SCHOOL NEWS highlights and photos may 15, 2021 |
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"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" Psalm 119:105 |
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Our first school year is quickly drawing to a close! Only a few short weeks until our senior student hopes to graduate, and the rest of the students break away for the summer months. While we are all looking forward to some weeks of rest and relaxation, it is hard to believe that this first school year is almost completed. There have been so many special memories made, friendships forged, and much learning completed. May we be given to end in Him, by Whom all was made possible. |
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GRADUATION INVITATION You are warmly invited to attend our first Graduation ceremony to be held on Thursday evening, June 3, the Lord willing. The program will also include an end-of-year presentation by the students as we reflect on the completion of our first school year at DLIGR. More details to come! |
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Learning Center News Kindergarten Kindergarten class has finished many of the familiar Bible stories about the prophets Elijah, Elisha, Jonah and now learning about Daniel. They have learned a Bible memory verse for every letter of the alphabet, and are now reviewing them all one more time. The students have become very good at "Friends of Ten" in math, which focuses on memorizing the pairs of numbers that add up to ten. They practice a lot of addition and subtraction, and are working on their additional doubles every day. They have focused lately on learning to tell time using clocks, flashcards and matching games. Every day they practice reading, and it is so amazing to see how quickly the students are progressing! Not only is it easier to read the words in our PACEs, but we are also able to read little books, and even some of our library books! The students are now working on blending their sounds, and are excited to begin their last Word Building PACE next week! With the warm weather of spring finally here, the Kindergartners are enjoying to learn about insects, ladybugs, caterpillars and butterflies, spring flowers, and flowering trees. They hope to begin a new unit on plants and how things grow in the next few days. |
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Top left: celebrating the arrival of spring with a flower art project for the bulletin board Top right: a sweet smile as we make our letters into words and sentences Bottom left: matching up the times to the hands on the clock Bottom right: Matching shapes and colors to a spring flower activity |
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Elementary A few notes on the elementary learning center! Lower elementary grades are studying the time of the Judges during Bible class. They have covered Gideon, Samson and are now working on the life of Ruth. Writing continues to be an area of focus throughout this later part of the year. All the students have chosen topics to do a research report on, varying from animals like kangaroos and panda bears, to the state of Michigan and Texas, to a far-away country called Madagascar! The students took a trip to the Coopersville Library to check out some books to complete their research, and have been busy little writers! Circle time has focused on kindness and always showing kind actions and behavior to others. |
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Top left: Ready for another day! Top right: Fourth grade working on their Farmer Boy poster Bottom left: Getting started on the notecards for her research report Bottom right: Celebrating Mrs. Boluyt's birthday with cake and smiles! |
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Secondary It's a busy environment in the learning center as we finish our last few weeks of school! Bible class continues to study the Catechism one day a week, and the students are currently discussing the general and special providence of God, using pieces of Calvin's Institutes to support the lessons. On the other days of the week, they have moved to the study of the book of Hebrews. The students are wrapping up the final PACEs, completing science experiments and chemistry labs, writing research papers, and working on their Spanish speaking skills. They are also looking forward to their overnight camping trip in a few weeks with great anticipation! |
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Top: Assembling the more than 1400 subs the students sold as a fundraiser for their camping trip! Below: Enjoying humorous moments during an afternoon brain break activity where the students had to soundlessly model animal behaviors to find their hidden partner! |
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Since the boys' shop class has been finishing up a few big projects, the girls have had a unit on crafting before they begin their shop unit. They traded the kitchen for the gym, set up with tables, plastic, paintbrushes, paint markers, stain, and wood! The girls are enjoying a completely different project, involving painting and staining, creative lettering, chalk transfers and varnishing. They hope to use these projects as either decorative trays or lettered wall hangings. |
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Shop class has remained busy and productive, as they prepared the car for resale! Parts have been ordered and replaced, the dents have been removed, the car has been touched up with paint and wax, and fluids and air pressure checked and double checked. The boys are so pleased to announce it is ready for the market! See the picture below for a before and after picture! Contact Richard Slingerland for more information if interested! |
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Elementary Field trip The kindergarten and elementary students recently enjoyed a field trip to the Chicken Bacon Ranch, a locally owned farm that specializes in raising many different kinds of animals, complete with its own on-site farm store! The students got to meet llamas, a very large, friendly hog, baby pigs, bunnies, cows, playful goats, many many chickens, baby ducks and even peacocks! They enjoyed a hay wagon ride through the field, participated in a scavenger hunt, planted succulents, roasted s'mores at the fire and even got to take home a real peacock feather as a souvenir. |
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¡Vamos a comer! The Spanish students also had a little outing to a local Mexican restaurant right in downtown Coopersville, Taquería Manriquez . The students studied food, menus, and common phrases for ordering food, as well as vocabulary for the meats and toppings for their meals of tacos, burritos, and chimichangas. It was "Spanish-only" when they walked in the door, so ordering their lunch in the foreign language was a challenge, but Mrs. Verhoef was there for back up! The students loved the Jarritos (Mexican sodas) with all of the flavors to choose from! ¡Vamos a comer! |
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Art Crates Art class in elementary took an exciting turn with the arrival of a craft crate for each student! The students got to choose which activity they were interested in, and then the corresponding crate arrived with everything they would need for that project. There was a large variety of choices, including making soap, bath bombs, lighted mobile of the solar system, a hydraulic claw, a levetating lantern, vegetable market made of felt crafts, and more. |
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In a cold week in April, the high school students organized many different, fun activities to do together at break and noon-hour. These included tug-of-war, the car push, hungry hippo, relay races, an obstacle course, building a human pyramid, plank walk, the skittle dive, an egg toss, and lots more. They ended with an ice cream sundae party for all the staff and students. It was a nice way for the students to relax and reset, as they gear up for the last stretch of busy weeks of learning. |
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A few other notes... - With the latest arrival of some newly purchased books, our library now has more than 1000 books! The iPad checkout station makes it easy for our students to sign books out, and emails are sent automatically when the book is due to be returned. We also have over 200 more books ready to be added in the summer that we are excited to add to our collection for next year.
- The yearbook is nearing completion! Let us know if you'd like a book, and we'll be sure to order one for you (cost TBD).
- Remember the pop-can collection from the EL students? So far it has raised over $150 which the students are saving to use to purchase gym equipment over the summer to use next year.
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We would like to welcome those families who have enrolled for the 2021-2022 school year. If you have not yet, but are ready to enroll your students in DLIGR for next school year, please click the link below and follow the prompts to complete the forms online. Feel free to contact us if you prefer to fill out the forms on paper. Due date for enrollment is June 15, D.V. ONLINE ENROLLMENT |
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As we project increased enrollment for the next school year we are actively researching the possibility of providing bus service to our families. We have looked into several options, all of which would be costly for the school. It is, however, a considerable time commitment for the mothers in our families to drive their children back and forth each day. Please contact us if interested in assisting toward this cause. |
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- PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT - $5,000
Our students have kept very busy playing in the gym and outside with balls and other games this year! However, we would love to provide especially the younger students with a small playground next year in the big field behind the gym. With more elementary students already enrolled for the next school year, it would be nice to add this option to their recess time! |
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- RENOVATION EXPENSE - $10,000
As this school year draws to a close, we may reflect on how we much we have been so provided for, also in terms of the space within the building we are using. For next year, however, we anticipate the need to do some renovations to accomodate more students and larger, additional learning centers. This will likely involve removing walls, adding windows, etc. Stay tuned to our next updates as we finalize details! |
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- COMPUTERS - $3,200
- TEACHER DESKS - $750-$1000 each
For the upcoming school year, we anticipate needing to purchase additional computers to allow the students to complete their math curriculum and possibly other on-line courses. This year, our teachers and supervisors have made do with tables and shelves for desktop surfaces, but we would like to provide actual teachers desks for next year (2-3 needed). |
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Donations towards the purchase of these items, regardless of the dollar amount contributed, are greatly appreciated. |
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