Make a JOYful Noise!

Make a JOYful Noise!

Friday, February 10, 2017

Happy Friday!

Hello, Parents!  I hope you have had a great week!  This has ended up being a long letter….sorry about that!  We have a lot of things happening! 

Thank you to all of you that came out and supported our 4/5/6 grade teams at their tournament over the weekend!  It was a great success, and we had so much help!  I am so proud of our kiddos too, as both teams took 2nd place---but most importantly, they showed great sportsmanship! 

Thank you also to the drivers who helped us travel to and from the ECC this week to lead their Chapel.  You are so appreciated!  The students did so well of sharing the message of God’s Love.  We acted out a skit about 1 Corinthians 13.  They did a great job. 

Our 7th/8th grade students have their basketball tournament this weekend at Calvary.  If you have nothing to do, go cheer on our kids!

This Sunday, February 12th, is Mrs. Barnett’s birthday!  We will celebrate as a class on Monday.  Today, we wrote her some letters, and we will put this in a card for her… She is such a blessing to us! 

We will celebrate Valentine’s Day in our classroom on Tuesday, February 14th with some fun math stations, and exchanging valentines.  If your child chooses to make valentines, please include one for each child.  Thank you so much!  If you want to send in a small snack for that day too, that would be much appreciated!  We will have some fun activities in the morning, as well as in the afternoon when our home school friends are here. 

Student-led parent teacher conferences are coming up….Thursday, February 16th and Friday, the 17th!   We will dismiss at 1:00 both days.  We will have Specials Thursday morning.  This time around, students lead, and will share with you favorite work, personal report cards, and areas they think they need to improve.  We will also share mid-terms.  Please click on the link below to sign-up.  Students must be present.  Thank you!

Enrollment packets for the 2017-2018 school year came home this week.  Enrollment is initially only opened to current Timothy families.  Since some rooms are more filled with students than others, you may want to return your enrollment information as soon as possible to be sure your spot is saved for next year.  There’s also an early enrollment discount!  Enrolling soon also helps us make the proper arrangements for the upcoming school year (textbooks, staffing, etc.), which we’re eager to plan well for!  If you know of any friends looking for a new school home, be sure to mention us, as open enrollment will take place in about a month!

Achievement Tests are coming up for grades 3-8 on February 21-24. This test, the Stanford Achievement test, is given to all 3rd-8th graders here at Timothy.  We try to do all the testing in the morning time, when our brains are working the best.  We will ease into this testing, as it is new to the 3rd graders.  We will take some very short practice tests to get used to filling in bubbles for answers, etc.  These tests are primarily used to show how your child is doing academically compared to other students the same age from around our country.  We send the answer sheets away to get the results, and then a document of scores and explanations will come back home to you in a few weeks. It will be sealed and up to you if you share these results with your child.   I always tell the kids that they will not know everything on the test, but to always try their best.  The Stanford is not timed, although they do give us some time guidelines. Some of the areas on the test have not yet been learned in school, and some were learned years ago.  The test spans all areas of the curriculum—Spelling, Grammar, English, Reading Comprehension, Science, Social Studies, Math, Problem-Solving, and Listening.  The testing is open to Home School students as well, so please let us know if your child is going to participate.  Students are encouraged to bring water bottles, healthy snacks to eat between tests, and LOTS of quiet activities for the times they finish a test early (no technology allowed).  Students have also brought in mints to share with the class, as there is evidence that peppermint helps the brain concentrate.  J  Please also let me know if you have any questions, and I will do my best to answer them, as I know for some of you, this is all brand new!  The kiddos love this week, because we do not have any spelling words, or a new reading story, or even any math!  Lots of Religion, Science, and History this week! 

I have been having a little bit of trouble with some kids forgetting to do their homework.  I have been lenient, and accept it late, but some are beginning to take advantage of this.  Some, are also not being truthful.  You can help, by just double-checking with them.  Thank you so much for your partnership!   

Here is what we have been up to in the classroom:
Religion- We have been practicing Luther’s Morning Prayer, and we also have been learning about 1 Corinthians 13…God’s love is perfect!
Memory:
February 14-For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.   Let Your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.
February 17- Say the entire Morning Prayer.

Language Arts- We have been learning about first and third person, and enjoying our reading selections, “A Tree is Growing,” and “Moon Runner.”
Spelling Words for Next Week:
3rd grade-
mood
wooden
drew
smooth
blue
balloon
true
crooked
chew
tooth
hooves
cool
food
pooch
loose
jewel
*monstrous

4th grade-
colorful
weakness
movement
endless
truthful
illness
cheerful
useless
beautiful
restless
clumsiness
pavement
peaceful
fondness
neatness
speechless
statement
wasteful
penniless
treatment
numbness
ailment
*monstrous

Math-Third graders are working on comparing multiplication and division, and also working with expressions and equations.  They really need to be practicing their multiplication facts at home with flash cards, or computer games, so they can memorize them.  The car is one of the best places to do this!  Thank you for your help!  Fourth graders have been working with finding patterns and rules, as well as continued work with long division.  They tested over it this week and did great!

Science Projects-We have the information about our Science projects and we are ready to go!  Mrs. Stack has come in three times to talk to the kids about the projects, and set a due date for today to have their inquiry question and a hypothesis.  All of the students are required to a do a project as part of their Science grade, and most of the work will be completed at home.  To help with this, all requirements and planning ideas will be available online at:
If you have any questions, please direct them to Mrs. Stack, who will do her best to answer them!  We are all looking forward to seeing what these great scientific minds come up with:
Here is her email:  jennifer@the-stacks.com

In Science class, we have been learning about animals and their parts, and how they use these structures to adapt to their environments.  Today we played a classifying game to learn more about animals.  We have really been concentrating on the animal that we are doing research about.  This has been fun! 

Music- We are studying spirituals in February for Black History Month.  After recorders, 4th will be learning music from an octavo, which is a choral piece of music.  3rd is playing fun games to learn their treble clef notes.

Spanish- We have been working on our presentations for Cinco de Mayo!  Our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Carrasco, needs our help!  Timothy Lutheran School Spanish Class is in need of some white straight 2-inch lace to complete five skirts for our Cinco de Mayo  presentation. Each skirts takes about 12.5 yards of lace per skirt. Any donation that you are able to donate (lace or dollars) will be greatly appreciated!  Thank you so much! 

Art-We worked on valentines!  We made them for our friends at the ECC, and for you!  We also created our valentine bags to put valentines in next Tuesday.  These are woven hearts. 

P.E.-  We played “Fetch the Bacon” and “Land Mines,” both games that we do with partners. 

Writers’ Workshop-We worked on our animal research projects.  Most of us are publishing these now.  They have been working so hard.  I have set a due date for next Thursday, February 16th.  Please urge your child to be working on this…we have been for over a month now!  Thank you! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

God’s Blessings!
Kim

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