Beyond the 3 Rs
Beyond the 3 Rs is a Fundamental Aspect of Redeemer Lutheran School in Westfield, NJ.
Besides our excellent academics, Redeemer provides the necessary balance of arts and enrichment to address the whole child.
Here is a midyear report from some of our “specials” teachers.
Art
Submitted by Mrs. Janet Stofa
DIRECTIONS: Hold your paper “Tall Man” and fold in half. Now we draw the outline of an egg with the fat part to the top of your paper, making sure that the “pointy” part of the egg ends up near the half-way fold of the paper. Now find the middle of your egg and on the left side, draw a capital C right outside that midway point—about 2” long (but not too fat!). Remembering your ellipse rules, draw a big smile (lightly) across to the right outside of your egg and put the same size capital C—but backwards. Go back to the left side of your egg and put your pointer finger next to the C—inside the egg.
Along that lightly drawn big smile, draw a 1” long little smile. Put your pointer and tall man fingers together, draw another 1” smile. Now put a top on those 1” smiles and you have a football. Inside each football, put a basketball, and inside each basketball, put a baseball. Now go back to the bottom of the capital C on the left side of your egg and draw another big smile (lightly) across to the bottom of the other backward capital C.
On the middle of that curved line draw another 1” little smile. Place your pointer finger under that smile as if you were going to sneeze and draw a “Cupid’s bow” lying on its side. How long is that Cupid’s bow? Lightly draw a straight line down from your basketballs (inside your footballs) and that gives you the length of your bow. Then draw a smile under the Cupid’s bow connecting one end to the other. Voila! You have successfully drawn a perfect face…and then we make it into a self-portrait.
This is the theme for our artwork this year: Self-portraits through the Ages. How easy was that?! (They are oh, so beautiful!)
Computers
Submitted by Mrs. Hanan Haddad
Grades K through 6 begin computer classes in the second marking period. During the first marking period we work on Character Education and study/organizational skills.
Kindergartners begin with learning the basic computer terminology. They also get the opportunity to look and explore inside a computer, keyboard and mouse. It is so amazing to see their eyes light up when they see and touch the inside of a computer.
The Kindergarten teacher and I work closely together on the language arts. We use the Starfall program to support students’ exploration. Every word on the site is click-able and will read aloud. In this way, your child’s speaking, reading, and writing vocabulary can grow alongside his/her curiosity.
Grades 3-6 continually review basic keyboarding using Bernie’s Typing Travels. Hands-on projects integrate computer instruction with language arts, math, science, social studies and art. At each of these grade levels, we work on keyboard skills, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, graphics and the Internet.
Grades 4/5/6 have just completed a project using Microsoft Excel. They learned the basics of a spreadsheet and spreadsheet terms. They also learned how to highlight cells and make a colorful pie chart.
We called this project – “Flavor Distribution of a Pack of Skittles using Excel.” Stop by and check out our work!
Next project……….PowerPoint!
Discipleship
Submitted by Mrs. Joy Wagenblast (Principal)
We included this “subject” as it not only goes “beyond the 3 Rs,” but at Redeemer, discipleship is also woven throughout our curriculum. The mission statement of Redeemer Church and School is “making disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ.” We get to do that through the vehicle of the subjects taught in our school.
The term “Religion” has always bothered me as the name for the instructional class. We don’t teach “religion” per se—anyone can be “religious” about most anything. Rather, we teach about another “r” word: relationship—specifically about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and then how that relationship affects our relationships with others. The essence of discipleship is learning to become more and more like Jesus in our faith journey.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39. The vertical cross-piece symbolizes our relationship with God; the horizontal piece reminds us that His love extends to others.
We teach “discipleship” in our Chapel services and playground openings and daily devotions. We teach it through Bible stories as we see how God demonstrates His love to His people and learn how that story applies to us as His children here and now. We model that by the way we hold up expectations for how we treat one another—in good times and when someone of us inevitably messes up. We give children opportunities to pray and be prayed for, to serve and to be served, to forgive and to be forgiven…and we aim to do this “religiously.”
Elementary Music
Submitted by Mrs. Betsy Mackenzie-Stubbs
THURSDAYS ARE RECORDER DAY AND INSTRUMENT DAY!! Grades 2-3 are beginning pre-recorder study, and Grades 4-6 are studying the recorder and building music reading skills. Grade 1 is looking forward to instrumental play of all sorts (piano, boom whackers, kazoos, xylophones, hand chimes). They are also having fun working with steady beats through singing and moving. All grades are working on their do, re, mi’s as well as learning music for our spring concert.
Early Childhood Music
Submitted by Mrs. Peggy Kraus
EC3s - We love to move to music!!! We are marching, jumping, skipping, skating, galloping, flying and strolling all while learning the days of the week in song. We also greet each month in song and are currently getting ready to greet March – just think of the possibilities with a month named March. We can’t wait!
EC4s - We are full of energy and love to sing along with our aerobic work-out songs. We are learning about call and response songs, and are becoming really good at singing words and rhythms back exactly as we hear them. We are also learning the books of the New Testament in song (quite an accomplishment!)
Kindergarten – We, too, are learning about call and response music, but we have added rhythm instruments to our songs and are playing them while singing. We have the more difficult task of learning the books of the Old Testament in song, but we are more than half way done. Some of those names are really hard to sing!! We are also singing a song that uses two melodies together. Half our class sings one melody, and the other half sings the second melody – that is not easy and we sometimes get confused, but we are still trying!
Physical Education
Submitted by Mrs. Sara Clarkson
Each gym class begins with the students completing push-ups, sit-ups and an aerobic warm-up exercise. This routine helps improve their overall fitness. We began the school year learning about the four major areas of fitness. They include strength, flexibility, endurance and speed/agility. We measured every student in grades K-6 to determine a baseline of their achievement in each of these areas as compared to the average American child. In the spring, we’ll measure again and look for improvement.
Ball skills were required for the next few months. We practiced control both with our feet and with our hands as we learned that being able to kick or throw the hardest was useful only if control accompanied the skill. The kids excelled at learning to govern their gross and fine motor skills.
In January, we mastered beginning square-dancing. By the time Family Night rolled around on the 23rd, our grade school attendees looked like old pros at the barn dance. Fun was had by all whether at the Family Night dance or just in gym class. Ask your child to demonstrate an Allemande or a do-si-do for you!
Spanish (Early Childhood)
Submitted by Mrs. Liz Castro
Hola, Amigos! Spanish is the language of many rich and unique cultures. It is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, following Mandarin and English. Throughout the year, students learn basic vocabulary words through a curriculum that includes listening, speaking, singing, and drawing. The major areas covered in the year are numbers, colors, family, classroom objects, clothing, and food.
To date, the children have enjoyed practicing numbers and colors with Uno cards. They enjoy playing games like Vibora, Vibora de la Mar, Hot Potato, Memory, and Bingo. We also read bilingual books that allow them to hear the pronunciation of the language and also see pictures of different cultures throughout Latin America.
Spanish (Elementary)
Submitted by Mrs. Ruth Stolt
¿ Hablas español?
Do you speak Spanish? Redeemer students are being exposed to Spanish as part of the curriculum in our youngest classes. Primary level students hone and add to the vocabulary they acquired at the Early Childhood level. Elementary students continue to expand their vocabulary as well as begin using simple sentences. The older elementary student work includes learning the tools needed to create sentences with the goal of students being able carry on simple dialogues. Time is spent portraying the cultures, history, and traditions of various Spanish speaking countries. “Cinco de Mayo” affords such an opportunity where students learn that 4,000 Mexican soldiers defeated the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico. The French had attempted to add Mexico to its empire. As always the palate enjoys learning of some of the tastes that have come from another culture. One cultural standby is chips and salsa!
Science
Submitted by Mrs. Ruth Stolt
Science is…”Bohring!”*
Have you visited our science lab? It is a place where learning science “happens.” Various topics in the areas of earth, life, and physical science are covered during the course of the year. Instead of just taking the textbook at face value, students conduct lab activities verifying what they have read. Outgrowths of the lab work are new questions as well as the perpetual “why?” While studying Newton’s laws of motion, the fifth and sixth grade class made a paddle boat to demonstrate the third law. While investigating the relationship of density to buoyancy, the fourth graders discovered the “why” oil and water do not mix. Looking forward, students will be taking a closer look at the phenomenon we call weather and peering down through the microscope, discovering another world unseen to the naked eye.
* Oh yes, science is “Bohring!” is a play on the last name of the Danish scientist, Nils Bohr, whose atomic model is used in many text books to show the placement of sub-atomic particles, the protons, neutrons, and electrons within the atom.
