What's Up at St. Mark's ?
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA["Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Mark 10:14
National Lutheran Schools' Week is what's up at St. Mark's and Lutheran school throughout the country! This is the time each year when we celebrate and thank God for all the opportunities that He has given us to teach His message of salvation to our students every day in every class.
Sunday began with the St. Mark's students singing "Promises" and "Go Ye" in the 9:00 a.m. worship service. Following that, parents and many congregation members enjoyed a brunch in St. Mark's gym prepared and served by the Parent-Teacher League. The gym was decorated with creations made by the Preschool through 8th grade that expressed the year's theme of "God Keeps His Promises." There was a Christmas tree decorated with Bible promises, word art, many rainbows, crosses with promises, and pictures of all varieties.
First thing Monday morning all of the students met in the gym for devotions together led by Miss Lohman.
On Tuesday Miss Lohman and Mrs. Schwarz led a devotion with puppets who shared the story about how God promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and how that came true. The many volunteers who help St. Mark's were invited to join the students for devotions and were given key chains. During a special time called "Bagels and Books" they visited classrooms so that the students could read to them and share a snack of bagels and cream cheese. In the afternoon, students from Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School visited and helped in various classrooms. Some helped with math in Kindergarten and 1st grade and others helped the 7th and 8th grade boys finish their Lenten wreaths.
Wednesday also began with a devotion together in the gym, this time about the Children's Christian Concerns Society. The school is now collecting money to help children in Cuba go to Bible schools. In the afternoon the Preschoolers through 3rd graders watched "G Force" while the 4th through 8th graders played trivia. Apparently Mr. Truluck is great at "Dead or Alive"!
On Thursday morning Mrs. Schwarz told a favorite story about the boy who made a boat, lost it, and bought it back and said now "Two times you're mine" to remind us how God made us and loved us so much that He bought us back after we sinned.
Christian singer/songwriter Don Wharton, who wrote a song about that same story, performed Friday afternoon at St. Mark's to close the special activities during this year's National Lutheran Schools' Week. Very Important People, such as parents and grandparents and friends shared Friday's lunch with the students and accompanied them to chapel. Everyone returned to the gym to hear Don Wharton's performance. Thanks to everyone who made this week possible!
1st grader Megan Schulte had her weather pictures in the paper this past week.
Watch for more pictures! We started hearing about the week before Easter in Religion. Our first story was about Palm Sunday. In math we have been adding numbers to make 10 and subtracting numbers from 10. Have you seen our flowers in the grass in front of school? The crocus bulbs we planted the first week of November are in full bloom!
First grade welcomed a new student this week. We're glad Karlye is here with us!
We performed the play, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" for volunteers and other visitors during Lutheran Schools Week. It was fun to do!
3rd grade has been studying geography. We are learning some landform terms. The traditional names like island and volcano were reviewed. Then we studied words like butte, mesa, and archipelago. A butte and mesa are similar to a plateau, which is a flat top mountain. An archipelago is a group of islands. Can you think of any examples of these landforms?
4th grade is having fun this year making scrapbooks and postcards about the different U.S. regions that they study. When they have collected enough information about a region, they work in groups to put that information in scrapbook form. They include the state names and capitals, farm crops, industries, land forms and places of interest to visit. When the scrapbooks are complete, each student makes a "postcard" of a favorite place to visit from that region.
5th grade also was blessed with a new student this past week! His name is Kaleb and he is Karlye's brother. The class is glad he came!