Fall Fun!

Can you believe it's almost November?! Each one of the days we've spent together has been a blessing! This week was filled with energy and excitement as we continued to learn with each other after a fun fall break! What fun we had on our class Pumpkin Day! Lots of learning and fun together! Thanks so much to the moms who came and helped out groups and those who sent in snacks and drinks! The kids loved it! Our class also had a great time at Sassafras Ridge with all the 2nd grade classes in the HC district! Lots of kids together and so much fun seeing friends and making new ones! What a fantastic day! Check out the end of the blog for pictures!

We also said Good bye to our friend and classmate Cole K. We got to enjoy a wonderful fun last day together and we gave him a gift, and we prayed over him! We will miss him and his family! 

Homework:
Next week we'll stick with the usual:
Purple Reading Slip will come home Monday (due Monday, Nov. 7)
Math Homework Page will come home Monday (due Monday, Nov. 7)

A new Bible Memory for November will be in the Monday Homework Folder: Psalm 100. This is such a special psalm to memorize around the Thanksgiving holiday! Please practice this at home with your child. 

Blue half sheet with the new words of the week!

Words of the Week: 

This week we studied: often, such, best

Next week's words that we'll be adding in are: think, family, never

You'll see a blue half sheet with these 6 words to practice in Monday's Homework Folder. 

Jungle Explorer of the Week!

Savannah was our special Jungle Explorer of the Week! Thanks for sharing your poster and pictures with our class. We enjoyed getting to know you and learning that you love playing with your dog, Indy, you like to play tennis, and your favorite food is peaches! We love that you want to be a tennis champion when you grow up! Your favorite place is Torch Lake. You are so special to God and to us, Savannah, and we loved getting to know more about you this week!

Children’s Advocacy Center Visit 

The Children's Advocacy Center will be coming to do a presentation about body safety in our Kindergarten through 2nd grade classrooms in November. Please check out this Children’s Advocacy Center handout for more information. You are welcome to attend the presentation with your child! Please contact the South Side office by calling 616-820-3535 or emailing jritsema@hollandchristian.org or pmeiste@hollandchristian.org to receive the date and time of the presentation for your child’s class, and to let us know that you plan to attend.

Picture Retakes

Picture retakes are Wednesday, November 2 right away in the morning. If you are choosing to have retakes, please return your picture packet back to school with your child, and email your child’s teacher to let them know that you want your child to have picture retakes. If your child was sick on picture day, or is a new transfer student, this is the time to have their picture taken.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Oct. 31: Math and Reading slips due, Library books due

Nov. 2: Picture Retake day

Nov. 7: Children's Advocacy Talk

Nov. 9: Big Read Lakeshore Story at Hope College

Nov. 23-25: Thanksgiving break

Lord's Prayer

We have been studying the Lord's Prayer in Bible class this week and it's been such a gift to be
able to talk to the students about prayer and why we pray.  We've also been learning about what the Lord's Prayer means and the what those words mean when we pray them, and how Jesus teaches us to pray. What a blessing and comfort we have in these words from our Lord! We are all so thankful to be at a Christian School where our faith in Jesus grows deeper each day as we learn more about Him through His Word! 

We had a fun visit from the 8th grade orchestra kids on Thursday! They played some songs for us and let the 2nd graders get up close to the instruments! They showed the 2nd graders how to play their instruments and then the 2nd graders played a song! Super fun! Look for pictures of this at the end of the blog.

HOMEWORK FOLDERS:
Your child's new Reading slip and Math homework are coming home on Monday (Oct. 17) and they will be due Monday, Oct. 24. 

- Bible: Psalm 23 was sent home, it is a beautiful psalm, keep practicing!

WORDS OF THE WEEK:

Thank you for helping your child practice: things, school, walk, always, great, find, until, last, high, easy, next, pretty, more idea, soon

Thanks for helping your child practice these words! Our spelling test will be on Wed. Oct. 19!

Jungle Explorer of the Week!Elsa was our special Jungle Explorer of the Week! Thanks for sharing your poster and pictures with our class. We enjoyed getting to know you and learning that you love playing with friends, you play softball, soccer, and gymnastics, and your favorite food is pizza! We love that you want to be a teacher when you grow up! Your favorite place is Disney World. You are so special to God and to us, Elsa, and we loved getting to know more about you this week!

No Jungle Explorer next week because of the short week.

Pumpkin Day:

On Oct. 25 our 2nd grade class will be having their Pumpkin Day! We will do some fun learning activities with pumpkins and make a fall craft. We are looking forward to celebrating fall with this fun day in 2nd grade. We are looking for some parent volunteers to help with our groups. If you can make it work we would love to have you! Check out the sign up genius link to come and celebrate with us! Feel free to dress in fall colors like: red, orange, yellow, or brown!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D48A4AB2BA4F58-pumpkin

CONFERENCES:
Parent-Teacher Conferences will be the following days:
Monday, Oct. 17 from 4:00-8:00pm
Wednesday, Oct. 19 from 12:00-4:00pm- Just a note these meetings on Wednesday are virtual. I will send a link for those conferences next week with the link you will need for the meeting. I ask for some patience as we are using a new system and we haven't worked out all the bugs!

I am looking forward to meeting with you, and celebrating all your child has accomplished in 2nd grade so far, and discussing ways we can continue to challenge your child this year! 

REPORT CARDS: 
Report Cards are available today electronically. Please take time to look it over, and I'll be looking forward to chatting with you more about your child's progress on Monday or Wednesday at conferences. Please remember that the standards are end of the year goals, and your child has had a good first quarter in 2nd Grade! 

Sassafras Ridge:

On Oct. 28 the 2nd graders will be going to Sassafras Ridge for most of the day. We are spending time with the 2nd grade classes from Rose  Park and Forest School. We have some fun things planned!  2nd graders will need a sack lunch for that day. We will cancel if it is pouring rain.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Oct. 17: Math and Reading slips due,

Oct. 17 and 19: Parent/Teacher Conferences from 4pm-8pm(19th from 12-4pm)

Oct. 19: 1/2 day of school dismissal at 11:30, 1st -15 sight words test

Oct. 20-21: CEA Convention (No School)

Oct. 25: Pumpkin Day

Oct. 28: 2nd grade to Sassafras Ridge need a sack lunch

Nov. 2: Picture Retake day

Nov. 23-25: Thanksgiving break

What a beautiful week it's been again. It's amazing to witness the intricate changes in season that our Creative God has designed and puts on display each fall!  We are reminded that despite what's going on in the world around us, God remains constant and He is with us! What a comfort that is! 

HOMEWORK FOLDERS:
Your child's new Reading slip and Math homework are coming home on Monday (Oct. 10) and they will be due Monday, Oct. 17. 
- Bible: Psalm 23 was sent home this week. It is a beautiful psalm, enjoy learning and reviewing it all together!

-New words of the week are: more, idea, soon

WORDS OF THE WEEK:
Thank you for helping your child practice: things, school, walk, always, great, find, until, last, high, easy, next, pretty
This coming week's new words are: more, idea, soon
There will be a blue half sheet in Monday's Homework folder so you can keep it on the fridge and continue to practice reading and writing these words. This coming week we are finishing up our first set of 15 words, so we will have our Spelling Test on Wednesday Oct. 19!

Jungle Explorer of the Week!

Joanna was our special Jungle Explorer of the Week! Thanks for sharing your poster and pictures with our class. We enjoyed getting to know you and learning that you love playing on the monkey bars, reading, writing, and helping others. Your favorite food is pizza! We love that you want to be a scientist when you grow up! Your favorite place is visiting the museum. You are so special to God and to us, Joanna, and we loved getting to know more about you this week!

CONFERENCES:
Parent-Teacher Conferences will be the following days:
Monday, Oct. 17 from 4:00-8:00pm
Wednesday, Oct. 19 from 12:00-4:00pm

The link to sign up for conferences will be available until Oct. 14. There are some days it will be locked as High School and Middle School conferences may be taking place. Please check back to the email you received to first sign up if you have any questions.

I am looking forward to meeting with you, and celebrating all your child has accomplished in 2nd grade so far, and discussing ways we can continue to challenge your child this year! 

Report Cards:

PowerSchool/Report Card Viewing 

Report cards will be available Friday, October 14 at 4:00pm via PowerSchool. Login information was handed out on Ice Cream Social night. If you have misplaced it, or if you are having issues logging into PowerSchool, please contact Mrs. Ritsema in the office by emailing jritsema@hollandchristian.org so your account will be ready to view your child's report card. 

You will be able to access Report Card information in two ways through the Parent PowerSchool Portal. One way is by clicking "Grades and Attendance" in the left navigation (typically the first screen you'll see) and then clicking the tab "Standards Grades" in the main screen. The other way is to click the "K-5 Report Cards" in the left navigation. This one takes longer to load but will show everything.

Important Dates:

Oct. 10: Math Homework due, Reading slips due, Library books due

Oct. 14: Report Cards go live

Oct. 17 & 19: Conferences- 17th from 4-8pm and 19th from 12:00-4;00pm

Oct. 19: 1st- 15 Sight Words Test, 1/2 day of school

Oct. 20 &21: No School CEA Convention

Nov. 2: Picture Retake Day