Update for July 29, 2022

  

God's Richest Blessings on your week!

COVID-19 Testing in Wisconsin Schools: A new document has been shared by DPI related to testing protocols. We will review this document to determine what adjustments, if any, we may need to make.

Registration on August 3:  In addition to accessing the calendar, you can also see who is coming in for registration by reviewing this spreadsheet.

Enrollment Procedures: We will be reviewing enrollment as a faculty on August 3, but here is the preliminary document if you wish to review it.

August 3 In-Service: We are continuing to refine the August 3 agenda. Please feel free to add to/update the new document. It is still a work in progress as I have not had time to go through everything yet.

Summer Eagles: If you have not been getting a copy of the Summer Eagle in your teacher inbox on Thursdays, please let Brittany know so we can add you to that mailing list.

Free Encyclopedias: Kay Clausen stopped by and shared that she has a set of encyclopedias that she is giving away. They could be used for reference or they could be used for projects (cutting and pasting?). If you are interested in them, just let me know and I will work to get them to you.

Upcoming Dates

August 1 ELA Trends Workshop at St. Paul

August 3 Registration & Open House

August 3 Staff In-service

August 3 Prayer at the Close of Day

August 4 Elevator Maintenance

In His Grace,

Update for July 22, 2022

 

God's Richest Blessings on your week!

Built on the Rock: No new updates this week, but we will keep this as a line item on a weekly basis, just in case.

FVL Grade School Events Registration is now available:  information has changed since the May meeting. An updated one-page calendar is available on the Federation Resources page. Registration is handled online.

Elevator: The elevator will be undergoing summer maintenance on August 4. There will be periods of time where it will be out of commission.

Paper Cutter: There was a dull paper cutter by the staff mailboxes. I plan to toss it unless someone has a plan for it. If you want it, please let me know.

School Calendar: Brittany continues to make updates to the School Calendar. Please check it and if your event is not on there or on there incorrectly, please let her know.

FVL Trainings & Availability: Like many of you I have a number of FVL trainings next week, therefore my St. Paul availability will be limited. I will be at FVL/Traveling as follows; 7/26 - 10-4, 7/27 - 7-4:30, 7/29 - 7:15-12:30.

Hymnology: Updates to the curriculum have been made and shared. 

Church Council: Church Council met this week. The 5th grade call will be going to the voters as planned on Sunday. The parsonage demolition/move was discussed. A potential change to the way we take plate offerings was discussed, with no action taken at this time.

August 3 In-Service: I made a copy of the August 3 In-Service agenda from last year. Please feel free to add to/update the new document. It is still a work in progress as I have not had time to go through everything yet.

Upcoming Dates

July 24 Quarterly Voters Meeting (9:15)
July 25 Early Registration for Hispanic Families
July 25-29 Vacation Bible School (9:00 - 11:30)

July 26-28 Various FVL Trainings

August 3 Registration & Open House

August 3 Staff In-service

August 3 Prayer at the Close of Day

In His Grace,

Update for July 15, 2022

God's Richest Blessings on your week!

Built on the Rock: We had two meetings this week related to Built on the Rock. Before I provide an update, let me just share some insight based on my previous experience. There there will be noise, there will be distractions, there may be dust, and there may be delays. Jared, Jean, & Rachel will have 2 months of competing against backhoes and dump trucks for the students attention. And all of us will have to be on our toes for "wanderers" who are drawn in by fencing and construction equipment. But in the end we will have a wonderful new addition and some much needed upgrades to our current space. I am so thankful to our congregation for recognizing the need to move forward with this project to support our mission and ministry efforts. There are four important updates that I want to share with you at this time: 

• First, after groundbreaking we will need to wait for finalization of financing and permits before construction begins. 
• Second, the existing Activity Center/Gym will become unusable for us at some point as this will be an active construction zone. 
• Third, we will have a new "temporary" driveway put in closer to Mason. This means that pickup will remain relatively unchanged. The biggest change will be the need to exit with students on the Clay St. side of the building.
• Fourth, the playground will be moved very shortly after the new driveway is put in. The existing equipment will be moved and at this time, cedar wood chips are being planned for. 

Eagle Summer Shorts: There is no expectation that you provide content for the summer shorts. However, if you wish to add content, please just let me know by the Wednesday of the week that you would like to add something.

Building Maintenance: Gym Bleacher inspection will take place on Tuesday, July 19

Water will be off in the building for a period of time on Wednesday, July 27 to perform some plumbing updates. Please plan accordingly.

Art and I are in communication regarding the list that was developed on May 31 (and prior) as well as new items that have come up. If you notice building items that need to be attended to, please bring them to me. I am currently adding them to this document.

enVision: Most of you should now have your enVision math materials. If you are missing anything, please let Brittany know. I am excited that we were able to use EANS funds to purchase a series that will allow us to help our students meet the standards in the curriculum set forth by FVL. If you do not plan to use the enVision math materials, please schedule a meeting with me so we can discuss how we can best meet the standards in the curriculum.

Social Studies: I was alerted to the fact that we did not receive Research Companions for grades K-5. After some fact-finding I discovered that it was "possible" to use the resource without the paper copies of the Research Companion, but that this may be challenging for the younger grades. Lisa and I are working with the vendor to try to get our order "modified" so that we can get classroom sets of the paper copies for you to use when you need them. Our first course of action will be to get an updated quote and see if that would make it through the EANS process.

Registration Folders: These are now ready for pickup.

Upcoming Dates
July 17 Built on the Rock Groundbreaking Ceremony (9:15)
July 25 Early Registration for Hispanic Families
July 25-29 Vacation Bible School (9:00 - 11:30)

July 26-28 Various FVL Trainings

August 3 Registration & Open House

In His Grace,

Update for July 8, 2022

 

God's Richest Blessings on your week!

Summer Cleaning: Art is looking to have the hallways in the school area cleaned and waxed on Saturday, July 9. Becky Conard will also be in on July 9 with a small team to start some of the more detailed classroom cleaning.

T-Shirt Update: If you do feel comfortable providing a size at any time, please add it to this google sheet. My goal is to get an order in by July 15. I was able to get 2 samples from the the company, unfortunately they only gave me a S and 2XL.

Extra Piano: Art shared that there is an extra piano in the fellowship hall. Does anyone have an idea of where we might find a home for this?

Staff Updates: Brittany Rivers has agreed to take on the role of Office Manager for the upcoming school year. Please join me in congratulating her on this new position. Jill Schultz has agreed to return as our lunch person. I am grateful that we will have stability and such a wonderful person filling this critical position next year.

Classroom Expectations: I know that we had talked about hosting a family night to go over classroom expectations, but as Rachel and I discussed what this would look like and what might need to be done to make this a reality, we both came to the same conclusion that it would be challenging for our staff and families to fit in one or two more thing(s) into August. We are going to rely, as we have, on the welcome letter and information that you have provided in the past, as well as the conversations you will have with families on Registration day to set the foundation for your classroom expectations. If needed, we can revisit the concept of a family night at a later date. As needed, I can support your efforts to ensure that parents understand the expectations of your classroom.

Wisconsin Lutheran State Teacher's Conference Committee Opportunity:
Message from WLSTC
Dear Called Workers of the WLSTC,

We are currently in the process of looking for individuals who have an interest or talents to serve on the Wisconsin Lutheran State Teacher's Conference Committee. As of this point, we are just looking for names of those interested to put on a ballot for this fall. The voting will take place at our October conference.
The positions we are looking for are the following:
Executive Committee Secretary - The secretary takes notes during the conference in October and gives input on Executive Committee matters.
Program Committee - (2 Males, 1 Female) - The program committee meets twice a year (November and March) and is responsible for choosing the conference theme, suggesting keynotes and sectionals, and securing sectional speakers.

Registration Folders: Lisa and Brittany have been working very hard to get registration folders ready for July 17. One item we need to verify is any final teacher information. If you have an update to what you gave Lisa or need to submit a letter, please get it to Brittany by the end of the day on Tuesday, July 12.

Upcoming Dates
July 15 - Home visit folders assembled
July 25 - Early Registration for Hispanic Families
July 25-29 Vacation Bible School (9:00 - 11:30)

July 26-28 Various FVL Trainings

August 3 Registration & Open House

In His Grace,

St. Paul Lutheran Church & School

July 1, 2022

God's Richest Blessings on your week!

Summer Cleaning UPDATE: Becky Conard has agreed to coordinate volunteers to conduct Summer Cleaning.

Summer Cleaning Part 2: I have noticed many of you working to clean your rooms and move things out. We do not currently have a company under contract to clean or empty trash but if you place recyclables and trash outside your door, Art and I will work to get it to the dumpster.

Summer Cleaning Part 3: I have started to clean out the Principal's office, and have a lot of general classroom supplies that are now available for free. I will be placing these items on the bookshelves outside my office, feel free to help yourselves if you see something on the bookshelves. The bookshelves may become available as well, I need to get a better sense for how best to use the space before giving those up. Finally, I do have some specific items that I believe should go to specific staff. I will not place those on the bookshelves at this time, but they may be in the hallway.

Celebrate our Freedom will be occurring on Monday. Stop by for a hot dog and/or a brief devotion afterward.

Art and I have spoken about Maintenance Requests and we have agreed that all maintenance requests for the school should come to me. I will then work with Art to move forward on these requests. At this time if you have something outstanding that I do not know about, please send an email to me.

T-Shirt Update: I will be getting a Medium and 2X from the company next week for those that would like to do some sizing and will have those available in the main office by July 8. If you do feel comfortable providing a size at any time, please add it to this google sheet. My goal is to get an order in by July 15.

I had a staff member reach out this week to discuss Registration/Open House. They felt like it might be confusing as listed, so I am going to move forward with using the phrase Registration & Open House to refer to the entire time, unless someone would like to propose different language.

A large shipment of Envision math materials has arrived, Lisa and I will be working to get those materials to the appropriate classrooms as soon as possible.

Upcoming Dates 

July 4 - Celebrate Your Freedom at St. Paul (4 - 5:30, service to follow)

July 6 - Summer Eagle due To Lisa 

July 15 - Home visit folders assembled

July 25 - Early Registration for Hispanic Families

July 25-29 Vacation Bible School (9:00 - 11:30)

July 26-28 Various FVL Trainings

In His Grace,

St. Paul Lutheran Church & School