Rockford Campus News

Lost and Found

Take a look at our virtual lost and found items that your student might be missing. 

RCS Office Update

Beginning after Spring Break, Ashley Howe will no longer be operating as the Executive Secretary at Rockford Christian. For the remainder of the year, this role will be shared by Erin Kuipers, Kristin Buursma and Maria Axtman. Please email the RCS Office Email for any questions or to report an absence or appointment. 

School Security Measures 

As a follow-up to our Superintendent Tom DeJonge's email, we want to ensure you that your student's safety is our top priority. Below are our current security and safety measures that we would like to remind our community about as we work together to support our children.

School Arrival:

• As a reminder, students are not permitted in the building before 8:15 am, unless they are registered and scheduled through Kids Care.
• The Main Entrance interior doors will be unlocked at 8:15 am and will remain open until 8:40 am for morning arrival.
• The Middle School Entrance doors will be unlocked from 8:15 am and will remain open until 8:40 am for morning arrival. If buses do not arrive within that timeframe, students will need to walk to the front of the main entrance and enter through the office.
• There will be a staff member stationed at our entrance doors at the beginning of each day. 

During the School Day:

• All doors will remain locked throughout the duration of the school day.
• Parents/Visitors who arrive on school grounds must check in with the Office and will need to wear a visitor badge while they are in the building.

After School:

• The Main Interior Doors will unlock at 3:05 pm for Preschool dismissal and will remain open until 3:40 pm. 
• The Middle School Doors will remain locked.
• Coaches of after-school sports will have access to get into the building through the South West Doors. Students must remain within the gym area, and may not pass the double doors.

Thank you for partnering with us in keeping our students safe! If you have any questions, please reach out to the office. 

Glow In The Dark – Art Show

Join us, Tuesday, May 9, 5:00-8:00 pm for the RCS Art Show!  The students are excited to be creating artwork that glows in the dark for our Art Show! We will have snacks and a flow-in-the-dark face-painting booth! We will also present a selection of art from all the projects we created this year. Mrs. Hoogland is looking forward to celebrating your children's hard work this year in art! 

If you are interested in helping out with this event, sign up here. 

News from the Learning Commons

So many of the students completed the March is Reading Month bookmark reading log! Please make sure to have those bookmarks turned into the library by Thursday of this week.

Spring is here, and it is time for the Eagle Book Awards!  20 top-notch, highly rated, award-winning picture books written in 2022 have been selected by your 3 GRCS elementary school librarians.  All 3 campuses (Rockford, Evergreen, and Iroquois) will be celebrating together -  reading, enjoying, and evaluating these 20 books in April and May. Then, in the last week of May, students and staff will vote for which best picture book is the best for 2022-23.  Think Caldecott Award- GRCS version!

We will be reading and evaluating anywhere from 10-12 of these books during library time together. Students who read all 20 of the books and rate them can become an Eagle Expert - earning a special reward and recognition!

In an effort to make all the books more accessible to all the students (and not spend a fortune on multiple copies for all the libraries), read-alouds of each book will be posted as an activity in SeeSaw Media classes for K-6th grade students. If students chose to "read" the book this way, they will hear the voices of Mrs. DenOuden, Mrs. Boss (IR's librarian), Mrs. Kouri (EV’s librarian), and others they might recognize from across our GRCS campuses.

Check back next week for more information!

RCS PTO Auction! 

We are weeks away from the RCS Spring Auction! We need your help as a community, please take a look at the items you could sign up for. We are putting together several themed baskets {Beach Basket, Cooking Basket, Sports Basket, Camping Basket, Pet Basket, Car Washing Basket} 

We are looking to have all the items by Wednesday, April 12, 2023. We will have an area set up in the main office for all of the items. 

GRCHS Class of 2027 - Make-Up 8th Grade Scheduling Night

Grand Rapids Christian Middle School and Rockford Christian School 8th graders that are planning to attend GRCHS and did not participate in one of the previous 8th Grade Scheduling Nights should plan to attend the make-up night on May 4 at 7:00 pm in the DeVos Center for Arts & Worship. Students and their parents will be presented with curriculum and course options for 9th grade, have an opportunity to ask questions and meet with their assigned counselor to select classes for their freshman year. Register to attend HERE. Please contact Jill Anderson (janderson@grcs.org) in the GRCHS Counseling Office if you have any questions.

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A Note From Outdoor Education

It appears that winter is over! At least the big snow pile along the west side of RCS is officially gone. Our middle school students predicted when it would finally disappear. We had guesses that ranged from February 21 (an optimistic student) to May 23 (a pessimistic teacher). But, congratulations to Miss Quist who predicted it would be gone on April 10! She was only one day off!

Our Pop Can and Spare Change Project was able to raise $219.46 for David's House Ministries. During the month of April, we will be collecting for Homes Giving Hope, a local ministry that has close ties to RCS. On April 28, Sara Boven, Director of HGH and mother to three of our students, will be visiting to talk with our middle school students about the work of Homes Giving Hope.

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RCS PTO News

Our next PTO meeting will be on Thursday, April 20th at 6:30 pm in the RCS Learning Commons. Please contact Lindsey Toth if you are interested in joining or have questions about serving. 

It's Auction time! Mark your calendar now and plan to attend the RCS “Race for the Roses” Auction on Saturday, April 29, 2023. Our goal is to raise $50,000 to benefit the Christ-centered and nature-rich education at RCS. This money will be used to enhance outdoor learning spaces, create a nature-based early childhood playscape, and fund new outdoor recreation experiences for our middle school students. 

Please consider sponsoring our auction or donating an item/service. Please contact Allison Breuker with any auction-related questions.

Take a moment to review the latest PTO Meeting Notes.

RCS Upcoming Events

Save the Dates:

PTO Auction: Race for the Roses

Join us on April 29 for the PTO Auction. More details coming soon! 

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RCS TRIP Office 

The TRIP Office is available on Tuesday mornings in the RCS Office!

New to TRIP? TRIP allows you to reduce the cost of tuition by purchasing gift cards and gift certificates for things you buy every day from hundreds of national and local vendors.

How does TRIP work? When you purchase gift cards at face value, a percentage of your purchase is credited to your TRIP account. Two times per year (November 1 and May 1), the accumulated TRIP credits are applied as payment to your tuition account, or donated to the tuition account you have designated.

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Parents in Prayer

We have a unique opportunity to gather as moms, dads, and grandparents to pray for our school — little siblings are welcome too!

Parents In Prayer will be meeting on Wednesday mornings after drop-off. We will again be meeting outside and walking around the campus. We will follow the guidelines given by the Moms in Prayer organization. You can find the resources that we will use here.

We look forward to having many parents join us this year!