December 18th, 2024
Principal Corner
As final preparations are being made for school Christmas services, lessons to complete before Christmas break, band and choirs traveling to the nursing home, sports games and practices to coordinate, and the other many things that come up during a typical December school day, it is always good to take a moment, sit back and ponder the many events going on around you. Mary ponder the events after the birth of Jesus, if she was like the typical person she would have looked back on how everything came together. They got to Bethlehem just in time, they had a space by themselves to have the baby, the shepherds came to visit, and that bright star in the sky. She more than likely considered how God had worked everything out, not to what she would have liked, but worked it out in only a way God can envision that it will all work out for the best. Let us all take some time to ponder this Christmas, and by ponder, I mean have a conversation with God, about all that is going on in our lives and how God has walked with us through the hard times and the good times and how he has brought us to the place we are currently in. And then ask God to guide you to what He has in store for you in the next days, weeks, months and years. The Christmas celebration is about a baby born in a stable, who grows up to give His life so that we all can be saved. Jesus gave up His life, we can honor Him by living our lives in a God pleasing way not only at Christmas but each and every day. Merry Christmas!
The north side church entry doors will be open at 6:25pm for entry. Come anytime between then and 7:30 pm. Once you arrive, you will be ushered into the music filled church sanctuary where you will await your narrator to take you through the town of Bethlehem.
DECEMBER CHAPEL
TOY COLLECTION IS COMPLETE! We collected 72 toys! Thanks to all of you, some kids will have a magical Christmas! We also raised $80 for Toys for Tots in our chapel offerings.
Coming up in January for chapel offering is our yearly classroom competition for Lutheran’s for Life - filling the baby bottles - boys versus girls. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
TREASURE TRUNK
Thank you so much for all your support at the Treasure Trunk this year! The students all found some wonderful gems to purchase for others and we raised $876.25 for the Secret Angel Fund!
Carolina Christmas Carnival
The Stockman’s put on a wonderful Saturday fundraiser and raised about $1800 for the ministries in the mountains in the Carolina’s. Thank you those who participated in helping make it a success!
CHRISTMAS CONCERT VIDEO
The Christmas Concert from Dec 13th was recorded and posted to our YouTube channel. Here is the link so you can share it with those who missed it or can watch it again. CLICK HERE
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 and wrap it up so they can open it at their party on the 20th. After the Christmas break, most items will be converted to an Amazon Wish List for any future gifts you feel you would like to purchase for classrooms. We appreciate all the families do for our teachers and staff!
LOOKING AHEAD
All HOME games in January - February can be signed up for. We appreciate all of you that have helped so far! 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!
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.
LIVE NATIVITY - K-8 - WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18th TONIGHT - STARTING at 6:30 pm & last admittance is 7:30 pm - We invite you to join us Wednesday, Dec 18th, at the Trinity Lutheran Church Sanctuary, where you will start to walk along the journey to Bethlehem. Enjoy sweet music sung by the K-2 choir while you wait your turn to be ushered through the story, coming to life in front of your eyes. You will enter the church via the Northeast corner, the “main doors” off Main St. Grades 3-8 should arrive at 6 pm and K-2 at 6:15. K-2 will be ready to be picked up at 7:30 pm. Grades 3-8 will need to stay until the last group is through the nativity. We are hopeful that is before 8 pm.
NO SCHOOL DEC 23 - JAN 3: Return to school Monday, January 6th.
AMERICAN HEART CHALLENGE KICKOFF - will be in January after our first chapel when we return from break.
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.
TEACHER FEATURE
We were so blessed to have Miss Stephanie, a student at Bethany, teach PE a few days a week! We will miss her the rest of the school year.
2nd Grade earned a hibernation day! They were comfy cozy and got to make bear dens. They had a blast having reading time in their bear cave and had fun with their PJ & Hot Chocolate party along with a snowman building activity.
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.
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
HOW TO MOTIVATE YOUR CHILDREN WITHOUT NAGGING ——>
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.
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.
