Choosing JOY!

THANK YOU for modeling JOY! Even when our hearts hurt at times, our health fails or our toes are ready to crack off from cold, I still see persistent smiles and creative JOY radiating from you with our children! Thank you for working together and choosing JOY! 

Assessments and report cards are behind us! Celebrate good times, C'mon! Well done, friends! Let's go sailing into semester two with full steam in advancing student learning! 

I just have a few dates for your scheduling:

Tuesday, February 1 is enrollment for our newest members of the Rose Park family in preschool and kindergarten! All in the same day! Please join me in praying over these families in the midst of making BIG decisions! We're eager and grateful to continue serving God with a robust student population at HC! 

Monday, February 21 is our staff PD day. Please plan on attending this day of learning if you are a teacher or teacher assistant! 

Semester Two Has Arrived

We are approaching enrollment season. There are many families in prayer and discernment over their child's educational partner. Let's keep families in our prayers for God's guidance in finding their child's home-away-from-home! February 1 in enrollment day. As information is available, I will share results with you! 

Semester 2 Begins! 

...on January 18

MAP Test Window

...is extended until January 28

The Subs are Coming! The Subs are Coming! 

Please bring a device and plan to meet in the admin boardroom. Ron and Mackenzie, your meeting will be in the conference room of the middle school office. 

100th Day of School

...is February 8th

January Tidbits

MLK Day is Monday

We do not have school on Monday (Hoping you're already aware of this??? 😀) Monday is a very special day particularly for people responsible for shaping the lives, hearts and passions of the next generation. We have no explicit requirements for MLK Day, but please bear this transformative learning in mind as we celebrate the growth toward achieving Dr. King's dream and an awareness for the improvements we have yet to grow into as a nation and people serving ALL of God's Kingdom. 

Assessments

We're in the window of NWEA/MAP, Delta and Running Records. Talk with me, please, if you need help or assistance to get it all done. Fweew! It's a LOT, friends, but also SO encouraging to see this growth in our learners! Your hard work is paying off!!! God is growing our children faithfully! 

Report Cards

Will go live on Friday, January 21st at 3:00! 

Data Meetings

The week of January 31 is our week to review and talk about each learner. 

• Please invite me to a time that suits your grade level team's calendar. 
• Please input the instructional reading level for students previously in the yellow or red. Over achievers feel free to input greens but not required ;) 

Black History Month

As you are crafting your plans for February, please keep in mind/heart an eye for your authors, illustrators, historical heroes, characters of study, scientists, etc. We tell a story by the resources and people we highlight. 

2/22/22

Do you have a tutu handy? Let's think about some fun, creative ways to help the students acknowledge the uniqueness of Tuesday, 2/22/22 is coming up and VERY unique in the lives of our children who are studying number sense, place value, patterns and calendar! Let's make it memorable! 

Summer Work

AJ Westendorp from Escape Ministries is looking to build his summer team. Is God calling you to this work over the summer months? Here are the details and contact info: 

Mid-Winter Wind Up

Well, that was a short week! I don't have many details to add to our recent blog post other than a few end-of-semester dates and assessments to keep on our radar:

Monday, January 10-Friday, January 21: Winter MAP testing window

Friday, January 14: End of our first semester

Friday, January 21: Digital report cards will go live with a power announcement

Week of January 24: Mid-year running record assessments reported on data sheets and data meetings commence 

Discovery Day

On Tuesday, January 18 we have families scheduled throughout the day to tour and see our Forest in action. Keep on keeping on when you see me staring at you with guests. We're trying this approach to our January Discovery Day rather than the evening presentation. I'm open to your feedback afterward! 

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! 

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