ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH
(The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod)
Alma, Kansas
A family united by faith in Christ gathering around God's Word and Sacraments.
To reach out in Christ-like concern and Christ-borne love to each other and to those without Christ!
NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK
“Endure” Hebrews 12:1-3
“Providing a foundation in Jesus Christ and developing the God-given talents of learning.”KINDERGARTEN & FIRST GRADE:
Dear Friends in Christ:
Thank you for your continued support as we learn and grow in Kindergarten and First grade. This New Year will be full of adventures and lessons.Students are currently:
*reading about Jesus’ birth and his adult years. *writing one to three sentences expressing their personal thoughts. *practicing short vowels (Kindergarten) and long vowel words (First Grade). *practicing our fluency skills *learning different strategies for addition and subtraction (i.e. counting on, making a ten, doubles). *learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and comparing/contrasting his work to Martin Luther. *beginning to look at plants and how they grow. …and much more!
We look forward to serving you in the New Year. We will be participating in the Faith At Work challenge in April. We hope you can join us as we serve the community. Mark your calendars for February 25th! Our SJLS STREAM family night will be from 6:00-7:30 p.m. We will be learning fun math games and eating a delicious meal. Kindergarten Round Up will be on the same day starting at 5:30 p.m.! If you know of an incoming kindergartener, please invite them to join us. Finally, spring choir will begin at the end of January. Please look for more information to come.Sincerely,
Mrs. Miller
HAPPY FEBRUARY!
2025 started very snowy, with very excited children to see their friends and play on the snow mountain. We took some time last month to learn about the Wise Men even though we missed Epiphany, and then finished learning about the Old Testament prophets. We are currently studying the works of Jesus.
The third graders are getting good at multiplication while the 2nd graders master place value and money.
In reading, we are working through the novel Stone Fox and pairing it with science and social studies as we study taxes (a big theme in the book), the Arctic region, sled dogs, and the Iditarod. The students have learned about the adaptations of sled dogs and the history of the Iditarod and will soon be picking out their musher to follow on the Iditarod trail.
We will also be doing Jump Rope for Heart this month and learning about our heart in PE and ways to keep it healthy!
Hearts for Jesus Parties, and a field trip with K-3 are some other highlights of this month.
In Christ,
Mrs. Howard
FEBRUARY GREETINGS FROM MRS. GREENE
In English language arts, the students are making progress in learning the different parts of speech in preparation for diagramming sentences. The 4th-5th grade students are completing a unit over the different types of verbs, verb tenses, and subject and verb agreement. The 6th-8th grade students are finishing up a unit over prepositions, object of the preposition, and prepositional phrases. In reading, the 4th-5th grade students are focusing on acts of kindness and analyzing lines of poetry before starting a new novel study. The 6th-8th grades are beginning the novel, Out of the Dust, which is a story from the dust bowl. In writing and research work shop, the 4th and 5th grade students are excited to be sending and receiving pen pal letters from other Lutheran students across the United States. They are also working on the revision process in writing, while the 6th-8th grade students are learning about how to use research in persuasive writing and how to cite resources. In social studies, the 4th-5th grades are completing the midwest region before diving into the southeast region. The 6th-8th grade students are getting ready to learn about the effects of the dust bowl in Kansas History. In tech class, the 4th and 5th grades will continue to practice their typing skills and will be learning how to use Canva to create recipe cards, and acts of kindness cards. In strategy class, the 6th-8th grade students will be reading The Gift of the Magi and completing a breakout room to prepare them for our field trip in April to Locked Manhattan. In art classes the students are completing a unit over sketching. They will be sketching classroom objects, classmates, and completing self-portraits. Reading Club is going strong with close to 100 percent participation each week. We had a great time creating our ginger bread houses for our Christmas party at club. We will be choosing our next novel to read which is always exciting for the students.In all things trust the Lord,
Mrs. Greene
A FEW NOTES: In November and through December, our music classes for grades 4-8 were very focused on learning the music for the school Christmas service. It was wonderful seeing the 4th-5th grade classes take ownership of the music they played and to work together on playing - TOGETHER. They had opportunities to learn that playing in an ensemble is not "first one to the double bar at the end is the winner." They learned about playing in unison, playing a duet, and playing a round. Students in the 6th-8th grade handbell choir did a wonderful job learning and performing their pieces for the Christmas service.
This semester, I would like to increase opportunities to play more on the recorders and handbells, play percussion pieces, learn about more musical instruments, and prepare for National Lutheran Schools Week and the Spring Fling. The McCain Auditorium at K-State offers free concerts by their bands, orchestra, and instrument sections, i.e., percussion and wind sections, that I will let students and parents know about that would be fun to attend. Charlie Gann continues to work with St. John students who are learning to play string instruments (guitar, ukelele, bass, mandolin, and banjo). They have learned a great deal about their instruments, playing together and listening to one another during the first half of the school year. We are very fortunate to have Charley sharing his talent on the strings and his enthusiasm for playing with the students.Kathy Schultz
LUTHERAN PARENT TEACHER LEAGUE HAPPENINGS
2025 UPCOMING LPTL MEETINGS
Wednesday, April 16th at 6:00 p.m.(A meal and child care will be provided.)VALENTINES PARTIES: “Hearts for Jesus” parties will be in classrooms Thursday, Feb. 13th. Please reach out to your classroom teachers for more information.
SAVE THE DATE: St. John Lutheran Church VBS will be Tuesday May 27th and Wednesday May 28th, 2025! Please contact Chelsie Platz at 712-490-1514 or email chelsieskow@gmail.com, if you're interested in volunteering.
WAYS TO SUPPORT
ST. JOHN LUTHERAN SCHOOL
STOP TO SHOP: St. John Lutheran School now has a Kickback Card at Stop 2 Shop! When you check out, just tell them you would like to use the SJLS Kickback card and then key in 7-8-5-7-6-5-3-9-1-4 (the school’s phone number). It’s so easy…be sure to participate all year long!
DILLON’S COMMUNITY REWARDS: We encourage anyone who is a Dillon’s PLUS card shopper to please take a couple of minutes to sign up for the rewards program. This is a program offered by Dillon’s to give back to local schools. Each time you make a purchase using your PLUS card, a percentage of your sales is donated back to SJLS in the form of cash. There is no extra charge to you, it is simply a donation by the Dillon’s company. Please use the following link to add your PLUS card to the rewards program: www.dillons.com/communityrewards and use the code AU093 to support SJLS.
In This Month's
St. John Witness
FEBRUARY WITNESS
The Eagle Cry
