Make a JOYful Noise!

Make a JOYful Noise!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Newsletter 9-26-14

Third and Fourth Grade News
From the Week of September 26, 2014
Dear Parents,

This has been such a quick, but fun week!  We have had a few students absent this week with either colds, or sore throats, and it was so nice to have them all back at school today!   I feel so blessed to be here every day with your children!  Daily, they give me laughter and little reminders of how great our God is, and how awesome it is to see life through the eyes of a child!    

All Students:
During Art, we discussed the color wheel and learned about primary, secondary, tertiary, complementary, and monochromatic colors.  We will use this knowledge to mix colors next week.  We also wrote and created cards for soldiers.  These will be delivered by a shut-in member at Timothy, whose son is in the reserves.  They will be delivered to Afghanistan for the 931st Civil Engineering Squadron from McConnell Air Force Base.

In P.E. this week, we played more dodge ball!  We learned how to play Four Quadrants, which is super-fun!  We also enjoyed some of the awesome weather outside!  

For Writers’ Workshop, we had Readers’ Theatre!  (You have to say it like Robin Leach. )  :)  Each child was able to stand on the “stage” and read either a poem or short story he or she has written so far this year. I have to say, this is SUCH a creative class!  I hope they remember me when they are famous!  ;)  

We did not visit the Computer Lab this week, as we were finishing up Readers’ Theatre, but we will visit there next week to continue the publications of our written work.  

In Music this week, we learned about the pentatonic scale and different types of music and the countries and cultures they came from.  One was a lullaby from the Hopi Indians.  

Full-Time Students:
In Religion, we took our first test over Unit One, where we had learned about parts of the Bible, how the Bible is set up, and how to use it daily.  We also talked about attributes of the Trinity, and the power of the Holy Spirit.  These tests will be coming home today for you to review.

Memory work for next week is:
September 30-- THE FIRST COMMANDMENT- You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean?  We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
October 3- THE SECOND COMMANDMENT-You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

In Language Arts this week, we worked with possessives.  The students are getting much more comfortable editing and revising sentences in D.O.L., and getting so much more confident too!

As a whole class, we read the story, The Very Important Day, which correlated directly to our School of Economics unit.  It was a story about families that were immigrants to the United States, and how they gained American citizenship.  This is what we will pretend to do at the School of Economics!  We did several writing and reading assignments with this story.  You will see some of this written work come home soon!  They are publishing their creations right now.  

Next week, we will use the writing process to write personal narratives, and will even publish them at school.

Today, we were introduced to our new Author of the Month: Louis Sachar, and began reading the page-turning book entitled Holes. The kiddos love this story and beg me to read more chapters than I originally intend!  Next week, they will get a copy to read along with me.

Book reports are due soon!  Third graders need to read a mystery book and have their reports completed by October 17th. Fourth graders are reading Newbery Award books and their reports are due next week on September 30th.  Thank you!

In Math this week,  third graders moved past rounding and onto estimating numbers before adding and subtracting.  We also practiced adding three-digit numbers.  They are using skills they learned last year when borrowing and regrouping.  They are enjoying this!  Fourth graders tested over place value and estimating and will begin working with algebraic expressions next week.

In Science this week we talked about cells!  We were amazed at all the facts we learned.  We also saw a neat video about them as well…

Midterms came home this Tuesday,  I am so proud of how each of the children are working.  Please sign and return the bottom portion to school.  I know that this year is a tougher year, especially for 3rd graders.  Letter grades are quite a shock to some!  Please remember that this is not a final grade, just a reflection of how your child is doing in school!  There is time to pull that grade up.  One issue that I have been seeing with quite a few students, is that they are forgetting to finish assignments and hand work in.  Even if it is written in their assignments books, they are not following through.  I have explained to them the importance of this, and even have shown them the difference a 0% has on a grade, compared to even a 50%.  Please help me with this by always asking your child about his or her homework.  Hopefully it will help spark that light bulb!  We will get there!  Thank you!  

We shared jobs during out School of Economics studies this week!  I am sure your child came home and told you all about it!  After receiving jobs, we met as countries and/or companies and began the planning process!  We filled out loan applications, using equations to figure out how much money we needed to borrow.  We also made supply lists, and began discussing prices for items.  Fun!  

Please send in any paper bags you may have at home.  We use them for recycling!  Thanks!  

Important Dates:
SEPTEMBER
26-VB games begin at Timothy 5:30
27-VB games begin at Timothy 9:00 am
27-game at LHS 10:15
30-4th grade book reports due

OCTOBER
3-VB games at Hope 6:00
4-game at LHS 11:30
7- Mrs. Vogt's Birthday
10-Field Trip to the School of Economics
10-11- 5th and 6th Grade KCLAL Volleyball Tournament at Timothy
11-12 KCLAL Soccer Tournament at LHS
15- Mr. Kuerschner's Birthday
17- End of 1st Quarter, 1:00pm Dismissal; 3rd grade book reports due
20- Picture Retake Day
23-24- Parent/Teacher Conferences, 1:00 Dismissal
31-Fall Field Trip to Memaw's

Have a wonderful weekend!  
Yours in Christ,

Kim Brunkhorst

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