Last post!

Dear Parents,

It is so hard to believe that I am writing the final post for the year.  When I (Lynae) took this job last year I never would have guessed what an incredible journey God had in store for me.  Somewhere along the way I completely fell in love with all 22 children placed in my classroom.  I was also blessed to be given the world's best job share partner and she became an amazing friend to me.   God is just SO good.

We are going to have a very difficult time saying good-bye to these sweet kids this coming Friday.  They have all managed to take a piece of our heart with them and they will always be very dear to us.  Thank you for letting us love and teach your child each day.  It has been an incredible honor to partner with you in their journey and see them grow spiritually, academically, and socially.  We are just SO BLESSED!

OUR FINAL WEEK:

• In Reading we will be working on our Biography posters next week.  The students will be presenting these to the class which will be a lot of fun.  
• Math will be making Tetrahedron Kites.  Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who are coming in on Monday or Thursday morning.  The kids so are excited about this project so it will be an exciting last week in Math!  If you child still needs to bring in tissue paper, please do so by Monday. 
• We will be playing baseball a day next week against the High School Baseball team to celebrate All Star Reading.  
• Field day is Tuesday afternoon.  Make sure your child is dressed for the outdoors!  
• Our final day is Friday.  Dismissal is at 11:30.  Wow...it will be hard to see them go.  Your child will be coming home with his/her report card and baton.  

Blessings!

Erin and Lynae

May 23

GOD BLESS AMERICA!  Today I am so thankful for the freedom that we have here in the USA. Thank you to all who have served.

Today in the parade was our very own Raphael.

Reading:  We are finishing up our biography books this weekend (hopefully) and will start working on our posters and presentations this next week.

Writing:  We are working on our personal essays as well.  This past week we have picked out opinion statements (thesis) and have started the rough draft on our two personal stories that we will use as our evidence to support our thesis.  We will continue to work on this for the remainder of the week.

Math:  We finished our unit on fractions this past week and took our test on Friday.  I am so proud of how hard the class worked this year in Math.  Overall, we did a great job on our final test and I think the students will be pleased with their results.  Next week we will do some review of the concepts we learned this year through Math games.

Bible:  We continue to follow the Israelites through the desert.  We see how frustrated they become when they discover giants living in the land of Cannon.  We see the Israelites doubt God but also see how Caleb and Joshua trust in God's promises for them.  We learned that the Israelites are punished for their lack of faith by wandering in the desert for 40 years.  We talked about how God still provides for his people even when they doubt in him.  What an incredible God we serve!

Social Studies:  This week we studied the pioneers coming to Michigan.  The students enjoy learning about this time in history and have read several great articles about the pioneers travels and challenges while settling in a new land.  We also enjoyed a presentation from the Outdoor Discovery Center on Native Americans and the French Voyagers.  We even threw hatchets like the Native Americans/Voyagers may have done in some of their games.  I have posted many pictures on smugmug for you to enjoy!

Upcoming Events:

• We will be making tetrahedron kites the final week of school.  If you are able to volunteer to help with the kite project on June 1 or June 4 (or both!) from 8:45-10:45 please email Lynae at lstielstra@hollandchristian.org so we can plan on you.  Each child will need 10 sheets of tissue paper for this project. Many students still need to bring this item in to school.  
• June 2- Field day in the afternoon
• June 5- Last day.  11:30 dismissal time

May 15

Tulip Time picture have been posted on the blog under the smugmug site.  Feel free to check those sweet kids out!  

Curriculum Highlights this Week:

Math:  We have begun our final unit of the year dealing with fractions.  This week we learned that fractions are made up of equal parts, what the numerator and denominator mean, how to find fractions with different denominators on a number line, and what equivalent fractions are.  This is a tough concept, but we are doing great as long as we continue to draw pictures of what we are working on so we can visually see the fractions we are dealing with.

 

Bible:  This week we looked at the covenant the Israelites made with God.  We focused on each of the commandments this week and how God gives us these to help us live a life that draws us closer to Him.  We saw how quickly the Israelites forgot this covenant and worshipped the Golden Calf instead.  Moses punishes them for their disobedience and God forgives his people.  What an incredible God we serve!

Our Bible Memory is Romans 8: 38-39.  This is new to the class so reviewing at home would be helpful.  

Social Studies:  We have been studying the French explorers and their journey into the Great Lakes region.  We looked at the goods the French traded with the Native Americans and the importance of the trading posts. We then saw how the British came and took over the land.  The students are loving this unit....to the point where they are acting it out on the playground during their recesses!  It makes me smile!

Reading:  We have been working on our biography unit.  Your child is reading about a person that they chose to study.  We are learning all about our subjects and the tie period they lived in along with the decisions that they made and the challenges that they faced.  They are enjoying this unit especially as they are finding out that many of their subjects are overlapping and lived during the same time periods.

Writing:  We are working on our last writing unit of the year-personal essays.  Your child last week learned how to identify a big idea and support that with real life examples.  They also learned how to create their opinion statement (thesis) and support it with short stories from their own life.  They have been working very hard on this.

Upcoming Events:

• Discovery Test:  The Math section will be given on Monday morning and the Reading section will be given on Wednesday morning. 
• Native American Voyagers:  Hemmlock Crossings will be coming to our school on Tuesday morning to do a lot of activities with our class dealing with our Social Studies unit.  This should be a very fun morning!  Dress your child for the weather as we will be outside for much of our morning.
• Girls on the Run:  They are holding a bake sale after school on Monday.
• Monday, May 25- No School.  Memorial Day
• Tetrahedron Kites:  The final week of school we will be making tetrahedron kites to conclude our Math units.  A detailed letter went home in the homework folders on Friday.  We are asking for volunteers on Monday, June 1 and Thursday, June 4 to help with this project.  If you are able to help with one or both dates, please email Lynae at lstielstra@hollandchristian.org.   Each child will need to bring a small package of colored tissue paper (8-10) sheets which they may bring into school at any time.  
• June 5:  Last day.  Dismissal at 11:30. 

What a beautiful weekend it has been.  We hope that you have been able to enjoy time outside with your family.

Reading: This week in reading we are working through our mystery series book clubs.  Your children are just reading machines as they are reading so efficiently.  They love having their discussions each morning about what new clues they have discovered in their reading.  As a celebration to end our books clubs, I told them that we would eat pancakes during literacy next Monday.  We have been reading Nate the Great and in every book he eats a big stack of pancakes after solving his mystery. Our next unit will be our last reading unit on Biographies.

Writing:  This week we finished our faith writing and our post informational writing assessment. Today the kids compared their pre unit assessment writing and their post and they were amazed at the growth they saw in their writing.  It was so sweet to listen to them talk about their successes.  On Monday we will start with our last writing unit on Personal Essays.

Word Work: no words next week due to Tulip Time.

Bible:  This week we continued to look at how God is leading Moses and the Israelites through the wilderness.  We see how God provides for his people by giving them manna and quail to eat and providing them with good water to drink.  We see how God gives Moses helpers to win the battle against the Amalekites.  We are beginning to study the 10 commandments and how God desires for us to live a life that is pleasing to him. 

Math:  We have continued to work at finding the area and perimeter of shapes.  This week we focused a lot on story problems dealing with finding the area, perimeter, and side length.  This is challenging math and we spent a lot of time on this!   As a class we decided that we needed Friday for an extra review day so our test will now be on Monday.  Several students asked for review pages to take home as well.  These are not required homework but your child will earn rock stars from me if they return them.

Social Studies:  We continued to be historians as we looked the legends that the Ojibway tribe would share that we passed down from generation to generation.  The kids loved hearing these legends and talking about the meanings that were in them.  We will begin to look at the first explorers to Michigan next week.

This week we will send home a list of our classroom parade line up so that you will be able to easily spot your child.

May 6, -  No Holland Public Bus PM

May 6, 7 and 9 - Tulip Time
May 25 - No School, Memorial Day

May 27 - Moving up Day for 2nd to 3rd Grade, visiting day

June 2 -  SS - PR Field Day ( in the afternoon at South Side )

June 5 -  1/2 Day of School ( Last Day of School )

Important Tulip Time Announcements:

There will be no HPS busing at 11:30AM Wednesday or Thursday. HPS will be busing, however, to school both mornings, as usual. HC transportation will provide busing as usual for its students, including at 11:30 on Wednesday. 

The Kinderparade is scheduled for Thursday, May 7.  All 3rd & 4th grade students will march in costume and good walking shoes (no wooden shoes).

                ·             3rd and 4th grade students who will be staying at school for the Kinderparade will need to                     bring a sack lunch that day.  No hot lunch will be provided.

                ·             Parents are welcome to come to Pine Ridge at noon to help dress your child in his/her                           costume.

                ·             Holland Public School Transportation will transport Pine Ridge and South Side  students to                     the Tulip Time parade on Thursday.  

                ·             Please be prompt in picking up your child at the end of the parade route (at the Fire Station                  on 11^th ); parent or high school age child to pick up your child, please.

For each child’s security, please wait until the children come to a stop and are moved out of the parade traffic, and be sure to notify your child’s teacher that you have your child so we can be sure that the right person picks up each student.

If Wednesday’s parade is canceled due to weather (as announced on WHTC, 1450AM), we will still dismiss at 11:30AM.  If Thursday’s parade is postponed due to weather, we will still dismiss Thursday at 11:30, and all normal transportation will be provided.  And we will follow the same Thursday parade day schedule on Friday, May 8.