October 8, 2020   Community News

SCHOOL NEWS from Free Christian School Lower Room

Free Christian School Lower Room:

Journal Writing
Three times a week we practice our writing skills in our journals. Throughout September and October we will be learning various types of poems. So far we have learned acrostic and haiku poetry.

 

Here are two examples:

Swimming

Uncle Josh is funny

My camping trip was fun

Michigan was fun

Eating popsicles

Ran after rabbits that were eating strawberries

-Alice Meulenberg, 2nd grade

Sandbox

Uncle Joe came to visit

Mowers are fun to drive

My brother and I fixed the tractor

Evan and I went to visit Grandpa and Grandma

Raking

-Gideon Boverhof, 1st grade

We began science this year with a unit on fish and birds. There were several things that we incorporated into our studies. The kindergarten and first graders used their art skills in drawing and coloring a fish aquarium. The second and third graders practiced their research and report writing skills in choosing a fish and learning important facts about it to present to the class. We played a fun bird memory game, took a “field trip” to the San Diego Zoo to watch some birds on live camera, and examined some bird feathers and a nest closely with magnifying glasses. The first, second, and third grade students also chose a bird to write a haiku poem about. 

Here is one example:

Red and blue macaw

They live in a rainforest

Friend of a pirate

  -Colby Brands

The students really loved haiku poetry so we also wrote one about fall. After brainstorming all the wonderful things about autumn together, here are a couple of their writings:

Leaves fall on the ground

Jumping in leaves is so fun

Leaves are colorful

  -Constance Fennema

 

Harvesting the corn

Pumpkins are so nice to have

Jumping in the leaves

  -Vera Meulenberg

Field Trip

On Friday, September 25, our school went on a field trip to Touch the Sky Prairie and Blue Mounds State Park.  We also ate a taco lunch and played on the playground at the city park in Luverne.  It was the perfect day for a field trip, weather-wise! As the lower room teacher, the highlights for me were hearing the “music” of God’s creation, singing His praises in the quarry at the state park (great acoustics), and watching the kids interact with one another outside the classroom.  Since we had just finished a unit on birds, we gave special attention to finding birds with our binoculars and listening for their special songs.

Here is what some of the lower room students had to say about the field trip.

At Touch the Sky, I climbed a sandy rock.  At the waterfall trail, I walked on regular rocks.  My favorite part is in the car in the way back with Gideon.

-Colby Brands

I liked seeing the cool rock that I wrote down.  I liked the waterfall trail because the water was the fun part.  I liked the Blue Mound part because Mr. Hunter told us about the Indians.  I liked the 1.2 mile trail.  I liked the cliffs part.  Mr. Hunter told us about buffalo.

-Josiah Fennema

Blue Mounds was very fun.  I ate two tacos.  I love the park we ate lunch at.  We sang at Blue Mounds.

-Arie Ver Hey

I liked climbing on rocks.  We saw birds. It was so fun! I saw a dam at the end of the river. The city park had a lot of equipment for sure.  I like the hanging bars and the twisty bars. The quarry was cool because the buffalo fell off the top and died.

-Quinton Brands