Update Mar 30, 2015

Blog Palm Sunday

“Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

I hope and pray that you had a Blessed Palm Sunday

Did you know that donkeys refuse to walk on any surface that doesn’t feel familiar to them so they would never have been willing to walk on coats as they did for Jesus when he entered Jerusalem.

Science Olympiad

Congrats to RCS's first-ever Science Olympiad team!! We had a great showing...including 1st place in air trajectory! They medaled in another event as well.

Way to go, Mr. Seinen and team!!

Geo Bee

Thanks, RCS family, for your support of Blake's State Geo Bee competition on Friday. He answered 7 out of 9 questions correctly and represented our school well.

Karen VanStright, a long-time employee of the CLC and GRCS, has decided to retire after many years of dedicated service in supporting the needs of all learners in the Grand Rapids Christian Schools.

Most recently, Karen was the director of Educational Support Services (ESS) at Rockford Christian School, but she also spent many years at Millbrook Christian School in conjunction with the Christian Learning Center.

Karen has dedicated her entire career to supporting the needs of all learners, and we want to provide an opportunity for GRCS and CLC staff, as well as families of students with whom she has worked, to share their appreciation and thanks with her.

We would like to extend an invitation to join Karen and her husband, Bob, at Rockford Christian School on Tuesday, April 21, from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. for a Retirement Open House.

There's another opportunity to share your love and appreciation for Karen. We're putting together a memory/photo book for Karen to remember her years at the Grand Rapids Christian Schools. Please consider writing a special memory or letter to Karen/Mrs. VanStright (from you or your child/ren) and send it to Becca Jasperse (bjasperse@grcs.org). (This does not have to be on special paper or sent as a pdf---just send it as a regular email.) Please also include (attached in the email) a picture of yourself, your child, or family depending on who the memory is from. We will be collecting these until April 3. Thank you, in advance, for making this so special for Karen!

Mrs. Ruiter’s preschool class

They are going to Meijer Gardens on a field trip to see the butterflies.on April 2 and I’m accompanying them. Thank you to Mrs. Nienhuis for driving my van.  

 
Learning Commons News

Final results for March Madness will be posted on Tuesday. The winner will be able to choose a gift card for their prize.

Owen Ford, a first grader, won the Mystery Reader competition this week. Congratulations, Owen! He received a five dollar gift card from Schulers.

TRIP news

Keep up on TRIP news in the school home bulletin!!!

Environmental Program News for This Week

The 6th grader Environmental Program students are learning about Energy in Michigan.  As a part of this science unit, the students are learning about renewable energy.  As a learning experience for the students, they will be going to the Covanta Waste-To-Energy facility to learn how the City of Grand Rapids takes all of its trash, burns it, and the heat is used to produce electrical energy.  What a great solution rather than placing all the trash in a landfill.

The 6th graders are also beginning to do research on their Environmental Action Project which is due on May 8.

Family Time:

Ms. Jasperse helped elementary grades kick off Theme Week. The theme is Rain Forests and she told us 10 very interesting facts about the rain forest. We sang some fun songs, as well.

 

I’m praying that you have a great week!

Thanks for all that you do for God’s kingdom!

Mr. Dave

Blog Update Mar 23, 2015

I am so glad that the warm weather has arrived!!

A BIG thank you

To all the parents that were able to attend the 8th grade speeches Wednesday morning.  The students did SO well, and it was great for them to have an opportunity of a larger audience than just their classmates for an assignment such as this.

Karen VanStright, a long-time employee of the CLC and GRCS, has decided to retire after many years of dedicated service in supporting the needs of all learners in the Grand Rapids Christian Schools.

Most recently, Karen was the director of Educational Support Services (ESS) at Rockford Christian School, but she also spent many years at Millbrook Christian School in conjunction with the Christian Learning Center.

Karen has dedicated her entire career to supporting the needs of all learners, and we want to provide an opportunity for GRCS and CLC staff, as well as families of students with whom she has worked, to share their appreciation and thanks with her.

We would like to extend an invitation to join Karen and her husband, Bob, at Rockford Christian School on Tuesday, April 21, from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. for a Retirement Open House.

There's another opportunity to share your love and appreciation for Karen. We're putting together a memory/photo book for Karen to remember her years at the Grand Rapids Christian Schools. Please consider writing a special memory or letter to Karen/Mrs. VanStright (from you or your child/ren) and send it to Becca Jasperse (bjasperse@grcs.org). (This does not have to be on special paper or sent as a pdf---just send it as a regular email.) Please also include (attached in the email) a picture of yourself, your child, or family depending on who the memory is from. We will be collecting these until April 3. Thank you, in advance, for making this so special for Karen!

“Our Father’s World” (OFW) Event

tonight  Monday, March 23:  The annual OFW dinner at Red’s on the River is this evening.  This event has two main goals: (1) to foster RCS community and (2) to raise money for tuition assistance for current and future RCS families.

The event begins with a reception from 6:15 – 7:00, with the program starting at 7:00 p.m.  IF you are attending and have questions about parking, see Eric on Monday.

Learning Commons

March Madness continues. Check the library for the results this week. We’re down to the Final Four.

The Mystery Reader winners so far: Thys Segard, Reid Mokma, and Rylie Mulder. Congratulations! There will be one more winner announced at the end of this week.

End of Third Quarter

End of Third Quarter for Grades 5 – 8 is Weds., March 25.

Recycling Reminder

RCS Parents: Just a reminder that you can recycle paper (in the Paper Gator dumpster near the bus garage) and cardboard (by the middle school basketball court) in the RCS parking lot. If you bring cardboard boxes, please remember to break them down before you put them into the cardboard-only dumpster. Thanks!!

This week the 6th grade Environmental Program

American Legion Food Pantry—March 24--Tomorrow!!

the 6th grade  will be going to the Rockford American Legion Post again in order to help with food distribution.  they did this back in November and the students had a wonderful time being “Jesus” to the people they were serving.  The 6th grade will be helping on Tuesday, March 24, from 9:30-11:45.  

The 6th grade students will be enjoying some interesting food.  All year long they have been studying Africa and the culture of its people.  As a capstone to their studies, they will be going to the Little Africa Restaurant to discover the taste of food from the country of Ethiopia.  One of the interesting facts about the Ethiopian culture is that utensils are not used.  Everything is eaten with the hands.

On Friday the students will be traveling to Camp Roger and also beginning their environmental issue project.

Theme Week

Theme Week is next week. This will be the Monday-Thursday before Spring break that the students learn all about the RAINFOREST! Please let your student teacher know if you or your family plans to leave early that week for vacation, as we need to know for group numbers.

Good-bye to Sleds

With the melting of the snow, it's time to put the sleds away for another year. We still have a few left loitering in the elementary hallway. Please plan to take your sled home this week.

Tryouts for Junior Varsity and Varsity Sideline teams

Attention 8th grade girls heading to Grand Rapids Christian High School next fall.  

Due to MHSAA regulation changes and exams at the end of May, tryouts for Junior Varsity and Varsity Sideline teams will take place On Thursday, March 26, and Friday, March 27, in the Quest Center, from 3:30-5 p.m.  There will be additional tryout clinics at the end of May/early June for new high school students to GRCS and for incoming 8th graders, as well.

There are no cuts for 8th graders, so come and  experience what it is all about!  Sideline cheer is the perfect way to meet a team full of girls before your first classes and the best way to learn about Competitive Cheer, the fastest growing MHSAA sport!  Questions?  Please call Jacque DeJonge @ 949-7516.

Two  Prayer Requests for members of the RCS Community

Three prayer requests for members of the RCS community:

(1) Alivia Jackson - Alivia, an RCS and GRCHS grad now attending Kendall College of Art and Design, has recently contracted mono.  Liv is missing her classes at Kendall this week as she recovers and gains strength.  She was slated to be the speaker the "Our Father's World" event tonight, but we have collectively decided to not have her speak at the event so that she can focus on her recovery.  (Becky Werdon has graciously agreed to step in for Liv--Becky was planning to share the devotions tonight.)

(2)  Becky Werdon - Please continue to pray for our friend and colleague not only in her role as Evergreen principal but as she prepares for the "Our Father's World" event on Monday.

Family Time

Mr. Phil Warners talked about the five senses and how we see God. Mr. Kuiper led us in music. Ask your student about this Family Time.

Mon, March 23,

8th grade Camp Roger has been rescheduled.

Our Father's World at Red's on the River, downtown Rockford 6:15 pm

I’m praying that you have a great week!

Thanks for all that you do for God’s kingdom!

Mr. Dave

Blog Update Mar 16, 2015

I hope that you had a great weekend!

Learning Commons News

Early Bird Readers Club Remember the RCS library will be open every Thursday from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. for a mix of supervised quiet reading time and other book-related fun. All students in grades 3-8 and independent readers in grades 1 and 2 are invited. Bring your own book or choose from great titles recommended by the library staff, and earn prizes just by attending! (Please note that this time is dedicated to building a love of reading and is not for studying or doing homework.) No advance signup is needed-just come join us!

We had a great turnout for the first two weeks of Early Bird Readers!

March Madness continues for middle school students as they vote for their favorite books and see how their brackets are doing.

Mystery Readers keep elementary students guessing. Various staff members are videotaped reading their favorite books aloud, their voice electronically altered, and students have to figure out who the mystery reader is! The winner for Week 2 was Reid Mokma. He received a five dollar gift card as his prize. Congratulations, Reid!

Bookmark making every Friday at noon recess for the month of March.

Environmental Classroom News

The 6th grade environmental students are busy with a lot of projects.  This week they are wrapping up their social studies “African Country” presentation.  Next week they will begin selecting an environmental issue (something that makes a positive or negative impact) on which to do a major project.  Thesen research projects will be presented the evening of May 11.

TRIP news

Keep up on TRIP news in the school home bulletin!!!

Athletics news

5/6 Grade Baseball

Coach: Rick Solle

Practices Times:  Monday & Fridays 3:30-5:00pm.

7/8 Grade Baseball

Coaches: Mark Redfield & Mike Meeuwsen

Practice Times: Mondays & Thursdays  5:30-7:00pm.

Girls Soccer

Coaches: Sam Bull & Mike Fedrigo

Practice Times: Keep Posted....

5/6 Grade Girls Softball

Coaches: Deanne Rosendall, Shannon Rop and Jane Bouwkamp

Practice Times: Tuesday & Thursdays 3:30-5pm.

Any questions: email Jane Bouwkamp @ jbouwkamp@grcs.org

Family Time

Family Time was led by Mrs. DeVries, Mrs. Fahlen, and the Spanish Immersion class. We enjoyed learning about different Spanish speaking cultures and singing songs in Spanish. Ask your student about this Family Time!

Coming up this week

Mon, March 16

GRCS Annual Meeting,

6pm – 8pm

Tue, March 17,

St. Patrick’s Day! Wear green

2nd Grade goes to Camp Roger  AM

Wed, March 18,

8th Grade Persuasive Speeches 8:55am – 10:30am

Spanish Immersion and 3rd grade to Camp Roger AM

1st grade goes to Camp Roger PM

Thu, March 19

Kindergarten goes to Camp Roger AM

Fri, March 20,

4th grade goes to Camp Roger AM

Mon, March 23,

7th Grade goes to Camp Roger last time AM

8th Grade goes to Camp Roger last time PM

Our Father's World at Red's on the River, downtown Rockford Mon  PM

I’m praying that you have a great week!

Thanks for all that you do for God’s kingdom!

Mr. Dave

Blog Update Mar 10, 2015

I hope you had a great weekend!!

Early Bird Readers: Wish your child spent more time with books? Try Early Bird Readers! The RCS library will be open every Thursday morning from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. for a mix of supervised quiet reading time and other book-related fun. All students in grades 3-8 and independent readers in grades 1 and 2 are invited. Bring your own book or choose from great titles recommended by the library staff, and earn prizes just by attending! (Please note that this time is dedicated to building a love of reading and is not for studying or doing homework.)

No advance signup is needed—just come join us! We were excited to host 25 Early Bird Readers last Thursday!

March is Reading Month! The library will be sponsoring various activities throughout the month to celebrate reading.

March Madness:  Middle schoolers (5th-8th) will participate in March Madness reading.They’ll be filling out brackets to determine the most popular book.

Mystery Readers:  Elementary students will listen to recorded “Mystery Readers” (teachers who have selected a favorite book to read aloud) and try to guess whose voice they’re listening to. A prize will be awarded to the student whose name is drawn from all students who have filled out a guess sheet. This week’s winner is Thys Segard!

Design Your Own Bookmark: 3rd-5th graders are invited to the library at lunch recess every Friday to make bookmarks to take home.

And of course, we’ll be kicking off the Early Bird Reader program!

Junior Equestrian Team

Does your child competitively show horses? Grand Rapids Christian Area Schools will have a Junior Equestrian Team for this spring for students currently in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade. The meet is scheduled for May 9, 2015 at Barry County Fairgrounds. If this is something your child is interested in, please contact Anna Zokoe before this week Friday  March 13 for more information. azokoe@grcs.org (616) 581-9500.

Environmental Program News for This Week

March 11, Social Studies African Country Project due. Presentations begin Thursday, March 12 for the 6th graders.

The 6th graders will be going to Camp Roger on wednesday afternoon with the 5th grade Environmental Program students.  They will be writing Haiku poems while sitting in the woods.  Haiku poems are a japanese art form.  They are poems of only 3 lines and the 1st line has 5 syllables, the 2nd line has 7 syllables, the last line has 5 syllables.

On Friday the 6th grade environmental students will be going out in the woods at Camp roger and taking down shelters from Mr. Phil’s home school students.  It will be a “Search and Destroy” mission for our students.

Open House

There is an open house tonight, March 10, at Rockford Christian during the Showcase.  Mr. VerMerris and Ms. Barrett will be making a presentation in the Worship Center at 7 p.m. about the Environmental Program. While you’re certainly welcome to come, our target audience is new families who want to learn more about the environmental program; the presentation will be similar to last year. If you want to listen to the presentation from an “incoming 6th grade parent” perspective, feel free to attend. Talk to Mr. Burgess if you have any questions.

Don't forget to keep feeding your recyclable papers to the Paper Gator over by

the bus garage. Monies earned from this easy fundraiser help support the environmental program here at RCS.

Family Time News

Thank you to Mrs. Broersma and the fourth graders for using skits to depict how we can show love to others, using I Corinthians 13. Mr. Kuiper led us in song.

Just a reminder: Family Time is on Mondays at 8:45am – 9:15am.  We would love to see you there.

Coming up this week

Today,  March 10,

RCS Showcase - All school open house and Environmental Program presentation.

6:30pm – 8:00pm

Wed, March 11,

Preschool goes to Camp Roger for the last time.

I’m thankful for your kids and for all your prayers and expressions of support.

Thanks for all that you do for God’s kingdom!

Mr. Dave

Blog Update March 2

did you know it's Dr. Seuss birthday today?  He was  Born on  March 2, 1904 he died at the age of 87

Ski & Board Club

Thank you to Jodi Leja for organizing and running the ski club again this year!

Learning Commons News

Early Bird Readers: Wish your child spent more time with books? Introducing Early Bird Readers! Starting March 5, the RCS library will be open every Thursday morning from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. for a mix of supervised quiet reading time and other book-related fun. All students in grades 3-8 and independent readers in grades 1 and 2 are invited. Bring your own book or choose from great titles recommended by the library staff, and earn prizes just by attending! (Please note that this time is dedicated to building a love of reading and is not for studying or doing homework.)

No advance signup is needed—just come join us!

March is Reading Month! The library will be sponsoring various activities throughout the month to celebrate reading.

March Madness:  Middle schoolers (5th-8th) will participate in March Madness reading.They’ll be filling out brackets to determine the most popular book.

Mystery Readers:  Elementary students will listen to recorded “Mystery Readers” (teachers who have selected a favorite book to read aloud) and try to guess whose voice they’re listening to. The teachers’ voices will be disguised to make it more challenging to guess.

Design Your Own Bookmark: 3rd-5th graders are invited to the library at lunch recess every Friday to make bookmarks to take home.

And of course, we’ll be kicking off the Early Bird Reader program!

Junior Equestrian Team

Does your child competitively show horses? Grand Rapids Christian Area Schools will have a Junior Equestrian Team for this spring for students currently in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade. The meet is scheduled for May 9, 2015 at Barry County Fairgrounds. If this is something your child is interested in, please contact Anna Zokoe before March 13 for more information. azokoe@grcs.org (616) 581-9500.

Environmental Program News for This Week

Don't forget to keep feeding your recyclable papers to the Paper Gator over by

the bus garage. Monies earned from this easy fundraiser help support the environmental program here at RCS.

Family Time News

Thank you Ms. Wierenga and the first graders for sharing a great book with the K-4 students and teaching us about prayer.

Just a reminder Family Time is on Mondays at 8:45am – 9:15am.  We would love to see you there.

Coming up this week

Tues, March 3

Parent-Teacher Conferences

4pm – 8pm

Fri, March 6

 GRCS Annual Meeting, at RCS,  6pm – 9pm

I’m thankful for your kids and for all your prayers and expressions of support.

Thanks for all that you do for God’s kingdom!

Mr. Dave