Summer Glow

My dear friends. We have made it to summertime. I don't know how to adequately share my deep gratitude for your service this year. As we look back on this year and recognize that God has gifted us with walking alongside his children for just one year of their lives, hasn't so much happened? Good things! Beautiful things! But, as is true this side of heaven, hard things too. That's why God places us in community! Thank you for living into our community so well! I pray a restful and joy-filled summer over each of you! 

6/5/23 - Monday 

• 7:30-8:05 - Breakfast will be provided in the High School Cafeteria

• 8:15-8:45 - All staff will gather for worship in the HS Auditorium

• 8:45-10:00 - District Information and a Head of School Address in the HS Auditorium

Break - 5 minutes

• 10:05-10:45 - Continued District Updates/Information

• 10:45-11:15 - Spiritual Formation Announcements

• 11:15 Lunch

• Staff will go through the cafeteria lines to create a boxed lunch they can take with them.

• To take in account travel distances, the staff will pick up lunch in the following order: Rose Park, South Side, Forest School, Pine Ridge, Middle School, and High School

• 11:45 - Wrap Up Staff Meeting in Emily's classroom

Staffing Changes

As is always true this time of year and throughout the summer, God calls our people to new places and God calls new people to our place. These transitions are often bittersweet because we love our people! To keep you informed, here is the staffing movement throughout our elementary communities as we know right now:

Forest School:

Ron Harig: retiring

Angie Smith: departing

Stephanie Timmer: returning to South Side

Krystle Brouwer: second grade 

Chris DeZwaan: fifth grade 

South Side:

Jenna Ritsema: departing

Pat Meiste: retiring

Michelle Engbers: moving to second grade

Stephanie Timmer: returning to kindergarten

Krystle Brouwer: departing to second grade Forest School

Pine Ridge:

Stephanie Smit: moving to Rose Park

Chris DeZwaan: moving to fifth grade Forest School

Rose Park:

Thea Scholten: retiring

Lyle Arhenholtz: retiring

Jodi Hossink: departing

Jodi Gillmore: departing

Carla Chase: departing

Candace Hoitenga: departing

Stephanie Smit: moving to third grade

Assistant Principal: TBD

Social Worker: TBD

NOTHING TO POST IN YOUR CLASSROOM BLOG THIS TIME!!!! THAT'S A WRAP, FRIENDS!!!

God Glorifying!

This week we were visited by a few friends in education from an organization called Deeper Learning. They had a chance to peek at a small piece of the learning happening in K, 1 and 2. I shared the vision and exciting story of 3rd and 4th. To say they were wowed is an understatement. What each of you are doing is what they've been dreaming can be possible in education. The kids were vibrant and energetic on the visit. They were sitting on a log in a small math group, climbing a tree constructing a fort and working in small reading groups around the beach pond. Surrounded in natural beauty straight from the hand of God. It was inspiring to listen to them oogle over your work. Truly, friends, these people who are well researched and dreaming of what 'could be' believe resoundingly that you are doing God's good work every day and transforming lives one experience at a time! Thank you for your faithful efforts and bringing glory to our God day by dayi! 

A brief line from Faith's follow up email after the visit: 

It made my teacher (and parent) heart so full to see the students exploring God's creation and learning in the most wonderful classroom possible.

End of the Year Checklist

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Lunch Accounts 

To deposit lunch money into the meal magic portal, there is a new site address:

hollandchristian.familyportal.cloud   Everything will look the same, you won't have a drop down for the school site.

Thank you for taking care of your balances!  Have a great summer

HC Football Family Fun Night for 3rd-8th graders (Fall 2023 grades)

This is a free event on Tuesday, May 30 from 6:30-8PM at HCHS Football Stadium for current 2nd thru 7th graders who are interested in playing football next Fall at Holland Christian. Whether you are just curious about playing or all-in, come on out for a fun night of knockerball, dodgeball, air force football, and ice cream sundaes.  This is a fun way to meet the coaches, players, and parents who are involved in HCS Football at different levels.  Kids will be split by age group for competitions (2nd/3rd, 4t/5th, 6th/7th). Parents are encouraged to attend at the end of the event as there will be a time of Q&A with the coaches, staff, and players.  We hope to see everyone there, Go Maroons!!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Grant Arnoldink (grantarnoldink@gmail.com).

Moving Through May

Phenomenal Science 

Using Phenomenal Science in YOUR Classroom: 30 Minute Webinar
Sign up for our free webinar.:
https://shorturl.at/fxKP5
Win!  FIVE- $25 Amazon card drawings for attendees.

 

End of Year PD

Breakfast will be served to all staff beginning at 7:30 Monday, June 5. We will have a time of learning and celebration until 3:00ish that afternoon. After that, guess what! a well deserved summer break for YOU! 

Check Out List

Field Day 

will be held on Friday, May 26 in the afternoon. 

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Negative lunch balances!

Please be mindful of your student's  negative lunch balances.  You can make a payment at familyportal.cloud  with a credit card, with no fee.   I do not want to call families to remind them about their negative balances.  All positive balances do carry over to the following school year. 

Thank you for your help and support!    

HC Football Family Fun Night for 3rd-8th graders (Fall 2023 grades)

This is a free event on Tuesday, May 30 from 6:30-8PM at HCHS Football Stadium for current 2nd thru 7th graders who are interested in playing football next Fall at Holland Christian. Whether you are just curious about playing or all-in, come on out for a fun night of knockerball, dodgeball, air force football, and ice cream sundaes.  This is a fun way to meet the coaches, players, and parents who are involved in HCS Football at different levels.  Kids will be split by age group for competitions (2nd/3rd, 4t/5th, 6th/7th). Parents are encouraged to attend at the end of the event as there will be a time of Q&A with the coaches, staff, and players.  We hope to see everyone there, Go Maroons!!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Grant Arnoldink (grantarnoldink@gmail.com).

HC Athletics Notes

Summer Sports Camps - In addition to adding ETS session E, we also added baseball camps the week of June 25.  Registration has an early bird rate for camps until 2 weeks before the camp starts, so get registered today! https://hollandchristian.org/summer-23-sports-camps/

Final Forms Athlete Registration is ready for the 23-24 school year.  Parents need to log into their account and select the sports their child is interested in participating in.  Please do this now so coaches can communicate summer opportunities.  Your 23-24 MHSAA Pre-Participation Physical can be completed anytime between now and the start of the next sport season.  Your physical form should be printed from your Final Forms account after your forms have been completed.  You can then upload a scan or photo of your 1 page completed physical form to your child's FF account.  
https://hollandchristian.org/athletics/athletic-registration-handbooks/ OR Link (/login) to your account through the bottom of this page. 

• Holland Christian Physical Night offers discounted Sports Physicals to to families not able to see their PCP due to insurance reasons.  Please register for our May 31 Physical Night soon if you plan to take advantage of this opportunity.  There are still slots available for 6:45pm and later.  https://maroonsathletics.org/Registration
• Our Middle School teams are officially moving from the MKO Conference to the West Michigan Middle School Conference (WMMSC) for the 23-24 school year.  All 14 MKO schools have been accepted along with Zeeland Christian from the AOK league.  The WMMSC now has a total of 38 member middle schools.  Our travel will be significantly reduced with our new 7 team "Southwest Division" for the bulk of our event scheduling.  These schools are West Ottawa, Hamilton, Holland, HC, ZC, Creekside & Cityside. 

• Holland Christian will be competing with WMMSC tennis schools who mirror the HS season.  Boys MS tennis will now be in the fall and girls MS tennis will now be in the spring.  These seasons are updated on Final Forms for parents to see when they select sports for their 6th-8th grade children for the 23-24 school year.  In order to plan effectively, it is important for MS tennis families to register on Final Forms as early as possible.   

We are continuing with Eventlink for our schedules, tickets and passes for the 23-24 school year.  Many of you have expressed how nice it is to use the app for practice and event calendars on your phone, especially with multiple children in sports.  Schedules for 23-24 will be appearing soon and tickets/passes will be available after we get into the summer.  The following link will help get you started with using the Eventlink App and/or connect you to the public website with the same information.  
https://hollandchristian.org/connecting-to-finalforms-eventlink/ 

Interested in watching our HS athletes compete in their upcoming MHSAA postseason events?  Check out the following post: https://hollandchristian.org/mhsaa2023spring/ Go Maroons.  

Oh my sneaky friends! How did I not know about this effort?!?! 

Wanna know what I am doing? I'm sitting down and not moving. I'm just absorbing all of the kindness and care stuffed into this beautiful basket. I am absolutely blown away! I feel entirely inadequate to receive all of these gifts especially on YOUR special week! It's teacher appreciation week! I wish a basket like this bestowed upon each of YOU deserving servants! You truly are each like family to me. God pulled us all together on this beautiful Forest/Rose Park adventuresome crew at HC and I am so grateful! Truly, you guys, it is one of my greatest joys to serve you! So, looking through these cards TJ and I have LOTS of dates coming up when I'll be telling him ALL about you and the programs! 😆 You are all so generous! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for the kind and generous gifts. I feel seen, appreciated, cared for, supported by you and loved! 

Staff Meeting

Monday at 11:30 in Emily's classroom! I'll bring the food! Don't bring a lunch on Monday! We'll think through CA-60 folders so we're well prepared to document the year for each child! 

We've got some partying to do soon, friends! 

Keep the 25 marked on your calendar to meet like the olden days! Our Brewing Company from 3:30-5:00! Be ready to share memories and answer Angie's intriguing questions! 

Final Chapel

A recap of our last chapels for the month:

• May 17: Convocation in the morning. 
• May 31: Final chapel to bless our second graders and thank Mr. Harig and Mrs. Smith 💝

Field Day

Our parent team has been planning out our field day fun for this year. Please plan to travel with your class from station to station for an afternoon of fun together on Friday, May 26 from 11:30-2:00. More details will be forthcoming! All other trips are cancelled. K and 1 classes will be picked up and brought to Sassafras Ridge at 10:40 with two buses. 

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Field Day! 

Forest School Field day is May 26 from 11-2!  In order to make this event run smoothly we are seeking the help of several parents.  Please check out the link below to sign up.  There are several different opportunities including fishing, capture the flag, relay races, building Lincoln log towers and more!
 
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0A49AFAB22A5FA7-forest1
Thank you in advance!!
 
Forest School Parent Board

May Daze!

Parade Line Up

Here is a map upon which we can place children so they are walking near someone they are comfortable with and they can make the best behavior choices. Please fill this out like a seating chart :) 

Parade Transportation

11:30 AM - Lunch 

** There will be NO afternoon bussing.

BUILDING-SPECIFIC DETAILS

	LOAD TIME	DEPARTURE TIME	ASSIGNED BUSES
ROSE PARK	12:15 PM	12:30 PM	1 / 3 / 121
FOREST SCHOOL (K-1)	12:30 PM	12:40 PM	131
PINE RIDGE + FS 2-4	12:30 PM	12:40 PM	6 / 9 / 651
SOUTH SIDE	12:35 PM	12:45 PM	841

Post Parade Procedures

New this year! When you turn the corner at the parade end, please walk straight to the HC trailer. Children can pass off their prop to helpers at the trailer and then wait in the field next to the trailer. Our reunification spot will no longer be the fire station. Please see this map for details to help parents locate our reunification spot. 

Final Chapel

A recap of our last chapels for the month:

• May 9: TUESDAY ALERT! Dan Seaborn at 8:45
• May 17: Convocation in the morning. 
• May 31: Final chapel to bless our second graders and thank Mr. Harig and Mrs. Smith 💝

Field Day

Our parent team has been planning out our field day fun for this year. Please plan to travel with your class from station to station for an afternoon of fun together on Friday, May 26 from 11:30-2:00. More details will be forthcoming! All other trips are cancelled. K and 1 classes will be picked up and brought to Sassafras Ridge at 10:40 with two buses. 

CA-60 Documents

I'll be overstating this list in too many places but here it is again. Each child's cum needs the following:

_____    Complete cumulative records (Please file with the most recent in front)
   ____  ESS needs to include any special reports such as IEP’s, speech evaluations, etc. 
   ____  Place Spring NWEA Map Reports in the Report Cards folder (these will be printed and given to teachers to file) 
   ____  Place final end of year report card in the Report Cards folder (these will be printed and given to teachers to file) 
   ____  Sign, date, and promote each student
­­­­­_____ Put the Spiritual Development/Reflective Writing in each child’s faith folder (located behind each child’s cum).
_____ Complete the Student Communication Checklist for each student and place into student’s CA file (in front of the medical folder)

End of Year Checklist

Here is our end of the year checklist to keep in mind as we traverse this month closing out all the things. 

This document must be completed for each child and placed in their cum as well, please. 

Class Lists

So we can be as diligent as reasonably possible, please invite me to your class list placement conversation at your grade level. Our goal is to have each class list completed and approved by Friday, May 19. 

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You are invited! Our final Forest chapel of the year will be held in our amphitheater from 8:45-9:30. We will sing together, pray a blessing over our growing second graders and thank Mr. Harig and Mrs. Smith for their love and service. Bring a chair, please, as our logs will be full of Forest Kids! 💚

Need A Laugh Anybody?

 

I've been trying this one out on people all day! 😂 You're welcome! 

Field Day

Thank you for your patience as we've moved this date around a few times. I think we've landed on a winner! Field Day will run on Friday, May 26. I will arrange the buses. Please pencil in 11:00-2:00 but I have yet to receive confirmation of that timeframe. 

Tulip Time Week

Some calendars that were sent out prior to Tulip Time making their parade decision state otherwise, but here's the truth of the matter: We have a full day of school on Wednesday, May 10. Thursday is a half day for the parade. If the parade is cancelled due to rain, the whole thing is just kaput. No make up parades on Friday. 

We're Flipping Out!

Thursday, May 11, our half day for Tulip Time is a FLIPPED day. Please note that early elementary students have encore on Thursday, May 11. And then, if I haven't lost you yet, Friday, May 12 is a Thursday schedule. Sometimes this feels like we're at the funny farm rather than the Rose Park Ranch! 

Faith Statements

As you begin to have your faith statements completed, please clip them together and pass them to me when I float by. We'll put them in each child's cum folder. 

Quarter 4 Running Records

• Running Record Expectations ** see THIS DOCUMENT

• The level that you are putting into the Q4 data spreadsheet is a student’s INDEPENDENT LEVEL and this is the same running record that you will hand in to me which will then be passed along to next year’s teacher.

• If you have been putting INSTRUCTIONAL LEVELS on your progress reports to parents, you can just continue that for the last report card–the reason for this is that if you have not communicated to your parents the difference between the instructional and independent level, then just putting the independent level could make them panic as it will most likely be lower than the instructional level.  We will also review this next year as well and discuss what we want to report on our progress reports in terms of students and their reading progress.

MAP Testing

The final week of MAP testing and Delta Math opens the week of May 8. 

Doo Dads

Today we welcomed guests from the DeVos Foundation. They were seeking innovative education and requested a tour of our K-2 Forest and the Rose Park Ranch! What a joy it was to share the story of creativity, play in childhood, teamwork, dedicated staff members and growth! Thank you, friends, for all you do to create this story! At the conclusion of the visit team members remarked this is one of the most joy-filled, creative learning spaces for a child to grow in formative years! 

Check this out. First graders at play "deep" in the Forest on a spring morning! The weather is variable but the energy and creativity found in the Forest remains off the charts! Thank you, friends, to your dedication to creative play within the Forest that is critical to these little ones' growth and development! 

Grandparents Day + Maroon and White Shop

We can't WAIT to welcome our grandparents/friends at the following 

May 5 

• 2nd grade: 8:30-9:30
  
• 1st grade: 10:00-11:00
  
•         K: 11:00-12:00

The Maroons Pop-up Shop will be at the middle of the Forest School campus during this time. Hope to see you there!

Class Lists

It's time to staaaaaart thinking about who to place with whom next year! Will you please begin to sketch out your class (if you are in a two section grade level) list into two groups? And, during your grade level collaboration times, would you please start thinking through our lists? Our due date for class lists will be May 19. We've got time but starting early will allow for more eyes on the lists. Thank you! 

MAP Testing

The final week of MAP testing and Delta Math opens the week of May 8. 

Quarter 4 Running Records

Running Record Expectations ** see THIS DOCUMENT

The level that you are putting into the Q4 data spreadsheet is a student’s INDEPENDENT LEVEL and this is the same running record that you will hand in to me which will then be passed along to next year’s teacher.