31 de octubre - 4 de noviembre

 ¡Hola Familias!

What an incredible week we've had together! I don't know about you, but I am trying to soak in every moment of sunshine and sunny weather--can you believe it's early November already?! What a blessing it has been this week to enjoy God's creation and engage in lots of outdoor learning together! Plus, we welcomed our new goat friends, los chivos Rosie and Parker to our school this week!

This week we read the book Last Stop on Market Street, or Última Parada en la Calle Market, which is the Lakeshore Little Read book for this fall. Today on our trip to Hemlock Crossing, we did a "story walk" through the book and engaged with the world around us to find beauty. If you are interested in reading more about the Little Read or hearing more about events in the area, please check out this website. There is also a FREE Strike Time Dance Theater performance of the book at Herrick Library tomorrow morning at 10am!

This week we also had the opportunity to receive visitors from the Children's Advocacy Center who talked to us about how our bodies are special and belong only to us. Your child came home yesterday with some information for you and a bookmark with reminders of our "body safety rules". Over the next 3 weeks, we will also engage in 3 mini-lessons to reinforce what your child has learned. When you receive the worksheets, feel free to go over them with your child and talk about what he/she is learning. Let me know if you have any questions about this!

Here is some more information about what we've been doing this week...

Reading / Lectura: We have been learning the syllables with p: pa, pe, pi, po, pu (this always elicits lots of giggles from the kids ;)). We are working on identifying, reading, and counting the syllables in words. 

Writing / Escritura: This week we started learning vocabulary for la ropa, or clothing. In conjunction with this, we've started transitioning into writing mini-books called libros de listas, or books of lists. 

Math / Matemáticas: This week we focused on seeing numbers 6-10 as a 5 plus more (like in a ten frame). We did some fun activities outside to reinforce this concept, including counting bellotas (acorns) and tracing our hands. 

Bible / Biblia: We finished learning about José this week and how he forgave his brothers when they returned to Egypt--just like God forgives us when we return to Him. We also started learning about the life of Moisés, who was saved by his mother when she put him in una canasta in the river. More to come next week!

Science / Ciencias: We started a new unit this week about motion and practiced the vocabulary empujar y jalar (push and pull) in different contexts, including on the playground equipment!

Immersion Tip of the Week

Typically for a new vocabulary word to "stick", students learning a new language need to hear it between 40 and 60 times. When the word is repeated across different contexts (e.g. in reading and math), it's more likely that the child will remember the word. In our classroom, we are constantly reviewing and practicing our vocabulary in different ways; for example, through a song, with an action, or using a visual cue.

Reading Tip of the Week

When your child is starting to read books on his/her own (book bags coming soon!), remind them to follow along with their eyes and fingers. Ask them to match pictures with the words in the books!

SI Field Trip: November 18

We are looking ahead to Thanksgiving and we are planning a special time for all our immersion students to gather together again at Wendt Park and celebrate with empanadas (a typical hispanic sweet bread) and hot chocolate. We have a local bakery that is willing to accommodate our large order and make them fresh for us. Would you be willing to send in $2 per student to help us cover the cost of this by Wednesday, November 16 at the latest? We are excited to share this cultural food with our students as we reflect on the meaning of this United States celebration. At this time we can only plan on empanadas for students, however we welcome you to join us on the 18th of November as we raise our voices in Thanksgiving to God for his faithfulness during a time of worship in the park! More details to come later.

SI Christmas Concert: Save the Date

WHAT? Yes! It's almost time for la Navidad! Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 13th for our annual SI Christmas Concert!

Library Volunteers

Our wonderful librarian Mary is looking for a few helping hands.  She has a few short term and long term library projects that can be worked on either at home or at school.  If you have some time, and would like to help, please let Carla or Laura know in the office.  

SHARE IN THE FARMING FUN

We’re so grateful to partner with you in loving your child and providing intentional experiences to grow every aspect of their development: spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual. Raising animals affords the whole child MANY benefits! Take a peek at this short article which scratches the surface in outlining the benefits for our child. Our staff has been researching and dreaming of innovative ways your child will be impacted by life in our mini-ranch! We’re so grateful to our generous community for supporting this dream and making it a reality! Your child will be trained in caring for our furry friends (we’ll call this doing the barn chores). If your family would like to participate in the barn chores during the evening and weekend, you’re invited to sign up to be a ‘farmer for a week’. I’ll send you our training video but truly this will be a leadership opportunity for your child to teach your family how to care for the animals and keep the chores tended to in the evening and weekend. If you’d like to sign up, the basic need is checking in on the animals on Saturday and even on Sunday to ensure their fed, have clean water and clean bedding. Any evening chores is a bonus! Once we have a rhythm with Rosie and Parker, we’ll add our three egg-laying hens!

If your family would like to sign up to be a farmer for a week we’d love to have you join us! (and, no worries, you will receive a simple training video from me prior to your chores!).

NEW KIDS ON OUR BLOCK!

One of the greatest joys of planning learning experiences for our children is witnessing their awe and wonder at the beauty God reveals throughout creation! We can’t WAIT to introduce ranch life to your child’s learning experiences this month! On November 10 you’re invited to celebrate our Hootenanny with us (the corporate world would better know this as a ribbon cutting ceremony) as we thank our community in opening our barn! If the weather cooperates, we’ll gather around the barn at 2:30 to kick up some fun and welcome our goats, Rosie and Parker, to their new home! Bring your own lawn chair and join us if you’re able!

Whew! That is a lot of information! Thank you for reading up to this point! :) Enjoy lots of pictures from our fun week below.