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

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

Merry Christmas

It stirs my soul to peek in and watch children participating in the ritual of advent in their classrooms with you. We do the same with our children at home. I'd like to share an excerpt from a devotional for Christmas Eve.

"On this Christmas Eve, the day that marks the end of the Advent season, we light the Christ candle, the candle that all the other Advent candles have foreshadowed and pointed toward. The Christ candle signifies that the fullness of God's light has come into our world. It reminds us that God has not forgotten his promises to us. Even though we wait in the "darkness," even though the darkness may feel overwhelming at time, God's light shines in the darkness. "The darkness has not overcome it". The darkness will not overcome God's light. The Christ candle offers a reminder of this hope. We light the Christ candle on Christmas Eve when the amount of daylight we receive is at its lowest point in the year. In the midst of darkness that almost seems to overwhelm, God's light still shines.

As you extinguish the Christ candle and go to bed (please extinguish all candles before going to bed), take time to remember that just as your house will suddenly be at its darkest, God's light will continue to shine. Thank God that you will wake to house full of light in the morning. Thank God that even when the world seemed to be at its darkest, when Jesus' life was extinguished, there was still hope. God's light would shine once again in Jesus' resurrection, and God's light will shine again when Jesus returns. Even if the world feels at its darkest for you right now, God's light will shine. You can rest in God just as you rest in your bed at night. You can do so with the assurance that Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Sarah Essenburg

Our ESS assistant will be starting full time on Monday, January 3. I will meet with her in the afternoon to begin her onboarding process. As you know, this is a new position for us so we'll grow slowly into this support for our children in the Forest. I'm THRILLED she will be joining us. We'll keep her caseload of students limited to those who have gone through an 'in take' process. Right now she has three students in second grade and one for consultation in first grade. Lynae Stielstra and Christy Haig will also help her with training and support strategies. I'm eager for each of you to meet her and work with her! 

Collaboration Days 

Chapel Change

We had some staffing movement in our kindergarten programming. Due to this, we're proposing that we try moving chapel to Wednesday afternoons from 2:30-3:00. This is a very different time for us to gather. Given that we will be meeting at the END of the day, we might decide to change the format (less 'church' feel perhaps and more 'walk and talk' potentially). Thank you for your flexibility as we try this change and see how it works. Because we are making this change, we can keep our kindergartners growing and advancing academically with support. Thank you! 

Here are our dates:

1/12 - Mrs. Hicks

1/26 - Miss Spoelman

2/9 - Third Grade

2/23 - Mr. Scott

3/9 - Kindergarten (Wierenga)

3/23 - Mr. Russ

4/13 - 2nd Grade

4/27 - 1st Grade

5/11 - Kindergarten (Harig)

5/25 - Convocation

6/1 - All School Chapel

Mary Terpstra

God created our Mary to flourish in creation. Her life's passion has been to bring children into God's outdoors and find his beauty. She has a WEALTH of knowledge and creative ideas to engage children in creation. She was thrilled to join our Forest team this year as a part-time teaching assistant with Emily. We were thrilled to have her join in our work "officially". And then one injury after another has happened. Emily and I received her regretful resignation this week. I hurt for her. She LOVES this program and wants to support your work in bringing children into nature and flourish is God's care. Please keep Mary in your prayers and, if you have time, drop her a line of encouragement. Feel free to bounce ideas off her! She LOVES to help and has SO many ideas for our learning experiences. You can connect with Mary at 

dterp50@chartermi.net

Thanksgiving

Friends, the weather looks to be a bit of a circus this week. Snowy one day and 68 degrees the next! THANK YOU for your genuine spirit of choosing to enjoy all that God surrounds us in in Michigan! Our children are following your lead and they LOVE the upcoming changes! Thank you for being brave and layering up! 

Chapel on Wednesday

I was unable to lead chapel last Wednesday. We postponed to this Wednesday! I'll be ready for your students with some learnin' at the logs on Wednesday at 8:35! 

December 1

You will have a guest teacher coming to your space on Wednesday, December 1 from 1:00-3:00. Please plan to bring your computer to the admin boardroom. We're going to create a staff/student playbook for expectations and norms in the Forest! WooHoo! Another sign that we're growing up! Ted and Doug will be there to offer suggestions and wisdom as needed. 

Vaccine Questions

Children will likely hear of some students getting the vaccine. Because you've been entrusted to partner with our families intricately, your children TRUST and RESPECT you! They will naturally ask you questions about this vaccine. Families vary in their own health history and perspective on this vaccine. I just want to remind you that there are topics we lean on the triangle (church, home, school) as depicted in our logo:

If children ask you for your perspective on the pediatric vaccine, please remind them that this is a good question for them to ask their parents. There is SUCH beauty in each family being able to freely make decisions for the health plan for their family! Let's not interfere with that by sharing our own varied perspective. Please let me know if you have questions or concerns around this. Thank you! 

Thankful

We have MUCH to be grateful for, friends! Even beautiful deer (with a backwards "d") 😂

Digital Report Card Feedback

If you were able to collect parent feedback regarding access to the digital report cards, I'd love to take that data from you in whatever form was best for you to collect. Toss the post its on my desk, paper airplane your data to me or send me an email. Whatever is best for you! 

Discovery Night

Boy oh boy! It's kind of odd to think we're already in the planning stages for our enrollment season already! Take a peek please at our Discovery Night document. We'll be welcoming families on November 18 following the same format we did last year. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have about this special event! 

Accreditation Site Visit

Holland Christian is an accredited school by CSI. Part of what we are asked to do is work, when called, to help guide, support and assess the accreditation of other schools for CSI. I have been asked to help with this process for Ada Christian Schools. They are in their final stages of accreditation and will be under review November 8, 9 and 10. These guys are our farm inspiration friends! I will need to be on location at Ada Christian for those three dates. That feels weird to me to be missing from our Rose Park/Forest busy life, but I also appreciate the need for new CSI schools to be invited into the fold. I'll be available as I am able by email but will be missing in person on those days. 

Art Project

Carolyn Stitch reached out with a WONDERFUL opportunity for our children to impact other children through their artwork. Due date is December 1. I'll bring any art your children submit by November 29. 

Thanksgiving Learning

The Holland Christian Schools mission statement calls us to “Transform the world for Jesus Christ,” so we seek to become a more inclusive community that represents the fullness of God’s people by increasing our racial/ethnic diversity to better reflect the greater Holland community. To that end, the stakeholders of Holland Christian will learn and grow in our collective understanding and appreciation of diversity and inclusivity by establishing richer relationships with diverse communities. All of these efforts will enable us to better equip our students’ minds and nurture their hearts, propelling them to live into their calling as a Kingdom of Priests who put God on display for the world.

If you'd like another brain to think through your books, learning experiences, resources, I'm happy to support you!

Learning Opportunity Shared By Doug

We are excited to host the OAISD Literacy Network again this year and are looking forward to it returning to an in-person collaboration event. We understand that the last 18 months or so have been trying for educators, but we also know the power of community.  This community feeds so many of our local educators, and we hope that your teachers might be willing to be part of that joy this year with our team.  Please consider sending some of your educators this school year. 

Each evening session will begin with Dinner and a Book Club followed by breakouts for smaller grade band teams. The focus this year for the K-5 breakouts will be on Literacy Essential #6 Writing Instruction and secondary educators will focus on the role of feedback in the ELA classroom, looking at the many aspects of this important concept.

What: Literacy Network

Who: K-12 educators

When: December 7, 2021

             January 25, 2022

             March 22, 2022

             April 14, 2022

Where: OAISD Educational Services Building

Time: 4:30 pm - 7:30 pm (dinner included)

Let me know if you're interested, please! 

Reformation Day

We're approaching a special time of year, friends! Reformation Day! I am mentioning the following to our parents in the blog (just a reminder of some of what makes our HC family and Reformed faith tradition special):

Autumn in Michigan brings with it many glorious, beauty-making moments for teachers and students to enjoy together as well as for families making warm memories. It feels as though all of the earth is waiting for the right moment to explode in brilliant color and radiant God's goodness. Some of the learning experiences we hold dear at school during this time of year surround the celebration of Reformation Day on October 31. Your children are being reminded of the truths embedded in the reformed tradition. More than 500 years ago these truths were nailed to the door of a church and today we still post these tenants of our faith on our walls at school. Based in Scripture, people of many walks find these statements of faith resonate in their traditions and beliefs.

The Five Solas:

“Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Alone: 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
“Sola Gratia” (Grace Alone: Ephesians 2:8-9)
“Sola Fide” (Faith Alone: Galatians 3:11)
“Solus Christus” (Christ Alone: 1 Timothy 2:5)
“Soli Deo Gloria” (To God Alone Be Glory: 1Peter 4:11)

Our prayer is that our children, the next generation of Kingdom bringers and partners in the restorative work God is doing in this world, will be well equipped and eager to take up their calling in this world. May the roots of their faith tended today grow strong and deep in the great love of our Father in heaven.

Discovery Night

Boy oh boy! It's kind of odd to think we're already in the planning stages for our enrollment season already! Take a peek please at our Discovery Night document. We'll be welcoming families on November 18 following the same format we did last year. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have about this special event! We can talk about this on Friday morning. 

Accreditation Site Visit

Holland Christian is an accredited school by CSI. Part of what we are asked to do is work, when called, to help guide, support and assess the accreditation of other schools for CSI. I have been asked to help with this process for Ada Christian Schools. They are in their final stages of accreditation and will be under review November 8, 9 and 10. These guys are our farm inspiration friends! I will need to be on location at Ada Christian for those three dates. That feels weird to me to be missing from our Rose Park/Forest busy life, but I also appreciate the need for new CSI schools to be invited into the fold. I'll be available as I am able by email but will be missing in person on those days. 

Chapel on the 10th

I'm on the schedule to take the pulpit on the 10th. But, as you just read earlier, I'll be accrediting our farming friends at Ada Christian. Could we move our next chapel together to the 17th instead? I'll be back and in action by then! 

Please copy and paste in your blog:

Help Wanted

FOREST SCHOOL INCLUSIVE EDUCATION PARAPROFESSIONAL/RESOURCE CLASSROOM ASSISTANT

Holland Christian Schools is looking for an inclusive education paraprofessional/resource classroom assistant to provide assistance both to teachers and students within the K-2 Forest School setting. This position will support students both academically and social/emotionally throughout the school day. Please note that this is a three-year position funded by EANS (Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools) dollars, and that insurance/benefits are not provided. After three years, a determination will be made regarding the possibility of integrating this job into Holland Christian Schools regularized staffing. Please apply online here.