Happy Reformation Day!

 Happy Reformation Day, Friends! 

I'm so grateful we get to serve in roles that allow us to work to advance God's Kingdom and raise God's little ones to love and serve our King. We need the wisdom and discernment of our King to hold us together these days don't we. One of the principles Martin Luther brought alive with the Reformation movement was Ora et Labora. Pray and Work. I pray God's mercies over each of you each day. I love the work we pour ourselves into! 

Staff Meeting

Let's meet and take off from school on Thursday, November 5 to walk and talk for our staff meeting after school. We'll check out the new property/farm to see what creative juices get flowing. Emily, you already have a meeting scheduled on Wednesday. This one's optional for you ;) 

Sukkot

You'll notice the first graders beginning their annual deep dive into the study of Sukkot. Check in with Emily to see if you can have your kids sneak a peek at their work in the coming weeks! We can't wait to learn from you, first graders! 

Chapel

I'll be leading chapel on Wednesday this week. See you at 9:30! 

Free Snacks

Nancy McCarthy is able to offer our kids FREE snacks each day! This will begin the week of November 7. You'll get some information soon from her regarding the disbursement process of these free yummies for our kids! 

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Forest School Discovery Day- Saturday, November 7, 11 am

Considering Forest School for the 21-22 school year? Learn more at our Forest School Discovery Day Saturday, November 7, at 11 am, 880 Ottawa Avenue. Hear firsthand why this groundbreaking program is a perfect fit for so many children. Dress warm because we hope to spend most of our time outside. No RSVP necessary.

CEA and a BREAK!

OH MY! Thank you, friends, for your hard work preparing for and working through report cards and parent/teacher conferences! These are treasured moments celebrated dear relationships but MAN, OH MISTER! They're exhausting! Enjoy a well-deserved respite over the long weekend. Below you will find links to the CEA Convention which is held virtually this year. Blessings and health to each of you! See you on Monday! 

2020 CEA Convention

Please use the CEA website for access to the 2020 CEA Virtual Convention. (www.ceateachers.org)

This will work on a mobile application or on your computer.

Click on "Convention" and then click on "Convention 2020"

For mobile applications you may need to click on "Menu", then "Convention" then "Convention 2020".

The opening worship, closing worship and the 2020 CEA sessions are available.

The MANS content is available.

2018 and 2019 CEA Conventions

In addition, you will find audio recordings of previous conventions on the CEA website.

Is there a session that you meant to attend, but missed?

Now's your chance to listen to that.

Click on "Convention" and then on "Audio".

You can find audio recordings of everything from the 2018 and the 2019 CEA Conventions.

That might be a good option for your 2020 CEA session time.

2021 CEA Convention

We look forward to our in-person convention on October 21 & 22, 2021 at Grand Rapids Christian High School.

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Grand Rapids Symphony Concert!

We have been awarded the partnership with the Grand Rapids Symphony this year as an Artist in Residence school. Our links for the first concert are LIVE today! Please access them here. You may view the concert by navigating to this link. I've been informed the concert link is live until October 20! When prompted our passcode is GRSPeterRabbit2020

Placemats

The activities coordinator at Rest Haven shared some sorrowful news with us. The residents at Rest Haven are struggling with feelings of isolation due to COVID restrictions. Actually, their death rate has increased significantly and she believes this is in part due to the emotional toll of no visitors. She has asked if students could decorate their placemats for a bit of cheer and love during mealtime. I hope you approve that I said "YES! We can help!" There is a box of paper placemats in the office. If your class has time, could you please grab a few placemats and ask your kids to decorate them with bright colors and love-filled text? Please bring them back to the office by next Wednesday, Oct 21, and I will deliver them to her. Thank you! 

Opportunity to Consider?

Good morning! I hope your year is off to a great start!  I know navigating a pandemic is not something anyone expected to tackle in their lifetime!  My name is Sydney Del Valle and I’m the Program Intern for Kids’ Food Basket. I wanted to reach out today to see if you would be interested in participating in any activities we have going on this month for Kids’ Food Basket. One major activity going on right now is our Brown Bag Decorating.  The month of October at Kids’ Food Basket is focused on collecting decorated brown bags that are the “touch of love” we send out to all students receiving meals from us. Our goal this year is to collect 100,000 decorated bags by October 23rd! If interested, we could do a zoom call where we can read a book, discuss helping your community, and talk about decorating brown bags for us.  Of course this isn’t necessary for participating, but I wanted to offer it in case anyone was interested.  Ideally, we would love if you could donate the bags you are going to decorate for us, but if this isn’t an option, I can try to get some for you.  We typically ask for the slightly larger bags, usually considered 6 or 8 pound bags, which can be purchased at places like Gordon Food Service.

 

Another opportunity for students to support their local community is through a food drive to help support the Ottawa and Allegan Kids’ Food Basket.  We have a wishlist food drive where individuals could just purchase the items on the list and after a set amount of time, you could either deliver them to the Ottawa+Allegan Kids’ Food Basket location, or we could schedule a time to pick those items up. 

Collaboration Days 

...are coming up! Please take a look here at our schedule.  

Discovery In The Forest

November 7 at 11:00 we'll be inviting prospective families into our learning spaces for one hour. Please put a placeholder in your calendar Ron, Emily and Angie. I'll give you the low down on Friday. 

Chapel Schedule

First Grade! Your turn! :) 

Shalom

These past few weeks seem to be filled with masks and ever-changing mandates which have been challenging to navigate, haven't they? It's tough to know what to rely on. And then over the weekend to learn of Kristen's death just seemed to rock the very foundation we stand on. Again. Deeply. Exodus 15:2 offers old words of truth and comfort, "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him." God's love and power are stronger than the dark of this world. There are places of chaos mounting all around us. I don't think we're done yet with the storm. But through it ALL, God calls upon us to bring HIS Shalom to these places of chaos. Since we're not short on chaos these days, let's not be shy about Shalom, patience, grace and love. You already do this so well and I thank you for that. You laugh with one another. You speak with truth and grace with parents. You pray faithfully for the decision makers in our society. You serve God with a beautiful servant heart. God is Good all of the time. All of the time, God is good. 

Devotions

Let's meet together in Angie's room for a weekly devotional/small group prayer time together. 7:30! Bright and early! :) 

Report Cards

First and Second grade only during quarter one. We can print your cards and I'll zip them out to you. Please let me know when you're ready! 

SeeSaw Folder

Here is the folder with refresher trainings and resources regarding SeeSaw. Thank you for attending the training and THANK YOU missing Melanie for creating this amazing resource for us! We missed you at the meeting but we're trying! 

Dates and Notes

Given the week we've had, my Forest Friends, I pray your teaching too falls like showers on autumn grass. We've had A LOT of that good teaching and rain....lots of rain....lately :) 

Staff Meeting

Our next staff meeting will take place from 3:30-4:30 on October 7 in the Rose Park media center. The agenda can be found here. You'll notice a "sign in/sign out" box because this meeting will count toward our DPPD hours! WooHoo! 

Enrollment Dates

How about that! We're already thinking about enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year! I, like you, am in prayer that the COVID era would move into the pages of our history books and a new crop of CHILDREN will fill our woods and classrooms! More details will be forthcoming but we're asking for a Saturday 'save the dates' for preparing for next year. An hour in the afternoon on November 7. A Saturday stinks. I acknowledge that. By holding our event on a Saturday we can meet outside during daylight hours! If we shoot for an evening, it will be too dark after school. If we shoot for right after school, too many perspective parents will be stuck at work. So, how will this work? Can we mark our calendars for November 7 in the afternoon. More details forthcoming! 

P/T Conferences

Please refer to Dan Vos's email regarding Zoom set up for your parents. 

Report Cards

Will go home on the 16th of October.