UPCOMING EVENTS

2/22    Market Day Orders Due
2/25    K, 1 & 2 Field Trip
2/26    6:30    PTF Monthly Meeting
2/27    Market Day Order Pick –Up
2/28    2:45    Pep Rally for Varsity Basketball Teams
2/28    5:00 – 7:00    Open House
3/1 – 3/9    National Lutheran Schools Week
3/1    4:00 – 7:00    Fun Fair
3/3 – 3/14    Registration for 2008-2009 School Year
3/4    Scrip Order Due

ST. JOHN SCHOOL SURVEY

Let us know how we are doing.  Fill out our survey on our website (left column).

RE-ENROLLMENT PACKETS FOR 08-09

Re-enrollment packets for the 2008-2009 school year will come home with your student on February 27.  Scholarship applications are available in the school office.  The processing fee is $20.00.
Incentive for New Student Recruitment
St. John School parents who recruit new families with students in kindergarten through eighth grade will receive a $300 tuition credit per family recruited.  The new family must identify the family who recruited them on the enrollment application.  If the recruiting family is not identified on the enrollment application at the time of enrollment, the recruiting family may not receive this benefit.  This tuition credit will be applied to the last tuition payment of the school year (January 2009 for 2008-2009 school year), or applied to a designated fund of the church or school, if the new family remains enrolled through that time.

CELEBRATION SUNDAY

Celebration Sunday is March 2.  Each family in the school needs to pick either the 8:00 a.m. or 10:45 a.m. (or both!) to sing. The students will be singing the theme song for National Lutheran Schools Week, "All I Have to do is Pray," as well as the first verse of "The Church’s is One Foundation," at the beginning of the service.  Students singing in the early service should report to the Fellowship Hall by 7:50, and students singing in the late service should report to the Fellowship Hall by 10:35 a.m.  See you there!  -Mrs. Folkmann

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE

Central High School sent us a letter clarifying that their 8th grade Open House is going to be on Tuesday, April 26th at 7:00, not Wednesday February 26th as they had originally stated to parents.

LIBRARY NEWS**LIBRARY NEWS**LIBRARY NEWS**LIBRARY NEWS***LIBRARY NEWS**

Mrs. Rivers recently hosted the Scholastic Book Fair (did you see her promoting it on Channel 3?) and several books were purchased for individual classrooms and also for the school library.  Many students chose good books to read at home.  A special thanks to those who donated books to our library: Micah L., Sara Claire M., Christopher M., Donna Oestreicher, the Pelafos Family (two books) and Mrs. Rivers.  Thank you everyone who participated, in any way, with the Scholastic Book Fair.

The Junior League of Champaign – Urbana is offering the “Books by the Bushel” program again this year.  Please consider going to Pages for All Ages Bookstore, 1201 Savoy Plaza, Savoy, Friday, March 7 through Sunday, March 9, 2008.  There will be 49 great books for you to choose from that our school library would LOVE to own.  Pages is also giving a 20% price reduction!  At a later date the purchased books will be proudly displayed in the school office.  Inside of each book will be a book plate listing the donors’ name(s) and, if you wish, you may also dedicate the book to a loved one, a special teacher, an anniversary or an important occasion.

Over the past few weeks we have helped to celebrate Henry E.’s birthday through the Birthday Book Club program.  We also celebrated my daughter, Robin C.’s birthday. Robin turned 28 on January 28, 2008.  Robin was a student in the first class that our own Mr. Yagow taught here at St. John; this was school year 1990 – 1991.  To recognize this milestone and show my appreciation to Mr. Yagow, I asked Mr. Leffler to please present this book to him.  After all, since I was feeling quite old having a child that age, I wanted to share some of that “I can’t believe how quickly time flies by” feeling with Mr. Yagow.

Thank you to Linda Bruns-Wise and our good friend, Fay Drews, for your kind donations of books and magazines to our school library!

A huge THANK YOU goes to Mrs. Laurie McDonald, the third grader Sarah M.’s mother, for assisting in the library on Thursday afternoons.  This is the second year that she has been helping St. John students in the library.  Mrs. McDonald also volunteers with several other programs that help St. John to be the wonderful school that it is.  Thank you Mrs. McDonald and to ALL of the volunteers at St. John!
Curl up some place warm with a good book.

Sincerely,
Ronda Craig
School librarian

ATHLETICS

Go Rams!          Go Rams!         Go Rams!         Go Rams!         Go Rams!        Go Rams!

Pep Rally

There will be a pep-rally on Thursday, February 28th in the school gym to send our Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys Basketball teams off to the Lutheran State Championship.  The girl’s team will be playing Rochelle, St. Paul at 1:15 on Friday, Feb. 29th.  The boy’s team will be playing Palatine, Immanuel at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 29th.

To see the latest updates visit their web site at www.luthsports.org

Go Rams!          Go Rams!         Go Rams!         Go Rams!         Go Rams!        Go Rams!

Athletic Schedule

2/22 – 2/24    TBA    7/8 Boys Springfield Tournament
2/29-3/2    TBA    7/8 Girls/Boys State Tournament
3/3    6:30    Basketball Awards Night
3/4    6:30    Track and Field Meeting

F.A.I.T.H. HOUR OPPORTUNITIES

Athletics

The 5th Annual St John Track & Field Invitational will be held Saturday, April 5th, 2008, at the U of I Armory indoor facility.  The Athletic Department is looking for approximately 50 volunteers to assist with various meet functions.  This commitment includes being at the U of I Armory from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on April 5th and an attendance at a ½ hour meeting a week before the event.  Knowledge of track and field is not needed for a majority of the volunteer opportunities.

Please contact Jeff Miller or Brad Luhrsen with the St John athletic department, Joy Lou Walker in the school office, or one of the track and field coaches Ed Drebes, Eric Potter, Karl Newman if you are able to volunteer any time to this event.

Volunteers needed work St. John Track Meet Concession Stand on April 5, 2008 from 9:00 – 6:00 p.m.  Sign up for a 2 hour 15 minute shift and earn FAITH HOURS.   Sign up is located outside the school office.   Contact Karen Rohrer with questions.   

Grandparent/Special Visitor Day Helpers

We are looking for a few volunteers to pass out KFC box lunches and ready made salads to Grandparents/Special Visitors and our school children on Monday, March 3rd from 11:20 – 1:00.  If you would be able to help out, please contact Joy Lou in the school office.

ST. JOHN PARENT TEACHER FELLOWSHIP HAPPENINGS

PTF Monthly Meeting

Tuesday, February 26, at 6:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall. Childcare will be provided.

BoxTops Contest

Thank you to all who participated in the Box Tops for Education Winter Contest. We are still counting the Box Tops. Check back here for the announcement of the winning classroom.

Fun Fair 2008

Be sure to complete your order for tickets for the Fun Fair. This promises to be a great family event. Don't miss the fun!

Schoolpop 4th Quarter Tuition Credits

Looking for an easy way to reduce tuition costs or support St. John PTF programs at no cost to you?  Join the Schoolpop program!  For the December 31 quarter end, 29 Schoolpop participants earned $1,041.58 in rebates with 16 families receiving $900.54 to reduce their tuition deposit for 2008-2009.  Many of these families have grandparents participating on their behalf to earn more from this free program.
Here's how to make tuition crediting work for you:

• Register at www.schoolpop.com for the tuition crediting program.  St. John's ID number is 108656.  Follow the online steps and be sure to start at the Schoolpop website each time you shop online.  Complete and return the tuition registration form available in the school office.
• Get Others Involved. Tell grandparents, family, friends, and neighbors about the program and have them register with Schoolpop at www.schoolpop.com.
• Schoolpop Visa. Get a Schoolpop Visa.  Go to www.visa.schoolpop.com or call 800.297.1286 and use code 28B8.  When your card arrives, be sure to activate, register your card at www.schoolpop.com and start shopping. Every purchase you make with the Schoolpop Visa card earns a 1% bonus, in addition to regular merchant contributions.

For a 15 minute hands on demonstration, stop by the Computer Lab on Wednesday, February 27 at 8:15 a.m. and Mary Slack will walk you through the registration process. 

Market Day

February Market Day orders are due TODAY!   If you didn't get your sheet turned in to the school office you may contact Mary Slack at 356-3127 by today at 8:30pm and still get an order placed in time for Easter!  Come check out the "Extras" that are available for sale.

Order pick up is next Wednesday, the 27th from 3-4pm in the Fellowship Hall.  If you need to make other pick up arrangements contact Diane Pelafos at 356-0063 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Scrip  

www.shopwithscrip.com
If you have not already ordered Scrip, it is easy to begin!  New members and returning members just need to log on to www.shopwithscrip.com and follow the prompts.  If you have any questions on how to get started, please call Laurie McDonald at 355-8511 or Michelle DeYoung at 359-1876.  We will be happy to help you.   Extra information packets (including directions for on-line use) or enrollment forms are available in the school office and on the Narthex table.  

If you placed an order with us this week, thank you.  Your order will be available for pick-up this coming Wednesday, February 27th from 8 am – 3:15 pm.  Please remember to check your order before leaving as these gift cards/certificates are the same as cash.   
IMPORTANT:  A percentage of all orders placed thus far will be deducted from your family's March registration deposit.  This deducted amount will be shown on your family's tuition statement included in the Registration Packet going home next week.  This will allow you to see without question the net amount due to the office in March.  Detailed quarterly Scrip statements will also be sent home separately next week.