Wesley International School

February Love

Jonathan Heath — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:55:39 +0000

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor on another about yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

Rom. 12:9-13

It is unbelievable that another month has flown by and that it is already February. February…the month of Love… As I was reflection on that I am challenged to take special care to show Christ’s love to each other this month. We all thrive with love. We all shine when someone shows us that we are loved. We all love to know that someone cares for us enough to do that something special.

We, as Christians, have this example of greater love before us. As we contemplate that ultimate example of Jesus dying for us, saving us from our sins and claiming us as

friends, let us consider how we may show love to each other.

Love is such a powerful emotion and the next section of our school’s philosophy of education deals with emotions. We are trying to help students become mature and well-rounded and emotional maturity is one piece of that. “We desire to teach students to express their emotions in Godly ways.” (This is taken from our school’s Philosophy of Christian Education document.)

As students and staff relate to each other in the milieu of many cultural and individual context we want to sensitively strengthen our relationships with each other through proper Godly expressions of emotions.

So, as we think about this, how can you lay down your life for someone else? What sacrifices could we make in our own lives that would show love, God’s love, to those around us?

Jonathan Heath

Knowledge, Insight, Action and Love Nov 2011

Jonathan Heath — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:07:34 +0000

Part of our Mission statement says that we are “Providing a Christ-centered education to … prepare our students to impact and bless their world with knowledge, insight, action and love.”

The methods of impacting and blessing the worlds of the students are myriad. Knowledge, implies learning, knowing, having the information that actions can be based upon. Insight speaks to me of something deeper and broader than knowledge, but rather inspiration and wisdom. It speaks to how to apply the knowledge rightly and appropriately. Action is an outward, outworking of what has been assimilated and internalized. Love is the metaphysical, emotional aspect that can drive our actions with right motivation.

These interplay and interweave to both impact the students world immediately but we pray set up a framework the students can draw upon to impact their world around them for the rest of their lives.

We have started the second quarter of this school year and it seems that Christmas is sneaking up on us at an alarming rate. Check the calendar for event scheduled this month.

While on the theme of Holidays, Friday, November 25 is a holiday. It is not a Red Letter Day but just a day to break up the long run from October to December and give students and teachers a break with a long weekend. On Thursday evening, November 24^th, The PTFA is planning on hosting a cultural evening. Please look out for more information about that from them.

Basketball practices are starting this week. All students from 7^th – 12^th grade are welcome to come along to practice and play. For more information on the practice times etc, please see the schedules around school and those already sent out.

Elementary Parents, your children are starting to work on songs and the play for the Christmas programme. Please work with them to make sure that they know all their parts. We can work together to make this a great production. It is an adaptation of the famous Christmas story, The Christmas Carol, rewritten as a play by Miss Debbie Wittig’s mother.

Other events to know about that are happening at the school this month are:

1. The SAT held at Wesley on Saturday, November 5^th. As we need quite for the test there will be no other events going on at the school this Saturday morning. ADVANCE NOTICE: We will also have the SAT here on Dec. 3rd.

2. High School Camp (November 11-12) Pastor Chris is planning it right now and may need help with some things. Look out for more information from him in the coming weeks.

God Bless You,

Jonathan

Kindergarten – Handwriting

staradmin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:10:41 +0000

Philosophy
We believe that God call us to be creatures who communicate through language, based on His example of communicating with us through His revealed word, the Bible. In the Bible, God employ many forms of literature, including stories and poetry, to instruct us in His character and expectations us. Therefore we believe it is important for students to learn to communicate clearly and effectively through language, as well as to develop a love of God’s Word and an appreciation for the gift of the spoken and written word.

Students should master grammar, spelling, and other writing conventions, as well as learn how to comprehend spoken and written words, to think critically about them, and to respond clearly and thoughtfully through writing and discussion.

Course Objective
The Kindergarten Handwriting program is an active, dynamic way of teaching handwriting. (NLL) The program incorporates three developmentally based stages which are: Imitation, Copying, and Independent writing. The use of wooden letter pieces, small individual chalk boards and dynamic demonstrations help impart learning to the students. Visual, auditory and Kinesthetic learning styles. (NLL, ET) The children will learn the proper formation of both capital and lower case letters. They will also know the appropriate size and position of letters on a line. Students will learn that writing is systematic and orderly and that God made writing logical and easy to learn. (RUC) Through writing we can communicate with others (DC) and learn what God has written (SCW).

Materials
Handwriting Without Tears Teacher’s Guide and Student Book
Handwriting Without Tears Wooden Letter piece’s, chalk boards and blue letter mats

Time Allotment
15 minutes per day, 5 days a week

Course Content

Correct posture and pencil grip
Capital letters
Number 1 – 10
Lower case letters

Evaluation

Written assessment
Written letter games
Daily work

Kindergarten – Social Studies

staradmin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:02:24 +0000

Philosophy
God created many people in the world, with different cultures, languages, and religions. These factors change and vary geographically and continuously throughout time. Paul exhorts us to be all things to all people. Social studies give students a chance to learn about “all people”. Learning about the world, the different countries with their history and cultures prepares them to make wise choices for their countries and the future.

Course Objective
Kindergarten students will gain general knowledge about themselves, their family and their neighborhoods in the unit called Me and My Neighborhood (SCW, ET, RUC). They will see God’s hand on their lives in creating each child unique and placing them in families. Students will be introduced to basic Safety and Hygiene and discover more about themselves by looking at Feelings and Emotions. In this topic they will practice Godly ways of managing anger and realize that emotions are created by God and that our emotions need to be handled properly in order not to offend others.(NLL, SCW, RUC, DC)

In the second semester Kindergarten will look at Nighttime and its attributes. They may also study the unit called Money, Needs and Wants, which will help students realize that money is earned by working and many choices are made in how we use money on either needs or wants. (ET).

Materials

All About Me Houghton Mifflin Teacher’s Book

Let’s Be Friends Houghton Mifflin Teacher’s Book

Social Studies Multimedia Teacher’s Edition Scott Foresmann, Here We Go
School Created Units

Time Allotment
1 hour per week

Course Content

Me & My Neighborhood
Safety & Hygiene
Feelings & Emotions
Night Time
Money, Needs & Wants
Book Work
Class Discussions and Quizzes
Class Participation

Kindergarten – Science

staradmin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:00:10 +0000

Philosophy
Science for the Christian is the study of God’s creation. The exploration of the creation should yield a direct appreciation for the creative work of God. What can be known of God we know through His creation (For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse – Romans 1:20), but the fallen nature of man and his frequent rebellion to acknowledge a Creator hinder this. Students will continually be called on to see the divine order of creation and its implications for other subjects, able to manage the created world according to what God has planned in the beginning, and will be stirred to think about the work of an infinitely loving, good God who has prepared a place for us to live temporally and eternally.

Course Objective
Kindergarten students will be introduced to and gain basic knowledge about some of these topics; Weather and Seasons, Living and Non-Living Things, My Five Senses, Plants and My Body. (NLL, ET) We will do some experiments and study God’s world through these science subjects. (RUC, DC, SCW)

Materials

School created units
Mc Graw – Hill SCIENCE Teacher’s Multimedia Edition
Harcourt SCIENCE Teacher’s Edition

Time Allotment
1 hour per week

Course Content

Weather & Seasons
Wind
Investigating Water
My Body
Plants
Class Quizzes (verbal)
Book work
Classroom participation
Experiments

Kindergarten – Reading

staradmin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:05:31 +0000

Philosophy
We believe that God calls us to be creatures who communicate through language, based on His example of communicating with us through His revealed Word, the Bible. In the Bible, God employs many forms of literature, including stories and poetry, to instruct us in His character and expectations of us. Therefore we believe it is important for students to learn to communicate clearly and effectively through language, as well as to develop a love of God’s Word and an appreciation for the gifts of the spoken and written word. Students should master grammar, spelling, and other writing conventions, as well as learn how to comprehend spoken and written words, to think critically about them, and to respond clearly and thoughtfully through writing and discussion.

Course Objective
The Kindergarten Reading Program is a comprehensive program that introduces children to the concept of print through Phonetic Awareness, Letter and Sound Recognition, Comprehension Skills and Vocabulary. Students will develop reading fluency and writing through this program. Their listening, speaking, and observation skills will be enhanced.(DC, NLL) This reading program also covers interrelated topics on Science, Social Studies, Math, Music and Art by introducing factual and fiction literature. (SCW, ET, ) We evaluate and compare and contrast stories to a Biblical World View (RUC, ET) and we look at literature from around the world. (SCW, ET, NLL).

Materials

Houghton Mifflin Kindergarten Teacher’s Edition Reading Manual
10 Theme Bags containing Big Books/Read Aloud Books/Little Big Books/Audio CD/Phonics Library Book/Theme Posters
Reading Practice Student book/Alphafriends Card Kit/Letter Word and Picture Cards/Phonics Center Direction Chart

Time Allotment
90 – 120 minutes per day, 5 days per week

Course Content

Phonetic Awareness (Wordless books/high-Frequency words/Words with short vowel sounds/Initial Consonants)
Comprehension Skills
Concepts of Print
The Alphabet
Vocabulary
Writing
Listening, Speaking, and Viewing Skills
Daily Observation
Written assessment

Evaluation
Oral assessment

Kindergarten – Phonics

staradmin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:00:50 +0000

Course Objective
The Kindergarten Saxon Phonics program is a systematic program that teaches children to read and pronounce words by learning the phonetic (spoken) value of letters, letter combinations and syllables. (DC) The Saxon phonics series builds on prior learning and new learning is presented in increments, and each increment is review throughout the year. (NLL, ET) This program may be used with any other reading program. It’s objective is to provide students with the information they need to be able to read independently.(SCW, NLL) If a child learns to read then he/she can read God’s word and apply it to their life. (RUC)

Materials
Saxon Phonics Teacher’s Resource booklet/140 Student Lesson Sheets/Readers/Word Lists/Letter Tiles/Irregular Spelling Booklets/Kid Cards/Wall Charts and Posters/Sight Word Charts/Rule Charts and Syllable Division Charts.

Time Allotment
30 minutes per day, 5 days a week

Course Content

Daily Work Sheets
Word Lists
Individual Readers
Coding Words
Recognizing Letter Names and Sounds
Consonants and Vowel (long and short)
Blends, sight words, silent letters, compound words, diphthongs, digraphs and syllables
Oral assessment
Written assessment
Daily worksheets

Kindergarten – Math

staradmin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 07:55:44 +0000

Philosophy
God created humans with a rational and inquiring mind. He blessed them with the ability to count, tell time and make change. In mathematics we will explore and develop this God given gift systematically. As the Bible says “precept upon precept, line upon line…” (Isaiah 28:10). Students will systematically build up their knowledge of mathematics. As they learn the different disciplines of mathematics students will recognize the logic and order God imbued in the world and by implication that God is a God of logic and order. They will develop a greater understanding and appreciation of God through their study of Mathematics.

Course Objective
Kindergarten math students will learn Position and Sorting, Graphing and Patterns, Numbers through 31, Measurement, Time and Money, Geometry and Fractions and will be introduced to Addition, Subtraction, Counting and Number Patterns to 100. We teach our students that Math is orderly and logical like God (ET, RUC). Children will learn how to explain math principles (DC) and learn about money that is different from their own country (SCW) and how to play games fairly.

Materials
Scott Foresmann Curriculum: Student Chapter Booklets/Enrichment Worksheets/Practice Worksheets/Home-School Connection Worksheets/Every Student Learns Worksheets/Teaching Tool Masters Worksheets/Assessment Source book/Answer key booklet for Practice and Enrichment Worksheets/Problem of The Day Overheads/Four Volume Teachers Edition Manuals/Math Manipulatives. We also use Net Book computers once a week to do Math skill building (ET, NLL) and apply Math to real situations. (ET)

Time Allotment
30 minutes per day, 5 days a week.

Course Content

Position and Sorting
Graphing and Patterns
Numbers through 5
Numbers through 10
Numbers through 31
Measurement
Time and Money
Geometry and Fractions
Readiness for Addition and Subtraction
Understanding Addition
Understanding Subtraction
Counting and Number Patterns to 100

Evaluation
Performance Assessment
Written Assessment
Book Tests
Daily Work

Kindergarten – Bible

staradmin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 07:50:54 +0000

Philosophy
God’s truth for all of life is given to us in the Bible, along with exhortations to study, know, and teach the precepts therein. More than disseminators of knowledge, we as teachers need to act as coaches or disciplers in Bible class, as fellow members of the family of God who are a little further down the road, helping our younger brothers and sisters in Christ to understand and apply Biblical principles to their lives. To this end, then, we teach Bible class in order to systematically study the Word of God and the doctrine upon which we base our faith, but in a manner which emphasizes dynamic truth for living and dependence on the Living Word, not treating the Bible as a rulebook or textbook.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Course Objective
The Kindergarten program focuses on the familiar children’s stories of the Bible (eg. Creation, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Jesus, and many more). Students will appreciate the lives of famous heroes, who by example provide a foundation for living. (NLL) The students will develop a prayerful heart for other people around the world through “Missions Mike”, who travels to various countries and reports on other cultures and customs.(RUC) The students will be involved in performing in Chapel, acting in skits, reading and praying out loud for others.(DC, SCW) They will learn to apply the memory verses to their lives (NLL) and contrasting good and bad ways to live. (ET, RUC, SWC).

Materials
ACSI Bible Curriculum Kindergarten Teacher Edition
ACSI Kindergarten Student Work Books

Time Allotment
30 minutes per day, 4 days per week, and a weekly Chapel.

Course Content

God Made My World
God Cares For Me
God Sent Jesus
God Wants Me To Be His Child
God Teaches Me
God Sent Jesus To Die For Me
God Helps Me
God Has A Plan For Me
God Gives Me Friends
Contemporary Issues:(honesty, obedience. Taking turns, getting along with others
Class Participation
Application of lesson learned into daily life
Memorizing specific Bible Verses

1st Grade – Social Studies

staradmin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:30:31 +0000

Course Objectives
In first grade social studies students will learn about their world, countries and communities through studying map skills (ESLR: NLL), transportation, farming and home countries.(ESLR: ET, ESLR: SCW) They will share about their home countries. (ESLR: DC) Students will understand that God made each of them special. (ESLR: RUC)

Textbook
Scholastic Success With Maps Grade 1
Teacher prepared units on farming, transportation and Indonesian transportation, and home countries.

Materials
Map Skills Workbooks
Farming teacher prepared sheets, photos and books
Transportation teacher prepared book and worksheets photos and books
Indonesian transportation teacher prepared sheets photos
Home countries display, directions for making a report, library books and books about their home countries

Time Allotment
45 minutes per day 4 days a week

Course Content

Maps Skills – understanding different map sizes, globes, location words, map keys, cardinal directions. map symbols, continents and oceans map, neighborhood maps, land forms, borders, state map and country map.
Farming – learning about dairy farming, hay, wheat, corn, and rice growing. May include a field trip to Greenfield’s Dairy
Transportation – land, air and water vehicles.
Indonesian Transportation – land. air and water vehicles with field trips riding different local vehicles.
Home Countries – Students collect materials about their home countries and share them with the others students in the class. They study clothing, money, holidays, transportation, games, weather, numbers, capital city, location on a world map and country map, and a few words from their countries.

Evaluation
Student participation, teacher observation, daily work, reports and tests.