Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Monday, March 30, 2015

Friday, March 27, 2015

Friday News for Week of April 23-27

This week:

Reading: Our theme for the week was fables. Fables are stories that teach a moral or lesson. We usually hear them as Aesop’s fables. This week we read The Spider and the Beehive, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Little Red Hen, The Ugly Duckling and The Fox and the Stork. The students loved listening to the stories and were able to pick out the problem, solution, and lesson we can learn. We also realized how the lesson in each of these fables was something the Bible taught about as well. Wow!

Writing: This week we wrote some more poetry! We started with a color poem and also wrote an -ing poem. The students did great! We will continue that unit next week. 

Math: We finally learned about the dollar! We reviewed the money to make sure we understood it and practiced counting with dollar bills. Each of the students also received their own dollar bill (fake of course)! We then moved on to place value in the hundreds and ended with a fun lesson buying two things and adding up the total. The students got to practice being a store person and shopping at the store for a part of their Fun Friday. This is good practice for Kid City!










Bible: Wow, we have had a great time in Bible this week learning about the few days before Jesus’ death. We are learning that they were so sad! Jesus’ disciples abandoned him, he was beat and made fun of - the amazing thing was he didn’t have to do that! But he did - for US! Next week we will continue with the death of Jesus on the cross and the super happy ending to this sad story!

Reading Campaign Assembly: On Tuesday, we had an all elementary assembly to introduce the new Reading Campaign. Some parents and teachers came out dressed funny and did a dance about reading! Sunday concludes the first theme of “Around the World.” Next week will be “Sports.” Make sure to read a book with your family and email to ptf@ocsi.org or upload it to the PTF facebook page!

Special Read Aloud: Mrs. Bezner came to read us a beautiful book on Thursday: Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. It is a cinderella story set in Africa. Thanks for reading to us Mrs. Bezner!

Next Week: 
Last week before Spring Break!

Spelling: that   what   this   with   which   then   when   white   where   path   put   each down

Bible Memory: “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” Matthew 28:6a

April 3 - No School - Beginning of Spring Break
April 13 - School starts back
April 17 - Family Reading Night - 6:30pm. Come and do fun activities together with your family. 
April 24 - Elementary Field Day
April 27-29 Terra Nova Standardized Testing
April 29 - Kid City

Kid City
Enjoy a day in Kid City working, shopping, and having fun!
April 29, 2015
12:15-2:45
With much joyful anticipation Kid City will be continued this year after a successful run last year! It will be a small model community town with a store, hospital, pharmacy, bank, and other places where students can practice being consumers and producers.  Students will be given a task card full of tasks to complete and work to be done.  Students will also be getting "paid" for working at their "job" and will be given a "paycheck" to use to purchase goods and services.  Classes have already begun working on new vocabulary and verbal communication skills.  This is a great opportunity for students to experience everyday math, social responsibility, and oral language skills and have fun at the same time.  


After spring break, we will send out more information. But for now, know that we need lots of parent help, as well as donations for snacks. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

3rd Quarter Report Card

The 3rd Quarter Report Card went home yesterday. You may take and keep everything inside the blue envelope. Please sign your name on the 3rd quarter slot and send the blue envelope back to school. Please email me if you have any questions!

Homework Checklist and Other News


The Scholastic Book Orders went home on Friday. If you would like to order, you can do so online here: http://world-schools.scholastic.co.uk/okinawa-christian-school-intl
or by returning the order form with US Dollars - by APRIL 2nd.

Family Reading Campaign starts today! Make sure to read a book with the theme "Around the World" and take a picture with your family and email it to ptf@ocsi.org or upload it to the PTF Facebook page.


Friday, March 20, 2015

Friday News for Week of March 16-20

This week:

Wow! What a crazy week! We had a very NOT normal week in 1.1, but it was a FANTASTIC week!

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Kindergarten, first, and second graders got to take part on an amazing program called Kid’s Club put on by the MS and HS students for a part of their M-term week. Every day, we met together for an opening ceremony, then separated into music, games, Bible story, and crafts. Over the three days, we learned some pretty cool things about God. We learned that God says, 1. I am with you. 2. I care about you. 3. I will save you. 

Music: We learned some pretty fun songs! See if you can remember the motions!







Games: We played 4 corners, tag, and capture the flag

Bible Story: We heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how they were thrown into a furnace for worshipping God and not bowing down to an idol. We also heard the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. The final day we learned the story of how Jesus died for our sins and then 3 days later rose again. 

Crafts: We colored a picture of the three guys in the fire, made a comfort pillow, and shaded a cross. 




Thank you Kid Club team for an amazing week!
Some students even got to perform one of the songs infront of all the HS and MS students!


Mrs. Harris’s last day:
Today was the last day Mrs. Harris will be with us in the classroom. She has finished her requirements for practicing teaching to become a teacher. We enjoyed having her in the classroom and we will miss her! Blessings to you as you go on to have a classroom of your own someday.



Writing: We started a new writing unit of information and research writing. We started with writing “All About Something.” We picked a friend in our class and “interviewed” them to write all about them: what they look like, what they like, about their family, etc. We are working up to writing a research paper about a favorite animal. 

Math: We finished Unit 7 this week with review about telling time to the 5 minutes, place value of ones, tens, and hundreds, symmetry, and 3D shapes. 

We won the ICE CREAM PARTY!! Thank you to everyone that sent food in for the Okinawa Food Bank to provide food for families in need. 






Next Week:

Spelling Words: took, food, foot, soon, play, class, fly, glad, pray, dress, trust, frame, smile, stop, sleep, snack, wish, shape, much, child

Bible Verse: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Mark 11:9b

NO SCHOOL MARCH 23 - Teacher Development Day
March 24 - Reading Emphasis Week Kick off 2:30pm in the cafeteria. All parents are invited!

Reading Emphasis for the week - Around the World. Read a book with your family and send the photo to PTF by email or on Facebook. You will be entered in a drawing for a prize. 

April 3 - No School - Beginning of Spring Break
April 13 - School starts back

April 17 - Family Reading Night - 6:30pm. Come and do fun activities together with your family. 

Monday, March 16, 2015

Homework Checklist and Food Drive

Happy Monday!

Here is the Homework Checklist for the week:


OCSI is also hosting a Food Drive for the week. If you have any rice(米), canned foods(カンの食べ物), or non-perishable foods(非生鮮食品) that you don't need anymore, but are still within the expiration date, consider donating it for people who need it. 

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Friday News (On Sunday - sorry!)

Here's a note from Mrs. Harris from her week of teaching in 1.1:

This week has been great; I have learned a lot from the students. We have studied the Psalms, Proverbs as well as reflected on David and Saul.  The students pay attention to everything.  On Wednesday one of the students asked me what was the temperature of the body.  I don't even know where the question came from, but I told the student that our body is at a constant temperature of 98.5.  So, I asked them why is our body so hot.  One student raised his hand and when I called on him to answer he said, "Because our body does not have a window".  I laughed so hard because I had never heard that one before. I always expected something new that I had not heard before in this class, and they always delivered.  I had a great time with them.

The week began with having to give them substance for their learning.  I brought in the sales papers and the magazines because I tried to come up with things that they use everyday to introduce polygons.  So we identified what a polygon was, cut out polygons, and glued them into their journals.  They also were told to draw at least 3 polygons on their bookmarks.  

For Reading strategies we learned the stretchy snake, the chunky monkey, their elephant ears, and fishy lips to help pronounce and try new words with the information that they already have.  We placed them in our journals as-well-as posted on the whiteboard are some clues to helping write.  We discussed, that they should always use a capital letter at the beginning, amongst three other things.  Our writing assignment was to write three sentences about their favorite season as a writing/science project.  

Culture Fair was awesome.  The students were so excited to visit their siblings classrooms.  They were excited about the culture fair as well.  

With much love and thanks,
Mrs. Harris


Next Week: 

Spelling Words: wish  child  she  push  shape  check shell  much  fish  chips  been  now

Bible Memory: “The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?” Psalm 27:1b

March 23rd - No School. Teacher Development Day

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Important Information and Homework Checklist

  • Please send the Culture Fair Passport back to school by tomorrow!!!
  • Friday is HOME lunch for everyone!!!!



Sunday, March 8, 2015

Did You See Chip? Reader's Theater


Did You See Chip 1 from Sarah Turner on Vimeo.

Did You See Chip 2 from Sarah Turner on Vimeo.

Did you See Chip 3 from Sarah Turner on Vimeo.

Fry's 1000 Words

At the Student-Led Conference, many parents asked about the Fry's 100 words that we are working through in 1st grade. I am attaching the first 500 words and a link to the next 500 if you would like to practice them at home. Also, if you want to know what number your child is on, please let me know and I will tell you.





and scroll down to: Fry 1000 Instant Words: Flashcards and Wordlists

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Friday News for Week of March 3-5

Happy Friday after a short week! 

Thank you to all the mom’s and dad’s who helped out at the Bazaar the past few weeks and for the ones who came out on Saturday to help with the Okinawa Soba booth. Thank you also to the families who stopped by to buy some Soba and to say hi. We had 400 bowls of Soba and we sold out of all of it by 3pm! It was so fun to work with you for the day.
1st grade booth!
Ms. Turner and Ms. Guiles are ready to work!

This week we only had 3 days but they are good days filled with lots of learning and PRACTICE for Student-Led Conference.
2.1 came to practice their portfolio's with us!














For Reading and Writing we did Work on Writing and Read to Someone. We are continuing to practice using periods and writing with good sentences that make sense. 

For Math, we started learning about shapes. We used some different coloured shapes to talk about Attributes. Some attributes include size, shape, color, etc. We then practiced with the basic shapes of circle, square, rectangle, and triangle and also made sure to know trapezoid and rhombus. 


Next week we will continue to learn about 3D shapes. If you have any object in your house that are 3D shapes, feel free to send them to school and we will do a Shapes Museum. See what we have now:
What shapes do you see?

Bible: Because we are finished with the story of David and Solomon, we are now looking at some of the Psalms and Proverbs that David and Solomon wrote. We learned about a Psalm of Adoration from Psalm 8. We learned a Psalm of Confession from Psalm 19, as well as a Psalm of Thanksgiving from Psalm 136. 

Next Week: 

Spelling Words (same as last week): star, scat, sleep, skate, space, spell, smile, snack, swim, stop
Bible Memory: “Give thanks to the Lord. for he is good. His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1

Mrs. Harris will be teaching for the whole week. I will be available at school all day, but just not in my classroom. 

March 13th, Friday - Culture Fair: This day, 1st and 2nd grade will take an “in house” field trip up to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms to see their Culture Fair exhibits. This day, all first grade students need a HOME LUNCH! Please make sure to send an obento on this day. 

March 17-19 Kid’s Club - In the morning of the 17th, 18th and 19th, the K-2nd grade students will take part in a Kid’s Club run by the MS and HS students for a part of their M-Term. This is a regular day of school, but with the time before lunch will be spent in Kid’s Club.


March 23rd - No School. Teacher Development Day