Salem Lutheran School News

From the Principal’s Desk January, 2018 Hitting the Reset Button It’s frustrating to have problems with an electronic device, especially a computer. My home computer has been giving problems, like taking a long time to open programs, not opening programs and giving me a “spinning beach ball” for what seems like an eternity. I try to back out from these programs and reopen them - sometimes successfully, often not. I wish there was a magic reset button on my computer that would make everything perfect, the way it is supposed be.  My life would be a lot simpler with this magic button. Our lives are very similar to my computer. Things don’t go right for us. We get frustrated. We look for easy fixes to complex problems and often these fixes create bigger problems. We need a reset button that will make everything perfect for us so that our lives will be a lot simpler and less frustrating. What is the source of all of our problems and frustrations? The simple answer is sin. God creat

More Important Notes from Mr. Zolldan: Resolutions One way humans try to reset their lives is through New Year’s Resolutions. A quick search on the internet showed that popular resolutions include: Improve physical well-being (eat healthy foods, exercise, lose weight) Improve mental well-being (think positively, laugh more, enjoy life) Improve finances (watch spending, save more) Improve career (perform better at job, get a better job) Improve education (get better grades, study more, learn something new) Improve self (be more organized, reduce stress, be nicer, less time on video games) Take a trip Volunteer Get along better with people/improve social skills Spend quality time with family members These all deal with mind and body of a person. Our school mission statement is “Equipping the soul, mind, and body for a lifetime in Christ.” Missing from this list is the part that deals with our soul.  Our souls need to be fed and nourished just like our body and mind need

SCRIP Orders Due Jan. 8  & Jan. 22 Basketball Practices : Tuesdays/Thursdays 7:30 - 9:00 am (Girls), 3:45 - 5:30 pm (Boys) - Refer to                                          Sports Calendar for any schedule changes. Wednesday, January 3 - School Resumes Friday, January 5 - Away - Girls and Boys BB games, King of Grace, Girls 7:00 pm, Boys 8:00 pm Friday, January 12 - Home - Boys only BB game, 6:30 pm, Berea Saturday, January 13 - Girls & Boys BB tournament, Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato Monday, January 15 - No School , Martin Luther King Day Tuesday, January 16 - School in session, NO BUS DAY Thursday, January 18  - Home BB Scrimmage with St. Croix Academy, 4:30 pm & 5:30 pm Friday, January 19 - Away - Girls & Boys BB game, Trinity Belle Plaine, 6:00 pm & 7:00 pm Saturday, January 20 - Teaching Staff  Only - “Love and Logic” training session, 8:00 am -2:00 pm Sunday, January 21 - Grades 1-4 sing at 10:30 am Worship Service Tu

Here is the lunch menu to start 2018! January Lunch Menu

Thank you to all who participated in the K- 8 Christmas Service last night. It was a wonderful celebration of the best gift we have ever been given, our Savior! We collected 10 boxes of food which totaled 215 lbs as well as $200 in gift cards. This was delivered to Valley Outreach by Pastor Brohn today. Thank you to all who helped us make someone else's Christmas a little brighter with this donation. Christmas break begins tomorrow, 12/22 through 1/2. Please take note of these special worship services: Sunday, Dec. 24                             10:00 am Advent Service                               5:00 pm & 11:00 pm Candlelight Service Monday, Dec. 25 10:00 am Christmas Day Service (Carol Song Sing before at 9:40 am) Saturday, Dec. 30  5:00 pm Sunday,   Dec. 31  8:00 am & 10:30 am The Staff at Salem wish you and your family a blessed Christmas and a  year filled with His love, joy and peace.

The Christmas service led by the children has been posted to YouTube.  The service is also available on CD.  For the link on YouTube or to order your copy of the CD please contact the school office.

K-8 Salem Parents, Please have your children here and in their classrooms by 5:45 pm unless they are performing preservice music (those students should arrive by 5:20 pm). Preservice music will begin at 5:30 pm. The service will begin at 6:00 pm. See you tonight!

Parents, If your teen would like to be involved in Salem's Youth Group, please remind them to stop by the school office and give us their contact information. We need to update our list to make sure everyone is kept up to date on activities that are planned. Thank you!

Clarification on Christmas Break! Our break for Christmas begins this Friday, 12/22/2017 and ends on 1/2/2018 . Classes resume on Wednesday, 1/3/2018 . Sorry if this caused any confusion!

Due to a funeral that is scheduled for this Wednesday, there will be a swap (Tues. and Wed.) in the lunch menu.  Tuesday, Dec. 19 will be french toast and Wednesday, Dec. 20 will be sub sandwiches. Thank you!

On Friday, the Salem Saints girl’s basketball team battled Christ-North St. Paul. We came out strong with a quick 4 points by Avery. I was so proud of the team for getting some quick baskets since that has been one of our struggles this year. The scoring started to get away from us in Christ’s favor-they seemed to make every shot, and were a decently sized team. Our girl’s played well against their 2-3 zone defense, by driving to the basket and taking outside jump shots. Almost everyone on the team was able to get a shot off, and you could really see the improvement and confidence the girls have gained throughout the season. Hannah made 2 awesome 3 point shots and Emilie and Meade were able to get a lot of great jump shots off near the free throw line. We ended the game with 13 points to Christ North St. Paul’s  50 points. I am so incredibly proud of these girls for their confidence, energy, and enthusiasm. These girls are up against some tough competition, and it never seems to ph

Dear Salem Parents, We could use some help setting up the gym for Wednesday's Christmas service. Please stop to help after school tomorrow if you are able. Thank you!

Saints Second Half Surge Comes up Short In the last regular season game of 2017, our Saints took on the Christ Cougars from North St. Paul in front of the home crowd on Friday. Going into the game, the entire team embraced the challenge of playing one of the better teams in our conference. After years of rebuilding, it is neat to see that Christ Lutheran is having an awesome season, coming into this game with an impressive 4-1 record, with their only loss coming against Bloomington. Right from the outset, the Cougars unique, unorthodox style of defense confused and stymied our young basketball team.Their defensive game plan was a smart strategy, which consisted of man-to-man pressure against our point guard, while playing a zone on the interior against our posts. This kind of defense thwarted our usual offensive sets and forced our young team to improvise, which led to an ugly offensive first half for our Saints. After both a stern speech and some words of encouragement from

Here are some important things to remember for next week: Food drive collection through the week to support our local food shelf. Items can be dropped off in the church or school entrance. Tuesday, Dec.19 @ 10:00 am will be the dress rehearsal for our preservice music for Wednesday night's K-8 Christmas Service. Piano students 10:00  - 10:40 am, band students 11:00 - 11:30 am and Jubilate students 1:00 - 1:20 pm. All are invited to attend the K - 8 Christmas Service on Wed., Dec. 20 @ 6:00 pm. Please have the children to their classrooms by 5:45 pm. Piano students should arrive and be in their seats by 5:20 pm. Preservice music will begin at 5:30 pm. Don't forget to bake something yummy and bring it in to school by Wednesday afternoon for the bake sale that evening. Money collected will be used for the bleacher fund. There is no school on Friday, Dec. 22 - Jan. 2 for Christmas break. Classes resume Wednesday,  Jan. 3. Have a blessed weekend!

There will be a Christmas Bake Sale on Wednesday, December 20, before and after the K-8 Christmas Program. Please drop off any baked goods in the school office by the 20th. Donations for the baked goods will be used for the school gym bleacher fund. Thank you!

Saints Run Out of Gas at Coon Rapids     Last Saturday (Dec. 9th), our Salem A boys basketball team traveled to Coon Rapids to take on the Cross of Christ Cougars. Coming off an exciting, well-played home game the night before, both Neal Anderson and I knew it would be a great challenge to get our young team to bring the focus and intensity for this Saturday game. Cross of Christ is a very physical, much improved basketball team from last year. Right from the opening tip, the size and experience of the Cougars wore down our young Saints. Although we were without two key post players (sickness and injury) for nearly the entire game, our undersized Saints battled hard right until the bitter end. When the final buzzer sounded, the physical dominance of the Cougars resulted in a 20-42 defeat for our Salem boys.     In our practices this week, our boys have played with a rejuvenated demeanor as we prepare for our big home game against Christ Lutheran of North St. Paul. If our Saints c

Our preschoolers will be telling us the news of Jesus' birth tonight at 6:00 pm. Please join us in the church sanctuary to hear how even a candy cane tells us the Gospel News! We will also begin collecting non-perishable items to help families in the community this Christmas. Please help us by dropping off your items from now through Dec. 20th. Hope to see you tonight!

Dear wonderful people of Salem, I was told many people were asking about me and figured I’d give an update on my health.  For those of you who don’t know, I have been experiencing problems with both of my legs.  Excruciating pain shoots through both legs (though the left one is usually worse) at almost all times.  My legs also can become very stiff so it is hard to walk.  I have been going to doctors who are trying to figure it out.  I went to a general practice doctor, then a physical therapist, then a chiropractor, and then a neurologist.  All of these doctors have tried various things within the extent of their abilities with very few results.  I have even had an MRI and an EMG (shock nerves to see how they respond and then put needles in muscles to test responses) with nothing abnormal showing.  However, there has been some progress.  It seems that I am slowly getting better with continual chiropractic care focusing on the tailbone and left sacral joint.  At this point, traveling

Reminder that the Saints play at home again this Friday, Dec 15th against Christ.  The girls game starts at 6:30 pm and the boys game follows at 7:30 pm.  Join us to cheer on the teams!

Saints Display Remarkable Improvement in Close Home Loss On Friday, the Salem A boys competed in front of the home crowd for the second time this season. All week long, our boys practiced with a sense of excitement that made me confident we would battle hard to defend our home court. Having the opportunity to play against the 3-0 Raiders from Crown of Life, our boys embraced the challenge of competing against one of the top teams in our conference. As has been the case in every game so far, our Saints faced a great size disadvantage. While the great length of Crown of Life led to many blocked and contested shots, our boys showed remarkable improvement at playing through the contact and finishing at the rim. While our Saints trailed by only five points at halftime, Crown of Life came out of the intermission shooting the lights out from outside. The great size of the Raiders interior forced us to double team every post touch, which obviously led to many open shots from the guards.

Don't forget the bake sale tonight during the girl (6:30 pm) and boy (7:30 pm) basketball games. You can also still bring goodies to sell. Just bring them along when you come. The sale will benefit Salem Athletics. See you there!

In looking through the records for the athletics we have noticed that there are some that have not yet paid the sports fee if you have not done so yet please do so promptly.  The fee for basketball is $50.  If you have questions on this please talk to Mrs. Noack.  Thank you for supporting Salem athletics.

A bake sale will be held during the games this Friday, Dec 8, to help fund our Athletic Department. Please help by bringing baked goods to school to help support this effort. We would appreciate donations dropped off at the school office by  Friday. Thank you!

Mrs. Grobe's class desperately needs cool whip lids for a project.  If you have any please bring into the school office.

The Saints play at home on Friday, Dec 8th.  The girls start at 6:30 pm with the boys following at 7:30 pm. On Saturday the 9th the Saints will travel to Cross of Christ in Coon Rapids, MN.  The girls will begin at 11:30 am and the boys will play right after at 12:30 pm.

Salem A Boys Come up Short at Good Shepherd     Our Salem basketball teams traveled to Burnsville last Friday to square off against the Good Shepherd Panthers. Coming into the week well-rested after a relaxing Thanksgiving break, our boys were excited to get back to Friday night basketball games! Good Shepherd, the defending TCLGSAL and New Ulm tournament champions from last season, graduated a couple of outstanding eighth-grade basketball players. Similar to us, the Panthers basketball team this season is composed of many younger players. However, Good Shepherd’s starting five possessed much better size than our Salem Saints. As has been the case so far this entire season, our boys did not back down one inch. We may have been undersized, but we certainly did not play undermanned.     As soon as the game tipped-off, it was easy to tell it was going to be a fast-paced, chaotic contest. Although our Saints matched the Panthers physicality and effort level extremely well, the differe

Watch Channel 4, 5, or 9 for school closing announcements. Anytime Stillwater Area Schools (District #834) are closed due to bad weather, Salem will also be closed. If we decide to not follow the district and cancel school because of the distances our families and some of our staff drive, watch for the following in the closed school listings: Salem Lutheran - Stillwater or Salem Lutheran - Washington County (WE ARE NOT SALEM, GREENFIELD) If we do close school you will also be able to check the Parent Portal Tab on our website (www.salemlutheran.org/school) where this will be posted as well. If we have a late start due to the weather, there will be NO Morning Care and NO AM Preschool.

Dear Parents, We have an abundance of lost and found items that need their owners. Please check the front entrance of school at your earliest chance to see if you may find something that belongs to your family. We will give these items to a thrift shop by the end of the month if they are not picked up. Thank you!