Can you believe it is time to be thinking about the NEXT school year? On Tues-

day, February 24, at 7pm there will be a 2015/2016 Information Night. The Fri-

day Addition board will be revealing class offerings/schedule, sharing some

new changes, and answering questions. You will also hear from 8th-12th grade

teachers as they present information about their classes - what to expect and the

required curriculum that will be used. Speaking about the K-7th program - sev-

eral teachers will give you a glimpse of the enrichment classes for the K-7th

grades. Come out and enjoy an evening of information, interact with the teach-

ers and board, and relax with a bit of fellowship and refreshments. There will

be brochures and handouts to take home that night! The evening is for return-

ing AND new families! So join us and bring a friend!

FROM OUR BOARD FEBRUARY 2015

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

FRIDAY

Feb. 17 Cannonsburg Skiing details p. 2

Feb. 20 Pizza Day

Spirit Day details p. 2

Feb. 24 2015/2016 Information Night

March 20 Market Day/Open House K-7

March 27 Last Day of Classes for K-7

April 3 No 8th-12th Classes

April 10 No 8th-12th Classes

May 15 Last Day of Classes for 8th-12th

an exalting, enriching & equipping experience

Tuesday, February 17th, 10-3pm Cannonsburg Skiing. Cost is $10 per person. Includes lift ticket and rental. See Scrip table for sign-up.

Friday, February 20th-Spirit Day and Kickoff for Cradles of Grace fundraising. Every class will come dressed up as a par-ticular era showing how times have changed. Students are to dress accordingly:

Kindergarten-Bible times

1st Grade-Medieval times

2nd Grade-Pioneer/Western era

3rd Grade-1950's

4th Grade-Colonial/1700's

5th Grade-20's-30's

6th Grade-1970's,

7th Grade-1980's

8-12th Grade-The future 1690 1960

In the weeks to come, the classes will compete to see who can raise the most "Change" for "Cradles of Grace," a local ministry offering hope to young parents who have chosen not to abort their child.

Welcome to February! I imagine that your children have been telling you fantastic stories

about how we have made it rain in the school building and pulled water from the air. We

are continuing to have fun with water. If you are following along in the semester syllabus,

you may note that activities may be coming home on weeks other than those they were

scheduled for because of the missed day of school at the beginning of January. I am mak-

ing some adjustments based on how much we complete each week but have basically ad-

justed for the lost day by doing things a week after they were scheduled.

In preparation for the celebration of Valentines in our class, we have discussed ways in

which we show love to those around us. In their folders this week is a list of the kids’

names for you to use to address class Valentines. I have encouraged the kids to do this

themselves to make them more personal, as well as practice their writing skills. We will be

sharing these on the 13th of February at the end of the day. If your child has brought

home a cute Valentine bear this past week, would you please send it back to school; this is

part of our Valentine box and they were not supposed to take those home this week.

Cont. p. 3

CALENDAR OF EVENTS cont.

BARB BOERSEN—KINDERGARTEN

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In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus calls us to love our neighbor. While we traditionally give to-

kens of love to our family and friends at Valentines, I have asked the kids to remember that Jesus calls us to

love those in need and our enemies (those who don’t like us) as well. Therefore, as part of our Valentine’s

Day celebration, I have asked the children to bring a Valentine for each of their friends and an item to be

given to Holland Rescue Mission to help those who are homeless during these cold winter months. The fol-

lowing items are listed on their website as current needs:

MEN'S MINISTRY CENTER: FAMILY HOPE MINISTRY CENTER:

Long underwear, socks, underwear, Baby wipes, diapers

t-shirts, scrubs Women’s shave cream, deodorant

Bath towels, wash cloths Snacks for Day Care- fresh fruit, animal/graham/goldfish

Liquid multi-symptom cough & crackers

cold medicine (without alcohol) Liquid multi-symptom cough & cold medicine (without

Kleenex alcohol)

50-60 gallon trash bags

Snow shovels ROCK:

Glass cleaner, paper towels, toilet paper Bible theme coloring books

hand soap, shampoo, body wash Disposable 8 oz cups and divided trays for meals

For the month of February please plan to send the following items in for Sharing:

Feb. 6 Anything they want

Feb. 13 Valentines

Feb. 20 Teddy Bear

Feb. 27 A piece of fruit (fruit salad)

Matthew 25:40

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

KINDERGARTEN

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Hello, we are in full swing getting everyone ready to test on February 27. On the 27th

all students will

be demonstrating all of their techniques, forms, weapons’ forms and one-steps. On March 6, we will

be doing board breaking and a belting ceremony. This will all take place during normal class times. Par-

ents are welcome to come and watch during any part of the testing, breaking and belting.

Here is Psalm 23 changed to apply to a martial artist:

Psalm 23 for the Martial Artist

The Lord is my Master I shall not disobey.

He makes me stand firm in a study of forms.

He leads me beside all my techniques.

He restores my training.

He leads me in the path of my training for His namesake.

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the world I will fear no evil for You, my Master,

is with me.

Your armor and hand comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my belt tests.

You anoint my head with application. My understanding runs over.

Surely skill and compassion will follow me all the days of my career and I will dwell in the Studio of the

Lord forever.

BILL CHURCH/JACI KINNER—KARATE

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On February 13th we will be celebrating Valentine’s Day. We will decorate bags in class for collecting Valentine’s cards. Be on the lookout for a class list in your child’s backpack. If your child plans on passing out Valentines, please make sure every child is included. Thank you. Art is one of my favorite times with the kids. They are so creative and fun to watch. The torn paper snowmen they made turned out fabulously. They learned about creating a picture from a different perspective. Some kids really got into tearing paper! It isn’t everyday they are given permission to tear something up on purpose. The kids enjoyed creating Chinese lanterns and Japanese cherry blossom trees to go along with the countries we have been visiting. The trunks and branches of the trees were created by blowing black paint with a straw. After we finish touring Asia by visiting India and Russia, we will travel to our final continent this year. Europe has so many diverse and interesting countries. We will have the opportunity to visit 6 of them, starting with Great Britain and France. The kids are getting to use dominoes, dice, and unifix cubes to practice their subtraction skills. You will have to ask them about Subtraction Bowling! We will spend the last two weeks of February studying shapes. Investigating solids, liquids and gases has been fun! We passed around three balloons: one with air, one with water, and one with ice. They had to match up each balloon with a state of matter. I’m still amazed that not a single balloon broke while being passed and touched by fifteen first graders! Oobleck was another highlight. If you have never experienced this substance, you have got to give it a try. All you need to do is mix cornstarch and water. Helpful hint: Don’t rinse it down the drain!! Pour it into a plastic bag and throw it away. There are still two more experiments to come; then we will take a look at weather. Our days are full and fly by so fast. I hope your child is having as much fun as I am!

CHERYL GORDILLO—1ST GRADE

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BOOK REPORTS: The 7th grade will be writing one book report this semester due March 13. The 8th and high school classes will be writing two reports this semester. They may choose any type of book they wish – fiction or non-fiction. A few reports have already been turned in.

7th Grade – We have started the process of report writing. This involves using source keyword outlines and fused keyword outlines. We will be working through lessons 12 and 13 as we add to our banned word list.

8th Grade – We will finish our second interview this month. This month will also involve editing and rewrite practice. We will attempt rewrites in an Uncle Remus style and a KJV style.

High School – The final copy of the first research paper is done, and students are now working on a research topic of their choice. Class time is being spent on prompt writing skills. We are going over the steps to follow to complete a successful 25 minute essay – often required for college entrance tests.

LINDA LAKE—GWL

MARK 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strengthstrengthstrengthstrength.

LISA LUURTSEMA—PHYSICAL EDUCATION

All of the classes just finished up a floor hockey unit. Even the younger grades really seem to enjoy this activity. To familiarize the students with the sticks, we manipulated the hockey sticks in a variety of fitness activities such as jumping, hopping, planking, tug-o-war and cross-walking. Early on we learned the correct way to hold and carry the stick as well as exploring the different ways of moving the puck or ball. The game Hockey Pirates gave the students practice carrying, dribbling, and stick-handling the puck/ball. The activity Clean-Up-The-Yard gave the students ample practice hitting

the puck for distance. One of the favorite activities for all the grades was Hockey Bombardment. We used bowling pins set up along the center line with two teams each standing behind a restraining line on opposite sides of the gym. Teams tried to knock the pins over with balls using their hockey sticks. The team knocking over the most pins was the winner. The older grades played more advanced lead-up games. Sideline Hockey focused on the skills of stick-handling, shooting, goal-tending and team play. Rotation Hockey focused on all the fundamental skills of floor hockey (stick-handling, passing, dribbling, shooting, defensive play, and goalie play).

Page 6 FRIDAY ADDITION

Hello FA Families!

It’s good to be back in the rhythm of school and teaching. This month of January has been a lot of fun. The kids are doing a fantastic job remembering what we learned last semester. I am so proud of all of them and how much they have learned. Thank you for encouraging them in learning a new language!

During the first week of January, we reviewed all the vocabulary from last year and played games to re-inforce all the words and concepts. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades learned about occupations in Spanish. Also, last week they learned “Sentimientos y Emociones” (Feelings and Emotions). You can see some funny pictures of your kids here and how much fun they had.

The 5th, 6th, and 7th grades are learning how to ask questions in Spanish. They also have a list of con-versational phrases in Spanish that we are trying to memorize for use in our classroom. I am trying to do more of a conversational class for them. I really want them to get used to a new language and have fun trying to speak it. They are writing all the new topics in their Spanish Dictionaries and playing our modi-fied version of scrabble in Spanish. They are doing great!

If your kids are interested in learning Spanish in a fun way, I recommend the free app Duolingo. It’s a great way to learn a new language.

I hope all of you are doing great. It’s always a pleasure teaching your kids! May God continue blessing you and your families!

MARIA QUESADA—SPANISH

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2nd - 6th Grades

We have been talking about how the ear is designed to convert pulses of air into electrical signals. Students learned about ear anatomy then made a model ear drum. They then created pulses of sound, showing how sound alone can make something vibrate. They also performed an experiment to discover how accurately a blindfolded listener can point to a sound source using vari-ables (such as not turning or turning his head or plugging one ear). We will continue to discover more about the ear and how we hear. We will also com-plete a fun experiment to discover if a person's handedness (left or right handed) is related to ear preference.

7th Grade Science

Students have been working hard completing assignments and lab work at home about the structure of matter and the different properties of various kinds of matter. Some of our labs in class have involved burning iron and using a universal indicator.

We are moving to our next unit: Energy. We begin with kinetic and potential energy and move on to conversion of energy, thermodynamics and entropy. In class, labs will include the pendulum, melting chocolate with thermal energy, and converting energy.

CARRIE SEARLES—SCIENCE

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In writing class, we are continuing to focus on using our six dress-ups in every paragraph (strong

verbs, “ly” adverbs, “who/which” clauses, “because” clauses, quality adjectives, and adverbial

clauses), as well as our six different sentence openers (subject, “ly” adverb, adverbial/because

clause, “-ing” word, prepositional phrase, and very short sentence).

In the new year, we have been learning about some “decorations” we can use to make our writ-

ing even more interesting. So far we have discussed the use of questions, conversation, and simile

and metaphor in our paragraphs. In February, we will add other techniques such as alliteration,

3sss (three short staccato sentences), dramatic opening and closing, and personification.

Praying that Friday Addition will carry on every Friday in February, in spite of our snowy, icy

winter weather!

Music Appreciation:

We had some fun at the end of January playing monophonic and polyphonic music with the Boomwhackers in our classes. These two kinds of music were part of Western development in the Middle Ages. It was very simple, unac-companied singing most often in Latin. None of the kids wanted to try the Latin, so we played the music on its own.

The Renaissance saw some important changes as musicians began to add more voices and instruments to the sin-gle melody line. The music still seems simple to our 21st Century ears, but in fact it can be quite complex. We will cover the Renaissance and move into the Baroque era as well -- which is the time of JS Bach, who is one of the greatest examples of what a Christian can do to change culture for the better.

February 20th is our Performance Day. Students who are taking lessons and studying an instrument or voice can bring a prepared song to perform for their class. A piano is provided, but other instruments can be brought and placed at the back of the Music room in the morning for use later in the day.

Christian Worldview:

Students are stretching to understand Platonic dualism, the hierarchy of being, and other philosophical develop-ments that have shaped our thinking even today. "Light bulbs" seem to light up each time one discovers a new in-sight. That is an exciting thing to see in these teenage students.

This historical overview is an important step as we move more directly into examining various aspects of our culture today and seek to understand how to interpret what we see, read and experience. It's not always easy to make sense of what is happening around us, and though we won't figure out all the answers, I hope that a foundation will be built for good thinking in the future.

LUCY SEAY—5TH/6TH WRITING

MARK SOOY—MUSIC/WORLDVIEW

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We are beginning the discussion on genetics, DNA, cellular duplication, etc. This is my fa-

vorite part of Biology! Students will have a couple of different projects this month: col-

lecting their own DNA, teaching a sibling about the mitosis process, completing a family

pedigree (prize for the largest pedigree!). As we continue to learn about the wonderful life

God created, my prayer is that they will stand in awe and be amazed at what He has

done.

SHANNON TYLER—BIOLOGY

BRANDI VAN HOUTEN—ART

Hello from Art World!

All of the students from 2nd to 7th grade are working through our unit on perspective. For the 2nd and 3rd, that means how to draw things small, medium and large to make things look far, near and here. The 4th and 5th graders are learn-ing to create fence lines, roads or paths or rivers, trees at different distances and mountains far off. The 6th and 7th graders are taking in the hustle and bustle of the city as they create a street view in 1 pr 2 point perspective. They are all doing amazing!

Terms to ask about:

2nd and 3rd: Here, Near and Far

4th and 5th: Horizon Line and Vanishing Point

6th and 7th: Horizon Line, Vanishing Point, Converging Parallels and Proportion

From here we will begin collaborative 3D projects that will combine group work with our 3D unit and also Trash Week (recycled art). The 6th and 7ths will look at the blown glass work of Dale Chihuly and work together to create an in-spired work using plastic water bottles, so bring in empty bottles from home. The 4th and 5ths will make a faux wrought iron work using toilet paper tubes, so bring in toilet paper tubes. And the 2nd and 3rd graders will create a large foam structure covered with their art. I have all supplies for that one!

This will take us well into March. The students will experience creating art in a new way as they do it in groups, but they always learn so much from each other as they take a creative journey together!

Thank you for supporting the art class with donations and encouraging your students as they continue exploring the techniques at home. I love seeing what they make at home when they have more time and probably more focus! Keep it up and bring it in to show me and the other students.

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