Well, it became painfully apparent today that Karen VanMeeteren's and my heart lies with teaching and working with children. Predicting weather? Not so much! My apologies that we were not able to go on our field trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center. A staff member from the center called us at 10:00 a.m. and asked if we'd like to consider cancelling the trip based on the radar's forecast. We took a look, saw ALL the rain storms throughout the midwest and did decide to cancel our outdoor trip. Wouldn't you know it? Not a drop of rain fell all day! A special apology to the four parents who were geared up to chaperone with our kiddos. This is such a special experience for both the parents and the children. Thank you, again, for your willingness. After school, Karen and I called the Outdoor Discovery Center and their options for rescheduling were pretty limited. The DeGraaf Nature Center, however, has an opening for our group next Friday afternoon, September 14. We've reserved that time for our next field trip. I will contact each chaperone to talk about availability to try again. Thank you for your flexibility. Your children dealt with our change of plans like champs! We had a fun Friday afternoon that included crafting some cute caterpillars and beautiful butterflies.

Speaking of beautiful butterflies, look at these sweet moments:

 

What a glorious Wednesday morning we had in the classroom. God's love is written all throughout the beauty of creation we are surrounded by. The children were witness to two of God's miracles in the classroom. Just before the day began, one of our caterpillars wrapped himself in a beautiful chrysalis right before our eyes. How amazing to observe this tiny miracle of God's nature. We'll see this little fella emerge in about one week as a transformed, intricate monarch butterfly. To God be the glory!

If you look closely, you can see the caterpillar hanging from above is covering its body with the green chrysalis. Amazing! It was fully encased in about 60 seconds.

We let two emerged butterflies go free in the morning as well.  About half of the kids were able to hold and inspect the butterflies before the little insects thought wiser of our plan and flew off. We read Psalm 121 and talked about how God cares for his creatures, even as tiny as a beautiful butterfly. How much more doesn't He care for us?

We are working to memorize Genesis 1:1, the introduction to the story of God creating the earth. For the month of September, we will also add John 3:16, God's redemption of the world. I will send home the verses for you to practice at home with your child next week, but, primarily, we are practicing these verses in school.

In math, we are moving beyond readiness skills and are delving into numeration and addition. Our learning consists of a balance of direct instruction, hands-on exploration as well as some fun math games to review our skills. A two-sided math homework paper came home today and will be due next Thursday, please.

Ask your child about his or her big, beautiful, blue writing folder. We have a room full of enthusiastic writers. It is a favorite time for many of our children. This is a time in the day they get to tell about what's important to them. We begin our writing time with a short mini-lesson each day followed by quiet, independent writing as I confer with five to six kids each day. I can't wait to watch your budding writer blossom!

A few important dates:

• Thursday the 13th, math homework is due.
• Friday the 14th your child's two library books are due.
• Friday the 14th we will travel to the DeGraaf Nature Center for a pond life experience and insect sweeping.
• Monday, September 17, picture day.
• Wednesday, October 10, grandparent/friend day

Help Wanted:

• Mrs. Hofman has asked for parent volunteers to join our class in the library on Friday mornings from 9:30-10:00. The responsibility includes helping children select books, checking books in and re-shelving what we've returned. If you think you would be able to commit to helping us once a month, would you please contact me? I will create a schedule and get that back to our volunteers. Thank you for considering this.
• We are still looking for story reader volunteers for the classrooms at South Side. If you have the time and interest, children LOVE to hear stories from a variety of readers. Please contact me and I'll get more information to you if you're interested in adding "story reader" to the repertoire of all you do.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for a wonderful week with your enthusiastic children. I pray that God blesses each of you with a restful, fun, safe and healthy weekend.