Fremont Christian School - Always Christ

Teaching for Transformation Core Practices: Transformational Lessons - Inviting the Learner TfT in Ten Words: The invitation of a transformational lesson ignites wonder in learners. Inviting the Learner Feature: Outdoor Education with Mrs. Bull “I deeply hope you Find God’s Fingerprints dwelling in all of creation. Together, we will worship God by stewarding creation well.” My storyline for the Outdoor Education students is Stewards Finding God’s Fingerprints. For Kindergarten-2nd graders, I invited learners into the story by igniting a sense of wonder. I showed them a series of pictures with bugs and amazing facts like: Did you know that some caterpillars have 12 eyes! Praying mantises have only one ear, and it’s located on its belly! Periodical cicadas emerge from underground once every 13-17 years! Next we thought as a group, who decided that caterpillars would have 12 eyes? Who put one ear on the stomach of a praying mantis? Who taught the cicada to live underground for 13 years?! God did! God created the biggest things like stars and the moon, and teeny tiny details like the ear of a praying mantis. He even created each and every detail of you. The Bible tells us that we are “wonderfully made!” (Psalm 139:14) I like to imagine God taking a piece of clay or playdough and molding every detail of creation. And left behind are his fingerprints. We can Find God’s Fingerprints in creation when we stop to look at all the details. “I deeply hope you find God’s fingerprints dwelling in all of creation. Together, we will worship God by stewarding creation well.” After our invitation, we got busy discovering the details of God’s creation through bug catching! We learned how to use tools for proper observation and shared how we could find God’s fingerprints in even the smallest detail of a bug!

Buddies: Today many of us had a chance to meet with our buddies and do activities together. Some of us did projects together, colored together, read books with each other, interviewed each other, and played games! It was great to see the students interact with each other and get to know one another more.

This week our students in grades Kindergarten through 6th grade were able to spend time at Camp Henry. They did adventure experiences, teamwork challenges, and spent time as Creation Enjoyers!

Family Groups: Our school met together this Friday morning and divided into our new Family Groups for 2022-2023. These are all age groups that will do activities together about once a month. This month we met each other, did a circle together, and colored puzzle pieces to show that we all have a piece together and belong to this new group – our new little family group community.

It was a great morning to experience a rainbow!

TfT in 10 Words: A teacher’s deep hope guides the classroom Christian learning journey. Deep Hope Feature: Maestra Alleman’s Deep Hope is that “you strive to be like Jesus by being willing to be moved by God, do His work, and show His love to others.” She challenged her 6th grade students during their morning circle to find an opportunity to show God’s love to someone else. The following day’s morning circle, each student shared one way they showed God’s love and recorded it on a heart to display on their storyboard. This acts as a visual reminder of God’s love for each student, and how we are called to love each other. As the year continues, material learned in her language arts and social studies classes will continue to dig more into how that deep hope can be lived out.

The 3rd graders painted the background of their still life artwork in art class.

Evidence: Faith! This month, our school is talking about Faith: knowing, loving, and following Jesus. In chapel, we talked about the evidence of God in creation, in his Word, in the lives of faithful followers, and in the 12 disciples actually seeing that Jesus came alive again. We learned how important it is that we need to put our faith in Jesus as our personal Savior, and need to follow Him in what we say and do. Our verse for this month is Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Take time to talk to your children about what faith in Jesus means to you!

The Outdoor Education students have been working hard preparing our spaces for growing and learning. While working, we learned how to identify plants vs. weeds and observed creatures like slugs, grasshoppers, and even a praying mantis eating another bug! Check out some of these before and after pictures!

The 6th and 7th graders have been learning about archaeologists. This week, they designed and created tools that an archaeologist might use. Then, they went on a dig! After finding several artifacts, they needed to create theories as to what the society the artifacts belong to may be like.

For science class in 3rd Grade Spanish Immersion, we became meteorologists. In the course of 2 weeks we will be observing the weather, discussing changes and similarities in the weather, and also what we think is causing these changes.

The first grade OE students practiced word work through paint chip spelling and rainbow spelling. They also learned all about garden tools in OE and explored how they work!

Enjoy Friday and Monday off from school for Labor Day Weekend, FCS Families! Here are some photos from our week to send you off!

Our 8th-grade students were able to learn from Tammy and Allie from Wellspring this morning. Students learned about the effects of Dementia and aging, and also participated in a simulation that reduced the senses of sight, hearing, and touch/mobility. We are excited to partner with Wellspring this year!

Today was the first “Miércoles de Merienda” of the school year! Last year, Kindergarten and Second grade Spanish Immersion classes started a FLEx project called “Miércoles de Merienda”/ Wednesdays are for snacks. Our classes were selling snacks every Wednesday with the main purpose of raising money to donate to Hand2Hand in Fremont, Michigan. We raised over $2,000 dollars and provided food for kids facing weekend hunger in our local community. This year we will continue selling snacks every Wednesday, and we will be donating that money to different causes.

New Teacher Feature! We welcome Wendy Rosado de Ortega as our 5th Grade Spanish Immersion teacher! Join us in welcoming Profe Wendy to the FCS staff and read more about her below. “My deep hope is for my students to be God's image-bearer and to humbly steward the resources and gifts He has given them for His glory.” - Profe Wendy Name: Wendy Rosado de Ortega Position: 5th Grade Spanish Immersion Bio: I have been a disciple of Jesus for more than 25 years. God has given me a wonderful family, my husband, Francisco Ortega, and 3 children: Francisco Josué, Franc and Eloisa. I’m Dominican, and I enjoy teaching and learning. I have a bachelor's degree in modern languages, with a specialty in bilingual education. I’m certified in TKT and Christian Education. Hobbies: Reading, traveling and making puzzles are some of my hobbies.

Evidence of the Spirit Theme Introduction Chapel: We started our first official chapel this Friday morning by giving praise to God in singing and motions for all he has done for us, and in how we may want to move and shine for him. We looked at different kinds of evidence: words, using our 5 senses, and actions and deeds. We talked about how we want to act the way God wants us to act in our lives. We need to show the evidence that we belong to God. We get our power, strength, and knowledge about following God’s ways from Him. We left with the question: What evidence am I showing?

New Teacher Feature! We welcome Erika Haring as our 1st Grade Outdoor Education teacher! Join us in welcoming Mrs. Haring to the FCS staff and read more about her below. “My deep hope is that you will show love, share truth and shape the hearts of others. Shine bright in His kingdom, little ones!” - Mrs. Haring Name: Erika Haring Position: 1st Grade OE Teacher Bio: A quick introduction to me! I have been teaching 1st/2nd grade for 6 years at New Era Christian School and 1st grade has become my passion! Beside that, I have been married for 2 years and have 2 step daughters ages 9 and 11. My husband works full time in Sparta and is a Lieutenant on the Newaygo Fire Department. Our family attends Resonate Church in Newaygo and have been there for many years! We are also recently licensed foster care parents! Hobbies: In my free time, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, reading and going fishing on our beautiful lakes!

New Teacher Feature! We welcome Jen Messer as our 5th Grade Outdoor Education teacher! Join us in welcoming Mrs. Messer to the FCS staff and read more about her below. “My deep hope is that you are joyful, curious caretakers of the world and people around you; continually digging into God's work to seek the truth.” - Mrs. Messer Name: Jen Messer Position: 5th Grade OE Bio: I am married to my wonderful husband, Dave and have two boys, Liem and Killian. We also have a small pack of dogs, Finn, Chip and Scout. Hobbies: We love to watch football, especially the Spartans (go Green!), hunt, shoot our bows, spend time on our pontoon, or take our side by side on the dunes.

New Teacher Feature! We welcome Mike Folkema as our 4th Grade Outdoor Education teacher! Join us in welcoming Mr. Folkema to the FCS staff and read more about him below. “My DEEP HOPE is that students will SEE God’s story, SEEK Him in His Creation, and SHARE that joy with All those around them.” - Mr. Folkema Name: Mike Folkema Position: 4th Grade Outdoor Education Bio: My name is Michael Folkema, and I am the fourth grade outdoor education teacher. I grew up in Fremont on a dairy farm, and I am a graduate of Fremont Christian School. I completed my education degree at Calvin College, where I met my wife, Mary. I taught in Lansing, Illinois and McBain, Michigan, and then our family settled near Detroit, where I taught third and fourth grades for many years at Dearborn Christian School. Mary and I have eight children (our two youngest are students at FCS), and we’ve loved living in Fremont and enjoying West Michigan! Hobby: Our family enjoys spending time at Fremont Lake, where I am the designated boat driver on our old Mastercraft ski boat for skiing, wakeskating, tubing, and surfing. I’m excited to share my love of God’s creation with fourth grade students this year!