Final Blog of 2025!

Thanks to the 5th graders that helped with Heaven and Nature Sing!

Our final week of school has been busy...

MONDAY

We wore our Christmas headgear!

We spent the morning at Outdoor Discovery Center working on our survival skills! We tried to build a different type of tarp shelter but it was way too cold!

TUESDAY
We wore our Christmas sweaters and shirts today!

We had some surprise visitors who handed out candy canes!

WEDNESDAY
Today was filled with all kinds of red and green!

We spent our morning at Sassafras Ridge. We worked in small groups to build a wooden grill over a fire. We had to collect everything we needed for both the grill and the fire. Students then built a fire, let it burn down before completing their grill. We then tested our grills by warming up some chicken chili to enjoy around the campsite.

Some students mentioned wanting the recipe for Chicken Chili. So here it is ...

Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
1 1/4 lb chicken, cooked and shredded
30 oz Great Northern beans (drained and rinsed)
15 oz can of white corn (drained)
1 pkg of taco seasoning
4 oz chopped green chiles
1 can of cream of chicken soup
14 oz chicken broth

Throw it all in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
Top with sour cream and monterey jack cheese

I did not measure things out exactly. I wanted the chili to be a bit thicker to make it easier for students to eat with scoop tortilla chips. I added more chicken, less broth and "eye-balled" the taco seasoning.

And found a little time to play!

THURSDAY
We sported our Christmas socks today!

We played a variety of games and enjoyed a snack for our Christmas party.

FRIDAY
We stayed snuggled up in our pajamas.

And played a Minute to Win It game!

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

Christmas collection reminder:

Thank you SO much to those who have participated and helped us collect items for organizations in our community. Each grade is working hard to hit their individual goals…so keep those items coming! 🙂

The final day to send in items is TUESDAY, Dec. 16. We will be packing, loading and delivering them throughout the rest of the week. Each organization has expressed such heartfelt gratitude for all the items and to the students for their hearts of service.

* The current Reading Minutes sheet is due on Monday, 12/15. After this sheet there will be no Reading Minutes over Christmas Break. The next sheet will be sent home on Monday, 1/5.

* Word work will not be going home next week. We will start up again after Christmas break during the week of 1/5.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday, 12/15 - Christmas Headgear

Tuesday, 12/16 - Christmas Sweater

- Chapel

- Library

Wednesday 12/17 - Red and Green Day

Thursday 12/18 - Christmas Socks

- Class Christmas Party

Friday 12/19 - Christmas Pajamas

Winter reminders:

-Snow gear should be brought and taken home daily. This helps keep our students warm, dry and the lockers smelling nice.

-Snowballs are only allowed to be thrown at the maroon wall. Students who need more than a few reminders will need to spend time reviewing the expectations before heading out for the following recess.

-No sleds or other snow tools are permitted at school or the playground for the safety of all students.

Be prepared to play outside:

Less than 50 degrees; all students must have a jacket outside and we will go out for the normal duration of outdoor time.
10-0 degrees we will go out for a maximum of 15 minutes.
Less than 0 we will enjoy recess inside.

Curriculum Highlights

BIBLE: We spent some time this week looking at the events leading up to Christ's birth - noticing details that we might not have noticed before.

MATH: We continue to work on multiplying fractions. This week we multiplied fractions with whole numbers and with mixed numbers.

OUTDOOR LEARNING: We continue to work on our survival skills. This week we used our "knot knowledge" and built tarp shelters. Our focus was Lean-To shelters and Plowpitch shelters.

READING: We are currently studying informational (non-fiction) text. Students are reading a book about Colonial America called Eating the Plates. We have been working on main idea and supporting details as well as identifying the central message.

SCIENCE: We presented our Water Quality Investigative work at Pine Ridge, first to Mrs. Becksvoort's class and then to our families. They KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK! These 5th graders did an amazing job! I am so very very proud of them!

SOCIAL STUDIES: We have started to look at the people who are coming to North America. We have located the 13 colonies on a map, read about their journey by ship, their motives for coming, and what a settlement might look like. We brainstormed and then drew a map of what we think a settlement might look like ...

... and then we built our own settlement. There was some arguing and a lot of different ideas which led to the appointing of a governor. Our governor settled arguments, handed out job assignments, and worked along side the "settlers." Things worked much better with a leader!