November 15, 2010 Knowing Jesus, Growing in Faith, Serving God’s Children
Dear Parents,

Thank you all for coming in to visit. Your children are such a blessing! Keep up the good work! This week we continue to prepare for Thanksgiving. Be sure to look at their turkeys in the hall with word bubbles telling what the turkey is saying. They are cute! They’ll also be writing about something they are thankful to God for and these will be hung on our cupboard doors. You’ll see how much they are improving – they are all legible! Yea! On our school’s website (www.zioncrusaders.org) I have some pictures in the photo gallery of the children working. I also have tabs for show and tell and the snack schedule if you can’t remember.

We’re working with “Kk” this week. Find something to bring tomorrow. “K” is a harder one! At home have fun encouraging the use of all letters. Have your child write little notes to you, label things with post its, or try some fun ways to use magnetic letters. Remember to have your child think up a simple sentence, then have them write it down using what they know – beginning with a capital, stretching out new words and writing quickly those “fast words” they can read so well, and ending with some kind of punctuation.

This week we’ll begin our new unit on patterns in math. They are becoming very good at using math vocabulary; they’re able to state how they did something, how to check their work, and becoming more accurate as they do so.

Our Bible lessons are about David this week. We learn that God has blessed us with the gift of music. We can use it to return praise and thanks to Him, especially thanking Him for His greatest gift, Jesus, our Savior! We had fun praising Him with our bells on Sunday! Thanks to those of you who could come! Our Bible verse is from James 5:13 “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” Our offering this month goes to our local Meals on Wheels.

As we read books together at school this month we are learning to ask questions as we read. This helps us understand what is happening. We find that many of our questions are answered as we continue the book, but that some aren’t. We learn that some answers can be inferred, based on what information we’ve been given. In the Three Bears, we infer that Goldilocks learned her lesson and probably wouldn’t go in a house again without being invited! When you read together don’t be afraid to think out loud and ask questions, too.

Grandparent’s Day is next Wednesday, Nov. 24th. Grandparents or special friends (Moms and dads, too!) are invited to come at 8:15AM to go with us to chapel, and then stay for a short preschool, Kindergarten presentation. Then we’ll head back to our room and everyone can come, too. It may be a bit crowded, but we’ll do some school activities together. School will be dismissed at 11:15AM. There will be no lunch or daycare. There is also no school next Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.

Remember to mark Sunday afternoon, Dec. 5th, on your calendar, as that is our Preschool, Kindergarten Christmas service, at 4PM! Most of the Kindergarteners will be shepherds with a simple gown over comfortable clothes. The rest are parts of the nativity, from donkeys to innkeepers.

This Saturday we have a Craft Fair at Zion from 8AM until 2PM. There will be many different types of booths and bake sale goodies, too, along with a lunch available. Come shop for Christmas!

God’s blessings,

Roxi Withee