LOVE LIVES HERE !

What's Happening . . .

ALUMNI NEWS FLASH:

The first electronic e-newsletter, TALES OF THE TIGER, was published and sent to those alumni who had previously registered at sptigers@bellsouth.net.  If you are an alumnus and want to be added to the list please e-mail the school your information!

We began anew... School year 2009-2010

We started our 169th consecutive school year with an opening chapel service on Wednesday, August 12th, under the school theme 'Love Lives Here'! Over 200 students, their families, and school staff lifted their voices in song and prayer, asking God to bless the education of His children at St. Paul Lutheran School.  We looked forward to another exciting year of innovation and progress as we seek to educate our students about God's Word and God's world!

As hard as it was for the students and staff to comprehend, the middle of the first quarter already came in the middle of September. . . and it was time to share students' progress with our parents and guardians on Friday, September 18th.  This has been an annual procedure at St. Paul Lutheran School.  We believe that by sharing "the good, the bad, and the ugly" at mid-term, we can encourage our students to continue their good efforts and progress and to make any necessary improvements. 

The next 'big event' in September was our annual Outdoor Education Experience for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades at Fountainebleau State Park.  Thirty-five students traveled to Mandeville to learn more about plantation owner Bernard Marigny de Mandeville and the land that he used as his sugar plantation.  Students hiked around the old sugar mill ruins, and down to the remaining plantation oak allee to search for pottery shards from the 1800's.  (And they found some!)  They also took a nature hike through the woods to Fountainebleau's swamp area for wildlife observing, had a pizza lunch, watched a wood carving demonstration, and listened to stories by a native indian as he made a flint arrowhead for the winner of his 'question of the day'. One of the fun highlights was an activity with newspapers.  Five different teams decorated the teachers in assigned sports 'costumes', complete with their proper newspaper sports equipment.  The Junior High says that they can't wait for our second Outdoor Education Experience in early spring.  Scroll down this page to see some pictures taken at this year's outdoor education event!

In early October the fourth and fifth graders traveled to Atonement Lutheran School in Metairie for an inspirational presentation by Miss America, Katie Stam.  She is a graduate of Lutheran Schools and a strong advocate for Christian education.  She urged our students to have big dreams, to set goals to reach those dreams, and to center their lives on Jesus Christ and his love.  Miss America was kind enough to pose with our group following her talk.  The picture is posted below.

The Reverend Cliff Hellmers, retired pastor from Birmingham, AL, came to St. Paul on Friday, October 23rd to give a slide presentation on Uganda.  The students of St. Paul Lutheran had been collecting t-shirts to send back with Pastor Hellmers when he returned to Uganda on his next mission trip in early December.  We donated so many shirts that he declared it will take two trips to deliver them all! 

On Friday, October 30th, we celebrated with our annual Halloween Event.  Despite the threat of rain we had a record number of parents and students show up to feast on snack bar foods and to enjoy the complimentary games.  JoJo the Magician closed the evening with some fun 'fool the eye' tricks and treats.  All profits from the snack bar were combined with the proceeds from our 'Hats On Day' and sent to the Foundation for Children With Cancer. 

Our annual Special Person's Day was held on November 20th.  Parents, neighbors, friends, and other relatives were invited to spend the morning at St. Paul.  After a light breakfast, the parents listened to a presentation on student motivation by our Catapult Learning Representative, Althea Johnson.  Chuck Schiller also talked about the '5 P's' of Praise - Private, Public, Prompt, Persistent, and "On-Paper".  Afterward the 'special people' went to the classrooms for 'special activities'!  Our morning finished in the church with several special presentations from Early School, First Grade, and Fourth Grade, as well as a mini-concert from our 3rd and 4th grade recorder classes and our beginning and advanced bands.  A closing Thanksgiving chapel service led by Pastor Kevin Kieschnick closed the morning!  Thanks to all who were able to attend.

Our annual school support dinner/auction was held on Saturday, December 5th.  Over 150 'friends of the school' gathering for a meal catered by Bywater Restaurant and to bid on hundreds of silent and verbal auction items.  Everything from an HDTV, gold jewelry, a Wii game, original art, and handcrafted items went 'on the block'.  All profits went to our school support tuition fund to provide scholarship money for families who would otherwise be unable to afford to send their child to St. Paul. 

The first semester has ended  at Christmas break, and the students looked forward to seeing their second quarter grades in early January.  (Or not!) 

Stay tuned and see what we're up to in 2010!

What happened during the summer of '09 . . .

The summer of 2009 was another busy one here at St. Paul Lutheran School.  Unlike many schools where the faculty has the summer "off", here at St. Paul the staff was here every day planning and working toward another successful school year.  This summer we played "classroom switcheroo" . . . Due to increasing enrollment in our lower graders, our second and third grade classrooms were moved upstairs to larger classroom space, and the sixth and seventh grades moved downstairs.  The staff also took additional C.P.R. and First Aid training classes and received advanced training on the use of our interactive white boards (SMARTboards), which are in every grade from kindergarten through eighth grade.  Most of the staff also attended the national American Library Association convention in Chicago in early July.  They returned with new creative ways to teach literature and reading at all grade levels.  The staff took part in further computer training to integrate some new pieces of technology into our repetoire!  Stop by and see what we're up to!

What Happened at St. Paul Lutheran School in 2008-2009

The summer of 2008 was especially busy.  Over 40 new computers were purchased for every classroom and in the school offices.  Eight new 'SMARTboard' interactive white boards were also installed, and the faculty eagerly experimented with the new technological wonders.  The staff was totally responsible for the integration of over 3,000 new Accelerated Reader library books received as a result of a Hurricane Katrina Foreign Contributions Grant.  Our library and classrooms look fantastic!  

It was a joy to welcome our returning students and many new ones.  Pastor Goodine led the students and many parents and friends in an opening worship service before the excited students trooped to their individual classrooms to learn about "life" this school year with their new teachers. 

On August 20th, St. Paul Lutheran Church sponsored their annual free spaghetti supper, and following dinner, the first P.T.L. meeting was held for the parents while the children were entertained with games and activities in the school courtyard. 

Due to Hurricane Gustav the first student holiday of the school year began on August 29th, when the teachers were supposed to travel to Baton Rouge for the annual area Lutheran Schools' conference.  The long Labor Day weekend eventually stretched into a whole week!  Fortunately we did not have to make up any extra days since our original school calendar allowed for a weather crisis or two!

Our first Parent-Teacher consultations took place on September 18th.  Having consultations at the first quarter's mid-term mark helps ensure that everyone is on the 'right page' for success the first quarter and for the entire school year!

Our annual 'Outdoor Education' for the sixth through the eighth grades took place at Percy Quinn State Park near McComb, Mississippi on September 24th through the 26th.  Thirty-eight excited junior high students boarded their charter motor coach to venture up to their outdoor classrooms on Wednesday morning, and returned even more excited but VERY tired on Friday afternoon.  Activities included small group classes, drama presentations, group play, "reflections" writing, star gazing, and the traditional bonfire.  Late night bunk chatter was an inevitable part of the fun, as was Mrs. Acosta's cheery "good morning" to each cabin via her 'bull horn' turned on to high volume!

Our annual P.T.L. Halloween Event took place on October 24th, with all profits donated to The Muscular Dystrophy Society.  Free games (with Halloween candy as prizes), a 'Trick or Treat Trail', the 6th-8th grade band's first mini-concert and David Vela, magician extraordinaire were all highlights of the fun event. 

Many classes took field trips this year.  Fourth grade, for example, attended 'The Nutcracker Ballet' to get them in a Christmas season mood...

Our annual School Support Dinner & Auction took place on December 6th to help provide funds for our scholarship tuition grants.  We were pleased that over $20,000.00 was raised by bidders in both our silent and verbal portions of the auction.  Sixty-three students benefitted from our scholarship grants which are based on families' financial needs. 

St. Paul Lutheran School's presentation of the Christmas worship service entitled 'Christmas Followers' took place on Sunday, December 14th, at St. Paul Lutheran Church.  And, on December 19th, the last day before the school's Christmas break, we held 'Special Person's Day'.  Students were invited to ask their parents, grandparents, other relatives, or even neighbors, to attend school with them that day.  The "special persons" attended a special chapel service, witnessed contestants compete in the National Geographic Bee and our annual 'Bible Bowl', and had special activities in each classroom!

Our boys' junior (5th & 6th grades) and senior (7th & 8th grades) basketball season was in full swing following the Christmas break.  During the regular season our junior team's record was 3 wins and 5 losses, and our senior team's record was 5 wins and 3 losses!  Our team received second place in the annual Lutheran Elementary Schools Tournament.  Way to go, boys!  Special thanks go to Coach Schultz and Coach Petit for a fine job.

Starting in February the first through the eighth grades participated in the national Lutheran Church's 'ABLAZE' World Mission project.  Each student received a free Audio Bible contained on a dedicated MP3 Stick.  Each day an opportunity was given to listen to a section of the Bible using these devices.  Our chapel offerings for the second semester were used to donate five 'Proclaimer' audio presentation systems to the India Lutheran Church for use in their Gospel national outreach ministry.

On February 20th, St. Paul traveled to Atonement Lutheran School in Metairie, LA, and joined the other six New Orleans area schools for a Christian music concert by Pastor Dave Horn, followed by a special hot dog lunch in celebration of National Lutheran Schools Week.  Did you know that there are well over 2,000 Lutheran schools throughout the United Stated?  The cost of this trip was totally funded by St. Paul Lutheran School's P.T.L.   That afternoon we also held our annual African-American Bowl contest for 4th through 8th graders.

We held our Third Quarter Parent-Teacher conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 7th and 8th.  We believe that parent-teacher communications is a particular strength of St. Paul Lutheran School and a key component to student success in school.

The New Orleans Lutheran Elementary School Track Meet took place on May 2nd.  The St. Paul Tigers showed great effort, enthusiasm, and spirit... and we came in third place overall!  We conducted our annual spelling bee and held our annual school art show on May 8th!   We have a number of budding artists here at St. Paul!

If you have friends, neighbors, or relatives who may still be looking for a quality Christian education for their children, please have them contact me at the school office and we can arrange a personal tour.

Blessings,

Chuck Schiller

                     St. Paul Lutheran Church

Morning Opening                                                                                                                                               Every school day at St. Paul Lutheran School starts with morning devotions, prayer, and pledges in the courtyard with all classes from Early School to Eighth Grade.

PICTURES from OUTDOOR EDUCATION at Fountainebleau State Park

Mr. Schultz and Mrs. Ragas are feeling fresh and ready to go before our 'history hike'!

'Our Group' in front of 'the old oak tree'...at the site of the original plantation buildings.  We found pottery shards from the 1800's!

'Ranger Steve' helps focus on a wild heron at Fountainebleau's swamp area.

The staff are all dressed up by their group for 'their' sports.  Mrs. Ragas is ready for a game of tennis, and Miss Koester is dressed for her hockey match.  Mr. Schultz is ready for L.S.U.'s football team.  Mr. Schiller is going to play in the World Series, and Mrs. Acosta has joined the National Basketball League.  Oh, my...

Miss America, Katie Stam, poses with our fourth and fifth graders.                                  

Gee,I wonder why Mr. Schiller, Mr. Guidry, and Mr. Schultz look so happy to be there. . .!

Second grade shares their 'pinwheels for peace'.

School Board member, Gordon Linge, shared his African drums one afternoon

during after school Extended Day Care.

Mr. John Price, from the Insta-Gator alligator ranch

show off one of his 'gators' to the primary grades.

This 'gator' is only nine inches long, but our kindergarteners are impressed!

Our Early School "makes a joyful noise" with Mrs. Turner!

Ask the sixth graders about their 'bird beak' ecology exercise!

Check out the "Scary Creatures" at our 2009 Halloween Event

Trick or Treat!

Our Cafeteria was again transformed for this year's 2008 Annual School Support Dinner Auction!  We were able to raise just over $10,000 for tuition scholarships for families with economic needs this school year.  

The verbal items are always displayed on the stage to allow for a thorough preview by the guests before the auction begins!  Things like original artwork, three signed SAINTS footballs, a Wii console and game, and themed baskets of goodies assembled by the different grades were among the many items auctioned off on December 5th.  Next year's auction is already scheduled for Saturday, December 4th.  SAVE THE DATE!

St. Paul Lutheran School Night at the New Orleans' HORNETS' "Hive".

The Early School visits Mr. Schiller's office with their new hats.

Our faculty enjoyed their summer first aid training...  Mr. Guidry was all tied up! (Did Mrs. Acosta and Mrs. Ragas enjoy it TOO much, Roland???)

A "terrible" accident has befallen Mrs. Acosta at first aid training, but she seems to be in good hands!

The sixth graders try their hand at 'engineering' bridges for science class.

How did the bridge come out?