Celebrating Valentine's Day in Kindergarten

Celebrating Valentine’s Day in Kindergarten is an exciting event. All month the Kindergarteners talk about how they can show God’s love to everyone in their lives. They talk about how showing love to others is a form of worship. The Kindergarteners find fun ways to secretly let their families know how much they love them.

Last week the Kindergarteners had their Valentine’s Day Party. They had four stations that they rotated to and did an activity. One station they decorated a heart shaped cookie. One station they decorated a mailbox with stickers to put their Valentine’s in. They made a wall hanging craft with Valentine bears at the third station. The fourth station was a graphing/sorting activity the Kindergarteners did with conversation hearts. After they completed their stations, they had a valentine snack with a valentine trail mix, crackers and cheese, fruit kabobs, and carrots and dip. All the mothers help to bring in party supplies for the Kindergarteners.

The favorite part of the party is passing out Valentine’s. Some of the Kindergarteners are proudly able to read the names on their cards and pass them out themselves. The ones that aren’t quite able to do this yet get help from the parents. It is fun to watch them take the cards and treats that are passed out to them very seriously as they attempt to read each message on all the little cards. The cards are always chosen with care and include their favorite characters like Disney princesses, Sponge Bob, and even flip cards with dinosaurs. The room is full of excitement as the cards are passed out.

I’m sure all of you remember their elementary Valentine’s Day parties with fond memories. I’m glad for now, the Kindergarteners can have fun celebrating Valentine’s Day with their friends by having a fun party.

- Annie VanTine, Sophomore

Physical Science Demonstrations

Wednesday, January 6 was the birthday of my science teacher, Mr. Langdon. Soon after class started Mr. Langdon brought out a bag of dry ice. Everyone was excited because we had been wanting to see some demonstrations with dry ice for a while.  

            Mr. Langdon told us that dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide, and is extremely cold. It’s so cold you could get frostbite by only touching it for a few seconds. We also learned that dry ice doesn’t melt; it converts directly to a gas, through the process of sublimation.

Mr. Langdon then took a beaker full of warm water, and put a piece of dry ice in it. He said the water had to be warm because the dry ice would start freezing it otherwise. When he put the dry ice in the water it started steaming. He was able to take the beaker and pour the “steam” out onto Erica’s head, illustrating that a gas is a fluid. Next he mixed dish soap and water into a large graduated cylinder, and then dropped dry ice inside. The concoction created white, translucent bubbles that steamed when we touched them. When he put too much dry ice in it created so many bubbles he had to put the cylinder in the sink. The last dry ice experiment Mr. Langdon did was filling a big bucket with water and dumping the rest of the dry ice into it. It made so much steam, that it spilled over the side of the bucket and made it so that you could barely see the floor near the bucket.

 

            Another fun activity we did that day involved more soap. We took a bar of Ivory soap and stuck it in the microwave. The bar of soap grew and it sort of looked like cotton candy.  We were able to mold and squish the fluff before it cooled too much and became crumbly. The air next to the microwave smelled very strongly of Ivory soap, and all our hands smelled strong as well.

            - Christi Evans, Freshman

Senior Night

February 15 was Senior Night, when all the CCS senior athletes were honored. The JV and Varsity boys’ teams played basketball games against the River Rats of Black River of Holland. It was a fun night at Calvary Christian Schools, where a lot of school spirit was shown.

            Senior athletes from all sports teams were honored. These sports included volleyball, basketball, cheerleading, soccer, track and golf.  The ceremony took place during halftime of the JV boys’ game.  The athletes walked out with their parents at their sides. Pictures of the seniors were projected on the screen, from baby pictures to current ones. The cheerleaders passed out light blue carnations to each senior girl and mom.

            The JV boys’ game seemed like a loss in the beginning.  But, with less than a minute left and a tie score, Calvary pulled out a win over Black River! Nate Wichman made the winning basket. The crowd cheered wildly as the last buzzer sounded. A win for the JV team! The ending score was 29 to 27.

            The Varsity game was also close. Both the Rats and the Eagles played rough. Despite the four-day winter break, the stands were full. The crowd cheered enthusiastically after every basket. The Eagle Mascot even made a showing, encouraging school spirit. The game lead went back and forth. With minutes left in the fourth quarter, the teams were tied. It was down to the wire but the Calvary Eagles came out on top! Everyone was so excited. The final score was 43 to 41.

            Senior Night was a fun night of competition and recognition. The 2013 Senior Athletes were recognized for their commitment to CCS Sports. The JV boys won a close game against the Black River Rats. And finally, the Varsity Boys won a close and intense game. That night was an amazing night for Calvary Christian Schools. It was just another example of how awesome it is to soar with the Eagles!

            - Michelle Postiff, Freshman

Eagle Basketball Update

Eagle Basketball is now halfway through the regular season. The two varsity teams have had a good first half and hope to continue to play well in the second half of the season. The Lady Eagles have nine wins and only one loss. The Lady Eagles are number one in the Alliance League conference. The loss came from Muskegon Catholic Central in the home gym of Catholic. The Eagles turned the ball over twenty-nine times in the game. It was a very physical game. The Lady Eagles were not used to that type of physicality. The Lady Eagles beat Catholic Central last year in the district championship. They are also looking forward to rematch in the first round of districts this year.

The Lady Eagles have also had two players hit one thousand plus career points. Senior guard Haley Mohr hit one thousand career points a few weeks into the season. Only two games later, sophomore guard Taylor Richards hit her one thousand career points mark. Both girls were presented with flowers. They also each got a basketball that had their names on them. The balls will have the total career points put on them when Haley and Taylor graduate. The balls will be placed in the CCS trophy case.

The varsity boys are started the season with a disappointing two wins and four losses. Since then, the boys have gone on a six win streak. That streak ended at Muskegon Catholic Central. The boys came out very well. They were trailing the Crusaders by only one at the half. The score was twenty-nine to twenty-eight. At the start of the second half, the crusaders came out shooting the lights out. They were hitting almost every shot. The crusaders had thirteen players on their roster and the Eagles only have eight. Muskegon Catholic ran the ball and tired out the Eagles eight players. The game was very physical. The Eagles were not as strong as the Crusaders. This was partly because many of their players also play football in the fall. The Eagles are nine and five on the season now. The boys are looking forward to playing Muskegon Catholic Central again the the second round of districts if the Crusaders are able to defeat Algoma Christian in the first round. They are also number one in the Alliance League conference.

The junior varsity boys, the varsity boys, and the varsity girls are looking forward to playing West Michigan Lutheran on Friday, February eighth. The game will take place at Davenport University in Grand Rapids. The junior varsity will play at four thirty, the girl at six o'clock, and the varsity boys at seven thirty. This is going to be a challenging conference game for all three teams. Come out and cheer for your Calvary Christian Eagles!

            - Brendan Hamilton, Sophomore

Cooking Tuesday Elective

Things are winding down since 2 weeks ago being exam week, and just last week being a very eventful week with lip syncs, and homecoming. People are starting to get back into the swing of things, and getting back to their old schedules. Many peoples consist of the same things: school, sports practices/games, homework, finishing it with sleep. Then just starting the same thing again the next day. Luckily, there is one thing students can continue looking forward to, which is Tuesday Electives!

New electives are beginning since we are starting the 3rd quarter. This time the electives are cooking, weight training, and conversational French. The cooking students were very excited when their teacher Mrs. Rasmussen told them there first day in the class that they were cooking breakfast!
 
First, Mrs. Rasmussen talked about why its important we should eat breakfast. She listed reasons like, it helps us to concentrate and remember things better in school. After that, she taught us how to make things similar to pancakes, but were much healthier. They contained things likes oats, egg whites, and more. While some people were doing that, others were making yogurt parfaits. She then showed us how to make poached eggs. A lot of the students were excited to see that because they have always seen people make them on the cooking channels and have always wanted to try them out for themselves!

The students loved being able to try everything they were learning to cook. But right before the class ended Mrs. Rasmussen said that they were going to make smoothies. Everyone was very excited for that. She showed the students that if you don’t like to eat breakfast, just adding some protein powder, lots of fruits, some spinach would give you have a complete, healthy, and delicious tasting breakfast right there!  Students were a little skeptical about the spinach and protein powder part. But when they tried it, and realized it tasted like a regular smoother, they were very impressed!

All the students are very excited to learn new things in all of these elective classes, and they are a great thing for students to look forward to in a week!

- Megan Beals, Senior

GH Power Plant Field Trip 2013

Today at Calvary Christian Schools Mr. Langdon's 9th grade physical science and 10th grade chemistry classes went to visit the Grand Haven power plant. The students were to learn about combustion, energy, limiting reactants, and how electricity is produced by using coal.

We arrived early at around 8:30 and entered the power plant, then going into a room to receive a lecture which would slowly turn into a tour throughout the power plant. We started by heading up to the second floor to check out the generator, where the temperature was 122 degrees Fahrenheit. We entered the room and quickly left to explore more of the plant.

We headed up more stairs to look inside the furnace, the flames of the furnace are blinding and are not to be played with. After 30 minutes we found ourselves at the top of the plant looking at the final way that the electricity is produced. Then tons of anxious students wanted to go onto the very top of the plant, the roof. It was a long walk of almost 20 sets of stairs but when we got there it was a relief, the cold air rushed into the faces of students and cooled them down from the 115 degree heat of the top of the plant. We then attempted to work our way back down, we got a head count and then headed back to school to finish out the day.

  - Ryan Cashler, Sophomore

No More Sidelines - 2013

Friday, January 31, the Girls’ Varsity Basketball team partnered with a group called No More Sidelines and experienced a night that was arguably one of the most special of the season.. Coming off a tough loss the night before, it was refreshing to take a step back and look at all we’ve been blessed with. This night taught us a lot about counting our blessings.

No More Sidelines is an organization that helps get kids with special needs learn how to play sports and get involved. NMS is dedicated to integrating children with special needs into the community and giving them opportunities where the kids can have fun. NMS not only helps the kids feel a sense of belonging but also the parents know that they’re not alone.        

The kids started arriving around 6:30 and were not shy of grabbing a ball and shooting around. We all got to different hoops and started getting to know them. After a few minutes of shooting around, Coach Brad had us work on passing. We worked on that until they got the hang of it and then announced it was time to scrimmage.        

Scrimmaging is definitely their favorite part. We split them up into four teams and sent some of the varsity girls with each team to be “coaches”. It’s really neat to see the kids get so excited to be playing in a real game.   They had the biggest grins on their faces at all times. Even simple things like catching a ball or making a basket had the kids cheering like they had won the super bowl. How often do we, who are blessed with so much, stop to really think and thank God for what he’s given us? These kids teach us all a valuable lesson about humility and gratefulness.

Along with their generally cheerful spirit, the No More Sidelines participants were over-the-top encouraging to each other. While it was interesting and somewhat different to play a game of basketball where a player got to shoot until they made the basket, it was very neat to hear both teams erupt in cheering as soon as the basket was made. There were more high fives and pats on the back then most high school teams see in a whole season!  How different would this world be if we all adopted this kind of attitude?

The attitude that no matter what difficulties we face, instead of retreating into self-pity we make the choice to look outside ourselves and bless people with whatever we have to give. Some people may say that we blessed the kids we played with on Friday; but I think everyone who was there would agree that they blessed us in more ways than we could have ever believed was possible.

- Hayley Mohr and Natalie Kapanka, Seniors

Homecoming Banquet 2013

January 21st through the 26th was homecoming week/spirit week for CCS students, 8th through 12th grade. It is the time of the year that all students look forward to. This year’s theme was Broadway/Musicals.

Tuesday was twins day where you dress the same as someone else but that day was a snow day so Tuesday and Wednesday’s themes were combined. On Wednesday you could either dress up as a twin or someone from any musical. Thursday was class color day, each class got a color and you had to wear at least 3 items of that color. Every Friday of spirit week is school color day, so we all have to wear blue and gold.

For me, Homecoming Saturdays are the best because that is the day of the Homecoming banquet! I look forward to this day every year. It is always so much fun! This years banquet was at Mcgraft Park. We had salads and you could choose either beef stir fry or cheddar and bacon covered chicken.

Also, there were many different kinds of cupcakes to choose from and they all had very unique flavors. There were root beer, peanut butter and chocolate, banana, red velvet and many more flavors of cupcakes. The food was very delicious!

After everyone was done eating there was an activity. It was a kidnapping mystery. We had to find out who kidnapped the English teacher. A man chose people from the audience to be the suspects of the kidnapping and the characters just had to repeat everything he said. After that we asked the character yes or no questions to find out clues and the man told the character to say yes or no to the questions. It was entertaining and funny to watch!

After we were done at Mcgraft Park, we headed over to the Sherman Bowling Center and bowled two games. It was a fun night! Can't wait until next year!

- Morgan Rude, Junior

New Eagle's Landing

There has been a new concession put up in the balcony instead of in the little corner of the main entrance of the gym. The new concession stand consists of a more variety food and drink items. Some new items are nachos, hot dogs, chili dogs, walking tacos, and much more.

The concession stand was help set up by Mr. Hamilton who works at Gordan Food Service. The new concession stand is supervised by some volunteer adults who come and set it up and get it ready for the games of that night. The concession stand is also run by students, they get paid for working it and the money goes in their account for their senior trip. This is a good way for students to raise money for their senior trip that they take at the need of their senior year with their class. Any high school student is allowed to work the concession stand they just need to contact Mrs. Greeno beforehand.

The new concession stand was moved up to the balcony because they wanted more space and a place for people to sit and eat but be able to watch the game at the same time. The concessions stand food is now stored in a room up in the balcony so that the volunteers or students do not have to make trips from the kitchen to the upstairs.

The students and adults love the new concession stand and its new items. Also how they are able to watch the game and sit down with the family to eat a little snack to a meal. The new concession stand has created a great family friendly atmosphere at the sports games.

- Jeff Britton, junior