5th Grade Forest Program: August 22, 2025

We did it! We finish our first week of 5th grade!

What a great group of 5th graders! I love spending the day with them!

Thank you!

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

* Appointments/Pick-Up: Please email the office (pr@hollandchristian.org) and me (cdezwaan@hollandchristian.org) or call the school if your child will be picked up early or arrive late. This helps us to make sure students are where they should be and have them ready for when you arrive to pick them up early.

* A reminder that students have Band and Orchestra on Tuesdays and Fridays. Please help them remember to take their instruments.

* Front doors at Pine Ridge open at 7:50 am. Students will be welcomed into the building at that time.

* Look for homework coming home after Labor Day.

*Convocation is Wednesday, August 27 at 9:00am. Please join us at the HCHS Football field.

*Are you looking for a way to volunteer? As a school, we would love to give you the opportunity to volunteer and supervise our class for lunch. You would arrive at 11:40, take students through the hot lunch line, and then supervise the class as they eat lunch. Students would be dismissed to the playground for recess at 12:05. If you are interested in helping, please check our sign up! Thank you!

*No school on Friday, Aug. 29th or Monday, Sept. 1st. Happy Labor day weekend!

From the Pine Ridge office:

Thank you for an amazing first week of school! It was so fun to have students back in the building and see all the excitement of a week of learning!

A few general reminders as we head into the next couple of weeks.

When pulling into the parking lot please always do so from GRAAFSCHAP road, as the other side is for buses only.
At drop off and pick up each day please pull as far forward as you can (we will have a cone/sign) so that we can get as many cars as possible OUT of the circle drive and off Graafschaap Rd.
Do not stop in the circle drive.This is an emergency lane and is shared with buses.
Please turn on your hazard lights when you arrive at drop off each day. Once your child has entered your vehicle you may turn them off. This helps us know which cars are still waiting for their child.
For the safety of all children, please do not put your car into drive until the whistle has been blown and you are directed to move.

Thank you for all your work in making our morning and afternoon shared times go smoothly!

Dates to remember:

Elementary NWEA & Delta testing: September 2 - 12
Walk-a-thon: Wednesday, September 24- more information to come.
Updated and finalized Grandparents Day: Wednesday, October 13-more information to come.

Curriculum Highlights

BIBLE: We are discovering that spending time in the Word is sweet ... like honey! God's story is a beautiful love story and we are eager to learn more.

READING: We are digging into Reading Workshop, learning expectations and procedures, as I learn about who they are as a reader.

MATH: We are starting with fractions, especially equivalent fractions. We will continue that work next week.

SCIENCE: We have opened up our nature journals and talked about our expectations and what it means to "jump pages" as we journal.

We spent some time at Outdoor Discovery Center catching fish and reviewing our outdoor learning expectations and play norms.

We have also started to explore water quality in our watershed. We mapped the area, took a water temperature reading, tested for pH, checked the turbidity of the water and then collected, isolated and counted the number of macroinvertebrates we found.