Christian Studies Test - Thursday, October 1

This coming Thursday (10/01), students will have a test on the Young Peacemaker Curriculum.  Students have taken notes as study guides both on Monday and Tuesday of this week.  The notes taken on Tuesday are in the pictures below.  For Monday notes, students should have written down what was on the board in the library.  Let Mr. Schiemann know if you have any questions (schiemannm@fhlcs.org).

Picutre Book Picnic - October 2

 

 This Friday is the annual Picture Book Picnic. We gather with our buddies, share our favorite books, and have lunch and recess together. Please make sure your child brings a cold lunch that day, and if they would like they can bring a towel or blanket to sit on and a favorite book to share.

Ask Your Child About... A New Blog Series

We are starting a new series of blog posts - "Ask Your Child About..." Most Fridays you can expect to see a list of things that happened in school over the course of the week and possibly things they are preparing for the next week. Ask your child about them! These posts will be grade specific and found on each grades' blog page.

Christian Studies Assignment - due 9/17

In Christian Studies, we are examining what it means to confess your sins, using a model called the 5-A's.  Students have a worksheet on the 5-A's that is due on Thursday, September 17.

Christian Studies Homework: due 9/10

All students have homework due this Thursday (9/10) in Christian Studies with Mr. Schiemann.  They are to write a paragraph about a time when they made a My-Way choice and how that followed the cycle in the picture.  They are then to write a paragraph about a time when they made a Wise-Way choice and how that followed godly steps.  Please e-mail Mr. Schiemann if you have any questions (schiemannm@fhlcs.org)

Headphones Needed

We have begun our 2nd language studies on Mango Languages. It's been fun and the kids have enjoyed learning things like how to say hello and address people in either Spanish or French.
Mango speaks the language to the students, so they can hear the correct pronunciation of the words. In order for this program to be successful for all of the students, each child needs to have a set of headphones at school everyday. Headphones were on the original supply list and can be purchased fairly inexpensively from places like Ross, Marshall's, Target, and maybe even the dollar store (I haven't confirmed this, but the kids tell me it's true). Please make arrangements for your child to have a pair of headphones available to keep at school. Thanks for partnering with us in this exciting new curriculum and helping make it a success!

Today's Visit from the Pastor

Last year as a school, we implemented an "adopt a church" program to help support our association congregations.  The middle school has adopted Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Forest Grove and St. Peter's Lutheran Church next door to FHLCS.  Throughout the year, the middle school will be praying for their adopted churches and helping them out with various ministries in various ways.  Another part of this is getting visits from the pastors in our classrooms so we can learn more about the churches.  Today, we had a visit from Pastor Mike Warmbier, pastor at St. Peter's, to introduce us to the ministries of St. Peter's and the history behind this congregation that has existed since 1882.  Thank you so much Pastor Warmbier for your time!

Google Calendar

We are implementing Google Calendar as the students' digital planners this year. We have created an academic calendar for each grade. These calendars have been shared with "view only" permissions to all students and parents. (If you did not receive an email letting you know that a calendar has been shared with you, please let us know.) These calendars will be maintained by the teachers and will include the "big" things - tests, quizzes, projects, and long-term assignments.
We will be giving each class some training in Google Calendar, and each student will be expected to keep up their own personal calendar as well. This is where they will be responsible for entering the smaller, daily assignments, like math and any unfinished work that will need to be finished at home that night. We encourage you to have a conversation about this with your child and have your child share their personal calendar with you, so that you can track how they are doing with the responsibility.
We find that by sharing the responsibility the students learn to care for themselves in the areas of time management and organization while not letting the big things fall through the cracks. They might fail a few times at tracking those smaller assignments, but if they are learning from their mistakes, they should get the hang of it.
Some students prefer to have a paper planner. If your child is one of them, this is absolutely acceptable and may be brought in at any time.
As always, let us know if you have any questions.

Language Arts Update: Writing Journals

I'm so excited to be introducing new writing journals to the students this year! Each week they will be given a new prompt on Monday or Tuesday, and they will have until Friday to complete it. Time may be given in class some days to work on it, but it is also expected that it will be a little bit of homework each week. It is intended to be a week-long project. I know some students will go home and finish it all the first night. Others will do a little bit each day. And still others will wait until Thursday to finish it. Time management is an important skill for middle schoolers to acquire. Help your child learn to pace out their work, so they aren't spending hours on homework one night a week and no time on homework the other nights. I love reading everything these kids write! These journals are going to be a great exercise for them and fun for me, too!

Peacemaking in the Middle School

Middle school can be a difficult time for kids in their attitudes and relationships.  Because of this, for the month of September, the middle school is starting their day a little differently.  For Christian Studies this month, Mr. Schiemann is working with the whole middle school together teaching them a conflict resolution class called Peacemakers.  They are learning the differences between peacemaking, peace-breaking, and peace-faking, and also what the Bible tells us we are called to do when faced with conflict.  If you get the chance, talk to the middle schoolers throughout the month to find out what they are learning and what strategies they are gaining.