March Is On The Horizon

DianeWalters
Diane Walters has announced that she feels God is pulling toward her role as Grandma and nudging her to step away from her role as teacher. She has been a gifted teacher to so many children for so many years. What would you say, Diane, you have touched1000s of kids' lives? Thank you for ALL of the many roles you have served God in at Holland Christian Schools. On behalf of SO many lives, we will just begin our journey in expressing our gratitude to you. Please know that you will be missed here as a friend and colleague. Your joy, humor, ideas, creativity and energy bring God's light in our midst. So, folks, when you see her, express your congratulations and thanks! She is s gem!

Heather Bouwman
We have an author scheduled to visit us April 11. We don't have times solidified yet, but please stay tuned.

Trustee Visit
Susan Vroegop and Paul Hoekstra will be visiting us on Tuesday, February 27 from 9:00-10:30. They just want to take a peek at the awesome work you and your students are doing.

Nature-Based Kindergarten
You will receive an announcement later next week that the nature-based kindergarten will open for enrollment on March 13. As you may have read in the internal postings, we will also be hiring a nature-based kindergarten teacher for the program. Please come and talk to me if you're curious for more details.

Happy Valentine's Day

You are the embodiment of love in this place called South Side. Parents select South Side over many excellent schooling choices in large part due to the fact that you embody Christ's love in an educational setting. A reminder of how Christ's love is different than the love we learn about in the world at large, read these words and find yourself described here:

If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poorand give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

Lia

Speaking about love is a good segue to the announcement Lia made this week. Lia, we love you. There's that. Your compassion and advocacy for ALL children. You are resourceful (pun intended), hard-working, flexible and faith-filled. You have deeply impacted and enriched the lives of so many at Holland Christian Schools. Waaaaaaay back in the days when God created you, He laid the path that brought you to South Side for such a time as this. We have been BLESSED by you and the way you have used your skills, knowledge and love to further God's kingdom. This is what it looks like to see a servant earn the words, "well done good and faithful servant". Having said all of that, we are excited for the new ventures that lie before you, Ray and your family. Tell us who hires you next because we'll be stalking the store and eager to hear about this next phase. However, let's not put the cart too far in front of the horse....we do have more work to do starting Tuesday! ;) Don't go too far yet! 

Tomorrow's PD

Breakfast begins tomorrow on main street at 7:30. Opening prayer will take place AT 8:00 in the high school auditorium. We will need our computers in the morning as well as science curriculum. No need for your big binders. Rubicon will be sufficient because ours are updated! YAY for Rubicon work!! Second grade, please bring your math assessments. You will be given time to flesh out the details we talked about at our collaboration meeting. I'll help you get that kicked off. 

Fun Night

Please copy and paste this in your classroom blogs: 

Family Fun Night!  The Great Outdoors is 3 weeks away!  Friday, March 9, 2018  5:30 - 8:00 pm at Pine Ridge.  This is a fun night for the kids and a great night for parents to connect with each other and meet other Holland Christian families. 

We need LOTS of volunteers to help make this night possible.  Please consider some of the following volunteer opportunities: baking cupcakes, serving pizza for supper, working one of the shifts for a game, and donating cans of pop or other candy. 

You can sign up at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090848abad2ea31-funnight1.  Or, you may fill out and turn in the green sheet your child took home last week. 

All donations may be dropped off in the schools offices.  Please bring your donations to school no later than Friday, March 2:            

3 year old Preschool                  Smarties

4 year old Preschool                  a bag of individually wrapped pieces of candy

Junior Kindergarten                   Dum Dum suckers

Kindergarten & 1^st Grade           a bag of individually wrapped pieces of candy

2^nd Grade

            Mrs. Ritsema’s Class                              Tootsie Rolls

            Mrs. Hunderman & Mrs. Dreyer’s Class    Starbursts

3^rd Grade                                   regular size candy bars

4^th Grade                                   cans of pop or Gatorade

5^th Grade                                   Tootsie Pops or Blow Pops

6^th Grade                                   pennies (or 1 - 2 dollars we can exchange) for the guesstimation jar            

Thank you so much for your support in making this night happen!  If you have questions, please contact Dawn Baker at dabaker@hollandchristian.org or Jen Brink at jenjbrink@gmail.com

Epic

Thank you for your thinking, talking (and laughing) at our staff meeting. Per our conversation about literature circles, here is the link with many book titles for your classroom. 

It makes me so happy to look forward to a day of learning with you tomorrow followed up by each of you enjoying a long week. I pray you are gifted with rest and joy this weekend. I'll see some of you tomorrow and the rest on Tuesday. Have a blessed weekend! 

Weather or Not....

Sometimes, it's just kind of fun to watch the weather.... See you tomorrow! ;)

Lunch on Friday
Parent team would like to thank faculty and staff for planning and implementing Makers Week 2018! They are bringing lunch to school on Friday as a tangible expression of "thanks" on behalf of all parents. May I chime in with my heartfelt appreciation as well. Every morning at the front door students have been SO eager to run into school and see what the day's plans hold. It is so rewarding to see pride and success in the faces of students as they enjoy their ideas come to fruition! I know how much planning and disruption this week causes. I am so thankful for your work. 

Makers Assembly
Please plan to come to the gym for our closing ceremonies tomorrow at 11:00. IF....and, yes, that's a wild if....if there is no school on Friday, we will simply cancel the assembly and return to regular life and learning on Monday. 

Fire Drill
10:45 on Tuesday the 13th. Per state requirements, we had to schedule these drills at various times and seasons throughout the year. Sorry! :/

Summer Camp
If you have ideas for a summer camp session (please see email from Chris sent earlier this week) please submit your ideas to Chris by February 21.

Middle School Exploratories
We will have 6 middle school students visiting South Side each afternoon next week. If you are willing to let them observe in your classroom, they are eager to soak up a little slice of life from the "other side of the desk". If you have simple one-on-one tasks you are willing to assign them, perhaps they can even be helpful. We will have them assisting in the encore classes during the afternoon slots as well.

Board Visit
We will have two members of our school board visiting at 9:00 on Tuesday morning, February 27. Just keep doing the awesome teaching/learning that you always do. They simply want to take a peek at our students and your work!

February 16 PD
Elementary teachers please bring science materials (units/teaching standards) on February 16. Curricular meeting and grade level meetings will be covered by the time spent on February 16 so there will be no need to hold another monthly meeting. Preschool will be meeting during this time as well so there will be no other staff meeting this month.

Staff Meeting
Our next staff meeting will be February 15 over the lunch hour please.

February Flurries

We made it past the trifecta of moon phases! That's bragging rights in the world of elementary teaching (TJ says the same is true for those called to teach middle schoolers as well) 😜

Staff Meeting
For any and all who can, we're meeting at City Vu after school today to sit around a table and laugh. No shop talk allowed ;)

Our next staff meeting will be February 15 over the lunch hour.

Monday, February 5 at Noon
Chris Kuipers has requested a ten minute window to talk with our staff about summer camp opportunities. No need for parent coverage in the classroom, could you aim for eating lunch in the staff center on Monday? He will come at noon and start explaining our summer opportunities at HC at 12:05. If you are not able to attend, I'll take good notes. Please see me for details.

Board Visit
We will have two members of our school board visiting at 9:00 on Tuesday morning, February 27. Just keep doing the awesome teaching/learning that you always do. They simply want to take a peek at our students and your work!

Makers Week
It's almost here! Please let me know how I can help if you run into any headaches or issues! Our mornings will flow like this Monday-Thursday:

8:30--switch to different classes.
9:45--send the children back to lockers for coats and head outside.
10:00--recess is over. Grab snacks from lockers and go back to make session location.
10:40 bell rings indicating exit make session room

Friday we will hold a Makers Celebration Assembly.
11:00 on Friday for grand finale

Megaphones 
You may have noticed more megaphones in the building. For bus duty or recess duty, you may feel free to use a megaphone from the second grade storage room, kindergarten storage room or from the copy room in the office.