Praise and Thanksgiving!

I am SO deeply grateful to be called by God to serve our children alongside each of YOU talented servants.

Heavenly Father, teach us to offer you a heart of thanksgiving and praise in all of our daily experiences of life. Teach us to be joyful always, to pray continually and to give thanks in all my circumstances. We accept all circumstances  as Your will for our lives.. We long to bring pleasure to Your heart daily. Break the power of the enemy in our lives. Defeat Him through our sacrifice of praise. Change our outlook and attitude into one of joyful contentment with our circumstances.

Jesus, we want to be like You who obeyed the Father without complaint. You embraced the chains of humanity when You walked this earth. Convict us whenever we complain or compare ourselves with others. Give us Your attitude of humility and thankful acceptance. We want to be like the Apostle Paul who learned contentment in every circumstance. We choose to continually offer You a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that give praise to Your name. We long to bring a smile to Your face. Teach us the power of a thankful heart. We know that Your truth dwells in a thankful heart.

“I will give thanks to the LORD because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Psalm 7:17-18:1). In Jesus’ name, amen.

Art From The Heart

Our friend and local artist Carolyn Stich sent an email of gratitude sharing that the artwork our students contributed last year helped raise more than $600 for Kids Food Basket. Food insecurities for children in our area is sky rocketing along with our rising food prices. Would you be willing to offer this project to your class again this month? Carolyn would be so grateful for the help in sharing artwork from local artists: our students. Details are on the attached flyer. Thank you for considering this project that allows our children to use their gifts in a way that will impact hungry children in our community. I believe THIS is one of the most important 'whys' to Christian Education. Why do we grow and expand on the gifts and talents God blesses us each with uniquely? That we might bring the love and grace of Christ to this hurting world. That we might be a bit of shalom from God to the many places of chaos. I will collect any art pieces you accrue The details are below: 

Staff Meeting December 12

We will hold our next staff meeting at 11:30 on Monday, December 12 in Emily's classroom. If possible, it would be helpful to have assistants presents as well. We'll work through safety protocol with fire and bathroom needs for our kids. Rachel and Doug will also be visiting to talk through our employee handbook changes. 

Christmas Lunch December 13

Could you please select a book or activity to provide for the parent who is supervising your class during our Christmas Lunch which will be in the Pine Ridge media center on December 13 from 1:00-2:00? 

Please copy and paste for your blogs:

Maroon & White Pop-Up Shop

HC gear is a wonderful Christmas gift!  Come shop the Maroon and White Shop at Rose Park on Thursday December 1 from 2:00pm-4:30pm and Friday December 2 from 7:45am-4:00pm.  Happy shopping!

1000s of Thank Yous!

Oh man! What a celebration we were blessed to participate in on Thursday! Thank you for your brainstorming, creativity, suggestions and all the work that it took to pull this off! We'll reflect a bit on what went well and what we can improve on for next year, but WOW! Such joy for our first attempted 1000 Hour Day in the Forest! If you have a chance to see a parent board team member (especially Meghan Sawdon and Erica Engbers) they were very much a big part of the machine behind this special coordination! Please feel free to lavish them with thanks! 

Forest Family in 2018

Forest Family in 2022....I'm so grateful YOU'RE here!!! 

Books

Ginny gave us a few copies of her books: 1000 Hours Outside Activity Book and 1000 Hours Outside! I'm eager for you to read them when you have time and then pass them along to others! I'll start the copies in kindergarten on Monday and we'll move up the grade levels as you finish! What a GIFT the Yurich family is to our program! Abundantly generous! 

Art From The Heart

Our friend and local artist Carolyn Stich sent an email of gratitude sharing that the artwork our students contributed last year helped raise more than $600 for Kids Food Basket. Food insecurities for children in our area is sky rocketing along with our rising food prices. Would you be willing to offer this project to your class again this month? Carolyn would be so grateful for the help in sharing artwork from local artists: our students. Details are on the attached flyer. Thank you for considering this project that allows our children to use their gifts in a way that will impact hungry children in our community. I believe THIS is one of the most important 'whys' to Christian Education. Why do we grow and expand on the gifts and talents God blesses us each with uniquely? That we might bring the love and grace of Christ to this hurting world. That we might be a bit of shalom from God to the many places of chaos. I will collect any art pieces you accrue The details are below: 

Radio Stars

Our kindergarteners were interviewed recently and are set to hit the airwaves! Please inform parents that Moody Radio, 89.3 FM, will air our children on the following dates/times. 

We’ll be airing my interview with your students & highlighting Rose Parks on Wednesday, November 30 and Forest on January 4 at 6:35, 7:35 & 8:35am during Perry & Shawna Mornings on 89.3 Moody Radio. Please let all your students and their families know so they can tune in to hear their kids & friends!

Please include in your classroom blogs

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 30 from 4:30 - 8:00. You are invited to The Maroon and White Shop’s First annual Mocha and Merch Christmas Open House!  Come stroll along Main Street at HCHS while sipping provided hot chocolate and coffee, listening to Christmas Carols played by members of the HC Jazz Band and start your Christmas shopping!  We will have the latest HC gear to purchase!  Every purchase directly supports the Special Olympics Unified Sports program at the high school.  It’s an event you won’t want to miss!

1000 Hour Day!

1000 Hour Day Plan

We have a plan! Take a peek at the details. I'll bring materials to you for the event next week! Thank you for brainstorming this together! 

Report Card Norms

Doug Greer is helping us reexamine our reporting tool norms on the report cards at HC. As we think about comments on the report cards, let's use these norms until the full card is evaluated:

Q1: An overall comment that states you look forward to talking through the details of their child's development and celebrations at parent/teacher conferences in a few days. 

Q2: Teacher provides comments for children on report cards as there are no conferences at that time.

Q3: Again, an overall comment that states you look forward to talking through the details of their child's development and celebrations at parent/teacher conferences in a few days. 

Q4: Teacher provides comments for children on report cards as there are no conferences at that time.

Flipped Friday

This Friday we're flipping! It's our first one! We'll hold Thursday's schedule but K-2 will attend encore classes in the morning! Dismissal is at 11:30. 

K	8:20-9:10
1st	9:15-10:05
	RECESS
2nd	10:25-11:15

Radio Interviews 

Forest K students have been invited to interview on the radio. They will be recorded on Tuesday, November 15 at 10:30 in middle school. Ron and Mackenzie, would you each please select 6 chatty kinders from your class? I'll pick them up at 10:15 and walk them to the middle school for their big moment and then bring them back to you. Thank you for your willingness to allow this for them.

Christmas Lunch

Could you please select a book or activity to provide for the parent who is supervising your class during our Christmas Lunch which will be in the Pine Ridge media center on December 13 from 1:00-2:00? 

Glorious Sunshine!

What a BEAUTIFUL week it has been to be a Forest Kid! Every week is beautiful but such unique sunshine for the first week in November! The blessing is not missed on us! Thank you for bringing your sunshine every day! 

Staff Meeting

Our third and fourth grade teacher friends are joining us for this one! Let's put our heads together around this agenda from 11:30-12:15 on Tuesday, November 8 in Emily's classroom. 

Assistant Goals

Thank you for working to state your own professional goals. Please talk with your assistant to hear and celebrate their professional goals and pass this to me. 

Chapel

We'll get back on schedule and once again hold chapel on Wednesday morning led by Miss VanderLee's class! 

Christmas Lunch

Our parent team has a special Christmas Lunch planned for December 13 from 1:00-2:00. We will meet in the Pine Ridge media center. We'll have more details as the date arrives. Something to keep tucked in your calendar as you're planning trips and events. 

2nd grade, would you be willing to cancel your encore class on that date so you can enjoy the lunch with assistants? Parents will supervise your students while you eat! 

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Parents, at some point we'll transition weather to colder temps (it sure has been glorious this week!) you might decide to take a peek at this Facebook group for extra, gently used gear: https://www.facebook.com/groups/253597189811093