Friday, August 14, 2015

Parent Connection #1

Faith, Hope, and Love…
If this is your first year at Faith Lutheran, welcome to our school family! If you are a returning student family, then welcome back! We hope and trust that you had a summer full of God’s grace in difficult times and in joyful times.
Our theme for this school year comes from
1 Corinthians 13:13 “and now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.One way to understand these qualities or “attitudes” is to consider the actions that they lead to.
What is faith? It is a confidence that what God promises us is true. Faith rests assured that our sins are forgiven not by any work of ours, but by the work of Christ alone. Faith looks to the cross and sees our Savior.
While faith looks to the cross, hope takes us further to the empty tomb. Our hope is not just what we want, but what a confidence in what we already possess and what we have to look forward to. Hope clings to Christ’s promise that, because He lives, we also will live. An eternity in heaven is ours by God’s grace. Our hope is a sure and certain hope.
As faith focuses us on the cross, and hope on the empty tomb, love then turns our focus to those around us. The love that Jesus displayed in his work of salvation for us naturally overflows from us to those around us. Jesus says in John 13:34-35 “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love urges us on in deeds of kindness, so that those who are impacted by our love come to know the Savior’s love for them.
May God bless our students, staff and school family with faith, hope, and love as we begin another year preparing Jesus’ lambs and sheep for this life and for eternity!

We welcome Miss Melissa Mittelstadt to our Faith Lutheran family. Miss Mittelstadt is serving as Early Childhood Director and teacher in our Faith Lutheran Preschool. We thank God for blessing us with her gifts and ministry!

Open Classroom Night
OPEN CLASSROOM NIGHT is Monday, August 17th from 5:00 to 6:45 p.m. Students and families can come in to see the classrooms, meet the teachers, pick their desks, sign up for activities, and join the school family for fellowship and ice cream. Come join us!

First Day of School
            Our first day of school classes is Wednesday, August 19th.  We will begin our day and our school year with a school chapel service at 8:30 a.m. Parents and families are invited to join us as we ask God’s blessing on our school year.

School Uniforms
A reminder that school uniforms are worn Monday through Thursday. The uniform is either a blue or black uniform polo along with khaki (light brown/beige) pants or skirt. Fridays are casual days – students may wear “regular clothes”. Please remember that our dress code does still apply with regard to footwear, etc. Please refer to the school handbook for details.
Need extra uniform shirts? We still have some polos available for sale. Check in with Mr. Schneck at open classroom night. If we don’t have the size or style you are looking for you will soon be able to place an order directly through our school catalog page at www.frenchtoast .com.  We are currently having issues with our catalog order page, but will share the link and more information with our school families as soon as everything is ready to go.
Do you have a school uniform shirt that is in good condition but no longer fits your child? Would you be willing to donate it to another school family? Bring it to the school at Open Classroom Night or any time after. We will have a table to make “gently used” uniforms available to others. Thanks!

Mandatory Parent Meeting
We will be having a mandatory parent meeting on Wednesday, August 26h from 6 to 7 p.m. to discuss school policies and procedures, and the year in general. The meeting will be limited to one hour.

Chapel Services
Our school chapel services are held every Thursday this school year, starting next Thursday, August 27th, from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m.  Parents and friends are welcome!
Our first mission project this year will help support Jesus Cares Ministries, which assists congregations in reaching out to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their families and communities. Please look for more information on this effort in the weeks to come.
Our mission offering is collected at every Thursday chapel service. Mission offering envelopes are provided with the Monday note.

Pick Up- Drop Off    
Please be aware of children, your own and others, when dropping off and picking up before and after school. Be aware of traffic flow in the parking lot. If you wish to just drop off your child, please drop them off at the CHURCH entrance and have them walk back to the school entrance in order to keep the corner clear, or park in the lot and walk your children in, especially if you have little ones. Please also maintain control of your children in the lot, and BUCKLE LITTLE ONES IN before you take a minute to visit with other parents. Let’s all work together to avoid accidents and keep our children safe!

Playground Improvements
You may notice something missing near our playground! The parsonage has been removed, and the preschool playground moved and expanded. Our current plan is to use the foundation of the former parsonage as a basketball court until the area is further developed. Many thanks to the congregation members and school families who donated their time and energy to this project over the summer.

Before School Care
Families using Before Care, please note that Before Care students should enter the building through the ramp door (playground side). This will help us maintain a secure facility. After 8:10 a.m. students should enter the building through the regular school entrance.
The ramp door will be open for those children being dropped off between 7:30 and 8:10 a.m. in the morning. Those being dropped off at this time should go directly to the fellowship hall for Before Care.  Mrs. Koenig will excuse the children to their classrooms at the appropriate time.  

After School Care    
Children who have not been picked up by a parent or designated adult by 3:45 p.m. will be sent to aftercare (3:45 until 5:30 p.m.).  Please remember that you will need to go in to aftercare to sign your child out.  Students will be in the fellowship hall with the aftercare supervisor. Please use the ramp entrance. 

Absences/Tardiness   
Please call or send a note with your child to school to let us know if your child will be absent or tardy.  If you plan to pick up your child early for an appointment, please let the school know ahead of time to give the teachers proper time to prepare work for that student’s absence. 

Hand Chime Choir and Junior Choir
Sign-up sheets will be available at Open Classroom Night in the downstairs hall:
Students in Hand Chime Choir must be in the 4th through 8th grades. 10 students minimum are needed to have Hand Chime Choir! Hand Chime Choir meets during Thursday noon recess. Please contact Mrs. Zarnstorff for more information.
Students in the 3rd through 8th grades are eligible for Junior Choir. Junior Choir meets during the Wednesday noon recess. Speak to Mrs. Schneck for more information.
  
Sports
Sign-up sheets for all sports (Cross-Country, Basketball, Volleyball, Indoor Soccer, and Track) will be available at Open Classroom Night in the downstairs hall.
Faith will again be participating in cross-country running. The season is limited to just a few weeks. Anyone interested in helping us out are asked to speak to Mr. Zarnstorff. Students, boys and girls, must be in the 5th through 8th grades for Cross-Country. Mr. Zarnstorff will send permission slips home with those students who are interested in participating in cross-country running on Wednesday.

Parent Connection
The Parent Connection Newsletter is our regular means of communication with families. Please look for a weekly newsletter to come home with your child every week, typically on Monday! Monday notes are also sent out via email and are available on our Parent Connection blog 

If you are not receiving them via email but would like to, please contact the school office. 

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