Noticias 2D
Queridos Padres,

I trust that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! It is hard to believe that we are already counting down the days until Christmas. The next few weeks will fly by and be filled with excitement in our classroom. I pray that we’ll stay focused on Christ as the center of all of this holiday fun!

Huge thanks to Erin Bremmer, our amazing room-mom for preparing a great back to school with Pizza Party to celebrate that they won a letter, these guys are working amazing!

Finally, I am attaching the letter from our director of immersion with very important news about a new addalingua project-based assessment; please read carefully and please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for your continued prayers for unity throughout this year! 

Blessings,


Hilda Durán

This Week:
Bible Memory Verse: Luke 2 Due Date: December 18
Bible: This week we are beginning our Christmas unit. We will begin by learning about Zechariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist. Then we will learn about Gabriel’s visit to Mary. Thank you for working on the long Luke 2 Bible memory verse at home!
Reading: This week we’ll learn about how to use resources such as dictionaries, other texts and friends to find out the meaning of new words as we read. In our shared literature selection we’ll work on making inferences about the text.
Writing: We will continue with our realistic fiction unit and will work on creating plots that are engaging yet realistic. This is always challenging. 
Math: This week we will identify 2D and 3D shapes
Science: This week students will start 2 Science Unit titled, What Does It

Matter? Answering questions by themselves and as a group discussing the best answer.

“Housekeeping” Items:
Christmas giving opportunity: Thanks for helping out with Beacon Ministries. I will send the hard copy letter tomorrow Monday. Also here is the link, https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1d4YRQ3HpiHbOvUrMVElyDGay-6vrDDz_
Please bring items in by Monday, Dec. 20 as I will be dropping them off then.
Secret Santa Cards: This Friday your child will bring home a half sheet of paper explaining a secret santa Christmas card exchange we will do at our Christmas party on Dec. 20. Your child will have almost 2 weeks to work on this, but please read it through as it should be completed at home. Thanks!
December 4-6 Hearing/Vision Screening - Hearing: K, 2nd, 4th                            December 10 Elementary Christmas Musical- 7:00 p.m. – Community RC 
December 13 No PM Busing
December 16, 18 Jingle Jogs
December 17 Middle School Christmas Concert 7:00 p.m. – ZCS Gym 
December 19 All School Chapel - 9:00 a.m.
Dec. 23 – Jan. 3 Christmas Vacation

Dear Spanish Immersion families~

I am excited to share with you some information about a new addalingua project-based assessment. The Cultural competency, Academic alignment & Spanish language Assessment (CASA) is designed to measure students’ progress toward the three goals of immersion education. We are excited at ZCS to be able to pilot this new project-based assessment program-wide.

While the format of the CASA is similar to the aalpa, these new assessments bring more attention to cultural competency goals and student reflection.

What’s similar to the aalpa:

• three tasks (interpretive, interpersonal, presentational)
• timeline for completion
• feedback loops to give students opportunities to set goals for themselves
• helps teachers see how students authentically use Spanish language skills

What’s different from the aalpa:

• deeper focus on cultural competency
• greater emphasis on student reflection
• topics tied to identity development and global empathy
• new, interactive online learning platform

Our Spanish immersion teachers have spent the past few weeks being trained in how to administer the assessment and are excited to be able to work through this project with their students in the time between December 2 and Christmas Break. addalingua will, in some cases, be observing and collecting feedback to inform future development. It is an honor for us to be able to speak into the development of these assessments, and it will result in a final product that is tailored to the needs of addalingua schools such as ZCS.

Because this assessment spans several days, and each day builds on the previous days, it is important that students be present as much as possible during the assessment periods. We know that sickness is unavoidable at times, but we do ask that if your child must leave for an appointment that you avoid the following times listed here by your child’s teacher.

•    Monday, December 3-16-2019

We value your partnership in the education of our students and are excited to be piloting yet another element that will improve the quality of immersion education here at ZCS!

Thank you,

Jodi Pierce and the immersion team

       Noticias 2D

Queridos Padres,

This newsletter will cover information for this full week and our short two day week before Thanksgiving break.

I love Thanksgiving because of how intentional everyone is about giving thanks. According to the psalms, coming to God with thanksgiving for everything should be more of a lifestyle than a holiday. My prayer is that we will be able to carry our thanksgivings far beyond this special day and that we’ll diligently practice giving thanks in all things. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead and a great time with family and friends over the long weekend.  ¡Feliz Dia de Acción de Gracias!

THANKS !! A big shout out to all who have collaborated in the purchase of the shirts we have sold 32! Please help us meet our goal class of 40. Extra donations will be accepted as well. Feel free to spread the news on Social Media as well as by word or email to family & friends! If every 2nd-grade class sells 40 we will cover Ralph’s Christian School tuition for one whole year!

Here is the link!! Feel free to pass link along!
https://goodink.com/zcs-kid-created-19-4

Thanks for your continued prayers for unity throughout this year! 

Blessings,

Hilda Durán

This Week:
Bible Memory Verse: Mateo 5:43-44 Due Date: November 22
Bible: We will learn more about The Sermon which offers Jesus’ sayings as verbal icons through which we may see into God’s will and be empowered for the moral life.
Literature Selection : ¿Pavo para la Cena de Gracias? ¡No gracias!
Phonics: grammatical morphemes: los morfemas flexivos (según persona: infinitivos) Poem: Invitación
Reading: This week our reading focus will be fluency. We’ll talk about reading good-fit books, practicing high-frequency words and changing our reading speed depending on the text.
Writing: We will continue with our realistic fiction unit and will work on creating plots that are engaging yet realistic. This is always challenging!.

Math: They have gone to the market to buy fruits and vegetables and they have added and paid with the change that you have sent them! It has been a fun adventure. This week we will continue shopping and take the test.☺
Science: We had a lot of fun looking for the best solutions to avoid flooding on our local beaches. The students created models and talked with their group to find better ways to withstand the tests of rain and strong winds. Finally, they will create a poster to better explain their solutions. I can see future engineers in action in this group of students, very proud of all of them, tireless workers. After that, we will start a new Unit called What Does it Matter?

“Housekeeping” Items:
November 26:Thanksgiving food drive: In this time of giving, ZCS is going to bless His Harvest Stand, a local food pantry, with cereal and peanut butter. Encourage your child to choose a favorite box of cereal or jar of peanut butter at the store, and bring it to school by Tuesday, Nov. 26. A table will be set up in the front hallway for dropoff or have your child bring it to their classroom. Please help us fill the shelves of His Harvest Stand!
November 26: All School Chapel - 9:00 a.m 
November 27-29: Thanksgiving Vacation

      Noticias 2D
Queridos Padres, 

What a fun week we had last week with a publishing party, a field trip, and Día de los Deportes! For this reason, I want to thank everyone for making learning so much fun, but especially Lindsey Iverson for sending delicious sweets to our party. Also thanks to our chaperones Joe Helms, Andy Spears, Mike Zwagerman, Beth Vanderhyde, and Julie Phillips.

Our fundraiser for Ralph is up and running!! We will be selling t-shirts until November 22. They will be delivered to ZCS by Christmas so they will make great gifts! Adult shirts are $16 & kid shirts are $15. Extra donations will be accepted as well. Feel free to spread the news on Social Media as well as by word or email to family & friends! If every 2nd-grade class sells 40 we will cover Ralph’s Christian School tuition for one whole year!
Here is the link!! Feel free to pass link along!

https://goodink.com/zcs-kid-created-19-4

Thanks for your continued prayers for unity throughout this year!

Blessings, 

Hilda Durán

This Week:
Bible Memory Verse: Most of them did awesomely! Thanks for your help at home. Our next Verse is Mateo 5:43-44 Due Date: November 22
Bible: We will learn more about The Sermon which offers Jesus’ sayings as verbal icons through which we may see into God’s will and be empowered for the moral life.
Literature Selection: Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso, horroroso. (Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day)
Phonics: Grammatical morphemes: los pronombres enclíticos (con dos pronombres: dámelo
Poem: Teresa
Reading: This week we’ll learn about story sequencing and story mapping with our shared reading text. We will also revisit previous strategies such as making connections, predictions, and mental images.

Writing: Realistic Fiction Unit. We have started this new unit by making a list of real problems in the life of an 8-year-old kid.
Math: We are applying concepts and strategies to real-world situations, and solving 2 digit addition problems. Later this week we will add 3 digits using different strategies.
Science: During this week students will discuss how we could engineer ways to slow/prevent the changes we have been noticing on the Earth’s surface.

“Housekeeping” Items:
Math-coins: Could you please send some coins to make learning more real for children now that we start shopping at the salon market? 4 of 25cts, 10 of 10cts. 20 of 5cts. 20 of 1ct.
Report-card: Your child’s report card will be coming to you in printed version soon! You will notice a new format as we have been in the process of a “Report Card Overhaul!” If you have any questions please let me know! In the future, parents will view this new report card only online.

November 14: ZCS Legacy Event at Holland Civic Center @ 6:00pm
November 26:: Thanksgiving food drive: In this time of giving, ZCS is going to bless His Harvest Stand, a local food pantry, with cereal and peanut butter. Encourage your child to choose a favorite box of cereal or jar of peanut butter at the store, and bring it to school by Tuesday, Nov. 26. A table will be set up in the front hallway for dropoff or have your child bring it to their classroom. Please help us fill the shelves of His Harvest Stand! 

November 26: All School Chapel - 9:00 a.m

November 27-29: Thanksgiving Vacation

      Noticias 2D
Queridos Padres,

Grandparents’ Day was a major success! It was so fun meeting all the amazing grandparents and grand friends that I’ve heard and read stories about. What a beautiful thing to see faith shared from one generation to the next. Pictures are posted on Facebook.

Thanks for your continued prayers for unity throughout this year! 

Blessings,
Hilda Durán 

This Week:
Bible Memory Verse: The Lord’s Prayer Due Date: November 13
Bible: We spent more time on Jesus’ teachings than expected, so now we’ll start The Sermon on the Mount. It seems filled with stringent laws. The Sermon offers Jesus’ sayings as verbal icons through which we may see into God’s will and be empowered for the moral life.
Literature Selection: Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso, horroroso. (Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day)
Phonics: Grammatical morphemes: los pronombres enclíticos (con un pronombre: te, se, me, le, les, lo, los, la, las, nos) Ex. Voy a comprar una manzana. = Voy a comprarla.
Poem: Los amigos
Reading: This week we’ll learn about story sequencing and story mapping with our shared reading text. We will also revisit previous strategies such as making connections, predictions, and mental images.
Writing: After our Publishing Party on Wednesday, we will move to Realistic Fiction Unit. Good writers get ready to write by thinking about problems from their own lives and listing them.
Math: We are applying concepts and strategies to real-world situations, and solving 2 digit addition problems.

Science: During this week students will discuss how we could engineer ways to slow/prevent the changes we have been noticing on the Earth’s surface?

“Housekeeping” Items:

T-shirt Project for Ralph: After working hard as a class we have our

design. Yay!!

Stay tuned for order details! These would make perfect Christmas gifts!

November 4: Sporty Day! They won a letter! Time to celebrate their hard work.

November 6: Publishing Party #2

November 6: Water Plant Field Trip.

November 7: No PM Busing.

November 7: School Picture Retakes

November 8: No AM or PM Busing

November 14: ZCS Legacy Event at Holland Civic Center 6:oopm

November 26: All School Chapel - 9:00 a.m

November 27-29: Thanksgiving Vacation

Immersion 101 Parent Meeting

Join us to learn more about the ZCS approach to immersion education! We will meet in the media center on Tuesday, November 5 at 7:00pm. The focus of the meeting will appeal most to lower elementary parents but all are welcome. We encourage each Kindergarten family to have at least one adult attend this meeting.

       Noticias 2D

Queridos Padres,

I want to say a huge ‘thank you!’ to all of you for coming out to conferences last week. It was such a blessing to meet with you. Thank you for your support, encouragement, and prayers; it means so much to me. What an absolute gift and privilege it is to partner with you in the lives of your children. Thank you for sharing them with me; they are a JOY and I love each one of them!

I hope you all enjoyed extra time with your kids last weekend. My time in CEA was meaningful and full of a lot of nice memories.

This is an exciting week ahead with family groups and Grandparents' day. 

Thanks for your continued prayers for unity throughout this year!

Blessings,

Hilda Duran

This Week:
Bible Memory Verse: Lord’s Prayer Due Date: November 13
Bible: We will continue learning from Jesus how to pray to our Great Father God.

Literature Selection: Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso, horroroso. (Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day)
Phonics: Grammatical morphemes: los morfemas flexivos (letters that generally correspond to the masculine and feminine words)
Wall Words: ellos, yarda, zapato, nuestro, nadie
Poem: El río
Reading: This week we’ll learn about story sequencing and story mapping with our shared reading text. We will also revisit previous strategies such as making connections, predictions, and mental images.
Writing: We are finishing up this writing unit by working on revising and editing with partners. Our goal is to publish books that are easy for readers to understand.
Math: Students understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones. Also, we are using some great Apps for more practice.
Science: Students will present their research about different habitats. Then we will move to the last cycle of this science unit. Our focus question will be How do wind and water change the shape of the earth?

“Housekeeping” Items:
Note from the office: 
“There are approximately 23,660 food-insecure families in Ottawa County. Ottawa Food is an organization that has created a Find Food database that helps users search by zip code or date to find food resources available within the county. You can find more information on food pantries and other food resources HERE.”
T-shirt Project for Ralph: After working hard as a class we have our
design. Yay!! Stay tuned on order details! These would make perfect Christmas gifts!
November 1: Grandparents’ Day. Please tell grandparents (or grand- friends, great-aunts, etc. if your child doesn’t have any grandparents that can make it) because they won’t want to miss it!
November 6: Publishing Party #2
November 6: Water Plant Field Trip.
November 7: No PM Busing.
November 7: School Picture Retakes
November 8: No AM or PM Busing
November 14: ZCS Legacy Event at Holland Civic Center @ 6:oopm 
November 26: All School Chapel - 9:00 a.m
November 27-29: Thanksgiving Vacation

     Noticias 2D

Queridos Padres, 

Zeeland Christian has a sister school in the Philippines, Grace Community  Christian School. Every grade has an opportunity to sponsor a child from GCCS to cover his/her tuition costs. Our friend this year is Ralph. With the help of Good Ink in Holland, we will work to create a custom t-shirt to sell. Throughout the next few weeks we will work on brainstorming ideas, acting as scientists as we make observations about what makes a good t-shirt, narrow down ideas, pitch our idea to the class with a friend, and eventually choose one. We will practice working together, communicating well, sharing our ideas, and using empathy. The kids are SO pumped about this new opportunity and it is amazing to see their enthusiasm!

Our Driving Question: Can we design a t-shirt to sell to adults and kids that shares what we believe about God in order to raise money for our friend Ralph?

Thanks to Tonya Westerbeke for sending delicious treats to the classroom! 

This newsletter will cover information for this week AND the next short week!

Thanks for your continued prayers for safety, and unity throughout this year!

Blessings, 

Hilda Durán

This Week:
Bible Memory Verse: Malachi 3:1 Due Date: October 18 
Bible: The Lord’s Prayer. We will study every part of the Lord’s prayer and each child will write it in his/her own words. Look for these in the hallway soon! 
Literature Selection: Un caso grave de rayas (A bad case of stripes) 
Phonics: Morfemas flexivos según el números. Students will determine when add, "s", "es", and "ces" to singular nouns to make them plural.
Wall Words: todos, juegos, algunos, veces, ustedes.
Poem: El Señor Metetes
Reading: This week we will continue working on making predictions from the text. We will also learn to go back in the text and use specific parts of it check our predictions. In our shared reading we are going to work on questioning, specifically on asking deeper questions about the heart of the story.
Writing: This unit is powerful because the students begin to evaluate their own stories and recognize that it is important to focus on details such as spelling, finger spaces between words, etc. We are also going to learn to write for an audience.
Math: Students successfully took their first mat test. We have already started our second unit of place value.
Science: Students are becoming more aware of how Michigan looks in maps. This week we will make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. Focus question: Why do we see only certain plants and animals at only certain times/places? and Investigation question: What can we find on a walk?

“Housekeeping” Items

October 14: Parent-Teacher Conference Reservation System
http://www.zcs.org/parents/
October 14: Conference Feedback Sheet: If you would take a minute to fill it out and send it tomorrow. I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
October 18: Día de las Rayas, next week Friday come to school covered in stripes! We will have fun celebrating our shared literature book. You can be covered head to toe or just wear a striped shirt or pants.
October 21 & 22: Parent Teacher Conferences-Evening-School in session 
October 23-25: No School-PD & CEA Convention for teachers
November 1: Grandparent’s Day will be on Friday, November 1. Your child will bring home invitations for his/her grandparents on Friday. 
November 6: Water Treatment Plant Field Trip
November 7: No PM Busing, Picture Retakes
November 8: No AM or PM Busing
November 14: ZCS Legacy Event at Holland Civic Center @ 6:00pm

Noticias 2D

Queridos Padres, 

I am grateful for our never-changing Jesus as we learn about his kingdom message in Bible class! We admire who he was as we study his life and are encouraged to know he is still as faithful, firm, and compassionate today.

A huge GRACIAS goes out to Brittany VanHuis  & Jill Hamm for providing us with amazing treats and juice boxes for our publishing party with Maestra Schrotenboer 3er grade classroom. We appreciate it so much!

Also, thanks for sending your child with their Pjs & stuffed animals last week! We had a blast celebrating our first won letter! 

Thanks for your continued prayers for safety, and unity throughout this year! 

Blessings, 

Hilda Durán 

This Week:

Bible Memory Verse: Psalm 105:4-6 Due Date: October 17

Bible: This week we will focus on the time between the Old Testament times and the New Testament times as people waited for the Messiah. We will learn about the promised Savior and the beginning of Greek rule, the Greek and Roman impact, as well as the Pharisees and Sadducees.  

Literature Selection: Un caso grave de las rayas

Phonics: los consonantes c suave, x, s, z 

Wall Words: fácil, excelente, dicen, gracias, vez

Poem: Zipi-Zape

Reading: This week we will continue working on making predictions from the text. We will also learn to go back to the text and use specific parts of it check our predictions. In our shared reading, we are going to work on questioning, specifically on asking deeper questions about the heart of the story.

Writing: We have begun a new unit called “Writing for Readers”. This unit is powerful because the students begin to evaluate their own stories and recognize that it is important to focus on details such as spelling, finger spaces between words, etc. We are also going to learn to write for an audience this week.

Math: Students are working hard solving word problems using different strategies. This is a complex compare problems. Although the problem uses the word menos, children need to add to solve the problem. The greater number is the unknown. 

We took the Spring Delta Math Screener last week. If you would like to see your child's results, please send an email to Maria Klompmaker (mklompmaker@zcs.org). 

Science: Our science classroom will be different this year. You’ll see engaging classroom experiences with your children asking more questions, exploring and discussing possible solutions, investigating science concepts, using argumentation, and being fully active in the learning process. 

This approach mirrors real-world science practices and deeply engages students in the learning process. There are no right or wrong answers, just some things that didn’t work. There is no textbook. Students will be expected to maintain a science notebook almost daily to use for reference. Students will write, draw, and orally report their findings for each lesson. Students will work cooperatively to find solutions to real-world problems.  This style of inquiry-based teaching makes learning meaningful and memorable for children. Please ask your child to share with you his or her projects and discoveries, frequently. All assessments will be project-based and will be scored using a rubric. Student report cards will reflect class participation, assignments, and performance assessment tasks. 
During this week students will respond to the focus question: What is the purpose of maps? & investigation question: Why do Michiganders use their hands to show where they live?

“Housekeeping” Items:

October 9: Teacher Conference Reservation System http://www.zcs.org/parents/ 

October 10: Conference Feedback Sheet: In your child’s mail today you will find a questionnaire that will help me as I prepare for conferences. If you would take a minute to fill it out and send it in by Friday, Oct.10, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!

October 11: All school chapel at 9:00 am

October 11: NO PM Busing 

October 21 & 22: Parent Teacher Conferences-Evening-School in session

October 23-25: No School-PD & CEA Convention for teachers