Devotion Waiting and Wondering

Transcription

1 Devotion Waiting and Wondering For forty days after his death he appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive. They saw him, and he talked with them about the Kingdom of God. And when they came together, he gave them this order: Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised. John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit. Acts 1: 3-5 Calendar Dates Monday 14 th May Whole School Worship Tuesday 15 th May NAPLAN (Yr3 & 5) Wednesday 16 th May NAPLAN (Yr3 & 5) Thursday 17 th May NAPLAN (Yr3 & 5) Friday 18 th May Sharing Assembly Monday 21 st May Multicultural Day St Matthew s Lutheran Church Our supporting church worships at 9.30am each Sunday at 362 Barkly St Footscray. All families and friends are welcome to join our worship. Live as children of the Light Ephesians 5:8 I imagine the disciples had butterflies in their stomachs as they waited for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. What would the Spirit bring? They d experienced so many extraordinary things already that the possibilities were endless. As they gathered in prayer, they would have known that whatever was coming, it would be good. Recently I found myself in a tense and uncertain situation of waiting for something. I was armed with little else except God s promise that he ll always be there for me and will care for me. The what-nexts were innumerable, some quite terrifying, but I trusted that all would be well, whatever happened. There were butterflies in my stomach, but they learnt to dance to the tune of the peace that is far beyond human understanding (Philippians 4:7). My situation came to a safe and secure ending. The disciples waiting came to a glorious and empowering ending (or was it a beginning?). Every time we experience stomach butterflies, we can know that the Holy Spirit is already with us and will bless us with peace and assurance. When I m scared and uncertain, Lord, bless me with your peace, and comfort me with the promise that you will care for me. Amen. by Hanna Schulz, in God s Peace for each Day (LCA, Openbook, 2005) Prayer Points We give thanks for all of our generous, wonderful parent volunteers We give thanks for all mothers and carers, and pray that God will encourage, strengthen and bless them We pray for strength and peace for our families with loved ones in hospital, and swift healing for those unwell We pray for peace for the students undergoing NAPLAN testing next week We pray for the Hoang, Huynh and Inme families Micah Award To Lading in Year 1 for showing kindness and compassion to others, and sharing her belongings with those in need. Well done Lading!

2 From the Principal I have just returned to the school after attending the National Lutheran Principals Conference, which was held in Hobart over 5 days. It was fantastic to see the majority of our 83 Lutheran Schools across Australia represented by their principals. As this was my first Principals conference, I was very keen to learn as much as possible from my colleagues and esteemed presenters. The quality of information that was presented and discussed did not disappoint. There are many challenges and uncertainties ahead of us as schools try to keep the education of our young generation relevant and engaging in a rapidly changing world. This is a very daunting and important task. However, the overwhelming theme of the conference was that our Lord and Saviour is walking every step of this journey with us. He is our rock, our guide, our companion, our confidante. This encouragement is something that we can easily lose sight of as our everyday lives seem to get busier and more hectic. May our God continue to walk with us and give us wisdom as we go about our busy lives. Next week the Year 3 and 5 students will be participating in the national NAPLAN testing. Whilst we acknowledge that this testing is an important part of monitoring our students progress academically, it is not a reflection of the whole student. We know that each and every one of our students has been blessed by God with many different talents. We acknowledge that each student is a unique individual and we celebrate this uniqueness. This test cannot test what is in the heart and the personalities of our students, or the joys and blessings that they bring to our school every day. However, it is important that each of our Year 3 and 5 students undertake the NAPLAN tests. We ask that parents make every effort to have their children at school next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In order to give them the best chance of showing their best work, please ensure they have a good night s sleep and a healthy and hearty breakfast before coming to school. Mr Damian Pietsch Acting Principal Notes from the Office Lanyards A reminder that we do require the orange lanyards used for swimming to be returned these are school property and need to be reused at future events. Please return them to the office ASAP. NAPLAN A reminder that all the Year 3 and 5 students will be involved in NAPLAN testing next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Please ensure your child is at school on time during these days. Fees A reminder that fees for Term 3 are due towards the end of this month. Please come in and speak to Sandra if you would like to create a payment plan. Lost Property There is an alarming number of jumpers and jackets overflowing the lost property box! Please ensure all of your child s clothing is labelled. If you are missing a jacket, we recommend you come and have a look through lost property at the Office. Winter Uniform As the weather get s colder and wetter, please ensure your child is dressed in our Winter uniform. We do not want to see summer dresses and shorts at this time of year please stock up on winter skirts, pinafores and pants.

3 What we are learning Prep/1 Yr 1/2 During Science the Year 1/2 students have been learning about a variety of Minibeasts. Ask your child to tell you about these fascinating animals, their names and why they are called invertebrates. In the Prep/1 classroom we are learning about Addition in Maths. Ask your child what subitising is and how this helps them to add quickly. Yr 3/4 Yr 5/6 We have been conducting chance experiments and using different graphs to record our data. This is a picture graph that we created. In 5/6 we have been preparing for the upcoming NAPLAN. We have revisited chance and data and are currently working on area and perimeter.

4 Calendar of Events: Term Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday May 14 May 15 May 16 May 17 NAPLAN (3 & 5) NAPLAN (3 & 5) NAPLAN (3 & 5) Lang. Con. Reading Numeracy Writing May 21 Multicultural Day May 22 May 23 May 24 AFL Clinic May 18 Sharing Assembly May 25 7 May 28 May 29 ICAS Science May 30 May 31 Basketball Clinic June 1 Sharing Assembly 8 June 4 June 5 June 6 School Nurse (Prep students) June 7 Basketball Clinic June June 11 Queen s Birthday June 12 June 13 ICAS Spelling June 14 June 18 June 19 June 20 June 21 ICAS Writing Basketball Clinic Basketball Clinic June 15 Sharing Assembly June June 25 June 26 June 27 June 28 June 29 Term 2 ends End of term Assembly Thank you! A big thank you to all of the volunteers who helped with Mother s Day preparations by either wrapping gifts earlier or helping with the stall on the day! The stall runs smoothly thanks to your efforts.

5 AFL Victoria Clinic Weeks 1-3 During our AFL clinics we learnt how to mark, handball and kick a football. We played some fun games along the way. Thanks also to Nish Moses from AFL Victoria for kindly offering the program to our school.

6 Western Bulldogs Player Visit, May 1st Thank you to Marcus Bontempelli (4), Nathan Mullenger-McHugh (40), Josh Dunkley (5), Marcus Adams (25) and Jackson Trengove (8) for generously giving their time to speak to our students On May 1 st, our Years 3-6 students were visited by 5 Western Bulldogs players. They spoke to the students about the importance of healthy eating and exercise. It helped to support our PE curriculum with the AFL clinics and the health curriculum with the Kidz Bodz Challenge.

7 Grade P/1 Minibeasts The Junior Primary students enjoyed an incursion on Minibeasts. They were able to touch some creatures and get up really close to others by viewing them through a glass jar. There were creepy-crawlies of all sorts including various spiders, centipedes, a praying mantis, various stick insects, a scorpion and our native cockroach.

8 Earthcare Planting Day As part of the new Lutheran Earthcare charter, which is focused on caring for God s creation, the Lutheran Laypeople s League (LLL) gave us a grant of $2500 to help us replant our garden beds with indigenous plants. Thank you to the parent volunteers and the Sunshine Golden Age Garden Club volunteers who helped us; with their help, every student was able to plant at least one plant!

9 Grade 5/6 Persuasive Writing Over the past few weeks, the 5/6 students have been working on persuasive writing. Their topic was, Should SCS build a school canteen? All of the Grade 5/6 students have put 100% effort into their persuasive pieces! We have been learning about the many persuasive devices we can use to convince people of our opinions. We would love to have a canteen at Sunshine Christian School! Grade 5/6 students with their published and draft persuasive texts. We have revised our first typed draft and now we are finishing our final draft.