My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

We have lived out the school theme "Life Together" in deep and unique ways this year. From upholding Gretchen in prayer, to parents of our students who are ill, from some of our own parents who are reclaiming health and now, Karen, we walk beside you as Brenda is being called Home. Jesus prepared His disciples and us in John 16:33 with the words "In this world you will have trouble". Our journey in this broken world is not always without tears. But the story doesn't end there. "but take heart! I have overcome the world".  I am so grateful that God reveals His glory, grace and providence as we walk in the valley and He brings us to the other side. His rod and His staff ARE with us. Such joy we can have as we walk through the final days of Holy Week. We are not the most pitiable of all people, as Paul describes us if it were not for Jesus' sacrifice. Instead, we are children of His Light! We have true hope in our Risen Savior!

A Glimpse of Holy Week through out students' eyes:

Dutch Costumes 
If you are in need of a flattering dutch costume for Tulip Time, please sign up on the sheet located white board by Wednesday, April 13.

Time cards are due for hourly folks tomorrow, Friday the 25th.

Enjoy celebrating our Risen Lord this weekend! One last push at school and a well-deserved break. I'm eager to hear the stories when we return after break!

Quarter 3...

...there it goes! Hello, springtime!!!

I can hardly believe it!!!

Report Cards
We'll send report cards home next Friday (Thursday for 3-day). If you would be able to have your grades entered by Thursday morning at 8:00, Pat and I will begin printing and stuffing. If you have your class set completed before Thursday morning, please let Pat or me know. We'll give you a Coke and start printing right away. For real. DCC next Thursday!!!

Street Carpet
If you are able to get your section of our street carpet to me by Wednesday, I will lay some carpet in our hallways. I'm excited to see how this might help the children feel the story that is told during Holy Week. Please feel free to take liberties with your stories (not the truth of the stories ;) You may gladly switch to another story within Holy Week if you'd prefer. These are not cemented in!)

Palm Sunday--Amanda

Clearing of Temple--Sheri

Lazarus--Natalie

Washing of Feet--Sandy

Last Supper--Sarah

Gathsemene--KVM

Peter’s denial--Karen S.

Crucifixion--Staff

Empty Tomb--Jenna

3-Day K
We will eagerly welcome our 3-day Kinders to the 4-day week starting after spring break. Encore staff, please take a peek at your schedules. Don't hesitate to talk to me if you have concerns or questions. This is a great time of year when we're cooking at full blast!

Prayers for Caroline
I know it is a busy weekend, right before cards and conferences. If you are able to join the HC community to pray for Caroline for 30 minutes or so, that would be a wonderful gesture to her family and it's a beautiful thing to stand as one body, in one place and pray. However, no one will be taking attendance. Please don't feel obligated.

Skating Party
(speaking of being obligated on a busy week...) our skating party is Tuesday evening. The place will be hopping from 6:00-8:00. If you are able to swing by and hob nob with families a little and let your kiddos show off, that's fantastic. If you're clawing to keep up with report cards, they take precedence over a skating party. Again, no attendance is being taken.

Conference Sign Up
Parents should have access to virtual paragon to begin their conference sign ups today. You may watch your list populate. We're trying for a conference with all parents. If you see a missing family, please invite them to sign up for a conversation with you.

Tulip Time
(yeah, I just went there)! What materials do you need for the Tulip Time parade? Please let Pat know so she can get your supplies ordered and here on time for your pretty projects.

Spring Break
There's a few dates on the calendar that you may take a little break. Have we talked about this yet? It's called SPRING BREAK!!! It almost makes me feel choked up, the happy kind, to think about all of you hard-working South Side staff people, who make this such a loving environment for our young children to grow every day, given the opportunity to spend a few days relaxing, exploring, enjoying family and/or sunshine and walking closely with GOD in the change of routine. Enjoy. Your. Time!!! You deserve a rest!!! Thank you for your boundless creativity, grace, teamwork, positivity, joy and LOVE that you bring to each day. By doing this, you are sharing God's gifts with all of those you are in contact with and God blesses them through you.

Holy Week Prep

Thank you for meeting this afternoon. We'll recap where things are left.

A Guatemalan Street Carpet during Holy Week

Street Carpet Plans:

Thank you for being willing to help make Holy Week feel and look a little different for our kids. We'll get paper to you by the end of Friday (Monday for Sarah and Sandy). Our aim is to have each portion of the carpet completed by the end of the day on Wednesday, March 23. We'll place the carpet in the hallway next to the staff center. Here is where we landed for each class, however, please feel free to speak up with a new and improved idea:

Palm Sunday--Amanda

Clearing of Temple--Sheri

Lazarus--Natalie Upon further research, it appears Lazarus was raised the Saturday before Palm Sunday. That was a busy weekend for Jesus! It is, however, still consider a "holy week" event so I think we can go forward and just place this piece on the floor in front of Palm Sunday.

Washing of Feet--Sandy

Last Supper--Sarah

Gathsemene--KVM

Peter’s denial--Karen S.

Crucifixion--Staff

Empty Tomb--Jenna

Learning Labs
Thank you for your feedback on your learning lab experiences! I'll consolodate the suggestions and comments and talk these through with Erin to see how we can run these even more effectively as a growth tool.

A Few Things to Toss Around in Your Hopper:

• A great devotional for kids that we could share with Eagle College children
• Any ideas for MLK Jr. Day next year
• Any takers for the Robotics field trip at GVSU? Perhaps let me know by Friday (tomorrow) if you're interested? In that case I could follow up with Mackenzie's mentor to see if we can get some more details.
• Any other ideas to help our students feel Holy Week?

All of His Beautiful Children

If you haven't already watched and been touched by this clip, I encourage to you take a few moments and allow yourself to be drawn into all of these precious stories written and loved by God. May we always see others for their gifts and strengths and not define one another by our weaknesses.  Thank you Hannah and Stephanie for helping bring awareness of this effort and special day to South Side.

Staff Meeting

We will be holding a staff meeting over the lunch hour on Thursday, March 10th. I'm looking forward to planning and learning with you!

Assessment Day

We'll work further on the details, but classroom teachers, please plan on Monday, March 14 for an assessment day. 

SPARK

Wednesday, March 23 will be our next SPARK day. Please refer to the calendar for your project details. 

End of Year Chapel

On May 25, we'll hold our last chapel other than the second grade send off on the last morning of school. We are putting together a praise time with the children of Beautiful Gate. I pray this will be a beautiful illustration of Life Together! 

Conferences

I have blocked from 6:00-6:40 to allow time to eat. Please feel free to edit your schedule if you prefer a shorter time for dinner or no time to eat. I won't tell your mother! 

Time Cards

Are due by noon on Wednesday the 10th please.