Make a JOYful Noise!

Make a JOYful Noise!

Friday, December 5, 2014

Newsletter 12/5/14

Third and Fourth Grade News
From the Week of December 5, 2014

Dear Parents,
            We have had such a fun week!  The highlight of our week was definitely our participation in the Advent services at church!  Our kiddos did such a fantastic job, and I am so proud of them!  Thank you so much for your extra time and efforts as well, as I know it was a long night for everyone involved.  It was wonderful to hear from Pastor Rich how congregational members were moved by our service as well.  It is my prayer that our words of Jesus’ love—of being Clothed in His Love-- may just reach one unbelieving heart.  These kids are amazing as they share their faith with one another.  It is such a joy to be around that every day!  They constantly floor me with their observations and with their thoughts about how to share their faith with others.  God gives me these amazing little nudges everyday through them… Your children are such blessings to me!  

CLASS CHRISTMAS GIFTS: In lieu of buying Christmas gifts for one another in our classroom, our class has chosen to help families in need.  I have talked to your children about this and they are so excited in helping out and sharing God’s love in this way! Many of the children have expressed their want to contribute from their own allowances.  This really moved me that they are so willing to witness and love their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ!  Below, I have listed the age of the child in each family and his or her wants or needs.  If you are so inclined, please send in a small gift with your child, or a few dollars and we will put them toward gifts.  We will do all the wrapping here at school!  The kids are excited!  We will need to have the gifts by December 11th
Girl, age 5—clothes size 6
Boy, age 6, jeans, size 10
Boy, age 10—knit hat and gloves
Girl, age 11, shirts-size 14-16, loves green and aqua 
Thank you again for any help you can give!

We will have an all-school Christmas Party on Thursday, December 18th.  We are going to Lunar Bowl from 9:00-11:00.  This will be $4.00 per person.  Afterwards, we will be coming back here for lunch.  3rd/4th grades will also be going to sing at Waterford Nursing Home at 1:30.  We will need drivers for both events.  Please email me if you can!  Also, please send in $4.00 for your child (or for you, if bowling!) when you can.  Thank you!  All kiddos are invited! 

We will have our own version of a classroom Christmas Party the next day, December 19th!  We will watch the Polar Express, have hot chocolate and snacks, and wear PJs to school!  If any home-school friends want to join us that day, they are most certainly welcome to.  We will have a short Religion lesson in the morning, but then the rest of the day will be filled with making Christmas cards, watching a movie, and fun!  We then get out at 1:00 that afternoon, and they all yours… ;) 

Here is what we did this week:
In Religion this week we have talked about the gifts from God—not only His One True Son, but also gifts of forgiveness, mercy and love.  We are so blessed!  We learned the word iniquity this week.
Memory for next week:
December 9- THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
December 12- What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not entice or force away our neighbor’s wife,

In Language Arts this week, the third and fourth graders read Jump!, and The Screech Owl Who Liked Television, respectively.  They both enjoyed their stories!  Third grade’s story was about Michael Jordan, and it surprised me (and aged me!) to know that there were some students who did not know who he was! Fourth graders had a lot to share about their story too.  It was a true story from the author, who will take in wild, injured animals from time-to-time, and she shared about her pet owl.  We shared a lot animals stories this week…
Fourth grades shared their fantasy book reports.  The comics are hanging in the hallway and they are awesome!  They received information about their January book report—over historical fiction books. 
Please remind your child to keep filling in Reading Logs for December.  It is not too late to hand November ones in…
We finished reading Indian in the Cupboard  today.  What a great, interesting book!  It kept the students on the edges of their seats!  For our Star Party, we watched the movie.  All of us agreed, however, the book was SO much better than the movie!    

In Math this week, third graders worked with showing data in lots of different formats:  line graphs, pictographs, bar graphs, number plots, etc.  Fourth grade is zooming through a short chapter about multiplication and will begin longer multiplication next week! 

In Social Studies this week, we began our short unit on maps!  We will lean about the continents, the oceans, the compass rose, how to use a map, how to use a grid, etc.  This will be fun! 

During Art, we studied a still life and made a torn paper project using the shapes we found within it.  They are hanging in the hallway!  Check them out!    

In P.E. this week, we continued learning basketball skill—layups and offense and defense.  

In Music this week, we practiced for our Advent service!  On Thursday, we practiced songs with Mr. Burns for the upcoming church Christmas Program on Sunday, December 21st, at 6:30 P.M.
This spring, we will be learning recorder with Mrs. Patterson. This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to learn notes and values, breath control, and the fun and responsibility of playing and practicing a musical instrument!
We will need to make sure that each child has an instrument to bring to class EVERY Tuesday and Thursday during our recorder unit. If you don’t already have one from an older child, please send $4.00 to school in an envelope with “Recorder Money” written on it by Monday, December 15, 2014. These envelopes will go to Mrs. Fangmann in the office so that we can order recorders to start January 27th. If your child will be using a recorder from a previous year, please send it to school on Tuesday or Thursday next week, so that Mrs. P may make sure it is in good working order and will work with our recorders. Sometimes recorders from different manufacturers are made with different pitches, so we want your child’s recorder to make the same note as the rest of the class. If it is determined that it will work, you have the option to use it or order a new one.
All recorders will be the child’s property and he or she will be allowed to keep it once the school year is over. If you have any questions or concerns regarding ordering recorders, please contact her at lindseyp@timothylutheran.com. Thank you!

For Writers’ Workshop, we worked on poetry!  We began writing poems that were called, “How to Talk to…”  We then wrote funny poems about how to talk to inanimate objects like, snowmen, ogres, and skateboards.  We will make class books out of these and share them with you soon! 

UPCOMING EVENTS:
DECEMBER
6-Mrs. Krekel's Birthday
18- Lunar Bowl Party (9:00-11:00) Christmas Caroling 1:30
19- 1:00 Dismissal; ¾ Polar Express Party—wear PJs to school! 
21-Christmas Program--6:30
23- Mrs. Barber's Birthday
23-31- No School, Christmas Break

JANUARY
1-2- No School, Christmas Break
5- Classes Resume
9- End of 2nd Quarter, 1:00 pm Dismissal; 3rd grade book report due
19- No School, Martin Luther King Day
21- Talent Show Try-Outs
25-31- National Lutheran Schools' Week, Scholastic Book Fair
25- K-8 Choirs Sing, North Campus
26- Mrs. Carrasco's Birthday; 4th grade January book report due
30- Grandparent's Day, Talent Show, 12:30pm Dismissal
Have a fantastic weekend!

Yours in Christ,
Kim Brunkhorst



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