1st Birthday!

Today is a special day in our family!  It is my daughter’s first birthday.  It seems like yesterday that Renae and I were driving to the hospital for her birth. I do hear from a lot of our families about how time continues to go by quicker as our children get older.

As I reflected this morning about Aubrey’s first year of life, I kept coming back to the reoccurring theme of change in both her life and in the lives of students at Central Woodlands.

A Snow Blower and Student Achievement..An Interesting Connection

During the month of December, it seemed that everyday the forecast called for snow.  It seemed to keep snowing and snowing with no end in sight.  Having lived in Royal Oak for the past ten years, I was not prepared the lake effect snow in Grand Rapids.  I have begun to simply expect everyday to have at least some snow with it!  Luckily, I have a snow blower.  Unfortunately, my last maintenance with my snow blower was several years ago.  I have been able to make it run, but it has been pretty rough.

This snow blowing experience made me think about reading at CW...

CW Connect

I am excited to announce the first edition of our new electronic newsletter, the CW Connect is here!  As a principal, I am always looking for ways to increase communication with our families.  We have a lot going on at CW and the CW Connect is another way for our families to see what is happening at Central Woodlands. Just as with any new project, the CW Connect will continue to evolve to serve the needs of our families.

Please click here to access the newsletter!

Save the Shoes!

Recently, I watched a Ted Talk given by Mark Bezos- a volunteer firefighter...this made me think about the amazing acts of people standing up for each other everyday at CW.

Painting and Teacher Conferences

It is almost time for the big day when our family moves into our new home!  November 23rd is the move in day as our family begins a new chapter of our lives in Forest Hills.  We are so excited to be part of the Forest Hills community and my son is excited to go to Pine Ridge next year!

In order to get the house ready, I have been painting most nights after work and on weekends.  As I was talking with some parents at conferences, I began to see the connection between painting and conferences...

Veteran's Day

Central Woodlands was proud to host a Veteran’s Day assembly. We were honored to have two guest speakers who shared powerful messages with our students. One speaker was an Army Sergeant who recently returned from deployment in Afghanistan. Our other speaker is an active military spouse. Her husband is currently deployed in Afghanistan and has had seven deployments. Both speakers talked about “pride” as it relates to the men and women who volunteer to serve our country so we can enjoy the freedoms we hold dear. Our students were challenged to think of ways to give back to their school, family, and community to make Veteran's Day year round!

Mix it Up!!!

At the end of October, our school participated in National Mix It Up Day.  This is a day throughout the country where students are encouraged step outside of their comfort level and spend time with others than they normally do.  I have been in some schools where this simply meant putting up signs that say "Sit with someone new today."  Well at Central Woodlands, this was not the case...