Friday News for Week of November 17-20th

Happy Friday!

It was a short but great week at OCSI. We started full elementary practices for the Christmas Program in the gym with K-5th grade students. The students are excited to share with you the songs they have been working on very hard.

This Week:

Reading: Our theme was “Making connections to what we are reading.” We read several books and thought about how this book shares something in our life. We read a book about a student who was having a bad day and we all agreed we’ve all had bad days. On Friday we read “If You Take a Mouse to School.” We made connections about how we go to school and share similar things with the story. It is important for good readers to make connections to the books they are reading.

Math: On Monday, we did math centers. One group of students measured their height with a tape measure. Other groups used base 10 blocks and geoboards to explore shapes. The last group played domino top-it. The students had fun exploring different aspects of math together. For the rest of the week we learned telling time to the quarter hour as well as time-lines. Just like a number line, we can use a timeline to map out days, weeks, and years!

Bible: We are continuing to follow the Israelites as they follow God out of Egypt. God gave them his plans for a place to worship God called the Tabernacle. The Israelites will continue to follow God into the promised land he is giving them.

Next Week:

Only 2 days next week!

No Homework

No Spelling Words

No Bible Memory Verse

Tuesday 11/24 is Harvest Day

11/25-11/27 No School - Thanksgiving Break

Christmas Program Practice:

11/30: K-5th grade students will travel to Yomitan Cultural Center to practice for Christmas Program.

12/1: Practice at school

12/2: K-5th grade students practice at Yomitan Cultural Center. Students all need HOME LUNCH お弁当

7:00pm is Program. Please have students at the hall no later than 6:30. They should be dressed up. Please come excited to see your child perform the Christmas Story!

Friday News for Week of November 9-13

Happy Friday!

Tomorrow is Walkathon!! Are you all ready? Here are some details to remember:

Wear comfortable clothes and be ready in case of rain!

Please arrive between 8-9am and go to the cafeteria and find me! I will give you your number and tell you some more details. After that, you can go to the soccer field to wait for 9am and to start.

K-2nd graders can take the bus (if they want) to Checkpoint 6 and start walking from there. Parents please stay with your children!

When you arrive back to school there will be some fun games and bouncy houses for you to enjoy.

Looking forward to a great day!

This Week:

Reading: Our focus for the week was “Tune into Interesting Words.” We started off the week with reading Fancy Nancy. Talk about interesting words! She uses so many fancy words like “fushia” and “stupendous.” We used some fun post-it tape to mark the fun words that we found. The whole week, when the students were reading by themselves and they found an interesting word, they could go get the tape and stick it on the page where they found and interesting word. On Friday, we wrote down the interesting words in our journal. We also wrote some on our word wall. The students did amazing finding new words. That will make them be better readers and writers!

Math: We continued measuring with inches this week. Instead of using a straight ruler, we also learned how to measure curved surfaces with a tape measure. The students had fun measuring each other’s heads and arms, as well as walking around the room and measuring different objects.

Bible: Pharaoh has finally said, “GO!” after the last and worst plague, the death of the first born son. The Israelites have to now trust God with which way to go. God never fails them. When there is huge sea in front of them, he divides the water in half so they can walk through to the other side. When they don’t have food, he gives them food and water. Now, God has given the Israelites the 10 Commandments - or rules for them to follow and so obey God with. The 10 Commandments are still applicable for us today and a very good standard for us to live by as we joyful follow after God!

Walkathon Door Decorating Contest - On Monday we decorated our door! The winning class received ice cream so we worked hard. We didn’t win but doesn’t our door look great? We are excited for Walkathon!

Science - We are learning the life cycle of an ant. Ants are very facinating creatures! We find them all over the place - even in our houses! There life cycle is more similar to a butterfly’s then a chickens. We watched several videos, learned the ant body parts and the life cycle this week.

Upcoming Events:
November 14th - Walkathon!

November 16th - No school! OCSI Holiday

November 21st - PTF Holiday Fair

November 24th- Harvest Day - A little note should have been sent home today! Harvest Day is a fun day for only 1st and 2nd grade students where they get to visit the other classes and learn about American Thanksgiving. This day is also pie day so we will eat pie together.

November 25-27 Thanksgiving Holiday

December 2nd - Christmas Program - early dismissal for students. Christmas Program at 7pm. Students should arrive at the hall by 6:30.

Friday News for week of Nov2-6

Happy Friday!

Recap of the week:

Reading: Our strategy was “Mental Image.” It is important to make pictures and images in your head while you are reading. Kind of like a movie in your head. We read several funny poems from Shel Silverstein and tried to imagine it in our head. We also read “Gruffalo” to imagine what he looked like. On Friday, we read a funny poem called “My Neighbor’s Dog is Purple.” We listened to half of the poem and drew a picture of what we saw in our head. Then we finished the poem and found out it was an alligator! So funny!

Writing: We introduced Dialogue this week. I modeled writing a story where the characters talk to each other. The students also tried it in their own writing times. I know they will grow up to be good and creative writers!

Math: This week our theme was “Measuring.” We started by measuring thermometers. It was a little tricky because the lines of a thermometer are not always clear. So we had to practice counting by 2’s and 10’s. Then then went on to use our bodies to measure things around the room but we all realized, our feet are not all the same size! We learned about the standard way to measure with a “foot.” We also learned about measuring to an “inch” today. It’s a little confusing but we will practice more with it later.

Bible: We started the amazing story of Moses! The Israelites are living in Egypt but have been treated as slaves since the Pharaoh that knew Joseph died. The Pharaoh began killing the baby Israelite boys. One mom wanted to protect her baby so placed in him a basket and put him in the Nile river. Soon, the Pharaoh’s daughter found the basket and decided to keep the baby and named him Moses. Moses was an Israelite but grew up in Pharaoh’s house like an Egyptian. When he grew up, he saw how his people were treated, did some not so good thing and then ran away to Midian. There, God spoke to him through a burning bush and told Moses to go back to Egypt and to free the Israelites. Pharaoh had a hard heart and would not let them go! God did 10 plagues to show the Egyptians how powerful God is and to change Pharaoh’s mind, but it didn’t work, until the last one, the worst one, the death of all first born sons, including Pharaoh’s own son… It’s incredible to see how God used even a man like Moses to work out his amazing plan!

God's Story: Moses from Crossroads Kids' Club on Vimeo.

Science: Life cycle of a butterfly was exciting to learn about! Here are 2 videos we watched in class:

Next Week:

Spelling Words: long   king   ring   long   sung   sink   wink   bunk   on   but

Bible Memory: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son And anyone who believes in Him can have eternal life." John 3:16 - (This is the verse in the song the 1st graders are singing for the Christmas program!

Upcoming Events:
November 14th - Walkathon!

You don’t want to miss out on Walkthon! It’s a fun day where students and parents can walk and raise money for the school! Make sure to submit your permission slip and money in soon!

November 16th - No school! OCSI Holiday

November 21st - PTF Holiday Fair

November 24th- Harvest Day - more information later

November 25-27 Thanksgiving Holiday

December 2nd - Christmas Program - early dismissal for students. Christmas Program at 7pm. Students should arrive at the hall by 6:30. More information sent out next Friday in the Friday Folders!