Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Principal's Epistle



www.stmarksmilford.org            http://stmarksmilford.blogspot.com            
Calendar                   
19 Last Science Club until 4:15, Dance Club until 4:15
21 Parent’s Night Out 5-9 PM
22 St. Mark’s has worship services at 8AM, 10:30AM, and 6PM with Sunday Sch. at 9:15AM
23 Principal gone to conference
24 Science Olympiad until 4:30, Dance Club until 4:15PM
25 Chapel at 9:15AM, Martial Arts Club 3:30 – 4PM
26 Science Olympiad until 4:30, Dancing Club until 4:15PM
Prayer Families
Kendall V. (PK), Olivia J. (P4), Audrey T. (3), Zeke T. (K)
Saint Salute
·        A big Saint Salute to those students climbing up the AR Wall of Fame
o   Ian C. (2)                    100 points
o   Michael B. (3)           300 points
o   Liam J. (3)                  500 points
o   Kristen L. (4)             800 points
Notes
This is Ash Wednesday.  Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism.  In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need. Ashes are placed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday, in one of the most counter-cultural acts of our faith. It is done for two reasons: a personal act of remembrance and as a sign or a witness for others.  The ashes come from the burnt Palms from last year's Passion Sunday celebration, which begins Holy Week. So, these ashes bring us back to our last celebration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus for us. On this first day of Lent, we begin a journey of renewal - from death to life. This is a joyful season. We will make sacrifices, in order to try to let God reform our desiring, but this is a time for God to be generous to us.  We are reminded that we are creatures and that our lives were given to us. But, we are also reminded that our lasting home is in eternity, with God. This is not our lasting home.  We are reminded that our call is to turn away from sin and to believe the Good News of our salvation in Jesus. This is a joyful reminder. It challenges us, for sure, but reminds us of why we want to turn from sin.  Finally, we wear our ashes as a sign. It is not a boastful sign through which I say, "Look at me and see how holy I am." No, it is much more like, "I'm willing to wear this sign in the world and say that I've been reminded of where I come from and where I am going. And, I've heard the call to turn away from a life of sin and to give my life to living the Gospel of Jesus."  Occasionally, in this world which is too often caught up in the denial of death, I might be required to answer the question, "What's with the smudge on your forehead?"
Important Dates to Know
21 Parent’s Night Out 5-9 PM
March 8 Grades K-4 sing at the 10:30 service
8-13 National Lutheran Schools Week
9        Grandparents’ Day
21      Father-Daughter Dance
Enrollment for 15-16
If you haven’t turned in your enrollment form for the 15-16 school year, you are encouraged to do so.  The enrollment fee increases March 1.
Parent’s Night Out
The 7–8 grade students of St. Mark’s school invite you to have a night out on Saturday, February 21, 5:00–9:00 pm. 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 will 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?
Father/Daughter DanceFamily Ministries invites both school and church dad's and daughter's to ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK at our 50's themed Father-Daughter Dance here at St. Mark's on Saturday, March 21, 2015 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.  Cost is $10 per couple ($5 for additional girl with a $15 cap).  Evening will include light snacks, flavored ice cream floats from the Soda Shop, a professional photo, and souvenir for each girl.  Registration forms can be found on display in the church Narthex or in the school lobby.  Completed registrations can be given to Mr. Reisenbichler or placed in the church mailbox of Cathi Schulte.  Contact Cathi Schulte at schultecathi@msn.com for questions.
Box Tops Contest Update
Well, we have a new leader in the "Make-Your-Own Sundae" Box Tops for Education Contest.  Preschool 2 year olds are in the lead with 5 Box Tops per student.  Way to go 2 year olds!  In second place we have grades 1&2 with 3.7 Box Tops per student.  The third place room is grades 3&4 with 2.1 Box Tops per student.  Keep those Box Tops coming in until March 18.  Happy collecting! 
Happy Birthday
19        Carson H. (1) & Sydney M. (P2)
22        Trace E. (P4) & Evalyn G. (P3)
23        Brooke A. (6)
Classroom information
Mrs. Schulte (Pre-2)
 We enjoyed another day "About Town" with a focus on "Vehicles".  Our classroom was filled with all different kinds of vehicles.  We enjoyed a Car Wash Sensory Table, and read the book Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld.  At Bible Time, we shared the story of "Daniel in the Lion's Den" by making our own lion masks and playing in our own lion's den filled with stuffed animal lion's.  In Art we made steering wheels, and filled our Letter M with colorful mosaic squares. 
Mrs. Frey (Pre-3,4)
F is for Feelings! Both classes will read How Are You Peeling? and Corduroy to identify different feelings that they have experienced. We will list these feelings and discuss what to do if negative feelings arise. 3’s will create “my many faces” to show these emotions and “what makes me smile” to highlight happiness. 4’s will learn about the color blue as a representation of sadness in a watercolor relief painting. They will also create a mood meter. In Bible Time 3’s will hear the account of the widow’s mite, and 4’s will hear the account of Jesus and Zacchaeus. Both the widow and Zacchaeus were criticized by society, but Jesus showed them compassion and forgiveness.
Mrs. Reynolds (PK)
This week is Q week for Pre-K! We will be learning about the letter Q and how it is often paired with the letter U. We will be discussing opposites further this week as well as learning about rhyming words. We will be doing a fun experiment as we create a snow storm in a jar, and using a Ziploc bag of paint and q-tips to write letters. In Bible we will be looking at our Voyages lesson on Jesus and the five thousand and learn that with Jesus on our side anything is possible.  It is sure to be a fun and exciting week  in Pre-K.
Mrs. Sherman (K)
Kindergarten began the week with a look at Presidents Washington and Lincoln and why we celebrate President's Day.  They completed their 5 senses book, practiced nonstandard measurement, worked with the number of the day and identified blends and vowel sounds. During Bible time, the class heard the account of the widow's mite.  She gave all she had as an offering and trusted God to provide.  The full day students improved their adding skills as they played 'Patriotic Bump", tallied coins and studied Mr Lincoln's Hat.
Mrs. Reisenbichler (1-2)
This week we learned that Jesus is with us in all circumstances.  He is always present to comfort us in times of trouble.  The first graders made their African Animal presentations to the class.  What a nice job they did!  In math, second graders learned more about fractions and equivalents while the first grade worked on attribute rules.  During science we finished learning about the three states of matter.
Mrs. Mayo (3-4)
In religion we will begin the exciting story of Goliath and how he challenged Israel.  We will also begin memorizing the books of the  Old Testament.  In reading we will be working on the figurative language in The Whipping Boy so that we can begin writing our own stories using figurative language.  In Science we will try to finish our models of the planets and then string them.  In math, both grades will be practicing multi-step problems and fractions.
Mr. Postenrieder (5-6)
On Tuesday we took a field trip to the Taft Theater for School House Rock! In our Bible time this week we looked at to whom we should pray as well as where to pray. The lessons on prayer are also a look at our Lord’s Prayer. In 5th grade math we worked with adding and subtracting negative numbers as well as line plots. We enjoyed our Unit 7 test on Friday! In 6th grade math we divided mixed numbers, learned complimentary and supplementary angles, and how to reduce fractions before multiplying. We took Pre-Test 13 on Friday! In our Language Arts time we completed our study of bullying. We began to answer the question: What would you do for family? Our next two stories deal with this topic. In Social Studies we presented power points on the countries of South Africa. In Science we began to work on a project of building a model of the layers of Earth. We also read and noted Chapter 1 Section 1 of our textbook. We appreciated taking a quiz over our reading! In Spelling we continued working with the suffix  -able.
Mr. Mayo (7-8)
We start a new unit in history – The Progressive Era.  During this time the role of government changed somewhat from what it had been during the first century of our nation’s history.  In my opinion, one of our greatest presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, was given the office because of an assassin’s bullet.  He may never have made it to the presidency without this “accident” of history.  God is good, no matter what is going on.
Mr. Reisenbichler (7-8)
In religion we will study lesser known accounts in God’s Word.  In 7th grade math the students are studying the areas of circles and transformations.  In 8th grade math we are studying implied equations, multiple measures, and polynomials.  In science we are learning about phases of matter.  The students are planning a greenhouse in STEM.

No comments: