October 31, 2025

 UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

Boys Basketball Harvest Hoopfest 3 v 3 Tourney. Join us for our 1st Annual 3 v 3 Basketball Tournament on Saturday, November 29, 8am- 12pm. The cost is $100 per team, which includes a t-shirt for each player and a guarantee of three games. 

Divisions include 3rd/4th grade boys, 5th/6th grade boys, 7th/8th grade boys, HS level, Men’s 20 and over, and Men’s 40 and over. All games will be held across 8 courts at the High School, Middle School, and Pine Ridge.

We’ll also feature exciting individual competitions — a 3-Point Contest and a Free Throw Contest, each with a $10 entry fee and a $25 gift card prize for the winner.

Don’t miss out on this day of competition, community, and fun! The deadline to sign up is November 15th. Sign Up Here

Go Maroons!

The Holland Christian Jazz Bands and the Old Timer’s Jazz Band are proud to present  Swingin’ the Night Away in the HCHS cafeteria on Friday, November 14, from 6:45 to 9pm. Admission is $5 (cash only) and goes to support our music programs at HCS. New to swing  dancing? No worries! The Hope College Swing Club will be on hand from 6:45 pm-7:30 pm to teach  us the basic steps of swing, so the evening can be enjoyed by novice and experienced  dancers alike. Not in the mood for dancing? Come socialize, indulge in some delicious  desserts, punch, and enjoy the music of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington  and more.

Curriculum Highlights

CALVIN VISIT: We enjoyed our day at Calvin University! 

We first visited with Gary D. Schmidt. He told us stories, answered questions and signed books that we brought. 

We ate lunch on the lawn.

Earlier in the week students had the opportunity to "Choose Their Own Adventure" at Calvin. Some chose the TV, film, and media space.

Others chose the sports complex.

And others chose to visit the nursing simulation lab. 

How well did you wash your hands?! 

Isla found a picture of her sister!

What a fantastic day! Maybe some future Calvin Knights in this group! 

BIBLE: Students have completed their digital response journals on the expanding ministry of Jesus. Recent stories have included Jesus calling His disciples and a healing on the Sabbath.  

MATH: We have been working hard on comparing decimals, as well as adding and subtracting them.

READING: We continue to work with characters. This week we tried to identify traits that would describe our characters and use those to create theories about our characters.

SCIENCE: We collected data for our investigation questions for the last time. Next week we start looking for patterns in our data.

WRITING: We started publishing our personal narrative!

OUTDOOR LEARNING SCHEDULE FOR NEXT WEEK

Monday: Outdoor Discovery Center

Tuesday: on campus

Wednesday: Outdoor Discovery Center

Thursday: on campus

Friday: on campus

October 17, 2025

 UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

*A few more dates have been added to our lunch signups. If you would enjoy the opportunity to volunteer and supervise our class for lunch. You would 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! Arrival times are different depending on the day you sign up for - please watch those times closely! Thank you!

*Our next blog post will be on October 31.

*PICTURE RETAKES are scheduled for Wednesday, October 29

*Autumn Forest School Merchandise Sale – NOW-November 2!

Get ready for outdoor adventures with our latest Forest School gear! Our autumn merchandise sale is now live and features Forest School gear! Check out the warm fleeces, totes and fuzzy hats. Be sure to click each item for more color options as you peruse. Don’t miss out—the shop will be live today-11/3

* Our field trip to Calvin University is Tuesday, October 28. Your child will need a sack lunch/drink in a backpack as well as any books to be autographed. Electronics (including hand-held games and phones) should stay at home or in a school locker. Our chaperones are Michelle Brunson, Sara Wierenga and Sally Mouw.

Tentative Schedule:
8:20   Band/orchestra/music class
9:00    Board bus and depart Pine Ridge
10:00   Arrive at the Calvin Bytwerk Theater
10:15   Dr. Gary Schmidt visit and book autographs
11:15   Walk to the Commons Lawn
11:30   Lunch 
12:00  Campus tour and activities
1:40   Board bus to Pine Ridge
2:30   Arrive at Pine Ridge 

*No school for students Oct. 22-Oct. 24. Teachers will be doing some amazing learning and collaborating in order to continue to help all students learn and grow!

*Hearing and Vision Screenings: 

Screenings for Hearing (4th grade) and Vision (3rd, 5th grades) will be taking place at Pine Ridge from October 27-29. Please be sure to have your student wear their glasses, contacts, and/or hearing aids to school on those days, if they have them.  If you would prefer to opt out of the screening, please send an email to the office at pr@hollandchristian.org, with that request. Linked here are the Screening Letter for Parents that Allegan County has written as well as a Parent Information Document for your perusal.

*Our 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

*GRANDPARENTS' DAY: Words can not express what a joy it is to watch grandparents and their grandchildren love on each other.

Curriculum Highlights

BIBLE: As we look at events in Jesus' ministry, we have been working on our Bible Response Journal - writing summaries and recording our noticings and questions. 

MATH: Decimals ... decimals ... decimals. We have been coverting fractions into decimals, writing decimals in expanded form, word form, and expanded form with powers of 10.

READING: We have jumped into our next unit and are spending our time looking closely at characters. We are noticing what they say, how they say it, how they treat other characters in the text, and when they act in a way that surprises us. We use all that information to help us determine what kind of person they are - what character traits would we assign to them. 

SCIENCE: We continue to gather data on macro-invertebrates, comparing the number of animals near manmade structures and in open water, temperature, pH and turbidity.

WRITING: We looked over our draft and added transition words that we felt would help our readers move through our story. Next week we will start to PUBLISH! We will spend time learning how to right align our typing, how to write and center a good title, how to indent, and how to double space... so much to learn!

OUTDOOR LEARNING SCHEDULE FOR NEXT WEEK

Monday: Van Raalte Park

Tuesday: DeGraaf Nature Center

Wednesday: NO SCHOOL

Thursday: NO SCHOOL

Friday: NO SCHOOL