National Literacy Month

The month of November was busy with election, Thanksgiving and National Literacy Month.  We were able to stuff everything in and still gain valuable information from each topic.  National Literacy Month was headed by our National Junior Honor's Society and turned out to be a hit.  For the first time, we read one book as a school.  Mr. B began reading Matilda for the students after chapel, and the entire school read the book throughout the month.  Our box car movie celebration was exciting for everyone.  To have the opportunity to read a book and watch the movie at such a young age, is a great experience for our kindergartners.  The message that we were able to get across in kindergarten was that we are blessed by God with great parents that don't treat us the way Matilda's did.  While the students wanted to "jump in the screen and squish the Trunchbull" at times, I believe that this also sent across a hidden message about bullying and protecting others when they are in danger.  
I have attached pictures, but I also want to remind you that Sauers has a Facebook page and recently added an Instagram page: @stjohnssauers.  Feel free to add us and check out pictures from the entire school!

Thanksgiving

Through our two week study of the Indians and Pilgrims, we had many learning opportunities to prepare for Thanksgiving.  We studied the life of Native Americans through our social studies series Let's Find Out.  Learning more about Squanto and his knowledge of the land, connected us to the farming at that time.  We took a tour of a Native American village and met some modern day Wampanoag Indians in a video. Then, we spent an entire day studying the life of pilgrims.  We first used an interactive video to "sail" to the new world.  The students heard of the hardships and tight spaces on the boats.  We learned about the pilgrim's games, hunted and gathered, wrote on chalkboards for reading time, learned more about their clothing and homes.   For Jesus time, we worked in our Jesus Journals to web prayers.  We copied bible verses about being thankful and sang songs.  Check out the pictures to see some of the exciting things we did for Thanksgiving.

We also celebrated Alex's 6th birthday!