The 2nd graders are excited about our reading unit! We have been reading informational books and we talked about how we can read about the world God created and learn about his world, the people from our past, and those in other parts of the world. We have discussed how we are Wisdom Seekers and can find wisdom and knowledge about God in reading.

Homework:

Monday a new reading slip and math homework page will come home and be due- March 17. 

*Matthew 28 came home last Monday. Please practice this beautiful passage as a family!

*Look for the blue paper in your child's Homework Folder with our sight words!

Jungle Explorer:

Erin 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 are good at piano. We love that you want to be a waitress(or maybe something else because you couldn't decide) when you grow up! Your favorite place is Home and your favorite food is pork steak. You are so special to God and to us, Erin, and we loved getting to know more about you this week. 

March Is Reading Month!

As part of the national celebration of reading month, West Michigan WhiteCaps is providing a free optional Reading Tracker/Ticket Order Form.

1. Students and/or their grown-ups keep track of reading minutes in March. 
2. Those who participate are eligible for 2 free tickets to select WhiteCaps home games.

All information regarding this incentive and how to order free tickets is included on the WhiteCaps 2025 Reading Club Form. These forms will come home on Monday in your child's Homework Folder.

SPRING CONFERENCES: 

Conferences will be coming up at the end of March (March 20 & 25 from 4-8pm). 2nd grade takes a different twist on conferences in the Spring--they are actually STUDENT LED. This means that your son/daughter joins us in conversation, and he/she leads the conference. We work hard at creating a portfolio and collecting work samples, and it is an awesome experience for you to see how your child has taken ownership of his/her learning this year. This means that all 2nd grade conferences are in person. As teachers and parents, we are able to encourage and pour into your child, as well as find ways to challenge him/her for the last quarter of 2nd grade. This is a very important time together, and you'll want to save the date. Look for a link to be coming soon for sign ups!

Reading Rally Week-  Our South Side Staff is eager to celebrate our growing readers!! To celebrate March is Reading Month, the staff has put together a special week (March 31 - April 3) to promote our growing readers. Here are the details and ways in which you can assist your child for our special days:

• Monday, March 31 - FAVORITE BOOK DAY: Bring your favorite book to school. The children will be making a book cover of their favorite book and then displaying it on their locker. 

• Tuesday, April 1 - BEACH DAY - Bring in your beach towel and dress for a day at the beach. Shorts, Short sleeve shirts, and sunglasses or sun hats. (No swimsuits, please.)

• Wednesday, April 2 - READ A T-SHIRT DAY - Please help your child find a t-shirt that has one or several words on it so that we can read each other's t-shirts. 

• Thursday, April 3 - COZY DAY - Wear your pajamas and bring a blanket and stuffed animal. 

Thank you for encouraging your child to build his/her reading skills by reading each and every night! This time practicing now will have life-long benefits! Thank you!!

Bake Sale

The first graders at South Side are excited to be hosting a Rainforest Bake Sale. The bake sale will start on Monday March 17th and run each day of the week during the lunch hour. Each baked good will cost .25. All funds raised will be donated to Holland Christian Middle and Highschoolers who go on a mission trip to South Africa. We are excited that our money will go towards building God's Kingdom. Start saving your quarters now, send them with your child to school starting March 17, and plan to buy some goodies at the first grade rainforest bake sale! Thank you for your support!

MUSIC THROUGH THE DECADES on March 21 & 22 @ 7 pm. Tickets on sale now!
Join us for Living Hope Showcase 2025 at the HCHS Auditorium on Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22. You won’t want to miss this fun performance of music throughout the years. Tickets are available at https://hcs.ludus.com/200475326 and $1 of every ticket will benefit The Caroline’s Peach Foundation in memoriam of fellow classmate Caroline Kanis. We would love to see you there!

Lost and Found

Our South Side lost & found items are in a gray tub in the office. If you are missing anything, please stop in and take a peek, or check out our South Side Lost and Found Photo Album. Feel free to email Rachel Steen, to claim your item(s), and we will be sure to get it into your child’s backpack.

IMORTANT DATES:

Mar. 10: Math Homework and Purple Reading slip due

Mar. 11: Delivering South Side Donations to Hand2Hand

Mar. 12: Library books due

Mar. 17-21: Rainforest Bake Sale

Mar. 20 and 25: Parent Teacher conferences

Apr. 4-11: Spring Break

Reading Blizzard!

We had a fabulous time with our Reading Blizzard! We enjoyed lots of fun things and read a lot of books! Mrs. Dykstra was our mystery reader and we had pizza and cupcakes as treats! Look for pictures throughout the blog. It was fun to have the Living Hope Singers join us for Praise today! They sang some songs with us, and sang some songs for us! They did a wonderful job and it was a blessings to see young kids and older kids praise God together!

Thanks so much for letting me be a part of your child's life each day. It is a joy seeing them grow and change, and I find it hard to believe we are almost three fourths of the way through the year!  

Homework:

Monday a new reading slip and math homework page will come home and be due- March 10. 

*Matthew 28 is coming home on Monday. Please practice this beautiful passage as a family!

*Look for the blue paper in your child's Homework Folder with our sight words!

Jungle Explorer:

Brynley 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 are good at gymnastics. We love that you want to be a Kindergarten teacher when you grow up! Your favorite place is Allegan Event and your favorite food is ravioli. You are so special to God and to us, Brynley, and we loved getting to know more about you this week.

Hand2Hand:

South Side will be partnering with the Hand2Hand ministry to help support kids who need extra help having enough food on the weekends. Each grade is collecting items we will for the snack packs for Hand2Hand, so they can pass them out to students at local schools. Thanks so much for your support! Look for a letter in your child's Friday Folder. 2nd graders are collecting fruit snacks. Items can be brought to school starting Monday, Feb. 24.

March Is Reading Month!

As part of the national celebration of reading month, West Michigan WhiteCaps is providing a free optional Reading Tracker/Ticket Order Form.

1. Students and/or their grown-ups keep track of reading minutes in March. 
2. Those who participate are eligible for 2 free tickets to select WhiteCaps home games.

All information regarding this incentive and how to order free tickets is included on the WhiteCaps 2025 Reading Club Form. These forms will come home on Monday in your child's Homework Folder.

SPRING CONFERENCES: 

Conferences will be coming up at the end of March (March 20 & 25 from 4-8pm). 2nd grade takes a different twist on conferences in the Spring--they are actually STUDENT LED. This means that your son/daughter joins us in conversation, and he/she leads the conference. We work hard at creating a portfolio and collecting work samples, and it is an awesome experience for you to see how your child has taken ownership of his/her learning this year. This means that all 2nd grade conferences are in person. As teachers and parents, we are able to encourage and pour into your child, as well as find ways to challenge him/her for the last quarter of 2nd grade. This is a very important time together, and you'll want to save the date. Look for a link to be coming soon for sign ups!

Book Order:

A book order packet came home last Friday. If you are interested in ordering some books from Scholastic please order online by March 3! This is a great way to add books to your home library and it earns books for our classroom!

Lost and Found

Our South Side lost & found items are in a gray tub in the office. If you are missing anything, please stop in and take a peek, or check out our South Side Lost and Found Photo Album. Feel free to email Rachel Steen, to claim your item(s), and we will be sure to get it into your child’s backpack.

IMORTANT DATES:

Mar. 3: Math Homework and Purple Reading slip due

Mar. 3: Book order due

Mar. 5: Library books due

Mar. 11: Delivering South Side Donations to Hand2Hand

Mar. 20 and 25: Parent Teacher conferences

Apr. 4-11: Spring Break

                                                

Snow Fun!

A wonderful week in 2nd grade! Students started reading non fiction books and are enjoying learning about God through history and his creation! We started brainstorming ideas for our all about books. Students worked hard on facts they already know so that we can then focus on what we need to research. Check out our pictures from Sassafras at the bottom of the blog!

Homework:

Monday a new reading slip and math homework page will come home and be due- March 3. 

*Psalm 121 was sent home. Please practice this beautiful Psalm as a family!

*We will start our 3rd set of  sight words next week look for the blue paper in your child's Homework Folder.

Jungle Explorer:

Gatlin 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 are good at soccer. We love that you want to be a painter or a soccer player when you grow up! Your favorite place is Soccer Spot and your favorite food is tacos. You are so special to God and to us, Gatlin, and we loved getting to know more about you this week

Reading Blizzard:
The 2nd graders love to celebrate reading! One way that we will do that this year is by having a "READING BLIZZARD" during the school day on Tuesday, February 25 . The students will come to school in their pajamas, and they may also bring a pillow, blanket, and a stuffed animal. We will spend a large part of the day reading, hearing stories from a special guest, enjoying pizza together, and doing a variety of other fun reading/blizzard themed things!

Hand2Hand:

South Side will be partnering with the Hand2Hand ministry to help support kids who need extra help having enough food on the weekends. Each grade is collecting items we will for the snack packs for Hand2Hand, so they can pass them out to students at local schools. Thanks so much for your support! Look for a letter in your child's Friday Folder. 2nd graders are collecting fruit snacks. Items can be brought to school starting Monday, Feb. 24.

SPRING CONFERENCES: 

Conferences will be coming up at the end of March (March 20 & 25 from 4-8pm). 2nd grade takes a different twist on conferences in the Spring--they are actually STUDENT LED. This means that your son/daughter joins us in conversation, and he/she leads the conference. We work hard at creating a portfolio and collecting work samples, and it is an awesome experience for you to see how your child has taken ownership of his/her learning this year. This means that all 2nd grade conferences are in person. As teachers and parents, we are able to encourage and pour into your child, as well as find ways to challenge him/her for the last quarter of 2nd grade. This is a very important time together, and you'll want to save the date. Look for a link to be coming soon for sign ups!

Book Order:

A book order packet is coming home today. If you are interested in ordering some books from Scholastic please order online by March 3! This is a great way to add books to your home library and it earns books for our classroom!

Save the Date
Parent Board will be hosting Donuts at Dawn. This will be a special time for students to gather with a parent or other special adult for a treat in the gym before school. 
-Preschool and Young Fives: Thursday, February 27 starting at 8:00

-Kindergarten-2nd: Friday, February 28 at 7:45

Hearing and Vision Screening
The Allegan County Health Department will be in our school Feb. 24-28 for a Hearing and Vision Screening for preschool through 2nd grade. If your child wears glasses, please be sure he/she has them at school. The testing results will be filed in your child’s file as proof of testing for students that are entering kindergarten. If you prefer to not have your child screened, please stop in the office by Thursday, February 20, 2025.

Lost and Found

Our South Side lost & found items are in a gray tub in the office. If you are missing anything, please stop in and take a peek, or check out our South Side Lost and Found Photo Album. Feel free to email Rachel Steen, to claim your item(s), and we will be sure to get it into your child’s backpack.

IMORTANT DATES:

Feb. 24: Math Homework and Purple Reading slip due

Feb. 25: Reading Blizzard

Feb. 26: Library books due 

Mar. 3: Book order due

Mar. 20 and 25: Parent Teacher conferences

Apr. 4-11: Spring Break

Love!

We had a fun week in 2nd grade! We had a Valentine's Party and welcomed a new student, Kaius!  What great days to share with our friends and classmates in 2nd grade! We have so much to be thankful for and the goodness and love God showers on us is amazing! God's faithfulness is evident each and every day! It's such a blessing to see the kids grow in their faith each day and know they love Jesus! Thank you for your faithfulness in making Christian education a priority for your family! It is an honor to teach your son/daughter each day!  

Homework:

Tuesday a new reading slip and math homework page will come home and be due- February 24. We will be starting subtraction homework.

*Psalm 121 was sent home. Please practice this beautiful Psalm as a family!

*Keep working on the words of the week, we will have a test next Friday, Feb. 21.

Field Trip:

Our class will be going to Sassafras Ridge on Feb. 21 for the morning! 

Reading Blizzard:
The 2nd graders love to celebrate reading! One way that we will do that this year is by having a "READING BLIZZARD" during the school day on Tuesday, February 25 . The students will come to school in their pajamas, and they may also bring a pillow, blanket, and a stuffed animal. We will spend a large part of the day reading, hearing stories from a special guest, enjoying pizza together, and doing a variety of other fun reading/blizzard themed things!

SPRING CONFERENCES: 

Conferences will be coming up at the end of March (March 20 & 25 from 4-8pm). 2nd grade takes a different twist on conferences in the Spring--they are actually STUDENT LED. This means that your son/daughter joins us in conversation, and he/she leads the conference. We work hard at creating a portfolio and collecting work samples, and it is an awesome experience for you to see how your child has taken ownership of his/her learning this year. This means that all 2nd grade conferences are in person. As teachers and parents, we are able to encourage and pour into your child, as well as find ways to challenge him/her for the last quarter of 2nd grade. This is a very important time together, and you'll want to save the date. Look for a link to be coming soon for sign ups!

Save the Date
Parent Board will be hosting Donuts at Dawn. This will be a special time for students to gather with a parent or other special adult for a treat in the gym before school. 
-Preschool and Young Fives: Thursday, February 27 starting at 8:00

-Kindergarten-2nd: Friday, February 28 at 7:45

Hearing and Vision Screening
The Allegan County Health Department will be in our school Feb. 24-28 for a Hearing and Vision Screening for preschool through 2nd grade. If your child wears glasses, please be sure he/she has them at school. The testing results will be filed in your child’s file as proof of testing for students that are entering kindergarten. If you prefer to not have your child screened, please stop in the office by Thursday, February 20, 2025.

Lost and Found

Our South Side lost & found items are in a gray tub in the office. If you are missing anything, please stop in and take a peek, or check out our South Side Lost and Found Photo Album. Feel free to email Rachel Steen, to claim your item(s), and we will be sure to get it into your child’s backpack.

IMORTANT DATES:

Feb. 18: Math Homework and Purple Reading slip due

Feb. 19: Library books due 

Feb. 21: Field Trip to Sassafras Ridge

Feb. 25: Reading Blizzard

Mar. 20 and 25: Parent Teacher conferences

Apr. 4-11: Spring Break

100 Days of Blessings!

God is good! All the time! We celebrated 100 days of school this week and had the kids had a fun time! We ate our cereal together, had devotions and looked back on God's goodness, and then celebrated with a variety of fun activities. The students looked fabulous dressed as 100 year olds! What a blessing to be together! Pictures at the end of the blog. So thankful for friends at school who sent me pictures of the kids and all they were doin!

Homework:

Monday a new reading slip, math homework page will come home and be due- February 18. The math page will be some double digit addition work.

*Psalm 121 was sent home. Please practice this beautiful Psalm as a family!

*Keep working on the words of the week, we will be having a test coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Jungle Explorer:

Owen 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 are good at art. We love that you want to be a police officer when you grow up! Your favorite place is Urbanair and your favorite food is tacos. You are so special to God and to us, Owen, and we loved getting to know more about you this week!

Field Trip:

Our class will be going to Sassafras Ridge on Feb. 21 for the morning! 

Valentine's Day:

We will have a small party in our classroom on Feb. 13. If you are getting a start on those valentines a class list came home in your child's Friday folder last week. Our sign up is full! Thanks to the mom's who signed up to bring treats!!

Reading Blizzard:
The 2nd graders love to celebrate reading! One way that we will do that this year is by having a "READING BLIZZARD" during the school day on Tuesday, February 25 . The students will come to school in their pajamas, and they may also bring a pillow, blanket, and a stuffed animal. We will spend a large part of the day reading, hearing stories from a special guest, enjoying pizza together, and doing a variety of other fun reading/blizzard themed things!

SPRING CONFERENCES: 

Conferences will be coming up at the end of March (March 20 & 25 from 4-8pm). 2nd grade takes a different twist on conferences in the Spring--they are actually STUDENT LED. This means that your son/daughter joins us in conversation, and he/she leads the conference. We work hard at creating a portfolio and collecting work samples, and it is an awesome experience for you to see how your child has taken ownership of his/her learning this year. This means that all 2nd grade conferences are in person. As teachers and parents, we are able to encourage and pour into your child, as well as find ways to challenge him/her for the last quarter of 2nd grade. This is a very important time together, and you'll want to save the date. Look for a link to be coming soon for sign ups!

Lost and Found

Our South Side lost & found items are in a gray tub in the office. If you are missing anything, please stop in and take a peek, or check out our South Side Lost and Found Photo Album. Feel free to email Rachel Steen, to claim your item(s), and we will be sure to get it into your child’s backpack.

WACKY WEDNESDAYS: 

We'll have some fun themed Wednesdays coming up in January/February to spice up these wintery days. 

These days will be as follows:

February 12- PJ Day

IMORTANT DATES:

Feb. 10: Math Homework and Purple Reading slip due 

Feb. 13: Valentine's Day party

Feb. 14 and 17: No School Winter Break

Feb. 25: Reading Blizzard

Chapel Week

Lots of hard work this week as we prepared for chapel. We had a little more work this week because of the snow days last week. We are wrapping up some units in Math and Writing and are looking forward to continuing to move forward in our learning. The kids rocked chapel and I hope it was a blessing for you! Check out the pictures at the end of the blog!

Homework:

Monday a new reading slip, math homework page will come home and be due- February 10. The math page will be some double digit addition work.

*Psalm 121 will be sent home on Monday. Please practice this beautiful Psalm as a family!

*Keep working on the words of the week, we will be having a test coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Student Teacher:

The students met Hailey Soderman today. She is going to be a student teacher in our class starting the end of February. The kids had fun meeting her and asking her lots of questions! We are excited to help her get ready to be a teacher!

Jungle Explorer:

Gabe 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 like building Legos, sewing, and art. We love that you want to be a artist when you grow up! Your favorite place is Papa's House and your favorite food is pizza. You are so special to God and to us, Gabe, and we loved getting to know more about you this week!

 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL:

Friday, February 7 (if we have no snow days) will be our 100th day of school! But... I have a planned field trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center for that day and we will be gone all day. So we will dress up and have our fun 100's Day activities on Feb. 6.

I have lots of fun activities planned, and one of them is dressing like we are 100 years old! (No wheelchairs or walkers though, our classroom just isn't big enough!) Don't feel like you need to go buy things...just get creative with this! I wanted to give you a heads up so you can start raiding your Grandma's closets for some fun ideas!

CEREAL: 

Another thing we need you to have your child do is count out 100 pieces of their favorite cereal and bring it in a baggie with your child's name on it by Friday, January 31. I'll provide the bowls, milk and spoons and we'll be having a hundred's day breakfast together on our special day! Your child might need to eat a little at home too--100 pieces is not as much as you'd think! :) Please bring your cereal on Monday if you forgot today!

Field Trip:

Our class will be going to the Outdoor Discovery Center on Feb. 7 all day! Students will need a lunch and will need to dress for the weather! We are going to learn about some seasonal surprises and birds of prey.

Valentine's Day:

We will have a small party in our classroom on Feb. 13. If you are getting an early start on those valentines their is a class list coming home in your child's Friday folder. I have linked a sign up genius for a snack/drink for our party on the 13th if you would be willing to help out. Please checkout the link below. Thanks so much!!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4CA9AB22AAFDC52-54688015-valentines

Lost and Found

Our South Side lost & found items are in a gray tub in the office. If you are missing anything, please stop in and take a peek, or check out our South Side Lost and Found Photo Album. Feel free to email Rachel Steen, to claim your item(s), and we will be sure to get it into your child’s backpack.

WACKY WEDNESDAYS: 

We'll have some fun themed Wednesdays coming up in January/February to spice up these wintery days. 

These days will be as follows:

February 5-Hat Day

February 12- PJ Day

IMORTANT DATES:

Feb. 3: Math Homework and Purple Reading slip due 

Feb. 5: Hat Day and library books due

Feb. 6: Celebrate 100's Day

Feb. 7:Field Trip to the ODC

Feb. 13: Valentine's Day party

Feb. 14 and 17: No School Winter Break

Feb. 25: Reading Blizzard-more information later