Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Epistle



 http://stmarksmilford.blogspot.com            
Calendar                   
27 Chapel at 9:15, Preschool staff meeting at 1PM
28 Runner’s Club until 4PM, Preschool Parent’s Night 6-8 PM
29 pizza lunch
31 St. Mark’s has services at 8AM, 10:30 AM and 6 PM
1  No School
2  First day of preschool for Pre-3 and PK, Runner’s Club meets until 4PM
3 First day of preschool for Pre-2 and Pre-4, Chapel at 9:15 AM
4  Runner’s Club meets until 4PM
5 pizza lunch
Prayer Families
Brendan B. (7), Bridget B. (3), Thomas M. (4), Taylor S. (3)
Saint Salute
v A big Saint Salute and thanks to Mrs. Boedecker for cleaning up the uniform exchange table and sorting all the clothes by size.
v A big Saint Salute to those students climbing the AR Wall of Fame: 
o   Tyler F. (6)       1,100 points              Evan N. (7)                100 points
v A big Saint Salute to Michayla E. (6), Angela G. (1), and Haley E. (4) for making their volunteer hours goal.                            
Notes
The first week of school went by quickly.  The students have adjusted to most of the changes.  The 7-8 graders have the biggest change with two “new” teachers.  Runner’s Club has a reward system this year instead of the “old” keep track of your points.  With 20 new to St. Mark’s students in K-8, the returning ones have the unique challenge of welcoming them and helping them adjust in every way possible.  Ask your child who is new in their classroom.  Our students come from 11 different school districts.  Haley and Michayla no longer live the farthest from school.  We have a student that lives over 100 miles away.
I wish to thank each parent for supporting the spreading of the Gospel at St. Mark’s and for choosing us to support their family in the spiritual and academic life of their child.  Truly, God is good!  The School Board is already planning next year since we will have way too many for a 1-2 grade combined classroom.  Every option is being explored.  We are starting now because no room exists to make this split happen.  If you have any ideas, the Board is willing to consider it.

Important Dates to Know
1  No School
2-3 Preschool classes start
 
Forms Due
The Emergency, Photo, Pickup, and Medical Record (if changes happened since last year) forms are due.  The state requires us to have these forms. They may be placed in the red basket in the school hall, brought to the office, or given to me.
Drop Off-Pick Up Procedures
No student may enter the school before 8:15AM unless they are going to extended care.  Those students riding a bus will be dismissed at 3:15PM.  Parents picking up are expected to do so by 3:25PM.  Late pickup fees are applied after 3:25. 
AR (Accelerated Reader)
St. Mark’s pays a large fee for each student to have access to this site.  It supports our reading curriculum while allowing each student to read books on their exact reading level.  Parents may have access to their child(ren)’s records by having their own log in.  This can be requested through the office.  Many students moved up in their point club on the AR Wall of Fame.  Look in the school main hallway for your child’s name.  Quizzes can only be taken during the week at school.
Runner’s Club
St. Mark’s Runner’s Club is for all students in K-8.  It meets after school until 4PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  A brand new system is in place this year.  Parents are invited to join in the fun.  No bus service is available after the club dismisses at 4PM.  Extended Care is available to those registered students.  If it ever rains, Runner’s Club meets anyway – we walk-run in the school. 
School Tuition
Parents are reminded that tuition is now due for the year.  If possible you can fill out a form that allows us to deduct that fee from your account of choosing on the days that you specify.  It can be deducted once or twice a month.  If you used this method last year, you need to complete a new form for this year.  The first payment is due this Friday.
Yearbook Coordinators
Wow! 4 people stepped up to volunteer to help in different ways.  What a great surprise.  Thanks.  I will be in contact with you about your roles that need to be completed. 
Pizza Lunch
We will have pizza every Friday.  Students can pay $55 for the year and receive 3 pieces each of the 34 Fridays or pay $2 per student per Friday.  Order forms are due by 1PM on Thursdays.  We serve Pizza Hut pan pizza only.  Parents are invited to eat with us on Fridays.
Fantasy Football Teams in Place
Mr. Postenrieder has all the teams ready for the season to begin.  Let’s see how well the students know the players.  Or, let’s see how lucky they can be. 
Happy Birthday
30        William N. (3)
3          Even N. (7)

Classroom information
Mrs. Sherman (K)
Kindergarten is settling in to their classroom routines.  They are ready for their first full week of school!  At Bible time, Kindergarten will begin in the beginning as they learn about creation!  They will focus on the creation of people and recognize that each person is special and unique.  During math, the class will explore pattern blocks, compare lengths and countdown to zero.  In reading workshop, they will sort letters on the smartboard, and identify pictures that begin with the sounds t, b and f.  Kindergarten will also practice 1:1 correspondence and reading left to right.
Mrs. Reisenbichler (1-2)
This week in Jesus Time, the children learned about God creating the world and man's fall into sin.  In math, first graders worked on number lines and counting back from fifty.  Second graders were introduced to Roman Numerals and their telling time and money skills were assessed.  Our penmanship skills are improving as we practice verbalizing letter formation.  Snakes and turtles were our reptiles of the week.  The children are talking like scientist when they use their new vocabulary words that include: poikilothermic, herbivore, carnivore, molt, scutes, carapace, and plastron.  Letter sounds using Auditory Discrimination are being learned and the first graders are working with pattern books.
Mrs. Mayo (3-4)
Now that the first week of school is behind us, and we know the rules and routines of the classroom, we can get down to the real learning!  In religion, we went over the accounts of creation and the fall into sin and focused on the promise of the Savior that was given.  In reading we worked on our reading notebooks while reviewing genres, themes, idioms, and characteristics of stories.  We started Ohio history with state symbols and our "place"in the US and the midwest.  We learned about the different branches of science and hopefully will get to a bubble experiment this week.  In math, the 3rd graders are doing a quick review of skills learned last year.  The 4th graders worked on kinds of lines and polygons.
Mr. Postenrieder (5-6)
In our Bible time this week we began to discover the events of Martin Luther’s life. In 5th grade math we reviewed multiplication basics. In 6th grade math we reviewed adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole numbers and money.  In our Language Arts time we took a look at the different kinds of literature we’ll read this year. We also began our first story titled “The School Play,” which deals with facing your fears. In Social Studies the topic was basic geography including latitude, longitude, and hemispheres. We also began our study of Africa. In Science we began to answer the question: “What is Life?” We looked at characteristics and needs of living things. We also looked at how we can see the Creator in these livings things. In Spelling we studied words with the suffix of -ed.
Mr. Mayo (7-8)
We continue our exploration of the Civil War, examining the advantages each side had, as well as the disadvantages.  We’ll be talking about the generals, presidents, and general governments of each side, as well.
We continue our study of Animal Farm in Literature as well as the parallels to the Russian revolution and the abuse of total power, which seems to accompany sinful man whenever he is granted it.  I am enjoying the students, and hope they are enjoying learning as much as I enjoy teaching them.
Mr. Reisenbichler (7-8)
In religion we will attempt to answer the questions, “What does God desire of me to do and What is truth?”  The 7th grade math is studying number lines, divisibility, and geometry while the 8th grade will continue solve word problems and convert measures.  In science the students will continue to take measurements that determines if an egg grows or shrinks in certain liquids found in a kitchen.  They are also starting their first STEM project – making a rocket launch using a propellant. 

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Principal's Epistle



 http://stmarksmilford.blogspot.com            
Calendar                   
20 Chapel at 9:15
21 fire drill
22 Pizza lunch
24 St. Mark’s has services at 8, 10:30 AM and 6PM
26 Runner’s Club meets until 4PM
27 Chapel at 9:15, Preschool staff meeting at 1PM
28 Runner’s Club until 4PM, Preschool Parent’s Night 6-8 PM
29 pizza lunch
Prayer Families
Kendra C. (7), Kaitlyn B. (K), Ethan Q. (1), Caitlin Q. (P4)
Saint Salute
v A big Saint Salute and thanks to David Galenski and family for making the classrooms and hallway so shiny and bright.
v A big Saint Salute to Ethan S. (7) for making his volunteer hours goal.
v  A big Saint Salute and thanks to the Boedecker family for decorating our school hallway.                       
Notes
Welcome to a new and exciting year.  The staff is looking forward to connecting your child(ren) with Jesus while providing an excellent education.  This Epistle will be available for three weeks as a hard copy.  Any family can receive the Epistle is several ways.
1)  email                     2)  web-site                3)  hard copy – upon request to office
4)  the principal’s blog (see address above)
This is a longer than usual Epistle.  Please read it.     
Important Dates to Know
26  runner’s Club Starts
1  No School

New Teachers
We are excited that three new staff members have joined our family.  Mr. Mike Mayo will teach in the afternoons in the 7-8 grades.  Mrs. Christin Frey will teach all the Pre-3’s and Pre-4’s.  Mrs. Brittany Reynolds will teach Pre-K, serve as a kindergarten aide twice a week, and be the extended care director.  We welcome them with open arms.

Forms Due
The Emergency, Photo, Pickup, and Medical Record (if changes happened since last year) forms are due today.  The state requires us to have these forms. They may be placed in the red basket in the school hall, brought to the office, or given to me.

Drop Off-Pick Up Procedures
No student may enter the school before 8:15AM unless they are going to extended care.  Those students riding a bus will be dismissed at 3:15PM.  Parents picking up are expected to do so by 3:25PM.  Late pickup fees are applied after 3:25.

AR (Accelerated Reader)
St. Mark’s pays a large fee for each student to have access to this site.  It supports our reading curriculum while allowing each student to read books on their exact reading level.  Parents may have access to their child(ren)’s records by having their own log in.  This can be requested through the office.  Many students moved up in their point club on the AR Wall of Fame.  Look in the school main hallway for your child’s name.  Quizzes can only be taken during the week at school.

Runner’s Club
St. Mark’s Runner’s Club is for all students in K-8.  It meets after school until 4PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  A brand new system is in place this year.  I can’t wait to tell the students about it on Tuesday.  Parents are invited to join in the fun.  No bus service is available after the club dismisses at 4PM.  Extended Care is available to those registered students.

School Tuition
Parents are reminded that tuition is now due for the year.  If possible you can fill out a form that allows us to deduct that fee from your account of choosing on the days that you specify.  It can be deducted once or twice a month.  If you used this method last year, you need to complete a new form for this year.

Prayer Families
St. Mark’s draws 3 names each chapel to be included in staff prayers and classroom prayers.  Please contact a staff member is you have needs that you would like us to include.

Lunches
Lunches are served every school day Mon. – Thurs.Orders for Sept. are due this Friday.

Yearbook Coordinators Needed
If St. Mark’s is going to have an affordable yearbook this year, at least 2 volunteers are needed to organize it, compose it, and take orders.  Please contact the office if you can help save our yearbook.  This is a process that Tanya Leytze assures me is very easy to do on a computer

Pizza Lunch
We will have pizza every Friday.  Students can pay $55 for the year and receive 3 pieces each of the 34 Fridays or pay $2 per student per Friday.  Order forms are due by 1PM on Thursdays.  We serve Pizza Hut pan pizza only.  Parents are invited to eat with us on Fridays.
Milk
St. Mark’s offers white or chocolate milk at lunch and during kindergarten snack time.  The milk fee for the year is $25/student.  The student may drink as many milks as they wish (within reason).  Milk cards can also be purchased for $2 and is good for 10 milks whenever the student wishes to drink one.

Happy Birthday
21        Caleb A. (K)
23        Ian C. (2)

Classroom information
Mrs. Sherman (K)
Welcome back!  A short first week of school is a great transition for the Kindergarteners, especially those going full day!  The boys and girls are making new friends, exploring their classroom and settling into the school routines. They will create their first class book called How We Got Ready For Kindergarten. During Bible time this year, they will discover that God used ordinary men and women to be His agents.  The Kindergarteners are excited to be an "agent of truth" and share Jesus with others!
Mrs. Reisenbichler (1-2)
We are Agents of Truth in training.   This was a week of learning rules, procedures, and review.  Writing samples were collected and placement testing accomplished.  In science, we started learning about reptiles and amphibians.  We started learning how to make pictures for our artist/writer's workshop.  We are off to a great start.
Mr. Postenrieder (5-6)
In our Bible time this week we went over the rules for class and also began to work on our favorite Bible verse book. We also visited our theme ‘Agents of Truth’ and what it means to be an Agent of Truth which will be a part of our Biblical walk this year. In 5th grade math we went over class rules and procedures and also looked at steps to problem solving. In 6th grade math we went over class rules and procedures and also looked at steps to problem solving.  In our Language Arts time we went over class rules and procedures and also took our Star Reading Test and set AR goals. In Social Studies we went over class rules and procedures as well as took a test on the countries of Africa. In Science we went over class rules and procedures for our worm bin and Bluebird houses. We also worked on our observation skills by drawing and labeling a sketch of our chairs and describing the purpose for this furniture. We will begin Spelling next week.
Mr. Mayo (7-8)
We are enjoying our first week of school.  I certainly hope the students are enjoying me as much as I am enjoying them.  We’ll be working through the Civil War in the first few weeks.  Trying to cover from the Civil War through the present day is a challenge, but we know what we have to do to get through.  I am much more concerned with the students having some depth to their knowledge than just knowing facts.  Did you know that wherever the Union Army went in the South, it became the biggest city?
In Literature, we’re studying George Orwell’s Animal Farm.  It is my hope that the students learn that novels have meanings that are deeper than the stories themselves.   I hope through our studies of Literature, students will solidify their own writing skills, and put more thought into the things they commit to paper.  Of course I will always attempt to teach everything from a Christian perspective, helping them understand the Christian response to situations.  Thank you for your support of this outstanding ministry!
Mr. Reisenbichler (7-8)
In religion we will attempt to answer the questions, “Who am I and What am I doing here?”  The 7th grade math will open the year with a review of mathematical operations while the 8th grade will start with number lines and word problems.  In science the students will perform a lab that determines if an egg grows or shrinks in certain liquids found in a kitchen.  They will start their study of the history of the cell.