Hello NCS Family!

Spring is in the air and it seems all of the children are growing up so fast this semester! First, I want to give a huge THANK YOU to all of you, especially my wonderful staff, for such wonderful support while I was on maternity leave. I am so very grateful!

There are a few things coming up that you won’t want to miss around here. Our Science Fair is Friday, April 7th. The teachers and students will be displaying their science fair boards this Friday. Take a moment to check them out when you drop them off or pick them up. Ask them about what they

learned about in their class.

Easter is around the corner and we will have April 14th, Good Friday, and April 17th, the Monday after Easter, off. We will also be having a special Easter chapel service on the Thursday before break.

Standardized testing will begin on April 19th and run through April 28th for our Kindergarten through Third Grade students. Please make sure that your children are here and well rested on these days.

We pray that this Easter season you and your family have time to reflect on the redemption Jesus gave us through His work on the cross.

“He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” Matthew 28:6

HE IS RISEN INDEED!

-Amy Baum

From the Director’s Chair

March 2017

The Buzz…

Inside this issue:

Northminster Christian School

Dragonfly Class 2

Ladybug Class 3

Butterfly Class 4

Kindergarten 5

Firefly Class 6

Grasshopper Class 7

Dates/Reminders Back

The Buzz…

Dragonfly News (Twos)

March 2017

Dear Dragonfly Families,

Welcome Spring and welcome to new friends! We had a short month because of spring break, but March has still been a full one! Our classroom is filled with friends, with fun, with movement, with happy noise, with quiet focus, and with daily growth.

We had a fabulous month exploring Dr. Seuss’s books. The children have en-joyed story time as we’ve read Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish, and other favorites. We have had weekly activities that tie basic concepts to the story time. For example, the kids made their own “Wocket in a Pocket,” we worked on letter and name recognition by making

Dr. Seuss styled letter hats, and we’ve explored colors on our One Fish Two Fish art page. We continue to sing, ex-plore, and do a letter of the week craft.

Our class also learns each day through movement. We move our bodies indoors with structured activities like counting jumps, hops on one foot, or quiet-time stretching. We also love our daily unstructured outside time with bikes, balls, play structure, and sandbox time. The children are not only playing but they are mastering gross-motor skills and developing social skills as they interact with their friends.

Our weekly Wednesday chapel format changed this month. Mr. Dave has brought chapel to us in our classroom with our favorite puppet friend “Theo” and fun movement songs. This has been a very fun way for the kids to learn a short message about God’s love. We also had a special guest who played various instruments for the children. Music time is definitely one of our favorites!

I am amazed by how quickly we are traveling through this school year. I am so thankful for the time we have together and I look forward to two more months celebrating your children as they grow and learn.

With love,

Becca

Hello from the Ladybugs!!

March has been a whirlwind! From Saint Patrick's Day festivities to a much deserved week off for Spring Break we have flown through our Dr Seuss month with lots of rhymes and silly books!!

We have continued to work hard at Circle Time learning about all parts of the calendar and have now mastered our Days of the Week and Months of the Year. Working on identifying the day of the week as well as the date or number of the day as well!!

Working on the letter of the week has been a great way to learn our phonetics and our letter hunt to find the letter of the week around the classroom keeps them on their toes.

I have really been proud of our Ladybugs as we have gotten much better at tracing our names and even identifying the letters that make up our names.

Can't believe we are in the home stretch of the year. With only two months to go it will surely fly into summer!

Blessings,

Sara Serrot

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Ladybug News (Threes)

Butterfly News (Fours and Fives)

Dear Butterfly Parents,

We had so much fun in March learning about space. The children created an amazing Outer Space bulletin board with their sun, moon, stars and rocket art. We loved seeing the kids pretend to blast off into space while sitting in front of the board counting backwards from 10-1. They also did an obstacle course as they know astronauts have to be in shape. They worked on putting our planet puzzle together. This made them ask for more puzzle time which is great in the development of logic, math, and fine motor skills.

The children continue to work on their letter and number identification and writing as well as phonics. Mrs. Bitar and I are very proud of their progress this year. It gives us so much joy to see the children want to be challenged and ask for more difficult words to sound out along with more challenging math activities. During Love of Reading Week, the Butterflies were very fortunate to have Firefly students read to them. This was a great opportunity for both classes. The Butterflies were definitely motivated and inspired to learn to read. The Butterflies Rock!

We look forward to April as we celebrate Easter. Thank you for entrusting your sweet children to us. They are truly a blessing. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to see us.

Blessings,

Mrs. Becky

Mrs. Bitar

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

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Hello from the Kinderhive,

What is green, scrambled, and tastes yummy? GREEN EGGS AND HAM!!! We began our month with two full weeks of Dr. Seuss fun! We started our unit by inviting the church staff and parents to read their favorite Dr. Seuss book. Our class really enjoyed hearing other adults read to them. A big thank you to all for making our two weeks a success!

Throughout the two weeks we read many Dr. Seuss books which lend themselves to having lots of fun activities, such as: Crazy Sock Day; Wacky Wednesday Day; Crazy Shoe Day; and, Crazy Hat Day. Did you know that we had some very special “wockets” in pockets come to our room? We face painted a cat’s face, (The Cat in the Hat, of course), to go along with our Cat in the Hat hats! We did many other activities in our classroom, too numerous to mention. What a great way to work on many reading, rhyming and math concepts! Thank you, Dr. Seuss. Our culminating activity was making green eggs and

eating them with ham- a great science and yummy experiment!

We began our Nursery Rhyme Unit the third week in March. Why teach Nursery Rhymes? “Research shows that reciting nursery rhymes helps children develop phonemic awareness, increase vocabulary and verbal skills, and develop auditory discrimination. There are levels of information and understanding regarding math and science that can be enhanced at this early stage of learning as well.” (Source: Teaching Math and Science with Nursery Rhymes, Teacher Created Materials, Inc.) We will continue learning and working with Nursery Rhymes for the next few weeks.

The Honeybees are doing a great job learning Psalm 23. This Psalm teaches that Jesus, our Shepherd, loves and cares for us no matter the situation or “dark valley” we encounter. We have had some wonderful discussions about our Great Shepherd. His love towards us is never ending. The children have asked some very insightful questions which makes me study a little more to be able to give them age-appropriate answers. What a joy it is to see the children grow spiritually!

We pray you and your family had a wonderful Spring Break enjoying your child. Thank you for your prayers and support. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please stop by.

Love,

Mrs. Brinker

Mrs. McClaughry

Mrs. Ross

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News from the KINDER-HIVE

Hello from the NCS First Grade Fireflies! March has been another happy month for our First Grade Fireflies. The days seem to fly by! In Bible Time with Second Graders, we are learning more about God's People, the Israelites. We have seen how the Judges, Gideon, Ruth, Samuel, and David believed in and were used by God to bless His People. We are working in our Bible Time Journals and reading devotions from Easter A-Z this Lent. On St. Patrick's Day, we enjoyed making trinity shamrocks as we talked about our loving God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We also made a special Lenten candle project. It is like a reverse Advent wreath because we take OFF a flame on each Wednesday in Lent instead of lighting an additional candle. By Maundy Thursday, our candles will not have flames, and we will remember the darkness on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday, we will rejoice because Jesus is risen, and we will put all of our flames on our candles in celebration! We also are making good progress in our academic studies. Both Reading groups will begin new phonics readers at the beginning of April. We enjoy reading about the SUPERKIDS and learning more Reading skills. All Fireflies began a new Math book this month and are learning about time (to-the-hour and half-hour), patterns, and number comparisons. Next, we will learn about money and numbers from 30-100. In Science, we are learning about animals and habitats as part of our Science Fair preparation and are also studying

about clouds and plants. Our Social Studies work has included learning about the life of author, Dr. Seuss. On his birthday, we played special games on Seussville.com, had green eggs and ham, read many of his wonderful books, and did written activities. Our favorite activity was reading Dr. Seuss books to the Butterflies the next day! The Fireflies thank everyone who supports our school. This month, we especially thank Mr. Berry for Math tutoring, Mrs. Danielle for her extra help, Mrs. Storey for her wonderful help with writing, and Mr. Don for our happy Library Times. God bless your Holy Week and Easter! Shining for Jesus, The NCS First Grade Fireflies, Mrs, Zanta, and Mrs. Storey I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. The Apostles' Creed

Firefly News

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Hello Grasshopper Families,

The Grasshoppers have had a marvelous March! We have been concentrating on our World of many continents! Each student was able to focus in on a particular one. Grapefruits were used to fit the shape of the world to draw on. Of course the question came up if we could make juice after drawing our continents!

Our math has been real learning experience using real money. Counting out change and making change has been our focus in 2nd grade. Third grade continues working on fractions and geometry.

Science classes are getting ready for the Science Fair Project. Frogs will be hopping in on our next unit!

Ms. Larsen has been busy engaging the Grasshopper class in reading assignments including narrative and letter writing. She has also been making preparations for upcoming tests. We also appreciate our reading time with Ms. Ann, who delights us with her stories once a week.

Our P.E. classes have had great fun playing kick-ball with Ms. Zanta’s Fireflies!

Lent has been a major focus in our Bible Study. The students are anxious to continue our studies and learn what Easter really means in their lives as God’s Children.

Looking forward to an April full of Spring Delights!

Love,

The Grasshopper Class and Mrs. Wickey

Grasshopper News

The Buzz…

Northminster Christian School 2450 E. Fort Lowell Phone: 327-2321 E-mail: school@npctucson.org

DATES TO REMEMBER IN APRIL

4/7/17: Science Fair

4/13: Easter Service and Celebration

4/14-4/17: Easter Break—NO SCHOOL

4/19—4/28: Standardized Testing

Empowerment Standards:

We at NCS are committed to providing a smoke-free environment for children, staff members, and child care providers. Due to hazards from exposure to second-hand smoke and as a recognized Empower child care facility, it shall be the policy of this child care facility to provide a tobacco-free environment for children, staff members, child care providers, and parents.