Principal's Epistle

St. Mark’s Lutheran School, 5849 Buckwheat Rd., Milford, OH, 575-3354

www.stmarksmilford.org            http://stmarksmilford.blogspot.com            

rreisenb@hotmail.com or stmarksmilford@yahoo.com

Calendar                   

28 Chapel at 9:15AM

30 No Pre-4 class – Parent Teacher conferences

1 St. Mark’s has worship services at 8AM, 10:30AM, and 6PM with Sunday Sch. at 9:15AM

3 Election Day, Science Olympiad for grades 5-8 until 4:15, Stacking Club for 1-4 until 4:15

4 Chapel at 9:15 AM, Preschool chapel 1PM, staff mt. 3:30 PM

5 Science Club for grades 1-4 until 4:15, Stacking Club for 5-8 until 4:15, Picture Day, School Board mt. 7PM

6 Picture Day

Prayer Families

Rebecca F. (P4), Lucas R. (P3), Haven S. (PK)

Saint Salute

A big Saint Salute and thanks to the volunteers that so graciously gave of their time and energy to make the Walk-a-thon a success.

A big Saint Salute and thanks to the top 3 students in collecting for the Walk-a-thon:

1^st        Kristen L. (5)

2^nd       Bridget B. (4)

3^rd        Jordan S. (1)

Thoughts

      One of the mysteries that can hit a parent early in the morning on a snowy day is the announcement of school closed or school delayed.  St. Mark’s will communicate this message via email to each parent, Facebook, and TV (channel 9 only).  Also, if Milford is closed or delayed, then so is St. Mark’s.  Those that ride other busses to school must realize that if their district is closed, no transportation is available to St. Mark’s (if St. Mark’s is open).

Important Dates to Know

5-6 Picture Day

8  Children in K-8 sing at the 10:30AM service

11  Veteran’s Day Luncheon at 11:50 AM

October tuition is now due

Special Clubs

St. Mark’s holds many clubs during the year for grades 1-8.  Science Club for grades 1-4 will begin November 5.  Stacking Club for grades 5-8 begins on that same date.  Students in grades 5-8 may join Science Olympiad with practice beginning Nov. 3.  This club requires a commitment of every week attendance.  This is actually a team that practices 23 events for competition on March 5. Any student can join this team.  However, only 15 may be on the competitive team on March 5.  Stacking Club for grades 1-4 starts on Nov. 3.  Helpers are welcome to any and all Science Club Thursdays.

Picture Days

St. Mark’s will have a new photographer this year.  Harriet Kurp, a photographer who took pictures for King of Kings for many years, will present us with a different type of photo opportunity.  No money is due on Picture Day.  Within two weeks every student will receive the same package – 2-5x7, 2-4-6, 6 wallets, and a class photo.  Each family has 3 options:

1. Return the package and owe nothing.

2. Keep the package and owe $27.50.

3. Keep the package and add as many options (a-la-cart) as desired.

Picture Day Schedule

Thursday, Nov. 5

9:00                            Kindergarten

9:30                            PK

10:15                          Pre-3 AM

11:00                          Grade 1

1:00    PM                  Grade 2

1:30    PM                  Pre-3 PM

2:00    PM                  Grades 3-4

Friday, Nov. 6

9:00                            Grades 5-6

9:30                            Grades 7-8

10:00                          Pre-2

10:30                          Pre-4 AM

12:45PM                    Pre-4 PM

All students may dress up on their picture day – no uniforms are required on their day.

Walk-a-thon

St. Mark’s Walk-a-thon made over $7,100.  We will now begin to purchase those proposed projects and resources.  Thanks to those students who helped make this happen so successfully.  The following is a summary:

Preschool      $1,296                        Kindergarten             $595

Grade 1          $882                           Grade 2                      589

Grades 3-4    $860                           Grades 5-6                $1,405

Grades 7-8    $1,010

Student Council Needs Your Help

The second quarter is well underway, and Student Council is already planning for Christmas.  In an effort to decorate the school sufficiently this year, Student Council is asking for donations of decorations.  We are looking especially for Christmas lights, ornaments, garland, etc.  Donations must be brought in by December 2 and can be dropped off in the marked cardboard box inside the school entrance. 

Student Council is doing “Cookies for Courage.”  This is a program where people bring in cookies and they are donated to fire and police stations as a symbol of appreciation for their work.  Those who want to participate should bring in a dozen or more homemade cookies by November 5.

Operation Christmas Child—Fill a Shoe Box
It’s Operation Christmas Child time! The Women’s Guild of St. Mark’s church invites all to participate in this mission. Operation Christmas Child is a program that allows us to provide Christmas presents to children in other countries who are affected by war, poverty, disease or disaster.  Here’s how it works: Grab a shoe box from under the Women’s Guild table near the Fellowship Hall. Choose either a box for a boy or girl.  Follow the directions in the attached flier which will tell you how to fill the box. FYI ~ No toothpaste, please. Write a check for $7 to “Samaritan’s Purse” to help cover the cost of shipping these gifts overseas. Place your check inside your filled box, put the rubber band back around the box, and make sure your boy/girl label is on the box with appropriate age range marked. Return the filled box to the Women’s Guild table by November 16. Thank you!

Veterans’ Day

For Veterans’ Day, we are having the veterans come for lunch.  If you have a veteran in your family, please bring them on Wednesday, November 11.  We will provide lunch for them           

Happy Birthday

28        Rebecca F. (P4)

31        Michayla E. (7)

1          Finn B. (PK)

2          Ian S. (3)

3          Ava C. (P4)

Classroom information

Mrs. Frey (P-3 & P-4)

It’s Pumpkin week in Preschool! We are excited to lift the top off a pumpkin and discover what’s inside! Both classes will also be cooking- 3’s will make pumpkin pudding and 4’s will make pumpkin muffins. 3’s will create pumpkin bracelets with cereal, and 4’s will create pumpkin life cycles. In Bible Time 3’s will act out the account of crossing the Red Sea. 4’s will learn about Moses’ birth and how God uses him to His glory.  

Mrs. Reynolds (PK & P-2)

Pre-k and Pre-2 both have their first class parties this week! Both classes are very excited about our parties. Pre-k's party is Thursday and Pre-2's is on Friday. Pre-K is learning about the letter N this week. We will be learning words that begin with the letter N and sorting letters that do and do not have holes in them. We will also be painting leaves to go on our classroom tree. We will practice our sight words and counting by 5's. Pre-2 will continue with their on the farm theme this week we will sing Ol' Macdonald and discuss how God made all the animals.

Mrs. Sherman (K)

Kindergarten is going batty!  They are studying bats as they read about bats, conduct echolocation demonstrations and learn how a mother bat locates her pup in the nursery.  During bible time, they will hear of God's special job for Moses - leading the Israelites out of Egypt.  In math, the boys and girls will paint and cut symmetrical shapes, review patterns and count the room with teen numbers.  In the afternoon, the class continues their study of bats by unscrambling sentences to create a book about bats.  They will also use nonstandard measurement to determine the length of bats.

Mrs. Reisenbichler (1)

This week we started learning about leaders in Jesus Time.  There is no such thing as a perfect leader, but those who seek God's direction when leading tend to be the most admirable.  During this unit, we will learn about leadership qualities that are God pleasing.  In math, we worked with visual patterns, numerical patterns, odd and even numbers, and number grids.  Our reading lessons were based around music.  We tried to make our own drums in class using recyclable materials.  The children also learned to write thank you letters this week.  In science, the children finished their unit on force.

Ms. Rhonemus (2)

This week in second grade we are learning all about animals and how they build their houses in reading while learning how captions and bolded worlds help the author give us important information.  In science we also learned about animals and their different habitats.  For our art project of the week we decided to show kindness and make cards for an elderly lady who has no children or grandchildren to send her drawing and cards while she is in the nursing home.  In social studies we learned about how gloves are models of the earth that can show us land and water.  We also read about different explorers like Marco Polo, Juan Ponce de Leon, and Lewis and Clark.

Mrs. Mayo (3-4)

In religion we'll be studying the accounts of Jesus preaching at Nazareth and raising Jairus' daughter.  In reading, we continue to read The Tiger Rising diwhile working on character studies, settings, and figurative language. In grammar, we will begin helping verbs.  In social studies we will learn about Kentucky and North Carolina.  In science we will learn about magnets and electricity.  In math the 3rd graders will work on perimeter and area while the 4th graders review for a test and then begin a chapter on decimals.

Mr. Postenrieder (5-6)

In our Bible time this week we completed our look at the life of Job and began to study the call of Moses. In 5^th grade math we learned the partial quotients and long division algorithms. In 6^th grade math we enjoyed our 5^th test. WE also worked with angles, area, and expanded notation. In our Language Arts time we are working on writing a poem entitled “The ________________ Night Before Christmas.” The kids are filling in the blank with something from their life and writing their poem. In Social Studies we began to study cultures of the world. In Science we cleaned the flower beds and collected seeds for next year’s beds. We also cleaned and refilled the worm bin.  In Spelling we worked with word shapes, fill in the blank worksheets, dictation, and proofreading.

Mr. Mayo (7,8)

We get to read Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart  this week!  I will read certain parts to them, so they get the tone of the story the way Poe intended.  I LOVE to read that story!  We are happy that we don’t have to be afraid.  The Lord tells us in Joshua, “Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Mr. Reisenbichler (7-8)

In religion we are studying how God blesses our career choice.  In 7^th grade math the students are calculating the area of a triangle and solving proportions.  In 8^th grade math we are solving equations and finding the circumference of a circle.  The students are making edible cars in STEM.