We had a lot of fun on this all school field trip. We're learned about the history and science of paper-making, the paper industry's impact on Wisconsin and our lives, and how the paper industry is changing today. The students really enjoyed the hands on exhibits, paper-making activity, and science experiments. The student's would tell you their favorite part of the day was the pizza buffet at Stevie B's for lunch. Your children definitely got their money's worth and hopefully no is sick when they go home. I'm guessing most of you will not have to make much for supper tonight. Be sure to check the Picture Archives section of this site to see some newly added pictures.
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I was happy to see so many parents at the Silent Auction yesterday. The event was a huge success. We believe we raised about $5200! Thanks for all the help and support. If you have any ideas or suggestions for next year, let me know. We're thankful for all the hard work done by the parent committee and other additional volunteers!
*The version that we are singing for Advent can be found at
http://online.nph.net/p-4963-behold-a-branch-is-growing.aspx. Click on “Audio Sample (MP3)” if your child would benefit from listening to the song for memorization help. You can also go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlA_7WY9zNk Your child has a list of TumbleBooks that they can access at home on the Internet. There are about 30 titles that they can read and and test on at school. We'll also be adding more tests to accompany TumbleBooks soon. If your child reads these at home, remind them to watch the text while listening to the book.
The Brown County Library has CD's for many of the Accelerated Reader titles we have available for testing. Some students are reluctant readers or may be in a slump. If that's the case for your child, the following books might be an option. any A to Z mystery (26 titles) any Percy Jackson/Olympians book 39 Clues (1-10) Charlie Bone (1-5) any Diary of a Wimpy Kid any Chronicles of Narnia many, many others by authors like Gary Paulsen, Jerry Spinelli, Beverly Cleary, Sharon Creech, Kate diCamillo, etc. *If your child is interested in a particular book I can do a search for them to see if the CD is available. Let me know if you need assistance in that way. The options are too numerous to list here. If I were to ask the students what they collectively did that would count up to that number, they might guess clean up the floor, straighten their desks, fill out assignment books, or run laps, etc. :) However, it's something much more interesting than that! That is the number of words our class read in Accelerated Reader alone this quarter. It's pretty exciting to think we read that many words in addition to the text found in our other classes. Keep encouraging your child to read every night and please sign their card. They are not required to have their card signed, but it is a great way to keep everyone on track. Students are more likely to make reading a daily habit if they are being held accountable some way and can see a chart of what they have done.
Some good questions were asked at conference this past week. I wanted a list a few below since other parents might have the same questions. Hopefully I can offer a more detailed answer here than what we can cover in a 15 minute visit as well.
Why do we keep church attendance? The first place I would start with answering this question is by reminding you to read the form that went home in the report card envelope. This details our philosophy of why our school stresses the importance of regular worship. Please note that we do not record church attendanc on your child's permanent record nor do we keep it on file. The only record is in your Friday folder and in the quarter reports. The form in your folder is a way for your to track the worship opportunities available at St. John and to compare it to your family's worship practices. At the end of each quarter you will have the opportunity to reflect on whether or not your family could improve their worship/Bible study habits. We talk often in my class about how we can find more opportunities to study God's Word and pray. I also like for my class to know that even though I teach God's Word daily that I have plenty of improvements to make myself. One thing that I share is how often I forgot to pray and thank God when things in my life are going well. It seems so easy to remember to turn to Him when we are stressed or feeling overwhelmed by this world's troubles. However, I have a long way to go in remembering to reflect on my life and thanking God for all of the many blessings he has given me and my family. Another area where we all could improve is how often we study God's Word in our home. Family devotions are a great way to come together around God's Word. Can we find 5-10 minutes to give God each day? Of course we can and we should strive to make it a priority. This is an area that has been largely neglected in the Bunn household in the past. Lately we've been trying The Young Learner's Bible Storybook: 52 Stories with Over 100 Activities. At this point, I'm unsure of how much my son remembers or learns from these stories, but we are establishing a pattern of regularly listening to God's Word and learning the pattern of prayer. See me if you'd like some ideas for family devotions books. I've even picked up a few good titles from Scholastic in past years! Another question: Why does my child struggle with non-fiction books in Accelerated Reader? The simple answer to this question is that they are harder. It is a rare child that can read/listen to a list of facts and recall them all. Non-fiction selections do not have stories with characters, setting, and plots all woven together to support one another. Non-fiction is usually just a book on a topic with explanations or lists of facts about that topic. There is a lot of information in those books and students should read them differently than they would fiction titles. Currently, we are working on how to read non-fiction with our weekly National Geographic for Kids lessons. Last week, we read an article about animals who live in extreme environments and the unique adaptations they need to survive in those situations. We use before, during, and after reading strategies to read these articles. Another neat feature with Nat.'s Geo. for Kids is that it has a lot of ways to incorporate technology into the lessons. (The interactive white board lessons have really made me want a device like a SmartBoard, but I've figured out a way to adapt them to our current technology resources.) Your child's Christ Light lessons also teach non-fiction reading strategies since we emphasize that our Bible lessons are not just stories, but the truths of God's Word. Again, we employ many before, during, and after reading stratgies when studying God's Word as well. We had perfect attendance for parents at conference this quarter! Thank you for your commitment to building a positive family/school relationship! I am thankful for the success each student has experienced this quarter. God has certainly blessed everyone's efforts and it is my prayer that the rest of the year continues as it has started.
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