Weekly News and Homework

Language Arts: We will practice our speech meet verses and poems, celebrate the alphabet, continue working on our Rosie’s Walk books, sing songs, read many books as a class, in small groups, in pairs, and individually, read and write our new sight words (out, pretty, ate), write in our journals, continue our literacy center rotations, and more!!

Math:  This week we will continue working on addition facts.  We will count by 1s, 5s, and10s to 100, work with our number of the day (Spanish, tally marks, addition and subtraction problems, etc.), and read various graphs.  We will also practice writing numbers 1-30 by creating an April calendar. 

Bible: This week’s Bible story is called The Good Shepherd.  We will sing along with Wee Sing Bible Songs and Wee Sing More Bible Songs, recite, discuss, and illustrate Psalm 100:5a, and pray together every day.   

Science, Social Studies, Art, and Misc: This month’s themes are conservation, oceans, and Easter.  We are also keeping an eye on our tadpoles and chrysalis.  We might even get a visit from some ducklings this week!  We will continue to do our team jobs, attend art class, music class, library, computer lab, and PE, explore the classroom during choice time, and more!!!

We have a sharing time every Friday.

 

Upcoming Events:

Monday, March 31^st: Character Trait Chapel, 2:25-2:55, Join us!

Wednesday, April 2^nd: Kindergarten Speech Meet, 1:30 in the Auditorium

Friday, April 4^th: Family Roots Project Due

Monday, April 7^th-Wednesday, April 9^th: Accreditation Team on TLCS Campus

Friday, April 11^th: Jog-a-Thon (our jog time is 8:45-8:55 in the gym)

April 18^th-April 25^th: No School

 

This Week’s Homework:

The following assignments should be completed by Friday:

1.     Family Roots Project (instructions and supplies were sent home last Thursday)

2.     Practice your verse or short poem for the Kindergarten Speech Meet.

3.     2-3 choices from our monthly family activity calendar.

4.     Sight word practice! 

5.     Ten minutes (or more!) of reading every night with a parent, guardian, or older sibling, etc.  I’m sure your child would love to read the book in his or her small manila folder to you!  Sight words are fun to read together, too.  Reading together every night is VERY important.  Let’s work together to develop a love of books and reading in our children!

School library books are due every Wednesday morning.

 

Sight Words

Here are our new sight words for April:

pretty	out	well	white	on
ate	must	went	no	that

 

Here are the sight words from September-March:

I	big	we	can	in
it	like	up	a	find
see	two	not	go	to
red	have	name	is	make
play	too	are	run	for
blue	you	jump	this	do
he	away	new	has	funny
who	look	yellow	four	with
come	say	and	one	are
what	help	soon	little	down
here	was	ran	she	three
my	all	am	me	yes
but	where	did	so	please

 

Please continue to practice reading sight words with your child every night.  

Accreditation FAQs (from Meg Imel)

What is accreditation?

Accreditation is a voluntary process where a school that commits to striving for excellence agrees to an ongoing review to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of the organization and the quality of instruction.

 

What accrediting agencies are we working with?

We are seeking a dual accreditation with Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

 

Did you know?

As part of the initial accreditation process, we had a one-day visit from WASC in November 2013.  As of February 10, 2014, we were awarded a three-year initial accreditation term from WASC!

So, yes, we are already WASC accredited!  But, our April accreditation will include ACSI, the Christian accrediting organization, and will most likely give us a six- year term.

 

Is this TLCS’s first time in seeking accreditation?

Yes.  Accreditation wasn’t as critical before adding the middle school.

 

Why does TLCS need to be accredited?

Receiving accreditation is like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.  It tells our families and the greater community that we strive for excellence and we do what we say we do.

 

Who is involved in the accreditation process?

The entire faculty is involved in the writing and editing of the complete document.  Other staff members (office staff, aides, CW workers), parents, and students play a role as well.

 

What is involved in the accreditation process?

The TLCS faculty has been working on this accreditation for almost six years. 

·         In 2008-2009 we revised the mission, vision, core values, and philosophy of education statements. 

·         In 2009-2010 teachers worked on their Christian Philosophy of Education courses for ACSI.

·         In 2010-2011 we worked on creating curriculum maps.

·         In 2011-2012 we began researching and drafting our accreditation document.

·         In 2012-2013 we drafted, surveyed parents, revised and adopted our Expected School-wide Learning Results (ESLRs)

·         In 2013-2014 we are hosting our ACSI/WASC accreditation team!

 

What is the School Improvement Plan?

In each of the Standards (Philosophy, Governance, Home & School Community, Personnel, Instruction, Library & Media, Crisis Planning, Facility, and Character Development) we wrote a number of strengths and areas of improvement.  From these, the faculty chose five major areas of weakness that became our continuous school improvement plan (CSIP).  These areas of improvement were well-aligned with the suggested areas of improvement from the WASC visit.  Our improvement goals that we’ll be addressing over the next several years include teacher training for differentiated instruction, assessment evaluation to guide instruction, professional development linked to student learning, technology plan to support learning objectives, and a school-wide biblically based conflict resolution plan.

 

How long does the accreditation term last?

Generally, an accreditation term is good for six years and usually comes with a mid-term review by the accrediting agency.

 

What should the parents and students expect when the accreditation team visits?

·         There will be a five woman team on campus from Sunday, April 6^th through Wednesday, April 9^th. 

·         They will be wearing accreditation team tags. 

·         Their goal is to confirm our report. 

·         They will visit classrooms, recesses, chapels, and Cross Walk. 

·         They will interview parents, students, teachers, aides, and CW workers.

 

Please smile and welcome our team!

Important Homework Update

Happy Z Week!

We have officially made it through the entire alphabet!!  Next week we will have an ABC celebration week.  After that we will focus on consonant blends (sh, ch, th, etc).

So...say goodbye to your child's handwriting and phonics books, because you won't see them again until we send them home at the end of the year :).  

Our homework for the next couple months will vary from week to week.  This will help your child prepare for first grade (and beyond).  As always, I will post weekly news and homework on our blog and send home everything you need in your child's folder.  If you have any questions about anything, just ask!

Today I am sending home a family roots project.  It is due next Friday (or earlier).  This should be a fun project for you to complete with your child.  You will find everything you need (instructions and construction paper) in your child's folder.

Thank you so much for your continued support!!

PS- Reminder: Tomorrow is Career Day!

Weekly News and Homework

Language Arts: We will practice our speech meet verses and poems, learn about and practice writing Z words, sing songs, read many books as a class, in small groups, in pairs, and individually, continue to read and write our sight words (where, did, so, please), write in our journals, make and learn to read Z books, continue our literacy center rotations, and more!!

Math:  This week we will continue working on addition facts.  We will also count by 1s, 5s, and10s to 100, work with our number of the day (Spanish, tally marks, addition and subtraction problems, etc.), and read various graphs. 

Bible: This week’s Bible story is called Jesus Heals the Sick.  We will sing along with Wee Sing Bible Songs and Wee Sing More Bible Songs, recite, discuss, and illustrate Psalm 100:4b, and pray together every day.   

Science, Social Studies, Art, and Misc: This month’s themes are Dr. Seuss, Read Across America, St. Patrick’s Day, Farm Animals, and Spring.  We will continue to do our team jobs, attend art class, music class, library, computer lab, and PE, explore the classroom during choice time, and more!!!

We have a sharing time every Friday.

 

Upcoming Events:

Friday, March 28^th: TLCS Spirit Day—Career Day!!**

Friday, March 28^th: End of Third Quarter

Monday, March 31^st: Character Trait Chapel, 2:25-2:55, Join us!

Wednesday, April 2^nd: Speech Meet, 1:30 in the Auditorium

** Career Day: Please let me know if you would like to talk to the Vomvokids about your job this Friday at center time, 10:30-11:30.  You would talk to groups of 4-5 students about your job for 15 minutes (x4) for a total of 1 hour.  Thanks!

 

 

This Week’s Homework:

The following assignments should be completed by Friday:

1.     Phonics page for the letter of the week- Zz

2.     Handwriting page for the letter of the week- Zz

3.    Practice your verse or short poem for the Kindergarten Speech Meet.

4.     2-3 choices from our monthly family activity calendar.

5.     Sight word practice! 

6.     Ten minutes (or more!) of reading every night with a parent, guardian, or older sibling, etc.  I’m sure your child would love to read the book in his or her small manila folder to you!  Sight words are fun to read together, too.  Reading together every night is VERY important.  Let’s work together to develop a love of books and reading in our children!

School library books are due every Wednesday morning.