The Link Letter 8.28.2026

9/1: Early Release Day, 2:30 Dismissal

9/4 & 9/7: No School, Labor Day Break

9/9 and 9/10: Kick off Community Meetings for 26-27! W- 3-5th and TH- K-2 at drop off time - see details below

9/10: Family Team Meeting, 8:45 - 9:45 AM, directly after the K-2 Community Meeting

What are the school hours? Click Here

What's for Breakfast and Lunch? Click Here, then click on Grand Rapids Child Discovery. We are working with the food vendor to update the menu, there will be changes to this menu thoroughout the week

2026-2027 School Calendar: You may find the PDF of the calendar here, click here to subscribe to the Google calendar, or view it on our website.

Hello, Families!

THANK YOU for such a wonderful, smooth, and joyful first week of school. The children showed up on Monday ready to get going and share their gifts with their school community! Back-to-school time is always a time of excitement, adjustment, and rollercoaster energy for children and families. As such, I love to share the Public Service Announcement (PSA) from Jen Hatmaker each year. It will give you excellent and humorous guidance for how to navigate tonight and this weekend (note: this has been lightly edited for school newsletter appropriateness!)

Well, guess what? It’s time. This is my service to you. I owe it to you. There is a chance you’ve forgotten since last year, or the possibility that you are new to this community and haven’t received my annual PSA.

Either way, listen up, mamas: 

School is starting. Yah-hoo or boo-hoo, dealer’s choice. When my kids were little, we were always limping over the summer finish line. The house had deteriorated into madness, the eating situation was untenable, outside was an uninhabitable desert, and the inmates were running the asylum. TAKE THESE CHILDREN BACK.

Some of you are crying about it, but I’ve never understood your kind. 

Regardless, back they are going. And you! You have fresh, back to school energy. You are doing alllll the things: registration, shopping, school supplies, Meet the Teacher Night, new backpacks, lunchboxes. It’s all happening. You are optimistic and jovial. You have big plans for how awesome you are all going to be at School™ this year. This exact inflated optimism might be the reason you make the worst decision of your life.

I’ll explain…

The first week of school is like sending our little soldiers to boot camp. There is basically no way to explain how wasted they are. These young citizens have been doing Lord-knows-what all summer, and they are utterly out of practice for an eight-hour work day. Between the early alarm, nonstop activity, onslaught of overwhelming info they receive all day, and new year social anxiety, it is a wonder they are still standing upright by 3:30 p.m. The baby kindergarteners are basically in a coma. They are cooked. They are actually boiled. Their little minds and bodies are trashed. The fact that any of them make it to Friday is a miracle. 

“I know!” you might be thinking. “Let’s go have a fun Friday night celebration for the completion of the first week of school!” Your little mind may be imagining dinner out, or some fun local carnival, or the high school football game. “Let’s do something fun!” is what your thoughts might be thinking. “Everyone will love it! We got through the first week! Party time!” 

This is the worst thing you have ever thought. Unless of course your vision includes dragging a hysterical first grader out of Chili’s because you poured his ketchup wrong. Or you have to carry your 79-pound eleven-year-old out of the mall because she is having a physical meltdown. Or, like in our case, you haul your screaming kindergartner, Sydney Hatmaker, over your shoulder at halftime of the Westlake High football game and race out to the car because she didn’t want that blue slushee. 

They can handle NOTHING. Please hear me. NOTHING. They are overstimulated and over-processed and overanxious and over it. You, literally, can do nothing right so hang up that pipedream right now. They will come home and pick a fight, any fight will do, and it will be your fault and you can’t fix it or make it right. Your snacks? Garbage. Your questions? Abusive. Your physical proximity? Why did you even have kids if you were just going to torture them like this??

Here is what you are going to do Friday: First of all, lay off the questions. Leave it. They can’t. They won’t. They are out of words. They are out of cares to give. They don’t want to talk about the cafeteria. Ask next week. Second, don’t take the bait. Accept zero invitations to a fight. Do not make eye contact. Just nod and hmm-mmm and pour them some chocolate milk. They are hungry and exhausted and mental. 

Finally, you have this one job: close all the blinds, turn off all the lights, put the children on the couches, cover them with soft blankets, order pizza, and put on a movie. Your work here is done. This is all they can handle. They will be asleep in 12 minutes. Make your environment as under-stimulating as you possibly can, and back out of the room. This is your Friday night on the first week of school, and if you’re smart, also your Saturday. 

Bonus advice: do not over-schedule the entire first weekend. Let them sleep in. Let them recover. This is a TERRIBLE weekend for a sleepover; I cannot emphasize this enough. Let them sloth their way to Monday when it all starts over. They will regain their footing after a couple of weeks, but this first weekend is NOT IT unless you hate yourself. 

Have a happy, restorative weekend!

Lisa

nuyensl@childdiscoverycenter.org

o. 616-459-0330

c. 517-2063868 (voicenote, text, or voicemail!)

Special Education: We now have all of our related service positions filled and our new team members are getting started! If your child receives, within their IEPs, services for social work, speech and language, and/or occupational therapy, you will hear from the service provider soon.

If you have a child who is in the middle of a special education evaluation or you have requested a special education evaluation, you will hear from the school psychologist, too.

OT: Kate Reimer

SLP: Kiley Collins- Kiley will be with us until mid-October due to someone's maternity leave, and then our permanent SLP will begin.

SSW: Karen Waelke

School Psychologist: Taylor Viele

Online Registration via Skyward Family Access DUE NOW: There are 29 students who need to have the Online Registration completed. Ms. Jessie notified all families to whom this applies. Please complete this weekend. Here is the link to Skyward Family Access. Click on the home icon to go to the main screen, then look for the tile that says 2026-2027 Online Registration. If you are having any access issues, please contact Jessie Hammond in the office for support.

Wealthy/Lafayette Roundabout is Open!: You may have noticed this at dismissal today. Yay! Looks like the work on Lafayette between Wealthy and Cherry is still ongoing, but the road is open.

Ms. Rachel on Medical Leave: Ms. Rachel will be on medical leave from August 31 through September 11. During her absence, our team is here to support you. Please use the following communication and support routes:

Community Meetings start after Labor Day: Twice a month, we will hold Community Meetings. During this time, we have some announcements, share in a community offering from a specific class (each class gets a chance), and sing our Narwhal Cheer. The first community meeting will be a kickoff for the year and will be led by Ms. Nuyens and Mr. K:

Family Team is you! All GRCDC families are considered members of our parent-teacher organization. We support classroom project work, fund field trips, coordinate seasonal celebrations, head after school clubs, host school movie nights and book swaps, provide monthly staff appreciation lunches, and support literacy initiatives.

Family Team is a volunteer-based, participate how and when you can and donate what you can, organization. Monthly meetings are held on Thursdays after the K-2 Community Meetings (dates listed below). There are many ways to get involved with Family Team besides attending meetings: volunteer to help plan events or lend a hand day-of; help with fundraisers and other short-term projects; lead or assist with an extracurricular club; and share our fundraisers with your network. 

Family Team is a low-pressure community where you can participate in whatever way works for you. Whether you can lend a hand once in a while, volunteer regularly, or simply share an idea - all are welcome here!

Get your Narwhal Nation gear! Original designs by paras Ms. Chloe and Ms. Kelli are available for purchase this year as well as a classic narwhal logo tote. Proceeds from Ms. Kelli's design support Neurodiversity Spirit week. 

Order here by Wednesday September 16: https://givebutter.com/narwhal-school-spirit-merch-copy-mz43sa 

Family Team regularly shares information through the weekly Link Letter, Friday Folders, and on the Family Team GRCDC Narwhals group on ParentSquare. 

Have an idea? Share your skills, talent and expertise with us! Email Family Team at grcdcfamilyteam@gmail.com. 

No updates at the time.

Absence Reporting: If your child will be absent from school, please contact us by 8:20 AM if possible. There are a few ways you can contact us about an absence:

If we do not hear from you, ParentSquare will send an automated message around 8:50 AM that you may also reply to. If you do not contact the office to excuse the absence, it will be marked unexcused.