Blog Update Tuesday, March 28

I hope you had a good Easter Sunday  with your friends and family!

click on the blue link .

He Has Risen youtube video’s

“Wear Blue for Flint” day;

Today was “Wear Blue for Flint” day; the Compassion Club has organized a day to bring awareness to the water crisis in Flint.

Highlights from the home bulletin

Transportation News - Parent Drop-off Monday, April 11

(No AM RPS busing; RPS has a late start; GRCS busing as normal)

Supplies for iXplore!

Attention all seamstresses and crafters!  Do you have a bin of scrap material?  A bag of ribbons or buttons you don't ever plan on using but just can't throw away?  Some fabric you just don't plan on using anymore?  Donate your extra supplies to the Sewing iXplore class.  We will be making projects to donate to local charities during iXxplore week and would love any "extras" you may have lying around your sewing room.  Any fabric, ribbons, notions, or thread would be welcome.  If you have some to share please leave the items in the office in the Sewing bin.  Be sure to include your name so that we can send you a BIG thank you!  Also, if you are interested in helping to mentor some beginning sewers, please contact Rachel Still (rstill@grcs.org).  We would love to have your help!

Clothing Clearance

We are clearing out all RCS t-shirts, hoodies and sweatpants! T-shirts are $5 each or 3/$10. Hoodies and sweatpants are $10. Get yours before they are gone!!

Yearbook

Start ordering your yearbook today. Please note that online ordering is also available this year!! http://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A01045598 If you have questions about ordering please contact Kim Wierenga kwierenga@grcs.org

Family Time

Thank you to Mr. Kuiper for leading us in praise and worship.  Mrs. Oren invited four graduates of RCS to talk to the middle schoolers.

Ask your student about this Family Time.

Upcoming Family Times

April 4 – 8

Spring Break

April 11

*Please note:  There is NO Family Time due to iXplore Week.

April 18

Mr. VerMerris & 6th Graders  (K – 8th)

April 25

Devotional Groups  (Led by Mr. Seinen and 8th graders)

Special Weeks Coming Up at RCS

This week March 28 – 30

“MakerSpace” Theme Week for Grades K – 4th

April 11 – 15

“iXplore Week”  (Grades 5 – 8) and “Zoo Week” (Grade 4)

Hot Lunch this week

Wednesday , March  30

1 Domino’s pizza, pepperoni and cheese, carrots, chips, fruit choice

Monday, April 11

1 Mini corn dogs, smiley potatoes, corn, carrots, fresh fruit

2 Nacho bag

Tuesday, April 12

1 Breaded chicken drumstick, whipped potatoes with gravy, carrots, dinner roll, fruit choice

2 Trix for kids

4th grade and Spanish Immersion students (3rd and 4th)

Fourth graders and the Spanish Immersion students  will be going to John Ball Zoo the week after Spring Break to study the behavior of various zoo animals.

5th/6th Environmental Classroom news for this week

The 6th graders will not be going in the woods this week on Wednesday.  Rather, they will be going to the GRCMS to share their stories with those 6th graders.  Therefore, no woods for them!!  I will, instead, be taking the 5th graders to Camp Roger while Miss Barrett takes the 6th graders to GRCMS.  At least I’ll get my woods “fix” when the 5th graders and I hike around camp looking for signs of spring.

PE News news for this week

Reminder: All students must wear tennis shoes for PE. If they do not have their tennis shoes they are not able to participate as regular shoes make scuffs on the gym floor. for 5th-8th grade they will lose half their participation points for the day if they do not have their shoes.

Feelin' Good Mileage Club

Physical activity for youth is important. We are, therefore, implementing a walking program called the Feelin' Good Mileage Club (sponsored by Maranda at WOOD TV 8).

The Feelin' Good Mileage Club provides opportunity for the students, grades K-4, to walk for fitness. The Mileage Club will be held during recess on T, Th, & F. It will start Tuesday, April 19 depending on the weather.

Your child needs no special equipment to participate. However, their tennis shoes are recommended. Simply, have him/her dress appropriately for the weather. Each student is free to walk as much or as little as he/she desires. The Feelin' Good Mileage Club is non-competitive. For each 5 miles, your child will receive a toe token to place on his/her shoe. A ¼ mile course will be mapped outside and each time students run a ¼ mile they receive a punch in their special

FGMC card.

Parents/Grandparents/Guardians etc..are welcome to join to walk with their child or help with punching runner's cards at recess. Please join in the fun to keep our students healthy. The FGMC will be held at the lunch recess from 12:20-12:40pm Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. If you are interested in helping me punch cards please email, call or text me.616.862.1306 or svanderveen@grcs.org  I am not here on Fridays and would love a few volunteers!!

THANK YOU!!!!

Upcoming dates for this week and April

Thursday March 31

Spring Break begins.

Monday, April 18

6th Grade Family Time—April 18

Tuesday April 29

7th/8th Dance with GRCMS   Mid mark, Quarter 4

I would love to continue to pray for you and your family.  If you would like to let me know any prayer requests, I would be happy to pray.

I’m praying that you have a wonderful spring break!!

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

Mr. Dave

Blog Update Wednesday, March 23,

I hope you had a good weekend with your friends and family!

River Rock

Join River Rock on Easter Sunday! Services are at 7:00AM (Sunrise Service with Breakfast), 9:00AM and 10:45AM. Any questions? Contact us at connect@riverrockcommunity.com

Highlights from the home bulletin

Yearbook Reminder

Did your child bring home a yearbook reminder last week? If so, a yearbook has not been purchased yet. Make sure to order a book before spring break! The price will go up again after break. Additional order forms can be found in the office. Please email Kim Wierenga kwierenga@grcs.org  if you have any questions.

Open House on March 24 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

This Thursday, March 24, we have our "All School Showcase" at RCS.  This is an opportunity for you to invite friends and family to check out the school.  Preschool and kindergarten are already filling fast, so please encourage a friend or neighbor to attend and to meet the staff and see the school first-hand.

At 7:00 p.m.Thursday, Ms. Barrett and Mr. VerMerris will share about the 5th/6th Environmental Program.  What could be more fun, challenging, and spiritual than learning about our Father's creation every day?  Learn about how the 5th and 6th graders spend time outdoors in God's classroom and learn about his unique kingdom through a hands-on learning approach, complete with two incredible trips packed into the school year.  The cost of tuition is the same as that of the other 5th and 6th grade classes in GRCS.

If you are interested in this exciting program, please join us Thursday, March 24th at 7:00 in the RCS Worship Center.  You will hear the teachers talk in depth about the program and will be able to ask questions that you may have.  This program is encouraged for both current and prospective families.

Lost & Found

Please check out the lost and found tables in the lobby and if front of Kids’ Club. Any items left at Spring Break will be donated to New 2 You. 

Middle School Report Cards

The Third Quarter marking period ended Friday, March 18. Student report cards will be posted electronically and available for parent viewing on NetCommunity on the afternoon of Friday, March 25.

Congratulations to the Kwast family

(Michael & Quincy & Julia/8th) on the recent birth of Quentin Kwast!

Clothing Clearance

We are clearing out all RCS t-shirts, hoodies and sweatpants! T-shirts are $5 each or 3/$10. Hoodies and sweatpants are $10. Get yours before they are gone!!

Supplies for RCS Makerspace Theme Week (March 28-30)

From March 28 - March 30, our kindergarten - fourth grade students will be participating in our annual theme week activities.  The elementary teachers, a number of ESS staff members, and other support staff at RCS are planning various lessons and activities around a "Makerspace" theme for this special week.   To learn more, google "Makerspace" and check out the various websites dedicated to the topic or watch some videos on YouTube that show ideas of what could be done in Makerspaces.  RCS staff members are planning a variety of activities for those three days in March where the students will engage in a variety of creative learning opportunities and will explore their creative abilities.

In order to help "make" all of the "Makerspaces" happen, we would like your help in collecting a variety of items for the students and teachers to use.  This is a big list, so if you can contribute any of the following, we would appreciate it:  cardboard, poster board, pipe cleaners, pennies, Legos, Kinex, marbles, aluminum foil, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, straws, Scotch tape, duct tape, wrapping paper rolls, yarn, small pieces of wood, empty bottles, rubber bands, tin cans, and fabric scraps.  You can also donate any old radios or VCRs that might be sitting in a closet. (We will carefully take them apart to see what makes them tick.)

We have two huge boxes set up in the back hallway of school by the gym lobby where you can put your donations.  Thanks, in advance, for sharing them with your children and the RCS staff.

2nd grade Theme Week supplies needed

MAKER SPACE is quickly approaching! We are in need of "small" recycled items: caps, container tops, yogurt containers, odd shaped plastic dishes etc. If you have any of these items that you would recycle anyways, please drop them off in the bin outside the 2nd grade classroom. We greatly appreciate it!

-Mrs. Burgess and Mrs. VZ

Supplies for iXplore!

Attention all seamstresses and crafters!  Do you have a bin of scrap material?  A bag of ribbons or buttons you don't ever plan on using but just can't throw away?  Some fabric you just don't plan on using anymore?  Donate your extra supplies to the Sewing iXplore class.  We will be making projects to donate to local charities during iXxplore week and would love any "extras" you may have lying around your sewing room.  Any fabric, ribbons, notions, or thread would be welcome.  If you have some to share please leave the items in the office in the Sewing bin.  Be sure to include your name so that we can send you a BIG thank you!  Also, if you are interested in helping to mentor some beginning sewers, please contact Rachel Still (rstill@grcs.org).  We would love to have your help!

Cell Phones for Africa

Do you happen to have any working but unused cell phones sitting around your home?  We have just the place for them to be put to good use: Uganda.

Many of you may remember the Amani Children's Choir, a group of African children from Uganda who came to lead us in worship last spring.  It seems they left a big impression on more than just our RCS students.

Jarrett Berends, a local high school student, is collecting usable cell phones for his senior project.  Jarrett plans to share them with a church in Uganda. Jarrett writes, "Last year, a children's choir from Uganda came and sang in a chapel at my school. My family had the opportunity to have some of the children stay at our house. We came to know and love them. We also came to know the American missionaries that were guiding them on their trip across the USA. When I was trying to think of ideas for a senior project, I thought of this choir. The American missionaries said that one way the church could use some assistance is for pastors to have smartphones to contact each other. They currently have no easy way to do this. Uganda has no landline structure for their phones. The only way to communicate conveniently is through the use of cell phones. People in America often have old smartphones lying around after they upgrade to a newer device."

If you would like to donate, just bring the phones to the RCS office and give them to Mrs. Radius.  We will get them to RCS parent and staff person Tami Redfield, who will get them to Jarrett to get to Uganda. Thanks for all of the help!

Wear Blue for Flint

The middle school Compassion Club is organizing a Wear Blue for Flint Day on Tuesday, March 29th. Students are invited to wear blue to signify that they are supporting the families of Flint, Michigan who hope to have clean water in their homes again soon. If students decide to wear blue, they may also bring in a nutritional food donation that will be delivered to Flint residents that help strengthen people who have lead poisoning from the water.

When: March 29, Tuesday

What: Wear Blue and bring in a nutritious food donation

·     Dried fruit

·     Pasta

·     Canned meats

·     More Nutrition information can be found here.

Baked Goods will also be on sale for those who would like to make a donation that way. All proceeds will be given to The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.

Family Time

Thank you to Mr. Phil Warners for leading us!

Ask your student about this Family Time.

Family Time March 28

Theme Week Committee  (K – 4th Teachers)

Mrs. Oren and 8th graders (gr. 5-8)

Hot Lunch this week

Thursday,  March 24

1 Picnic lunch: hot dog on bun, watermelon, baked beans, fun size chips, mini ice cream treat

2 Warm pretzel & cheese

Friday,  March 25

1 Mini corn dog, smiley potatoes, carrots, apples

2 Banana split cereal bag

Monday, March  28

1 Ham and cheese on pretzel roll, popcorn, veggie choice, fruit choice

2 Nacho bag

Tuesday, March  29

1 Chicken, chicken & more chicken: nuggets, tenders & wings, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, roll and fruit

2 Trix for kids

Learning Commons

Remember to check the library bulletin board for March Madness results. Mystery Readers will continue this week. 4th graders will wrap up their reading tour of the United States.

Preschool news for this week

PE News news for this week

FUN RUN Shamrock Shuffle March 24 1st-4th Grade

5th-8th Speedball

1st-4th Scarves

A Week at a Glance

Thursday, March 24

Open House

Sunday , March 27

Easter Sunday  

Tuesday , March 29

Wear Blue for Flint

Thursday , March 31

Spring Break

Monday , April 11

No Family time

I would love to continue to pray for you and your family.  If you would like to let me know any prayer requests, I would be happy to pray.

I’m praying that you have a special week of remembering our Savior's death on Friday and glorious resurrection this Sunday.

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

Mr. Dave

Blog Update Tuesday, March 15,

 

Highlights from the home bulletin

Elementary Theme Week

MAKER SPACE is quickly approaching! We are in need of "small" recycled items: caps, container tops, yogurt containers, odd shaped plastic dishes etc. If you have any of these items that you would recycle anyways, please drop them off in the bin outside the 2nd grade classroom. We greatly appreciate it!

-Mrs. Burgess and Mrs. VZ

Yearbook News

Yearbooks are now $27. Click here to order online or in the office. The option to personalize your yearbook through online ordering if only available for a few more weeks.  Order your book today! If you have any questions, please contact Kim Wierenga kwierenga@grcs.org

Do you own a business? Or work at a business that would like to support RCS? The yearbook staff is looking for businesses to support RCS by placing an ad in the yearbook. Ads start at $35. Contact Kim Wierenga (kwierenga@grcs.org) if you have questions or would like to place an ad.

Click here to order online or order in the office.

Family Time

Thank you to Mrs. Fahlen and Mrs. DeVries for leading us in a Spanish language Family Time. The theme was how big the universe is and how tiny we are.

Ask your student about this Family Time.

Hot Lunch this week

Monday, March 14

1 Popcorn chicken bowl, whipped potatoes & gravy, carrots, dinner roll, fruit choices

2 Nacho bag

Tuesday, March 15

1 Pillsbury pancakes, sausage link, tator tots, strawberries, bananas

2 Trix for kids

Wednesday, March 16

1 Cheesy bread with marinara sauce, hearty romaine garden salad with ranch, fruit choice

2 Turkey sub bag

Thursday,  March 17

1 Macaroni & cheese, steamed broccoli, carrots, WG dinner roll, apples, oranges

2 Warm pretzel & cheese

Friday,  March 18

1 BBQ pork on bun, crinkle fries, carrots, corn, watermelon

2 Banana split cereal bag

Monday, March  21

1 Breaded chicken patty on bun, small chips, carrots, hummus, fruit

2 Nacho bag

Tuesday,March  22

1 Waffle with strawberries & whipped cream, sausage link, potato wedges, orange wedges, juice choice

2 Trix for kids

Learning Commons News

Our Middle School Makerspace is meeting every day during lunch break to work on our cardboard arcade games. We are planning to debut our arcade during the elementary Theme Week.

Check the March Madness brackets in the library to see which books are advancing to the finals.

Preschool news for this week

Last week in Mrs. Kortman’s class we ate green eggs and ham to celebrate Dr. Suess’ birthday. This week we’re learning about rhyming words and we’re looking forward to a field trip to the Meijer Gardens on March 30.

5th Environmental Classroom news for this week

If the weather allows, they are planning on being outside tomorroe afternoon. If it is stormy, they have an alternative (inside) activity planned. Students should dress for the weather. They won’t leave until after lunch.

6th Environmental Classroom news for this week

The 6th grade environmental program students continue to work hard both in and out of school.  Last week they assisted Camp Roger by helping take down survival shelters from other classroom students who come to Camp Roger.  Also, last week they had to put on their creative “hats” while outside and write some haiku.  Haiku poetry is a Japanese art form using 3 lines.  The first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the final line has 5 syllables.  Also, haiku poetry often speaks about nature and creation.

This week Wednesday and Friday the students will be out in the woods again doing some exciting activities!!

Science Olympiad

A group of our 7th and 8th graders will be participating in the Science Olympiad this Saturday at Grand Valley.

7th and 8th Graders Save the date

The Western-themed Middle School Dance to be held on Friday, April 29, at GR Christian Middle School.  This dance is for 7th and 8th graders from RCS and GRCMS.  This is a great opportunity for our 7th and 8th graders in GRCS to meet one another and have a great time together.  More details to come, but we wanted to get the date on the calendar.  

A Week at a Glance

Friday , March 18

End of Marking Period, Quarter 3

I would love to continue to pray for you and your family.  If you would like to let me know any prayer requests, I would be happy to pray.

I’m praying that you have a great week!

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

Mr. Dave