Upcoming Field trip:  Our class will be going to DeGraaf Nature Center on Thursday, Feb. 5 8:45-10:45 to learn about Michigan Native Americans.  We will be spending much of our time outdoors so make sure your child is dressed warmly.  Thank you to Kerri deVries, Pam Scholten, and Sonya Snyder for your willingness to help on this field trip.

As we dig into our world of nonfiction, we can not read or study these topics without seeing Jesus.  I am reminded of this verse:

Revelation 4:11

"You are worthy , our Lord and God, 
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, 
and by your will they were created and
have their being."

Throughout our nonfiction reading and writing units, we will study each topic through our Christian lens and see how POWERFUL and AMAZING our Lord is.  

Reading and Writing:
This week in reading we worked mainly on reading sections of nonfiction to identify the main idea and supporting details.  This can be very difficult to do but by Friday, I would say that they all have it mastered.  They are LOVING the nonfiction unit.  Next week will be learning more strategies for how to examine different text structures in nonfiction and how to organize the information we read about.  This will all be leading up to our animal research projects which they are so excited to get started with.

Our writing right now is integrated within our reading and will culminate by your child writing an informational book on a chosen animal.

Math:  We continued to add three digit numbers this week.  The students are reading their story problems carefully and lining up the place value columns correctly in order to compute the sum.  I am so proud of how hard they worked this week.  We celebrated by playing a math addition game on Friday with Mrs. DeZwaan’s class where we even added into the thousands!

Bible:  We looked at how Jacob was tricked by his Uncle Laban when he gave Leah in marriage instead of Rachael.  In past lessons we have seen Jacob as a bit of a deceiver, but this time the tables were turned on him.  The class discussions about this were awesome this week and we continue to see God’s plan unfolding in this story.  We also looked the 12 sons of Jacob and we can predict how God will use some of them in His salvation plan. 

Science:  We continued our unit Organisms Have Character by looking at physical characteristics, habitats, behaviors and defenses of the beetle and crayfish. Students have taken many notes about these creatures and are busy organizing their notes into the appropriate categories.  Next week we will take these organized planners and use our ipads to produce a final project on one of the creatures.  Stay tuned for the awesome results!

Discovery Test:  We will be administering the DISCOVERY test to our class again this coming week.  The Math portion will be given on Tuesday morning and the Reading portion on Wednesday morning. 

Reminders:

·            Our Wacky Wednesday is hat day this coming week.

·            Our new Bible Memory is John 3:16-17.  This is due by February 6.

·            Reading Minutes are due on Monday.

·            Discovery tests will be given on Tuesday (Math assessment)              

       and Wednesday (Reading assessment) morning.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Wyma & Mrs. Stielstra