Flipping Friday!

We're Flipping

The half-day Friday encore schedule is the following:

• 8:20 for Kinder Encore
• 9:15 for 1st Encore
• 10:25 for 2nd Encore

Dismissal is at 11:30

Lunch Ordering

The attempt to streamline our lunch ordering has kicked up a healthy discussion with our staff and kitchen staff. We can circle back around on this in person if it's helpful or yet unclear. Here's the current proposed solution:

Parents complete the Google Form on the weekend to order their lunches. Each day the number of lunches that have been ordered are delivered to each classroom. Names of the students who ordered the lunches are put on bags. When a lunch is given to a student, please cross their name off the list. Our kitchen staff will use the crossed off name as an indicator of permission to bill the family for the lunch. The kitchen's request is for the lists to be returned in the Friday cooler or the last day of the school week if there's no school on Friday. Again, the names crossed off the list will be the families charged for a school lunch. 

It sounds like we have a few families who do not sign up for lunches and do not send a lunch to school with their child. That's a challenge for you, for the child and for the kitchen. The kitchen does not have adequate staffing to bring last minute orders to children who do not have a lunch. YIKES! We should probably brainstorm how to remedy this because that's a FS family issue, not a kitchen issue. Nancy will attempt to resolve the missing orders by sending this note to FS families:

Dear Forest Families:

We want you to know we are trying very hard to provide lunches for your students with nutritious choices.   It's important for you to sign up on the lunch google doc weekly if your child is ordering hot lunch.  The weekly sign up needs to be done by Monday at 7:00am.  

The beauty of the Forest School is that students are exploring and not in their classrooms.   We deliver the lunches out to the Forest Schools.  These are not traditional buildings with a kitchen.  So when someone does not preorder a lunch, we need to deliver lunch to Forest.   

Starting 2/27, we will have a turkey lunchable, ranch chickpeas, fruit cup and milk available for those students who did not preorder lunch.  We will bill the student's account $2.75 for lunch.  I really hope that parents will remember to pre order.  We have tried to make it as easy as possible for parents, teachers and our staff.   Thank you for partnering with us. 

I'll continue to work with the families whose children do not have a lunch and have not ordered a lunch. If you're willing to hold close to the request to cross off names of students who have received a lunch and please text me or a family if a child does not have a lunch rather than texting the kitchen. 

Maybe all of this will get us a step closer to resolving lunch count/billing for our families!  

Monday's Work

• 7:30-8:00 Breakfast begins on main street 
• 8:00-8:30 Worship 
• 8:40-11:45 Building level meetings
• 11:45-12:15 Lunch provided on main street
• 12:20-3:30 Whole group learning

Grandparents Day

Just recapping for your calendars:

May 5 

2nd grade: 8:30-9:30

1st grade: 10:00-11:00

        K: 11:00-12:00

Please copy and paste for your blogs:

TRIP Training

How would you like to learn how you can receive dollars that go directly to your family's tuition account simply by going about your ordinary business transactions? Our Tuition Reduction Incentive Program (TRIP) almost sounds too good to be true! But it's TRUE! And it works! Much of the TRIP exchanges can now be done directly on your phone! Kristi and Kim, our amazing TRIP coordinators, are willing to offer curious parents a workshop to learn how to participate so you can also receive some reductions in your tuition just by ordinary exchanges such as purchasing groceries, buying gas and taking a vacation! Even some orthodontists can be linked with your TRIP account! Join us for either of these two workshop sessions and bring your phone! You'll walk away from the time together ready to start chipping at your bill thanks to TRIP! 

• March 1 at 6:30 at the High School in the lecture hall
• March 7 at 2:00 at Rose Park in the media center

Tulip Time

1st and 2nd grade teachers, would you please make a copy of this form for your class and send to your parents for their costume preference in this Tulip Time parade? They received the explanation in the school blog so this should be something they are expecting to see. Please let me know if you have questions! We can talk about these details at our staff meeting to clarify wonderings. Thank you! 

Swimming Blurb

The Holland Aquatic Center will be providing us with swim lessons again this year. Our 1st & 2nd graders will head to the pool February 27-March 10. Pine Ridge and Rose Park children have already enjoyed their weeks of lessons and I'm grateful to share with you that our lessons were a hit! As is understandable, children had some butterflies before the first day of lessons because it's new and different. I was so impressed with how patient, compassionate and well-trained the Holland Aquatic Center staff is in putting children at ease right from the start of lessons. The staff is new. Their program is new AND?! the suits are new! Have a peek at these pix to help your child and you be prepared and informed for our swim lessons:

On the first day children and teachers meet the swim instructors and learn that it's okay if you don't know how to swim or you feel nervous. Mr. Dan didn't know how to swim when he first took lessons and he was nervous too! He learned to LOVE swimming just by trying! The staff is here to help kids try blowing bubbles and just trying out the water when they feel ready. 

The suits are new! The kids loved the new upgrade in fashion! 

There are not enough bathroom stalls for every child to change inside. Children change into their swim suit in the locker room. A Holland Aquatic staff member stands out of the line of sight but in the entry way to the locker room using their voice to help students move through the process of changing and get out to the pool deck. We found that some children felt most comfortable taking an extra large t-shirt from home to act as a privacy tent. You might even practice this a little bit at home! Children can pull the large t-shirt over their heads and then change into their suit under their t-shirt tent if they would like privacy! This works well after lessons when they change back into their school clothes again as well! We will do all we can to keep each child comfortable and excited about these important swim lessons! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Mrynsburger@hollandchristian.org 

• 2nd Grade – 9:15am-9:45am 
• 1st Grade – 10:15am-10:45am 

Kids’ Stuff Resale- Donating Day
NEW this year- If you have high quality items you would like to donate to the Kids Stuff Resale (items we could price at $15+ each), we will be accepting donations on Wednesday, March 2 in the admin office of the high school (Door B). Items can be dropped off between 8am-4pm this day only. Questions? Contact Michelle Schaap at mschaap@hollandchristian.org.