Field Day!

It was a beautiful day for our Field Day! The students had a lot of fun competing in the 10 different events and playing in the park in the afternoon. Thank you to all of the parents who came out to support us! Here are some pictures from today's events:

Reading: This week we learned about Facts and Opinions. We talked about how a fact is something that we can prove to be true and an opinion is how we think or feel. Through out the week we practiced classifying statements through a game and through a sort.

Writing: To follow along with our Reading lesson, in Writing we wrote an opinion piece. As a class we brainstormed the best things to do at recess and then students got together with a group to think of good reasons why their activity was the best. Then on Thursday, the students wrote their opinion about the best ice cream flavor.

Math: Or focus this week was on making change and place value. We learned how to find the change when buying one item and when buying multiple items. We learned to first add together the items that we are buying and then subtract that number from what we payed to find the change. We also learned about place value to the thousands place using our place value books.

Bible: This week we learned about Jesus appearing to His disciples after He came back to life. We learned about Thomas who doubted that Jesus had come back to life and how it is important that we believe in Jesus even though we can't physically see Him. We also learned about how Jesus forgave Peter for denying Him three times. Through this story we learned that we love God when we love His people. The students each thought of a way that they could love God by loving others and either wrote it or drew it on a card.

Social Studies: In Social Studies we travelled to Australia! The students were split into groups to learn about either the geography, people, food, or nature of Australia. Next week they will get into different groups and teach each other what they learned.

Important Information:

1. Spelling Words: word, were, turn, girls, verse, color, first, world, third, serve, purple, doctor, further, herself, birthday, Saturday, walked, April

2. Bible Memory Verse: "The Friend is the Holy Spirit. He will teach you all things. He will remind you of everything I have said to you." John 14:26

3. There will be NO SCHOOL next Thursday for Children's Day.

4. Our Scholastic Book Order will close next Friday, May 6th. If you would like to order, you can do so online here: http://world-schools.scholastic.co.uk/okinawa-christian-school-intl or send in the order form and US dollars with your student. The items should come 1-2 weeks after the order is closed.

Upcoming Events:
May 5th - Children's Day - No School
May 30th - Memorial Day - No School
June 8th - Last Day of School - Early Dismissal and Class Party

Have a great weekend!

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back from Spring Break! It was great to see everyone again and get ready to finish out this school year!

Here's a peek at what we did this week:

Reading: This week we reviewed our five stations for Daily 5. We practiced Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work, Writing, and Listen to Reading. The students did an awesome job at practicing their stations and keeping their stamina!

Writing: In Writing we wrote about what we did over Spring Break and then created a snapshot book of each day.

 

Math: For Math we started our unit on Money. This week we practiced counting coins and dollars, buying items, and estimating costs.

Social Studies: This week in Social Studies we studied North American. We learned about famous places and people and a little of the history of the United States.

Bible: We finished our unit on the parables of Jesus this week. We learned about God's forgiveness and how He accepts us into His family no matter what we have done. We also learned about God's kingdom and how He invites us to believe in Him and enter His kingdom.

Important Information:

1. Spelling Words: chore, farmer, corn, orange, harvest, morning, Lord, arms, horses, hard, before, star, store, north, March, important, June, Wednesday

2. Memory Verse: "You can't be saved by believing in anyone else. God has given people no other name under heaven that will save them." Acts 4:12

3. Next Friday will be our Elementary Field Day! We will start our outdoor activities at 8:45am and then have lunch in the park around 11:45. We will then spend the rest of the afternoon down in the park. All students are asked to bring a home lunch on this day. Parents are welcome to come and join us for the day! If you have any questions, please let me know.

4. Our last Scholastic Book Order went home today. Those will be due on May 6th. You can order online at this link: http://world-schools.scholastic.co.uk/okinawa-christian-school-intl or send in the order form and US dollars with your student.

Upcoming Events:

4/29: Elementary Field Day
5/5: Children's Day - No School
5/30: Memorial Day - No School
6/8: Last Day of School and Class Party - Early Dismissal

Have a wonderful weekend!

Terra Nova and Kid City!

We had a full and busy week in 2.1! On Monday we welcomed Nikko to our class. The students were so excited to meet him and have him join our class!

On Wednesday and Thursday we took the Terra Nova Standardized Test. The students showed their knowledge of reading, math, science, social studies, Bible, and many other things. Although there were lots of tests, the students did a great job staying focused and doing their best! We also had the chance to do some fun activities in the afternoon to celebrate our testing progress.

Today we had our annual Kid City with all of 1st and 2nd grade! Our students worked as bankers, city hall clerks, police officers, cashier, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. They brought together all of the lessons about community that we have learned over the past few months and did a great job running their very own city. Here are some pictures from today:

THE BANK:

THE PHARMACY:

THE CITY HALL:

THE POLICE STATION:

THE HOSPITAL:

Important Information:

1. Next week is Spring Break! School will resume on Monday, April 18th.

2. Spelling Words for after Spring Break: carries, carrying, dropping, love, loved, live, living, fly, drop, carried, carry, flying, loving, dropped, lived, flies, Tuesday, worker

2. Bible Memory Verse: "Be kind and tender to one another. Forgive one another, just as God forgave you because of what Christ has done." Ephesians 4:32

3. Important Dates:
April 29th - Elementary Field Day
May 5th - Children's Day - No School
May 30th - Memorial Day - No School

Have a wonderful break! 

Student Led Conferences

This week we were busy getting ready for our Student Led Conferences on Friday. The students all did a wonderful job presenting their portfolios. I hope that you were able to see the ways that your student has grown this year and how best you can help them in this fourth quarter!

Here's a look at our week:

Reading: This week in reading we learned about suffixes and how they are added to the end of a word to change the meaning. We brainstormed different words with suffixes and added them to our anchor chart.

Writing: In writing we finished our final copy of our Animal Research Papers and drew a picture of our animal.

Math: This week in math we finished learning about measurement, area, and perimeter. On Monday we made robots and then found the area of each of the body parts. It was great to see the creativity of the students as they designed their robots. We also took our Unit 9 test on Thursday.

Bible: In Bible we continued learning about parables. We talked about the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant and how God wants us to forgive others just as He has forgiven us. We also talked about the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector and the right way to pray.

Important Information:

1. There will be no spelling words and no Bible memory verse because of Terra Nova Testing.

2. Terra Nova Testing will take place next week on Wednesday and Thursday. The Terra Nova is a standardized test that will provide data on how your student is progressing in comparison to other students in American and International schools worldwide. In preparation for these tests please be sure your student:
       - gets 8-10 hours of sleep each night
       - eats a nutritional breakfast before school each morning
       - refrains from extra activities in the evening during testing days
       - brings a light, healthy snack each day such as one banana, a small baggie of popcorn, dried fruit, etc. (please do not bring anything sugary as a snack)
       - is on time to school each day

3. Kid City will take place next Friday, April 8th from 8:45-11:20. We are in need of some parents to come and help us run the different stations. If you are able to come, please send me an email or a note with your student. We will also be sending home a sign up form next week.

4. We are also in need of donations for our Kid City Restaurant. We need cookies (individually wrapped), small Yakult, senbei (individually wrapped), and mikans. If you would like to donate, please send it in with your student this week.

5. We are in need of your help this Tuesday as we get ready for Kid City. We will be working on making signs, making badges, putting money in envelopes, prop making, etc after school from 3:00-4:00 in room 208.

Important Dates:

April 6-7 : Terra Nova Testing
April 8 : Kid City
April 8 : Pre-registration and Early Dismissal
April 9-17 : Spring Break
April 29 : Elementary Field Day

Have a great weekend!