Dear SJB Families,

Happy Friday! I hope you all had a wonderful week. I must admit I was a little nervous having picture day during a regular school day, but I loved it! Your children all looked so beautiful. Additionally, I found great joy at being shown the special dresses and outfits. There were several requests to observe twirling, comment on bows, and notice very smart suits! It was precious. We had two parent volunteers that helped get students through the picture line. The line was efficient and all groups were through well before lunch. It was a good day!

Please, please, please join us for the Parish Festival tomorrow. It is such a good time and one of those events that really builds community. I will be around most of the day and hope to see you there!

Enjoy the weekend and I will see you at Mass!

Maggie Javins



As a Family of SJB, you have full access to our virtue program

Disciple of Christ, Education in Virtue is more than a curriculum; it’s a way of life – the means to a happy life and a healthy mind. Our school has purchased an institutional membership, and we invite you to sign up – for free.

There are videos and resources for the entire family – parents, educators, teen and young adult and children as young as 4 years old.

Simply use the following link and then type in the zip code of our school. When you see our school name, click on it and that’s it! You now have access to 100 % of the Openlight Media website.

Virtue Program Family Link

Justice is a cardinal virtue. The Holy Spirit's gift of Piety perfects the virtue of Justice.

Definition: Giving to each, beginning with God, what is due him.

Justice in Practice:

• I show devotion and honor to God as Father and Creator.
• I respect myself and others as a Child of God.
• I am obedient, loyal, and respectful to those in authority.

Failures in Justice:

• Lack of Respect
• Gossip and Ridicule
• Racism and Discrimination

Saintly Example- Saint Katharine Drexel

St. Katharine Drexel was an American millionaire. Her parents taught her that she had responsibility toward the poor and less fortunate. Early in life, she dedicated large amounts of money to helping better the lives of Native and African Americans. Eventually, she heard God calling her to dedicate her whole life to serving Him through her efforts to provide health care and education to the disadvantaged. She founded a religious community to carry out this work.

Scripture: Matthew 5:6

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Prayer

Dear Jesus,

You are the Author of all life, and I give You praise. Help me see and serve You in everyone I meet today.



Amen.

Looking Ahead - Next Week's Virtue: Affability

These students were sent to the office by their teachers because they were caught being virtuous! They received a small certificate and a treat! Keep exercising those virtues!

It's time to start planting our Storybook Pumpkin Patch! This is a voluntary activity, that is completed at home. If your child would like to participate, more information is attached. Email Mrs. Klinger with any questions at jklinger@stjohnsfw.org

*A Tide Pod container could be a cute pumpkin too!

Storybook Pumpkin Patch

9/30 to 10/7 Lunch Form

• Lunch Form must be returned by Monday September 23rd
• A paper copy was sent home with students today.
• Students receiving Free Lunches must also complete this form.
• Lunch Form

Just a few reminders regarding our hot lunch program:

Since we have so many new families to our school we wanted to give information about our lunch program. Unfortunately, we do not cook our own student lunches at our school. We contract student lunches with Classic Café. We must order our lunches two weeks in advance. Because of this we must follow a few guidelines to help our lunch program run smoothly.

1)     Lunch menus are sent home every other week. We ask that these menus are filled out, money attached, and sent into school by the following Monday if your child/children would like to order hot lunch. We then have to compile the numbers and give them to Classic Café Tuesday morning.

2)    Because of the high cost of the lunches, we typically only order 2 extra (in case a tray accidently get dropped). On occasion we might have extra due to students being absent and having lunch already ordered for them. If your child has not ordered hot lunch, please be prepared to send a packed lunch with them in the morning.

3)    We are not able to refund for paid lunches due to the fact that we must pay for all lunches ordered; whether or not the student takes that lunch.

Cost of hot lunch - $4.00               Cost of ale carte milk - .75

Free/Reduced lunches

We encourage all our families to apply for free/reduced lunches if you think you might qualify. Even if your child does not want hot lunch, our total number of students qualified for free/reduced lunch helps us qualify for many other additional funds from the government.

1)      An application must be submitted each year for a family to qualify for hot lunch.

a.    Some families were Direct Certified to receive free/reduced lunch benefits. (This process is sent to us through an on-line program with the government) These letters were sent out at the beginning of the school year. Qualifications for this process involves participation in other government programs that automatically qualify students for this benefit.

2)    If you have submitted an application at another school to apply for free/reduced lunches, you must also apply at our school.

3)   Students receiving free/reduced lunches at the end of the 2023-24 school year automatically qualify for the same benefit at the beginning of the following school year, UNTIL:

a) a new application is received or

b) 30 days after the start of school. 

THIS BENEFIT WILL END FOR OUR STUDENTS OCTOBER 2. If you have not submitted a new application or received notification that your family was Direct Certified, please complete a paper application to see if you will continue to receive this benefit.

4)  Students receiving free lunch must still fill out an order form every two weeks; UNLESS the paper sent home to “Always Order” has been completed and returned to school.

5) Notices of lunch charges will be sent home for payment.

From time to time everyone mistakenly forgets things. We understand that occasionally this will happen with lunches, books, clothing, etc. We encourage everyone to teach their student to be responsible and prepared with all necessary items when leaving for school. We encourage our students to not become dependent on parents to bring their lunch, etc. to school every day.  

• Free and Reduced Application English
• Free and Reduced Application Spanish
• Instructions (English) (Spanish)

Mike’s Car Wash Fundraiser

Mike’s Car wash fundraiser is back. The car washes are $11 or $22 each (they can be upgraded at time of use). Each person can choose to have their wash delivered electronically or on paper. These will be sold 9/9-9/23 and delivered the week of the 10/7. We ask that each family either sell 10 washes or sends in $100. Last year we raised over $3000 and were able to give each teacher $150 to purchase items for their classrooms.  Checks should be made out to Saint John the Baptist.  Money must be turned in with order form. All money raised will go directly to each teacher to buy resources for their classroom. The top 3 fundraising families will each receive a prize! 

Thank you! 

Order Form

Save the Date!

Mike’s Carwash Fundraiser - 9/9-9/23 Washes will be deliver the week of 10/7

Popcorn Day/Dress Down Day 10/4

Salvatori’s Fundraiser 10/22

Trunk or Treat 10/30

Grandparents Day 11/20

Popcorn Day/Dress Down Day 12/6

Popcorn Day/Dress Down Day 1/10

Trivia Night 1/25

Popcorn Day/Dress Down Day 2/7

Father Daughter Dance 2/8

Mother Son Bowling (tentative) 3/2

Popcorn Day/Dress Down Day 3/7

Popcorn Day/Dress Down Day 4/11

Sign up to help serve Popcorn

HASA is bringing back popcorn day the 1st Friday of each month. Popcorn is $1/bag. Popcorn will be delivered to the homeroom by the end of the day. We need volunteers to help pop popcorn to make this possible. The popcorn machine is easy to use and ingredients are pre-measured. 

Popcorn Signup

Pay HASA Fees

If you have not done so already, please pay your HASA family fees.

• $10 for one child
• $20 for two children.
• $30 for three or more children.
• You may pay by credit card on Eventlink.
• You may send cash or check payments to the school office. Please note your last name and your children's names on all monies sent to the school office.

First Cross Country meet at Blackhawk Christian

Ellis Steele finished 2nd out of 146 boys running in the first cross country meet of this season. Way to go, Ellis!

Good luck to all of our cross country runners this year!

All Details on Athletic Event can be found on Eventlink. Please check there for location details.

Jr. Eagle Fall League Begins

Parents of 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th grade boys and girls. The YAC is organizing the Junior Eagles basketball league again this year. All games and practices will be held in the PAC. Due to limited gym time this fall we are going to have a short 15-minute practice prior to each game. This will be a 5-week session. The session will run 10/2 through 11/2. *****Dates and time are subject to change based on how many participants we get. The cost of the league will be $40. If your student is interested in playing, please register via eventlink by September 27^th. Refer questions to Jake Kuhn (260.417.2174). ****This session Jake will not be available to be at all games to ref and coach. It is imperative we get volunteers to help coach/ref games, run scoreboard, and concessions. If we do not have enough volunteers, we WILL NOT have a fall session.  

Eventlink Registration

Games Dates: (Each team will only play 1 game per week)

10/2 6-8pm

10/5 8-12pm

10/9 6-8pm

10/10 6-8pm

10/12 9-11 am

10/16 6-8pm

10/17 6-8pm

10/19 9-11 am

10/23 6-8pm

10/24 6-8pm

10/26 9-11 am

10/28 6-8pm

10/29 6-8pm

11/2 9-11am

There are some changes to aftercare this year

• Aftercare will take place in the PreSchool Room and Pick up will be in the cul-de-sac at Door #9. There will be a doorbell for you to ring.
• Miss Sydney Strack will be our Aftercare Teacher.
• All families must complete a registration form on Eventlink. This form provides information to the Aftercare teacher and only needs to be completed once.
• Parents will be sent a statement each week. They can pay by check, cash, or credit card. If paying by credit card, please use Eventlink. They payment is due by the following Friday.
• Aftercare costs $11 per student per day.
• Aftercare hours are until 5:30 PM each day.
• There are semester and quarterly options available for a reduced daily fee.
• Aftercare Payments

Throughout the week teachers in middle school collect names of students going above and beyond, whether it is helping a classmate, participating in class, answering hard questions, volunteering at Mass, etc. Then once a week each middle school teacher draws out a name from their collection to get a small prize. All names eligible for the drawing are placed on a bulletin board in the middle school hallway for all to see.

September 9, 2024

Mrs. Henry - Beckam Hike

Mrs. Lehner - Caroline Lepley

Mrs. Newberg - Collins Bentley

Mrs. Sturm - Levi Beachy

Mrs. Welling - Lucas Zimmerman

Mrs. Zimmerman - Joe Chapman

Middle School Drawing Volunteers

Thank you for the generosity! Parents are signed up through Christmas Break for prizes! I will post again in December for second semester. You are all much appreciated.

Pearl Arts Scholarships (started by the founders of Sweetwater) offers music lessons and training to all young people, regardless of financial circumstances at the new Pearl Arts Center. Check out their website for more info at https://pearlarts.org/.

Spirit and Uniform Store Available

Our new uniform store is available.

• The site is broken into different categories: Uniform, Fridays Spirit Wear, etc.
• When order there is an option to add a comment. It is very helpful to add your children's name to the comment so we can deliver uniforms in a timely manner.
• Uniform Store

Do you know someone who would like to receive our weekly newsletter?

Our weekly newsletter is a great way for grandparents, alumni, and friends to stay connected to our school. Have them complete the following information to receive our newsletter updates.

Sign Up Here

Do you know someone that wants to be a Substitute Teacher at SJB?

We are in need of substitute teachers. In order to be a substitute, you must apply with the diocese and hold a valid substitute license from the state.

• Diocesan information located here.
• Valid Substitute Permit application from State found here.
•  Licensed or Retired Teachers - $125 per Day/ $75 Half Day
• High School Diploma and Valid Substitute Permit - $100 per day/ $60 Half Day
• Please email jhohenstein@stjohnsfw.org once you are on the sub list so that she can be sure to call!