Teamwork

“If two heads are better than one, then what about double chins? On that note, I will help myself to seconds.” 

― Jarod Kintz

I was looking for a compelling quote on teamwork and found this little number instead. On that note, I hope you enjoyed the wonderful snack offered by our parent team as much as I did today!

On a more serious note, two heads are definitely better than one. When we put our whole SS team together, we get GREATNESS! Thank you for not only attending the meeting today but also for your honesty and openness. We covered a lot today. 

After talking with many of you at various points in the afternoon, there is a lot of wisdom, for a variety of sound reasons, in moving our Maker's Week event to later in the year. Thank you for your willingness to forge ahead into this exciting, albeit unfamiliar, territory. I have great respect for every one of you and the way you pour yourselves into your work. Our students are blessed with phenomenal teachers and staff members who want the best for each of them. I am so appreciative that, if you're going to embark in these projects, you want to be fully prepared with a good deal of support and understanding. Let's move one step at a time. We will postpone our week which was set for January. I will prepare a Maker's Week showcase to allow you to explore, peruse and experiment with a range of projects. Then we will brainstorm and discuss specifically how each project would play out. Our next staff meeting will be January 15. Come ready to explore, make and eat (we'll keep working at that double chin!). 

The rest of the typical weekly updates we covered in the meeting today. Please feel free to ask anything or confirm your thoughts. Thank you!

A Peaceful Pocket

Breathe. Deeply. We're here. It's the most wonderful time of the year...but in order to pull off that most wonderful time off, it can quickly become the most insane time of the year for those of us behind the scenes. As we talked about on Wednesday morning, God chose to send his Son to earth humbly, quietly and without great fanfare. Between lesson planning, parties, gifts, shopping, cooking and event planning, it can be so difficult not to lose the quiet, humble side of God's Christmas message. I continue to pray a prayer of thanksgiving for each of you on this amazing team of loving educators. I humbly ask too that God would walk you to quiet green pastures and still your soul for a few golden moments here and there where you can see, feel and know that our God is here. Immanuel. God is with us. 

Several years ago, The Jesus Storybook was purchased at South Side and I know many have the book in our classroom libraries. This blog details how you can use the Jesus Storybook to walk with children through the advent season with a list of reading suggestions for each day. If you're looking for something different for devotions over the next two weeks, take a peek at The Jesus Storybook with new eyes.

Christmas Tea

We have been blessed with such a supportive, invested parent community at South Side. One expression of their appreciation toward you is the Christmas Tea. Please accept this expression by coming to the staff center as close to 10:00 as you are able on Thursday, December 11. They put in hours of planning and arranging to transform our table into area we can enjoy a pretty snack with a touch of class :) I know it's difficult to accept the "cookie", but, let's acknowledge their extra mile by being present and enjoying this time with them (I've made the mistake in the past of not coming and coming late...I intend to get it right this year!) :) We will manually ring the bell at 10:20, so please notify your students that recess will be a tad longer for them. Win win :)

Week Before Christmas
We pretty much blow the doors off of almost all that is normal and routine around here during the week before Christmas break. Encore teachers, our students' learning schedule will remain in tact for your classes unless you have had specific conversations with teachers. Otherwise, we'll be going strong to the finish with encore schedules.

World Renew
If you haven't already done so, please feel free to send home the paper note notifying parents about our World Renew collection including dates and details. As your students bring money to school, you might consider showing them the catalog online and discussing how life altering each of these items could be to children and families around the world. You can find the catalog here. 

Staff Meeting
Our next staff meeting will be held on Thursday, December 11.

Project Based Learning Opportunity
Please take a peek at this unique learning opportunity offered by the ISD. During this event, my understanding is that teachers are lead through several days of engagement for both learning and experiencing project-based learning. Take a peek and I may be ticking the brains of a few of you to consider looking further into this along with our Rose Park teammates.

"Sundae School (K - 5th Grade): For the Sundae School Program, we will be looking to add 12 new K - 5th grade educators to the program (We would love 1-2 to come from Holland Christian).  Teachers that participate in the Sundae School Program will (1) engage in 6 days of exploration (one day of which will occur during the school day) around Project-Based Learning, the Skills4Success, and the Creative Sequence, (2) work in the 4-day, summer Sundae School Program, (3) develop units of instruction for their classrooms, (4) receive a $2,000 stipend, and (5) receive State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECHs)."

Teacher Application

More about I Challenge U

Dates For Your Blogs
December 17 World Renew Chapel
December 20-January 4   Christmas Break
January 5             All classes resume
January 19           No school (MLK/Records day)

February 16         Winter break day