PSD School Ministries
Connections
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"Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted." Psalm 25:16
Loneliness. Have you ever been surrounded by plenty of people, yet still feel lonely? If so, you aren't alone. It's been established that at least 40% of us will feel the ache of loneliness at some point in our lives. Often, it's not about how many relationships we have; it's about how connected we feel within those relationships.
We see in the words of Psalm 25 that David, the psalmist, is reaching out to God. He has lived through defeats and failures and, although he has repeatedly prayed to God for direction, he feels disconnected. Yet he doesn't stop reaching out. In verse 5 he says, "For you I wait all the day long."
How connected are you? If you've let opportunities for connecting with others fall by the wayside, there's time! More importantly, take time for heart-to-heart with God. Sin is the ultimate dis-connector, but God re-connected us to Himself through Jesus.
On this Ash Wednesday
, when we contemplate all God has done for us in His great love, pour out your needs, your fears and your thanks to Him. Connect!
Jesus, hold onto me, listen to me, and never let me go. Amen.
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Above and right:
Principal Paul Brege from
Ascension, Torrance, CA, imposes ashes on students at chapel this morning.
Below: Ascension students at Ash Wednesday chapel.
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Please join us in praying and thanking God for the following schools this week:
Precious Stones Lutheran Preschool, Sedona, AZ
Gethsemane Christian Academy, Tempe, AZ
Ascension Lutheran School and Preschool, Torrance, CA
Below are photos from
Precious Stones Lutheran Preschool, Sedona, AZ:
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4 of the 9 fabulous Precious Stones staff members at the CYCC Teacher's Conference in Chandler, AZ
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Precious Stones children celebrated Dr. Seuss and Read Across America Week by wearing red and white
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Precious Stones won the local award for Best Day Care!
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Below are photos from
Ascension Lutheran Preschool's "Read Across America " week and their celebration of all things Dr. Seuss.
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Spotlight: Connecting PSD Preschools
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Directors Jill Vidal from SONshine House Preschool and Director Susan Rodriguez from Emmaus Lutheran Preschool connected by bringing two schools together for the day.
SONshine House Preschool in Temple City, CA, had an amazing opportunity to host their neighboring Lutheran preschool,
Emmaus in Alhambra. Emmaus director
Susan Rodriguez contacted SONshine House Director
Jill Vidal and asked if she could bring her staff for a site visit. The objective was to connect with one another as Lutheran preschool educators and to observe and learn from each other to bring back to their own classrooms. Staff exchanged numbers, shared ideas and collaborated together. One idea they had is to meet somewhere for a dual school field trip with their Pre-K students connecting the staff, students and families!
From Director Jill Vidal: "I appreciate Susan's initiative. At the end of our time we reflected and both said, 'God is SO good ALL the time!'"
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Teachers from SONshine House Preschool and Emmaus Lutheran Preschool taking advantage of an in-service day to learn, encourage and connect with one another.
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Group photo of a blessed day of meeting and sharing in the joys of God’s goodness as we serve His ministries!
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Thank you to our schools, administrators, teachers and students who have already contributed to
Hearts for Jesus
this year. We are well on our way to reaching our goal of $30,000 by the end of the school year. The
Hearts for Jesus
recipient this year is
Hope and Care for Children, Inc. (HCC)
. HCC is serving the most vulnerable people in Liberia--orphans, children, widows and women--by providing an orphanage, schooling and life skills for those in need, as well as sharing the Gospel message. Funds received will be sent to help build a much-needed medical clinic in Liberia. Check out the pictures, coin bank covers, and teacher activities by clicking on the
Hearts for Jesus
tab under
Ministries
on the School Ministries website:
http://pswcic.org.
Thank you for your mission hearts!
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WASC/NLSA Accreditation Team Training
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It is important that each accredited school has at least one person trained to participate on accreditation visits. WASC has had this as a requirement, and has recently informed us that they are going to be holding schools accountable to this requirement. Additionally, our early childhood centers are now using the new accreditation tool, and being a team member to analyze that tool is different.
We are hosting a training for accreditation team members on
Tuesday, April 9
, at
Christ Lutheran in Costa Mesa
,
CA,
so that educators from our accredited schools can have the necessary training to participate on these teams. We recommend that at least one person attend from each of our accredited schools. For our early childhood educators in Arizona and Las Vegas, we will be live-streaming this event so you will not need to travel to California. For more information, schedule, and cost (for both attending and live-streaming), please log onto the
registration website
.
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We are pleased to be able to share two different 2019 Lent devotionals with you:
Anchored (daily devotions from faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and others in the community) from
Concordia University Irvine
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Annual Accreditation Reports
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It is time to begin working on your
annual reports for accreditation
. You should have received a letter regarding the reports earlier this month. All annual reports and evidence need to be uploaded no later than
April 15
. Your annual fee should also be postmarked no later than
April 15
to avoid a late fee penalty.
If you need any assistance, please contact Kristie Flohra at
mrs.flohra@christcm.org
or Kim Violette at
kim.violette@psd-lcms.org
.
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California EC Equipping Conference
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CA Conference: Saturday, March 23
Thank you to all who attended the AZ EC Equipping Conference this past Saturday! We are looking forward to the CA Conference as well. Thank you to the 156 CA Conference registrants.
You can access the CA Conference registration link below. PLEASE be sure to read the welcome letter (click
Welcome
under the Bible verse on the body of the page), as it includes information about our new
recognition process for our EC educators!
We look forward to a great time of fellowship and learning in March!
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NLSA Powerful Practice Webinar
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The NLSA team is excited to announce another NLSA Powerful Practice Webinar which will be held next week, on
Tuesday, March 12, 2019,
at 4:00 p.m. CT. This webinar will be led by staff members from
Immanuel Lutheran Church and School, McComb, Michigan
. The staff will explain some best practices for community service events and activities.
"Outreach to Community"
"When our ministries work together and remain united in mission and purpose, the community experiences the church at its Biblical core." -Immanuel staff
Immanuel commits to sharing Christ's Love by experiencing faith and life together. The church and school lead various community services activities and events, such as a 5K run with neighboring churches, Back2School Fest (giving away over 2000 back-packs), extensive VBS outreach, and Holiday Events.
Come join the webinar and hear about these unique and intentional community outreach programs.
Mark your calendars for the next NLSA webinar:
Tuesday, March 12, at 4:00 Central Time.
Attendance is limited to the first 100 guests who log-in to the event. All live NLSA Powerful Practice webinars are held at 4:00pm CT and are later archived for on-demand viewing via
LuthEd.org
and the LCMS School Ministry YouTube NLSA Powerful Practice Webinars playlist.
#LuthEd
#NLSA
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Administrators Leadership Conference
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The 2019 Administrators Leadership Conference will be
Wednesday-Friday, July 24-26, 2019
, at the
Temecula Creek Inn
in
Temecula, CA
. We have
a great line up of presenters and interactive discussions with:
- Ryan Bredow, Assistant VP of Strategic Educational Alliances at Grand Canyon University, on branding, marketing, communications, and enrollment
- Michael Blacher, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, on private school law
- Dr. Ron Reynolds, Executive Director of CAPSO
Dr. Steve Buuck
will be our Bible Study leader and
Pastor Jonathan Burkee
will be our worship leader. Save the date for this not-to-be-missed event!
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Program
iRead
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Elementary principals and teachers:
I am pleased to share with you a platform and learning “adventure” from our friends at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), a learning and professional development organization, which we have been working with for many years! On Monday, we had a demo, and I was very pleased to know that this is available for our students for their personalized reading growth. It is an amazing platform! Check it out below. If interested, please contact Dr. Will Gray at
Will.Gray@hmhco.com
. I encourage you to log in and try it. Blessings on your day! -Rachel
Below is the
iRead
weblink with the (case-sensitive) username and password to log into the eSampler.
Username:
HMHiread
Password:
Curious1
The
iRead
eSampler has the option to view the Teacher Experience and/or the Student Experience.
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Free Resources from Gradelink
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Webinar: How to harness the power of Gradelink
Grappling to centralize, apply and report on student data? Become more efficient and productive by allowing Gradelink to handle administrative duties.
Thursday, March 7, 1pm PT
How Rachel switched from Engrade to Gradelink
Rachel Tally, teacher/tech director at Salem Lutheran, Tomball, TX, made the switch to Gradelink from Engrade in 2018.
Read about her process here
.
Gradelink now provides free integration with FACTS tuition and aid management
. With FACTS Tuition Management integration, parents can easily and securely access their FACTS accounts from Gradelink with just one click.
Click here
for instructions.
Free School Promotional Products
Free Marketing Apps
- Pixlr is a photo editing app. It’s as powerful as Photoshop but as easy as Instagram.
- Canva is a layout tool for print and digital media. You can use it to create flyers and postcards or for making social media posts and headers.
- HootSuite: Allows you to schedule social media posts. | 3 social accounts | Schedule 30 posts
- Postify: Allows you to schedule social media posts. | 10 social accounts | Schedule 10 posts
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Each week, prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for teachers, administrators, support staff, pastors, students, and families of the Lutheran schools, early childhood centers, and churches of the Pacific Southwest District are listed. To include names on the list, please send information to
anna.preus@psd-lcms.org by noon on Wednesday of each week. This week we pray for:
- Steve Grack, the husband of Sarah Grack, technology coordinator at St. John's, Orange, CA. Steve was just diagnosed with cancer and has begun chemotherapy. We pray for Steve, Sarah, and their boys, as well as the doctors treating Steve.
- David Cross, the husband of Heidi Cross, teacher at Grace Lutheran, Lancaster, CA. David has been hospitalized with heart issues. We pray for wisdom and discernment for his medical team, comfort for David and Heidi, and prayers for a full recovery.
March 10
Lamb of God Lutheran School & Little Lambs of God Preschool, Las Vegas, NV
First Good Shepherd Lutheran School and Preschool, Las Vegas, NV
First Lutheran Preschool, Temple City, CA
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School Ministries, Pacific Southwest District-LCMS
1540 Concordia Drive East, Irvine, CA 92612
Phone 949-854-3232 | Fax 949-854-8140
Rachel Klitzing, Executive Director of School Ministries
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