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.
