"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"  Psalm 119:105

As we observe the winter season giving way to the first warm days of spring, we have also finished the third marking period at DLIGR.  Spring break is just around the corner!  The students and staff are looking forward to some days of relaxation and time away from school and studies.  We wish everyone a safe break week, whether at home or in travels!  Classes resume Monday, April 12 D.V.

Learning Center News

Kindergarten

Did you know that a baby giraffe, called a calf, cannot walk when it is born?  And did you know that polar bears are born inside a snow den in the middle of the winter?  We have been learning all about animals in social studies in Kindergarten, and love to read informational books and look at the pictures to learn more about them.

In Bible class, the students learned about David and Solomon, and are now hearing some of the Passion stories.  Every week we continue to learn a new Psalter and another memory verse.

Have you ever heard of a civet?  Our Kindergarten students learned about this animal when they were learning about the letter 'C'.  Besides learning new letters, the students are putting sounds together to make words, and are even learning to read simple books!  We also focus on one word family each week.  How many 'ock' words can you think of?  We love to read our Dick and Jane Reader very much, and will soon be trying other easy readers too!

In Math, we have switched over to subtraction, and we are working on recognizing fact families to make learning our addition and subtraction facts a little easier.  We are also learning about money, recognizing and counting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.  This is a good challenge for the students, and it is so rewarding to see them catch on!  After Spring Break we hope to begin learning to tell time.

We are enjoying the warmer weather, and it has been wonderful to be able to have recess and gym outside again.  We have been making some fun spring art projects at school, including some flowers for our "Spring has sprung!" bulletin board.  We are thankful for each day together, and it is hard to believe that three quarters of the school year is over already, and that summer vacation will soon be here!

Left:  Reading "The Big Pig" together

Right:  We learned all about our first president, George Washington and made hats just like his!

Elementary

As we've wrapped up the third marking period, teachers and students alike are already planning with the 'end of the school year' in mind!

In Bible class, the younger elementary students have been hearing stories about the suffering of the Lord Jesus, and have been working on a Passion booklet of puzzles which corresponds with each story.  The older students have just finished the Passion stories in their Bible guide work, and have moved on to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and His appearances to His people.  As a surprise for their teacher, the 4rth-6th graders memorized the entire chapter of Isaiah 53, and recited it all from memory.  Good job students!

Twice a week, after Book Camp, the Elementary Learning Center turns into a busy group of little writers!  They have begun their own writing portfolio, and we have worked hard at learning about transition words and making our writing well-structured, detailed and interesting.  Many thanks to Mrs. Meena for her big beautiful posters on our wall to give us hints for good, better and best writing, and digging a little deeper to make our writing more interesting!  The students wrote book summaries for their own newspaper, which are on display in our library!

We have changed our focus in art a little, and are thoroughly enjoying some baking together in the kitchen.  We might even try our hand at some easy cooking in the future!  With the arrival of the warmer weather, the students have been choosing to do their physical activity time outside, and the fresh air and sunshine has been so enjoyable!

Top left:  A studious group of students in Elementary!

Top right:  Getting started on his Pace work

Bottom left:  Learning about painting in 3-D

Bottom right:  Stirring, chopping, measuring...  Enjoying baking in the kitchen!

Secondary

The Secondary Learning Center has been busy as we work up to Spring Break!  The Bible class finished their study of Romans, and is now in the book of Exodus.  They've completed an in-depth study of the tabernacle and the spiritual meanings associated with the rooms, building materials, and items within the tabernacle.  They are now looking at all the different sacrifices that were performed in the Old Testament.  The Earth Science students have been creating colorful crystal geodes with eggshells as the nucleation sites, and have enjoyed this hands-on introduction to some junior chemistry.  The Life Science students brushed up on their microscope skills, and have seen just how microscopic organisms can be!  Literature students in 7th and 8th are enjoying their study of 'Summer of the Monkeys'.  They love this hour in the loft with each other!  The math students are progressing well in their classes, and are so appreciative of the dedicated tutoring for them!  Between Geometry, Algebra 1 and 2, and Pre-Calculus they keep the tutor very busy!  

All the students have been working on selling many, many sub sandwiches as a fundraiser for their overnight camping trip planned for May.  We are happy to report that the trip is now entirely paid for!  We look forward to a busy day of assembling the subs this week, and delivering the fresh subs soon thereafter. 

All the students are so thrilled with the addition of a couple of large soccer nets to our back field, especially as the weather grows warmer and drier for outdoor lunch breaks.  We would like to sincerely thank the anonymous donor for this thoughtful gift!  

Top left:  Opening singing in the chapel every morning

Top right:  A typical morning in the Secondary Learning Center

Bottom left:  7th and 8th grade students enjoying Literature in the loft

Bottom right:  Boys vs girls in a secondary volleyball game at noon hour!

The girls in home ec are wrapping up their cooking class!  They've made a lot of dishes between breakfast, lunch and dinner options and learned about the food groups, nutrition, setting a table properly, washing dishes correctly, and mealtime etiquette.  One of the more recent things we did was to make Broccoli-Cheese Soup, which we packaged up in canning jars.  The girls covered the lids, and wrote little cards and then chose either an elderly person, sick friend or someone else who could use a little cheer to deliver the soup to after class. We hope it was a tasty gift!  After spring break, the girls are looking forward to a few weeks of grease at the shop!  Rumor has it that they will be learning about vehicles, checking fluids, adding air to tires and other things that could be of use! We will be waiting to learn about their experiences!  

The boys, on the other hand, are not so interested in giving up their beloved shop space!  They love every Wednesday afternoon, and have been very busy!  Recently, the class had a field trip to Weller auto, a local junk yard, and used their funds to purchase an older vehicle, a blue 2003 Chrysler Concorde Limited.  They are repairing the front end, removing dents, and touching up paint, and it will be up for sale soon!   

Other snapshots of our school days

The weather is turning beautifully warm, and the sun has quickly melted the huge snow pile that the plow truck made on the side of the parking lot.  A big thank you to the volunteer for snowplowing the parking lot for us, and making the winter days at school more safe and enjoyable!  Both elementary and high school students enjoyed many hours of play, old-fashioned snow ball fights, and the competitive "King-on-the-Mountain" game on the snow pile that towered high above our basketball hoop!  All the students and staff in the high school participated in the "Snow Melt Estimate contest", guessing by which date the pile would be gone completely, (without the help of boots, bullet heaters and the like!)... Luke was the winner with his guess of March 22.  The snow had completely disappeared by Thursday, March 25!

Our elementary learning center finally received their long-awaited real scoring station!  It has two levels to accomodate the span of younger to older students, with shelving underneath to hold our scoring binders. It is so enjoyed by teachers and learners alike!  Thank you so much to Mr. Tom Fluit and Mr. Travis VanDyke for building this for us.

Some of our elementary students have come up with their own creative ways to contribute to our school!  Brooklyn, a fourth-grade student saved fireflies (the reward system in EL) for weeks, redeemed them to bake cookies in the kitchen with a helper, and then sold all 4 dozen of them at recess the next day!  She gave all the money to the library to purchase some special books.  A few other students started a pop-can drive to raise money for gym equipment!  Some of them bike for miles, collecting pop cans and pop bottles, to turn it in for money.   Lindsey, a fifth grader, wrote handwritten letters to all her neighbors, telling them a little about herself and that she was starting this pop-can collection to raise money for her school.  She asked for pop cans to be bagged and dropped off at her mailbox, and sure enough!  After a few days, the pop cans are starting to roll in!  One kind neighbor unloaded an entire trailer load full of bags of bottles and cans.  She has 12 bags full already, and its not over yet... It is so neat to see their ambitious dedication!

Welcoming an administrator and secondary learning center teacher

Together with his wife, Lisa and their six children they hope to move to Grand Rapids this summer.  They have four children who will be attending our school, and we look forward to welcoming them here!  As we observe the Lord's sustaining care over our school, may we be given much prayer for Jeremy and his family in this big change, and that the Lord would prosper the immigration process as well.  

"The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad".   Psalm 126:3

Potential Teaching Position for 2021/2022

MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER

At DLIGR we began our first school under very tight deadlines and with minimal operating overhead. This was made possible largely through the use of a fully developed, self-paced Christian curriculum, supplemented with tutor assistance.  As we look forward to the 2021/22 school year, we hope to transition a few courses to in-person instruction.  In light of this, we are currently seeking applications for a potential middle school teaching position at DLIGR.  Applicants with a willingness and ability to teach at a Middle School level are of particular interest, but other applicants and specialties would be gladly considered.   Applicants must be a member of the NRC denomination, have a love for the truth according to God’s Word, the doctrine adhered to by the NRC and display a lifestyle in accordance with the same. We invite interested individuals to contact us for more information: 

Mr. Stan Fluit:  (616) 893-5337

or email: info@dligr.org

We would like to thank all those who attended our information evening on March 19.  We hope it was informative, useful and enjoyable.  If you were unable to join us that evening, but are interested in learning more of the information that was shared please contact Mr. Brad Fluit (616-240-0074).  We would like to welcome those who have already enrolled for the next school year.  If you have not yet, but are ready to enroll your students in DLIGR for the 2021-2022 school year, please click the link below and follow the prompts to complete the forms online.  We have much to plan for between staffing, building modifications, curriculum choices, etc. and we would love to hear from you soon!

ONLINE ENROLLMENT

Needs for next year

Donations towards the purchase of these items, regardless of the dollar amount contributed, are greatly appreciated.