August 22nd Newsletter

AUGUST 22, 2016

WELCOME BACK
We welcome back all of our returning students and add a special welcome to our new students and staff. St. Paul’s Lutheran School begins the 2016-2017 school year with an enrollment of 130 students. We praise God for each of these students and ask His blessing on them as they go through the school year. Our staff and student numbers for the year are as follows:

Pre- School Mrs. Philippi-Aden 26 students
Pre-Kindergarten Mrs. Philippi-Aden 24 students
Kindergarten Mrs. Eisele 12 students
1st Grade Mrs. Hagemeier 12 students
2nd Grade Miss Leseberg 16 students
3rd Grade Mrs. Oltmans 13 students
4th Grade Mrs. Gellermann-Long 11 students
5th Grade Mrs. Brisbois- AMMrs. Duever- PM 16 students

Mrs. Brisbois also teaches Music, Mrs. Smith- Secretary, Mrs. Hintz- Pre-School Teacher Assistant, Mrs. Burgess- Pre-Kindergarten Teacher Assistant, Jane Oeltjen serves hot lunch, and our custodian is Thad Loomis. We welcome Mrs. Shannon Burgess as our new Pre-Kindergarten Teacher Assistant. We ask God’s blessings on all our staff as we begin this new school year.

NEWSLETTER
We will publish a weekly newsletter on Mondays. This letter will be uploaded to our Sycamore Portal and sent as an e-mail. We will be sending home a monthly calendar again this year. Please keep it handy so you can refer to it throughout the month. We hope this will help you keep track of upcoming school events.

WEBSITE
Check out our St. Paul’s website at school.stpaulbeatrice.org. The teachers are working to add more to their classroom information. There is also a link for school lunch menus.

PRAYER FAMILIES
The staff will continue our Prayer Family ministry this year. Each week at faculty devotions and at Chapel we will be praying for some of our school families. As Christian mentors we want to model for our students the importance of lifting up community members in prayer. When your family is a Prayer Family, you will receive a letter from Vanessa Smith, our secretary. Please let Mrs. Duever or another faculty member know if you have any specific prayer requests. We will begin our Prayer Family program the week of September 5th.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
The All School Field Trip will be held on Monday, September 19th. We will travel as a school to Vala’s Pumpkin Patch. The cost is $12/adult and $7.50/child. The cost includes a train ride and pumpkin for students, and a train ride and pumpkin coupon for adults. More information will be coming home soon!

CHAPEL OFFERINGS FOR AUGUST & SEPTEMBER- MERCY MEALS
We will be sending our offerings to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Odell, to assist with their purchasing of foods for Mercy Meals. The Mercy Meals program packs nutritious food that is delivered to children in need throughout the world. We are also planning a packing event here at school. We will keep you posted as plans are made. We will need many volunteers! Last week, we sent home a small green envelope with students in Grades K-5 which may be used for a Chapel donation during the months of August or September.

BAPTISMAL REMEMBERANCE CHAPEL
This year we will be celebrating Baptismal Remembrance Chapel on the second Wednesday of each month. At this Chapel, all the students who were baptized during the current month will come forward to receive a baptismal gift and participate in the responsive baptism reading. This month, our Baptism Chapel will be held Wednesday, August 24th. We will be celebrating July and August baptism birthdays.

LUNCH
Lunch prices for this year are as follows: Regular lunch price is $2.80. Milk only price is $.50. The Federal Hot Lunch guidelines were given out at registration. Look over the information and return the form by Friday, August 26th if you are eligible for free or reduced price lunches.

BANK IN SCHOOLS
Our Bank In Schools program begins next week, Tuesday, August 30th. Each week students will be able to make deposits into their savings accounts at Pinnacle Bank. For every 5th deposit, the students will receive a small prize. The bank will be open from 8:00-8:30 AM. If your child is bringing in their deposit using the small black zippered pouch from Pinnacle Bank, please write their name on the inside of the pouch to ensure that if it is lost we can locate the owner.

SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday School at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church will begin Sunday, September 11th. The Sunday School classes will be held in the church basement at 9:15 AM.

SINGING IN CHURCH
Please watch your email for a not about having your student(s) sing in church with our school family on Sunday, September 11th at 8:00 AM. The email requires a response by filling in the name(s) of your children and checking “yes” or “no”. This will help us to plan for singing that day.

SCRIP PROGRAM
Purchase gift cards and help our school raise money! An information form was available at registration. If you would like more information or an order form, please contact the school office. If you wish to purchase gift cards this month, order forms and payment is due Wednesday, August 24th. Forms may be dropped off at the school or church office.

BEFORE/AFTER SCHOOL SAFETY
One of the areas of concern for our students is their safety. Please continue to use caution when dropping off your children before school and picking them up after school. We realize the pickup area gets congested and so brings the potential for accidents. We feel the following procedures will help minimize the hazards:

  • When approaching the school from the North (off Garfield), please parallel park on the West side of Prairie Lane. Do not cross traffic flow by turning left into the diagonal parking lot.
  • Do not block the crosswalk on the north end of Prairie Lane. It is illegal to park in a crosswalk zone. Also, cars must stop and let students in a crosswalk cross the street before proceeding.
  • Please do not stop in the middle of the street to pick up students. Park on one side or the other before loading students.
  • Ask your child to walk to and from your car (not run) and not to approach your car until it has come to a complete stop.
  • Another area of concern is the morning drop off of students. When you drop off your children when coming from the south, please park in a parking stall before letting your children out of the car. Do not stop in the street to drop off or pick up students.

These procedures, along with the drivers’ caution will continue to keep our students safe.

TESTING
This week, the K-5 students have been taking easyCBM Math and Reading Assessments.

SUNMART RECEIPTS
SunMart cash register receipts update: We started the year with $142,411.26. Currently, our total is $146,488.86. Thanks for saving them over the summer! For those who may not be familiar with the program, we collect receipts until we have receipts totaling $150,000.00. We turn them in to SunMart, their home office then sends our school a check for $1,000.00. To date, St. Paul’s School has received $20,000.00 through this program since we started with it in 2005. We have used these funds for computer software and other things, so we really appreciate your help in collecting SunMart receipts.

In Christ,

Amy Duever

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