God's Most Amazing Creatures...: It's Friday, It's Friday, It's Friday! :)

Dear Parents,

Wow! We have been busy, and you can feel the excitement in the air as we are approaching the end of this amazing year! Pastor Rod reminded us in Chapel, though, to remember to take the time to pray! In fact, we were reminded to pray continuously…for everything, all the time. We are so blessed, and need to remember to thank God for these abundant gifts—mostly for His Son, and the gifts of heaven. I am blessed to be here amongst my favorite people, every day. Thank you for contributing in that.

*Today, Pastor Rich’s Bible Study group joined us for a special chapel, where our choirs sang, and we created a beautiful “garden” of butterflies and flowers with our favorite Bible verses. We were able to make some new friends, and connect with some very special people from our congregation. It was such a treat!

Highlights for me:

-All three of Timothy’s principals were there, Mr. Schnakenberg, Mr. Kuerschner, and Mr. Holland. It brought tears to my eyes as I saw the history of our school and its future in those three men.

-We all sang, “Brothers and Sisters in Christ” together. I love that song and the actions that go with it. It is as if I could feel God smiling down on us!

-We did the 4^th grade “Friday Dance” as a whole school, and with our new friends!

-The “garden” bulletin board. It is beautiful! We will have that up for a while during church services here at the south site. Come and see!

*Yesterday was the National Day of Prayer, and we are so very blessed here at Timothy to be able to pray out loud at school every day. The whole school, (and all of our guests in the building) gathered in the hallway, around the American Flag, and prayed together as a family of believers. It was beautiful, as we thanked God for His many, many blessings…

*OUR WHOLE CLASS (full-time) HAS EARNED THEIR TRIP TO WINSTEAD’S THIS YEAR! I am SO very proud! We have had some hard workers in here, as they have ALL memorized their multiplication facts! It has been a very long time since I have taken a whole class! Some third graders that have passed are going to join us too! We will be heading to Winstead’s on north 7 Highway in Blue Springs, after school on Wednesday, May 16^th, at 3:45. There, the class will be treated with skyscraper sodas or shakes. We will be finished up at 5:00. You can pick your child up there, or transport them there. Please let me know! I have room in my car for four, and Mrs. Krekel and Mrs. Barnett have so graciously offered to help drive as well. It will be fun!

*Yesterday, we had our first official Rams Run! The weather was a bit dicey, but it ended up being a wonderful, beautiful day! THANK YOU to all who could help, and to our runners for representing Timothy and our amazing God so very well! The first one is in the books! ;)

*Talking about the weather, we had a wonderful discussion on Thursday morning during our huddle time about the storms and tornado warnings the previous evening. Each child had a story to share, and we had many laughs, and many serious discussions too. This time every day, that usually takes about 20 minutes, took 40, but that was great! I LOVE this family-time that we have and the family atmosphere in our classroom. Many of the students talked about their fear that night, and it was all a great reminder that we need to pray in those circumstances and lift our needs to God. We thanked Him for keeping us all safe.

Here is what we have been up to in the classroom:

Religion: We discussed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus’ Crucifixion, by reading the accounts from the Bible and making a timeline of the events that took place. We watched the video/song, “Watch the Lamb,” by Ray Boltz and discussed the significance. Here is the link if you would like to watch at home too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNT1AThOgME

Memory for next week: (our last verse!)

May 8-Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. Revelation 2:10b

Language Arts: Yesterday, we finished the book, “Dear Mr. Henshaw,” by Beverly Cleary. This was such a good story, and led to many great, mature class discussions about family, divorce, bullies, self-esteem, and believing in yourself. Although the book did not discuss God, we did. :) We talked about Leigh and his faith, and how that would help him in the various situations in the book. There will not be spelling words next week, but we will be reading a few stories!

Math-We have begun customary measurement using inches, feet, yards, and miles. We will learn metric measuring next week.

Missouri History-We had our final Missouri History test today! All of the students did well! They are also working on their famous Missourian biography rugs. Most of them finished these this week, but for those of that that did not, we will continue working on these during art next week. These will be displayed at our Famous Missourian Living Museum on May 16th, from 9:30-11:30. Please mark your calendars! At this museum, your child will dress as his or her famous Missourian, and say a few facts about their person, all the while pretending that he or she is a statue that has come to life. (Think: “Night at the Museum.”) I always tell the kids not spend money…Please just use what you have on hand! If you need any advice, please let me know. They will need these props/costumes by May 15th.

Science-We began the chapter on Weather and Space, and discussed Earth’s rotation and revolution.

This week in…

Art/Writing-We worked on our Biography Rugs—creating portraits of our famous Missourians, and writing down important facts.

P.E.-We played kickball!

Music-We practiced songs for the upcoming graduation and worked on our recorders.

Please take a look at the upcoming things we have for this month. We are busy, and I don’t want you to miss anything!

MAY

8-Last Memory Work; Plaza Heights Dual Meet at Moreland Ridge-4:00

11-Fun Day-(all students, all day), Academic Banquet-7:00 pm

14 -Tim-Olympics kicks off for our full-time students

16-4th Grade Living Missouri History Museum-9:30-11:30 (all students); Winstead’s after school 3:45-5:00

17-End of the Year Field Trip-Fort Osage and Truman Library (all students, all day); Last Day Home School Students