A Great Opportunity
Are you currently a Thrivent member? Are you an associate member? Thrivent, a financial services company provides many opportunities for our school to receive financial gifts. One of the easiest is a program called GIVING PLUS. It works very simply. For a fee of $10 you sign up to become a Thrivent Associate member. Then whenever you make a contribution to First Lutheran School, Thrivent will match your gift by 50%. This is available to members of First Lutheran, and non members alike. Imagine the possibilities. Perhaps you were going to contribute $100 for some worthy project around school. By being a Thrivent associate member we can turn your $100 contribution into $150! To get us started on our way I am encouraging all of you to consider becoming a Thrivent associate member. You can pick up forms in the school office. Simply fill them out with a check for $10 and we will do the rest. Many thanks to Cyndee Haydon who is serving as our school Thrivent Liason. I am really excited as I begin thinking of the many ways we can help First Lutheran School through this program.

New Lockers!
Check out the new lockers in Building A. We recently purchased new lockers for our 2nd and 3rd graders. Their old ones were small and didn't match. Our new ones are the same size and color as our 4th and 5th grade lockers. Today they are being installed and we are so excited. I'm sure the 2nd and 3rd graders can't wait to start using them. The money to purchase these lockers was provided through funds raised from last year's auction. Thank you PTL for all your hard work and support.

Next week school will be closed for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday while the staff travels to Orlando for the 2006. Florida-Georgia District Educators Conference. It is such an awesome experience to join with all our fellow educators in the district. They keynote speakers are inspiring, the worship is uplifting and the workshops are always so helpful. I know this years conference will be the same. Keep our teachers in your prayers as they travel to and from this conference.

Also please continue to keep Mrs. Gibson in your prayers while she recovers from pneumonia. Mrs. Gibson was hospitalized on last Wednesday and was released on Saturday. Currently she is still at home recuperating and we miss her greatly.

The Latest

"If the horse you're riding on dies, get off. It won't do any good to adjust the saddle or change the bit." This quote comes from The New Management Handbook by Rick Morris. One of the many strengths of the FLS faculty is the constant willingness to examine what we are doing, see if it's working and make improvements. At our last faculty meeting we discussed some of our "dead horses" and what we could do about them. Sharing what works and doesn't at faculty meetings is one of the many ways our faculty continues to improve. Next month during one of our professional development days we will begin examing a school wide system of classroom management called "Love and Logic". The faculty is anxious to look at this program and see how it can be implemented on our classroom., Many Lutheran schools around the country use it and speak very highly about it.

Another exciting change for us is our approval into the VPK program. VPK (Voluntary Pre School) is program in which the state provides funding for students in 4 year old preschools. We did not participate last year when it was not really known how successful it would be. In fact, there was quite a bit of misinformation floating around. Well, drive by practically any pre school and you will see that this year they are a VPK provider. In fact many schools have waiting lists while our pre school still has openings. It seemed then that this was a very obvious choice for us. With our quality program we more than meet their minimun requirements to be approved. What a great opportunity to fill our preschool with young children and their families so that they can hear the Good News of Jesus, their Savior.

Another Special Day
Did you celebrate on September 13? What, you didn't know it was Fortune Cookie Day? Well, we celebrated at FLS. But again, here's the awesome part of having a Lutheran School. We got to celebrate with Scripture Cookies instead. What a great way to have a little fun and teach a great message as well. We don't need to worry about our future by reading our fortunes in a cookie. We can rely on the promises of God in His Word.

School Happenings

Midquarter Already?!
Can you believe we are already halfway through the first quarter? This Wednesday students in grades 3-8 will receive their first midquarter report. It is an opportunity for students and parents to see how things are going so far academically. In this way they can make plans for improvement before the official report cards are issued in October. We also use these reports to determine eligibilty for our athletes. First Lutheran stresses academics before athletics and so we have a strict policy that students may not have either 2 D's or 1 F on their midquarter in order to be eligible to involved in our sports programs. Our athletes have been working very hard to maintain their eligibility.

Chapel News
This week we had our first all school chapel with our "Faith Friends". We have paired up each of our classes with another. On the first chapel of the month these Faith Friends sit together. Its a great way for the students in various grades to get to know students in other classes. During the school year these Faith Friends will also plan some fun activites together. Its really neat to see the younger and older students interacting. Also during this chapel service we celebrated the baptismal birthdays of our students and teachers for the months of July, August, and September.

Our chapel offerings for the first 2 quarters have also been set. We will be participating in "Food for the Poor Ministry of Florida" and L.A.M.P (Lutheran Association of Military Pilots). Each week we collect offerings during our chapel services.
Don't forget we are still also collecting eyeglasses for M.O.S.T Ministries which provide eyeglasses to 3rd world countries. There are collection boxes in the narthex and lobby of Building A.

Have you signed up to be a First Lutheran Prayer Pal? Its not too late and we still need several more pals. We would like to have enough to provide pals for all of our students in grades 1-3. This really is an easy way to get involved in First Lutheran School and make a positive impact on the life of one of our students.


GO FLAMES!
Our girls' varstiy volleyball game had thier first match and victory of the season against Countryside Christian on Wednesday. Girls junior varsity volleyball and boys' baseball begin today.

Please continue to keep First Lutheran School, its staff and its ministry in your prayers.