April 30
What a beautiful day to go outside for PE today!  Playing Oct-o-Ball was a great time for the Friday kids.  Many of our kids hadn't ever gotten the opportunity to play this fun game because it is very popular at recess.  For the 1st - 3rd class we split into boys and girls to make it more equitable.  The question was posed..."is there any science to this game?"  Minds were stretched to use strategy by using force and inertia and watch the opportunity to ricochet the ball.  We connected the lesson with Multi-Cultural Studies by recognizing that hand-ball is highly popular in Europe.  
 
For Music class we are finally visiting the "Continent of Western Origins," Europe. Our kids did a great job of forming a chamber choir and singing in their best voices to Ode to Joy, the anthem of Europe.  Several recognized a picture of it's composer, Ludwig van Beethoven.  In particular we visited the country of Poland.  If your child says, "dobranoc" to you at bedtime, don't worry, it means "good-night."  And, if you treat the kids soon ask them to say thank-you in Polish.  ("Dzien dobry"  (jayn do bray)  Then we learned the Polka and danced in circles around the room.  Toes were literally stepped on but we had zero injurys and alot of fun!
 
Chapel today was the last time this year we met in our Pebbles & Stones group. We read verses together with Mr. Nichol and were challenged to be people who stay focused and put the Lord first.  "Blessed is the man who put's his trust in the Lord."  And our main verse for today, Psalm 40:5 says, "Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done.  The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them they would be too many to declare."  We broke into our small groups to worship in song together.  Our songs reflected on our Indescribable God.   Finally time was spent journaling and praying together in classrooms.

Spanish:  Every year I include two videos in my class and we had our second one today.  We watch a video a Central America.  We did a craft from Panama that the Kuna Indians still do to this day.

Computer - The students worked on using Word today by creating columned lists.  They also worked on typing skills.  If they use the computer at home, please encourage them to use the correct finger placement.  This will help them when they need to work on it at school.

Social Studies - We finished our Egyptian games and also talked about Kenya. We made an African game that is common in several countries, called Mancala.  Next week we will start looking at our last continent for the year, Europe.

Art:  Students in 1st-3rd gr. drew animals on watercolor paper, then I taught them several watercolor resist techniques using rubber cement, salt, crayons, and tape.  Students will end up with a beautiful original watercolor painting.

4th-6th graders started printmaking.  We drew animals in an environment, then decided which parts would be carved out, becoming negative space and which parts would stay raised.  The raised part is the part that will print.
Students learned vocabulary terms; printing block, carving tools, printing inks and brayers.   We will begin printing next week!

April 23
It was a beautiful morning for PE outside today!  The students were great about remembering shoes to run Cross-Country. Different from track, X-country runs, uphill, downhill, "over the river and through woods" if necessary.  We remembered how important it is to warm up by stretching first then took off on a jaunt around NPT's property.  The hill to the south was steeper than we thought and challenging - - but, the reward for reaching the top was an easier run down!  And, even tho we were tired we remembered to stretch again afterward.  A good lesson.  
 
In Music class we reviewed the song formats and music lessons we'll be presenting for the Spring Showcase next Thursday evening.  We'll be "travelling" to South America, Asia, and Africa with some interesting facts, cute songs, and lots of instrumental music (noise!)  'T'will be fun!

Chapel today was a treat as our highschool Chorale group led us in worship songs and performed some of their music ministry.  In particular, we were able to hear and see about their recent trip to Alaska.  Their slide presentation showed the God's awesome creation performed to a beautiful rendition of How Great Thou Art.  Did you know that Alaska is as wide as it is from California to Florida?  And, they have about the population as the city of Grand Rapids' people?  Still there are people there who need to hear of God's love through testimony and music.  And Chorale did just that.  In churches, hospitals, and missions.  One student testified to the impact the trip had on his life by learning that even tho he was in a performing group, he didn't have to sing perfectly.  He realized that what God wants from him, and all of us, is not perfect pitch but a voice raised in worship and praise.  And, when given the talent of music we can bless others by using it to serve Him.  A fun "rap" song was learned quickly by all of us about "going gun ho for Jesus."  As we repeated it faster and faster each time we really got "going gun ho" for sure! 

Computer - the younger students finished their country presentations and also worked on typing practice. The older kids looked up facts about Egypt and practiced typing.

Social Studies - We talked today about Egypt, past and present.  We made hieroglyphic posters and an ancient Egyptian game.  A reminder that if you could collect egg cartons and send them in next week, we will be using them for a project next Friday.

Today both art classes colored landscape glue designs that we made on black paper last week.  We used warm colors in the sky or land and cool colors in the land or sky.  And, we added a white highlight to the land and sky.  Also, we prepared our art for the spring arts showcase this Thursday night!!!  Each student will have at least 3-5 pieces of art in the show.  These may be brought home at the end of the night!

March 26
Today  in PE class we first talked about some of the sports kids play in Africa.  We stretched our muscles and warmed up as necessary for "copy-cat" calesthentics.  There were some interesting movements and some very interesting attempts to copy-cat!  Kickball was the sport we worked on and we kept score, too!  Congratulations to all the kids for showing good sportsmanship and congratulating the winning team members.

In Music today we went to Africa.  We learned about why it's called the dark continent and about it's music and dance traditions.  We even sang a song counting to ten in Swahili.  Then off on an African Safari compliments of a Power Point presentation.  We had an African band of different drums and rattles while others chose a theme to dance to.  Dancing for rain, hunting, and war, were favorites.  A craft was sent home for each one to complete for our next clas.s.  A Maasi Warrior Mask for the guys and Stick Puppets for the gals.   Also, a web site was referenced on the lesson plan to view and play a MBIRA or thumb piano popular in Africa.  

Pebbles and Stones groups were held today for Chapel.  Mr. Nickel reminded us of temptation and how best to handle it.  Even Jesus was tempted to not do the thing God wanted.  If he'd listened to Satan we'd not have the gift of Salvation!  And, we can be assured of God's help when we choose to do the right thing.  We sang worship songs to our classes where students worked on their individual journals.  Then in groups we discussed different temptations the kids have........"playing video games when I'm not supposed to,"........."eating candy mom doesn't want me to,"........"pushing and shoving on the playground," and such.  There was agreement that it's always better for us to listen to God and His prompting.
 
Art - 1st-3rd and 4th-6th graders learned how to draw trees of different sizes.  They placed their trees in the foreground, middle ground and background of their landscapes and colored the trees solid brown with oil pastels.  They also learned about contour lines and warm and cool colors.  They used contour lines to make different patterns in each hill with cool colors and used warm colored contour lines to make the sunset. They made more beautiful art work this week!
*a few of the older kids added more detail to their 2pt. perspective cities.  These are looking very realistic!
Have a great spring break!
Nora Faber