Dear Christian Parents:

This weekend at St. John's we'll be celebrating Reformation Day. October 31,1517, was a very important day in the life of Martin Luther. He posted 95 statements for debate on the door of his church in Wittenberg, Germany. Many didn't like it. Many wanted him dead. But God kept him safe because he had a plan to use Martin Luther to turn people back to the truth. Luther would preach salvation by God's grace alone, through faith alone, based on Christ alone, revealed through the Scriptures alone. Here we stand about 500 years later, and none of that has changed. The message of the pure Gospel which we proclaim at St. John's still changes hearts, offers forgiveness and promises eternal life in heaven! I hope that you can join us either in person or online this week as we worship the God who provided the message that Martin Luther preached and the message that we share each day with your children at St. John's! Happy Reformation Day!

God’s Word is our great heritage and shall be ours forever.

To spread its light from age to age shall be our chief endeavor.

Through life it guides our way. In death it is our stay.

Lord grant while worlds endure we keep its teachings pure.

Throughout all generations. (Christian Worship Hymn 293)

The end of the first quarter is next Wednesday, October 28. What a blessing that God has allowed us to meet in person for the first two months of this school year! Thanks to parents who have been extra careful with their children when there was concern about sickness or exposure to the virus. I encourage all of you to be considerate of others as you determine whether your child is healthy enough to send to school each day. We are so thankful that we've been able to stay in school, and we pray that God would allow us to continue face to face as he determines! First quarter report cards will be sent home on Thursday, November 5. MAP test results for students in grades two through eight will also be sent home on November 5.

As I mentioned last week, there will be no school on Thursday and Friday, October 29-30. The Wisconsin State Teachers' Conference had been scheduled for those two days. While the conference has been cancelled, our teachers will still gather on Thursday morning for professional development. Child care will remain open for those two days. Please be sure to let Miss Wendland (childcare@sjtosa.org) know, if you haven't already, whether you will need child care on those two days so that we can staff accordingly. Have a safe and healthy break!

There is a link to a schedule for Parent-Teacher Conferences, which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, November 11-12. First semester parent-teacher conferences are mandatory! Please help us to reach 100% of our families for these conferences. Please plan to limit your conversation with each teacher to 15 minutes or less. There may be another family waiting to see that teacher, and other schedules may be upset if we make them wait. If you feel like you need more than 15 minutes, please schedule more time when there's not someone waiting! Thanks for your cooperation!

Congratulations to our soccer, volleyball, and cross country teams who competed in tournaments last weekend. The soccer team took second place in the conference tournament. In volleyball, the A team took second place and the B team took first place in the conference. The girls' cross country team won the state championship! Boys' cross country came in fourth place in the state. Great job Crusaders! Thanks to our wonderful coaches and parents for making these seasons successful! God is good! All the time! To him be the glory!

Blessings!

Dan

Dear Christian Parents:

Fall sports will be winding down this weekend. Our soccer team is competing in the conference tournament this week. They won their first game on Tuesday night. The second game will be tonight at 5:00 at St. Paul’s, Muskego. If they win tonight, they will play in the championship at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon at WISCO. The volleyball teams have their conference tournaments on Saturday. The A team is at St. Paul’s, Muskego, and the B team is at Star of Bethlehem, New Berlin.  Finally, our cross country team has a state meet at Lake Country Lutheran High School on Saturday. Good luck Crusaders!

We continue to live-stream chapel services on Wednesday mornings at 8:15. Next week, October 19, the K4 and the first grade classes will be attending chapel in the sanctuary. The rest of the classes will watch in their classrooms. Please remember that we invite the students to bring a mission offering on Wednesdays. The offering for this semester is designated for the teen mission trip that we hope to do next summer. The total that we’ve collected so far this year is $152.11.

Please remember that there will be no school on Thursday and Friday, October 29-30. Our teachers’ conference at WISCO was cancelled, but our teachers will be having an in-service on Thursday. Childcare will remain open.

Our Early Childhood program will be undergoing some changes next year. We’re sending out a survey to preschool parents to get their help with what our program should look like. If you have a 2, 3, or 4 year old next year and do not get a copy of the survey today or tomorrow, please email childcare@sjtosa.org, and we’ll send you a survey!

May our gracious God continue to bless you this week!

Dan

Dear Christian Parents:

We will be returning to school tomorrow, Friday, October 9. We give thanks to God for limiting the destruction in Wauwatosa last night after the District Attorney’s decision in the Joseph Mensah case was announced. We believe that it is safe for our children to return to school tomorrow. Thanks also to our parents for understanding as we exercised caution by sending the kids home early on Wednesday and keeping them home today. Know that we will continue to have heightened awareness as well as open communication with the Wauwatosa Police Department through our school resource officer in case anything changes.

Tomorrow is also picture day! All students and teachers will be photographed by our professional photographer. You’ll be able to order prints if you’d like. Please see the separate article for more information about how you will be able to order pictures. Tuesday/Thursday preschool students are invited to come and have their pictures taken in the morning if that works for their schedule. There will also be a retake day on Thursday, November 12.

Due to the forecast of warm weather tomorrow, we also invite the students to go ahead and wear shorts to school on Friday, October 9. If your child is going to wear special clothes for their school picture, you may want to send another set of clothes that they can change into after their picture is taken.

Since the City of Wauwatosa has issued a 7:00 PM curfew, we have decided to cancel the Fall Blessings event that was scheduled for Friday, October 9. We're sorry that we can't have this opportunity for fun and fellowship! We pray that all of our families are able to enjoy a safe and blessed weekend, enjoying this beautiful weather!

We continue to live-stream chapel services on Wednesday mornings at 8:15. Next week, October 12, the kindergarten and sixth grade classes will be attending chapel in the sanctuary. The rest of the classes will watch in their classrooms. Please remember that we invite the students to bring a mission offering on Wednesdays. The offering for this semester is designated for the teen mission trip that we hope to do next summer. The total that we’ve collected so far this year is $107.73.

Our fourth graders have recorded a song that will be played during worship services this weekend. I hope that you are able to join us either in person or online for worship. This weekend is our Mission Festival. Our guest preacher is Pres. Rich Gurgel from Martin Luther College. Pastor Gurgel will also be leading the Bible class at 9:15 on Sunday morning. If you plan to join us in person, please use the registration form online. You can find it by clicking here.

Thanks again for your patience, cooperation, prayers and support this year and especially these last few days. May God continue to bless the strong partnership that we share at St. John’s!

Blessings,
Dan

As I reported last week, we had our WELSSA Visit earlier this week. WELSSA stands for Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod School Accreditation. Many of you were involved in the hours and hours of work that went into a self-study last school year. There were over 270 standards, and our various committees looked for evidence that our school met those standards. I don’t have the visitation team’s final report yet, but the initial report was that we met 95% of the standards! Praise God for his blessings on our church and school!

According to the St. John’s Parent Handbook, shorts are allowed until September 30. Now that we have entered the month of October, please be sure that your child wears long pants to school! If we get a forecast of high temperatures of 80 degrees or higher, shorts will be allowed for those days only. Pray that we get a few of those yet this fall!

Picture day is next Friday, October 9. Pictures will be taken in the commons during the morning. Students who only attend on preschool on Tuesday and Thursday are welcome to come for their pictures between 9:00 and 9:30, or they may wait until the picture retake day, which is scheduled for Thursday, November 12. See the article in this week’s Crusader Chronicle for information about ordering pictures.

Each Wednesday for chapel, our students are invited to bring a mission offering. You may use your Sunday School offering envelope if you have one, but no envelope is required. Any loose change or bills are accepted. The offering for the first semester is designated for the teen mission trip that we hope to have next summer. Those who attend chapel in the sanctuary may bring the offering to church. Those who are watching chapel in the classroom may give the offering in the classroom.

We continue to live-stream the chapel services on our website at about 8:15. Next week there will be two groups of students in the sanctuary while the rest will stay in the classroom. This will still allow for plenty of separation in the sanctuary just as we do on Sunday mornings. Next week, the second and eighth grade classes will be attending chapel “live.”

Mid-term reports are being sent home today for students in grades 1-8. Please be sure to ask your student for the report! You may keep the report card, but we ask that you sign and return the envelope to your child’s teacher. Please do that right away so that you don’t forget or it gets lost. Also, please remember that you are able to access your child’s grades any time by logging in to PowerSchool. If you need help with that, please contact me or Mr. Duncan.

We received 30 new chromebooks this week. These chromebooks will help allow us to support the virtual learning of those who have chosen to or are required to learn from home this school year. At the same time, we are also expanding our use of technology in the school building. We are still collecting donations to help cover the costs of these chromebooks and the air purifiers that were added in early September. Feel free to drop off or send in your donation for these necessary projects!

Our students in grades 6-8 will be taking the MAP Tests in Math, Language Arts, and Reading next week. MAP is Measures of Academic Progress. The MAP tests are designed to measure the academic growth of each student. Our plan is to measure the growth of our students by administering these tests three different times throughout the school year.

If you have a child in grade three or younger, I hope that you are able to come for the Fall Blessing event next Friday, October 9. This will be an outdoor event on our property just up the hill on Dewey Ave. The long range weather forecast is looking pretty good, but we have set a rain date for Saturday, October 10. Please see the invitation and the other information about the event in this week’s Crusader Chronicle.

Blessings,

Dan