We Bless you, God!

What an amazing time we had this week learning about Sukkot! And thank you so much for coming to our chapel yesterday to hear all about what we learned! 

This week we talked about the big ideas of PRAYER, WORSHIP, THANKSGIVING, COMMUNITY and HOSPITALITY. I am so grateful for you as our community in all the ways that you not only love your kids but also support me and grow in community with one another. I thought it was really special that we could gather and share lunch together. I am grateful to be in community with all of you! 

(There are TONS more pictures uploaded to our October gallery!)

On Tuesday we painted posters for our Sukkah's- they turned out SO good! Thank you to those of you would could come and help with this! 

Because Sukkot is a harvest festival the meals during this time often consist of many fruits and vegetables. The Food and Service staff at HC kindly prepared snack bags for us that contained food that would traditionally be eaten in Israel! We enjoyed a snack of pita bread and hummus, carrots and even a date in our sukkah. Today we were able to be outdoors and to taste and see the goodness of God while we celebrated this gift of hospitality.

It was so so good to spend focused and intentional time this week praying and pausing to praise and thank God for all that he has done. THANK YOU, GOD!!!

Additional Announcements~

From Parent Board

Parents: we would love to bless our teachers with a meal on the evening of October 16 when they are here for conferences. If you are willing, please sign up to contribute.

Lost and Found

The office is continuing to update our South Side Lost and Found Album as items come into the gray tub in the office. Please check it out to see if any of these items belong to your child. Feel free to email Rachel Steen, to claim your item(s), and we will be sure to get it into your child’s backpack.

Holland Christian Little Maroons Basketball

HC’s K-2, 3-4 and 5-6 Little Maroons Basketball Clinics and 3-4 League is open for registration!  There is information about dates, times and locations in the linked registration.  

https://campscui.active.com/orgs/HollandChristianSchool 

*Check out some community opportunities

These organizations are not affiliated with Holland Christian Schools but have requested the sharing of these community opportunities.

Looking Ahead~

~Monday, October 13- South Side and Pine Ridge Grandparents Day.

~Wednesday, October 15- Bible and outdoor play with first grade forest school

~Tuesday, October 21- Outdoor learning at Wolter's Woods

~October 22-24- No School. CEA Convention for teachers

~Wednesday, October 29- Pumpkin Day. See SIGN UP GENIUS for ways to help. Would anyone be interested in making Pumpkin Playdoh? Plesae send me an email if you are interested! 

~Friday, October 31- Outdoor Learning at Sassafras Ridge

~Thursday, November 6- Scarecrow Day. Please be thinking of how you can dress your child like a scarecrow for a fun day of fall learning. See SIGN UP GENIUS for ways to help.

Fall Glory

Digging Deep into God's Word~

This week we wrapped up our studies of Abraham. We learned that God called Abraham to the father of many nations and that JESUS would someday come from Abraham's family. We are again learning of the promises that God gives to his people and how God always keeps his promises. We have also learned that's God's provision can come in the most unexpected ways! God blessed Abraham and Sarah with their first son when they were 100 and 90 years old! God also provided a ram in the thicket on Mt. Moriah where Abraham showed that he loved God the most when he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. What a faithful God we serve. 

Sukkot~

Yesterday we began our study of the Jewish festival of Sukkot.  The children learned that each year during this festival, it is a common practice to build a temporary shelter, a Sukkah, in which families may gather to eat meals, offer their thanks to God, or even sleep inside of it.  Sukkahs are a reminder of how the Israelites trusted God for food and shelter when they wandered in the wilderness. We even have our very own Sukkah's outside at South Side! We can see them outside our classroom window. We worked to build our own small lego sukkahs. Next week we will spend lots of time learning outside in our big sukkahs! :) 

Reading Celebration~

Today we celebrated the great progress we have been making as readers. I am so proud of these kids!!! They are learning the routines and are working hard to build their stamina. Reading with blankets and stuffies was a huge hit! I hope that at home you are also seeing some growth in your child as a reader! Starting next week your child will come home with a BAG book. This book will be at their just right reading level. A note will be included with the book that will explain  BAG books a little bit more, but please use this book with your child for their reading minutes!

Ruff Readers come next week! Next week Tuesday we will have our first visit from the West Michigan Therapy Dogs. The kids will LOVE this time reading to the dogs and their owners. I am certain that this is going to be true highlight for the children; these are the kindest and gentlest dogs I know and they LOVE to listen to children read. Please let me know if dogs make your child anxious. I will be sure to work with them to make this a positive experience.

Writing~

During WRITING workshop we have also been working with partners giving suggestions and compliments to each other. What a joy it has been to see the kids celebrating each others successes and so very carefully work together to improve their writing. We have a class FULL of authors and I cannot wait to celebrate all of our hard work in writing very soon! 

Additional Notes~

NEXT MONDAY- Please send in a family picture that we can use to decorate our Sukkah.

NEXT TUESDAY- 1st graders will be painting to make our Sukkah's beautiful- thank you for being willing to help us. We always use washable paint but please wear clothes to school that you don't mind getting a little messy! If you have not signed up and would like to come please see the sign up genius !

NEXT WEDNESDAY- I have rescheduled our trip to forest school. We will be going Wednesday, October 15 instead of next week.

NEXT THURSDAY- Our class leads chapel. Please join us on the North side of the building for chapel. Pack a chair or blanket to sit on. You are also invited to join us for lunch! Pack a picnic lunch for you...or for you and your child...and join us outside for lunch. Kids can get hot lunch if they would like. 

NEXT FRIDAY- Look for an email from the South Side office with directions on how to access your child's online report card.

Grandparents Day-

Looking Ahead~

~Thursday, October 9- OUR CLASS LEADS CHAPEL. 10:40-11:10. You are also invited to pack a picnic lunch and join us for lunch after chapel on this day! We will be sharing about the Jewish festival of Sukkot.~Monday, October 13- South Side and Pine Ridge Grandparents Day.

~Wednesday, October 15- Date change....Bible and outdoor play with first grade forest school

~Tuesday, October 21- Outdoor learning at Wolter's Woods

~October 22-24- No School. CEA Convention for teachers

~Wednesday, October 29- Pumpkin Day. Sign up genius coming soon 

~Thursday, November 6- Scarecrow Day. Please be thinking of how you can dress your child like a scarecrow for a fun day of fall learning. Sign up genius coming!

Sukkot

Dear 1st Grade Parents,

We are excited to tell you that we are preparing for a very special formative faith experience. 

Around the world people are preparing to celebrate the biblical festival of Sukkot. During the week of October 6-13 we will join them, and your child will learn more about the ancient Hebrew festival and practice of Sukkot. Sukkot is often referred to as a "The Time of our Rejoicing."  Sukkot was a special time of thanksgiving to God for the harvest, and a time of acknowledging utter and complete dependence upon God for all good things which He provides. It was also a time where the Hebrew people remembered the days of old - the days when they first left Egypt, and lived in tents in the desert - recalling God's protection and provision over them.

God gives His people the details for how to celebrate Sukkot in the Old Testament. Your first graders will study this festival and the way in which the Hebrew people participated, and, in so doing, we trust our hearts will be drawn to God in a true and biblical spirit of gratitude.

As part of our learning the first graders will be building and decorating their own Sukkah (booth) similar to what was commanded by God in the Old Testament. One of the special requirements God gave His people in making the Sukkah is that it had to be beautiful. We have some great plans for this work! One way we plan to decorate our Sukkah beautifully is with photographs of family members from our students - would you be willing to find a family photograph that your child can bring to class? Please send it to school in your child’s homework folder on Monday, October 6.  This picture will be hanging outside and WILL NOT be returned to you.

We hope the learning comes home! We will certainly be taking and sharing photos and videos capturing our learning. We also want to invite you to come to South Side after school and in the evenings to spend some time in our sukkah. You are invited to visit our Sukkahs anytime after Friday, October 10. You will find our Sukkah located on the North Side of our building.  Still today there are observed practices during Sukkot. One is to eat meals in the sukkah. Perhaps your family would like to have a picnic dinner there? Or perhaps you would like to hold family devotions in the Sukkah? Or have a bedtime snack? Please know YOU are welcome! Another practice that is both ancient and modern is to welcome in the stranger, foreigner or visitor. We encourage you and your family to consider extending an invitation to a neighbor and welcoming them into your home or backyard for a meal or after dinner dessert. Maybe at that time your first grader could share what they learned about Sukkot. Sukkot is all about community and remembering God’s character in living an invitational life - showing the world who HE is by the way we live. 

We have a very special invitation for you. Would you please join our class chapel where we will teach you about Sukkot. Please pack a beach chair blanket to sit on (we will be sitting outdoors weather permitting) and join us Thursday, October 9 from 10:40-11:10 to hear about all we have learned. You are also invited to stay and enjoy a picnic lunch with us in our Sukkahs. We hope that you can make it!

Also, I am wondering if you can help! One of the important ideas of Sukkot is Community. I am wondering if you would like to come and help us paint! We will be painting posters for our Sukkahs next week Tuesday, October 7 from 2:15-3:05. If you are able to come and help us paint, please sign up HERE.

Grateful for our partnership,

Michelle Engbers

An Apple Dandy Week

On Wednesday schools all over the country met at their flagpoles to pray for our schools, communities, country and world! What a special time it was  to join in prayer with all of South Side and join our hearts together in prayer! We praised God that He is mighty, faithful, BIG, and powerful. We thanked God for all of the blessings He has given us like our friends, parents and grandparents. We prayed God's protection and care for those we love! What a joy and privilege it is to be able to talk with our God!

Apple Week~

This week we spent time learning about the life cycle of an apple tree. We created some pretty amazing collages on our ipads that showed the changes in the apple tree all the way until it produces fruit. We also celebrated apple week by making applesauce. Our applesauce was delicious using the various varieties the kids brought in on Monday. Thank you for your help with this! 

We did some social studies learning this week with the help of Johnny Appleseed! We read about how Johnny was a good man, taking care of animals, planting apple tress, and even sharing Bible stories with kids! He loved the world he lived in and worked hard to take care of it. We talked about what it means  for us to be a citizen. We learned some of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and we talked about what it means for us to be a good citizen. The kids were VERY quick to point out that we are citizens of God's kingdom and our discipleship practices are amazing ways to live as citizens in God's kingdom. We are GOD GLORIFYING-WORD ROOTED-WISDOM SEEKING-CREATION KEEPING-SERVANT LIVING-GRACE BREATHING-KINGDOM BUILDING-BEAUTY CREATING-IMAGE REFLECTING-DISCIPLE MAKING citizens of God's kingdom.

We made apple boats today. Our class is fortunate to have a scholastic classroom magazine that we can read each week. This week was all about apples. We learned in this magazine that apples float and we just had to give it a try with our own apple boats!

Walk-A-Thon~

Thank you, Thank you for your amazing support of the walk-a-thon this year. We had a beautiful afternoon on Wednesday to be outside at the High School! What a great day and a great way to support our schools. I wanted to thank each of you for your encouragement and support in raising money for Holland Christian! We are so blessed because of you all. 

PLEASE keep this Holland Christian shirt for the remainder of the school year! We will use them through out the year for field trips, etc. Sometimes it is really helpful to have a "sea of Maroon HC" to easily spot! Thank you!

Additional Notes and Reminders~

We celebrated our amazing custodian Mrs. Lambert this week! She does such an amazing job keeping our school sparkling clean. It feels SO good to thank those in our community who work so hard for us! 

And how about our resident lunch clean up crew! These boys have shown amazing servant hearts in making sure our classroom is nice and clean after lunch.

• Grandparent's Day is coming!
  

• Our class Library Day is Wednesday.

• As always, more pictures are loaded to our class gallery. Press the "Joy of the Lord" picture to be directed to our album!

• Please if you have not already done so, send a full change of clothes with your child (including socks and underwear) that they can keep in their locker. Spills, mud, paint, you name it can happen. Having a quick change of clothes is very helpful.

Looking Ahead~

~TODAY, Friday, Septmeber 26- Holland Christian Homecoming events! More information can be found HERE!!

~Wednesday, October 8- Bible and outdoor play with first grade forest school

~Thursday, October 9- OUR CLASS LEADS CHAPEL. 10:40-11:10. You are also invited to pack a picnic lunch and join us for lunch after chapel on this day! We will be sharing about the Jewish festival of Sukkot. Our class will be learning all about Sukkot. Look for a special blog post on Monday with more details. 

~Monday, October 13- South Side and Pine Ridge Grandparents Day.

~Tuesday, October 21- Outdoor learning at Wolter's Woods

~October 22-24- No School. CEA Convention for teachers

~Wednesday, October 29- Pumpkin Day. Sign up genius coming soon 

~Thursday, November 6- Scarecrow Day. Please be thinking of how you can dress your child like a scarecrow for a fun day of fall learning. Sign up genius coming!

Super Scientists!

A BIG welcome to Eloah and her family to 1st grade! It has been wonderful to get to know her this week! I am looking forward to all that is to come as a new class of 20 amazing firsties!

Bible~

This week we continued to learn about God's promises and how God always keeps His promises. We serve a faithful God indeed. We spent some time outdoors pretending to look at the skies and the millions of stars we can imagine and we filled our hands with sand while we heard of God's promises to Abraham and Sarah that he would make them into a great nation. They would be given as many children as stars in the sky and sand at the seashore. GOD IS FAITHFUL but Abraham and Sarah had to be so patient in waiting for the fulfillment of these promises. Such good conversations were had about patience and believing God's words are true! 

God said to Abraham "I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore." Genesis 22:17

Science~

We studied the milkweed pod on Monday and were amazed at how incredible this seed pod actually is! The floss that is attached to each seed helps it to be able to travel in the wind - similar to a dandelion seed.The kids had a BLAST "flying" their seeds all around the room! 

However, we talked about how seeds need soil, sunlight, and water to grow in! So, we took our seeds outside, and planted them in the ground pretending that the wind naturally did this! It was fun to plant them in the ground, and see them with our magnifying glasses! Our hope is that the milkweed grows and we'll attract a bunch of monarchs to our grounds.

Today we had a special visitor come! She is a flower and seed expert (and also happens to be my sister in law). It was a little bit of a head scratcher for some to have 2 Mrs. Engbers in the same room! She brought in different kinds flowers and their seeds. The kids were able to explore the seeds that come from each of these flowers. We also played a fun game where we tried to guess which seed came from which flower. Some were easier to guess than others! :) Each of the kids is coming home with a baggie of the seeds they collected. A shameless plug... if you ever need an amazing bouquet or want to attend a garden party, check out 3 Flowers Farm! 

Writing~ 

We have been making such good progress on our very first stories in first grade! The kids have been diligently crafting a small moment story with a strong beginning, middle, and end. They have added sketches and it was so fun to share our in progress stories with a friend this week. Next week we will add more details, add speech bubbles and having a close to the moment ending. Our first stories will be published before you know it! 

Additional Notes and Reminders~

• We will be celebrating Apple Week in 1st grade next week. Please send your child to school with 2 apples on Monday (any variety is fine!). Also see this SIGN UP GENIUS for ways to help!

• Grandparent's Day is coming!
  

• Our class Library Day is Wednesday.

• As always, more pictures are loaded to our class gallery. Press the "Joy of the Lord" picture to be directed to our album!

• Please if you have not already done so, send a full change of clothes with your child that they can keep in their locker. Spills, mud, paint, you name it can happen. Having a quick change of clothes is very helpful.

Looking Ahead~

~Week of September 22-September 26- Apple Week! We will do many apple themed activities at school! 

~Monday, September 22- The beginning of apple week. Please bring 2 apples to school!

~Wednesday, September 25- Walk-a-Thon

~Friday, Septmeber 26- Holland Christian Homecoming events! More information can be found HERE!!

~Thursday, October 9- OUR CLASS LEADS CHAPEL. 10:40-11:10. You are also invited to pack a picnic lunch and join us for lunch after chapel on this day! More details coming!

~Monday, October 13- South Side and Pine Ridge Grandparents Day. Stay tuned for more details.

~October 22-24- No School. CEA Convention for teachers