millions, worked with ordering numbers, and using place value to round.   We compared numbers, using greater than, lesser than, and equal to.  We put numbers in order from greatest to least, and least to greatest, and we learned how to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000.  Please also keep working on rote multiplication at home!  Flash cards are always helpful, and here are some great websites:  www.multiplication.com and www.timestables.com/games

SCIENCE- We made connections this week!  We demonstrated how organisms, population, community, and ecosystem are connected and how living things interact with other living and non-living things in a pond ecosystem. 

SPECIAL CLASSES

ART-  We will studied primary, secondary, and tertiary colors this week and created color wheels with tempera paint.  Then, we painted in our horizon pictures with that Expressionistic style! 

MUSIC-We practiced some songs for the parade and for worship. 

WRITING-We worked on our Summer Vacation Stories, following all of the steps of Writers’ Workshop.

COMPUTER LAB-We finished up our friendly letters and then learned how to log into our accounts at typing.com.  The students will learn the “home keys” in keyboarding and will learn how to memorize where the keys are to become more proficient at keyboarding.  I hope to have them work in this at least once a week.  Each child has his or her own sign-in and password.  They are free to practice at home.  Please just let me know if you need this information to do so!

P.E.- We worked on volleyball skills this week—passing, setting, and hitting!

Have a VERY blessed weekend!

Kim

Painting our Horizon Line pictures...

Happy LONG weekend! :)

 Hi, 4^th Grade Parents!  We have had a WONDERFULLY AWESOME second week of school!  It’s been super-busy as we have transitioned into all the core classes, as well as beginning Specials!

 Several reminders:

*Homework Folders will come home this afternoon filled with graded work.  Please empty these and return the folder on Tuesday (usually Mondays!).  Anything with a letter grade lower than a B can be “redone” for half a credit per answer, and turned back in when they return to school the next week.  (Except tests, please.) So far, everybody is doing very well and working very hard!

 *If you have not done so already, please send back in your child’s Faith Alive Bible.  (New students received theirs this year!)  We use these almost daily during Religion class.  Thank you!

*Also, if you have not already sent in your signed Behavior, Internet, and Handbook forms, please do so.  (This is the last page of the handbook.)  Thank you!

*Graded work is recorded on Sycamore.  Please take time to see how your child is doing.   You will also be able to see their missing assignments, and remind them to get their work in!  This week has been very transitional, as I have been learning how each child learns and works.  The students are learning what lessons and work time looks like in 4^th grade.  Thank you for your patience and help with this. 

*4th graders will be taking our MAP Growth Assessments during the week of 9/9. 

 What is a MAP Growth Assessment?

It is a measure of what your student knows and how they are growing academically.  Timothy Lutheran School will be assessing students three times each school year for academic growth; early September, early January, and late April/early May.  Our September testing window begins September 5th.  If you would like to understand more about this new tool for guiding us in the planning of our instruction, take time to read the attached Family Guide to MAP Growth.

You may also find resources that include videos at this site:  https://www.nwea.org/family-toolkit/

 *The first PTL (Parent Teacher League) Meeting is right around the corner! PTL provides a great opportunity to support Timothy through fellowship and fundraising. This year, PTL is helping with the financial needs of the TLS School Board’s strategic plans. We would love to have you join us! The meeting is Tuesday, September 10th, at 6:00 PM. If you have any questions, please email Kate Kuecker (kate@twitchetts.com)

*Oasis Family Night: Families, life is crazy busy and we all long for some time to be restored, to reconnect, and to refresh. Join Timothy Lutheran Ministries again this year for Oasis!  Wednesday, September 11th from 6-7:30pm. Come share a free meal, fellowship, and spend some time in God’s Word. It’s a little Oasis in the midst of the busy. Please scan the QR code to RSVP by September 8th.

Here is what we have been up to this week:

 RELIGION-We’ve been talking about Abram and Sarai, and God’s many promises to Abraham, and to us.  We had the mature discussion about Abraham choosing not to wait on God’s timing on his birth of a son, but to take matters into his own hands.  Our God forgave Abraham, and while there were consequences, He was able to turn those choices into blessings!  We related this to our lives today.  We discussed Jacob and Esau, and Jacob’s family,  and how we need to be careful in our relationships with our families and friends.  We need to love, serve, and honor one another.  We have been following our classroom Bible timeline and discussing how each of these families leads to Jesus, our Savior.  Next week, we will focus on the family of Joseph and on God’s many blessings in our lives. 

 At the beginning of the week, the kids write a prayer on a piece of paper…something that is on their heart or mind.  They can alter or change this prayer during the week, as they need.  At the closing of each day, we pray these prayers!  At the end of the week, I pass out these prayers to the students.  They don’t receive their own, so they can pray for someone else all weekend…So, if you see these little slips of paper coming home, that is what they are!  How blessed we are that we have the privilege to take our needs to God in prayer! 

 

MEMORY for Next Week:

9/3- Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” ~Hebrews 12: 1-3

 

9/6- The Old Testament

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

 

LANGUAGE ARTS- We read the first six chapters of the novel, Because of Winn Dixie.  We LOVE this story, and have had some great discussions about character-building, and some fun stories of antics of our pets!  (I have to say, every time I read this story, I think of my own pup…to me, she looks so much like a black Winn-Dixie!)  We analyzed the characters, wrote summaries of the chapters, and studied the new vocabulary words.  We took our first reading and spelling tests today and the students did very well!  The students also received information about their first book reports.  They have each picked out a Newbery Award winning book to read, and understand their projects.  This information should be in their homework folders. We also worked on using editing symbols this week, as we corrected sentences with grammatical and spelling errors, in something called a DOL (Daily Oral Language).  Busy, busy!

 SPELLING WORDS for the Week of September 6th:

Story: “Because of Winn Dixie” (Chapters 7-15)

admire, magnet, contest, method, custom, rally, soccer, engine, sudden, finger, accident, mitten, intend, fabric, flatten, rascal, gutter, mammal, happen, cannon

Challenge Word:  concoction

 MATH- This week, we finished up our chapter about what “Math Is…” Yesterday, we began reviewing place value and the vocabulary words digit and period.  Next week, we will work with putting numbers in standard, word, and expanded forms.  We will also read numbers up through the millions, and work with ordering numbers, and using place value to round.  We have also been working hard on memorizing our multiplication facts in class.  We are up to our 2’s!  They are really starting to realize the importance of learning these!

 SCIENCE-We have been discussing ecosystems, communities, organisms, and populations within our habitats here in Missouri.  We discussed what plants need in order to live and emphasized the space needed for both animals and plants to survive.  We had short object lesson concerning space, and how it would be hard to thrive without enough.  Students wrote short stories called “A Day in the Life of a Crowded Plant.”  We shared these in class.  We also went on another nature hike through our wetland, and took notes on living and non-living organisms that we spotted.  We looked for communities.  I have some great scientists in here! 

 SPECIAL CLASSES

ART- We learned what a horizon line was and studied some Expressionistic artists.  We then drew landscape drawings with a horizon line.  We will study primary, secondary, and tertiary colors next week and create color wheels with tempera paint.  Then, we will begin painting in our horizon pictures with that Expressionistic style! 

 MUSIC-We had our first classes with Mrs. Beckie Hatcher!  4th grade is going to learn so very much this year from this amazing teacher!

WRITERS' WORKSHOP- We read the story "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" and discussed sequencing and chronological order.  We then talked about our own summer vacations and began writing down important events and are going to shape these into our won written work. 

 COMPUTER LAB-We learned how to log into the school laptops, and how to create a document on Google Docs.  Each student wrote a friendly letter to me, (with all 5 parts), and I am in the process of wring all of them back!  Only our class shares a Google Docs account under my name.  Your child is welcome to use this at home.  Please just send me a private email, and I will send you the information to log in at home.  We have promised one another that we will be gracious and respectful of each other’s private folders within this account, as we publish and work on our written work here in our classroom this year.

 P.E.-This week we learned the correct way to stretch, run our laps, and we reviewed body skills like skipping, galloping, hopping, jumping, crab walk, grapevine, and bear walk.  We had some fun in relay races!

 This was such a FUN week!  As always, thank you for your prayers and guidance as we travel through this school year together.  Have a wonderful and safe, LONG Labor Day weekend!

 

God’s Blessings!

Kim

It was a WONDERFUL first week of school!

 

Hello, 4th grade parents!  We have had a WONDERFUL first week of school! 

 The students have learned many new routines and have played some fun games to get to know one another.  We have eased into the transition of all the core classes, with the exception of Reading and Spelling.  We will begin that on Monday!  I have had so much fun getting to know your kiddos.  This group is so creative, excited to learn, and truly care for one another.  I am so proud to be their teacher already!  We have welcomed our new kiddos with open arms, and are becoming a little classroom family.  :)   It is such a beautiful thing to witness.  Besides all of the fun we have had, I have highlighted just a few things below that we have learned this week:

 RELIGION- This week, we began studying and learning from our new Religion books!  We discussed the Creation Story, and the Fall into Sin.  We learned how the days of Creation are connected, and how God’s intricate plan is awesome!  We discussed the vocabulary words about God:  He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent!  (Please ask your kiddo what those mean!)  We discussed our blessings, and read Bible verses sharing the power of God.  Last year, all full-time students received Faith Alive Bibles from school.  Please send these back to school because we will use these every day in Religion class.  Our new full-time students received a new one this week.   By the end of this school year, your kiddo will be a pro at looking at and finding Bible verses, with their favorites highlighted or underlined. 

 Our first memory verses are our theme for the school year: “Endure”  FROM Hebrews 12:  1-3.

Next week’s MEMORY:

8/27-“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

8/30- “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

 LANGUAGE ARTS- We used our reading and writing skills when we created our time capsules, which we will put away and get back out in May to see our many changes.  We traced our hands and feet.  We also filled on surveys about our Favorite Things, wrote a letter to our future selves, took a mad minute, and created selfies.  We practiced a lot of cursive this week, and reviewed the letters l, h, k, i, e, u, j, and p.  The students were introduced to Judy Blume, the Author of the Month, this week, and they love her!  We read Freckle Juice and began Tales if a Fourth Grade Nothing. 

 Next week, we will have our first Literature unit (Because of Winn Dixie), and we will have our first spelling test next Friday.  Spelling words, and our challenge word will come home on Monday in the assignment books.  They will always be in this weekly note, and they are online for you to access on our blog.  I ask that your child take their reading book home at least once a week to review the story at home.  We will read it here several times, as well.  We will have a comprehension test over the selections on Fridays as well.  Next week, we will also begin English, where we will identify complete and incomplete sentences.    Monday the students will also receive information about book reports, when they are due, and what is expected.  They are reading Newbery Award winning books.  I know that is a lot of information…So, please let me know if you have any questions!  Thank you!

SPELLING WORDS for the Week of August 30^th:

Story: "Because of Winn Dixie" (Chapters 1-7)

blade, gray, past, afraid, magic, delay, amaze, drain, maybe, break, sale, hang, stain, glass, raft, jail, crayon, fact, stale, steak, fraction, trait

Challenge Word: peculiar

MATH- We took our first mad minutes and I assessed where each child was in this process.  Many of them already know their multiplication facts, and that is wonderful!  We completed some Problem Solvers, which takes real world math problems, and breaks them down, so that they can solve and experience them.  This is such good practice! We also finished our first two lessons in our new math books.  We talked about how we are math “superheroes” and what our math talents are.  We also reviewed simple fractions and how they are a big part of our world.  Next week, we will finish up the chapter called “Math in My World” and begin the chapter about “Place Value.”

SCIENCE-We began reading about how our world is connected in our science books from the Missouri Department of Conservation.  We learned the difference between living and non-living things.  We went on a field investigation and looked within our schoolyard to find all evidence of living and non-things outside.  We recorded these in our field journals.  We saw a bullfrog, some killdeer, and spotted Swamp Milkweed, Blue Vervain, and American Pokeweed around our school.  (Thank goodness for plant-identifying apps!)  ;) 

 ART-We created funny Cursive Creatures and self-portraits with a “Who Am I?” riddle!  Check these out in the hallway!  

As a reminder, HOMEWORK FOLDERS will come home this afternoon filled with graded work.  There was not much this week, but I wanted the kiddos to get into the habit of placing work there. If a paper just has a star on it, please know that it was looked at or discussed, but it was not for a letter grade in the grade book.  All papers with percentages on them are put in the gradebook.  Please empty these and return the folder on Monday.  Although we did not have very many assignments this week, anything with a letter grade B or below can be “redone” for half credit per answer, and turned back in on Monday.  So far, everybody is doing very well and working very hard!

Next week, SPECIAL CLASSES begin!  We will begin Writers’ Workshop, Art, P.E., Music, and Computers. 

Have a blessed weekend!

Kim

Sharing our "Bags of Five Things"

Sharing our personal "museums..."

Taking our first mad minute!

Working our our time capsules...

"Who Am I?" Pictures

Recess!

Cursive Creatures

Using our field guides to find living and non-living things!  We found some killdeer and a toad too, but

 I was unable to get a picture!