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!