The Amazing Race is Coming!!

This morning the teams for the Amazing Race met all around campus to come up with a team name, a team logo, and to make posters representing their teams. The kids all had a great time!! Here are some pictures of the groups that met in Mrs. Schulze's classroom. These teams are led by Isabella, Jaden, Nathan, and Peyton.

Living in Faith Everyday!!!

Our theme for this school year is LIFE: Living in Faith Everyday.  Today, to start our celebration of National Lutheran Schools Week, the whole school participated in living out this theme in a very different way.  Together, our school was able to spell out our theme across the gym.  The results were pretty amazing!

National Lutheran Schools Week

Next week is National Lutheran Schools Week - a time when we get to celebrate with Lutheran schools all across the country the identity we share as Christian schools and extensions of the Lutheran ministry. Did you know there are 1,190 preschools, 842 elementary schools, and 85 high schools serving more than 250,000 students and their families? There are also 10 universities and 2 seminaries for those that wish to extend their Lutheran based education beyond their grade school and high school years. It's such a wonderful opportunity to be a part of this system! 

To celebrate this week, we will be participating in a fun activity each day.

• Monday: Photo Day - We will be spelling out words from our theme for the school year - "LIFE ~ Living In Faith Everyday" - and having class pictures taken. Watch for these to be posted throughout the school in the near future!
• Tuesday: Favorite Sports Team Day - Wear a shirt to show off your favorite sports team! And if you don't have a team shirt - wear a Falcon shirt to show your Falcon pride!!
• Wednesday: Toothpaste & Deodorant Day - Be sure to use your own in the morning, and then bring in a new one for your chapel offering to share with those in need! We are collecting toothpaste and deodorant along with Our Redeemer Lutheran Church for students in need in the Tigard/Tualitin School District.
• Thursday: Crazy Sock Day - No explanation needed! Show off those crazy feet!!
• Friday: Amazing Race Day - An all-school, all-day activity. It's going to be awesome!!!

Lock-In Wrap Up

As you could probably tell by the amount of sleep your middle schoolers needed last weekend, the lock-in was a great success.  The night was filled with snacks, dodgeball, video games (including an appearance by an "ancient" Nintendo 64!), Star Wars, makeovers, more snacks, trying not to fall asleep, some accidentally falling asleep, and a whole lot of fun overall.  I think the chaperones and the middle schoolers alike were glad we had an extra day on Monday to recover!

Read-A-Thon!

Hopefully you noticed in your family envelope last Friday that our students are participating in a Read-A-Thon to raise money for our new science curriculum. Seventh grade was lucky to be able to pilot the Foss program this year already and has reaped the rewards of learning from one of the top curriculums currently available. We are excited to be able to expand our implementation throughout the school, and the Read-A-Thon is one avenue to accomplishing this!

Each class is setting goals, and we also have some school-wide prizes. School-wide prizes include $25 in free books for the top pledge earner in the school, $10 in free books for the top readers (most hours logged) in each of the three grade groups - primary, intermediate, and middle, and an opportunity to throw water balloons at Mr. Schiemann if every student brings in a collected pledge.
Please help us by encouraging your child to read and collect pledges!!

Student Teacher Coming to the Middle School!

We are excited to invite a student teacher to the middle school this term!  Julianna Hirsch, daughter of our 3rd grade teacher, Linda Hirsch, is in the education graduate program at Concordia University. She will be completing an 8-week practicum with us beginning Tuesday, January 19. She will primarily be working with the 6th grade, but as we function so much as a team here in the middle school, she will have contact with all the students in grades 6-8. We are excited to help her in her education while also learning what she has to offer our students!

Choir Event - Concordia University Lutheran Night

Our middle school choir has once again been given the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at Concordia University's Lutheran Night basketball games.  On Saturday, January 23rd, we will be singing before the girls game at 5:15 against Central Washington.  The choir is asked to be there at 4:45.  Pizza will be provided for all participating between the girls game and the boys game against University of Alaska-Anchorage.  Attire is FHLCS Falcon gear.  This is an optional event for the choir, but all are encouraged to attend.  Admission into the game will be a food donation to support low-income families in a local elementary school Concordia is partnering with.  Below is the list of approved donation items that will be accepted for admission to the game.  All attending need their own donation item for admission.  Otherwise, adults are $7 each, youth are $4 each, and under 10 are free.

Approved Donation Item List

Boxes of Granola Bars (any kind)

Fruit Cups (any kind)

Canned Fruit (any kind)

CapriSun Fruit Juice Packets

Reminder - Book Orders Due Tomorrow!

Remember, Scholastic Book Orders are due tomorrow! You can order online at scholastic.com or by sending in the order form that went home last week. Scholastic book orders are a great way to build your child's library while building the classroom library at the same time - every order earns free books for our classrooms! This month, Scholastic is offering a free book coupon to use in February for every student in classes that have orders of $50 or more. We can easily reach a $50 order if every student orders at least one book. Help our classrooms and earn a free book to boot!

What to Expect Next Week...

Join us in our new blog series - What to Expect Next Week. Each class page (and sometimes the main page) will have a post each Friday regarding upcoming curriculum or event highlights. Check in each Friday to see what's coming up!

Next week...

• Book Orders Due Thursday
• No school Friday
• Lock-in!!! Friday Night - 7 pm - 7 am

Middle School Lock In Coming Up!!!

On Friday, January 15th, we will be hosting our annual Middle School Lock In here at the school.  Permission slips should be coming home with the middle schoolers today.  If you are available and as crazy as us, we need some parent chaperones to experience the night with us.  Sign up to volunteer on the permission slip.

The cost this year for the Lock In is signing up for and bringing in an item for the Lock In (snacks, breakfast supplies, water, money for pizza, etc.).  This sign up sheet will be sent as a Google Sheet via e-mail.  Everyone coming must sign up and bring an item.

It should be a fun and memorable night!  Let us know if there are any questions.

Welcome Back!

After enjoying an extra day of Christmas Break, it seemed that everyone was happy to return to school today. Smiles were abundant, complaints were minimal, and just about everyone had a can-do attitude to be motivated for the beginning of a new year of new learning. It was a great day!