UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS
*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!
Through the generosity of local donors, tickets for the talks in Holland are free (one per email address) and can be reserved HERE.
* Kirk Cousins football camp: For boys entering 4th-6th grade on June 24 and 25 from 9AM-3PM at Holland Christian High School. Kirk says "Football camp is designed to help young men grow in their understanding of the game while helping them to grow in leadership, faith and integrity. Competition is a great way to develop perseverance and confidence. Through team activities, drills and scrimmages, we help the campers develop their skills and their character. And we make sure they have fun!” Sign up here!
* Winter reminders:
-Snow gear should be brought and taken home daily. This helps keep our students warm, dry and the lockers smelling nice.
-Snowballs are only allowed to be thrown at the maroon wall. Students who need more than a few reminders will need to spend time reviewing the expectations before heading out for the following recess.
-No sleds or other snow tools are permitted at school or the playground for the safety of all students.
* Be prepared to play outside:
Less than 50 degrees; all students must have a jacket outside and we will go out for the normal duration of outdoor time.
10-0 degrees we will go out for a maximum of 15 minutes.
Less than 0 we will enjoy recess inside.
* Running Club Opportunities
Do you have a love for youth fitness? Are you looking for a way to invest in the students at Pine Ridge? This spring, we hope to have running clubs for both girls and boys.
TTQ is a fun, high energy after school program designed exclusively for boys in 3rd-5th grade; it incorporates strength and stretching exercises, activities designed to help develop a healthy lifestyle along with training for a 5K. The Spring season begins the week of March 16th, with a final 5K on May 16th. This TTQ Flyer has the contact information for Kristen Chan to sign up to be a coach.
For girls, there is Pine Ridge Girls Running Club; a club organized and run by parent volunteers. It follows much the same organization of TTQ with 2 practices a week, held right after school. This running club will culminate in the Tulip Time Run on Saturday, May 2. Please contact the Pine Ridge office if you can help us by being a coach for this event!
* Personal technology reminder
Personal technology is not necessary in a school setting and disrupts the learning environment. This includes, but is not limited to:
These items are not allowed to be used or be visible from the time a student enters school in the morning until the final bell rings. Do not send personal technology to school including smartwatches. If such items are seen by a teacher, the student will be asked to put them in their backpack for the remainder of the day and take them home; if seen a second time, the item will be placed in the office for a parent to pick up at the end of the day. If parents need to communicate with their student, they can send an email to or call the office to have a note delivered. Thank you for helping us make learning a priority!
Curriculum Highlights
MLK JR. DAY: Along with reading Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.? as our read aloud this week we also visited different links on our choice board to help us learn more about Martin Luther King Jr. and the contributions he made.
BIBLE: We continue to work on the Parables of Jesus. Students are working hard on their parable packet. In their packet they are illustrating the parable and then writing a personal connection about what the parable means to them.
MATH: We have been working hard on determining the operation we need to use in order to solve word problems - multiplication and division with fractions is so hard!
In an attempt to make word problems a little more enjoyable ... we added an additional piece to our math assignment. If you could solve a word problem correctly and remember the label,
you would then pick a number from 1 to 6. That number would determine whether you had to ...
... collect 10 sticks the size of your hand
... do 2 somersaults
... maybe try a handstand!
Or, run around the pond, dig a hole your foot could fit in, etc. I'm not sure it made the problems any easier but it made us giggle!
READING: We continue to look at non-fiction text. This week we work on identifying the main idea and supporting details inside a paragraph or section of text. We also looked for key details that would help us determine the central message.
SOCIAL STUDIES: We have been working on naming the 13 colonies and locating them on a map. Monday we "earned" our sled ride down Van Raalte hill by either naming a colony or locating a colony correctly on the map. The hill was fast, so there was some incentive to know our colonies!
WRITING: We have been working hard on completing our Text Feature writing project.
OUTDOOR LEARNING SCHEDULE FOR NEXT WEEK
Monday: NO SCHOOL - MLK Jr. DAY
Tuesday: on campus
Wednesday: River Junction
Thursday: on campus
Friday: on campus
