Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Principal's Epistle



www.stmarksmilford.org            http://stmarksmilford.blogspot.com            
Calendar                   
21 Science Club and Dancing Club until 4:15
24 St. Mark’s has worship services at 8AM, 10:30AM, and 6PM with Sunday Sch. at 9:15AM
26 Science Olympiad until 4:30 and Dancing Club until 4:15
27 Chapel at 9:15 AM
28 Science Club and Dancing Club until 4:15
31 Open House 1-3 PM
Prayer Families
Elijah F. (1), Olivia J. (PK), Noah M. (P2)
Saint Salute
A big Saint Salute to Evan N. (8) & Will N. (4) for reaching their volunteer hours goal.
A big Saint Salute to those students climbing up on the AR Wall of Fame
Andrew B. (2)                     100 points
Paul P. (2)                           200 points
Will N. (4)                            200 points
Gaven P. (3)                       200 points
Amanda P. (7)                    400 points
Brendan B. (8)                    2000 points
Thoughts
Volunteer service hours are a great way to serve our community.  As we approach the winter season it brings to mind the extreme cold, snow, ice, and other wintry conditions we expect to see this time of year. So grab a cup of hot chocolate and consider these creative ways your family can serve their community this winter.
1.    Carry extra winter supplies in your car to assist distressed motorists.
2.    Contact local emergency shelters to learn how you can support their efforts.
3.    Offer hand warmers to people standing at bus stops or to school crossing guards.
4.    If your kids have had school cancelled, help them write appreciation notes to their teacher.
5.    Offer to watch your friend/neighbor's kids while they run out for groceries or during their work hours.
6.    If a friend/neighbor has mobility issues, offer to walk their dog—or better yet, keep your kids occupied and have them offer to walk the neighbor's dog!
7.    Share or post the locations of heating stations in your area on your social media pages or church website.
Important Dates to Know
21     Lunch order due for February
31     Open House 1-3 PM
Call issued to Mr. Joel Witt
The Voters of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church has issued a call (request) for a new principal for next school year.  Mr. Witt has been teaching in Lutheran schools since 1993 and a principal since 2001.  He has his MA in elementary administration.  Their family has 5 children ages 10 and older.  Please pray that God’s will would be done.
Dancing Club Starts
The Dancing Club for grades 1-4 is on Tuesdays.  Students in grades 5-8 may attend on Thursdays.  Because Science Olympiad will be practicing until 4:30 every Tuesday, those students in grades 1-4 who have a sibling in SO may stay in the Fellowship Hall and study or read 4:15-4:30.
Enrollment for 2016-17
Enrollment for next year has begun.  Open House is Sunday, January 31.  At that time, the community can begin to register.  All enrollments are on a first-come, first-served basis starting Jan. 31. 
Schedule for St. Mark’s for 2016-17 School Year
Pre-2 meets on Friday                     9-11:30 AM
Pre-3 meets Tue. and Thurs.         9-11:30 AM   No PM class for Pre-3
Pre-4 meets Mon., Wed., & Fri.      9-11;30 AM or Monday-Friday 12:30-3PM
PK meets Monday-Thursday         9-11:30 AM or 9AM – 3PM.
Kindergarten meets Mon.-Fri.        8:30-11:30 AM or 8:30 AM- 3:15 PM
Grades 1-8 meet                               8:30 AM – 3:15 PM
Let’s Have Another Contest – Box Top$ for Education
Starting now begin collecting and turning in your Box Top$ for a new contest.  The last winners were grades 5 and 6.  Congrats 5th and 6th graders!  I hope you enjoy your special treat.  This contest will end February 17th. Ask friends and relatives to save Box Top$ for your class.  Turn them in to your classroom collection bin before the 17th.  The classroom with the highest percent per student collected will be the winner.  We are about half way to our goal ($1,000) for this school year.  Have fun collecting!
Winter Closings and Delays
Watch you email, wcpo.com, or channel 9 on the news for St. Mark’s Lutheran delays or closings.  We follow Milford’s lead on this matter.
Science Fair
Although the Science Fair isn’t until March 18, I wanted to let parents know that a display board can be purchased for $3 at the school.  I have seen some boards in local stores for over $8, so I purchased a quantity for a reduced price.  Also, is anyone knows of a willing judge, please let the office know.
Happy Birthday
20        Makayla J. (P4)
23        Marissa B. (P3)
25        Haley K. (7) & Michael B. (4)
27        Ava B. (5)
Classroom information
Mrs. Frey (P-3 & P-4)
Preschool is studying letter M for Mitten. Both classes will read and retell The Mitten by Jan Brett and learn the nursery rhyme “Three Little Kittens.” 3’s will create a mitten using contact paper and tissue paper. 4’s will create a salt and watercolor mitten and play a letter sounds matching game. In Bible Time 3’s will hear the account of Jesus healing the ten lepers. Although ten were healed, only one returned to thank Jesus. 4’s will hear the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand. He can meet all of our needs, even when it seems impossible.
Mrs. Reynolds (PK & P-2)
 This week Pre-K is learning all about W and winter animals. We will be discussing what hibernating is and learning which animals hibernate in the winter. We will also learn how fat can keep animals warm during the cold winter months. In Bible we are learning about Daniel and how God saved him while he was in the lions den.  In Pre-2 we are continuing our zoo theme. We will be reading a story about different animals you may find in the zoo called "Zoo Borns". We will make our own zoo poster using our handprints to create different zoo animals and using stamp pads to make different zoo prints. We will discuss what different animals eat and practice "feeding" them.
Mrs. Sherman (K)
During Bible time, the class will hear of Jesus studying God's word and know that God still speaks to us today through the Bible.  In math, Kindergarten will begin using calculators, compare shapes and create symmetrical snowflakes.  For literacy time, the class will read informational and fiction text to answer the question, "What can we see in the sky?"  They will manipulate sounds to create new words, review sight words and identify ending sounds. Wintery weather and chilly temps are perfect for an art project of cardinals in snowy trees!  The full day students will also play winter themed math games, draw a polar bear and begin a Tacky the Penguin reading unit. 
Mrs. Reisenbichler (1)
This week we learned about the importance of turning to God in times of trouble.  Hezekiah and Daniel taught us about the power of prayer and trusting God in times of trouble.  We took a diversion from routine this week and read The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Gilman.  We also learned how to sew and started making our own pigs.  We also worked on writing our winter stories.  This is a long but valuable process.  In math, we learned about function machines and completed our first math book.
Ms. Rhonemus (2)
This week in second grade we are learning all about schools around the world while focusing on text and graphic features.  Meanwhile, in writing we are answering the ultimate lifetime picnic question...hot dogs or hamburgers?  For science we experimented with the various densities of liquids like water, vegetable oil, and corn syrup.  Seventh and eighth grade created their own online quizzes about space exploration. 
Mrs. Mayo (3-4)
In religion we read about the miracle of Jesus raising Lazurus.  We also discussed heaven.  In grammar we continued working with adjectives by using the comparative and superlative forms. In reading we find out what happened to our main character after she ran away from the orphanage in Riding Freedom. In social studies we learned about South Dakota. The stars, moon, and planets were the subjects of our science studies this week.  In math, the 3rd graders will work with polygons, angles, and symmetry.  The 4th graders continued to practice long division while also learning how to measure angles using a protractor.    
Mr. Postenrieder (5-6)
In our Bible time this week we studied the life of Balaam and the monuments built in the Old Testament. In 5th grade math we worked with the order of operations, line graphs, and negative numbers.  In 6th grade math we added mixed numbers and polygons. We also enjoyed our 11th test. In our Language Arts time we completed a persuasive writing on school uniforms. We also held a debate over the topic of school uniforms. In Social Studies we continued our study on the effect of history on the U.S. and Canada. In Science we looked at the use of camouflage in wildlife. We also looked at what makes a good Science Fair board. In Spelling we worked through Unit 17 on words with the ion and ian sound.
Mr. Mayo (7,8)
We have finished To Kill a Mockingbird.  Most of the students told me it has made it onto their own personal top-ten lists of books they’ve read.  I’m glad I could broaden their education to some degree.
We’re learning about how the founding fathers set up a new government.  There were some who wanted George Washington to be king!  This astounded many of the students.  John Adams thought we should address the president as , “His Excellency and Defender of our Freedom”.   Many others wanted to call Mr. Adams “His Rotundity”, because he was so eager to give grand titles to people.
Mr. Reisenbichler (7-8)
In religion we are preparing for our chapel presentation.  In 7th grade math the students are balancing equations and solving fractional word problems.  In 8th grade math we are solving percent change in dimensional word problems and conducting probability simulations.  The students are making a tire for raining conditions in STEM.

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