September 26, 2025

 UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

*  Homework has started! Please encourage your child to work through their homework and figure out what places and times work best for them to complete that work. If you would like to see what homework your child as for the week - check out our "Week at a Glance" sheet in their binder.

*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. 

*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 11:25, 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!

* GRANDPARENTS' DAY - We are excited to be welcoming grandparents on October 13 from 1:00-2:15pm. Grandparents please join us in the gym to worship together starting at 1:00pm. Then join your grandchild in their classroom for some activities. We hope to see you then!

Curriculum Highlights

WALKATHON: We were busy at the Walkathon Wednesday afternoon. A BIG thank you to everyone who volunteered at the event, donated money, and encouraged their child!

BIBLE: We talked about Nicodemus and John 3:16. We are starting to see WHO Jesus is by the people he uses.

We have finished up our first unit by creating a diamante poem about Jesus, our Living Water.

Next week we will be reviewing our stories and a review sheet is coming home today. We are planning on taking our test on Tuesday. 

MATH: We continue to work with fractions and mixed numbers. We have been adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominators and now with different denominators. 

Our first math unit on fractions is wrapping up!  Key learning targets were comparing fractions, adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators as well estimating fractional sums and differences.

Look for a multiple choice math practice test coming home with your child. Students should complete the test over the next few days, check it with the answer key found in the weekly parent email, and re-work any incorrect problems.  This homework is due in class on Thursday morning, 10/2.

READING: We talked about the difference between the plot of a story and the theme. Then we worked on identifying the theme and supporting our thoughts with evidence from the text.

SCIENCE: We have started doing the field work for our investigations. Students are working in groups of 4 to gather data at different sights about macroinvertebrates, water temperature, turbidity, and pH. This week we created our data tables where we will be collecting our data. 

SERVICE WORK: Wednesday we spent the morning talking about fire safety and cleaning up the fire pits at Sassafras Ridge. They did such a great job, we needed to enjoy a fire and some s'mores! 

WRITING: We completed our plan for our narrative. It was hard to keep it a "pebble" story! We started to look at the writing of other authors and notice how they hooked their readers into their stories. We then tried to do the same in our narratives. 

OUTDOOR LEARNING SCHEDULE FOR NEXT WEEK

Monday: Hawthorn Pond

Tuesday: on campus

Wednesday: Rabbit River

Thursday: on campus

Friday: on campus

September 19, 2025

 UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

*  Homework has started! Please encourage your child to work through their homework and figure out what places and times work best for them to complete that work. If you would like to see what homework your child as for the week - check out our "Week at a Glance" sheet in our binder.

*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.

*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 trading cards allowed at school, please enjoy those at home. 

Community Opportunities

The below list of organizations are not affiliated with Holland Christian Schools but have requested the sharing of these community opportunities

Velo kids biking flier 

Curriculum Highlights

BIBLE: We started to talk about Jesus' ministry that started when John the Baptist baptized him. We looked at Jesus' temptations and his first miracle in Cana. 

MATH: We continue to review making equivalent fractions, comparing fractions and then converting fractions and mixed numbers. We have also been adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominators.

READING: We continue to work on building our comprehension skills by imagining what happens in the story that the author doesn't write about but implies. We have also been looking at details in our stories and recording the questions that we have. 

SCIENCE: We continued exploring water quality this week at Dunton Park. We looked at the sediment in the water (turbidity), temperature, pH levels, and macroinvertebrates (bugs) in the water. We looked closely at our data, compared two pieces of data by graphing our data points, noticed patterns in our data, and asked questions about what we were noticing. 

We started to group our wonder questions into similar groups to help organize our thinking.

We also started to think ahead to our research groups for water quality. How do we form these groups? Students were introduced to 4 different skills - a creator, a writer, a researcher, and an observer. 

Students did some thinking around what skill they felt they could best bring to a team. 

They shared what they could bring to a team and what challenges that skill has for them. 

We all bring something different to the team! How do we work together and use the gifts that God has given us? 

WRITING: We have chosen our seed idea that we want to invest in and planned our narrative. 

OUTDOOR LEARNING SCHEDULE FOR NEXT WEEK

Monday: Hutchins Lake

Tuesday: on campus

Wednesday: Sassafras Ridge in the morning, and Walkathon in the afternoon

Thursday: on campus

Friday: on campus