5th Grade Forest Program: May 8, 2026

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

Wednesday, May 20 - Lunch, kayaking and fishing at Hutchin's Lake in Fennville.

Grilled hotdogs will be on the menu for lunch at Hutchin’s Lake! We will spend the morning fishing from kayaks or the dock and then enjoy lunch lakeside together.

Students are welcome to bring their own fishing pole if they would like, but fishing poles and bait will also be provided. The Outdoor Discovery Center is generously providing all of the kayaks for us!

Please note: no swimsuits are needed for this trip.

If your child has their own life jacket for kayaking, we would appreciate if you could send it to school with them that morning.

Looking forward to a great morning together!

Friday, May 22 - ALL 5th graders off campus for a day of outdoor learning. The 5th grade classes are headed to Pilgrim Haven Natural Area for a day of outdoor learning. We will be leaving Pine Ridge at 11:00 and plan to return around 2:30. Your child will need a home lunch and a water bottle, as well as being prepared to spend the day outdoors.

Wednesday, May 27 - Mrs. DeZwaan's Forest Program 5th Grade Showcase at Sassafras Ridge. Our Forest Program class of 5th graders will be spending the day at Sassafras Ridge. The day is meant to showcase their learning, celebrate and share stories from their experiences in the forest program, and enjoy a meal as a class. You are invited to join us for part of that day from 12:30 - 2:15.

Due to lack of parking and township requirements, we are asking that no more than 2 adults per student come out for the afternoon. Parents will need to park at Pine Ridge and load a bus to enjoy a ride out to Sassafras Ridge. The bus will be parked in the bus lane (south side of the building) and is scheduled to leave at 12:15. It will return to Pine Ridge around 2:30. Please plan on spending the entire time at Sassafras Ridge with your child.

In order to reserve enough buses for this event, please sign up by May 8.

As eager as students will be to share some of their survival skills and stories with you, I would love you to share a verse or short scripture passage with them. A verse that you would like them to highlight in their Bible and take with them. Parents who volunteer will have a spot along the trail at Sassafras Ridge, students will gather around you and you will have the opportunity to share a verse and why you are giving that verse to them. This is not meant to be anything more than reading the verse and taking a moment to speak into them. No more than a couple of minutes.

If you would like to share a verse, please sign up and include in the comments what verse you will be sharing by May 20. I would love about 5-6 more volunteers!

We are also looking for volunteers to help provide food items so the 5th grade can make a campfire lunch using their firebuilding skills! They will be building fires and roasting their own pizza filled Tonka Pies or tonka toasters or hobo pies or ... yummy goodness over the fire! Please take a look at the sign up if you are willing to help! Thanks!

Tuesday, June 2 - 5th Grade Celebration at Pine Ridge at 2:00. This will be our end of the year chapel celebrating our 5th graders.

Curriculum Highlights

BIBLE: This week we started to look more closely at Pentecost and the events following. We saw how the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to preach the gospel so that everyone from all nations could understand the message.

MATH: We continue to work on word problems. We spent some time solving and writing word problems that contain all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). We will do some additional practice and review next week and take our test toward the end of the week.

READING: We continue to read through our Historical Fiction Book Club books. We have been analyzing who holds the power in our story and does that power change hands.

SERVICE: Today we decorated the sidewalks to welcome the Forest Program 2nd graders and their parents to Pine Ridge for moving up day!

SCIENCE: This week our class continued their study of astronomy with Mrs. Kronemeyer. Study materials went home today so that students can prepare for their test on Tuesday.

WRITING: We continue to gather and write stories for our memoirs.