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. 

No comments: