FLS-Clearwater

Children's Church

2009-03-23T07:57:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was our first Children's Church and it was a huge success! Children's Church is held during the 10:30 worship service every other Sunday for children from prek3-5th grade. Children are dismissed from church and meet over in the CLC to enjoy a time of praise, Bible lessons and crafts. Our first series is called "Bugs" and we are learning some important lessons from our bug friends. The first lesson was from the Praying Mantis who taught us about prayer. On April 5 we will be hearing from our friend the Stink Bug. Children's Church is a great new ministry at First Lutheran and we are grateful for all the volunteers who are making it a reality. We are anxiously looking forward to our next Children's Church on April 5 and having many more children. Come and grow in Christ with us!

Herd of Cows?

2009-02-24T12:00:00.003-05:00

Herd of cows? Of course I've herd of cows! Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Drive by during school hours and check out our herd. They were painted by our art students with the help of their teacher, Mrs. Barrow. Each cow is painted in the style of a famous artist. We have Jackson Cow-lock, Georgia O 'Calf. Vincent Van Cow and Moo-ndrian. You'll have to drive by during the day. We bring our cows in every evening so they don't wander off. Our cows tell everyone driving by to "Followthe herd and enroll at First Lutheran School. We are currently enrolling for the next school year. Over the last 2 weeks we sent out over 6,000 postcards to families with school age children. We also sent fliers and letters to approximately 50 churches and pre schools in the area to let them know about our us. We are also offering them an incentive ($100 per month per each new student) to let their families know about us. Don't forget we have School Tours every Thursday so interested families can come and see us in action and see what a great program we have. Please continue to keep school enrollment in your prayers asking the Lord to send us many families for next year. Every day our students receive a quality education in a safe environment with the added blessing of hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ. What a great benefit to families!

Christmas Programs

2008-12-05T14:37:00.003-05:00

I want to make sure you are all marking your calendars for our 2 Christmas programs this year. You won't want to miss either of them. Our Pre school and Kindergarten classes will have their Christmas program on Saturday December 13 at 6:30. It will be part of our Saturday evening worship service. The joy of the Christmas story is always told so beautifully by these younger students. On Thursday December 18 students in grades 1-8 will have their performance of "Joyland" at 11:00 am and 6:30 pm in the CLC. I've only been to a few rehearsals but I can tell you its going to be great. Again, the Christmas message is shared so beautifully in story and song. The story centers around Chrismas gifts and the greatest gift of all, our Savior Jesus Christ. In keeping with that theme, we are asking that people attending the performance bring an unwrapped Christmas gift for a child for our Angel Tree. The students of First Lutheran School are looking forward to sharing the Christmas message with you.

....and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6

Service Day November 21, 2008

2008-12-05T14:19:00.003-05:00

"Living a Life of Service and Praise" is our theme for this school year. On November 21, the day before our Thanksgiving break, the students of First Lutheran had a great opportunity to put that theme into action. Many of our classes participated in service projects around the community. Our pre schoolers helped collect trash around our campus. The kindergarten class visited Highland Manor and did activities with the residents there. And our middle schoolers had 3 different projects that they participated in. Some of them took part in Adopt a Mile and picked up trash in our neighborhood. Some went to Grace House and did yard work and clean up. Another group delivered the canned goods and perishable items we had collected to RCS and spent time working there unloading trucks and sorting food. First RCS weighed the food we brought in and we were proud to find out our total was 1,330 pounds of food. Our goal had been 800 pounds (10 pounds for every run the Rays had scored in the post season). This day was such a huge success that we look forward to more service days during the rest of the school year.

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. I Timothy 4:12

PTL and You

2008-10-09T07:56:00.002-05:00

Our PTL (Parent /Teacher League) is hard at working finding lots of ways parents and friends can help support First Lutheran School with easy fundraising ideas. Here's a quick list:

1. Collect Boxtops for Education

2. Collect Campbell Soup Labels

3. Collect labels from Nestle water bottles.

All of these can be sent in to the classrooms and we can redeem them.

4. Ink/cell phone recycling - bring in empty ink cartridges and old cell phones to the school office.

5. Office Depot will donate 5% of your purchase. Just mention First Lutheran at checkout.

6. Target - Use your REDcard and designate First Lutheran.

7. SCRIP buy scrip gift cards. You get the gift card at face value and First Lutheran gets a percentage of the sale. A definite win-win deal. Also now we have gi ft cards pre ordered and on hand so you can simply stop by and purchase them the day you need them or you can still order ahead.

8. Shop at Sweet Bay and purchase designated items in groups of three. The school receives $2.00 for each group of 3 purchased. Just bring in the receipt to the school. A complete list of the Sweet Bay designated items can be found on the school web site under the link misc. helpful forms. Remember this fundraiser only goes until Dec. 4. So shop often between now and then.

9. Mark your calendar for Saturday Nov. 1 from 9:00 - 12:00 for a shred a thon. For $5 a box you can have all your sensitive papers shredded and the school receives the money. Tell all your friends and business owners about this great opportunity to have all their papers shredded and help FLS at the same time.

In these challenging economic times these are all great opportunities for you to support FLS while carrying out a lot of every day activities. Thank you all for the many ways you support the important ministry at FLS.

A Trip to Panera Bread

2008-09-19T12:43:00.003-05:00

Today, Mrs. Hinz, Emma, Michael, Emily and I all had the opportunity to go off campus and have lunch at Panera Bread in Clearwater Mall. It was all part of something new we are doing this year in the middle school to award positive behavior. When middle schoolers are "caught" in good behavior their name goes on a ticket for a drawing held every 3 weeks. We had our first drawing last week and Emma, Michael, and Emily were our first winners. Good job! They selected as their prize to go to lunch at Panera Bread. So this afternoon they got to get out of class and off we went. We had a great time enjoying lunch, laughing, talking and just being off campus. Its a really neat experience to be able to just sit and get to know our students outside of the classroom setting. I am really proud of our students and the positive atmosphere we have in our middle school. I'm looking forward to our next reward day. Wonder who it wll be and where we will go?

We're Back!

2008-09-11T12:53:00.002-05:00

Sorry for being gone so long. A few weeks of not posting a blog turned to months. But I'm pleased and happy to announce that First Lutheran is back in session for the 08/09 school year and we're off to a great start! We have been blessed with a fantastic student body of 139 students. Each day we have the opportunity to teach academics, important life lessons, and the Good News of Jesus Christ. What a privilege. This year our faculty has set high goals for themselves and the school. We call them "Our Rocks". They are the things you want to out in your jar first before adding anything else. They will be our focus for the year. Our Rocks are: 1) Building Community - between staff, students, parents and church, 2) Communication, 3) Clear Policies and Procedures, 4) Clean and Safe Environment, 5) Prayer, and 6) Always End with the Gospel. With these Rocks as our focus I am confident this is going to be an awesome year for First Lutheran School.

Middle School Discovery Night

2008-03-28T12:49:00.002-05:00

Last night our 4th and 5th grade students and their parents attended a Middle School Discovery Night on our campus. Students and parents spent about an hour visiting the classrooms, getting to know the teachers and participating in various middle school class activities. at the end of the evening they were able to hear some FLS graduates talk about their thoughts and feelings about how well FLS middle school prepared them for the next step into high school and how much they enjoyed other aspects of middle school life here such as Student Council and athletics. It was an informative and fun evening for students and parents alike as they get excited about the next school year. We are extremely proud of the academics and extra curriculars offered in our program, but even more importantly the strong spiritual foundation we are able to share with our students and their families. Come and check us out!

2008-03-06T12:15:00.003-05:00

Happy National Lutheran Schools Week! Every year the first week in March students across the country celebrate the joys and blessings of being in a Lutheran School with various fun activities. This week students at First Lutheran enjoyed a variety of activities as part of their Lutheran Schools Week celebration. Monday was Red White and Blue day. We also gathered as a student body at the flag pole for prayers and pledges. After that our Faith Friends classes got together for a donut treat and devotion. Tuesday was Pajama Day. Wednesday was Silly Sock Day and all school chapel led by Tim Jacobsmeyer. Our students also turned in their "Hearts for Jesus" popcorn boxes. The altar and communion railing was filled with popcorn boxes of offerings. Good job students! In the afternoon the classes were treated to movies and popcorn. Thursday was Twin Day in middle school and our younger classes had a Class Color Day. Friday was sports day. In the afternoon was the annual walkathon for the athletic department. Students spent the afternoon walking laps on the soccer field to raise money for athletic equipment for the school. Whew! What a busy fun week! And of course don't forget our Auction for Education held on Saturday evening. This year's theme was "A Night at the Oscars". The event was such a success due in large part to the countless hours of work by the PTL Auction Committee and the many parent volunteers who helped with baskets, donations and other behind the scenes jobs. Every year this auction funds so many of the projects around First Lutheran as we seek to continually improve our progams so that we provide quality and excellence. Thank you to the many who supported this great event.

Don't forget that we are already in the process of enrollment for next year. If you or someone you know is looking for a quality Christian education,please come by and check us out. We have school tours every Thursday . I would love to tell you about what a great school we have at First Lutheran.

2008-01-16T16:20:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas season was blessed with time for family and friends as well as an opportunity to worship the gift of the Christ child born in a manger.
First Lutheran School is back in full swing and of course there's always lots going on. Since its been awhile since I've "blogged", I wanted to jsut give a few highlights of the many things happening around campus.

During all of the 2nd quarter students were allowed to have a jeans day on Thursday. Students were allowed to wear jeans and their uniform shirt if they paid $1. The money collected will be donated to All Childrens Hospital. Students were really excited to participate in this and when the quarter is over we should have collected over $1,000!

Basketball season is in full swing and this weekend we have a special "basketball happening" here on campus. Concordia Lutheran School in Conover, North Carolina is traveling down here to play our First Lutheran Flames and Our Savior on Saturday. Bill Unverfehrt ( a former principal here) will be bringing down his Varsity boys and girls teams. They will also have lunch here on Saturday and attend our worship service in the evening. Our goal is to make this a yearly event, with our teams having the opportunity to travel to North Carolina next year.

You may have noticed our newest security measures. We have installed fences and gates between our 3 school builidngs. This will help keep our students safe as they travel between buildings during the school day. These fences were able to be purchased from funds that were raised at last year's auction.

On Friday January 25, Doug Larson will be performing for our students in the CLC. Doug is a Christian entertainer whose songs help him share the love of Jesus Christ with school age students. His performance begins at 1:30 and parents are invited to attend as well.

Its hard to believe that the school year is halfway over. Re enrollment for next year is right around the corner. If you know of families who are looking for a quality Christian education for their child, please have them contact the school office for an enrollment application.

Living a LIfe of Service and Praise

2007-12-11T08:02:00.000-05:00

On Monday evening our Student Council and a few extra "8th grade helpers" were in downtown Clearwater helping feed the homeless with Thorn Ministries. Each Monday evening Thorn MInistries provides dinners for the homeless in the community. The meals are cooked at various churches and then brought in by truck to the Municipal Building. Last night over 200 people were fed. I have been told during the holiday and winter season that number will grow significantly. Our students were put right to work setting up tables, hauling supplies and also serving the meals. They were complimented on how hard they worked. This was a great experience for our students and they are anxious to schedule a time when they can go back. Thank you students for letting the love of the Christ-child shine through you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-16T13:09:00.000-05:00

How do you serve a home cooked, delicious Thanksgiving dinner to over 200 children and adults? Well, you start with 10 turkeys, 165 lbs of potatoes, stuffing, gravy, broccoli, pies, and rolls. You have an awesome lunch coordinator and her incredible group of volunteers. You do all this to raise money for a project to feed the homeless over the holidays, invite church and school families along with students, and before you know it, you have a Thanksgiving feast that is just incredible. That's what happened today at FLS. What a great experience today was. The lunch was fabulous, but even more important the family feeling was heartwarming. Thank you everyone involved in making this such a wonderful day to be part of the FLS family. On behalf of the faculty and staff of First Lutheran School, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and blessed Thanksgiving.

" Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love endures forever. " Psalm 118:1

Opportunities to Show Thankfulness

2007-11-09T10:37:00.000-05:00

Its that time of year again! I don't even think the Halloween pumpkins had made it to the trash yet and Christmas decorations were already showing up in the stores. This also becomes the season where there is more focus on reaching out to those who need a little extra help. Because we want our students to focus on our theme of "Living a Life of Service and Praise" , we are providing many opportunities this holiday season for our students to develop a servant heart through giving.

1. Each Thursday for the 2nd quarter of school is "Jeans Day". Students and teachers may wear jeans to school and pay $1.oo. All money collected will be given to All Children" Hospital. On our first day we collected $110. That's a great start! Some students chose to give $1.00 even though they didn't wear jeans.

2. Student Council has begun their ongoing canned food drive. Different classes have been assigned different food items to bring in that will be put into Thanksgiving baskets. Student Council will supply the turkeys.

3. Next Friday, Nov. 16 will be a special Thanksgiving Dinner served in our lunchroom. Adults are encouraged and invited to attend. All money collected will be used to purchase supplies and food for the homeless. Thank you Tawnya for putting together this great project.

4. We continue our ongoing used eyelass collection for MOST MInistries.

Your support of any of these great projects is sincerely appreciated.

The important message for our students is that from the tremendous bounty of blessings our God has given us we are to be a blessing to others, and by our actions be a living example of the Gospel message.

"We love, because He first loved us." I John 4:19

Our Newest Flame

2007-10-29T12:28:00.000-05:00

Welcome baby Rachel, our newest flame! Rachel was born at 3:38 a.m on Oct 29. She weighed 6 lbs. and 8 oz. Mom and baby are doing fine although both are a little tired! Congratulations Stackhouse family. We praise God for his latest blessing to their family. While Mom enjoys some much needed time off we also are thankful for Edy O'Brien who will be filling in for Mrs. Stackhouse's class.

More Spirit Day Pics

2007-10-29T09:25:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more Spirit Day pictures. Note Mrs. Davidson going from dry to wet!

Spirit Day

2007-10-29T07:53:00.000-05:00

Friday was our first Spirit Day of the year. It was a huge success! Students all wore their spirit shirts or green and white shirts. We began in the CLC and Natalee Hallsted, our athletic director, introduced our fall sports teams. We were led in cheers by our great cheerleaders. The faculty played a volleyball match against the 8th graders. The faculty lost by a narrow margin. Then students who had purchased tickets were given the opportunity to dunk a teacher in the dunk tank. Thankfully I only went in once. Mrs. Davidson won the dunking record by going in the water 3 times. We were all thankful it wasn't a chilly day! After that there were games back in the CLC. During Spirit Day students could also purchas a hot dog or hamburger lunch and other items from the concession stand. We are very thankful for our hard working Booster Club for all they did to make it such a successful day. Here are several pictures of our awesome day.

Student Council

2007-09-12T12:35:00.000-05:00

I am pleased and proud to announce to you the Student Council members for the 2007-2008 school year. After going through an interview process with the faculty advisors, 12 members were selected. They had to answer questions about their qualifications, leadership abilities, willingness to serve, and academics. First Lutheran School expects our Student Council members to be school leaders to their peers as well as younger students. They are involved in many campus activites such as maintaining our campus gardens, selling ice cream, having holiday sales and baskets, as well as particiapating in several service projects. They are led by Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Bershaw who volunteer much of their time to help make this program such a success. Out Student Council members are pictured to the right. They are Brooke Beatty, Victoria Cassan, Jamie Biewer, Megan Trout, Zach Hinz, David Olson, Zach Maciolek, Kelli Ferguson, Dylan Stanley, Nick Mooney, Allison Custer, and Samanth Reed. Congratulation students, we are proud of you!

Hot Lunch Debut

2007-09-04T11:15:00.000-05:00

Its a success! Today was the first day of our hot lunch program and it was great! On the menu today was chicken nuggets, baked french fries, corn, and apple sauce. Our students did an awesome job following directions as they learned the new procedure for getting their lunch, drinks, and clean up. Everything went very smoothly, but we are also figuring out some things we might need to change. This program relies heavily on volunteers. We are all so grateful to them for volunteering their time to make this program so successful. Remember if you have questions or concerns about the program you can reach Tawnya at lunch@flcclearwater.org. Here's just a few pictures of our first day at hot lunch.

WHEW!

2007-08-24T11:57:00.000-05:00

We've made it through the first week of school! Its been a great first week, and we're off to a good start. The school year started off with our opening chapel led by Pastor Zimmermann. It was really great to see all the returning students and welcome many new students to the FLS family. Everything went fairly smoothly after Patti and I were able to figure out how to program the bells!
Yesterday was our first full day and now its already Friday. I don't think anyone is complaining that the weekend is here. Its hard work getting back into routine and adjusting to a hectic work schedule.

Our theme this year is "Living a Life of Service and Praise" We want our students to focus on learning how to follow in the steps of our Savior by being a servant to others. We have several projects planned that will help us practice that. We also want to help our students develop an attitude of worship and praise.

Our middle schoolers selected their elective classes and will begin those next week. Next week our athletes will also begin their sports practices.

How do I now we're off to a great start! I just asked the kids how it was going and I was told it was ...AWESOME ! It was also really good when a teacher told me one of her new students told here how much he liked First Lutheran because it was a Christian school and he was made to feel welcome unlike his previous school. We are letting our light shine!

Here's Michelle!

2007-08-08T07:59:00.000-05:00

Did you spot the missing teacher in the last blog? Michelle Pasierb our kindergarten teacher and summer camp director was pulling double duty when the staff picture was taken. So she gets a special blog spot all her own to highlight this very busy person. We thank Michelle for all her hard work during the summer on our summer program including another great VBS this year. Great job, Michelle!

A Great Staff

2007-08-08T07:33:00.000-05:00

Would you trust your children to these people? Well, you better because this is our fantastic teaching staff for next year! The teachers are back on campus and hard at work. We've spent the mornings in meetings working on our plans and goals for the upcoming year. Afternoons are spent cleaning and getting classrooms ready for the students. It is such a privilege and blessing to be involved with these dedicated professionals. As Pastor Z told them in our opening devotions, they are our seed sowers of the Word. Every day, along with academics, they get to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to the children placed in our care. Want to know who's who in the picture? I encourage you to come to worship on Sunday August 19 at the 10:30 service. Our new teachers will be installed and returning teachers rededicated at this service. Then you can put names to faces.

Continue to keep First Lutheran, its staff and families in your daily prayers.

Summer News

2007-07-24T08:41:00.000-05:00

Where has the summer gone?! It doesn't seem possible but in just 2 weeks the teaching staff will be on campus for our "Back to School Meetings. Its going to be great to have everyone gathered around the table sharing ideas and working together to make this our best school year ever. I am so excited about the dedicated quality staff we will have this year. We'll have 4 new faces added to our teaching ministry, Stephanie Davidson in pre K 3, Brandi Costa in Pre K 4, Kathy Munce in Gr 4, and Peter Kiehl in Gr 7. Each one of these brings new talents and gifts that I know will be a blessing to First Lutheran and its school families. And Patti Cronin in the school office is another strength we have added to our program. Already Patti has been making a positive impact in many areas. I'm so glad she's here!

In addition to our staffing changes, we will be starting the school year with some other positive additions as well. Our biggest improvement is our hot lunch program. Thanks to the hard work of three extremely dedicated parents, Amy Enns, Sara Klingensmith, and Gerry Critelli, it will be up and running beginning in September. I've seen the menu and I know the teachers can't wait for it to begin. I personally can't wait for the baked potato bar!Tawnya LaGrange is our hot lunch coordinator and we are excited to have her on board. This program is going to rely heavily on volunteers, so if you would be interested in working a few hours a week,( not every day) please contact the school office.

Another great improvement is the purchase of white boards for all the classrooms. These will replace our worn out old chalkboards. They arrived last week and Mr. Bill is working on getting all of them put up before classes begin in August. We were able to purchase these whiteboards with money that was raised at last year's auction.

There will be some technology improvements as well for the upcoming year. We have purchased a new computer curriculum that will be available on line to the teachers and students. The teachers will receive training on this curriculum in August. We hope to have video projectors purchased for 2 of the classrooms as well by the end of this week. This will allow teachers to have lessons from their computer projected for the whole class. We will also purchase United Streaming Video as well. This gives us access to over 50,00 videos that we can use for classroom instruction. Our technology improvements are all funded by the golf tournament that is held in the fall.

We are also changing our Accelerated Reader Program to an on- line system that makes many more titles available to our students. This way we do not have to continue to purchase new titles every year.

Many of our teachers have spent the summer moving classrooms. This is quite a big task. Its hard to believe the "stuff" we acquire over the years that we don't want to get rid of. Moving is a great motivator in that department. It may take us all awhile to remember who's in which classroom. Hopefully the name plates on the door will help.

We are still in need to 2 teacher aides. One for our new Pre K 4 class and the other for grades 1,2,and 3. If you are interested or know of someone, please have them contact the school office. This is only a part time morning position.

And don't forget to tell anyone you know who is interested in a quality Christian education for their child that we still have spaces available in some of our classes. Its amazing how many of our new students come by referrals from congregation members, and former or existing school families. Your positive word of mouth is our best marketing tool. Thank you!

As always, continue to keep First Lutheran School, its faculty and staff, and families in your prayers. God is truly blessing this ministry.

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16

Teaching Staff Complete!

2007-06-04T07:45:00.000-05:00

Our teaching staff is now set and complete for the 2007-2008 school year. Last evening Peter Kiehl informed me that he would be accepting our call to be 7th grade homeroom teacher for the next school year! That is awesome news for our middle school. Mr. Kiehl has 7 years of teaching experience, most recently in Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Kiehl has a real heart for Lutheran education and dedication to the teaching ministry. He considers flexibility and patience to be 2 of his strengths. Mr. Kiehl will be teaching our advanced math classes as well as 7th grade religion, middle school social studies and some pe and computer classes. We are so glad to have Peter and his wife Michelle joining our FLS family! We praise God for the way he directs and leads his people in ministry.

It was good to see so many of you at the reception yesterday for Edy O'Brien. A special thanks goes to Malinda Howard for her hard work to make it such a special and beautiful event. First Lutheran has been so blessed to have Mrs. O'Brien on staff for the last 24 years. We wish her all the best as she embarks on a new phase of life. But we're not letting her get too far. Edy will be subbing for us next year when the need arises!

The school office is open during the summer from 8-3. If you have family or friends interested in enrolling, by all means have them stop by for a tour or to pick up enrollment information.

2007-05-11T06:35:00.000-05:00

Great News!
Last evening Mrs. Kathy Munce of Beaverton Oregon informed me she has accepted our call to be the 4th grade teacher! She will be arriving in late June to get settled in before she begins working here in August. Mrs. Munce has 6 years previous teaching experience at various grade levels. From the very start the call committee was impressed with her calm, gentle spirit as well as her excitement for teaching. She will truly be a blessing to First Lutheran. Praise God for answered prayer.

Mark your calendar now. As you are aware, Mrs. O'Brien is retiring at the end of this school year. We will be having a apecial reception to honor her and say good bye on Sunday June 3 following the 10:30 worship service. Please join us to say thanks for all her years of service here at First Lutheran.

Meet the new Principal

2007-04-17T09:36:00.000-05:00

On Monday, First Lutheran had a new principal roaming the halls. Nic Pasierb from 3rd grade was elected by students in grades 3,4,and 5 to be principal for the day. Mr. Pasierb had a busy day. In the morning he helped Mrs. Popp in the classroom with her teaching duties. They had lunch at McDonalds in the afternoon discussing many important topics. Then they returned to campus where Mr. Pasierb distributed a treat for all the students. Another important decision he made was to grant a 15 minute recess for all the student body. Good job, Mr Pasierb!

Trying to Catch Up!

2007-04-11T09:41:00.000-05:00

Whew! I realize it has been quite some time since I have updated my blog. To say things have been crazy busy lately would be an understatement. I'm not quite sure where to even begin. I'll try and hit the highlights of the many things we have going on.

I hope many of you are planning to attend this year's auction on Saturday evening in the CLC. I know the auction committee and many parents have been working extremely hard to make this an awesome event. I have seen some of the items available for auction and can't wait to have a chance at them. This is such a great way to support First Lutheran School and have a great evening of fellowship at the same time. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

On Thursday evening at 7:30 we will be having another Parents' Night. Those who attended the last one in February felt it was very informative. Among the topics for discussion is the results of the Parent Survey we conducted that night. Your input is so valuable. I'm hoping you can take the time to attend this meeting as we work together to make First Lutheran the best it can be.

Another important event we have coming up is our Volunteer Appreciation Dessert. So many people volunteer so much time to help around First Lutheran Church and School. The staff felt it was important to honor them and let them know how much they are appreciated. So on Sunday April 22 we will be having a dessert appreciation in the CLC beginning at 2 p.m. We mailed invitations today HOWEVER I am sure (because we're not perfect) we've probably overlooked somebody. Please forgive us! We love and appreciate you too! If you volunteer around First Lutheran and did not receive an invitation come and join us anyway. All we are asking is that you RSVP by Thursday April 26. You can call the school office or leave a voice mail at extension 211.

Our Open Houses are continuing every Thursday for prospective families. Encourage anyone you know who is interested in a quality Christian education for their child, to come and check us out. I'd love to show them what a great program we have.

Keep First Lutheran School in your prayers as we continue with our enrollment process and search for staffing for next year.

Staffing for new school year

2007-03-05T13:07:00.000-05:00

Each year at this time a major topic of discussion centers around what our teaching staff will consist of for the next year. Which teachers are returning? Is anyone leaving? Are any teachers changing classes? Already these questions have been coming in. In an effort to provide the correct information rather than rumors I'd like to announce next years staffing as we know it so far:

PK3 - Open

PK4 - Mrs. Prime

Kindergarten - Mrs. Pasierb

1st Grade - Mrs. Stackhouse

2nd Grade - Mrs. Aliotti

3rd Grade - Mrs. Bershaw

4th Grade - Open

5th Grade Homeroom - Mrs. Dewar

6th Grade Homeroom - Mrs. Hallsted

7th Grade Homeroom/Advanced Math - Open

8th Grade Homeroom - Mrs. Gibson

After 24 years, Mrs. O'Brien is retiring at the end of this school year. In addition, Mrs. Lewis will not be returning to First Lutheran. With Mrs. Dewar taking on the 5th grade homeroom position Mrs. Popp will have more time to concentrate on Principal duties. These changes have left us with three openings. The Board of Education has already begun the process of interviewing candidates for these positions. Continue to keep our search for staff in your daily prayers. First Lutheran remains commited to providing a quality Christian education through an excellent, dedicated teaching staff. If you have any questions or concerns about our staffing please do not hesitate to contact me.

Pancake Day

2007-02-20T13:33:00.000-05:00

According to the Calendar of Silly Holidays and Observances, today is Pancake Day. It is also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday and the church season of Lent. Our "Faith Friends" got together to celebrate this day by making and eating pancakes. Here are a few pictures of the 5th graders and their Pre K 4 "Faith Friends" enjoying some time together making and eating pancakes. The students had a great time helping one another make their pancakes and learning about Lent. We have an amazing Savior who was willing to die for us so that we may have eternal life with him in heaven. What an important lesson for our students to learn!

Thank you to the many parents who attended our first Parents' Meeting last Thursday. We had approximately 60 parents in attendance. We were able to discuss many important issues and receive some valuable feedback. Two items seemed to be at the top of the list for concerns. One was communication and the other was safety. Now we can begin to work on addressing those concerns. Another important outcome of the meeting was the results of a parent survey we took that night. We are busy compiling those results and I will be sharing them with you at our next meeting. Thank you for helping us to make FLS the best school it can be. Even if we don't always agree, working together in Christian love we can accomplish great things. Look for the next Parent Meeting to be held near the end of March. Tell your friends to come as well. Everyone's input is important. By the way, the 5th grade class had the highest percentage in attendance and will have a pizza party in the near future!

Remember to get your registraton in for next year. Open enrollment for new students will begin on Feb. 26. We've had many inquiries and some of our classes may fill up quickly. We have school tours every Thursday for prospective families. If you know of a family that is interested in FLS, encourage them to attend, take a tour and pick up an enrollment packet. I would love to spend some time with them and tell them all what a wonderful place FLS is.

As I mentioned earlier, tomorrow begins the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Each Wednesday there will be Lenten services beginning at 7:00 p.m. There will be a light supper served before in the Fellowship Hall . I encourage you all to attend as we focus on Savior's great love for us.

God's blessings,
Elaine Popp

The Latest

2007-02-01T11:12:00.000-05:00

Last week our JV boys' basketball team traveled to St. Luke's Oveido for their tournament. The boys played 4 tough games against teams from Trinity Orlando, Grace St Pete, St Paul's Lakeland and Grace Winter Haven. They were victorious in 3 of the 4 games and returned home with the trophy for Consolation Champions. Congratulations Boys! Your great team effort and sportsmanship represented First Lutheran well. Thank you also to the parents and coaches who gave up their weekend to cheer us on.

Our preschoolers have been really busy lately. Last week they culminated their Winter/ Bear Hibernation Unit with a Teddy Bear Parade throughout the school. The children decorated their own Bear Box and paraded their favorite teddy bear on the parade. It was a pleasant interruption to our class routines to have the preschoolers visit our classes. The preschoolers will now focus on learning about Lent. They will be learning Lenten songs and completing a Lenten family ministry project with their parents at home.

I encourage all parents to attend our Parents Meeting on Thursday Feb. 15 at 7:30 in Fellowship Hall. It will be an opportunity to hear from our Congregation President and Chairman of the Board of Education. They will be discussing our future plans and goals for FLS. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions or voice concerns. We want and value your input so please remember this date and make your plans to attend.

Our chapel offerings for this semester will be used for the Hearts for Jesus project, Mission India. Hearts for Jesus is a combined effort of all the schools of the Florida-Georgia District. With all of our schools working together we are helping to raise money to be used to spread the Gospel message to our brothers and sisters in India. Just $1.oo will provide a child with Bible lessons and materials so that they may learn about Jesus. Some classes have large money jars in them and the students are challenging themselves to see just how much money we can raise.

Don't forget that Open Houses and school tours will begin on Thursday Feb. 15 and will continue for every Thursday after that through May. If you know of any families interested in a quality Christian education for their child, invite them to attend one of these open houses. We would love to show them our school and talk about our great program.

School News

2007-01-18T13:31:00.000-05:00

Have you been to a boys' basketball game at FLS lately? As of this writing our junior varsity boys are undefeated with a record of 4-0! They are a talented group of young athletes who really play like a team. Another interesting note about our junior varsity is that they being coached by two grads from last year, Jason Holloway and Devin Olson. They're doing a great job, and we're so glad they came back to still be a part of of FLS family. Our varsity boys' basketball team also continues to work hard as a team. Their current record is 1-3, and we look forward to many more exciting games. Thank you to Trish DeLeo who is their coach. Thanks also to the Booster Club who work the concession stand so we can enjoy some treats during our home games. We have 3 home games next week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Our girls' soccer team will have their first game on Tuesday Jan. 23. Come on out and support the Flames!

Congratulations to the 57 students in grades 3-8 who made Honor Roll or Principal's List for the 2nd quarter.

What can you do with $1,000? Well if you are L.A.M.P. (Lutheran Association of Missionary Pilots) you can keep your plane flying for approx 3 weeks. One of the mission projects FLS supported the first semester was L.A.M.P. These pilots fly into remote regions of northern Canada and Alaska bringing Sunday School and Vacation Bible School materials. FLS was able to send L.A.M.P. $1,000 which will help keep their planes flying as they bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to our neighbors to the north.

Its not too early to start telling your friends and neighbors about enrolling in First Lutheran School for next year. Although registration won't begin until mid February, several new families have already been making inquiries and taking school tours in anticipation of enrolling in the spring. It is possible some of our classes will fill up quickly. If you know of people who are interested in First Lutheran School, encourage them to come by for a tour and see what a great program FLS has to offer. We will also begin having Open Houses every Thursday beginning Feb. 15. Remember we have an incentive plan for school families and church members that recommend FLS and have that family enroll.

Welcome New Students!

2007-01-12T13:07:00.000-05:00

First Lutheran was blessed to begin its 2nd semester with 8 new students! We have a new student in Pre K 3, Pre K 4, Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade. It was great to welcome back the Sweazey family who returned to us after moving back from New Hampshire. We're so glad you're here! We are also so excited to welcome our other new families to FLS as well. What a great way to begin the semester.

Its great to be back in school for the second semester. Its hard to believe the school year is already halfway over. On Wednesday during chapel we will recognize the students in grade 3-8 who achieved either the Honor Roll or Principal's List for the second grading period. In the afternoon these students are invited to a special ice cream float celebrationin honor of their academic achievement. Good job FLS students!

January 19th we will be celebrating Spirit Day. Come and join us in the CLC beginning at 1:30 p.m. to honor our girls soccer team and boys basketball teams. Our FLS cheerleaders will be leading us in cheers as well as performing a dance routine. It will be a fun time.

We are so thankful to God for all the many ways he continues to bless First Lutheran! Please continue to keep our students, families, and staff in your prayers.

Merry Christmas from First Lutheran School

2006-12-21T10:31:00.000-05:00

With only one more day until Christmas break things are still pretty hectic at First Lutheran. The excitement of Christmas has definitely been in the air these past few weeks. It really all started the week we returned from Thanksgiving. Christmas trees and decorations began showing up in the classrroooms. While there may be a stray Santa or reindeer hanging up, FLS students know the real meaning of Christmas and that Jesus is the reason for the season.
Our preschool - 1st graders did an excellent job telling the Christmas story On December 9 during our Saturday evening worship. As always, when younger children share the Christmas message its special.
Classes have been getting together for special "Faith Friends" activities like Advent devotions, making crafts, decorating gingerbread houses, and playing games.
Once again, our Student Council had their special gift tree in the reception area that was used to collect presents for needy families.
Students in grades 2-8, under the direction of Mrs. Hinz worked many hours on their Christmas Program, "Miracle on Main Street". It was performed as part of our last Advent service on Wednesday, Dec. 20. I hope you were able to attend because it was a great performance. The true meaning of Christmas, the message of Jesus' birth came out loud and clear. Thank you students for all the hard work you put in to make it such an awesome performance. And of course, thank you Mrs. Hinz ; we couldn't have done it without you!
Of course, I also have to brag about my 5th graders. Last week they performed at Carlouel Yacht Club. They sang many of the songs from their Christmas program. I received so many compliments about how well they did. Excellent job sharing the message 5th graders.!
And finally tomorrow is the classroom Christmas parties. What a joyous season this is!
On behalf of everyone at First Lutheran School we want to wish you a blessed Christmas season as you celebrate God's love for us in the sending of his Son Jesus to earth as the baby in a manger.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

Thanksgiving at FLS

2006-11-29T10:45:00.000-05:00

Students at First Lutheran were really filled with the Thanksgiving spirit this year. As part of a Student Council project, students collected canned goods for THORN Ministries which helps to feed the homeless in the Clearwater area. Our students really responded by bringing over 1,000 cans of food which were used to help feed over 200 people on Thanksgiving Day! There was even food leftover which went on the shelves to be used for future needs. Student Council purchased 7 turkeys which were also part of the meal. Sharon Andress from THORN Ministries visited in chapel this week to personally thank our students for thier generosity. Way to let your light shine Flames! You were a blessing to many in our community.

We are also continuing to collect chapel offerings which will be sent to LAMP (Lutheran Association of Missionary Pilots), an organization that flies in to remote areas of Canada and Alaska bringing Sunday School and Vacation Bible School supplies. $500 is enough money to keep a LAMP plane flying for one week.

Have you marked your calendar to attend our Christmas programs? You won't want to miss them. Our pre school through first grade program will be on Saturday Dec. 9 at the 6:30 worship service. Our gr 3-8 program will be on Wednesday Dec. 20 at 11:00 am ansd 7:00 pm.
The students have already begun working to make these programs special. The Christmas story never grows old and our students are excited to share its message with you. Invite your friends and neighbors to come along with you.

Good Things

2006-11-08T14:13:00.000-05:00

When the SSAC consultants were here last week, one thing they did in each of their focus groups was to ask for input about what good things are happening around FLS. Many things kep showing up on everyone's list. I would like to share a few of these with you.

1. Christian Education - this showed up on almost every list. Parents noted that at FLS their children receive a solid Christian foundation and education. One person put it this way " Religion - See it, Feel it, Hear it". That's great to hear. Our message is getting through. Our ministry is getting done.

2. Quality Education - it was noted many times that at FLS students receive a quality education from a knowledgeable and talented staff using a strong curriculum. Mention was made several times of the success of our graduates when they go on to high school.

3. Athletics - whether or not we win every game, our sports program is seen as one of the good things about FLS. All students in grades 4-8 who want to be a part of our sports teams are allowed. We have dedicated coaches and a strong Booster Club who are very supportive of our athletic program.

4. Teacher -Student relationships - again this showed up on many lists. Our teachers work on building nurturing relationships with their students as well as parents. People commented on the care and enthusiam our teachers show.

5. Parent Support- I would personally like to echo this one. One of our school's greatest blessings and strengths is the support we receive from our school parents. This comes across in so many ways from volunteering in the classroom, on committees, helping with work projects, donations of time, money, supplies, and just the support they offer to teachers as we work together. Our fantastic PTL would also be an important highlight of parent support.

We need to celebrate these "good things". We also need to make them even better. As we move forward we need to brag about these strengths and let others know what a great place FLS is. There are many more items that appeared on the list, but for now I wanted to highlight just a few of them. Continue to keep FLS and the SSAC improvement process in your prayers as we continue to seek to do God's will in this place.

SSAC Team Report

2006-11-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

The SSAC team has made their visit and gone. Everyone who had an opportunity to meet and talk with them came away realizing what a great group of school leaders they were. The four consultants were 1) David Florine , Columbus, Indiana, 2) Roy Kaiser, Detroit, Michigan, 3) Jeff Howell, Chicago, Illinois, and 4) Dennis Fangmann, St. Louis, Missouri. After arriving late Saturday afternoon, they spent Sunday morning in our worship services and the rest of the day and evening meeting with various focus groups. They spent the day Monday at school, meeting with the teaching staff at the end of the day. Tuesday was spent writing their report. On Tuesday afternoon they gave a summary of that report to staff and whoever from the focus groups was able to attend.
Their summary included a list of "good things" that are happening around First Lutheran as well as the areas we need to focus on for improvement. It should be noted that there are a lot of good things happening around here. I will be sharing a lot of that with you in future blogs. The complete report should be received by me by the end of the week. Then we can begin the task of making our plans for improvement. All of this will have been in vain if we fail to take the next step and just let this report lie around and gather dust. Keep this process in your prayers as we seek to do God's will in this place.
I am so grateful for the hard work of the visiting SSAC team. I am also so grateful for the LCMS Department of School Ministry who funds this. In case you were not aware, this is not costing First Lutheran anything. It is provided by the Synod.
David Florine (the team leader) will be returning to First Lutheran in about 6 weeks to see how we're doing with getting the process started and giving advice on how to proceed. He will also be visitng 2 more times after that if we request it.
I cannot repeat enough how excited I am that we have become involved in this process. We have some hard work ahead of us, but we've taken the all important first step. As Pastor would say, like Peter, you can't walk on water unless you get out of the boat.
To God be the glory!

WELCOME SSAC

2006-10-24T13:26:00.000-05:00

October 28, 29, 30, and 31 is the scheduled dates for the SSAC visit. SSAC stands for Strengthening Schools and Congregations. A team of four consultants will be visiting our church and school to observe and make suggestions to improve our congregation and school ministries. During their visit the consultants will lead focus groups made up of school parents, students, teachers, and congregational leaders. They will also hold interviews and observe many aspects of our church and school. They are here at our request and I am so excited to have them visit. I feel confident that their visit will be a great blessing to First Lutheran Church and School as they offer their insights and recommendations in ways to strengthen and revitalize our mission of sharing the caring Christ more effectively in this place.

Way to Go Honor Roll and Principal's List!

We had 56 students in grades 3-8 who made honor roll or principal's list on their last report card.
Honor roll is at least a 90% average of academic classes and principal's list is at least a 93%average of academic classes. These students will be recognized Wednesday morning during our chapel serevice. Then in the afternoon they will be dismissed to the Fellowship Hall to enjoy an ice cream treat with Mrs. Popp. Congratulations students!

Check out the new pre K cubbies. These cubbies match the pre k 4 cubbies that were built last year. Many thanks to Tom Rabe for his beautiful craftmanship. Thank you also to PTL who provided the funds for this project.

Lots Happening Around Here!

2006-10-10T12:37:00.000-05:00

Golf Tournament A Huge Success!
Last Saturday, Oct. 7, First Lutheran held its annual Golf Tournament for Technology. It was our best ever! We had 101 golfers, our highest amount. They all commented about what a great time they had. There were 3 hole in one contests. No one was successful at winning the car donated by Dick Norris, but someone did win a year's free car maintenance and $300 driver. (a golf club not a chauffeur) It should be noted that the winning team was a group of young men from Largo High School led by Andrew Jemmott a former First Lutheran alumni. As of this count the golf tournament raised close to $6,000! Wow, will be be able to put that to good use. There is no possible way this tournament could have been so successful without the work of many volunteers. They put in lots of hours to insure everything went so smoothly. A huge thank you goes to Mrs. Amy Enns, our tournament director. We love you Amy, and really appreciate all your time and effort.

We'd Love To Hear From You
There is now a suggestion box in the school lobby. Lots of times people have some really great ideas for how we can do things better here at FLS. Well, now we've provided a way to efficiently communicate these ideas. Simply pick up a suggestion box submission form in the lobby, fill it in and drop it in the suggestion box. With all of us working together there's no limit to the great things we can accomplish.

Come Cheer For Your Flames!
This Saturday, First Lutheran will host the CFLAA varsity girls' volleyball tournament. CFLAA is an association of Lutheran schools in the Central Florida area. This is a time to show off our beautiful new facility to other Lutheran schools. In addition to great volleyball, there will be concessions and the Spirit Store will be open so you can buy lots of items to show your school spirit. Our Lady Flames have been practicing hard for this tournament and so far have had a very successful season. Again, this tournament will be successful due in large part to many parent volunteeers who will be on hand to do the many jobs it takes to run a tournament. But special recognition goes to Mrs. Natalee Hallsted, our athletic director, for all her hard work preparing for this tournament. Her hard work will continue through Saturday as she coaches our varsity girls. Come on out and cheer us on! Our first game begins at 8:30 a.m.

One Quarter down, Three to Go
Our first quarter end on Friday Oct. 13. The following week report cards will be issued and teachers will be meeting with parents to discuss the report cards. You could add these conferences to your prayer list, praying that they go smoothly as we all work together to do what is best for the students that God has placed in our care.

Back From Conference

2006-10-04T13:26:00.000-05:00

What a great conference it was! Last week the teachers attended the Fl -Ga District Educators' Conference. It was fantastic! The conference began with a worship service led by Pastor Wiggins from East Point Georgia. For the next two days teachers attended workshops covering many different topics. On Thursday evening the staff attended a banquet. A group of students from Holy Cross Lutheran School, North Miami performed after the dinner with songs and sign language. They were outstanding. Following the dinner, educators were recogninzed for anniversary years of service. Barb Aliotti and Elaine Popp were both recognized for 25 years of service in a Lutheran School. Also recognized were outstanding educators. Jesse Crosmer (son of Walt and Marj Crosmer) received the award for outstanding administrator of the year. Jesse is the principal of Our Savior Lutheran School in St Petersburg. At our faculty meeting on Monday, the staff shared insights from the conference. Everyone agreed that they had been refreshed, uplifted and ready to return to the classroom and try out some of the new things they had learned.

Next week we will be having our first Spirit Day on Friday morning. This is an opportunity to honor our athletes and have a good time. There is a rumor that there will be a dunk tank that day and that students will have an opportunity to purchase tickets to dunk their favorite teacher. Yikes! Also Friday will be Parents Day for our younger students. And as if that wasn't enough, Friday is also a half day because its the end of our first quarter.

Did you know that the teachers meet three days a week for faculty devotions? Did you know that each week we choose 3 of our school families to pray for? We've all see how powerful these prayers can be in the lives of our students and their families. I would encourage you as well to keep First Lutheran School and its staff in your daily prayers.

Brothers and sisters, I beg you to help me(us) in my (our) work by praying to God for me(us). Do this because of our Lord Jesus and the love that the Holy Spirit gives us. Romans 15:30

2006-09-20T09:40:00.000-05:00

A Great Opportunity
Are you currently a Thrivent member? Are you an associate member? Thrivent, a financial services company provides many opportunities for our school to receive financial gifts. One of the easiest is a program called GIVING PLUS. It works very simply. For a fee of $10 you sign up to become a Thrivent Associate member. Then whenever you make a contribution to First Lutheran School, Thrivent will match your gift by 50%. This is available to members of First Lutheran, and non members alike. Imagine the possibilities. Perhaps you were going to contribute $100 for some worthy project around school. By being a Thrivent associate member we can turn your $100 contribution into $150! To get us started on our way I am encouraging all of you to consider becoming a Thrivent associate member. You can pick up forms in the school office. Simply fill them out with a check for $10 and we will do the rest. Many thanks to Cyndee Haydon who is serving as our school Thrivent Liason. I am really excited as I begin thinking of the many ways we can help First Lutheran School through this program.

New Lockers!
Check out the new lockers in Building A. We recently purchased new lockers for our 2nd and 3rd graders. Their old ones were small and didn't match. Our new ones are the same size and color as our 4th and 5th grade lockers. Today they are being installed and we are so excited. I'm sure the 2nd and 3rd graders can't wait to start using them. The money to purchase these lockers was provided through funds raised from last year's auction. Thank you PTL for all your hard work and support.

Next week school will be closed for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday while the staff travels to Orlando for the 2006. Florida-Georgia District Educators Conference. It is such an awesome experience to join with all our fellow educators in the district. They keynote speakers are inspiring, the worship is uplifting and the workshops are always so helpful. I know this years conference will be the same. Keep our teachers in your prayers as they travel to and from this conference.

Also please continue to keep Mrs. Gibson in your prayers while she recovers from pneumonia. Mrs. Gibson was hospitalized on last Wednesday and was released on Saturday. Currently she is still at home recuperating and we miss her greatly.

The Latest

2006-09-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

"If the horse you're riding on dies, get off. It won't do any good to adjust the saddle or change the bit." This quote comes from The New Management Handbook by Rick Morris. One of the many strengths of the FLS faculty is the constant willingness to examine what we are doing, see if it's working and make improvements. At our last faculty meeting we discussed some of our "dead horses" and what we could do about them. Sharing what works and doesn't at faculty meetings is one of the many ways our faculty continues to improve. Next month during one of our professional development days we will begin examing a school wide system of classroom management called "Love and Logic". The faculty is anxious to look at this program and see how it can be implemented on our classroom., Many Lutheran schools around the country use it and speak very highly about it.

Another exciting change for us is our approval into the VPK program. VPK (Voluntary Pre School) is program in which the state provides funding for students in 4 year old preschools. We did not participate last year when it was not really known how successful it would be. In fact, there was quite a bit of misinformation floating around. Well, drive by practically any pre school and you will see that this year they are a VPK provider. In fact many schools have waiting lists while our pre school still has openings. It seemed then that this was a very obvious choice for us. With our quality program we more than meet their minimun requirements to be approved. What a great opportunity to fill our preschool with young children and their families so that they can hear the Good News of Jesus, their Savior.

Another Special Day
Did you celebrate on September 13? What, you didn't know it was Fortune Cookie Day? Well, we celebrated at FLS. But again, here's the awesome part of having a Lutheran School. We got to celebrate with Scripture Cookies instead. What a great way to have a little fun and teach a great message as well. We don't need to worry about our future by reading our fortunes in a cookie. We can rely on the promises of God in His Word.

School Happenings

2006-09-07T09:35:00.000-05:00

Midquarter Already?!
Can you believe we are already halfway through the first quarter? This Wednesday students in grades 3-8 will receive their first midquarter report. It is an opportunity for students and parents to see how things are going so far academically. In this way they can make plans for improvement before the official report cards are issued in October. We also use these reports to determine eligibilty for our athletes. First Lutheran stresses academics before athletics and so we have a strict policy that students may not have either 2 D's or 1 F on their midquarter in order to be eligible to involved in our sports programs. Our athletes have been working very hard to maintain their eligibility.

Chapel News
This week we had our first all school chapel with our "Faith Friends". We have paired up each of our classes with another. On the first chapel of the month these Faith Friends sit together. Its a great way for the students in various grades to get to know students in other classes. During the school year these Faith Friends will also plan some fun activites together. Its really neat to see the younger and older students interacting. Also during this chapel service we celebrated the baptismal birthdays of our students and teachers for the months of July, August, and September.

Our chapel offerings for the first 2 quarters have also been set. We will be participating in "Food for the Poor Ministry of Florida" and L.A.M.P (Lutheran Association of Military Pilots). Each week we collect offerings during our chapel services.
Don't forget we are still also collecting eyeglasses for M.O.S.T Ministries which provide eyeglasses to 3rd world countries. There are collection boxes in the narthex and lobby of Building A.

Have you signed up to be a First Lutheran Prayer Pal? Its not too late and we still need several more pals. We would like to have enough to provide pals for all of our students in grades 1-3. This really is an easy way to get involved in First Lutheran School and make a positive impact on the life of one of our students.

GO FLAMES!
Our girls' varstiy volleyball game had thier first match and victory of the season against Countryside Christian on Wednesday. Girls junior varsity volleyball and boys' baseball begin today.

Please continue to keep First Lutheran School, its staff and its ministry in your prayers.

2006-08-30T12:37:00.000-05:00

Student Council Elections

Last week 36 middle school students went through interviews to be selected to our Student Council. The Student Council at FLS is a highly respected group on our campus. They are involved in many projects throughout the year. They maintain our gardens on campus, have raffles and special sales around the holidays, sell hot chocolate during the winter, sell ice cream during lunch time and more. With the money they raised last year they were able to purchase a new drinking fountain for the middle school. It was extremely difficult to select this year's Council; there were so many great students who applied. After much discussion we were able to announce our 10 Student Council members. They are Taylor C., Dean M., Lexi S., Zach M., Zach H., Samantha R., Chris R., Erin M., Brie Z., and Taylor A. Congratulations, students we are very proud of you!

We've got spirit, yes we do!

That's the theme for this year's athletics. Mrs. Hallsted, our athletic director has gotten everyone excited about athletics at FLS. All you have to do is check out our Spirit Store in the CLC. It is filled with all kinds of fun things you can buy to cheer our teams on. There are beads, pins, seat cushions, pom poms and much more. On Saturday we hosted a girls jv volleyball tournament, and it was great to see so many parents and students who came out to show their school spirit. This year we also have some parent volunteers who are having cheerleading practice every Friday afternoon after school. Our first home volleyball game is on Wednesday Sept. 6 and Thursday Sept. 7 our boys have a baseball game at St Pauls. Go Flames!

FLS Teacher in the News!

Were you watching ABC news on Tuesday evening? If you did you saw them do a story on Mindy Stackhouse (our pre k 3 teacher) and her family. Mindy and her family were one the the many families forced to leave after Hurricane Katrina. The story focused on the hardships this family has had to endure as a result of that hurricane. It was extremely touching to hear them share the story of their struggles even one year later. We all take so many of God's daily blessings for granted, we sometimes need to be reminded about what the person next to us may be going through. All of us at FLS are so grateful to have Mindy here as part of our team. We're so glad she and her family are here!

Keeping in Touch

2006-08-22T12:40:00.000-05:00

Bad Poetry Day Strikes FLS

Read any really bad poetry lately? We have! Last week in celebration of Bad Poetry Day on August 18 (yes, that is a real day), each class took turns reading the bad poem of their choice over the intercom. There really is quite a lot of bad poetry out there. We hope to celebrate some other lesser known holidays throughout the school year.

We Love Mr. Bill and the Worker Bees

There is no way FLS could have gotten ready for the school year without Mr. Bill and the Worker Bees. They spent a lot of time making repairs and cleaning so we looked great for the beginning of school. So last Tuesday while they were meeting in the Fellowship Hall, the entire student body crept quietly into the CLC. Mr. Bill and the Worker Bees were summoned into CLC and they we were all waiting for them holding a banner. We told them how thankful we were for all their hard work. It was great to see our students acknowledging the efforts of another who often do their work behind the scenes.

If you're looking for ways to get involved with FLS, here are a couple of suggestions. One is to sign up to be a Secret Prayer Pal. Prayer Pals pray for their student every day and send them small gifts or cards on special occasions. We have an unveiling party in the Spring. If you have any doubt about what a positive impact this makes on our FLS families, you just need to attend this end of the year party. It is really special to see FLS families and congregation members meet and interact. Students look forward to it all year. Another way you can get involved now is to sign up for our Annual Golf Tournament for Technology. The tournament is Oct. 7. You can sign up to golf, be a hole sponsor, sponsor a golf cart, or get donations. Call the school office to get in touch with the tournament director.

Our phone system is finally up and running. We also now have voice mail working so you will be able to get in touch with teachers or leave a message if you need to and we can get back in touch with you.
Thinkwave for grades 3-8 is also up and running so you will be able to check on your students grades. Thanks Terri Dobson for getting all the information entered and loaded.

Finally the staff is all keeping Pastor Z and his family in our prayers following the death of his father. While we who remain on earth mourn, we can also rejoice with heaven that one of God's children has returned home where there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain.

First Full Week

2006-08-14T13:25:00.000-05:00

Its the first full week of school and so much is going on already! Teachers spent last week getting students used to their schedules, going over expectations, and just getting settled in. So now this week we can settle in and have more of a normal school day routine. Everyone seems really excited to be back. We also have several new families that we are very happy about.

Yesterday was teacher installation during the 10:30 service. Mindy Stackhouse was installed as our pre k 3 teacher. The rest of our staff was returning teachers, so they were rededicated. If you weren't at that service you missed something new. Each teacher was introduced individually so that people could put names and faces together and learn something interesting about our teaching staff. I am so proud of our excellent teaching staff.

Sports practices begin this week. Our first season of the year is boys baseball and girls volleyball. This year we are also having cheerleaders thanks to some wonderful school parents who volunteered to head up this project. Coaches and athletes are anxious to get started. If you can, come on out and cheer on your FLS Flames. Sports schedules and news are posted outside of Building A.

Have you seen the new fence around the preschool? Its awesome! Thanks to the PTL who raised money through the auction for this project. We even were able to extend the fenced are to the east so the pre schoolers have a bigger play area. Come check it out.

Please continue to keep the FLS staff and school families in your prayers.

Tomorrow"s the Day

2006-08-08T07:58:00.000-05:00

We are really down to the wire! Tomorrow is the first day of school, so teachers really have a busy day ahead of them. Today in the morning we are having Open Classroom. This is an opportunity for students to come in, drop off their school supplies, find their desks and lockers, and get the first day jitters over early. This is our first year having this, and it seems to be very successful.

Tomorrow for our first day of school we will be serving coffee and donuts to our school parents as they drop thier children off as a way to welcome them to our First Lutheran family. Then our school day begins with our opening chapel service. Our first day is a half day as teachers go through their procedures and expectations and first day activities. Then on Thursday its a full day normal schedule.

Sunday morning at the 10:30 a.m. service our teachers will be installed. This year we are going to call each teacher up individually so the congregation can put faces and names together. We have an awesome teaching staff and we want you to get to know us.

The first day of school is always such an exciting time for students, parents and teachers. We are anxious to get going with learning new things, fun activities, and worshiping our Lord. Its going to be a great year!

Elaine Popp

Principal's First Blog

2006-08-03T07:51:00.000-05:00

Good morning! I'm embarking on a bold new adventure - a blog spot. Thank you to Pastor Z for his help and guidance as I learn this new computer skill. It's really exciting for me to begin this. What a great way for me to communicate with everyone about all the happenings around First Lutheran School. What a great ministry opportunity we have every day to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to our students and their families.

Busy Busy Busy

The school year is only 6 days away so the faculty is hard at work getting everything ready to begin. Yesterday was the last day of Summer Camp. We had a great camp this year. Many thanks to Michelle Pasierb and her staff for all their hard work. The children enjoyed so many fun activities and field trips.

Keep Mrs. Hallsted in your prayers. Last week she fell and fractured her jaw and had to have it wired shut. Not a great way to begin the school year ( and not a recommended diet plan either). The faculty has pulled together to help her get ready. With the Lord's help everything will be just fine and her students will get great practice with their listening skills. Every challenge is a great opportunity.

Our theme this year is "Walking in Faith" based on the words from 3 John v. 4 " I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. " Throughout the school year we will focus on this theme during our chapels, classroom devotions and other activities.

Time for lesson plans, bulletin boards, seating arrangements, and many other last minute "to do's".

God's blessings on your day as you also practice "Walking in Faith".

Elaine Popp

Get All The News While It's Still News

2006-08-01T21:02:00.000-05:00

They say one good thing leads to another. The feedback on Pastor's blog was so favorable, I decided to start one for the school. Why? You know how kids can be... I forgot the note in my desk at school, backpack, etc.

Hah! Never again. Now you can get all the news while it's still news.