Spending our Wednesday morning praying for our school, community, leaders, and country. Oh Lord, hear our prayers!

What a FULL week! We finished up our MAP tests, completed the mile run, walk-a-thon at Wendt Park, prizes, and some learning too! Thanks to all your work with WALK-A-THON. With your help, our class won the grand prize of a pizza party with some ice cream on the side. The students' cheers and excitement could be heard throughout the school.

Reviewing the rules of kickball

Details for this coming week:

FIELD TRIP - On Wednesday we will be heading to the Outdoor Discovery Center for a field trip! We will be exploring animal adaptations as well as food webs and food chains. We will be there over the lunch hour, so each child will need a lunch from home with a drink. I've heard next week's weather isn't going to be the greatest😕, so please be sure your child has plenty of warm clothing for the day (layers are great) and shoes/boots made for the great outdoors. Thanks for your help!

TESTING - We are finally through all the standardized testing for the beginning of the year. Our next round will take place in January, Lord willing. However, we are nearing the end of some of our first units of study in our classroom. We will be taking a math test this week over our first unit (place value, multi-digit addition and subtraction). I will review with the kids in class, and they shouldn't need to do any extra studying at home. You will see a multiple choice version of the test come home completed the day before the test and it will be labeled "Review" on the top. The real test will be the next day. It won't be multiple choice, but the questions will all follow the same format as those on the practice test. If for some reason your child had trouble with the practice test or didn't get it all completed, you may wish to review the questions that still need attention with them the night before. But for most, you won't need to do anything. Stay tuned to your child's planner for the exact day of that test.

Additionally, a science test is on the horizon too (we've been studying the moon, sun, and earth). Again, a study sheet will come home in advance of that. Your child's planner will alert you to the date of that test.

THINK! Energy - THANK YOU for your help with the Home Energy Worksheet from the Think Energy program! I trust that the items in the kit as well as your child's new knowledge about energy usage in the home prove to be a money saver for you😁. I'm excited to be able to send in our results from our forms and receive a monetary gift for our own classroom too. We've already decided as a class that we are going to create a list of books we wish we had in our classroom library and put our money toward that list. Thank you for your help with this!

Parent/Teacher Conferences - You should be receiving an email next week from Holland Christian inviting you to sign up for parent/teacher conferences. I am very much looking forward to chatting with you and celebrating these awesome students of mine! These conferences will be held virtually via zoom on October 19 and 20 in the late afternoon/evening. Many of you are familiar with the sign up process. If you are new to Holland Christian, please follow the instructions to get signed up for a slot. If you have trouble or questions, don't hesitate to ask! One recommendation I have - if you have multiple children at HC, you may want to schedule an empty slot between your conferences. If teachers run behind, it will be tricky to navigate that on zoom - I don't want you thinking I forgot about you (and vice versa) just because the conference before you went over. If you schedule your own children every other time slot, that allows a little bit of grace in case one your children runs over, you won't be late to the next. Thank you!

Help Wanted

Holland Christian Schools is seeking people who want to build up and encourage young people and families through providing regular school bus transportation for students. Hours are flexible. We are seeking applicants who demonstrate a love for kids, careful, conscientious driving habits, and an interest in providing a needed service to the families of Holland Christian. No previous school bus driving experience necessary. Holland Christian will provide the training necessary. If interested please contact Dan Vos at 616-820-2805 or dvos@hollandchristian.org.