St. John's 3-4 Grade Blog

What Do You Thank God For?

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 21:44:00 +0000

We have an email going through the faculty and staff right now, sharing things we are thankful to God for. Here were my thoughts:

Letting me go to heaven one day...sending Jesus to take care of that,
Challenges; opportunities to grow,

My family and friends and coworkers (who, I would also consider friends),
and Twitter.

I'm going to add "my students and their families." I'm not just saying it: I truly am thankful that God has put us in each others lives!

Christmas Party Gifts: Books. Boys buy a book for boys. Girls for girls.$3-5.

Midweek Advent Services start next week Wednesday.

Snow: Bring snow-pants, boots, gloves and hats.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jonathan

End of the (Church) Year 3-4 Note

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 23:47:00 +0000

Christ the King Sunday: This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the very last Sunday in the Church year. We celebrate Jesus Christ as our King here on Earth and also in heaven. Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent.

The Midterm is coming to an end this Friday

Gym Shoes: Students need gym shoes for Phy Ed class on Mondays or they will not be allowed to participate. Please send a pair of gym shoes on Mondays.

Advent Song Service: This is my plug for the SJL Choir's Advent Song Service on Sunday, December 8th at 3:30pm. I'm biased but I think it will be extremely well done and enjoyable.

Children's Christmas Service: Our SJL School Christmas Service is December 16th at 3:00pm

3-4 Classroom Christmas Party: Dec 20th 12:30-2:45pm. Again please purchase a book, $3-5. Boys buy boys books; Carlee and Kaylee...ask each other what you want:) You can send those books to school any day after Thanksgiving. (Last call for Scholastic Book orders. Orders are due Thursday.)

God's Blessings on your weeks!

Jonathan

Snow!

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:48:00 +0000

IT SNOWED! (How your kids feel)

...it snowed.... (How you feel)

Is that accurate?:)

Field Trip Tomorrow: Thanks to Jen Owen and Jen Zimmerman for driving to Lakeside for "Warrior for a Day". We will be leaving at 8:45am and returning by noon. We will eat lunch at St. John's.

Parent Teacher Conference Follow Up: I am working on the things each of us talked about during Parent Teacher Conferences. Please let me know if you see changes, either positively or negatively, and if you have other ideas on how to best serve your kids.

Snow Gear: Send kids dressed for cold weather and snow. Snow pants and boots are necessary to play on snow hills.

Christmas Gift Exchange: We will do a book exchange in 3-4th grade for our Christmas Party. Boys, please purchase a boy book. Girls, please purchase a girl book:) Book orders will be extended till next week Thursday, November 21 if you would like to purchase a book for the exchange that way. The price range should be $3-5.

Space: The Final Frontier: We are finishing up a unit on Outer Space by creating PowerPoint presentations. This is a cross curricular project that will work on Keyboarding and Computer skills, Writing skills, and Science content. I'm looking forward to how these projects turn out!

Second Quarter Mission Offerings are going to the WELS mission to Thailand. We are excited to have a speak visiting us on Monday, November 25.

Eligibility: The midterm is coming up on Friday, November 22. All work needs to be caught up by that day.

5 Weeks till Christmas Break! I love the End Times season of the church year and I like Advent as well. Advent Services are on Wednesdays starting after Thanksgiving. These services are shorter and are a nice close to the day; they are a nice reminder of the "reason for the season!" Love to see you there!

God's Blessings on your weeks!
Jonathan

Weekly Note: Aaron Rodgers Hurt = End of the World

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 00:10:00 +0000

I didn't see it happen. But my Facebook page and twitter timeline instantly filled up with disparaging, end of the world, gloom and doom messages.
We are in the End Times...the End Times of the church year. The next three Sundays are Last Judgment Sunday, Saints Triumphant Sunday and Christ the King Sunday: three Sundays when we can focus on heaven. A much more enjoyable thing to focus on than the Packers right now:) Look forward to seeing you in church these next three Sundays before Thanksgiving and Advent!

Field Trip: Grades 3-4 are taking a field trip to Lakeside next week Wednesday. We will be leaving St. John's at 8:45 and returning by noon. We will be eating hot lunch at St. John's. I need drivers! Please message me if you would like to join us.

Parent Teacher Conferences: I'm excited to meet with all of you this week. I'll be confirming and sending out times tonight. Look for those. I recently co-led a WELS New Teacher Seminar on Parent Teacher Conferences and the biggest take away I heard from the beginning teachers was they all felt nervous meeting with parents! My biggest suggestions for them was 1. build relationships with your parents 2. be prepared and 3. be a good listener. I hope that I do/can do those things for you:)

Mission Offerings: SJL's second quarter mission offerings are going towards the mission in Thailand. Mission offerings are collected on every Monday. Consider asking your kid what they might be willing to give.

A couple of links for you to use:

Classroom Website

Spelling City: http://www.spellingcity.com/jonathanniemi/ We use to take our spelling tests. Also has practice games

St. John's Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/sjlwels Invite your friends and our families to "like" us. More and more SJL social media sites coming down the pipeline.

What other resources are you as parents (and St. John's members) interested in? Parenting sites, educational websites, reproducable worksheets? Let me know!

God's Blessings on your week!
Jonathan

Bill Nye - Outer Space Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 22:00:00 +0000

1. Fill out the K and W sections of your KWLQ (What you already KNOW and what you WANT TO LEARN.)
2. Watch the videos. As you do. Fill out the L and Q sections or the KWLQ (What you LEARNED and what your new QUESTIONS are.)
3. Your KWLQ is due on Wednesday.

Always remember that what God says in the Bible is 100% true. "The Big Bang" and "Millions of year" are incorrect.

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 17:44:00 +0000

1. Watch the video
2. Write what you KNOW about space
3. Write what you WANT TO LEARN about space

Social Media Links

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 03:26:00 +0000

Happy Social Mediaizing! I'd recommend the first three videos if you'd want to get started creating a social media presence. Remember, to just try things until you figure it out. You can't break the internet. Patience is key:)

Facebook Pages: YouTube video on how to create a Facebook page.

Twitter Pages: YouTube video on how to make a Twitter Account

Link Facebook and Twitter: YouTube video on how to link your Facebook Page to a twitter profile: This allows you to just post once on Facebook and it will automatically post to Twitter. This saves time on posting at multiple places.

And the vice versa: YouTube video if you'd prefer to link you Twitter page to your Facebook Page. This allows you to post to twitter first and then the posts will show up on Facebook.

Prezi: This is the link to the Prezi presentation from the conference.

If you have questions please please please let me know and I will try to help asquickly as possible. There is always a learning curve. If you find things that help you, perhaps they will help others too. Feel free to share those as comments on this blog post or just let me know and I can share them too! It's exciting to see so many people interested in sharing their schools and their Lord via social media!

God's blessings on your work!

Jonathan

Wed Wibbon Week

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 02:03:00 +0000

Red Ribbon Week! This week we talked about making smart choices, specifically about using drugs. The theme of this week was, "Jesus Chose Me; I choose..." Send your kids to school tomorrow wearing red!

Field Trip: We are going on a field trip to the Jefferson Museum tomorrow from 10:00-11:00am. We will leave school at 9:45. Anyone is welcome to join.

Community Clean Up is coming up on Monday, October 28th. Kids and adults will be serving our neighbors in the community by raking leaves and cleaning up yards. Remember to send kids to school dressed appropriately for outside work.

Literacy Fair: The Literacy Fair is tomorrow night starting at 6:00. The kids will each be performing a limerick at 6:30. The kids can be dressed casually; it should be a pretty laid back affair:) Come see the wonderful things your kids have done!

Nightly Reading: Some of you have taken to texting me if you were not able to sign the reading log saying your son or daughter read last night. That is perfectly fine. As a matter of fact that is wonderful. The emphasis is to keep kids reading reading reading. It is the number one most important thing (outside of Jesus:)) they can do at this age to help themselves out for the future.

No School on Thursday and Friday as the teachers will all be at Wisconsin Lutheran High School in Milwaukee for the Wisconsin Lutheran State Teacher's Conference. We are all looking forward to growing/learning/being rejuvenated and then applying what we learn back to the classroom.

God's Blessings on your week and your kids extended weekend!

Jonathan

3-4 Note 10-8-13

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 01:34:00 +0000

Testing Week is over! I'm excited to see how the students did when the results come in.

Field Trip: We will be walking to the Jefferson Historical Society Museum on Wednesday, Oct 23. A permission slip will be sent home on Thursday with the rest of our weekly notes and corrected papers. An electronic copy was was attached in an email today.

Jefferson Community Projects: Our Powerpoint projects will be due and done this Friday.

Dr. Ruth Gurgel was kind enough to teach our music class this week. The kids created simple melodies and played rhythms with them to create new music. Thanks to Ruth. Ask your kids about it. (The Youtube book she shared with the kids as part of the lesson)

Our Christlight stories this week are: Jacob and Laban; Jacob Returns home. I encourage you to read the stories with your kids as well as discuss the parent messages on the back with them. You are the first and best teachers for your kids:)

Nightly Reading Reminder: The kids know they need to read every night for at least 30 minutes. (Reading is just so so important to all future successes.) Ask your kids about what they are reading or read to them or with them. Reading logs come home every night and should return to school signed daily.

God's Blessings on your Week,
Jonathan

(P.S) Winter Sports Athletic Meeting: This note is for just the 4th grade parents. There is a mandatory Winter Sports meeting on Tuesday, October 15 at 6:30 (most likely in the cafeteria.) See you there:)

3-4 Note: October 1st

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 20:27:00 +0000

We are testing this week! Kids please get plenty of sleep. Parents you may notice much less homework coming home.

We are tentatively going to take a field trip to the Jefferson Historical Society Museum which is located behind the library. The date and time I am tentatively planning is Wed, Oct 23rd 10:00-11:30am. We would walk down and back. The more the merrier! Come learn about the history of Jefferson.

Box Tops: We will be having a short, sweet Ice Cream Sunday party on this Friday at 2:30 for raising 997 box tops. That is 303 from our stated goal:)

Christlight Lessons should be coming home 2 times per week. Please take the time to go over them with your kids. This week's lessons are "Jacob Deceives Isaac" and "Jacob's Escape and Vision"

God's Blessings on your week!

Jonathan

3-4 Weekly Note 9-24-13

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 19:33:00 +0000

Do you think Isaac hated Abraham? Think about it: God told Abraham to kill his only son Isaac. And Abraham was so close to doing it. He put Isaac on an alter (I wonder if there was a struggle or how a 100 plus year old man could get a 10ish year old boy on an alter) and he had raised his hand to kill his son when God stopped him. My question is, "What was Isaac's relationship with his dad, Abraham afterwards?" I bet you some trust needed to be rebuilt there. This was our Bible lesson this week that your sons and daughters will be bringing home and I've encouraged them to discuss with you. Take the opportunity to talk about your relationships with your kids and with God too!*1

Wear SJL Tie-dyed Shirts Tomorrow! All school activity and presentation at 1:30.

Our Final Poem Project is Due Friday. Students must chose 1 poem to read and also chose one of their own poems (clean and neat copy) to read too. The objective is practicing public speaking.

Community Projects: I had initially said that community projects would be due Friday, but it appears we will need some more time. Students will be creating PowerPoints about the communities they live in. We will be completing these at school, but perhaps you could be good resources for them to get more information.

Next Week is Standardized Testing Week. This means less homework, but more sustained quiet time in the classroom as students all test...we'll see how this trade off works.:) This is the first time 3rd graders will have taken these kinds of tests.

On a lighter note, this video crossed my path and it's just so weird (I love stupid videos) Hope it gets a smile out of you...or at least a head shake and a "man three minutes of my life I won't ever get back!":)

As always, if you have anything please contact me: jniemi@sjlwels.org call or text 920-222-6350

God's Blessings on your week!

Jonathan

*1 I also said that if your son or daughter reads the bible story as part of their 30 minutes of reading, then they only had to read for 25 minutes altogether as an incentive to encourage them to read the lesson and discuss it with you. This deal will be in effect whenever we have a new Bible lesson; most often on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Tuesday 9/17/13...Starting to Feel Like Fall

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 20:46:00 +0000

I thought the kids did a wonderful job singing in church on Sunday. They were loud and full of spirit. Always great to hear kids sing about Jesus!

Eligibility Reports for 4th graders come out next week Tuesday as the 1st Quarter midterm is this Thursday. (Crazy how fast time flies!)

Two Part Memory Treasure: Today was our first two part Memory Treasure of the year: The 2nd Commandment. We will recite all of the 10 Commandments as well as the 3 parts of the Apostle's Creed in multiple days since they are longer. It is up to the students to decide how much they will recite each day. However, I encourage the kids to aim big and take larger chunks on the first day.

Jefferson Community Projects: We have started writing Jefferson Community Projects. We are brainstorming what we already know, asking questions we want to learn, writing first PowerPoint drafts and the revising them for publication. These projects will be due next week Friday.

We are writing poems this week. Look for our compositions soon in the hallway.

We are finishing our Science unit on weather. We watched this video last week.

Half Day Tomorrow; No School on Friday

God's Blessings on your week!
Jonathan

3-4 Weekly Note

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 19:41:00 +0000

It's still hot...

We have visitors this week. Tutor Aaron Goetzinger from Luther Prep in Watertown met with the kids today. Steve Lauber from Lakeside Lutheran will be visiting tomorrow. Gemuetlichkeit King and Queen Tim and Debbie Koehler will be visiting on Friday.

Grades 1-4 Sing in church this Sunday in the 8am service. We will meet at 7:45am in the music room of school.

Reading Logs: Students should get reading logs signed every night by parents to show that they read. I've told the students they should not sign the logs themselves.

Homework: The amount of homework coming home has been slowly picking up as we get into our weekly routines. Please continue to encourage your sons and daughters to complete work on time and to the best of their God given abilities.

I shared this Koine Music Video with the kids this week. Kind of a cool take on a traditional hymn.

I've been very impressed with some of the writing that your kids have been doing this year so far. Stop in soon and check above their lockers to see what they are writing. (Our latest writing project involves creating a disease with illustrations, symptoms and a cure...)

God's Blessings on Your Week!

Jonathan

3-4 Note September 3

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 21:12:00 +0000

What's going on in 3-4th grade?

Grades 1-4 sing in church on Sunday, Sept 15 at 8:00am.

Art Project: We are doing Gemuetlichkeit Days projects. Projects are due Tuesday.

Health: Mr. Cvikel has been doing some cool cool thinks with the kids in Health class Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:35-1:00.

Scholastic Book Orders are due Thursday. The link is here.

30 minutes of reading per night is expected for each student. Parents must initial the logs nightly. (I'll send home Book-It Reading calendars home soon too:))

Chalk Box Kid Projects are in the hall outside our classroom for your viewing. Our first stories are also in the hall above students' lockers.

I hope your Labor Day was relaxing and restful!

God's blessings on your week,

Jonathan

Hot Hot Hot

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 19:28:00 +0000

It's been a little hot hot hot recently.

Thanks for a great start to the 3-4th grade year. I'm seeing lots of positive things going on and hope that many positive comments are coming home. If you have questions, comments, and suggestions, please contact me.

Church Attendance: Church Services are Thursday at 6:30pm and Sunday at 8:00 and 10:30am. Please fill out your church attendance sheets and return to me at the end of the quarter. We sing in church for the first time this year on Sunday, Sept 15 at 8am.

Heat Index: It is hot. Drink and bring water. Stay cool.

We read "The Chalk Box Kid." In it a boy finds a burnt down chalk factory and turns it into his art studio/garden. We created our own gardens today. Look for those on display soon at school and coming home in the coming weeks.

Book Orders are coming home today and are due Thursday, Sept 5. You may also order online here: https://orders.scholastic.com/H2CLB
Scholastic Book Orders can be pricey at times...I suggest frequenting the Jefferson Library. They have many many awesome books. (Students also have 30 minutes of Reading homework each night...find books they want to read:))

God's Blessings,

Jonathan

God's Blessings on Our Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 12:20:00 +0000

This is where you will find weekly notes. You can subscribe to this Classroom blog or receive it as an email, or check back here on Tuesdays to read up on what is happening for the week.

Couple of notes on the year:

School starts at 8:00am, but students may (and I recommend) enter the classroom at 7:45am. Your sons and daughters have a large number of jobs and procedures they need to complete every morning before devotion at 8:15. Arriving before 8:00am helps them finish all these jobs on time.

Communication: jniemi@sjlwels.org 920-222-6350

All school books need to be covered. I have covers for your students, or you may have good ol' paper bags at home too. Please have them covered by Wednesday.

St. John's uses an online grading site called "Endgrade" which allows you as the parent to check in on your child's work regularly. I enter grades on Wednesday evenings. Your password is the same as last year. If you need assistance or a password to be reset contact Zach Cvikel, our Tech Guru.

Mission Money, Lunch money, and all other monies should be brought on Monday.
Our "SOAP" Bible Studies: http://sjlwels.blogspot.com/. You can also find links on our sjlwels.org website.

Our school calendar: sjlwels.org/schoolcalendar

Your child will come home every day with a folder and a planner. Check for these things every day. I will check them every day leaving and returning to school.

I'm sure there are many more procedures and items that we will cover together as the days progress. Thanks for partnering in your son or daughters education and training in God's Word!

Jonathan

Jefferson Flood of 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:03:00 +0000

Read these Jefferson Daily Union Articles, look at the pictures and watch the videos to learn about the Jefferson County Flood of 2008.

http://dailyunion.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=855&SectionID=36&SubSectionID=115&S=1

http://wi.water.usgs.gov/surface-water//flood2008/jefferson/jefferson.html

http://dailyunion.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=110&ArticleID=11980

http://www.thehotrodcompany.com/flood08.htm Photos

http://wi.water.usgs.gov/surface-water//flood2008/pdf/sir20085235_app6A.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GQKuxqo9Gc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebowrMFxTh4

http://wi.water.usgs.gov/surface-water//flood2008/jefferson/pdf/sir20085235_app6D.pdf

http://wi.water.usgs.gov/surface-water//flood2008/pdf/sir20085235_app6B.pdf

3-4 Note Feb 19

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:20:00 +0000

New Students: I'm sad to say that we will not be having two new students join our classroom. It was (literally) a false start.

Book Orders will come home today. Please return them by Tues, Feb 26. You may also order online at http://clubs.scholastic.com/

Church Attendance: Keep filling those church attendance sheets out. Remember we have many Lenten opportunities to worship with added services on Wednesdays at 3:30 and 6:30.

Diligent with Homework: February and March can be some pretty content heavy time periods of the year before Spring Break and the nice weather of April and May make the kids anxious for the end of the school year. Please keep encouraging your children to be diligent in finishing (and finishing well) their daily homework.

Less Homework on Wednesdays: With the Lenten services on Wednesdays I will be sending less homework home on Wednesdays with the idea that that time instead might be used going to church.

Field Trips: ...I've been behind on booking our Field Trips but will hopefully have dates for you soon.

God's Blessings on your Week!

Jonathan

Pitchers and Catchers Report!

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:36:00 +0000

Baseball season officially starts today! Pitchers and catcher report today for camp...kinda excited. Just wanted to share my excitement with you!

Valentines Day: We will be having a small valentines exchange on Thursday from 2:00-2:45. Send enough Valentines for everyone to have one. We have 17 kids. I emailed the list this past Saturday. Personally I'm not a big fan of V-day, but I think it can be used nicely to teach about Jesus' love for us and our love for others.

New Students: We will be welcoming two new students to our classroom next week. One third grader and one fourth grader, both boys from the same family, will be joining us starting next week! Let's welcome them to our classroom and school!

Longish Range Science Project: We have a few longer range projects we will be working on. We started a unit n Science on the human body systems. We will each be pretending to be God and creating/designing the perfect creature (Just like God made Adam and Eve not just "good" but "very good!") We will be showing what we learn throughout the next few weeks in Science. Final projects will consist of a list of characteristics the creation has, a Paragraph giving and overview and describing the creation and a drawing that labels the different parts of the creation. These projects will be worked on in and outside of class and will be due Friday, March 1.

Worship Opportunities: I was very happy to see such awesome church attendance numbers from the 3-4th grade classroom. I truly enjoy saying hi to all the kids and you the parents at church! We have more opportunities starting tomorrow, Wednesday. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and marks the start of the Lenten season. Services are at 3:30 and 6:30 on Wednesdays with a dinner in-between. Love to see you there!

God's Blessings on your week!

Jonathan

3-4th Grade Note 2-5-13

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:47:00 +0000

Giving or Taking: You may have heard give something up for Lent as a way to help focus on Christ and his saving work that he has done for us. Well I'd encourage you to maybe take something up for Lent instead this year. Maybe it's adding a daily devotion with your family. Maybe it's 10 extra minutes of personal bible reading/study. Maybe its telling one person a day about your faith. Whatever you do please feel free to share with me or others to help each other stay accountable and encouraged as we prep for this Lenten season.

Ash Wednesday: Lent starts with Ash Wednesday next week, Feb 13. Services are on Wednesdays at 3:30 and 6:30 with a meal served in the church basement in-between. The 3:30 service was just changed/added this year as another midweek church option for families as we all prepare for Lent, Holy Week and Easter. Love to see all of you on Wednesday afternoon/evenings!

Goal Setting: What do you want your kids to get better at? Easier said than done, yeah? Maybe ask your kids what they want to get better at. Do your kids set goals (Do you set goals?) Challenge them to set a personal life goal and then meet it. I think it is a wonderful thing to see self-motivated and self-driven people, especially when they are kids! Goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Ideas: Exercise, Eating healthy, Athletics, Academics, Social Interactions, Kindness, Spiritual, Self Education...the list can go on and on. Ask your kids if they can set goals. You may be surprised what they want to get better at!

Healthy Snack Week: Bouncing off of goals, it's been great to see so many kids bringing healthier snacks to school this week. Sound bodies help make sound minds!

God's Blessings on your week!

3-4 Note Jan 29 Super Bowl Week!

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:36:00 +0000

A Packers Super Bowl! I had such high hopes/wishes for the Packers coming into this year. Coming off an awesome year last year plus upgrading the defense in their last draft made me think this was another Super Bowl year. My wish/my will was a super bowl victory.

Recently I've been realizing more and more that my will isn't always (or isn't often) God's will. Our classroom hymn last week was "Take My Life and Let it Be." In verse 5 we sing "Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine." That has been one of my prayers over the last two weeks: that my will would run in line with God's perfect will for my life, for the student's lives and for our work together at St. John's. Whatever your wants/wishes/wills are, maybe ask God to make your will his will too!

Specials: The kids are dancing in Phy Ed with Mrs. Hirsch. They are working on different textures in Art with Mr. Schaewe. They are working on typing without looking and also some online antibullying curriculum with Mr. Cvikel. We are just doing boring stuff in Music with me...:)

Buddies: We meet with the 7-8th graders on Friday afternoons. This past Friday we worked on self-control. Check out the video we watched about self-control (Pretty cute!) and then ask your kids how they rated themselves on their self-control. We'd like to keep working on these social and behavioral skills and character traits.

We are making medicines: We are reading the book George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl in which he creates a splendiferous medicine that has a very interesting effect on his Grandma. We are making recipes for our own medicine. The kids seem excited!

I asked one of the 3rd grade boys what else we are doing that is great and good and he said (I quote) "We are learning about God." Awesome.

God's Blessings on your week and your Packerless Super Bowl,

Jonathan

PS: I lost all of your cell phone numbers! If you would text them to me or just let me know somehow that would be wonderful. Thanks 920-222-6350

3-4 Note, Jan 22

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:45:00 +0000

Parent Teacher Conferences are this week. If you'd like a conference please contact me somehow to schedule something. Conferences are not mandatory and hopefully communication is always ongoing back and forth. If you ever have questions/comments please please touch base with me!

We have finished our history unit on how Wisconsin became a state. We are moving into stories of immigration into Wisconsin. Your kids should be coming home asking about your family history and ancestors. If you know the who/where/when's of how your ancestors immigrated to Wisconsin feel free to share some interesting stories with them that they could share with the rest of the class.

Just a quick review of what should be coming home daily (and I'm sure not always does): Kids should bring home their planners and "take home folders" every day. These are the tools we use to get much info home and back to school. If you're not seeing these come home, ask your child about them...they should be coming home daily for you to look at.

I'm proud of how the 4th graders have continued to grow and be awesome classroom leaders and also how the third graders how gotten to the point of being so much more self-sufficient in our classroom. Motivating can be hard for anyone and trying to get kids to be self-motivated...well if you have the key to that let's talk...but I think over that last couple weeks in January the kids as a group seem to get on task a little quicker, get more done and stay on task longer. That's wonderful! Thank you for your partnership in educating your kids!

God's Blessings on your week...Stay warm!
Jonathan

Jan 15 Grade 3-4 Weekly Note

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:34:00 +0000

2 quarters done, 2 to go!

I'm trying to think of things I may be missing in communicating with you, but to me every year it seams like this stretch between Christmas and Lent is just a little quieter. Less stuff going on than in Dec and April and May maybe. But if I'm forgetting anything (which does happen all too often) please let me know and I will get on it asap!

Church Att. Sheets: Keep sending in the 2nd Quarter Church Attendance Sheets and filling out the 3rd quarter sheets.

Pencils: It seams as a class we are low on pencils. Check with your son or daughter. He or she may need some more and I don't think I have anymore on hand.

Field Trips: We will be having I think a large number of field trips in the second half of the school year. Places we would like to/are planning on visiting: The Milton house in Milton in Feb/March, the Hoard Dairy Museum in Fort in March/April, the Kutz Dairy Farm in May, Luther Prep for their children's theatre in May, Old World Wisconsin in May, plus our Madison visit to the Capital and the Children's Museum that needs to be rescheduled. I hope and pray that we will be able to go on all of these trips as we keep learning more about Wisconsin's state history this year.

I'm putting my Christmas presents to great use! Thanks again!

God's bless,
Jonathan

3-4 Weekly Note: Happy Epiphany

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:39:00 +0000

Church Attendance: Please return the 2nd quarter church attendance sheets. The Second quarter is ending this Friday! 3rd quarter church attendance sheets were sent home last week.

Thanks for the Christmas gifts! I think you parents know me a little too well sometimes:) They were very thoughtfilled and also very useful for me. Thank you!

3rd Quarter: The third quarter starts on Monday and the beginning of a quarter is a nice time to get a good jump on grades and then work to keep them up. Encourage your kids to get a good start next week on the 3rd quarter!

Read Read Read! I've said it before, but one of the largest ways you can help your child be successful is to encourage reading! All of your sons and daughters should have received a coupon for a free book from me up to $4 to use in a Scholastic Book order. Book orders are due on Thursday for our January book order, or you may save it till later in the year!

I apologize about the Whoopie Cushion present...sorry:)

God's Blessings,

Jonathan

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Niemi) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:12:00 +0000

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! God's blessings on your 2013!

Church Attendance: New slips will come home Tomorrow. Please turn in the 2nd quarter slips by Monday.

Christmas Party will be this Friday from 12:30ish till 2:45.

Capital Trip has not been rescheduled yet. I might just shoot for nicer weather in April or May, but we will still go.

Keep Reading! Book Orders and Book-It forms are coming home tomorrow. Book Orders should be back in by Thursday, Jan 10.

I pray your break was restful and rejuvenating Mine definitely was! God's blessings on your students second half of the year!

Jonathan