Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

What a joy it is when we are able to join together in praising God for answered prayers! Certainly we know that God always directs our lives in His perfect wisdom. We have faith that He works all things for our good and for His glory. Today, we celebrate that three very specific prayers are answered yet again. Please join with me in celebrating little August's procedure. He's in class again learning, playing, and bopping around like nothing ever happened. What a blessing to see. Amanda, our hearts and minds walked with you last week. Praise God for holding our precious children in the soft, strong palm of His hands. The fact that the Phelps family is reuniting is equally glrorious. Kyle and Jen are once again coming together as husband and wife in raising their children. Praise God. God is faithful! Additionally, we celebrate with the Slenks that Dawn has received miraculous news! Three scans have shown her to be Leukemia free! Her first round of chemotherapy appears at this point to be successful!

iChat
HCS is now running all of our volunteers, parents and all, through the iChat background check system. Especially today, we owe our parents some level of precaution and verification that anyone volunteering in our buildings is safe with our students. So, for all volunteers in your classrooms or in the building, present or future, we’ll need 3 pieces of information: Name, DOB, and ethnicity. We will create a small form that you can have parents fill out have available for parents and volunteers to fill out in advance. Please see me if you have any questions regarding this new protocol. Thank you!

Delta Math Training 
All elementary staff be trained in Delta math. Years ago we utilized this assessment with our students. It is new and improved! On Tuesday, November 29 from 4:00-5:30 we will get all of the exciting details. Please plan to attend if you teach math.

SPARK and pen pal letters
We were originally aiming to have our pen pal letters for the Eagle College friends ready by Friday. Don't hesitate to talk with me if you need an extension on that time.

Can I help support your specific SPARK project? Are are we coming? :)

Staff Meeting
Our next staff meeting will be Thursday, November 10 over the lunch hour. Please plan to have chapter 1 of The Differentiated Classroom read. We will talk through the discussion points with our groups.

Oh! How We Love Jesus! ...and Todd :)

OK. My heart is still singing the praises offered so exuberantly by our children during Grandparents Day. Isn't that such a joyous morning of celebration? Thank you to every one of you for helping or hosting a classroom full of grandparents and kiddos. Pat and I heard nothing but pure joy and appreciation expressed from the departing wave of grandparents. It's no easy day and I know our rooms are beyond overflowing, but THANK YOU for sharing your passion for this calling with this generation of loving, supportive grandparents. 

And, oh my! Thank you to Todd! He has been SPINNING this week. All behind the scenes, before school, after school...you name it, he's been doing it. Thank you, Todd, for doing your part to pull this event off so seamlessly. He was working to help seat older folks in chairs and then wheeling their walkers out to an impromptu "walker parking lot". He rolled oxygen tanks out once the owner was properly situated. Todd opened the gates and directed traffic with a smile. As you see in the above photo, he even came to the rescue for a mom who ran out of gas in carpool...IN THE RAIN! Thanks for all you do, Todd. We have a strawberry cheesecake with your name on in tomorrow morning. 

LOVE

Thank you for sharing prayers, comments and love with Gretchen and Stacia this past Sunday. Here is a message I received from Gretchen which she asked me to share with you: 

"I'm not always sure what goes on at South Side, but this weekend  my family andI was the recipient of a team of teachers, and friends who poured out love, thoughts, and prayers for my family since it marked the 1 year since Dave's death.  I can't even begin to explain how this support has carried me through this past year.  When I am at peace--it is because of you prayer warriors interceding on my behalf.  So whether you want to call it "Love Does" or "Life Together" or "All In"----I know others care.  Please thank your team for this!

So privileged to belong to this HC family!"

Collaboration Days

Nuff Said? 

Feeding the masses
Our hot lunch count has been oddly off recently. This can cause the second grade servers to walk away with something they were not expecting to eat. We do pad the count with a few extras, but we're even tipping beyond that from time to time. If you have a little one who is tardy or makes a late lunch choice, please remember to inform Pat so the order can be adjusted accordingly. Thank you!

Report Cards
Keep in mind, please, report cards are due in Gradebook by Tuesday. Pat and I will get them printed and into your hands by Wednesday at the close of the day for distribution. They will go home next Wednesday, October 19.

Calendar Items
Please take note on our staff calendar, we will have hearing and vision testing for our kids on October 25-27. 

Picture Retake Day
School picture retakes will be on October 27 in the morning. Please mention this in your blog. If students would like a retake, they must bring back their original packet for a trade in. 

Abide With Me

Click here to listen to the high school band play a tribute to Mr. Witte

Witte Address

If your class is working on sending letters to the Witte family, their address is:
Shari, Katelyn, Jared and Lucas Witte
3747 Elm Ridge Drive
Holland, MI 49424

Staff Meeting

This one snuck up on me. We do have a staff meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 11 during the lunch hour. If you are not able to attend the entire time, please don't sweat it. We'll begin with a SPARK workshop time and from 12:05-12:30 we'll working on differentiation...more details on Tuesday.

High School Communications Class

Greg Schemper has sent the proposed agenda. Unfortunately, there are not enough sessions for the number of classes that we have. Kindergarten was easy to schedule due to encore. The chosen classes to serve as an audience for the high school kids is truly a random draw. If this schedule is acceptable, let's keep in mind that VanMeeteren's, Bohle/Becksfort, Hunderman/Dreyer will get dibs on the next fun opportunity. Does that sound doable and somewhat equitable? I'm sorry that we don't have enough high school kids coming for all of our classes:

• Tuesday, October 11 from 2:00-2:30 (SS students will dismiss during recess): Mrs. Strikwerda and Mrs. Johnson

• Wednesday, October 12 from 9:10-9:45: Miss Sapp and Mrs. Ritsema

• Wednesday, October 12 from 11:00-11:30: Miss Snoeyink's class divided into two groups

Grandparents Day Practice

Nancy Mulder is not able to accompany our K-2 practice in the afternoon next Wednesday. Ruth Klaasen is able to but not until 2:00. Can we shuffle our grandparents practice to 2:10ish to close to the end of the day? Then Ruth is able to accompany next Wednesday, October 12.

Math Non-Negotiables

Just putting it in print so we have no confusion: our two agreed upon components of elementary math learning at HC are 5-days per week of math and fact fluency included at some point in each math lesson. Yes?

Webinar

I understand we have some major changes impending regarding our pension plan. Please keep yourself informed. Monday, October 10 from 5:00-7:00 you can attend the webinar in the lecture hall or Tuesday, October 11 from 7:00-9:00.

Eagle College

Jamie Lanser's SPARK project this year is developing a meaningful relationship between Eagle College and South Side students. Guess what! She has matched every K-2 student with an Eagle College student to become pen pals. Isn't that awesome?!? Thank you, Jamie! In your box you will soon receive your class list with a new name assigned to each of your students. These are your students' pen pals. You may use this opportunity as a homework assignment, morning work project, Fun Friday activity...however you wish. If you would be willing to bring your class set of letters to Pat by Friday, October 28 we'll send them out!

Gretchen and Stacia Vogelzang 

Sunday marks the one year anniversary of Dave's death. Please, let's flood their email accounts with love, encouragement, meaningful scripture passages and prayers for our hurting friends.