Merry Christmas to ALL!

If blog posts could be individualized, I would look you in the eyes right now, grab your hands and wish you a very heartfelt Merry Christmas! The image of each of you celebrating the GIFT of our Savior with your loving families makes my heart smile. Each of you work so hard at the roles God has called you to and I'm beyond grateful that South Side is your mission field. You do beautiful work growing His newest kingdom bringers. REST! LAUGH! SING! PRAISE! Enjoy the gift of LOVE this Christmas break. This work is not easy. It is a blessing to come away and rest a while...for two whole weeks. May God keep each of you safe, surround you with his love and fill you with his hope this Christmas Season! If I don't see you at school, I'll see you in the new year!

Yeti Cups 
What an amazing gift from the parent team! Chas asked me to let you know that Crown Motor also helped in funding this gift. What a tangible way to know that you are appreciated! Chas also asked me to mention that we should wait 48 hours to wash the Yeti cups and NOT to put in dishwasher in order to keep their "letter" lasting :-) CHEERS! 

Clean Fridge Before Break
Before you scoot for Christmas, would you be willing to empty any of your goodies from the fridge? I have a hunch the sour cream sitting there since August is not meant to see the light of 2018.

Time Cards Due Friday

Pension Lunch
Please keep in mind that on Thursday, January 11, Dan will come to deliver the latest on how HC is dealing with the pension plan changes through CSI. There will not be need to get your classrooms covered, but we may need to encourage our little eaters to keep with the program in order to get outside in a timely manner. Dan will begin around noon or shortly after.

Makers Week
You are MORE THAN WELCOME to run the same Makers session as you did last year! But if you would like to try something new, please detail your idea and materials requested here.

MLK Jr Day
On Monday, January 15, we will celebrate MLK Jr Day and his relevant challenges. We will meet in the gym at 8:45 for an assembly. Pre K, you are welcome to attend this as well! At the close of the assembly, teachers will take their students back to the classroom to unpack in a variety of learning activities and discussions. We will divide up our South Side neighborhood and, in act of servanthood, each class will walk their portion of the neighborhood sharing blessings and prayers over our neighbors. More specifics will be forthcoming and PLEASE don't hesitate to continue this conversation with ideas or questions that come to you over the next few weeks. THANK YOU for dreaming and planning this together! This will be a valuable and I pray impactful day of learning for our little ones.

Discovery Night
Please save the date: January 23 for South Side. I will meet specifically next week with people to alert you to your roles and responsibilities. If you have a conflict with the night, will you please let me know so we can adjust accordingly? Thank you!

STAR AssemblyWe will meet in the gym, Pre K you are welcome as well, at 8:45 on Monday, January 8. I will talk with the kids about kicking off the year with STAR behavior in the classrooms, hallways and playground!

Much to Celebrate

Wasn't last night so fun? It is good on so many levels to hang out, laugh and just be people rather than the role we play in this community. It's a wonderful calling to work here...but there are genuine friendships to enjoy as well! Wanna do it again? How does February 1 work right after school? City Vu for an hour or so? It's on the calendar but we can move it if we run into conflicts. We'll be able to celebrate the completion of report cards on that day!

Laminator 

When the roll of film is down to the point that it is even with the blue spool, would you please alert Pat? She'll get a new roll ordered and ready for installment so the next guy (or girl) doesn't have to go without. 

MLK Jr Day
Let's capture our conversation from the staff meeting:

On Monday, January 15, we will celebrate MLK Jr Day and his relevant challenges. We will meet in the gym at 8:45 for an assembly. Pre K, you are welcome to attend this as well! At the close of the assembly, teachers will take their students back to the classroom to unpack in a variety of learning activities and discussions. We will divide up our South Side neighborhood and, in act of servanthood, each class will walk their portion of the neighborhood sharing blessings and prayers over our neighbors. More specifics will be forthcoming and PLEASE don't hesitate to continue this conversation with ideas or questions that come to you over the next few weeks. THANK YOU for dreaming and planning this together! This will be a valuable and I pray impactful day of learning for our little ones.

Discovery Night
Please save the date: January 23 for South Side. I will meet specifically next week with people to alert you to your roles and responsibilities. If you have a conflict with the night, will you please let me know so we can adjust accordingly? Thank you!

STAR Assembly
Our posters and banners are IN! Next week, each classroom will receive a STAR behavior poster to be posted! We will meet in the gym, again Pre K you are welcome as well, at 8:45 on Monday, January 8. I will talk with the kids about kicking off the year with STAR behavior in the classrooms, hallways and playground!

Sign up for packing
If you haven't already done so, please sign up on the white board in the staff center for a slot to pack trail mix and decorate bags with your class on Wednesday, December 20. The 11:00 slot will remain open for chapel. To accommodate all of our students, we will have two tables going (meaning two classes) for the morning.

Winter Playground Rules
Again, to recapture our collection agreement regarding winter play.

• There is NO throwing snow ever. Period. 
• Children may sled on the small hills and the sledding hill at all recesses HOWEVER the sledding hill is closed before school due to one yellow vest on patrol. 
• Children may not bring toys to school but, for a variety of reasons which we talked about at the staff meeting, they MAY bring sleds to school. No snowboards. Please let me know if you need help finding a spot to stash these sleds. 

Makers Week
You are MORE THAN WELCOME to run the same Makers session as you did last year! But if you would like to try something new, please detail your idea and materials requested here.

Peace on Earth (and maybe a smidge in the classroom)

"Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly hosts (seen here in the form of snow angels) appeared with the angel praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.'"

In the quiet (or first grade version of quiet) of the morning, we light the second candle for peace. So relevant. Lord Jesus may there be peace on earth, peace in our hearts and peace in this journey.

Dan's Pension Talk
Dan would like to update us on the pension and implications during a meeting over the lunch hour. He is planning to come Thursday, January 11 to talk from 12:00-12:30. Feel free to come when you are able. He'll give us the "street talk" version of the webinar that was held on Monday evening (thank you, Dan!)

MACUL
We have no takers on the Apple in Education Summit. No problem. Please talk to me soon if you are interested in attending MACUL this year. We have had many applicable instructional strategies and student learning enhanced due to teacher attendance and implementation of ideas generated at this conference. If you'd like to attend, please talk with me in the next week or sooner.

Christmas Tea
Parent Team would like to offer a Christmas Lunch en lieu of a Christmas Tea this year. They have requested that each teacher put out the all call for classroom coverage on Thursday, December 21 so that you can each enjoy a well-deserved break together.

Maker's Week Sign Up
Our Makers Week this year is earlier. We will lead our students through our SS Makers Week from February February 9. Listed in the link are last year's project sign ups. You may do the same session or edit the document and try something new. Might it be possible to list your idea by January 8? This will give enough time to order and shop for necessary materials (if they can't be dug out of the first grade storage closet 😂)

Winterim Internship
One session of winterim for high school students at Holland Christian is "So You Think You Want To Be A Teacher". Michelle Commeret is leading this session and has requested elementary teachers complete this brief form. At your connivence, would you please answer these quick questions for her? Thank you!

Beautiful Gate Chapel
Our Beautiful Gate combined chapel will take place on Wednesday, January 17. Due to time zone translations, we will need to hold chapel that morning at 8:30. We will meet in the gym. Preschool, you are welcome to attend if you would like.

Kids Food Basket
Would you please be willing to put one more plug in your blog for the Kids Food Basket collection in your blog again?

Items we would like to collect:

• Boxes of Cheerios
• Bulk Pretzels
• Bulk Cheez-It crackers or Goldfish crackers
• Bags of raisins
• Snack Sized Zipper-lock bags
• Brown Lunch Bags

Staff Meeting
Our next staff meeting will be Thursday, December 14 over the lunch hour. 

Secret Snowman
Are you ready?!?! Our Secret Snowman/lady fun will take place next week! 

Here is the scoop on the week:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: secretly stash small items for your happy recipient each day. 
Thursday: Give your secret snowman/lady one final gift along with a pair of crazy Christmas Socks. Our total expense should not be more than $25. In most cases the final gift will be the "nicest" gift...but feel free to take license here depending on your person. No one will get booted from the program for giving a larger gift at the start of the week ;) 

After school on Thursday, the 14h, Lia has graciously offered her house for us to gather. We can start gathering at 4:00 but just come when you are able.  Lia's house can be found:

6529 145th Ave  49423
Food will be provided
Please bring your own drink

Christmas Coverage
I am planning to take each grade level after your Christmas parties in the classroom so you can clear things out, pack up the tree and jot out some thank you cards (or hide in a quiet corner ;) )

Unless you'd like the timeline tweaked (in which case, please talk with me) here's what I'll plan on:

Sarah's class: 12:45-1:45 on Thursday, December 21
Karen and Sandy: 12:45-1:45 on Friday, December 22
1st and 2nd grade: 2:00-3:00 on Friday, December 22

Kids Food Basket and Beyond

Have you heard what's coming? Take a peek at Bill's Blog or talk to Amanda. Nuff said! ;) 

Psalm 23 Joel Schoon-Tanis Poster
Years ago, an HC student tragically died. At that time, her family donated these prints to HC in her memory. Her name was Carla Hekman. There is a box of 200 of these prints on the table in the staff center. Please feel free to take them. The family meant for HC people to enjoy the visual of this verse in their daughter's memory. If there are enough left after staff have taken them for classrooms and homes, we might gift the rest to our preschool families. In the meantime, enjoy this beautiful print if you have space or people who would find comfort and love here.

Kids Food Basket

Would you please copy and paste this in your blogs? 

Christmas is a time to love our neighbor. While certainly we are called upon to love our neighbor all throughout the year, Christmas is a time we want to be very intentional about where our focus lies. Consumerism gets packaged up in such pretty bows, it can be a challenge for adults as well as children. While we will be holding classroom Christmas parties, we also want to hold another kind of party this year. A giving party. There are children in our city who will go home during the two weeks of Christmas break with little to no food to eat. Their school-supplied meals will be inaccessible and they will face hunger. God calls on us every day to share our gifts so that others will see and feel God through our actions. In answer to that call, we are going to move into action.

This year we are once again going to partner with Kids Food Basket. Following their guidelines, we will be able to provide suppers for children to eat during the two weeks they have off of school during Christmas break. Kids Food Basket helps to feed 500+ children in the city of Holland. We will assemble a healthy trail mix for these friends of ours and we will decorate their brown bags. On Wednesday, December 20, all of our students will get busy packing trail mix, decorating bags and loading up food supplies.

Would you be willing to help bring this to life with your child at home? If you would like your child to participate in donating food items, would you invite your child to select which items he/she would like to donate from this wish list? Our children understand the discomfort of hunger pangs. Many of our children don't understand the fear that those hunger pangs might not be satiated. Please talk about God's call on us to serve our neighbors and help provide hope by filling hungry little tummies.

Items we would like to collect:

• Boxes of Cheerios
• Bulk Pretzels
• Bulk Cheez-It crackers or Goldfish crackers
• Bags of raisins
• Snack Sized Zipper-lock bags
• Brown Lunch Bags

Extreme Make Over South Side Edition 

You may have noticed an interior designer knocking around our space with a dreamy expression or Dave DeKruyter in his painter's pants. Our office and staff center is up for a face lift. We have a new palette of colors as well as new artwork that we hope will tell parents a visual story of what they can expect in the learning spaces you create. Right now we have a "messed up utility drawer" theme going in the office. We're going to try for something more innovative, organized and intentional! I'll be curious to hear what you think! 

Staff Meeting
Our next staff meeting will be Thursday, December 14 over the lunch hour. 

Wellness Wednesday

Our next one will be Wednesday the 6th. I'll run with the kids (in the snow!)

Chapel January 18
On Wednesday, December 6 we will have a chapel led by Troy Vos from Kids Food Basket. He will articulate the concept of food insecurity. Sandy and Karen's classes will be at swimming lessons so I will arrange a time to give those kiddos the same message in the afternoon. 

Secret Snowman
Our Secret Snowman/lady fun will take place during the week of December 11. If you haven't completed your blue form but would like to participate, please don't hesitate to talk with me or Lia. We'll get you in. Furthermore, if you are not participating in the gift exchange but are free after school on the 14th, please come to have a little jolly fun. Not participating in the gift exchange does not preclude you from the soiree!

Here is the scoop on the week:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: secretly stash small items for your happy recipient each day. 
Thursday: Give your secret snowman/lady one final gift along with a pair of crazy Christmas Socks. Our total expense should not be more than $25. In most cases the final gift will be the "nicest" gift...but feel free to take license here depending on your person. No one will get booted from the program for giving a larger gift at the start of the week ;) 

After school on Thursday, the 14h, Lia has graciously offered her house for us to gather. We can start gathering at 4:00 but just come when you are able.  Lia's house can be found:

6529 145th Ave  49423
Food will be provided
Please bring your own drink

Christmas Coverage
I am planning to take each grade level after your Christmas parties in the classroom so you can clear things out, pack up the tree and jot out some thank you cards (or hide in a quiet corner ;) )

Unless you'd like the timeline tweaked (in which case, please talk with me) here's what I'll plan on:

Sarah's class: 12:45-1:45 on Thursday, December 21
Karen and Sandy: 12:45-1:45 on Friday, December 22
1st and 2nd grade: 2:00-3:00 on Friday, December 22

Apple Summit Learning Opportunity
Several teachers went to the MACUL conference in Detroit last year. It is exciting to see ideas gleaned from that conference coming to life and engaging our learners at South Side thanks entirely to teachers willing to implement new ideas!

An Apple Distinguished School Global Innovation Summer is going to take place May 3 through May 6 in Chicago. This should be an opportunity to share ideas and incubate new ones with other teachers from the Mid West and beyond. I plan to attend this summit. If you are interested, would you please let me know by the end of next week? We will need to send in our information soon.

Enter His Courts (and this week) with Thanksgiving

What a wonderful and poignant challenge from Jamie this week in devotions. Choose joy. To do that, look around you and find life's blessings. We are surrounded by God's gifts. Name them. Thank Him. Allow God to fuel your soul. 1000 pennies to name 1000 blessings. What a wonderful challenge.

As I walk the halls of South Side, stop in classrooms, listen to your lessons, your compassion, your gentle leadership, I am so profoundly grateful. Children are being tended, grown and cared for in every way every day. This is an incredible responsibility and sometimes it requires every last drop of energy we can muster. THANK YOU for walking with God, for calling on Him to give you all that you stand in need of. THANK YOU for finding joy in the journey. I pray a prayer of gratitude each day for every one of you. As we move toward a few days off, may God bless each of you with family, the gift of time and a chance to breathe deeply of His tender mercies. THANK YOU for sharing your gifts and your life with South Siders!

What a wonderful team. We're missing a few in this pic...but I am SO grateful for every one of the servants who call South Side their mission field! 

PD
Donuts for breakfast from 8:00-8:30. Learning begins at 8:30. We will close our time at 11:30.  Erin will be sending information soon with more details.

Kids Food Basket
We are once again partnering with Kids Food Basket to support children in our neighborhoods who experience food insecurities over Christmas Break. Our chapel will be December 6. The collection of snack bag ingredients will be the week of December 11 (we'll message this after Thanksgiving). Would a packing event (each class for approximately 20 minutes) fit your schedule on Wednesday, December 20th? This would be similar to our assembly line packing last year.

Gift Exchange
In light of our ensuing classroom Christmas parties, would you be willing to share this info in your blog this week? You may copy and paste or simply rewrite the message in your own words. Thank you:

As the Christmas season approaches our South Side staff has thoughtfully considered how to celebrate the birth of Christ with our students in grades K-2. In response to the urging of parents, and with the careful consideration of the staff, we would like to again celebrate with each other in our classrooms in the following way: rather than each student coming with enough little "things" (erasers, pencils, stickers, etc) for each student in the class, we ask that each boy come with one wrapped "boy"-labeled gift, and each girl come with one wrapped "girl"-labeled gift. These will be used as a part of games and activities on the last day before vacation. Please limit the value of these gifts to $3 only. Even though you may be able to find a great deal on a higher priced item for only $3, it helps us avoid some difficulty if the value of each item is actually $3. Please don't hesitate to communicate with me or with Miska if you have questions. Thank you!

Makers Week Thoughts
South Side Makers Week will take place the week of February 5. I know there is always so much to think of and the to do lists are crazy long especially this time of year...but I don't want this one to feel like it snuck up on anyone. Please start thinking of what kind of Make experience you would enjoy bringing to your learners. Don't hesitate to talk to me if you're seeking ideas or need items approved/purchased. We'll get the online sign up ready after Thanksgiving break.

Secret Sisters & RT & VK
Save the date: let's try to get together after school on Thursday, December 14! We're even upping our game this year by enjoying a Secret Snowman/lady fun in advance of the celebration on the 14th! Let's start here: there is a Secret Snowman "All About Me" form in your box. If you would like to participate in the secret fun leading up to the 14th, please complete the blue form and sneak it into Lia's box by TUESDAY of next week. SO, before you take off for the fun Thanksgiving Break, please complete this form and we'll add your name to the secret exchange.

Poinsettia Sale
We will once again be holding a Poinsettia Sale at South Side. The dollars raised go DIRECTLY to learning experiences here at South Side for our little ones. Would you be willing to copy and paste this one in your blogs as well (they read yours more closely than mine 😂 ):

We will be holding our annual poinsettia plant sale again this year.   Order  forms will go home with students on Friday, November 17  with a return date of Monday, November 27 this year.  Pick up will be Thursday, November 30, 2:00 - 5:00 P. M. and Friday, December 1, 8:00 A. M. - 2:00 P. M.  Many individuals use the flowers for home decor and for gift giving.  Please think ahead and consider supporting this event. Dollars raised through this sale go directly to the education of our little ones at South Side. More details will follow next week.

Swimming Lessons
Our South Side students have the opportunity to receive swimming lessons at the Holland Aquatic Center this year again. We have a long history of partnering together is this important endeavor. Living near so many lakes, it is prudent to help our young children with survival techniques and build confidence in the water. They have produced this video for parents and teachers to watch to help understand their goals and techniques.

Our schedule will be as follows:

• 2nd grade: December 4-December 15. Pool time from 8:55-9:30.
• 1st grade: December 4-December 15. Pool time from 9:55-10:30.
• 5-day Kindergarten only: December 4-December 15. Pool time from 10:55-11:30
• 3-day kindergarteners do not participate in swimming lessons at the Aquatic Center.

A Few Doo Dads

Outdoor Duty
If you've made switches and/or changes to the outdoor duties, would you be willing to look this doc over and update the changes? I think we might have a weekly hole and I'll be happy to fill it. Thank you!

Rose Park Hours
I had hoped to be able to switch hats into my preschool director hat as quiet moments would come and go at South Side. Well....we haven't had a plethora of quiet moments and I do need to be more consistently present for the team, parents and students at Rose Park SO...to that end, I will make Mondays from 10:15-12:00 my Rose Park time. I'm going to aim for this each week. Thank you for understanding.

Hourly Employees Time Card
Please be sure to fill in the "Pay Period" dates on your time card. This will help avoid confusion and, even worse, a missing payment. Thank you!

Differentiated Classroom 
At our next staff meeting on November 9 we will unpack, apply and discuss the Differentiated Classroom. This will be in preparation for the work we will do as a K-12 group during our PD in the morning on November 22. For our purposes, we will use this document to guide our talk. 

Quarter 2, Here We Come!

So many excellent, honest conversations took place during parent/teacher conferences! This is how we do partnership: loving the children we've been given, learning them as individuals and using our skills and abilities to grow them! Thank you for preparing and pouring into each conference. You are amazing!

Speaking of partnership, your diligence in managing the behaviors in the classroom and at large is working! Keep utilizing the communication home tool. The power now is not simply the idea, but that it is implemented with fidelity and consistency. I have only heard appreciation from parents and am seeing respect improving with our students. Thank you for staying committed to making these changes in the classroom and on the playground.

Stay committed to holding our kids to high expectations. They can do it! 

Yellow Card Explanation
If you didn't send this note in a blog last week, would you please provide parents with this explanation in your blog this weekend? Thank you.

I am so grateful to serve as principal at South Side. Part of what I promise to do, as you have entrusted your young one to our hands for the school hours, is to give my very best efforts to ensure each child's safety while at school. There are 241 beautiful children who call South Side their home away from home. It is critical that every single one of these precious children flourish in their time here with us.

Our team and I have been noting that children have been playing well on the playground, but the reminders we give of playground rules seem to be taken by a few children as suggestions rather than reinforcement of the safety rules. As you know from training up a young one at home, verbal reminders sometimes do not carry the accountability necessary to motivate behavioral change. Born out of love for each child and a desire for all of our children to play together safely, we are instituting a little accountability measure for playground behavior. 

If a child plays in a manner that is unsafe and is not in compliance with playground rules, he/she will be asked to complete what we call a "yellow card". During the completion of this card, children will talk about what happened at recess with me or with Mrs. Meiste. This conversation will be marked with grace and truth, with redemption and love. One copy of the yellow card will stay at school. The other copy will be placed by the child in his/her backpack. The "yellow card" is meant only to inform you, the parents, that there was action on the playground that was deemed as unsafe. Will you please reinforce for your little one that we expect all children to play respectfully and responsibly? I believe it is most effective for our children when home and school are able to work together with consistency to help encourage and reinforce positive living in community. 

Thank you for partnering together with us! We love your little one! 

Differentiated Classroom 
November 9 is our next staff meeting. Please be ready to discuss the practical and theoretical pieces from the Differentiated Classroom. Our PD at the end of the month will focus on this text for K-12 teachers as well.

Collaboration Meetings 
Please take a look at this link for the schedule and materials needed.

STAR Behavior 
I'm excited for the posters and two flags to be made. Thank you for implementing our building-wide behavior expectations each day until this becomes our vernacular! It is effective!

Playground Rules 
Here are the playground rules if you are in need of a refresher.

Swimming Video and Dates
Our swimming schedule will be as follows:

2nd grade: December 5-December 16. Pool time from 8:55-9:30.
1st grade: December 5-December 16. Pool time from 9:55-10:30.
5-day Kindergarten only: December 5-December 16. Pool time from 10:55-11:30

If you would like, here is a video to view and/or share with your parents, please take a peek.

Short Week

Report Cards are DONE! Let's shout it from the mountain tops!!! Good work, team!!! Even though we still have parent/teacher conferences on the horizon, I pray you are able to rest a bit and refuel at the CEA convention.

Staff Photo on Thursday, October 26
Students will have their retake photos taken between 10:30-11:30 on Thursday, October 26. I will come over the PA when the photography tells us they are ready for the kids. Students will be invited to bring their form and old picture packet to the music room for the photo. Please plan, if you are able, to meet in the front entry way at 12:05 for our staff photo. We'll do a quick attendance check and then say cheese. It shouldn't take long.

Yellow Card Notice
Would you please copy and paste this into your class blogs? This will help parents understand our new yellow card system in case they receive the email from me and the yellow card in the backpack.

I am so grateful to serve as principal at South Side. Part of what I promise to do, as you have entrusted your young one to our hands for the school hours, is to give my very best efforts to ensure each child's safety while at school. There are 241 beautiful children who call South Side their home away from home. It is critical that every single one of these precious children flourish in their time here with us.

Our team and I have been noting that children have been playing well on the playground, but the reminders we give of playground rules seem to be taken by a few children as suggestions rather than reinforcement of the safety rules. As you know from training up a young one at home, verbal reminders sometimes do not carry the accountability necessary to motivate behavioral change. Born out of love for each child and a desire for all of our children to play together safely, we are instituting a little accountability measure for playground behavior. 

If a child plays in a manner that is unsafe and is not in compliance with playground rules, he/she will be asked to complete what we call a "yellow card". During the completion of this card, children will talk about what happened at recess with me or with Mrs. Meiste. This conversation will be marked with grace and truth, with redemption and love. One copy of the yellow card will stay at school. The other copy will be placed by the child in his/her backpack. The "yellow card" is meant only to inform you, the parents, that there was action on the playground that was deemed as unsafe. Will you please reinforce for your little one that we expect all children to play respectfully and responsibly? I believe it is most effective for our children when home and school are able to work together with consistency to help encourage and reinforce positive living in community. 

Thank you for partnering together with us! We love your little one! 

CEA

Let's plan, please, to meet over the lunch hour at CEA to talk about implementation of classroom behavior systems. We are still waiting for the STAR posters and flags, but we can start to talk about this at the classroom level even though we don't have the full-school roll out ready. Our goal over the lunch hour meeting will be to help teachers who need a more concrete tool in their classroom decide on the tool they would like and how to implement. We will also talk about adding a brief behavior mini-lesson to our morning routines to reinforce and practice behavior expectations with a common language. Let's meet in the cafeteria at 11:45 and pick a good spot to eat and talk. 

Our Presentation

I will pass along any further details or changes I receive regarding our talk about Reformation Day at the K-2 level if/when they become available. I will hook my computer up to the projector so our photos display as you talk about your session (feel free to edit these photos if you have some of your own!). Let's plan to meet in the auxiliary gym just before 2:10. Thank you for your adventurous spirit and willingness to share these lessons with others. 

Collaboration Days

Are coming up. Please take a peek at this document for your times and what materials to bring. 

Staff Meeting

Our next staff meeting will be November 9. This is the date we will unpack, summarize and talk about applying The Differentiated Classroom. Please be prepared to discuss the material on the 9th as well as during our PD on Wednesday, November 22.

PD

Speaking of that...our PD on Wednesday, November 22 will take place in the morning only. Breakfast will be served from 8:00-8:30. We will wrap up by noon. This meeting is for K-12 classroom/encore teachers only. We will get further instructions as they are available. 

That's One Talented Scarecrow!

If you find yourself suddenly playing the piano for 150 kids while dressed as a scarecrow....you might be a teacher at South Side! A special thank you to our dear friend Karen who is high on will and growing in piano skill. ;)

Grandparents Day
I wish you could be present for all of the appreciation and love expressed by the teary eyed grandparents who leave our gym after the program. They are SO grateful for the loving care their grandchildren are provided for by YOU! They equally appreciate and deeply value the faith in God you are developing in these little ones every day! GOOD WORK! Your work is noticed and it is appreciated!

Behavior and Accountability
Let's recapture our conversation and where we go from here.

We will ALL use the language from the acronym STAR (Servant Hearts, Thoughtful Minds, Awesome Attitudes and Responsible Hands). This is what we will agree to briefly reteach every day for several minutes when going over the schedule. I know it's tough to add in those extra minutes, but it is a proactive measure that keeps these expectations in the forefront of the students' minds. Our posters and flags are being designed by Justin right now. When they are printed, we'll splash them throughout the building. South Side will LOOK and FEEL different. At that point, and I am told this should be soon, we will hold a STAR Assembly and formally introduce these words and actions to our students. I will also communicate this to parents and I will ask each teacher to copy and paste that announcement in your classroom blogs. Feel free to begin to use this language and practice these behavior traits in your classroom already, but we won't kick this off formally until our materials are available.

We are working from holding kids accountable for their behavior with OUR words (logical though the explanation may feel) to a swift and concrete consequence. Some classes already have an accountability system in place. Others are in need of one. I am purchasing several choices for your use in the classroom. You may make your own or select one of those. I will work alongside you with implementing the consequences. I believe with confidence that we will see behavior improve when we stop leaning on the "talking technique" and begin to implement the "action consequence".

When looking for a time to reconnect on these two points, several teachers were willing to meet over lunch at CEA on Thursday. It's tough to shake out an after school meeting time as we're approaching report cards and conferences. Would you be willing to do a working lunch on the Thursday of CEA? I will update you on the STAR material progress and we can discuss implementation of the Choice Consequence Chart in each classroom.

Teri Bush
Is planning to return for another lunch discussion. She is not available after school but daytime observations and conversations work well for her. If you are able to participate in the lunch and learn, she will return on 10/26 to check in on our progress and perhaps we can begin to brainstorm our high needs individuals along with our student body choices progress.

CEA
We're on the docket as speakers. But I expect this should be a piece of cake requiring little to no prep on your part.

• Pray and Work: Michelle Dreyer
• Spiritual Response through Work: Jenna Ritsema
• Music and Worship: Amanda Bohle
• Creation Care and Stewardship: Karen VanMeeteren
• Bible Translation: Karen Strikwerda
• All of Life Belongs to God: Sarah Becksfort
• Tapestry of Christian Family: Sandy Johnson

I will create our slideshow over the weekend. We will show photos of the session you are describing as you are giving the low down to other early elementary students.


Differentiated Classroom
Just a friendly reminder, we'll be discussing this book at our staff meeting in November.

Collaboration Days
These will take place on November 2 and 3. Take a look at the schedule and agenda here.

Pat's Return

What a week it has been for our South Side family. Our prayers, thoughts and conversations have continued to circle around Pat and her family. She reassures me that she and her family continue to feel God's presence and strength through this first week without Jay. As the Psalmist also knew well, "The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Wednesday, as you know, marked a week. Her kids have begun "dipping their toes" back into the work schedule. There is both comfort and another new sorrow with the return to the "normal" routine of life. Pat is planning to return on Monday. Please pray over her this weekend. Let's cover her with our love, hugs, reassurances and expressions of sympathy on Monday. We have missed her smile, laughter, wisdom and experience in the office. It will be good to have her back as much as she feels able and ready for, but we acknowledge this day will also be uniquely difficult as all of these "firsts" will be. I know we are all eager to welcome her back with open arms and offer her a soft place to fall when we see it in her eyes and heart.

Grandparents Day Practice on Wednesday
In order to allow the kids to be somewhat accustomed to standing on the risers and being on stage, can we hold our Grandparents' Day practice next Wednesday, October 11 from 2:15-2:55? Let's meet in the gym and we'll arrange our students on the risers. I will provide a map (roughed up) and put it in your box. Please arrange your students so that our busy bodies are placed next to students who may be able to help them sing well and stay focused.

Grandparents Day on Thursday
As we have in the past, students will begin in the classroom with their grandparents/friends. From 10:15-10:45 they can engage in desk activities together and show Grandma and Grandpa the ropes. Grandparents will move to the gym at 10:45 and be seated by 11:00 for our program. First and second grade hallways classes have exited out the playground doors and entered in the kindergarten door in order to get into the gym. This allows us to avoid the grandparents' traffic. After the program, we'll exit stage left and have a little lunch! PHEW! October has a lot of biggies to take off the list! :)

Chapel Change
The tech team at Beautiful Gate is in transition and unsure that they can meet the October 18 date as was originally scheduled. THEREFORE, we will hold chapel at the regular time on October 18, 11:00-11:30. Sorry for the reroute. They are hoping to Skype with us in January.

Eagle College Banquet
You are invited to hear the God's story of faithfulness that continues to unfold at Eagle College. On Thursday, October 12th at Immanuel Church, 325 104th Avenue they will share some exciting updates! Punch begins at 6:00. Dinner is at 6:30. If you are able to attend, it is a joyous event for our sister school in Mexico.

Q Commons

A note for your consideration:

We wanted to take a moment and make all of you aware of a special event coming up later this month at Holland Christian. On Thursday, October 26, we will be joining over 150 other cities around the world to host Q Commons. This marks the first time that Q Commons will have a Holland location in its 10-year history, so we're pretty excited to be the place where our community can come together for some engaging conversation.

If you aren't familiar with Q Commons, the best analogy might be that they are like Christian TED Talks. For a sense of what Q Commons is all about, check out the 1 minute video on our official city website: http://qcommons.com/holland.

The event will be from 7pm - 9pm on Main Street at HCHS, and the theme for the evening is Healing our Divided Nation. The conversation will feature three global speakers:

• David Brooks on Cultivating Virtue
• Kara Powell on Confronting our Technology Addiction
• Propaganda on Our Complicated Moment

and three local speakers:

• David Ryden (Chair, Political Science Dept. at Hope)
• Hugo A. Vásquez (Pastor, Eagle's Wings Church/Iglesia Alas de Águila here in Holland)
• Karyl Morin (Formerly of CultureWorks but now doing independent work in art, design, and education)

Normally, Q Commons recommends a fee of $29 per attendee, but we will be charging only $10 per person. Register here if you are interested in attending, and feel free to spread the word with your friends, at your churches, and anywhere else you think people would be interested. We will be featuring the event on our Holland Christian social media accounts as well, so you'll have the ability to share it that way too.

November PD
Breakfast begins at 8:00. Our training on The Differentiated Classroom for K-12 begins at 8:30. We plan to close by 11:30.

October 23 & 24 will be hearing screening for our students. 

Report Cards 
They will go home for everyone on Wednesday, October 18. Please let Miska know when yours are completed so the mass printing and folding can begin. :) Thank you!

Our Pat

Our beloved Pat. How many thousands of children has she gently tended to over the years? How many baby teeth has she pulled and celebrated? How many ice packs and band aides has she applied to owies? How many tears has she wiped for our little ones hurting in the office chair? I can’t count that high. And now our Mrs. Meiste is the one with the broken heart and hurting in the chair. 

She must help her children mourn the death of their Dad. It’s our turn to tend to her hurting heart. She and her kids need our help. They take comfort in the prayers spoken on their behalf, the hugs, food baskets and just plain old love. Thank you for the many snack/food items that have been accumulating on the staff center table. Keep them coming. This walking in the valley of the shadow of death is arduous and long. She will need our love, care and support for a long while. Two tangible ways we can begin our support:

Jay's Visitation and Funeral
Jay's visitation will be at Langeland-Sterenberg funeral home on 16th street from 2:00-5:00 on Sunday. His funeral will be at 1:00 at Graafschap CRC. Dan has graciously granted South Side a half day of school. Details will go out to parents in a power announcement early this afternoon.

Canvas
Danielle Snoeyink feels a twinge of homesickness/heartsick for her SS family during this time. She brought a favorite treat of ours to be enjoyed by everyone! Dip in and feel her love! :) She hopes to have the "And I Will Dwell In The House of the Lord Forever" canvas completed by Monday. If it is, would you please bring your class to the canvas near the gym to be signed by your kids before morning recess. I'll try to get the canvas to Graafschap in time for the funeral.

P/T Conferences
Our slots are going to be 15 minutes this year. Parents will be signing up on Monday. I know teachers have had different preferences about dinner times. Dinner is going to be provided both nights of parent/teacher conferences. It was wisely suggested to me that, rather than me corporately blocking your dinner time, you select your own scheduled time to eat or pass on the food if some of you would prefer. How about this: I will ask parent team to have food ready by 5:30. Those of you who would like to take a little break and eat together can block 5:30-6:00 on your evening docket. If you prefer to customize your evening per your preferences, you may certainly as there will be no corporate schedule imposed on your sign ups. Does that sound OK?

Pine Ridge POD Group Visiting
We have a group of Pine Ridge students coming to South Side from 1:00-2:00 on Wednesday, October 4. They would love to read with kids, cut things, laminate, change the display case, etc. If you have a job for Pine Ridge kiddos, they are here to serve for one hour as part of their PODS program.

Data Meetings
Thursday, October 5

• 2nd Grade--12:45-1:45
• K--2:10-3:00

Friday, October 6

• 1st Grade--12:45-1:45

Grandparents Day Flow:
The following is in our program:

10:15am        Begin in child’s classroom

10:45am       Coffee and Cookies

11:00am          Program in the gym

Program

Shema               Mrs. Ritsema’s Class

 “This is the Day”                       K-2

Psalm 8:1          Kindergarten Children

“Hey Kids Do You Love Jesus?”   K-2   

Psalm 8   Mrs. Hunderman/Dreyer’s Class            

“The Name of the Lord”              K-2

“I am the Way,  the Truth and the Life”

Psalm 23                 1^st Grade  Children

Devotional                  Mrs. Rynsburger

“My God Is So Great”                   K-2

Benedication            K-2 and Grandparents