April 26-30, 2021

Dear Parents,

Where did April go? May is right around the corner.  We have a lot yet to cover at school and the kids are doing amazing work!  I’m blown away with their insights and sharing about friendships with their peers, their relationship with Jesus, and how they can love others to Burn Bright!  Such great growth, joy, and grit.  Keep up the great work at home this week too!

Miss DeVries has been planning and teaching nearly full-time last week and will be again this week. She is amazing and loves pouring into YOUR kids!  She will be with us for three weeks yet, through Thursday, May 13! We will be having a little send-off for her on the 13th to wish her well in her future teaching career, future college graduation (May 22) and wedding (June 26)!!  Please join me in praying for her as she works so incredibly hard at school to individualize learning and build relationships with students, as well as navigating job searches, wrapping up college and finalizing wedding plans. She is a wonderful blessing to our class!

Here is what we have in store for this week!

June 3: Last SCHOOL Day for School/Home Collaborative (full day)

June 4; Last Day of School for ZCS (1/2 day)

April 19-23, 2021

Dear Parents,

Today and everyday, I praise God for each of your kids and your families!! Your children bring such joy, delight, and laughter into our classroom!  The Lord has truly heard and answered my prayers from way last summer when I prayed that He would cultivate a cohesive, unified class that works hard together, is encouraging, and supportive together!  God is so good!  He is so faithful!  I pray that through your children, as God continues to work in and through them, that you too will see the goodness of God!  He is planting mustard seeds of faith and trust in the Lord as they learn more about Him and the personal relationship that He desires for your children!  They are a gift and a blessing in our class! Thank you for sharing them with us this year!!

We have a full week of school this week! While we are focused on many academic areas in our learning, we also focus on how to love others as a demonstration and an outpouring of our own love for God.  It is such a gift at ZCS to not only be working to develop students who see themselves as learners and are growing academically, but also nurturing greater spiritual depth and maturity! Such a blessing and joy!

Here are the newsworthy items to note this week:

Author Brian Wells: Our author visit will be a series of virtual visits this year from Brian Wells!  We will begin “meeting” with Mr. Wells this week and will continue into next week.  He has written two books that we will be highlighting this week as well as learning more about becoming an author! The books are geared for students in the upper-elem. grades, but learning from an author is appropriate for all ages! We are excited!

ZCS Auction- May 21- I am looking for 1-2 parents who would be willing to collaborate together with me to create our class auction donation basket.  Each student has already contributed $3 towards the basket donations (from the fall activity fee).  If you have an idea that we could use for our class donation basket, please let me know by Friday.  I would love to work with you to put our idea together!  See more info in the Classroom Creations Link Here!

Reminder: Calendar Date Change:  April 28th is now a FULL day of school for students and teachers. The 1/2 day of professional development for teachers has been canceled.

Market Day!  Students will be able to enjoy Market Day this year in person!  4th grade teachers have received permission to hold Market Day outdoors this year on Friday afternoon, May 14.  Our home day lesson plans for the afternoon will be adjusted. Stay tuned for additional details as the date approaches!

MAP Growth Assessments: For your future planning purposes, our 2nd through 8th-grade teachers will administer the Spring MAP Growth Assessment within the dates of  Wednesday, May 12 –  Wednesday, May 19. 

Expand(ED): Registration for this summer’s Expand(ED) programs is now available. You can find out what is being offered and register on this website. Camps being offered this summer include: Mandarin, Spanish, fairy/treasure gardens, coding, piano/keyboard lessons, basketball, soccer, volleyball, golf, tutoring, math, and leveled-library check out.

Attendance: Whenever your student is going to be absent or late to school, please notify the school office. To notify the office, you may email attendance@zcs.org or leave a message on the attendance line 616-741-0051. When reporting your absence, please list your student’s name, grade, the reason for absence, and teacher.

Upcoming Dates:

Note Change: April 28: FULL DAY OF SCHOOL- (The ½ Day of School for teacher Professional Development is canceled.)

May 15: ZCS Zip 5K – Happening!

May 21: Auction – Virtual format similar to last year, no food, no kids program

Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,

Julie

Here are students’ collaborative work creating their concrete/shape poems focused on Jesus and our Easter celebration!  Miss DeVries is very proud of all of their work! (I am too!!)

April 12-16, 2021

Dear Parents,

It is such a joy and privilege to work with your kids each week! I look forward to seeing each of them again on Monday after a week away for spring break! I pray you each have had a wonderful break from our regular routine and are able to begin a new week feeling refreshed and renewed!

We only have a couple of reminders as we jump into our new week ahead!

Poetry Celebration~ If you did not have a chance to view your child reciting his/her poem in Seesaw from our Poetry Celebration, be sure to watch this together this week in Seesaw!

Market Day!  Students will be able to enjoy Market Day this year in person!  4th grade teachers have received permission to hold Market Day outdoors this year on Friday afternoon, May 14.  Stay tuned for additional details as the date approaches!

Book It- We have concluded our Pizza Hut reading program for the year.  If your child has completed his/her Book It forms, please send them to school by the end of the week to receive their Pizza Hut coupons!  Congratulations on a super successful year of reading!

Young Author Celebration!  We are excited to enjoy a virtual visit from author Brian Wells this week!  We will be learning about being an author from Brian through videos he will share with each class this week!

Please see these dates below for additional information:

Note Change: April 28: FULL DAY OF SCHOOL- (The ½ Day of School for teacher Professional Development is canceled.)

May 15: ZCS Zip 5K – Happening!

May 21: Auction – Virtual format similar to last year, no food, no kids program

Have a wonderful week! Welcome back to school! I look forward to seeing your kids this week!

Blessings,

Julie