4th Grade Lighthouses

Below are the pictures of the lighthouses that the 4th grade classes built during two past two weeks.  They did a great job of building a realistic model of a Michigan Lighthouse and all of them were able to successfully build a working circuit inside of it.

Shanty Boy Day - Part II

Here are some pictures from this morning's breakfast.  Thank you to Mrs. VanDam, Mrs. Nitz, Mrs. Napp, Mrs. Vandekieft, Mrs. Offringa, and Mrs. Tanis, who helped cooked the breakfast and served it to the "shanty boys."

Shanty Boy Day

The kids came dressed and ready to celebrate the life of a Shanty Boy today at school.  Below are some pictures we took before the day started out in the "forests."

Time has flown by

Welcome to 2012!  I hope that all of you are enjoying the new year and getting back into the swing of things.  I have not been on my blog for a while, but I will be using this as the primary resource for assignments, class happenings, and updates.  I will also be putting up pictures of our classroom happenings, especially of our new Science unit on energy and electricity.  Have a great weekend!

Back in Action

It felt good to be back teaching the students today.  We started out today by talking about Samuel and how Hannah wanted a child really bad.  I related the story to the students by sharing with them a strong desire I had when I was younger to get a new pair of Air Jordan shoes.  We then spent time in Literacy reading our non-fiction books and gathering information from them.  We also worked on a Spelling word search that has a hidden message in it that relates to the holiday happening this week.  In Math, we focused on measuring items in centimeters and rounding those measurements to the nearest 1/2 or whole centimeter.  During the last part of the day, the students worked on finishing their Science projects for Mr. DeHaan as well as beginning to read about pioneers coming into Michigan for Social Studies.

2011 4B Chapel

On Friday, November 18, our 4th grade class had the opportunity to lead chapel at DCS.  The message of our chapel was about having faith, hope, and love in our lives.  We also had Mr. DeHaan tape it for parents who were not able to make it.  Below are the links to both parts of the chapel, which my wife, Jamie, helped me put up on YouTube.  The kids did a fabulous job and I am very thankful of the effort they displayed -   please feel free to watch and enjoy!

Chapel - Part I
http://youtu.be/nEV8exA0q4E

Chapel - Part II
http://youtu.be/XQZnbY5zjK8

DCS Runnin' Defenders vs. Zeeland Christian Rams

     The 8th grade boys' basketball team hit the road for their third game of the season as they traveled down I 196 to take on the Rams (formerly Trojans) of Zeeland Christian School.  Zeeland was picked by some to be one of the top teams in the A-O-K Conference, and they showed their strengths throughout the game.  The Rams went 13 deep on their team and were coached well throughout the game.  Their fundamentals were developed, they played tough-nosed defense, and they could finish.  The final score of the game was 59-29, with Zeeland Christian finishing the game on the winning side.  The Rams high scorer was #22, who finished with 20 points and is probably one of the top players in the conference this year.
     For the Runnin' Defenders, Johnny M. finished the game with 11 points, Matthew K. had 7 points, Dylan H. had 6 points, Austin C. had 4 points, and Collin N. rounded out the scoring with 1 point.  While they may not have won the game, the team continue to play extremely hard throughout the game, and gave their best effort on the court, regardless of what the score was.
     The Runnin' Defenders are off until next week, when they play two home games.  On Monday, the team will face Our Savior Lutheran at 4:00, and Tuesday will be a conference game against Legacy Christian at 4:00.  On Wednesday, the 2nd annual Turkey Bowl Buster will take place, which is a scrimmage between the 8th grade boys' team and the male faculty and coaches from DCS.  The time for this scrimmage will be around 3:20, or whenever the teachers feel they have had enough time to warm up.  It will be a fun and busy week for the Runnin' Defenders!