Salem Lutheran School News

We are proud of all of our students as they work hard to use their God given talents! We also want to congratulate the 6th - 8th-grade students who achieved Honor Roll for the 2nd quarter of our school year: Ethan Laura Elijah Avery Jonna David Meade Emilie John Andrew Addison Houghton Hannah Dorian

On Friday, the Salem girls played their last regular season game against Salem Greenfield. We were missing two of our taller players, which did not help against the height of our opponent. Greenfield came out strong, picking off our passes with their long wingspan. The Saints picked things up in the second half by boxing out, playing tough defense, and running the plays well. Emilie had a nice 3 point shot, and Sophie worked hard driving to the basket and boxing out on the defensive end. I was proud of our girls for getting to the free throw line, since their fear of contact is something we have been working on all season. The girl’s next game is our conference tournament on Friday, February 9th at Bloomington Kennedy. We look forward to moving into our tournament season and ending the year on a high note. I say this every week, but I am incredibly proud of the entire team for how much they have improved this season. We have spent several practices working on fundamentals and learn

This Friday will be the last home game for the Saints basketball this season.  There will be tournaments the following two weekends. The boys will play at 6:30 .  There will not be a girls game. Come and cheer the boys on!

Piano lessons will begin again on Tuesday, February 6. Please contact Sharon Ronning if you have any questions (ronningdesign@yahoo.com).

Parents, Please check your child's backpacks for the information regarding registration for the 2018-2019 school year (It was sent home with the youngest K-8 student in your family). Please send this back into the school office with the registration fee by March 2 at the latest so we can plan for the next school year. The forms are also available below for you. Thank you! Intent to Attend Letter Intent to Attend Registration Form

Correction! The School Board Meeting is this Thursday, February 1.

Our Pioneer Program at Salem is inviting all families to participate in their winter camp-out on February 23-25. Please see Pioneer Winter Camp-out and Camp-out Registration for more information. Ask any family who has gone in the past and they will tell you it is a great family event!!!

Our next Salem School Board meeting is this Thursday, February 1 at 6:30 pm Karl Paulsen, our School Board Chairman, will have the first 15 - 30 minutes available for any parents who would like to attend this meeting to ask questions, share information/ideas or also to voice any concerns during this time. He asks that you contact him beforehand if you plan to attend so that the board can allocate time for this in their agenda. We plan to continue posting these dates in the future as a way to enhance and improve communication with our families. Here is his contact information: Karl Paulsen kvkthethinker@gmail.com 651-226-0399 Thank you!

Sailors Top Saints in Wild, Back and Forth Game             In Friday’s battle of the Salems, these two teams had much more similarities than just their school names. Leading up to this week’s game, our boys prepared for an evenly matched contest. From the initial tip-off until the final buzzer sounded, the heart and hustle that both these teams displayed rendered the phrase “evenly matched” an understatement. Besides the fact that Salem Greenfield had much more experience and a few more ball handlers than our Saints, these two teams were a spitting image of one another. The fast-paced nature of this game, along with the numerous momentum swings by each team, made for both a chaotic and competitive game of basketball.             In a game with so many scoring runs, our Saints came out with the first run of the game (7-0), which was largely due to our active zone defense that deflected several Greenfield passes. Our stellar offensive execution in the half court enabled us to contr

Please remember there is no bus on Monday, January 29. School is in session.

Parents, Please make sure your child is eating well and getting a good night's sleep to prepare them for days of Map Testing which are being taken 1/25 - 1/31. It would also be very important to not take your child out of school in the coming days for appointments and such so these tests can be completed in a timely manner. Thank you for your help!

Please note February 1 & 2 menu plans have been swapped from what was printed in January. Thank you! February Lunch Menu

2 Hour School Delay—Tuesday, January 23 No before school care or morning preschool. Open House will be held as scheduled.

Salem Basketball returns to a normal schedule this week, with practices on Tuesday and Thursday.  The Saints will host the Salem - Greenfield Sailors on Friday January 26th.  The girls game is at 6:30 followed by the boys at 7:30.  Join us for a warm, indoor evening of entertainment.

Friday evening, the Salem Saints traveled to Belle Plain for a scrimmage against their girl’s B team. After the long drive, we came out slow, but quickly kicked it into gear. Avery and Tessa did a great job on defense anticipating the pass, leading to fast break lay-ups. Defense is where our team shined on Friday night, flustering the opponent, and forcing turnovers. On the offensive end, the Saints did a great job driving the lane, and working our zone offense. We got several good looks on the offense end, and had a night of diverse scoring. Our fourth grader, Ellie, had an amazing fast break chance for a lay-up, while being chased by two of the opposing team’s players. The Salem girl’s pulled off their first win of the season, beating Belle Plaine 28-4, with Sophie and Avery leading the team in points scored. Kaitlyn, Serenna, and Tessa all scored their first points of the season as well. This Friday, we face Salem Greenfield at home at 630 pm. We hope to see you all there, it

Saints Come out on Fire in Road Victory at Belle Plaine! On Friday last week, our committed Salem basketball families battled heavy traffic as both teams made the journey to Trinity Lutheran in Belle Plaine. Before our game tipped-off, Trinity put on an awesome ceremony that honored the parents of every basketball athlete. Seeing this Parents’ Night celebration served as an important reminder for our boys of the immense sacrifices that parents make to support their children throughout the entire basketball season! Right from the outset of this game, our Salem Saints put the pedal to the metal. Regardless of the opponent, the first half of this game was easily our best all-around basketball performance of the season. The two key aspects that contributed to this awesome start were our offensive execution and our interior dominance, which led to numerous offensive rebounds. Throughout the entire first half, our Saints conducted all of my offensive plays better than I can even draw

Salem will NOT have school on Monday, January 22, 2018 due to impending winter weather storms and unsafe travel conditions. Parents and caregivers, please prepare and plan accordingly for alternate childcare. Stillwater public schools are scheduled to dismiss early. We will still host our  Salem School Open House as scheduled for Tuesday. Monitor the following closure links: http://kstp.com/schoolalert/ http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/school-closings/ http://www.kare11.com/alert-center#alert-center-closings http://www.fox9.com/closings

Zachariah Hunter is an 8th grader at Salem Lutheran School and wrestles for the Stillwater JH.  He was in the Livingston Invitational last weekend and was crowned Champion. He now holds a school record for this being his 3rd Livingston Championship in a row for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade! Congratulations, Zachariah!

We have received word that the solar panels will be delivered on Monday, January 22. The south parking lot will   only be available for parking for before and after school pick-up . We ask that no one park in that lot for any other period of time during that day. Thank you for your patience with this exciting change to our school. We will keep you updated as work progresses. We hope it will be a blessing to our facility!

We received news that our Preschool Teacher/Director, Mrs. Jane Grobe, has been nominated for  Educator of the Year from the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce. We are so very happy for her and that she is being recognized for the important work she does here at Salem. Blessings and Congratulations, Mrs. Grobe!

With the temperatures as cold as they have been, we understand your urgency to quickly enter the building to come in to school for office items or to drop off or pick up your children. However, we do ask that you review these procedures for the safety of everyone here at Salem. Before School Drop-off The driveway in front of the school is intended for bus and car drop-off . The parking lots should be used for cars that will be parked for any length of time, whether attended or unattended. Please do NOT   PARK and leave your vehicle  in the driveway in front of the school. If you think it may take some time and assistance for your child to exit the vehicle, please park in a parking lot and walk in with your children. We need to keep this drop-off and pick up lane moving as smoothly as possible. Also be mindful of the buses that will be dropping off children in the morning usually by 9-9:10 am so you do not block their access to the driveway. The upper driveway in front of the churc

The south parking lot will be available for parking on 1/22/18. We will let you know when the solar panel installation is rescheduled.

Our collections from our Wednesday Chapel Services will be given to Christian Life Ministries for the 2nd quarter. Here is some information on this wonderful ministry we will have the opportunity to support with our mission offerings.

Do you have any pictures from the current school year you can send us for use in our yearbook?? Please email these to the school office (school.office@salemlutheran.org) or to Mrs. Brohn (kbrohn@salemlutheran.org). A great yearbook needs many great pictures! Thank you!!

Optional Parent/Teacher Conferences will be scheduled for Wednesday, January 24. Please use the  Request for 2nd Quarter Conferences Form  if you would like to request a conference or email your child's teacher directly. Teachers may also have sent this form home with your child or will be contacting you if they would like to set up a meeting to discuss your child's progress.

Last week our students in grades 5-8 finished the third round of the Martin Luther College Meet Math competition. You can see our school and individual student results and rankings by visiting https://portal.mlc-wels.edu/meetmath/results/view . Our Salem fifth and sixth-grade students are in the B-5 category, and our seventh and eighth-grade students are in the A-4 category. Categories are determined by school size. The final test for this year is the week of February 26. Meet Math is a service club at Martin Luther College that provides mathematics contests for students in grades 5-12 who are enrolled in WELS or ELS schools. This club also maintains school and individual statistics that are the basis for various awards presented at the end of the school year. For more information about Meet Math, visit https://portal.mlc-wels.edu/meetmath/home/about.

Salem Boys Notch First Victory of 2017-2018 Season Last Friday evening, our Salem Saints took on Berea Lutheran School in our eighth conference game of the regular season. In my three seasons of coaching, this was the first year we have had the opportunity to play against Berea. It is awesome to see that such a small school has the incredible commitment to support a basketball team! In the battle of young basketball teams, our Saints came out of the gate like a team hungry for their first win. During the first ten minutes of the game, our boys executed the offensive plays with high efficiency, which propelled us to an early 17-3 lead. However, from the last few minutes of the first half until the final buzzer sounded, Berea consistently knocked down perimeter jump shots that allowed them to outscore our Saints by an eight point margin. Although this game was not one of our cleaner performances of the season, our guards handled Berea’s late-game full court press with poise, enab

Girls Basketball Bethany Recap This past weekend, the Salem Saints traveled to Bethany Lutheran college in Mankato for the Charger Classic. We knew our first game would be difficult, as we faced St. Paul’s New Ulm, who are historically a very tall team. The Saints debuted the 2-3 zone defense, but the length and height of our opponent caused us to fall short. It was not for lack of effort that the Saints were defeated 8-47. Hannah did a great job handling the pressure their guards were putting on her, and she remained calm to take care of the basketball, and help keep the team remain positive. Our second opponent was Crown of Life, whom we faced earlier this year. The girls and I were excited get another shot at facing this opponent. We came out very strong in our 2-3 zone, and our zone offense, Buster. Sophie started the scoring off with a quick 3 pointer, but after that our shots just weren’t falling. The  Salem girls were seemingly doing everything right, working the offen

Reminder for Next Week: Monday, January 15 - MLK Jr. Day,  NO SCHOOL Tuesday, January 16 - School in Session, NO BUS

On Thursday, the 18th, the Salem basketball teams will scrimmage St. Croix middle school at home.  The girls will start with their game at 4:30 pm, with the boys following at 5:30 pm.  Fans are welcome! Then Friday, January 19th the teams will travel to Belle Plaine to play Trinity.  The location is 500 W Church St, Belle Plaine, MN 56011.  The girls will begin at 6 pm and the boys will play at 7 pm.  Let's go Saints!

Eliana Shah Update Eliana will begin 6 weeks of radiation at the Mayo Clinic at the end of this month. It will require the family to split up and live in two locations with additional travel needed to make sure schedules are kept for Elijah (6th grade) and Isaiah (4th grade) here at home. There will be a lot of decisions and plans to make in the coming month to make things work for the family during this transition. Please pray for the Shah family as they continue to plan for the care needed for Eliana and as they prepare additional housing and other logistics. They will also be in need of help with gas and hotel costs. If you would like to help the Shah family, there will be some envelopes on the information table in the church entrance and also in the school office that you can leave in either office to help the family. There is a Caring Bridge Site also available and you can contact either the church or school office for that information. Thank you!

Box Tops Our school participates in the General Mills Box Tops for Education Program. Please consider saving these logos and placing them in the collection box at our school entrance. Here is a list of the products that you can clip this logo from. 2017-2018 Box Top for Education Products Aluminum Can Collection Our School Athletic Fund is benefitted by every aluminum can that you save for us. There is a can collection bin (wooden bin with a top) on the side of the garage next to the beige house on our school property. Please drop off any aluminum cans in this bin (bagged in plastic bags is helpful). Ink Cartridges We currently do not have a volunteer to box up and send cartridges out for us to recycle. If you are willing and able to do this for us, please contact the school office! THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

The basketball game on Friday night the 12th will be at 6:30 pm.  Not at 7:30.  The game time has moved up so the boys can get home early, since they have to play the early game in Mankato on Saturday.

The 2nd quarter ends this Friday and 2nd quarter grades will be sent home next week. Optional Parent/Teacher Conferences will be scheduled for Wednesday, January 24. Please use the  Request for 2nd Quarter Conferences Form if you would like to request a conference or email your child's teacher directly. Teachers may also be sending this form home with your child or will be contacting you if they would like to set up a meeting to discuss your child's progress.

Watch TV channel 4, 5, 9 or Radio - WCCO (am 830) for school closing/delay announcements. Anytime Stillwater Area Schools (District #834) are closed/delayed 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 a school closing 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.

On Friday evening, the Salem Saints girl’s took on King of Grace-our opponent came out strong, putting pressure on our girls with a press. The Saints were able to break the press, as Hannah took control of the floor on the offensive end, leading her team. It took us awhile to put some points on the board-we were getting some good shots off, but nothing seemed to be falling. I was incredibly proud of the girls-after a long break from basketball, I still saw them implementing things we worked on in practice throughout the week. The Saints had some very nice box outs, and we played a very clean game. Kaitlyn and Emilie did a fantastic job on the defensive end, making it difficult for King of Grace’s post players to make their first chance baskets. Tessa was also not afraid of the physical contact, getting steals, and a fast break to help energize the team. In the end, we came up short, with a final score of 6-32. I am still incredibly proud of this Salem team for their continuous hard wo

Saints Battle Hard in Road Loss at King of Grace On Friday, the basketball families of Salem braved the brisk winter air as everyone traveled to King of Grace Lutheran School in Golden Valley. In the Saints first regular season game of 2018, we were blessed with the opportunity to compete against an experienced and very well-coached Knights team. Since this was our first game in three weeks, it would be normal to expect a sloppy performance from our young team. However, much to the surprise and delight of the coaches, our Salem Saints executed the offensive sets very well. Right from the outset, King of Grace came out with their usual full court pressure defense. Every year, they do a tremendous job of using their great length and athleticism to anticipate and intercept the passes of their opponents. This was exactly the case during the early stages of Friday’s game. Even though we committed several turnovers, most of them resulted from the sheer speed, str

The plans for installation of solar panels have been delayed. The south parking lot will be available on Monday. Side entrance doors will be as open as usual. We will keep you posted as this work is rescheduled.

Here are some of the topics of interest for this month: Together Time Peer Pressure Active Play Hope you enjoy the January Home and School Connection !

Many of you have noticed construction of a water run-off pond directly north of the school. This is a water filtration pond that is part of the street project that the city of Stillwater worked on last year.  Stormwater from Osman Ave N., Oxboro Ave N., and 63rd St N, drains to the Oak Park School athletic field. The hole was filled with three to four feet of sand and loam fill. The banks were tapered eliminating the steep sides that were visible. Vegetation will be planted to make a barrier to the pond. Hopefully, this information answers most of the questions you may have about the excavation just north of the school.

We will be having solar panels installed on our roof possibly next Monday and/or Tuesday (weather permitting). Because of this, the south parking lot which is used for before and after school drop-off and pick-up will be closed to allow access to the construction workers for that day. The front school doors will open by 7:00 am for before school care and be open until 5:00 pm for after school care entry on any of the days that the south parking lot is unavailable. Thank you for your understanding. We hope to have this parking lot available for use again as soon as construction is complete.

January 5th This Friday the Salem basketball teams will travel to King of Grace Church and School, 6000 Duluth St, Golden Valley, MN 55422. The girls will start at 7:00 pm and the boys will follow at 8:00 pm. January 12th The boys will host Berea from Inver Grove Heights at 7:30 pm. The girls have the night off. January 13th The Charger Classic Basketball Tournament will take place at Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, MN 56001. This year the boys will have the early games starting at 8:30 am.  Their second game is at 10:30 am. The girls will play in the afternoon, with their first game is at 1:30 pm.  Their second game is at 3:30 pm.  Brackets were sent home with the players.