Chatter 2.24.21

First Lutheran Church Sunday Services: 9:00 Sunday School: 10:15 a.m.

Church: 580-762-1111 www.flcspc.com

David Birnbaum, Principal School: 580-762-9950 website: flcspc.com E-mail: lutheransecretary@yahoo.com Child Care: 580-762-1124 FastDirect: fastdir.com/flcspc February 24, 2021

CARDINAL CHATTER 3/12 End of 3rd Quarter; 11:20 dismissal 3/14 Daylight Savings Time Begins (Spring Forward!)

3/15-19 Spring Break – No School 3/29 Picture Day! Watch for flyers coming home later 4/24 FLCS “Best Friend Happening” (see below)

Enrollment opens to the public Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel)!

Lutheran Schools Week Talent Show; 2:00 & 5:15 (print application on FastDirect under “links” / get one in the office)

COVID UPDAT E

3/1 3/2 3/8-12 3/11

Covid Update - We praise God that we have been able to come together again. We praise God for the foresight and technology that we have been able to provide learning during these difficult times but in person has been so much more successful at every grade level. Keep healthy, safe, and warm.

RE-ENROLLMENT REMINDER: Are you coming back in August?! We need to know! As of NEXT MONDAY, enrollment opens to the public for next school year! Attached to a prior Chatter were your enrollment papers for the 2021/2022 school year; you can print an additional copy from the “links” tab on FastDirect, or stop by the office to get a new one. To hold your students’ spot for next school year, be sure to return your enrollment forms and 1/3 of the enrollment fee (if applicable). We are still limiting class sizes due to COVID, and some classes were already full this year, so please don’t wait until the last minute to let us know if you plan to return next year.

If you know a family new to First Lutheran School that is interested in enrolling, have them call the school office for enrollment information. If they have a student in 1st – 6th grades, make sure to ask them to list you as a referring family on their enrollment sheet. If they remain enrolled through the first semester, in January of 2022 you will receive a $200 credit towards your tuition account! ELEVEN families earned credit last month just by referring friends!

DUE TO COVID, we will NOT be awarding Perfect Attendance awards this semester.

A BEST FRIEND HAPPENING is scheduled for Saturday, April 24, 2021, 8am-11:30am for all the mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and friends. This event is sponsored by LWML. MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND WATCH FOR FURTHER DETAILS. PICTURE DAY — Picture day is scheduled for March 29. New flyers will be sent home closer to that date.

CONOCOPHILLIPS is discontinuing matching retiree gifts to the school, effective March 1. If you have a relative or friend who is retired from ConocoPhillips, and would like to make a contribution and have it matched, they need to get the donation to the office and complete the form by the end of THIS week.

REFER A FAMILY—GET CREDIT! 11 (eleven) school families received a tuition credit last month just for referring an enrolling family to First Lutheran School. How do you get this for yourself? We start taking public enrollments for next school year on March 1, so start talking about First Lutheran School now to your neighbors, relatives, parents sitting next to you at games, random strangers in line at the grocery store, etc.

Tell them when they enroll to be sure and list you as a referring family. If they enroll a 1st – 6th grader, stay (1)

enrolled through the first semester, and list you as referring them, in January of 2022 you will automatically receive a $200 tuition credit (or a percentage of that if they list more than one referring family). It’s that easy!

It’s the easiest way to lower your tuition in the month that your Christmas credit card bill arrives!

Can I have your grocery receipts instead of trashing them?? Since the BoxTop program has gone virtual, we are missing out on BoxTop Rewards. If you are willing, after you go shopping for groceries, home, or office, could you (*) put your receipt in the black box in front of the office, (*) bring them to Connie in the office and I can scan it and give it right back, or (*) put them in an envelope addressed to “Connie – office” and put it in your child’s backpack / take home folder / have them give it to their teacher? I’ll scan them with the BoxTop App, and then I will trash them or return them via your child (if you write your name on the receipt). Don’t worry about checking to see if there are any applicable products in your cart—it just takes a second to scan it, and if we get nothing, at least we tried. BUT…sometimes there are BoxTop Rewards associated with non-food items like Ziploc, Hefty, Paper Mate, etc. You just never know, so it’s worth a shot!

Of course, you can download the app yourself and scan the receipts if you would rather. Thank you!

OH! We always would like to scan your Staples receipts to get extra Staples rewards for the school; that is in addition to you putting the receipt in for your own rewards; they’ll apply the Rewards to both your account and to a registered school!

SCHOOL OFFICE—TAX STATEMENTS: If you would like a printout of your payments to First Lutheran during 2020 for tax purposes, you can print them off by logging into your FastDirect account, click on the “finances” button on the top, click on “tax report” on the left-hand side, then choose the year you want and click on “Tax Year Printout”. It will bring up a page to print with your payments to First Lutheran categorized and totaled, and it will have our Federal Tax I.D. number on the top (it’s 73-6083110).

Alternatively, you can request a tax statement from the office by calling 580-762-9950 or sending a FastDirect email to Connie Erickson. This will include school-related expenses only; summer daycare tax statements must be requested from daycare by sending a FastDirect email to Heidi Daley or calling daycare at 580-762-1124. Not all payments to FLS are tax deductible, and you should contact a tax advisor to find out what can be written off, and what cannot.

PRINCIPAL – Mr. Birnbaum: This is the last week in February and so next week we open up enrollment to the public. We thank you for the MANY that have already re-registered to save a spot and we pray that we don't miss the opportunity to educate so many more in the new year.

PRE-SCHOOL – Mrs. Colvin: This week in Preschool we are learning all about the letter N and the sound it makes while also practicing other skills we have learned! I hope everyone is thawed out and ready to learn and have fun!! Have a great week!

PRE-KINDERGARTEN – Mrs. Kelly: Welcome back! What a crazy two weeks we have had. Thank you all for completing your distant learning packets and returning them! If you haven't returned yours please send back tomorrow.

We decided to wait until Friday to count the 100th day food drive cans. If you would like to send anything else, have it here by Friday morning. Book orders for March are in folders today. We will celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday next week with special dress up each day. Look for the note in folders today. Our Bible words this week are, Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13 We are reviewing the letters Gg,Ww,Xx and starting the letters Vv,Jj,and Xx. Have a blessed week!

KINDERGARTEN – Mrs. Miller: This week we celebrated the 100th day of school on Tuesday! It was a great fun day! We will continue to collect cans to count for the 100th day the rest of this week, so bring them anytime! We will put all of the classes cans together and count them on Friday. Dr. Seuss week is March 1st to the 5th; please look for the special note in your child's backpack. We will have special dress up days. Our class wants to wish Jillian a happy birthday (2-23)! The children and I are happy to be back in school this week. I would like to thank all the parents for a wonderful valentine’s party with awesome treats and the fantastic gifts given to me. Have a great blessed time for the last few days of February!

FIRST GRADE – Mrs. Birnbaum: It’s so great to be back in school! Hopefully we have had enough winter weather to last for awhile! For the rest of the school year, we will be working on learning the 10 Commandments for our Memory Work. This Friday is the 1st Commandment - You shall have no other gods. Information and an order form came home today for purchasing our class book. Please see the attached note for this information. Friday is Show and Tell.

Here are the 2 choices to choose from: 1- Something that represents your favorite sports team (Ball cap, t-shirt or jersey, (2)

signed ball, trading cards, etc.); 2 - Something that represents your favorite color (pink bracelet, red socks, etc). We will collect cans for the rest of this week and count them on Friday. Thank you for your help with this! Have a wonderful week!

SECOND GRADE – Mrs. Powell: Welcome back! The children seem eager to be together again. Thank you so much for all you did to keep your children on track during our week off. I praise God that everyone stayed safe and warm. This week we will say the 8th commandment and meaning. We're on track to finish before Spring Break! Thanks for a fun Valentine party. BE WATCHING FOR RESCHEDULING INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRIP TO LEVEL UP ARCADE! Blessings!

THIRD GRADE – Mrs. Steichen: Welcome back!! That was some crazy weather we had. Thank you all for doing all your work. We are slowly going through it all and grading it. Please be patient and keep checking on FastDirect for updated grades. We only have less than 3 weeks left till the end of the quarter. This week: Memory: Apostles Creed, due

by Friday. Spelling Test on Friday. Reading: Reading How to Eat Fried Worms. Social Studies: Finishing up our Famous African American papers. Science: Test on Friday. Study guides went home on Monday. Have a wonderful week!! BE WATCHING FOR RESCHEDULING INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRIP TO LEVEL UP ARCADE! FOURTH GRADE – Mrs. Sibley: WOW!!! We are all here, what a blessing to see the classroom faces again! After looking at the calendar, I noticed that there are only three weeks left of the quarter. Please continue to help the kids to show the effort needed to finish out this grading period strong. I am staying in the room after school this week to be available for kids to ask extra questions and help them stay caught up if needed. Winter weather has not completely left us. Make sure kids are dressed appropriately for the daily weather. We are really going into material that requires time to think, process, and respond to more complex detailed questions. It is really necessary to be organized, study & practice for what is being asked of us. Continue practicing the multiplication table; we are now doing long division & exponents that require exceptional math fluency. Help the kids to be patient to be with these specific & detailed processes. Keep studying for West region, the kids know of good materials. Keep reading for the year end AR goal. Let’s not change books when we are close to finishing and being ready for a test. BE WATCHING FOR RESCHEDULING INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRIP TO LEVEL UP ARCADE! FIFTH GRADE – Mrs. Schatte: What a crazy last two weeks! Finally, we're back at it in the classroom. We're doing some reviewing and moving forward. I have to say I missed these students! They bring a lot of joy to my life. Do you realize it is only two and one-half weeks until Spring Break?! That does not seem possible! Tests this week are spelling and reading on Friday. We are memorizing the prepositions in language daily. The state report booklet is due the Friday before Spring Break, which is March 12. Blessings! BE WATCHING FOR RESCHEDULING INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRIP TO LEVEL UP ARCADE! FIFTH GRADE SCIENCE – Mrs. Hanson: We are back to working through our science book. We are learning and will hopefully be using the engineering process. Ask your student about the evolution of a device they use so they can show you how engineering has redesigned it to make it better.

When we complete lessons in our book, I wanted to let you, the parents, know what should be done with each lesson (the kids DO know this). Each lesson title needs to be turned into a question and as the student reads through the lesson they are to underline information that answers that question. The "Active Reading" task needs to be done, and the work boxes or any blank work area needs to be completed. These criteria are teaching students how to use a textbook, withdraw important info, and truly learn and retain the important concepts.

MIDDLE SCHOOL F.L.Y. – Mrs. Heitman: During Lent, F.L.Y. will run from 5:30 – 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday’s.

Mrs. Scott: Mr. Birnbaum and I are overall very impressed and happy with our Middle School students and the effort they gave during our 2 week virtual learning. THANK YOU, parents, for encouraging your children to participate and continue learning even in the more difficult learning environments.

Personal Finance – Mrs. Scott: We are learning about how to make a budget this week.

5th Grade Math has their 11th math test THIS Thursday. We will continue on with Lesson 60 on Friday and complete Investigation 6 beginning of next week.

6R Math wrapped up Chapter 7 with a test yesterday. We began Chapter 8 today with Geometric Relationships.

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6A/7R Math wrapped up Chapter 8 with a test yesterday. We began Chapter 9 today with Percents.

7A Math has been reviewing the past few days. We will take our Chapter 8 Test on Thursday.

8R Math is in the middle of Chapter 7 with Percents.

8A Math wrapped up Chapter 6 with a test yesterday. We will continue on with Chapter 7 with Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities.

Mrs. Hanson: I know it has been a crazy past 2 weeks. I also know that some do not thrive in the virtual learning environment. What I am hoping for, now that we are back in school, is for all of us to start fresh, turn a clean page, and appreciate in-school learning. Something I have noticed lately, in most students and in all grades, is that students are doing work just to do it, to get it done, and to get a grade. I would like all of us to focus on the true goal and purpose of work in school which is to learn and understand. I can promise that if work is done with the intention of actually learning and working toward full understanding, that the grade will follow and reflect accurately. I would also like us all to remember that grades are simply a form of communication and as soon as they are viewed or treated as something else or more they lose their value. I appreciate and understand stressing the importance of grades, but let's make sure we are putting the weight on them for the right reason.

6th grade is working through quite an abstract concept, atoms. But most 6th graders really seem to love learning about atoms even though they can't be seen. We are going to connect our knowledge of atoms to elements and the periodic table and then eventually to bonding and chemical reactions. All learning is done by "scaffolding" but this unit more than any other is built from the bottom up and therefore concepts need to be learned in order to build on each one. The more students talk about and "teach" someone what they are learning the more they understand and retain.

So please ask your student to teach you something about atoms and the periodic table.

7th grade is swimming through a bunch of information about the Earth's waters. We have covered tides, waves, and currents. We will be assessing this unit with a project. Some of the project can be worked on during class but some will also have to be worked on independently at home. Specific information will be given before a due date is set.

8th grade is taking a walk on the wild side as they explore the world of animals. Animals are some of first concepts we learn in science at a very young age, but as the 8th graders will tell you, there is so much more than what we think we know about animals. So the students are learning, arranging, and describing the major groups of invertebrates and vertebrates. Most students also start this content area with some HUGE misconceptions. Some in the past have asked "what kind of animal is a penguin", "spiders are animals?!", and "do snakes have bones?" This class has even had some eye opening epiphanies. Ask your student about a misconception they had about animals.

Ms. Kester: It's nice to see everyone again, happy and healthy. We got right to it in the classroom. History students have taken their quizzes and are working on their spring projects. Religion students in seventh and eighth grades are delving deeper into God's kind of love while sixth-graders are learning how to appreciate their blessings and giftings with a character analysis of Esau. And, let's not forget our French students! They are set to go shopping, as we are learning the names of all types of clothing and accessories. It's been a blast to be back in the classroom, and I pray this little note reaches everyone in high spirits. Enjoy the sun!

Mrs. Harbeson: Hello, Everyone! It's been awhile and it's good to be back at school. I'm so very thankful for the technology we have here at First Lutheran and the ability to stay connected and keep up with our learning when we are forced into distance learning. I was VERY impressed with how dedicated and timely all the students were during distance learning. Good job! Now that we are back at school, we are picking up right where we left off while we were learning from home. All classes are continuing with their sentence work and diagramming in language. In literature, we are focusing on short stories and plays. I pray that you are all well and that you have a wonderful "rest of your week!"

First Lutheran Church & School—Growing up into Jesus, Reaching out with Jesus, Walking together in Jesus * - * - * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * - *

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ARE WE HAVING A SNOW DAY?! IS SCHOOL OR DAYCARE CLOSED? Right now, before the next weather event, please make sure that you have your FastDirect Login I.D. and password. In the event that school may be cancelled due to inclement weather, we will send a message on FastDirect. It will email and fax you the message also, if you have chosen that option, but FastDirect is limited in how many characters will be sent, so PLEASE…if you don’t know your login i.d. and password, contact the office at 580-762-9950 to get set up.

FastDirect is also useful for checking grades, emailing teachers, printing tax statements, seeing what’s for lunch, etc.

We have outside recess every day, and some days are VERY cold. Please send a jacket with your student to school EVERY DAY! Also, please make sure their name is in the jacket. They will have a much more enjoyable recess period if they are warm, and so will the staff who is supervising them! (If you cannot afford a jacket for your student, please contact the office, and we will work to find one for your child(ren).)

Well, some of it! First Lutheran collects and earns credit for recycling ink and toner cartridges (full or empty) and electronic devices like old phones and tablets! (No desktops, please.) Please bring them to the office or pull up out front and call us, and we’ll come get them. Please help us keep our costs down!

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Disclaimer: This institution is an equal opportunity provider

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