THE BRIDGE High School program: The Bridge is an exciting new high school partnership program that is connecting certified teachers, parents, and the Metropolitan Community College! Each Monday and Wednesday at New Life church, Freshman and Sophomore students will be able to take Science with lab, Math (Algebra 1 and Geometry), English (writing included) and alternating days of History and a Life Skills/College prep class. The Life Skills/College prep class will include learning about time management, note-taking skills, how to apply for college and scholarships, and hear from guest speakers. The accountability and assisted guidance/grading from teachers is so helpful at this critical age. They will then have "heavy homework" and complete their week at home with the guidance of a parent. The curriculum will be heavy on Bob Jones, but not limited to that. As students are ready, they can take the English placement test at MCC and start easing in with one class at an early grade for dual credit at the campus. Taking it alongside fellow DHA friends will be a plus! With a solid game-plan, your student can graduate as a high school Senior the same time they receive their 2 year Associate's degree! The added amazing fact is that the dual credit is half the cost of normal community college tuition. DHA is prepared to inform and support these high school students through each step of the way!
DHA is celebrating 20 years of friendship and teaching excellence! We have exciting changes for the 2020-2021 school year that we want to share with all of our families. We are thankful for Crown Pointe and Fellowship Greenwood Church partnering with us and allowing us to utilize their wonderful facilities.
As we cast our vision for the growing DHA program needs, we looked for a church that was able and excited to host both the Enrichment and Academic programs in one place. New Life Church in Oak Grove, just 15 minutes East of our current Crown Pointe location, has offered just that. Our school days and times will remain the same. With over 20 cities represented in our current membership, the location will be better for some and more challenging for others. New Life has a full gym and can seat up to 1200 for our music concerts!
We are pleased to offer a couple of open houses so your family can check out the new location, visit with leaders about MO law/tracking hours and also visit with a Bob Jones curriculum specialist for our Academic program. We will announce the date and time for the Open House soon and would love for you all to join us! We wanted to respectfully share and communicate well as is always our goal and commitment as we partner with your family in Christian education.
We are also looking into needs and wants of families for the following:
1. 4 year old preschool Academic (2 day) program
2. High school classes
If either of these interest you, we would love to hear from you about your needs. If you would take moment to fill out the google form below we would greatly appreciate it!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHhdwItSLhmaU-L9Rgjl-_YOA8U8zMYLMomErQzPLmWiZK0Q/viewform?usp=sf_link
We are here to support your homeschooling family!
More details and open house information will be shared soon. Our 2020-2021 re-enrollment for current families will be mid-February and March 1st will begin enrollment for new families. Until then, we look forward to serving your family in the same locations until May.
DHA Enrichment Newsletter
Music - Mrs. Scholes
We've had a great couple of months in music this year! In the younger grades, we spent many weeks reading through some favorite children's literature and incorporating musical concepts with them. We also played boomwhackers, which always a fun time!
The older grades played boomwhackers and dove in deeper to play some complex songs with them, also learning how to make harmonies. We studied rhythm and note names through games.
All classes are preparing now for the Christmas concert (December 17). We've had auditions and assigned parts for special components, but as always, the entire choir is our most important part! The students will be excited to share their music with you at the concert.
Primary Art - Mrs. Wright
We’ve been very busy in primary art. First and second grade grade and 3 Wolves spent the first month of school discovering colors including primary, secondary, the difference in warm and cool colors and the feelings they evoke. We did several painting projects throughout September and October and I also introduced tempera cakes which have produced some beautiful art. In October we focused on line. I’ve also been occasionally adding facts for you to review with your student at home throughout the week. This is a great way for them to earn class dojo points if they know the facts. We are currently finishing up our line projects and have been using chalk pastels which are messy but the kids seem to enjoy. I apologize if your kids clothes have been coming home discolored. We will probably be using chalk for another two weeks at least so please keep that in mind as you’re choosing clothes for our DHA day. In November we will begin to combine elements like line and shape as well as start on some Christmas art. I know you are all going to be impressed with the beautiful art they’ve made at our art show in December. It’s a pleasure to teach your little ones and I enjoy seeing the beautiful works they produce every week!
Excel Art - Mr. Voyles
In excel art, we have begun the new school year with an exploration into sculpture. Sculpture is created through 3 basic processes: carving, molding,or assembly. Our approach has focused on the assembly process. As with all of our projects we discussed the specific elements of art that are involved with sculpture. To refresh your memory these are the 7 basic elements of arts, line, shape, space, value, form, texture, and color. This project was going to challenge the students in 3 specific ways.
First, the sculpture subject matter was going to be an exploration into the human form or figure. In art, the human form is a very complex composition to represent in sculpture. Giving examples and tips to help the kids articulate the specific proportions and anatomical shapes of the human form was vital. Assisting the kids in understanding the handling of the materials being used was also important.
Second, the materials we we're going to be using would challenge the kids. This challenge would be in growth with visual conceptualization but also with the development of manual dexterity skills.
Third, it would require focus, discipline and patience to develop their projects as the weeks passed. Their efforts have been outstanding with what has been produced thus far. In the beginning construction of these sculptures consisted primarily of the basic materials of modeling paper and tape. The students were able to assemble dynamic figurative sculptures. This will be our starting point as we continue to add different elements of art to our sculpture compositions.This will include the addition of other elements of art, such as texture and surface.
We are multi tasking this year as we have also begun a seasonal collage project which will include multiple elements of art as well. So far the materials we have used this year are colored pencils, pencils, Ink pens, paint pens, sharpies, paper, modeling paper, and modeling tape.
Primary Science - Mrs. Skinner
We have been having fun in science this year! Students have gone over everything from habitats, food chains, predator, prey, migration, hibernation, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, insects, bats, spiders and more.
Recently students have started exploring the water cycle and 3 states of matter. We had a great time making use of the snow we had Tuesday morning and making tiny snowman go through the water cycle. All three states of matter were present as well.
We will continue to learn more about the three states of matter, water cycle, precipitation, and seasons. As always, thanks for the opportunity to teach your kiddos!
Intermediate Science - Mrs. Champ
During the first part of the school year, Intermediate Science learned about different animal groups. We learned about insects, spiders, fish, bird, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. A lot of our focus was animals in each group that can be found here in Missouri. Students were able to explore artifacts from different Discovery Trunks from the Missouri Department of Conservation. To wrap up this unit of study, students were able to sign up to bring in a mammal (or a picture if the actual mammal was unable to make it) to share.
This past week, students learned about force, effort and inclined planes. Students got to experiment with different heights of inclined planes to see how many pennies it would take to pull a toy car up the inclined plane.
Over the next few weeks, students will learn about electricity and get to practice series and parallel circuits.
Primary Spanish - Mrs. Hesman
Primary Spanish classes have learned courtesy phrases such as hello, goodbye, good morning, how are you, please, thank you, you're welcome. We have learned how to tell what we like and do not like. We have learned 11 colors, 8 body parts, counting to 20 (all) and working on counting by 10's and 100's to 1000 (2nd-3rd).
In October we learned Head-Shoulders-Knees-Toes in Spanish and performed it for each other in small groups.
In November we will focus on names of foods and how to order in a restaurant. We are learning how to say "I'm hungry" and "What do you want to eat/drink?" "I would like... (name a food or drink) please." Over the next few weeks we will get to practice ordering from menus. In December we will have some fun incorporating Christmas into games and activities using Spanish vocabulary.
Intermediate Spanish - Mrs. Mitchell
We have had a great start to the year in Mrs Mitchell's Spanish class! So far we have covered: colors, animals, question words, household words, and body parts and a cultural study of Argentina. Every week we play a game to reinforce the words that we learn. The kids have especially enjoyed 4 corners, jeopardy and charades! We look forward to moving into short phrases and a few verbs before the end of the year.
P.E. - Mrs. Morrison, Mr. Voyles, Mr. Colton
We have had a great start to our year. In September we learned soccer skills and played kickball.
For October we had a special guest in the morning. Coach Brandon Horschig from KC Heartland Lacrosse taught the fundamentals of the game to our morning classes. We are hopeful he can return for our afternoon classes in the future. We also played Guard the Castle, Battleship and Save the Forest during the month.
November is our month for a basketball unit. We are learning basic skills for dribbling, passing and shooting. We will put them all together and have some skills competitions. We will play Pin Blaster and Four Corner Dodgeball in December.
Please remember to send a note if your child should not participate in Physical Education. If they have an injury or have been sick it is helpful to know what activity level (if any) they can enjoy.
Also, please be sure your child wears tennis shoes or brings them to change into for gym class. Most boots do not support the ankles and are not considered tennis shoes.
If the weather is above freezing and the surface is dry, we will go outside briefly for warm ups. We may play outside when the weather is 40° and warmer. Please be sure that your child has appropriate outerwear for the weather.
Thank you for the opportunity to teach your children. We count it all joy!!
Computers - Mrs. Hodgson
We have done a lot in computer class the last couple months. We used technology to reinforce some science lessons, learned some of the cool things that can be done in Microsoft Word, learned the importance of saving documents in a safe place, and discussed computer safety. The last couple weeks have been focused on our coding unit, which is a classroom favorite!
The kids are super excited to continue working on our coding unit. Take a look at their computer class folder in their backpack to see more of what we're doing in class.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful kids with me.
Science/Government/Economics - Mrs. Fairman
6/7 Stingrays and 7/8/9 Ravens have done some excellent work in these classes thus far! For science, we have covered our unit on Earth Science. We began by discussing the scientific method, then moved into learning about the layers of the earth, volcano, earthquakes, and other natural processes that shape our earth. Highlights from this unit included baking soda/vinegar volcanoes, solar ovens, and modeling an earthquake.
We are beginning our physical science unit, where we will learn about basic physics as well as atoms, molecules, etc.
In government, we have discussed the purpose and responsibilities of government, types of government, the American Revolution,and the Constitution. We will finish our conversation about the Bill of Rights before moving into the Legislative Branch. Lastly, in economics we have discussed basic economic principles such as supply and demand, markets, and opportunity cost.
Currently, we are working through our business plan project, and I could not be more impressed with what your students have created! I am excited to see as they begin to develop their brochures and advertisements how their plans develop even further! If your student would like to work through pieces of their project at home, the questions in their plan are posted on the DHA parent Facebook page.
It has been a joy to get to know your students and I am excited for all we are going to be learning in the coming weeks!
PreK Butterflies - Mrs. Peek
The month of March has been filled with several new fun topics for the Pre-K Butterfly class!
We started the month wishing in warm weather by learning about butterflies. The day was spent making water color butterflies and learning the life cycle of a butterfly. It was a fun way to begin our month!
The following week we spent the day learning all about rocks. We studied different types of rocks, how they are formed and where they are found. We also spent time painting rocks and using fun snacks to show the kiddos how sedimentary rocks are formed. The experiment with snacks sold the kids, as they declared this the best day at school ever!!
Learning about habitats finished up the month. Time was spent learning about different types of habitats, what kind of animals live in them and what the weather is like in each habitat. Anything involving animals is always a favorite for the class.
In April we will spend time exploring all new Spring like topics like rain, clouds, rainbows, seeds and gardening! Hopefully we will have nice weather and can spend time outside each week taking in the beauty of this season.
PreK Monkeys - Mrs. Eastwood
We've had a wonderful March in the PreK Monkeys' class! We had a variety of themes over our three weeks of school this month. We started a wrap-up of our weather unit with a day on storms and tornadoes. This went along well with our first ever tornado drill where we learned the importance of staying calm and listening to directions. A theme about pets was next and was extra fun as we imagined all the pets we could get! And now that spring has sprung, our class is learning all about flowers...with more to come in April as we grow some seeds and learn about the importance of insects and butterflies to the beautiful blooms outside.
Kindergarten - Mrs. Calton, Mrs. Collins, and Mrs. Puckett
Spring is here and we are excited to watch it bloom. In March we enjoyed learning about Dr. Seuss and Irish Folklore. Our favorite activities were dressing up like a Dr. Seuss character, making walking rainbows in Science, and painting pet rocks when we learned about the Blarney Stone. In April and May will be focusing on all things Spring. We will be learning about the life cycle of a butterfly, insects and bugs, and enjoying Eric Carlson's The Tiny Seed book in our lesson on plants. We are also having a great time as we prepare for Kindergarten Graduation! We can't wait to make you smile on April 30th!
P.E. 1st - 5th grades - Mrs. Morrison and Mrs. Miller
Early March PE was a continuation of jumping rope. We introduced the long jump rope to the upper grades and they were awesome at mastering it! We also played some fun games such as "Save the Forest" and "Pin Blaster". The weather on the last Tuesday in March finally allowed us to go outside again for PE! If the weather is decent, we will go outside. Please see that your students have proper outdoor wear.
We will be doing track and field activities in April, as well as kickball and other games.
P.E. Field Day is quickly approaching. It is successful because of our fantastic volunteers. Please consider volunteering for a full or half day. We will be putting a sign up sheet on Google Docs soon.
Elementary Science - Mrs. Skinner
This last month we wrapped up our unit in health. Students learned about exercise and their heart, hand washing and germs, and the importance of healthy sleep and eating habits.
This month we are learning about plants, pollinators, seasons, and weather. I look forward to having fun outdoors as much as possible, so please remember a jacket. Also, Burr Oak is offering some great free classes that will go along well with our unit, if you’d like to sign up go to their website. Happy Spring!
Excel Science - Mrs. Ungeheier
Students spent some time viewing some slides from different organisms, plants, insects, and other life cells. We will investigate and discover what pathogens are and how to test for them in water. We will also study bacteria and effects from parasites. Some time will also be reserved for groups to explore our final dissection of specimens.
During the month of March, Intermediate Science finished up learning about the human body by constructing and labeling a human skeleton. Then we moved on to learning about plants. We started by learning about plant cells and made model plant cells. Then we learned about inherited genes or traits. We learned that humans, animals and plants all inherit genes or traits from their parents. Students observed 2 parent plants, drew from a container each part to an offspring plant, and then illustrated the offspring plant. This helped students to see that sometimes genes or traits favor one parent over the other or sometimes they are equally divided. In April, we are going to study tress from the state of Missouri through video, observation and games. We will also celebrate Missouri's Arbor Day (April 5th) on April 2nd. Each student will receive a tree to take home and plant. We will also learn about Earth Day at the end of April. In May, we will end the year with a fun experiment having to do with kites.
Music 1st-5th grades - Mrs. Scholes
We spent March working hard to learn our concert music and assign parts for our soloists and speakers, as well as learning motions to our songs. Motions help us not only learn the words to our songs better, but it makes the songs more fun to sing and more fun and meaningful for our audience to watch.
In April we will put the finishing touches on our concert music as it all comes together in a beautiful performance for friends and family on April 23. Make sure to watch weekly emails for all the details on times to be there and what your child needs to wear. We also hope to get some outside time to sing and enjoy springtime together.
Lastly, on May 14 we will host our first ever all school talent show. Students will have an opportunity to audition for this fun show before school either on Tuesday, April 23 or Tuesday, April 30 from 8-8:50. Students from 1st grade through 9th are encouraged to try out either alone, or in a group performance, with musical acts or skits. Students must provide their own background music and/or props, if needed. All performances must kept to 2 minutes or less. For any questions, please contact me at elizabethscholes@yahoo.com
Journalism/Newspaper - Mrs. Swick
Students have completed their first edition of the paper and will receive a printout of their work to show parents soon. This month they have been planning a creative edition of the paper that we will wrap up by the end of the year. Their projects include drawings, recipes, different categories of photography, reviews of modern day technological inventions, etc. I know they are excited for you to see their hard work.
Art 1st-2nd grade - Mrs. Wright
Thank the Lord we are finally starting to see signs of spring which has inspired some of our artwork. First grade has been busy with our space lesson and learned about artist, Claude Monet. Students examined the way Monet used space to give the illusion of depth in his water lilies paintings and then we made our own water lilies painting. Second grade said farewell to winter with our last winter art project of the year. We completed this project on cake discs. They loved having something different to work on other than paper. We used what we had learned about foreground, middle ground, and background to draw trees the appropriate heights to show depth and then drew a mountain landscape in the background with shading to give our mountains a dimensional look. Then students painted the sky in either a cool color palette or warm color palette.
Last week we moved on to the element of shape. Both grades watched a short video on Paul Klee. Klee participated in several art movements including abstract art. We learned what abstract art was and examined several of Klee's pieces and compared them to other artists work and discovered that Klee took complicated objects and broke them down into simple shapes. First grade looked specifically at Paul Klee's Cat and Bird painting and then did a guided cat drawing that they will paint in either a warm color palette or cool color palette. Next week they will finish the painting portion and use what we learned a month ago about texture and use texture rubbing plates to texturize the background of the picture. Because we are approaching the end of the year, we are doing a bit of review and combining of elements in our last couple projects.
Second grade also looked at several of Klee's works specifically his Castle and Sun painting. Second grade used lines (one of our elements of art) to create basic shapes. Then, they painted them in with a rainbow of colors. These were all done on copies of Bible commentary to provide added visual interest.
Our last couple projects for the school year will wrap up with a focus on our last two elements, form and value.
It has been a pleasure to teach your kids. I love their passion, enthusiasm, and willingness to always try their best. Several of them are always bringing me "gifts" that they painted or drew at home. I love that they are taking what they are learning in the classroom and practicing at home. It's so sweet that they are so excited to bring their version back to me and show me what they did. I love that!!!! I look forward to seeing what the last two months holds in first and second grade art!
Art Excel - Mr. Voyles
In March we worked on our foam core 3-D projects. We are excited to show these in our Spring art show. The works are combination of ideas developed throughout the year about the elements of art. March focused on the relief aspect of our designs to create a mosaic effect on our previous 2D designs.
Social Studies 1st and 2nd grade - Mrs. Messer
It has been a pleasure serving you and your wonderful children this year. I’m already looking forward to next year. As we close our year, we are planning to continue to learn about our state and national governments along with national symbols. Since we are encouraging our children in the serve-a-thon to serve others, our classes will be playing several games emphasizing a spirit of service. We will end the year reviewing states and capitals.
Spanish 3rd and 4th grade - Mrs. Ungeheier
Students have been learning the vocab for what objects they would find in a home and what clothes might be in their closet. We will be reviewing our vocabulary from this year and incorporating some phrases and books into the lessons to practice interpreting conversational Spanish. The goal is to decipher what is known by using this year's vocabulary and gain the confidence to see how much they have learned and can put to use in a real life situation with the Spanish language.
Spanish 4th - 9th grades - Mrs. Mitchell
In March we started out the month with a game of charades. The kids spent the first part of class learning the names of about 30 different animals and the last part of class acting out the animals in attempt to get their classmates to guess the right animal (in Spanish of course!). The second week we watched a video about the life of two students in Mexico, one in the city and one in a rural area and then discussed the differences in daily life between the two students and ourselves. After spring break we were able to get outside to play Spanish 4 corners (a favorite of the kids) and were able to study outdoor words at the same time! This coming month will bring some more emphasis on vocabulary and a refresher on verbs. I hope to get the kids speaking in class with some fun exercises and maybe to even get outside again!
We have had so much fun in the Pre-K Butterfly class this month!
We spent our first week of the month learning about transportation by discussing all the different ways to get from one place to another and building our own roads and train tracks to play on.
The next week we had our Valentines Day party that was put on by our AMAZING class parents!!! The last two weeks of the month we explored maps and how they work.
My favorite activity we did during this time was making our maps to go on a bear hunt. The kids had fun creating their maps but the best part was when we used them to look for a bear.
All of the kiddos had so much fun with this and there was so much joy and excitement on their faces the entire time-it was another priceless moment with these kiddos!!
The PreK Monkeys have spent the last few weeks learning about weather with fun, hands-on activities like making a rainbow cloud and watching it rain in a jar! Our Valentine party was definitely a highlight of February because we loved celebrating all the friends we have in our class.
The next few weeks we will have some fun themes like storms--to wrap up our weather unit, pets, springtime, and gardening. Hopefully it will warm up by the end of March for some of our projects!
February was filled with Valentine’s Day fun in Kindergarten. Some highlights include heart-themed math games, heart measurements, and of course our Valentine’s Day parties! We also enjoyed learning about Washington, Lincoln, and President’s Day.
In March, we look forward to celebrating Dr. Seuss, having some St. Patrick’s Day fun, and preparing for our Kindergarten graduation!
We are so grateful that the weather usually worked out for us in February! In February we practiced jumping rope with both long and short ropes. Jumping Rope is such a great inexpensive exercise for kids! We loved seeing the improvements the students made over the month!
In March we will engage in bowling and scooter activities. Bowling is a lifetime sport that improves flexibility, balance, coordination and social skills. Scooter activities are a fun way to enhance students development. Scooter activities use different muscles than kids are used to using. As always thank you for sharing your students with us!
Excel Science has been learning about the periodic table to know what information is shared and how to read it for it to be of use. This helped them as they were able to figure out what is reactive or non-reactive. They can draw their electron configuration in the different energy levels. This helps them see what other elements can be combined to form a new substance or to see how a reaction will occur until it becomes balanced. We will continue to use some of this information as we interact with some of the elements. We will evaluate which items are a substance or mixture. We will begin testing to decide which items are acids or gases, how they may affect other items and try to decide how some reactions are occurring.
In Intermediate Science, we continued to learn about the human body. We learned about our spinal cord and nervous system. The students made an edible spine using Twizzlers for the spinal cord and nerves, regular lifesavers for the vertebrae and gummy lifesavers for the cartilage pads/discs. Then we learned about our respiratory system and the students made a set of lungs using plastic bags as the lungs and straws for the trachea/windpipe. After that, we learned about our digestive system and talked about how long each part is! Did you know your small intestine is roughly 20 feet long? To help illustrate how long our entire digestive system is, the students measured out lengths of yarn or each part and then put them all together. We were amazed to find out how long our digestive system is and that it fits in our bodies! Then we learned about the 3 different types of muscles we have in our bodies, skeletal, smooth and cardiac. To help us understand how our skeletal muscles move, we made a model hand using cardstock, straws, yarn, and lots of tape. When the yarn is pulled, the fingers move just like in our real hands. We will finish learning about our bodies by learning about our skeletal system.
We had a great month in February introducing our concert music. I'm thrilled at the kid's response to the music and that makes me so excited for our concert on April 23. As we learn the words and motions to the songs in the month of March, we will also work hard to learn the meaning behind each precious song and hide their truths deep in our hearts. It is always so important to me that my students learn to have a heart of worship and that they know that each time they worship, they are bringing gifts to God (same goes for moms and dads!) On our first Tuesday of March my 2nd-5th graders will have an opportunity, for anyone interested, to audition for a speaking or solo part for the spring concert. This will be done in class and students will be given all the details in class prior to this. Links to all the music for the concert for anyone who wants to listen outside of class are on the DHA Facebook page, or can be received by emailing me at elizabethscholes@yahoo.com
Lastly, I want to give a Save the Date for an all-school Talent show that will be done the last day of school, May 14. This will be a new thing for DHA and we are excited about it! We will hold auditions before and after school on April 30. Watch for more details to come home soon!
Music Middle School - Mr. Hale
We are doing music appreciation through the eras.
We have done classical music, nursery rhymes, hymns and folk songs, jazz and blues. The next few weeks we will be doing 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's.
Students are wrapping up the first edition of their papers, editing and formatting in Google Docs. We have begun to plan for a fun edition of the paper where they will showcase their creativity in photography, short stories, poetry, cooking, humor, and other categories. I can’t wait to see what they create! It was fun to see their excitement when we brainstormed ideas. They really light up when they find something that interests them, something they know they are good at or think they could be. We are looking forward to publishing soon!
This past month we've been working on internet safety and safe internet searching. The students used a kid-friendly search engine called kidrex.org to practice using keywords for searches.
In March, we will start building a class website so they can see how a website is created. Shortly after that, we will begin working on creating websites in small groups.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with me.
Art 3rd-5th grade - Mrs. Hudson
Students worked through the beginning of February to complete their Radial designs and Paper weaving. Each grade level worked on varying levels of difficulty, for their ability. The students are currently learning about the subject of Portraits. The students have learned about proportion of facial features, and that placement does not change but size and shape changes. We have learned how to draw each individual feature and what each features function is. Form follows function, and has been created for a purpose. Gods Word tells us that “ I am fearfully and wonderfully made” Psalm 139:14 3rd grade will be making a cut paper self portrait, they will think about the color or their hair, skin and eyes. Focusing on the placement of each facial feature. 4th grade will be completing a Paul Klee inspired Portrait using line to draw a portrait in correct proportions. 5th grade will be completing a mixed media Portrait, combining multiple mediums into one artwork. Finishing details will be applied to describe themselves as a student.
Social Studies 1st and 2nd grade - Mr. Hale
1st and 2nd grade social studies- We have been learning about early America; including founding fathers, American symbols, American monuments and locations, and Flag history and customs.
We are starting on learning the states and maps. Including directions, key features in states, directions, and capitols.
During the month of February, we have studied the life of Abraham Lincoln and other presidents. Just for fun, we learned about some of the odd pets past presidents had. Do you really know why Valentine's Day is a holiday? Your kiddo does! We studied Valentine's Day and where the "day" originated. President's Day was studied this week with Mrs. Wagner due to my absence.
3rd & 4th Grade Spanish has gone from learning the different names of places around town and rooms in the house to figuring out what items are inside the house. They are finding that they starting to to look at some sentences and if they don't completely know what it says, they are able to get a basic idea of what it is about by picking out the words that they do know. They will be adding onto their vocabulary lists with simple commands like open & close the door, cutting the grass, wash your hands etc... The next two main topics we will study will be food and clothing.
This February was so much fun! We started the month by playing Jeopardy to review the things that we learned in January and it’s awesome to see how much the kids retain. The next week was Valentine’s Day and we played a ‘get to know you’ game in which students asked each other questions and responded in Spanish. We also learned how to say all things Valentine’s related. Week 3 we learned how to say about 30 different animals in Spanish and used those to fill in individual BINGO cards for a fun game during the last part of class. The last week of February the kids had a blast playing Cucharas (Spoons) and I got to see their competitive side really come out! It certainly made for an exciting class time and pushed them to remember the words on the cards if they wanted to win the game.
In March we plan to study about Mexico, get outside a little bit (hopefully), act out some scenes to work on speaking at length in Spanish, and maybe even practice our chef skills with some Mexican cuisine!
January 2019 Classroom News
What goes better with January than snowy animals?! The PreK Monkeys enjoyed learning about polar bears, penguins, and all kinds of forest friends that live in colder climates. They can tell you that penguins and polar bears are NOT neighbors---they live at opposite poles! From a chilly blubber experiment to bins of pretend play snow to reading clever books about silly animals--it was a terrific month! In February and into March, we'll highlight all kinds of weather and also spend a week focusing on love and St. Valentine's Day.
January was full of winter themed activities, experiments, and games. We explored polar bears and penguins and how they stay warm and even had snowball (sock) “fights” (goal: which team could have the least amount of snow on their side).
Next month we look forward to closing out the rest of winter subjects, learning about the history of Valentine’s Day and prepping for spring to come!!!!!! ❤
This is our first newsletter since Christmas and Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Lewis , and Mrs. Morrison would like to thank all the students and parents for the thoughtful cards and gifts. We really appreciate your kindness.
In January we introduced a new game "Monster Ball", named for the monster sized game balls used in the game. The object of the game is to move a large ball into the opposing teams territory by hitting it with gator balls. We also played our favorites "Battleship" and "Save the Forest".
Each February we practice (or learn) jumping rope. Jumping rope is a very aerobic activity and good for building bone mass. It is difficult to master and takes time to build endurance. We will also learn to jump the long rope as well.
Please remember to send a note if your child should not participate in PE.
Science 1st and 2nd grade - Mrs. Skinner
Hello DHA Families! We have been having a very fun time learning to use the scientific method all January. We have experimented with pennies, toilet paper, diapers, and soap. The children are doing an excellent job using their vocabulary words. We are working on making good observations, forming and testing a hypothesis, researching a subject, and just memorizing the process itself. I've been very pleased with their hard work on taking notes. Writing isn't easy for some kiddos, but they are trying to be the best scientist they can be and writing or drawing their observations each week. I hope they have been able to converse with you over their findings.
In February, we will do a couple weeks of Valentine's Day themed experiments and then move on to a short new unit over sound.
Students were able to encounter seeing the inside of a real shark. They interacted with some laws of physics and astronomy. Personal experiences and recent experiences provided for great discussions about where our energy and electricity comes from and how things have changed over the years as the demand gets higher, yet people want to save money and be resourceful of what God has given us. Next month we will begin learning about nutrients and minerals and the importance they have for us and the Earth.
In Intermediate Science, we started learning about the human body. The first thing we learned about was the heart and circulatory system. The students learned that their heart is about the size and shape of their fist, that arteries take blood away from the heart and that veins bring blood back to the heart. They also learned the 4 different parts that make up our blood, plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. We did a neat illustration of the different parts of our blood in class using water (to represent plasma), dyed cheerios (to represent red blood cells), mini marshmallows (to represent white blood cells), and craft pom poms (to represent platelets). Next the students learned about their brain and the different parts of their brain (the 4 different lobes, cerebellum, and brain stem.) We will continue to learn about the human body over the next several weeks. We will cover the digestive system, respiratory system, muscular system and skeletal system.
January was such a fun month in elementary music! We were able to take a break from singing concert music and learn some great new things. We spent time learning about the 4 instrument families, saw real examples of many instruments, and played games to reinforce our knowledge of these families. We also studied the term “leitmotif” and saw this in action by watching the famous Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev. In the last week, in honor of black history month, we studied the traits of African music and specifically negro spirituals and their role in history.
In February we will begin to hear and learn our spring concert music. Mark your calendars now for April 23 to hear a wonderful evening of music and see art displayed!
I also want to thank so many of you for wonderful and thoughtful Christmas gifts! I am blessed to teach here.
This month in Newspaper, the Tigers, Ravens, and Stingrays have been working diligently on their projects for the newspaper. Editing has taken longer than expected, but I am enjoying their creative topics and writing styles. I thing you will too! This past week we finalized articles and most of the editing, and next week we plan to upload all of the articles to our flipbook website and should have a finished product to show you soon! Next month, we will reflect on our first edition and brainstorm ideas for one more edition of our paper.
The students have been learning about safe technology use. We spent some time talking about our digital footprint and being nice online. Ask your student about Dihydrogen Monoxide, and why they should be careful about what they read online!
In February, the students will be learning about how to search online using a kid safe search engine. To reinforce what we have been learning about, your child can play the digital citizenship games at www.digitalpassport.org.
Art 1st and 2nd grade - Mrs. Wright
We have been busy in first and second grade art. Our recent projects have taken several weeks to complete but they are turning out beautifully! First and second grade has been learning about the element of texture. We learned the difference in actual texture and implied texture. They also discovered the Vietnam Wall is a great example of actual texture that is meant to be felt and Mrs Wright demonstrated how relatives can make a texture rubbing of their loved ones name as a memento.
First grade made implied texture birch tree paintings and now they are working on a Jasper Johns inspired texture rubbing piece. They will also get to use bingo daubers filled with ink to write their name over and over on their piece.
Second grade spent a lot of time drawing bear school portraits complete with patterned sweaters. These took a lot of patience and I'm excited for parents to eventually see them at our spring art show. The last two weeks and most likely the next two weeks we will be finishing a clay project. I was excited to get to break out the clay and the students were too. We are now starting the weaving part on our clay. We talked about ceramicists, textile artists, and jewelry makers as examples of artists that make textured pieces that have actual texture some of which is meant to be felt.
Next month we will move on to the element of space. Students will learn the difference in background, foreground, and middle ground, what characteristics define each space, and how to draw items in each space appropriately.
Thanks for letting me teach your littles. I love seeing their uniqueness and creativity brought to life in the art room!
Through the month of January intermediate Art has been working on various paper weaving projects. Each grade level had a different level of difficulty and medium used. 3rd grade incorporated line design through their looms prior to weaving. 4th grade layered both 1 and 1/2 inch strips through their loom for added texture. 5th grade created both a warm and Cool colored painting and used their paintings for both the loom and strips to be woven.
Transitioning from January into February 3rd grade students have been working in clay to create fish for an all grade level display. As a class we discussed: how to wedge clay, create texture through their piece, and apply color through acrylic paint.
4th grade students are in the process of creating their Patriotic Agamograph. Using two separate patriotic images, the students are learning how to cut, attach and fold the two images together to form their Agamograph.
5th grade students are creating Radial designs out of either Symmetrical or Asymmetrical designs that they have created. The class critiqued each other’s designs to help decide on which one should be used for their Final. Students will learn how to transfer their image using a rubbing method, to create the repeated radial image.
Art 6th-9th grade - Mr. Voyles
In January we continued to work on our large design project. This piece had been broken down into 4 large components. Since the beginning of the year we discussed several of the elements of art. We have been focusing on how to bring several of the elements of art together to complete this work. Once our 4 components were completed we then copied them so we could assemble the entire composition. We discussed how the use of line and broken line tied all 4 components together to create one visual composition. In February we will be using foam core to create relief mosaic type compositions with our designs.
First and second grade students have been learning about opportunity, cost, and scarcity. We played several games including musical chairs to represent scarcity. Martin Luther King day was also in January. Students discussed and learned about equality. We used two eggs, one white and one purple. On the Outside, of course, they were different but on the inside the eggs were the same. This week we studied Groundhog day by playing a six weeks of winter game and making shadow puppets. So the question of the day is....will we have six more weeks of winter?
Spanish 1st and 2nd grade - Mrs. Hesman
In January it was all about pets! We learned vocabulary associated with pets, then how to ask how much something costs and respond with the price. This led into two wonderful weeks of playing "Pet Store". The students got to take turns buying pets and pet supplies from the store, and selling the items. Some got to experience being the banker or the one that "stocks the shelves". The kids all loved this activity and I heard a lot of Spanish being used including some 5 word sentences! In February we will be learning about our homes. We will learn the vocabulary for rooms in a house and review family members. Then we have a fun game to play in which we get to guess which room family members are hiding in. It's always a great time with your kids!
Students have had fun playing some card games as they were introduced to places around town and rooms in the home. Next month we will discuss the items they may find around town or in the home.
Feliz año Nuevo! In 4th-9th Spanish class this January we started off the new year by playing a game of Spanish Jeopardy to review all the things that the kids have learned so far. I was so impressed by how much they have retained and they had an absolute blast battling it out to see which team remembered the most. We also took the time to learn so new verbs and their conjugations including the ever difficult Ser/Estar, which I reinforced by having the students do a maze in which they had to choose the correct form to use for each sentence. This past week we began studying about the country of Spain and some of the unique aspects of its culture. We will continue this study as we begin February. The rest of the month will include strengthening vocabularies, playing some new games and continuing verb studies.
The PreK Monkeys cultivated thankfulness with classroom activities geared around the fall season during November. One of our favorite science experiments involved making hypotheses about what fall items would sink or float. We also made beautiful autumn tree paintings which will be on display at the Fine Arts Night display. For December, we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus each week with crafts and activities full of jingle bells, pom poms, and lots of singing!
In the month of November we had fun learning about different community helpers. We made community helper hats, created our own stamps and acted out being a mail delivery person. These fun activities along with other hands on projects and great theme based books made the idea of a community helper come alive for the kiddos! The month of December will be filled with crafts, stories, and hands on activities that will help us learn about the difference between needs and wants, along with the true meaning of Christmas!!
November was BUSY for Kinder Classes! We learned about the Pilgrims and Indians and explored what it must have been like to be a Pilgrim by eating dried beef.... they all loved it so much! We enjoyed crafting, preparing for our concert, and working alongside our friends practicing teamwork.
December will be just as busy as we prepare for our concert and also for our Grandparent’s Day preparation. In amongst all the craziness we will enjoy science experiments with candy canes, Christmas crafts, learning new concepts, but most importantly we will be learning about the birth of Christ and what He did for us so long ago.
Wow has November flown by! We ended our volleyball unit with serving and reviewing passing and setting. The younger grades enjoyed volleyball with balloons! The older grades practiced serving by playing Clean Your Yard where you try and have the least number of volleyballs on your side of the gym by serving them. Next we played Four Way Soccer to review some skills that we learned at the beginning of the school year. We ended November by beginning our basketball unit with dribbling games.
In December we will continue our basketball unit with passing and shooting. We try to make learning the fundamentals fun by doing them in stations. In December we will also make time for some games like Battleship, Save the Forrest and Guard the Castle. These types of games allow for practice in throwing, catching and team work. As always thank you for sharing your kids with us!
Hello DHA families! In November we explored as many biomes as we could. Students moved through centers and had fun doing a few experiments pertaining to the arctic, wetlands, and deserts. We discussed our habitat/biome dioramas every week and looked at examples of some neat boxes online. I hope you and your family were able to have fun making one. I’m excited to see everyone’s project on the fourth!
The last few weeks of 2018 at DHA, first and second grade science classes will be exploring science through Christmas themed experiments.
In November, Intermediate Science finished learning about rocks and minerals by completing an activity with regular Hershey Kisses and Hershey Kisses with almonds. The Hershey Kiss with almonds represented a rock, because it is made up of 2 or more minerals and the regular Hershey Kiss represented a mineral. From the outside, both Kisses looked them same, it was only when the students bit into them that they could tell a difference.
Then we started learning about sound. We played telephone (we didn’t have many sentences that were the same by the end!) and learned that because whispers are very soft noises, they are difficult to hear. We also made some paper cup telephones and learned that sound waves made the cup base vibrate, those vibrations passed along the string from one cup to the other, the vibrations from the string made the cup base vibrate and that those vibrations made sound waves in the air that passed to the ear. We have several more sound activities that we will do to end November.
In December we will learn about electricity.
In 1st-5th grade music we worked so hard on all of our Christmas concert music all month long. The kids diligently memorized, learned motions, and talked about why the songs we are singing are important. I’m so proud of them! In December we will enjoy the fruits of our labor with our concert on December 4. We can’t wait to share that with all of our families!
The last two weeks of the month we will have fun celebrating all of our hard work for the semester with Christmas games and singing our favorite Christmas songs, and maybe even some fun dancing to Christmas music!
In the month of November, students enjoyed getting their groups established, mapping out ideas for the December edition of the online paper, and drafting some articles, comics, advice columns, and more. They created press badges to give them exclusive interview access to teachers and students in school. And these last couple weeks of December, they will edit drafts, perform interviews, and hopefully publish the first edition of the newspaper! Stay tuned. I can’t wait for you to see what they’ve been working on.
This month has gone quickly! The kids have have continued to work on journals and typing. They also enjoyed playing Kahoot!, which was a fun way of practicing navigating a website. The students have the procedures and computer safety down, so we will be moving on to learning about safe searches and internet researching skills. I will be sending home an information sheet on how to access the students journals. They will be able to work on them at home if they didn't get to finish or if they want to add more. Look for this information to come home on Tuesday.
Intermediate Art 3rd-5th grades - Mrs. Hudson
Intermediate Art students have spent the month of November working with Cityscapes. Each grade level worked on a different perspective (birds eye view, one-point, or two point perspective). December we will be focusing on creating Art that focuses on Christ. We will look at visual story telling and using symbolism to express an idea.
Art 6th-9th grades - Mr. Voyles
In November, we continued working on our implied line drawings. We took a brief break from this complex project we will be continuing it in a few weeks. We had planned to do a still life drawing in November, however, as time would have it we will have to postpone that project. Currently, we are planning to continue it in the next few weeks. In the meantime, we began another drawing project. The students were given a choice to draw themselves or a friend. We discussed proper anatomical proportions of the face and how to begin to draw a portrait or likeness. We also added a design element for a background around the portraits to create a kind of "framing". Ideas and concepts for this were carried over from our previous project. Because of our snow day, we only had only two weeks to work on this project, but we will be displaying them in the December art show.
During the month of November our classes studied how the First Thanksgiving came to be. We tried Indian ice cream, played marbles, ate hardtack and drank swizzle! Just like the pilgrims and Native Americans did! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!
Social Studes 1st and 2nd grade - Mr. Hale
We have been learning about early America leading to Thanksgiving. Till the end of semester we will be learning about Christmas around the World. We will be looking at a couple countries each week, and how Christmas is celebrated in those countries, along with their holiday traditions.
In November we learned family members and some common Thanksgiving foods, especially turkey (el pavo) and potatoes (las papas). We always continue practicing colors and counting and reviewing past learning.
In December we will learn Christmas vocabulary, starting with a guided "How to Draw a Reindeer" activity, with step-by-step directions primarily in Spanish! We will learn other Christmas related vocabulary throughout the month, and learn about the Mexican tradition of Las Posadas "The Inns" (Mary and Joseph's search for lodging in Bethlehem). Cheetahs and Pandas will also spend some time working on their carol, "Rockin' Around the Chrismas Tree", for Cookies and Carols/Grandparent's Day Dec. 18th. Bendiciones para ti y para tu familia! (Blessings to you and your family)
Señora Mitchell here, reporting on our 4th -9th grade students! We had a wonderful November learning many new things about Spanish! We had a blast learning about the small, but lovely country of Panama and hearing about it first-hand from missionary Emily Puckett while she was visiting. She was able to spend a large part of the day in my class and as a result got to answer lots of questions and share some more in-depth information with my students. For Thanksgiving I gave the students printouts of turkeys with numbered feathers for them to color. They would then translate a question with the corresponding number and their answer would dictate what colors they would use for all of the feathers. We ended up with some beautiful and vibrant turkeys and it gave us a great opportunity to talk about what we were thankful for and to learn a bit more about each other. We also covered days of the week/months of the year and continued with conjugating. In the month of December we will learn about irregular verbs and sentence forming and will look at the country and culture of Spain. I hope to get much accomplished with my students and to push them ever closer to beginning to speak Spanish!
October was full of all kinds of hands-on fun about farms--animals, tractors, vegetables and Old MacDonald! We sheared sheep, herded pigs, gave muddy animals a bath, drew and painted farm scenes, harvested crops and made lots of animal noises. In November we will explore the fall season and learn to recognize the thankfulness in our hearts.
This past month we had fun learning about the many things fall has to offer. We explored the topics of trees, leaves, apples, harvest and pumpkins through fun hands-on activities. In November we will continue having fun while learning about our Community Helpers, Veterans Day and of course Thanksgiving!
Kindergarten - Mrs. Puckett, Mrs. Calton, and Mrs. Collins
In October we learned all about Spiders, Pumpkins, Leaves and Community Helpers. Students trapped and brought in a variety of spiders for us to observe and in craft time we even practiced weaving spider webs. We weighed and measured pumpkins and made amazing leaf creatures out of real leaves. Our community helpers unit was a highlight and we enjoyed dressing up like them and representing jobs people do! Finally in October we kicked off our shoe tie challenge! We are excited to see how quickly everyone learns to tie their own shoes! In November we will be focusing on the Pilgrims, Indians and the first Thanksgiving! :)
P.E. - Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Morrison
We are presently completing our volleyball unit and will start basketball toward the end of November. We will learn a couple new games this month as well.
Mrs. Miller introduced a new warm up that incorporates acoustical instrumental music and the students use different locomotive skills to get ready for skills. The students seem to be enjoying this new warm up.
Every other week, when the weather permits (dry and above 40°F), we will be going outside for PE. Please be sure your child has appropriate gear for outside play.
Tennis shoes are required every week. Boot are not allowed for PE. They are either too bulky, have heels, or are a danger to the wearer and the other children. Thank you for packing tennis shoes to change into if your child wears boots or shoes that are not PE approved.
As cold and flu season approaches, please send a note if your child is well, but still recovering and needs to sit out. If your child is injured, please send a note as well. We will expect your child to play if they do not have a note.
Thank you for sharing your children with us. They are a joy to have each week.
Hello, DHA families!
This month in science we had a fun time learning about food chains, trees, leaves, and photosynthesis.
During the November class times at DHA we will be studying habitats and biomes in more depth. We will also begin discussing our habitat shoebox diorama. This is an optional make at home and bring to school project that the students really enjoy each year. Using a shoebox, students can create a model of one of a habitat inside a biome below. If you made one last year, please choose a different biome. Choices are : Arctic/Polar, Mountain/Taiga, Grassland/ Prairie, Ocean, Savannah, Desert, Rainforest, and Deciduous Forest inside your diorama please focus on one animal and include the necessities that animal would need to survive (food, water, shelter, space). Please include a food chain involving that animal. Please do not feel like you need to buy anything. Magazine cut outs, drawn or printed animals, construction paper creations, and items from your back yard are perfectly fine to use. There are many examples of habitat shoebox dioramas online and Pinterest. Please feel free to explore those in order to help your student better understand. Have fun creating! Please bring in the boxes Tuesday, December 4th. I will have designated areas throughout the church lobby. Drop them off under their class sign in the morning. Students will show off their masterpieces during class that day. We will also display the projects during the art show and Christmas concert that evening. Please feel free to pick your child’s project up to take home after the concert. I will send this info home on paper as well. I can’t wait to learn more about habitats in class with your kiddo and to see their wonderful creations Dec. 4th.
Blessings,Mrs. Skinner
Over the last month in Intermediate Science, the students have learned about the rock cycle and the 3 different types of rocks. To illustrate how igneous rocks are formed, we made a syrup (lava) out of sugar and water, put it on a frozen cookie sheet and then placed it back in the freezer. Cooling down the syrup (lava) made it hard, much like an igneous rock is formed. To illustrate how sedimentary rocks are formed, students made an edible rock out of graham crackers, frosting, and different sediments (chocolate chips and sprinkles). To illustrate how metamorphic rocks are formed, students used heat and pressure to combine 2 different starbursts. Students also played rock tag and leaned about minerals.
Last month in Newspaper class, the students completed and presented a practice article based on a classmate’s personal story. I was so impressed with their ability to put a specific angle to each story in order to make it newsworthy. They worked hard and most of them took their jobs seriously!
This month we are beginning to work on our first publication of the Newspaper which we plan to put out just before Christmas break. They have chosen their columns and have broken into groups, and they have begun the process of brainstorming which articles to include and how they will divide responsibilities. I loved seeing them work together to come up with great ideas straight from their imagination! We will continue brainstorming and will make press badges this month so the students can do interviews throughout the school and put together their creations.
Next month we will finalize the articles and polish the final details. I can’t wait to show you what they are going to create!
Art - Mrs. Wright
Happy October or what's left of it. First grade and second grade finished up our final lesson on color and how to change the value of a color by adding white or black. The projects for each grade level took several weeks to complete so we just moved on to the element of line last week but I'm so proud of how focused the students were with such long projects. They did a beautiful job. Last week we began our unit on lines. This week we will all incorporate the element of line by playing a fun dice game and create some funky self portraits with wild hair. I think the kids are really going to enjoy these. I will likely save them and incorporate them back into our lesson when we learn about texture. Speaking of texture, I'd love start on the element of texture in November. A couple years ago we made textured turkeys from all of our Halloween candy wrappers. Kids LOVED digging through the wrappers and finding their favorite candy wrappers to make their turkeys. I'd love to repeat this same activity with our first graders so any parents that would like to contribute clean candy wrappers feel free to do so (no candy please). If your child has an allergy to touching candy wrapper due to any leftover candy residue, please let me know. Wrappers, can be left at the front counter or put in a baggie and brought in to class by your child. I just know the kids are going to enjoy this activity! With second grade I'd love to do a mixed media project and incorporate the subject of gratitude which I think goes perfectly with Thanksgiving. Any old magazines especially fall magazines, newspapers, and cardboard boxes with at least 10"x10" sections would be appreciated for this project. Again, those can be left at the front counter or brought to the room by your student during their class period. Looking forward to the crisp, cool days ahead and the wonderful art that your kids create.
Intermediate Art 3rd-5th grade - Mrs. Hudson
In the month of November we will be looking at Perspective drawings through Cityscapes. Perspective is the ability to draw a 3-D object on a 2-D surface in a way that looks realistic to the eye. It creates the illusion of space and depth on a flat surface. Each grade level with learn how to draw 3- dimensional boxes in both 1 and 2 point perspective. These “boxes” will be the structures for our Cityscape drawings. Each grade level will be creating a Cityscape drawing from a different perspective. 3rd grade will be creating a Cityscape from the Birds eye view. 4th Grade will be creating a cityscape fro, 1-Point Perspective, and 5th grade from 2-Point perspective.
Our project this month represents decorative arrangement of natural or imagined forms. The students use color, motif, form, pattern, line, and dimension to construct works of art. I have been emphasizing implied line defined as a line that suggests the edge of an object or a plane within an object. The line may be broken by intermittent marks, it may be defined by value, color, or texture, or it may not be visible at all. We have been using spaced stickers in a mosaic like pattern to achieve this goal. Each work is visually different and unique to each students Interests, ideas or preferences.
In November we will be looking forward to drawing a fall Still life. We will also be making plans for a kinetic sculpture project to begin this winter. The materials used for both projects have been mixed media so far consisting of colored pencils, ink pens markers, sharpies and pant pens.
First and second grade social studies started an economics unit the first week of October. We paused that unit as Columbus Day was during the 2nd week of October. The kids learned about Christopher Columbus and his achievements and true facts about him. The next two weeks we talked about fire prevention and fire safety. Students made a fire safety book. Please go over that with them and discuss your emergency plan at home in case of a fire. In last week of October, we will discuss Halloween and how people celebrate it around the world. We will also discuss what it means to be a Christian during the Halloween season. Have a great and happy week!
Mr.Hale 1-2 Grade Social Studies
This month we are studying early America; including, Columbus, pilgrims, Native Americans, and Thanksgiving. This will be followed by Christmas around the world in December. We will learn how other cultures celebrate Christmas.
Our spanish speakers are continuing to look and identify key words like Cuanto (how much/how many), Donde (where). They are doing a great job responding to their daily question with a complete sentence in Spanish. They should be able to introduce them with facts about themselves and also be able to identify many of their body parts and share about some of the body parts not feeling well. We are about to learn more about our daily routines and telling time.
Excel Science 6th-9th grades - Mrs. Ungeheier
Scientists have been working with mixing some different components to form chemical reactions and observe the physical changes. We will begin discovering the differences between muscles, ligaments, tendons, and body organs.
Middle School Music - Mr. Hale
This month we are continuing with trash can band and rhythm. We are also getting ready for the Grandparents day Christmas song, and the Christmas concert.
Elementary music - Mrs. Scholes
In October we began learning our Christmas music. These kids LOVE to sing Christmas music!! Auditions for parts were held one week during class and I was so impressed and overwhelmed by not only the talent of so many DHA kids, but their bravery to get in front of peers to sing or speak. It’s been exciting to see our program come together so swiftly and it’s not even November!
In November we plan to polish our program music as well as grab some moments playing songs on Boomwhackers.
Spanish 1st & 2nd Grade - Mrs. Hesman In October we worked more on learning colors vocabulary and body parts vocabulary. Everyone worked on learning to perform Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Spanish, and many asked me to video them performing it in a small group. In November we will be working on learning the names of family members. First grade will continue working on counting to 20, and second graders will be working on counting by 10’a to 100. We will throw in some Thanksgiving vocabulary each week and some popular Thanksgiving foods.
Spanish 4th - 9th Grades - Rachael Mitchell
The month of October was wonderful in 4th - 9th grade Spanish! We took the time to learn about conjugating –ar and –er verbs, learned a lot of “around the house” vocabulary, and studied the country and culture of Argentina. It was great to see the kids participating and engaging as we learned to conjugate and they caught on so quickly! They were full of questions about Argentina and the differences and similarities of that country to ours. In the upcoming month we will be studying –ir verbs, how to put a sentence together, more vocabulary and the country of Panama. I am looking forward to a great November with some great kids!
Computers - Amber Hodgson
In October we continued working on our word processing journals. We took a break last week and worked in teams to solve a digital escape room challenge. In November we will begin an internet safety and digital citizenship project. As we finish our projects, we will post them on Seesaw. Don’t forget to connect to your student's Seesaw portfolio.
Thanks for sharing your children with me,
Mrs. Hodgson
September 2018 Classroom News
The PreK Monkeys enjoyed learning the routines of a school day at DHA while an ocean theme pervaded our crafts and read-alouds for September. In October we are saddling up for a month of fun down on the farm!
Kindergarten had a wonderful first month of school getting to know our classmates, practicing routines, and learning all about apples and Johnny Appleseed! We created fun apple crafts and learned how apple trees change with each season. Students taste-tested different types of apples and graphed the results of our favorites...Yum! We read all about Johnny Appleseed, focusing on true facts vs. tall tales, and we even got to sample his winter diet of butternut squash. During PE time, we focused on right/left body awareness through fun exercises and games. Show and Tell is always a highlight in our month and helps us learn speaking and listening skills. October will be filled with fall fun as we learn about spiders, pumpkins, and leaves.
Spanish 1st-2nd - Mrs. Hesman
In September we learned how to express our likes and dislikes. We learned seven different ways to answer whether we like or dislike certain foods. We also began working on counting to 20 and began learning eleven of the most basic colors.
In October we will continue practicing colors, counting and all past vocabulary, while adding in the vocabulary for parts of the body. Get ready for head, shoulders, knees and toes in Spanish!
Mrs. Hodgson - Computers
This month in computers we learned about the some of the tools we will be using this year, including an online portfolio called SeeSaw. We also started our Microsoft Word Project, a journal from the prospective of a fictional character. In October we will continue to work on Microsoft Word. We will also learn about Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety.
If you have not connected to your child's SeeSaw account, please e-mail me at DHA.computerclass@gmail.com.
Mrs. Champ - Intermediate Science
To start our year off, we did a couple of "Get to Know You" activities and learned a little more about our fellow classmates. During the beginning of September, the students learned about orienteering and how to use a compass. The students got to practice finding a bearing using a
compass. To end September, we started learning about the 3 different types of rocks and about the rock cycle. In October, we are going to continue to learn about different rocks and minerals from Missouri.
P.E. - Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Morrison
We had so much fun in Physical Education with your students in September! It was so nice to meet new students and see former students again! This year we will be outside quite a bit so please check the weather to see if long pants and a jacket are necessary as the weather is ever changing.
In Physical Education last month we learned rules and procedures, played class games, and engaged in soccer skills. Some games we played were Battleship and Save the Forrest. Both games include skills like sliding, throwing, catching, dodging and team work skills. In soccer we did kicking, trapping, and passing skills.
In October we will finish up our soccer unit with some lead up soccer games like Sharks and Minos and a Star Wars Dribbling Game. We will also begin our volleyball unit which includes skills like passing, setting, and serving. As always thank you for sharing your students with us!
1st and 2nd Grade Science - Mrs. Skinner
Hello DHA parents! I've had a great few weeks getting to know your sweet kiddos. In class we have been getting to know one another through morning meetings. We've been practicing our days of the week, months of the year, counting by 5s and 10s, and more.
Our curriculum this month focused on the vocabulary predator, prey, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, and habitats. We explored these ideas using scat and skulls. At the end of our exploration we made edible scat. Thank you to everyone who made it out to the Burr Oak Trail for our hike and picnic (both groups ;)
We have just started our exploration of habitats. This next month we will continue learning about habitats, neat animals and plants God made inside them, food chains, producers, consumers, food webs, and photosynthesis.
We have spent this month of September in "Newspaper Class" discussing the students' understanding of journalism and the changing face of journalism due to modern day inventions. We learned the elements of a newspaper and how to navigate the Kansas City Star and the Lee's Summit Journal. Then, we discussed the most common styles of writing found in journalism and practiced interviewing classmates in groups to find the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of any story. Finally, we learned about finding an angle to make a story newsworthy, and the students practiced finding an angle in their classmates' stories. In October, we plan to complete those classmate stories by working in groups to form a newsworthy article with an intriguing angle and informally present it to the rest of the class. We will also begin working with technology to type up, edit, and collaborate on the handwritten stories and explore different options for including artwork, photography, and design to enhance the impact of the stories. If we have time, we will also explore some online school newspapers and brainstorm which sections we want to include in our paper.
We have been busy in first and second grade art. In September we have spent a lot of time reviewing rules and expectations in the art room and awarding class dojo points to earn that class dojo party. You have some very bright kids. They are like sponges and I'm amazed at how they have retained the expectations and can recite them. Many of them now know the definition to the word "authentic" since creating AUTHENTIC ARTWORK is the first rule in Mrs Wright's class. They are also eager to serve and help where needed. I so appreciate their servant hearts. Great job moms and dads on training your kids to be cheerful and willing helpers. We spent the first part of every class period reviewing rules in hopes that we can hit the ground running in October. I know they are going to do a great job!
In addition to reviewing expectations, we started the year learning about the element of color. Students reviewed the primary colors, how to make secondary colors, about warm and cool colors and the moods and feelings they evoke, and about complimentary colors and how they strengthen each other. Second grade read the book, "Leaf Trouble" and did a fall complimentary color art project. Students used oil pastels and watercolors and discovered the science behind how these two art supplies work together.
First grade read "Love Monster" and we made some observations about the angle the illustrator drew the monster in. We used our observations to carefully craft three of our own monsters and painted them and the background in a complimentary color palette. The kids were fascinated to see how lemon juice and salt could be added to our monsters to give them blotchy monster skin. First graders were VERY excited to get to use Sharpies. Both grades learned how to properly use a paintbrush. Mrs Wright explained that paintbrushes are supposed to look like graceful ballerinas that scoot around on the tips of their bristles. I asked if anyone had every seen a ballerina dance on her bottom to which the kids chuckled and said, "NO!" They learned that paintbrushes that are mashed into their paper aren't being used gracefully and create sloppy art much the same way a ballerina on her bottom would make for a sloppy dance. Next month we will continue with color and learn about the value of a color and how white and black can create shades and tints.
Once we finish with the element of color, we will move on to the element of line. I'm so excited for a dice/line drawing game that I think the kids are going to love! It's going to be fun. Stay tuned!
Intermediate Art 3rd-5th - Mrs. Hudson
In the month of September, 3rd graders have reviewed the Elements of Art (Line, Shape, Color etc.) Students have worked to create an artwork that demonstrates each of these Elements visually. In October 3rd graders will be learning about Pattern and how to use line/shape to create a variety of patterns. The students will demonstrate their understanding of this concept using Fish as their subject.
4th graders have been reviewing Line and Shape. They have applied these Elements together to create Patterns of their own in an Abstract Watercolor. Students also reviewed methods of watercolor techniques to create smooth graded washes. In October, they will be learning about Pointilism as they view the work of Seurat. Then creating their own pointilist work of reptiles/amphibians with Tempera as their medium.
5th graders have created Math Art this month through the Tessellation. Students created their shape from a 2 in square, then created their Tessellation using the slide method. This can also be called tiling where the shape fills the entire picture plane with no gaps. In October, we will be looking at Observational drawing techniques. Methods to help the students use shape a line to draw what their eye sees, rather than what they know. Animals will be our subject of study throughout the unit.
Art - Mr. Voyles
In September Our class reviewed the elements of art. The primary element we are focusing on is line. The project we are working on uses the element of implied line incorporating the use of complementary colors, balance and composition. This is a fun project the kids are enjoying. In October we will continue this project and expand it into a 3 dimensional expression of the concept of Implied line in pattern and color.
Social Studies - Mrs. Messer
Kangaroos, seals and owls have been very busy in social studies class. In our First week, we discussed how as God’s children we needed to make sure we are setting a good example for others. We discussed politeness, how to be a productive citizen and using appropriate manners while at school and in our neighborhoods. We then started learning about all of the Community Helpers in our communities and why they are important for our society to succeed. Johnny Appleseed came to visit our first hour class. We learned about his life and the legacy he left. This week at DHA we celebrated Native American day by learning how Native Americans communicated through picture drawings. Students made their own pictures stories and shared with other classmates. In October, we plan to start our economics unit. We will dig in learning about goods and services, supply, demand and scarcity. Columbus Day is also in October. We will visit this topic and learn more about Christopher Columbus. The last week in October I plan to discuss the Statue of Liberty and how it became one of our nations most famous symbols.
Social Studies 1st-2nd - Mr. Hale
So far this month we have been studying Community Helpers, specifically Police Officers, Firefighters, and Paramedics, and how they relate to the Community.
Next month we will be learning about Doctors, Nurses, Construction Workers, and beginning national landmarks.
Elementary music - Mrs Scholes
We started our school year off with lots of fun getting to know each other through some quick and easy musical name games. Since there are 240 kids seeing me each week, I’m praying to be a quick learner of all your awesome kid’s faces and names! In my 3rd-5th grade classes, we also had a good time discussing what types of music we like, if we even like music at all, and what kind of background in music they have. This helps me a lot as I plan concerts and lessons for the year.
Probably the kids’ favorite activity of the month was using our boomwhackers to play songs and create music.
In October we will start to look ahead toward Christmas music for our December concert. Go ahead and mark your calendars for this great night on December 4!
Music - Mr. Hale
This month we have been working on rhythm, beat, and basic music terminology.
Next month we will continue with rhythm, and start to work on doing a trash can band performance. We will also start preparing individual and group performances for the Christmas concert.
Spanish 4th-9th - Mrs. Mitchell
In September Mrs. Mitchell's Spanish class was able to cover a lot of ground! Students learned how to introduce themselves, how to tell you their favorite foods, colors, and hobbies, how to say the parts of the body and articles of clothing, and some basic -ar verbs! This month we will move forward by leaning the basics of conjugating, things around the house, how to order in a Spanish restaurant, some facts about the country of Argentina, as well as taking time to review all the things that we have studied so far. We are looking forward to a great October! Que tengas un buen día!
Spanish - Mrs. Ungeheier
Students have been reviewing some of the basics. For example, how to pronounce the alphabet, the calendar, counting, and greetings. We have begun working on our family members, emotions/characteristics, and sports. We will continue practicing these and add on to our repertoire of characteristics and our age. They can then in conversation have the basic information to introduce themselves.
Key phrases that everyone has used successfully are:
"Estoy aqui." (I am here),
" Mi _____(family members name) es _______ (characteristic)",
"Me gusta jugar______" (I like to play....)
Students have learned how to find their resting heart rate, target heart rate, and maximum heart rate in relation to the importance of proper nutrition and exercise. This included understanding how the body naturally kicks in from an anaerobic phase to an aerobic phase giving us the energy we need when we apply ourselves for more than 3 minutes. Our bodies naturally encounter a fight or flight method with different positive and negative stressors. It is important to identify our stressors and have support so we keep a healthy balance and self-esteem. We want to avoid the more severe negative affects stressors can have on the body. We also created a list and discovered additional first aid supplies and uses with items commonly found around the house.
We will begin practicing some orienteering skills and interact with some skills that were used during the Lewis and Clark Trail Days.
Discovery Homeschool Academy has two exciting programs for the 2018-19 school year.
DHA Enrichment program located at Crown Pointe church in Lees Summit, MO is on Tuesdays. Students grades Pre-K to 9th grade enjoy classes such as Music, Art, PE, Spanish, Computers or SS, and Science Lab. All staff has a college degree and most hold teaching certificates.
DHA Academic program located at Fellowship Greenwood (10 minutes from Summit Fair- I-470 and Hwy 50) is on Mondays and Wednesdays. Students grades K to 7th grade will benefit from certified teachers and work alongside other students in a positive classroom environment. DHA teachers oversee the curriculum, provide weekly student assignments and partner with parents.
For full details, questions and to register, visit www.dhacademy.org/Enrollment.
Discovery Homeschool Academy * 913.636.8290 * DiscoveryHomeschool@gmail.com
