Happy New Year

Well, friends. We have put 2021 in the books. God is good! All the time, God is good! Having said that, it feels pretty OK to turn the page and prayerfully look forward to all God has in store in this new year! I pray Christmas break has allowed you to slow, breathe, fellowship, make warm memories and offer thanksgiving to God for all of the goodness bestowed in this life and the promise of the next. I look forward to seeing each of you soon and working together to grow our children again! 

Chapel times

We've had some staffing adjustments in our kindergarten classes. Due to this, we're going to try an experiment. Would you be willing to rework our chapel time on our scheduledWednesdays? Can we try for 2:30-3:00ish rather than 8:30? This will allow for five full days of academic support for our littlest learners. Here is our chapel schedule for the rest of the year. 

Collaboration Days

Black History Month

It feels a little funny to start thinking of planning and resources for learning in February, but it IS a new year and February will be here before we know it. Black History Month is an important time for our children to learn familiarity and respect for ALL people, races and tongues, as God calls us to love like He loves. Part of celebrating ALL people is learning about others' stories. This includes the celebrations and the struggles. Here is a small library of books with online links to read-alouds so you can familiarize yourselves with some suggested titles for your learners. Please tap me if you have questions or wonderings about resources for the learning you have planned in your class during this month or any month truly! 

Discovery Day

We've got another one on tap in January. This will be an active Discovery Day, however. Tours will be scheduled for Tuesday, January 18 all day long. You just keep on keeping on with your students and plans as they are! I'll bop around with any families who have scheduled a tour. All you are asked to do is smile, greet a child if he/she is along and keep on with the business of the day. I'll handle the rest. No more evening events for our Forest people! 

Tulip Time

I know! WHAAAT?!?! A lot has had to change but Tulip Time is still in May...RIGHT?!? Yes....rest assured Tulip Time has undergone a few changes but it's still in May. This note will be going out to families in our January Blog. We'll talk about what this means for our 1st-4th classes and how we'll care for our little parade celebrities during this special event! 

Tulip Time Choices

In 2018, Tulip Time reframed their mission statement to read “Mission Statement: To celebrate Holland’s tulips, Dutch heritage and community.” To better align ourselves with their mission statement as well as with the goals here at Holland Christian our Rose Park and Forest School students will be given two options for dressing up and walking in the the 2022 Kinderparade. More details will be forthcoming as we get closer to Tulip Time but we want you to be aware of the options well in advance of the Tulip Time season. Our students from Rose Park and Forest School will be given the option of walking in either our new “tulip” section of the parade or our “Dutch heritage” section. The whole of our two groups walking together will be a celebration of our “community”.

• If your first through fourth grade student chooses to opt into the “tulip” section of our parade, your child will design and construct his or her own tulip to carry and then dress as a gardener based around our "Rooted" t-shirt. This gardener costume might include gardening boots and gloves, overalls, a wide-brimmed hat, etc. Anything you have handy at home that helps your child look like a busy gardener tilling the tulips will fit the part perfectly!
• Students who opt into the “Dutch heritage” portion of our student body will wear their own dutch costume and carry the parade props our students have carried in the past.

All of our students from Rose Park and Forest School will be walking together as one big community in the aforementioned subsets. More details about logistics, costumes and timing will be coming soon. Don’t hesitate to email Miska with questions or wonderings at mrynsburger@hollandchristian.org