December 4th, 2024
Principal Corner
A topic talked about a lot by educators is grit. Being able to stick with a task and work hard even when things may not go your way initially but sticking with the task to get the job done. I actually like the word perseverance. In Hebrews 12, the last part of verse 1 and into verse 2, we are told, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Many educators are asking how do we teach perseverance to our students. A collaboration of parents and the schools is needed to equip our children with the skills required to be successful in life. As adults we can probably look back on moments in our life where we had to endure and work hard in order to achieve what we wanted, or even just to get by. As a parent it is hard to let your child struggle. You want to give them everything they need and make their life easier for them. But if we do, what will happen when our child is grown and on their own? One of the difficulties of parenting is deciding when and how much do I help my child, and when do I let them struggle to either learn a lesson, or to develop perseverance. We sometimes may ask the same thing of God, why am I going through these difficulties in my life right now? Why is everything so difficult right now? I know some past struggles in my life helped me turn my focus on God and away from earthly things. It helped to strengthen my faith, and grow my faith practices of being in God’s word and understanding what God wants me to do. As we persevere in this race called life, help us to always focus on Jesus Christ. Remember, He was called Immanuel, which means God with us. God is with us through everything in our lives.
DECEMBER CHAPEL
We are collecting toys in December and our chapel offering will also go towards Toys for Tots! There are two boxes for toy drop off in the school. Below are some guidelines for dropping off toys:
Toys should be new and unwrapped
Toys should be priced at $10 or more
Books are also needed, and three books count as one gift
Homemade toys are accepted
Toys that are used, look like realistic weapons, have candy or food, or have chemicals are not allowe
NOVEMBER CHAPEL RESULTS
We packed 97 Christmas boxes and delivered them to the drop off site! We raised $539.10 to send to Samaritan’s Purse to help pay for the boxes!
OUR FOOD Drive Chapel, before Thanksgiving, we brought in $104 for the Waseca Food Shelf and brought in about the same amount of items for the Janesville Food Shelf! Way to go!
WEEKLY REMINDERS
When calling the school, please leave a voicemail if we don’t answer. If the phone is not answered, we are on another call or just a few minutes away from the phone. Voicemail is something that gets checked immediately up return to the office.
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.
Please be mindful and help reduce interruptions. If you arrive at the school - go to the office. We will grab the student or deliver an item or message. You may think it’s just a quick visit or you are doing no harm, but a small view of a visitor causes more disruption than you can imagine. Please be respectful and check in with the office, even if the class or teacher, knows you are coming.
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.
Jacqie leaves for a break between 11:15 & 12:00 every day. Please try to avoid stopping by at those times if you can help it. If you do, please be patient and wait outside while she answers the doorbell and talks to you via the intercom. Sometimes directions need to be given or information needs to be gathered, so please do not expect other staff to open the door for you. They have their own jobs, caring for their students.
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.
PTL Meeting at 7:30 pm today, Wednesday, December 4th.
Any and all parents at TLS are part of the PTL automatically! Just by being a parent! The committee meets regularly every month. You can join in whenever you get a chance. Meeting in January will also be at 7:30 pm and on the 8th of January since the 1st is New Years Day., otherwise it’s usually the 1st Wednesday of every month!
AVAILABLE NOW!
In the hallway near the office, right outside the Kindergarten room, is a bulletin board.
On that bulletin board is a display of paper lights! This is our Teacher Christmas List. You’ll be able to take a lightbulb and get something for the teachers they really want or need for their classroom for Christmas! A way to “ Light up their World”. Make sure you stop in to grab something from their wish list or check out the Amazon wish list that was created! Items are getting added.
LOOKING AHEAD
We have two home games in December and need volunteers to help keep our athletics running! Click the button to go sign up for the upcoming dates and choose where you would be willing to volunteer your time! This all counts toward parent service hours!
Athletic Calendar is up to date! ALL teams have practices scheduled. CHECK THE CALENDAR HERE . ALL AWAY games will have a bus!
MIDTERM ends this Friday! Midterm grade reports will be sent home with 3rd- 8th Graders next week.
TLS PTL Tournament is right around the corner! PTL is in need of two people to get Thrivent Cards - one for food, one for supplies - for the tournament. Please see Sign Up links down below in PTL Events section or on the website under volunteer, to sign up to get those. Please acquire the Thrivent cards as soon as possible.
TREASURE TRUNK IS NEXT WEEK - Dec 12th & 13th - Each class will get ONE chance and then possibly another to shop. Please send with some money so your child can shop for family and friends. The students LOVE this every year. We are also taking items to sell at the Treasure Trunk. Items can be dropped off at the office starting next week! Proceeds go to the Secret Angel Fund.
CHRISTMAS CHOIR & BAND CONCERT @ 6:00 PM - Friday, December 13th at Discipling Center - Grades 3-8 - SAVE THE DATE - Band Students to arrive 5:30 pm and the Choir students need to be there at 5:50 pm - meet in the basement of the church.
COOKIES and HOT COCOA - we will be serving cookies and hot chocolate after the concert, please let the school know if you can make any cookies or help setting up and manage the supply while everyone is enjoying the refreshments.
LIVE NATIVITY - K-8 - WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18th - STARTING at 6:30 pm - MORE DETAILS TO COME - SAVE THE DATE
SAVE THE DATE - TRIBUTE TO TRINITY WILL BE FRIDAY APRIL 4th - Lots of fun and service hours can be attained by being a part of the committee. Anyone interested in joining the committee for Tribute to Trinity should contact the school.
Program Starts at 2 pm!
TEACHER FEATURE
5th Grade learned about clouds and had to create their own clouds out of cotton balls and glue!
These clouds couldn't block out the sunshine of this lesson! :)
Preschool and Kindergarten and their joint effort for a Pilgrim Play last week! SO CUTE!
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.
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.
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. This is a volunteer position.
PARENT CORNER
Resources for our TLS Parents!
Great Communication Tool + More
A lot of staff and parents love using Procare. It’s a great communication tool AND it serves multiple purposes for staff and behind the scenes tracking. It is the required sign in and out needed for our Childcare/Preschool and our SAC programs. It is a great way to calculate and bill and get other invoices paid from families! It has helped streamline many processes for us. One this it is not, is an EMERGENT messaging system. Please, and this has always been the case, if you have a last minute change or message to get to your children, try to call the school and do not be afraid to leave a message. A Procare message is not an alert system for last minute changes. We want our teachers teaching, not staring at their phones for notifications constantly. We encourage you to use it for everything else.
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
Hy-Vee Receipt counting has been added! Let Jacqie know if you are available to count receipts over the Christmas Break. It would be nice to count some of them now so we don’t have the entire container to take in the spring. Jacqie will provide more instruction if you would like to count receipts.
HOW TO MOTIVATE YOUR CHILDREN WITHOUT NAGGING ——>
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
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.
PTL SPONSORED UPCOMING EVENTS
TLS Basketball Tournament is in January. We need to start preparing for it now so we can be ready. Jan 24th & 25th. See signups below!
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
UPCOMING EVENTS!!! See Calendar below! You can also check out the Google Calendar under Parents > School Calendar to subscribe.
