Principal's Weekly Letter!

April 4th, 2025

I haven’t written a letter in 3 weeks.  This letter will be a little lengthy but please take the time to get to the end.  The 4th quarter is jam packed!  Speaking of the 4th quarter, we hit the ground running this week and got back into the rhythm and routine of a normal school week.  On Monday we had lots of preschoolers get a little taste of what life in kindergarten is like.  We still have a few spots remaining if you know of any families who are looking.  Kindergarteners were working on the long “A” sound. I heard words like mane, plane, and cane.  1st graders shared with me that they were working on adjectives in their grammar lesson.  2nd graders were comparing forms of measurement using cups, quarts and gallons. 3rd graders were writing clever sentences using their spelling words. 4th graders were preparing for an upcoming writing project and presentation.  5th graders were multiplying fractions.  Middle Schoolers made bread and learned about the use of yeast with Mr. Jurchen during electives.  8th graders took their annual class pictures at Iao on Wednesday, a big Thank You to Mr. Brown and Mrs. Petrovski for their expertise.  

Chapel Offerings

Our Chapel offerings for the 4th quarter will again go to Branch Lutheran School.  We have supported their mission and ministry for several years.  This year our money will go to their “Food Fund”.  They provide meals every day to over 1300 children!  All donations from Emmanuel Lutheran will buy large quantities of rice and beans as well as snacks to students and orphans in Port-au-Prince.  

VBS

Emmanuel Lutheran Church is looking for volunteers to guide kids on the ultimate Alaskan adventure where northern lights glow over majestic mountains, racing rivers, and glistening glaciers. As kids trek through the tundra, they’ll explore how easy it is to lose sight of what’s true in our world today.  Pointing them toward Jesus, True North VBS (July 7th - July 11th) shows them that he is a faithful friend we can always trust. He’s our True North!

Click the link below to fill out one form per volunteer no later than 4/20/2025 (Easter Sunday) so that we can determine how many kids we can have join us. The more volunteers we have, the more kids we can lead to Jesus, their True North.

VBS Volunteer Form

Summer Camp

Summer Camp sign up will open next week!  Mrs. Davenport will provide more information to our school families in need of summer child care.  We will offer a window of time where school families can sign up, then openings will be offered to the general public.  Be on the lookout for summer camp information.  Information for summer camp pricing is also available on the school website.

Golf Tournament

There are numerous ways to help with our 1st Annual Golf Tournament.  Please consider helping this event be a success! - More Information

1. Sponsorship - Please check out the flyer and share with others.  We have secured a few sponsors thus far but we would love for that number to grow to at least 20!  

2. Players - Find a partner and sign up for a team.  The Sponsorship flyer also has the sign up for players.

3. Donations - Golf Tournaments like this are dependent on donations for prizes and other perks for the players.  Attached is a donation form.  Please consider donating and sharing this form with local businesses who might be interested in supporting our event.  If you would like any physical copies to distribute please stop by the school office and we would be happy to print some for you!

4. Volunteering - Next Friday we will send a volunteer form for the June 14th event.

Staff Update

We will be saying goodbye to some of our staff members at the close of the school year.  Ms. Reynolds will be moving to Florida to continue her ministry, Mrs. Bradshaw will be moving to Colorado, and Mr. Potratz will be moving to Nebraska.  We are sincerely grateful for their service here.  Ms. Bradshaw and Ms. Reynolds have been at ELS since 2020 and Mr. Portratz arrived in 2022.  They all started their teaching careers with us and will be dearly missed.  All 3 are continuing their ministry at Lutheran Schools.  As the end of the year comes closer, we will take time to honor and thank all three teachers for their service to ELS!  In addition, Mrs. Lewis will be going back to work full time in the preschool as teacher and our preschool director.  

We are also excited to welcome some new staff members (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th grade) for the 2025-2026 school year.  I will share more information about new staff members in my next weekly letter.

CALENDAR ITEMS

April 5th - 6-8 Boys Basketball - Seabury - 2 PM

April 6th - Children’s Sunday (3rd and 4th grade) - 9AM

April 18th - 21st - Easter Break

May 2nd - May Day

May 5th - No School

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Mr. Rempfer