Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Principal's Epistle



www.stmarksmilford.org            http://stmarksmilford.blogspot.com            
Calendar                   
8 Chapel at 9:15 PM
9 Runner’s Club meets until 4PM, School Board 7PM
10 Principal gone all day to meetings, K-2 field trip 8:30AM-11:30 AM, Market Day orders due
            School assembly 1PM
11 Parent’s Night Out 5-9 PM
12 St. Mark’s has services at 8AM, 10:30 AM and 6 PM with Sunday School at 9:15AM
14 Runner’s Club meets until 4PM
15 Chapel at 9:15 AM, Market Day 11:30 AM, Biggest Leaf contest ends
16 Last Runner’s Club meets until 4PM
17 K-8 dismisses at noon – no lunch, Pre-4 PM class does meet, Free dress down day
            End or 1st grading period
Prayer Families
Kristen L. (4), Andrew B. (P2), and Morgan M. (P3)
Saint Salute
v A big Saint Salute to those students climbing the AR Wall of Fame
o   Rylan M. (2) & Gaven P. (2)             100 points
o   Haley E. (4) & Taylor S. (4)              200 points
Notes
I would like to take the next 3 weeks to introduce our new staff – one each week.
Our afternoon 7&8th grade teacher is Mr. Michael Mayo.  He comes to St. Mark’s with 40 years of experience as an educator. After graduating from what was then Concordia Teachers’ College, Seward Nebraska and marrying his college sweetheart, Catherine, they took off for their first call in Mt. Vernon, NY, just above the Bronx.  Mike worked at Yankee Stadium in the evenings and during the summers.  Mike and Cathy moved “home” to the Cleveland area, where he taught 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades.  A Call to Toledo to be principal of a new school moved them west.  Other Calls were accepted when the Lord moved them to Cleveland’s East side, and then Cincinnati, where Mike taught and was principal at Concordia Lutheran School.  Before coming to St. Mark’s, Mike was the principal at Immanuel Lutheran School, in Hamilton, OH for 10 years.  He taught grades 5&6 in the mornings.  Reading and sports take up Mike’s time away from school.  He considers himself a life-long learner, and enjoys taking “The Great Courses”, mostly on History, Art Appreciation, and Theology. 
Important Dates to Know
11 Parent’s Night Out 5-9 PM
14-15  School Pictures
17 Early dismissal – grades K-8 dismiss at noon
20-21 No school for all classes, Teacher’s Conference

Picture Day
St. Mark’s will have their school pictures taken on Oct. 14 and 15.  Shannon Hickcox is back to taking our pictures.  She will have several proofs available to you and then you can choose if you want one or more and what package your family desires.  Of course, if none of the proofs are to your liking, we will offer a retake day.  Shannon takes awesome pictures.  The information went home last week and is available in the office.  The form is due on picture day.  Here is the schedule:
Tuesday, Oct. 14
8:30 AM         3-4 grades                 9:30                Pre-3              10:30      Kindergarten
12:45 PM       Pre-3                          1:30                1-2 grades
Wednesday, Oct. 15
9:00 AM         Pre-2                          9:30                Pre-4             10:45        7-8 grades
11:00              5-6 grades                 12:45 PM       Pre-4              1:30                PK
All students have dress up day on their picture day.
Books & Blankets 
Please help us supply books for the Ronald McDonald house.  They could be gently used books. Please bring these books in by next Friday.  Leave the books on the table in the front hallway.  Thanks from Student Council
Box Tops for Education
St. Mark’s will be participating in the Box Tops for Education program.  My name is Gil Schepmann and I’m thrilled to be the Box Tops Coordinator for St. Mark’s.  Clipping Box Tops is an easy way for you to help our school buy what it needs.  Box Tops are each worth $0.10 and they quickly add up to real cash for our school.  This year, our school’s earnings goal is $1,000
To help our school, just look for pink Box Tops on products, clip them, and send them to school.  For more information on the Box Tops for Education program, including a list of  participating products and our school’s progress, visit www.BTFE.com  Be sure to become a member to receive exclusive coupons and recipes and learn about extra ways for our school to earn $.
I hope you’re excited for everything we can do this year with Box Tops!  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at gschepmann@cinci.rr.com.  I’m here to make our school’s Box Top for Education program a huge success this year.
Thanks for your help.
Parents’ Night Out
The 6-8 grade students of St. Mark’s school invite you to have a night out on Saturday, Oct. 11, 5-9PM.  Parents with children from infants to 6th grade may drop them at St. Mark’s so they can spend some quality time together.  The students will watch them under adult supervision with a variety of activities, games, pizza dinner ($3), and other forms of fellowship.  Children will be divided into groups based on age.  A free will donation fwill be taken upon pickup.  The proceeds will go toward their end-of-the-year trip.  When was the last time you had a date with your spouse or time to shop without the kids?
Fund Raisers
Another fund raiser that St. Mark’s has but isn’t used is a Kroger Plus Card.  If you have a Kroger Plus Card you can help St. Mark’s earn rewards.  Go online and register your card with our school at www.kroger.com/communityrewards.  Our school number is 81119.  This is the easiest way to earn rewards for our school without you having to donate or buy anything extra.  St. Mark’s receives a reward every time you use your plus card.  Please help us earn money for daily supplies and fees.
Happy Birthday
10        Lily K. (PK)                11        Jake S. (6)                 12        Mrs. Reisenbichler
14        Grace C. (Pre-3)
Classroom information
Mrs. Schulte (Pre-2)
We continue to enjoy this month 'on the farm' and this week's theme, "Terrific Trees".  In Art, we practiced our tearing skills by making fall leaves to glue to our trees.  We enjoyed the book When the Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger, a tale of how one leaf turns an entire barnyard upside down.  We enjoyed our fall sensory table filled with many items found in nature, and even collected a few fall leaves on our nature hike.  In Bible Time, we worked on our creation book, Day 5: creatures of the sea and sky. 
Mrs. Frey (Pre-3,4)
Preschool is learning all about fire safety this week during Fire Prevention Week. We will practice phrases such as “Get Low and Go” and “Stop, Drop, and Roll.” We will also learn about smoke detectors, the importance of having a meeting place, and that firefighters are our friends even though their air masks can make them look scary. 3’s will create flame art, fire trucks, and a fire hose number line. They will receive a special visit from a real firefighter on Thursday. 4’s will create a fire safety magnet, write a class book of fire safety tips, and play fire safety number identification bingo. The fire department will visit the following week. At Bible Time 3’s will hear about Jacob’s beloved son, Joseph, and the jealousy of his brothers. God helped Joseph be kind and forgiving to his brothers. 4’s will hear about God’s faithfulness to Abraham and Sarah. Although they waited a long time, God kept his promise and baby Isaac was born.
Mrs. Reynolds (PK)
We are excited to learn all about fall leaves and the letter "L" this week in Pre-K!! We will be reading about why leaves change color in the fall and participating in different fall centers. We will be making pumpkin scented play-doh and digging for leaves in our sensory bins!! In Bible this week we are going to be talking about love. How God loves us and demonstrated that by sending Jesus to save us and how we are supposed to love one another!
Mrs. Sherman (K)
Kindergarten's Bible lesson is about Jacob lying and stealing the blessing from his brother, Esau.  Even though Jacob sinned, God had a plan for Jacob. The class is excited to go on their first field trip and visit Blooms and Berries later in the week.  In preparation for their trip, the boys and girls will learn about the life cycle of pumpkins, from seed to pie, and draw oil pastel pumpkins. The full day students will also examine the inside of a pumpkin, create a pumpkin and label its parts. During math, the class will order pumpkin numbers from 1 - 10, participate in math stations and hunt for patterns in the classroom.
Mrs. Reisenbichler (1-2)
This week was a week of firsts again.  We welcomed Paul P. to our first grade class.  The first graders also had their first spelling unit and test this week.  In Jesus Time, we learned how Joshua lead the people into the promised land ,and the first thing they did was build a memorial to remember what God had done for them.  The first graders also had their first performance in reading to another class.  In science, we had our first online lesson of the year, so you see it was a week of firsts.
Mrs. Mayo (3-4)
In religion we began the week finishing up the account of Sodom and Gomorrah and then we began the account of God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.  We also talked about trusting in God this week.  In reading we began the book, There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom.  In math, the 3rd graders practiced subtraction with borrowing and then adding with 3 or more addends. The 4th graders worked on multiplication and division.  In science, we continued working with states of matter.  In social studies, we reviewed regions of Ohio.  In Spanish, we worked on school words.
Mr. Postenrieder (5-6)
In our Bible time this week we looked at are heaven and hell real places, and what makes people special. In 5th grade math we learned how to use a protractor and took an American Tour and measured distances. In 6th grade math we worked with divisibility, ratio, rate, and fractions.  In our Language Arts time we spent the week building our vocabulary and began reading fables, “Ant and The Grasshopper” and “The Richer, The Poorer.”  In Social Studies we finished building globes. We also began to work with the North African region by creating power points on Egypt. In Science we continued to study viruses as well as bacteria.  In Spelling we looked at words where the spelling doesn’t change when adding the suffix –ion and -ian.
Mr. Mayo (7-8)
The close of our discussions of Reconstruction after the Civil War is near.  We will be writing a “what if” piece, wondering if Lincoln had not been shot, would our world be different today?  An interesting question, don’t you think?  In Literature we’ll be making our first foray into writing a short story.  We’ll learn how to set up a map, so we’ll know something about the character(s), the conflict(s) and the resolution before we begin writing.  I want them to appreciate the books we read, and how much time goes into writing a good one!
Mr. Reisenbichler (7-8)
In religion we will study what God’s Word says about cheating in school.  In 7th grade math the students are calculating the LCM, solving word problems involving averaging, and estimating answers.  The 8th grade is learning the laws of exponents and solving ratio problems.  In science we will be continuing our study of.  The students are planning and making a special snack in STEM.

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