STAR OF BETHLEHEM LUTHERAN SCHOOL



STAR OF BETHLEHEM LUTHERAN SCHOOL

DECEMBER 2007 NEWSLETTER

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas is a time of communication – of telling others that we love them and care for them. We will probably send these people Christmas Cards. It is more importantly, a time when God wants to communicate His personal love to you and me. Our school will be hosting two Christmas Eve Services to take a deeper look into the amazing Gift that was given on the first Christmas and how we can learn to worship Him with our daily living. The services will be held at 3:30 p.m. and at 6:00 p.m. Each classroom is rehearsing many songs and Bible verses for the Christmas Eve Services. On December 24th, the children will enthusiastically sing those joyous Christmas Carols and recite those scripture verses as they witness their faith in Jesus, the Savior of the World. We anticipate nearly 1,000 people to be in attendance for these services.

Three additional Christmas Celebrations are being planned. On Saturday, Dec. 15, our preschool will have their own Christmas Program with a 6:30 p.m. church service. On Sunday, Dec. 16, organist, Charles Bonow, will help us get ready for Christmas with A Festival Service Concert. On Sunday, Dec. 23, at 9:30 a.m. all of Star of Bethlehem’s specialty choirs will combine to sing praises to our Lord in celebration of Jesus’ birth.

CHRISTMAS FOR KIDS DECEMBER 1

Christmas for Kids, an outreach program whose goal is to teach children ages 4 through 9 the true meaning of Christmas, will be held on Saturday, December 1st from 9:00 – 2:00 p.m. The children who attend will make crafts, listen to stories, learn Christmas songs, watch a movie, decorate cookies, have activities in the gym, and have lunch. The program will conclude with a Puppet Ministry Message about the purpose of Christmas. As this is an outreach program, we have encouraged our upper grade students, teens, and parents to volunteer to help with the activities. Monica Robles reports that many of our teens and most of our 7th and 8th graders have volunteered. May God bless our efforts to bring the Greatest Gift of All – Jesus, to our community.

ADDITIONAL PROJECTS OF CHRISTIAN LOVE

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you brought me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”. (Matthew 25:35-40)

The Kindergarten class performed the Thanksgiving Play for their parents, their grandparents, and the Star of Bethlehem’s senior citizens. Thanks to Josiah Ricke who accompanied on the piano, and to the parents who assisted Mrs. Wiechmann.

Students become involved with special service projects during November and December. Many will sing for the residents at Linden Grove and the Tudor Oaks Nursing Home. Most of our upper grade students help with our Christmas for Kids Program. Many helped with collecting library books for our North and Southside Missions. Other students are helping with the food donation program, and with our new project, “Coats for Kids”. Many students help with our Puppet Ministry. Every student and staff member from Preschool to Grade 8 purchased Christmas gifts for our Mission Children in Mexico.

Special thanks to the teachers who are preparing our students for these special service projects. It demonstrates how God’s love can motivate us to share God’s blessings with others. These activities help all of us at Star to put the proper focus on God’s Greatest Blessing, Salvation through Jesus Christ.

Regarding the current Food Collection and Kid’s Coats Drive. Please bring any nonperishable food items and used winter coats to our hallway barrels. The North and Southside Ministries are desperately in need of them. Thanks and May God Bless You for following His Will as stated in the Matthew passages printed above. (Lisa Ricke has written an inspirational letter regarding this topic. It is printed at the end of this newsletter)

CLOTHING GUIDELINES

To help control the dragging in of dirt and mud during the winter months, children should wear outer footwear, such as snow boots, hiking boots, or totes. Snow pants are also suggested. If students do not have outer footwear, the recess supervisors will keep the students on the pavement. In addition, please put your child’s name on all of their winter accessories. If your child loses an item, we now have two lost and found boxes. One box is located near the school copy room and one is located near the church kitchenette.

FORENSIC STUDENT RECOGNITION

Fifteen students of grades 5 and 6 recently competed in the Milwaukee Metro Forensics Competition. Thirteen students received first place awards and two received second place awards. Many of our first place winners had perfect scores. Thanks to all for representing your Lord and your school.

BRADLEY CENTER

Working at a Bradley Center event is fun, and you get to meet parents from your child’s classroom. Ten percent of the money made at each event is given back to Star. Our last three events brought us about $400 each. $250 of those earnings goes to the classroom or group that “sponsored” the event.

What happens when we sign up to work at a Bradley Center event? The average time commitment for an event is three to four hours. A couple of days before the scheduled event the “stand manager” will be calling you to make driving arrangements. A parking pass will be provided for each driver. You are asked to arrive about a half hour before the gates are open to the public. Once you arrive you will being doing one of several different jobs that is assigned to you including cooking, serving food, pouring soda or beer, and taking orders. All volunteers are asked to help clean up at the end of the event. Events include Marquette, Admiral, Globetrodder, and Buck’s games. Please consider signing up for an upcoming event.

Date: Sponsored by: Gate Time

December 15 (Sat) 5th Grade Noon

December 31 (Mon) ?? 5:30 p.m.

January 8 (Tue) 7th Grade 6:00 p.m.

January 18 (Fri) 1st Grade 6:00 p.m.

February 2 (Sat) Preschool 6:30 p.m.

February 23 (Sat) Kindergarten 11:30 a.m.

Aluminum: Please continue to drop of your aluminum cans. Together many $ are raised.

CHURCH AND SCHOOL CLEANING REMINDER

Families with children in our day school are asked to assist with the cleaning of the church & school. A number of other members have volunteered to be added to this weekly cleaning rotation as well. When your name comes up to clean, a special notice will be sent home in your Friday take home folder. The cleaning list was also given to you at the Back to School Night. The list has also been posted on the School Bulletin Board. The Cleaning Committee would like to remind you to find a replacement if you are unable to clean on your assigned weekend. Normally, the church doors are open on Saturday, but if the doors happened to be locked when you arrive to do your cleaning, you should walk across the parking lot to Pastor Gawrisch’s house and ask for a key. Maintaining our beautiful facilities is an ongoing task, and everyone is asked to do their part to keep it clean. If anyone has any questions about the cleaning assignments please call Nancy Bartelt, 262-797-2427 or Carol Persick, 414-425-0356.

ENTERTAINMENT and GOLD C BOOKS

We have now completed our sale. There are just a few books of each left to sell. Thank you to all who purchased the Entertainment and Gold C books. Our school was able to earn over $500 in profits from the sales.

SAVE YOUR USED INK CARTRIDGES

We are now collecting ink cartridges that our school will turn in to be recycled. You may place them in the bin near the box tops and soup label collection container located by the office. Our school will earn approximately one dollar for each cartridge recycled. Recycling helps preserve God’s beautiful land as well.

STUDENT TEACHERS SAY GOODBYE

The two student teachers, Miss Colletta and Miss Gilbert, will be leaving Star of Bethlehem on December 21st to return to Martin Luther College to finish their schooling. Both wanted to thank everyone at Star for making their 9 weeks of training a wonderful experience. We will miss them.

PUPPETS AT BABIES ‘R’ US

Our Star puppet team will be performing at Babbies ‘R’ Us in Brookfield on Dec. 8th The noon and 1:30 p.m. performances are part of their Open House. This will be a small Christmas performance geared toward preschoolers.

SPECIAL THANK YOU FROM BRIAN GULRUD & OUR THRIVENT CHAPTER

Thank you to our school children and all who participated in the recent Christmas Gift Mission Project. Special thanks also goes to Brian Gulrud and the Southeast Waukesha County Thrivent Chapter for matching $5.00 for each $5.00 Christmas gift we gave. Our Thrivent Chapter has also donated $1,600 for our gym kitchen upgrade, and has matched $3,200 of the money we raised in last spring’s Bradley Center Volunteer Efforts. That $3,200 will help support our School Education Fees and our afternoon Preschool and Kindergarten Programs. Thrivent also donated plants and gravel to our Spring Arbor Day Project. Thank you to the Thrivent Insurance Company and all of you who have Thrivent Insurance policies for all the support you have given.

DEAR STAR FAMILIES,

Last Saturday, my son and I had the thrill and the privilege of volunteering at the food and clothing pantry that our sister church, Christ Lutheran, operates as an outreach to their community. Since they are located at 28th and Greenfield, you can guess that their outreach is to Hispanic families.

First, families hear a devotion, either in English or in Spanish, after which these needy families receive used clothing and one grocery bag of food.

Josiah remarked how rich he felt as these families excitedly sifted through this worn clothing as if it were brand new. Guess what – we had no coats to give away. We had to turn away at least nine children who had no winter coats to wear on this 30 degree cold day.

CHRISTIANS, PLEASE HELP!!!

Let’s collect 200 used coats by December 29th. Please look into your hearts and then into your closets for coats. Drop them off in the Star of Bethlehem “Make a Difference” Barrels. These barrels can be found in the entry of the school and also in the entry of the church. Daily the 8th graders will tally them, pack them and then on December 29th I will deliver them to this Southside Mission.

Thank you for sharing your gifts!

Lisa Ricke

P.S. 8th Graders: Please watch for a letter inviting each of you to join us as we volunteer to help this mission project again on the last Saturday of each month.

HSA PARENT NIGHT Wednesday, January 30 You Must See This!

Star of Bethlehem has a special organization called the Home and School Association (HSA) whose purpose is to assist our parents with raising their children. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 30th with the topic to be discussed: Child Discipline. National Speaker, Pastor Tony Schultz will be our speaker. Recently, Pastor Schultz spoke at our WELS State Teachers’ Convention with over a 1000 teachers. Our teachers wanted to give him a standing ovation. Please place this date on your schedule. Childcare is provided free of charge. If your child has homework, we provide supervised rooms with a study hall atmosphere. When homework is finished the children will have the option of playing in a board game room, or watching a movie in a movie room. The meeting should end at or before 8:30. Hope to see you there.

PARENT EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY

One of our parents, Stacy Laumann-Ovadal informed me of an excellent presentation that will be given December 6 on the topic of What You (the parent) Should Know About Drug and Alcohol Use. The topic will cover illicit drug, prescription, inhalant, and over-the-counter drug use and abuse. It will be presented by State Certified Drug Recognition Expert, John Gscheidmeier. The presentation will be held at the Oak Creek Community Center, 8580 S. Howell Ave. from 6:30 – 8:00. It is free.

EARLY DISSMISSAL DAYS

Thanks for picking up your children on time when we dismiss one hour early. So far the early dismissals have gone well. The next Early Dismissal Day is January 30.

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