October 10th, 2024
Principal Corner
On this day in 1929 my father was born in Rabbit Lake Township in Crow Wing County which is a little northeast of Brainard. My father and mother were major influences in who I am today. My father was a Pastor and served churches until he was 85 years old. My mother was the stable influence at home and sewed, quilted, baked goods, and did whatever else was needed around the house. Eugenia jokes that I grew up like Beaver Cleaver. The influence of my parents led my sister, brother and myself, all into ministry. Eugenia and I will joke with each other and will call each other by our father’s name when we see the other do something that would be typical of what our fathers would do. More than likely it is the stuff that our fathers had done that drove us a little crazy and now we are doing the same things ourselves. Each of us is very much a product of our parents. We spend more time with them and we tend to become like them, there is even a whole series of commercials based on that fact. Yet, we want to blame others if our children have faults or we want to look away and rationalize that the behavior is normal. The fact is that our children become what they see and hear in the home. I remember saying to myself when I grow up, I am not going to be like my parents. Thank God, I was wrong and the things that were important to my parents and emphasized in the home have stuck with me and made me who I am today. What you want your children to be like is what you need to model in the home. And we have the model of Jesus Christ to help guide us and direct us how to live our lives.
WEEKLY REMINDERS
FUN RUN results will be totaled and reported soon, I promise!
LAST HOME GAMES THIS WEEK. Please see the volunteer page under the parents tab or click HERE to sign up. We cannot run these games without volunteers and students do NOT count toward Parent Service Hours. They are for the Parents to get involved.
If you arrive or your children arrive after 8:20, please have them report to the office. We still appreciate them getting signed in with the Procare App but we need a report to the office first. Thankyou.
Make sure you are notifying the school via Procare or email that your child is leaving early ahead of time or will be absent. We can coordinate best and make the most of your time if we can plan ahead. Middle school schedules are very different than they have been so knowing ahead of time will help reduce delays for everyone.
If you are here to pick up your children early or have something to drop off to them, please help minimize interruptions in the classroom by stopping by the office. Same goes with dropping things off for teachers, please stop in the office.
Please wait outside the school until 3:05 pm and have your children come to you EXCEPT for Preschool parents.
Make sure that you are paying Tuition in separate payments from SAC/WAC care. Tuition is reported differently than childcare for taxes. Therefore we ask you do not lump them together when making payments so that we can accurately report your totals at the end of the year. Preschool however, is reportable on taxes as a childcare expense.
Calling all FB users. We need your help! You will notice that we are beefing up our Facebook presence (Instagram soon) and while we work hard to put the content up, it’s you that can make the REAL difference. When you see TLS posts, please take a minute to LIKE, COMMENT on, or SHARE the content. Every time you engage with our FB page it spreads our message further and further. We have something so special here at Trinity and we want everyone to know about it.
LOOKING AHEAD
LAST HOME GAMES THIS WEEK - check the Volunteer Page - under Parents tab on the main website to sign up to help!
4th GRADE went to History Fest today! Hope they had a blast!
3rd - 5th Choir sings on Sunday, Oct 13th at 10:15 am Service
MEA BREAK IS COMING! Oct 17th & 18th NO SCHOOL. Reminder - All Preschool, SAC and Wraparound care follows the school schedule. If there is no school, there is no care.
Select grades will be getting hearing and vision screening on Tuesday, the 15th of October.
LAST VOLLEYBALL GAMES Tuesday, October 15th - AWAY at St. Paul’s Truman
TEACHER FEATURE
HELP WANTED
Substitute Teachers: Have you ever considered being a substitute teacher at TLS? We occasionally need A substitute teacher throughout the school year. If you are available during the day and would be willing to be a substitute teacher, we would welcome you, here at TLS.
Requirements: You must have a background check done by our school prior to subbing.
Helpful qualifications: Love working with children, good at following directions, some experience or classes in education, has discernment in understanding when students may be stretching the truth, willing to ask when not sure what to do.
AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM: We are seeking team members for our afterschool program! Candidates must be 18 years or older and able to work 2 to 3 days per week. As a program assistant, you'll help students with homework, participate in fun activities, and foster a positive learning atmosphere. The hourly pay is $15, and training is included. If you're enthusiastic about working with children and positively impacting their lives, don't miss out on this opportunity. Apply today and become a valuable member of our committed team!
Librarian Sub - We have a wonderful librarian, Jan Stockman, but she will be gone for a longer amount of time during the winter months. Looking for someone willing to come in once a week to do the library program for our elementary students. She does more than just check out books and would love to see that continue while she is absent.
THAT’S A WRAP!
Congratulations on another season wrapped up! Thank you Mr. Sheehy for coming back to coach, the kids really loved having you back for a bit! Even though your season maybe didn’t turn out as well as you hoped, you tried, you worked hard and hopefully, you had fun! (I think based on the photo we can tell you at least had some fun).
COLDER WEATHER GUIDELINES
Here are the guidelines we use to determine what the students should wear outside. Be advised that these are guidelines, many things come into play with weather. But being prepared for the cooler weather with layers is always a good day.
Below 55, they need long sleeves
Below 45, they need a sweatshirt or jacket
HOW TO “SUBSCRIBE” to the School’s Google Calendar & Athletic Calendars
Have you wondered how to make it easier on yourself so that anytime we update a calendar, you have it in the palm of your hand? The school uses Google calendars so that this is possible. Real time updates and you can set reminders for yourself as well! See a nice tutorial on how to get those Google Calendars added to your own to be viewed on your phone or on a computer when viewing your own Google Calendar. NOTE: These are all done via mobile, doing this on your computer does look slightly different.
STEP 1
Find the Calendar you want to have access to and click on the RED BUTTON near the calendar to “subscribe” or add it to your phone/own Google Calendar. OR on the Activities Calendar, in the bottom right, there is a tiny blue plus sign next to “Google Calendar”. NOTE: if you do not use Google Calendars currently, it will have you download the app and/or create a Google Account. This is NOT required, but it is free and very helpful.
STEP 2
A new window will pop up and this is where you will select your Google Account that you want the chosen calendar to sync with or create Google Account.
STEP 3
TADA! It should sync! Just 2 easy steps! If you don’t see it or you want to hide it, you click the 3 stacked lines in the upper left corner while you have Google Calendars open and it will show you all the items or types of calendars you have showing. The TLS Calendars will show up as “Other Calendars” below your personal labels under your account. On a computer, this menu shows up on the left side of the screen automatically.
Share Your Photos
We are always on the lookout for photos to put in the yearbook and you could’ve captured a great one! Below are the links to add photos to two of our Google Photo Albums! One for the Fun Run and one for everything else! Please don’t hesitate to share! We can always use more photos in the yearbook! This is for staff and parents!
SAC - School Age Care
Welcome back! We are excited to provide care for your kiddos after school this year. SAC hours are from 3:05-5:30pm. Snack and homework help will be provided daily for kids who are here after 4 pm. When picking up, look for the posted sign on the side sac entrance so you can find our location.
What is SAC? SAC is before and after school care for all students, K-8. (Preschool has a separate before and after program, because they have their own childcare license). If you signed up for it during registration, you are all set! You just need to let us know if your child is a regular or not and we have heard from most of you.
If you did not sign up for SAC, here some more information:
AM SAC - just give us a heads up you’ll be using it and show up! AM SAC is from 7:00 am - 7:45 AM. Enter through the gym doors and please sign your child in using the Procare App. ALL students should enter through the gym doors if at school before 8:10 am.
PM SAC - We are available, but because it is after school, with limited staff, we still need to be in a safe student/adult ratio. We request, wherever possible, it be asked about your child getting added to PM SAC a week prior so we can ensure to have enough staff, deadline the Friday before the week you request your child to attend. We do understand that some things happen last minute and we will always try to accommodate. Please check with the school office before you send your child to SAC.
Hy-Vee Receipts
Earn money for your school by keeping and dropping off your Hy-Vee receipts! They can only be dated 9/1/24-6/1/25. They can only be from the two Mankato locations. More information and frequently asked questions about what is accepted by clicking on the Hy-Vee logo. For the 2023-2024 School year, we earned just over $400 because of Hy-Vee Receipts! That money goes to the school and activities for the students!
NEW THIS YEAR!
NWEA Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) Testing will take place on and off from September 16-27 for grades K-8. Please be sure your children have healthy breakfasts and adequate sleep. A pep talk about not rushing and reading through the questions carefully would also be appreciated!
MAP Testing presents students with engaging, age-appropriate content. As a student responds to questions, the test responds to the student, adjusting up or down in difficulty. As students answer a question correctly, they get a question of higher difficulty. If the students do not correctly answer the question, the next question will be a little lower in difficulty. Through this process, we will get a better idea of what the student knows. This results in a rewarding experience for the student, and a wealth of detailed information for teachers, parents, and administrators.
UPCOMING EVENTS!!! See Calendar below! You can also check out the Google Calendar under Parents > School Calendar to subscribe.
Parent Service Hours
Trinity Lutheran School would not run or function without our families and all your hard work! We strive on showing our students a great work ethic and a drive to help and volunteer! Because of this, we ask that each family completes 10 hours of volunteer hours throughout the school year (if you only have a child in the Preschool, we only ask you complete 5 hours). Many events put on by PTL, Athletics and just helping around at the school provide plenty of opportunity to help out! Please don’t hesitate to check out the volunteer page on the website: https://seal-leopard-8yt2.squarespace.com/volunteer
NEED VOLUNTEER HOURS???
CHECK HERE
PTL SPONSORED UPCOMING EVENTS
Fall Festival, October 12th from 12-3pm. PTL will be serving a meal plus games which include balloon darts, 3-legged race, and cakewalk. Please see the Sign-Up Genius for ways you can help make this a fun event for the kids...more details to come.
Feed the Farmer, November 3rd from, 10-12pm, we are looking for those that can help get 2 Thrivent cards.
Meal for Parent/Teacher Conferences, November 5th. The teachers have a long day that first day of conferences which doesn't allow time to have a decent meal. We are looking for a few people to make a dish.
Please see the Sign-Up Geniuses which are located on the school's website under Parents and then Volunteer.
If you are able to help or have any questions, please contact Tina Schoenfeld.
Email: trinityjanesvilleptl@gmail.com
