St. John's Parish Day School Newsletter for February 1, 2018

欢迎光临 Huanying Guanglin "Welcome"!

We are excited to welcome Chinese students from Jian Geng Education as part of their Winter Camp 2018 experience! Last year we hosted 3 students for a two day visit. This year we are hosting 15 students in our second through fifth grade classes for a two week visit. We also welcome back Janet Self, former Kindergarten teacher at St. John’s working with our visitors on their English language skills.

For the next two weeks, St. John's students, both American and Chinese, will share and experience each other's culture. Our guests' parents have been kind enough to prepare workshops with fun learning activities such as Making Tea, Chinese Calligraphy, and Making Paper Lanterns. The classroom hosting these activities has been decorated with beautiful red paper lanterns and hundreds of knotted charms that they have shared with everyone. Some of our classes have already had a chance to participate in these wonderful activities, and they will continue into next week.

Students were introduced to a different way to make tea. This method involves running water over a cup with a sieve at the bottom several times before drinking it. They we able to smell the different aromas from the various kinds of tea. During the calligraphy class, students learned to keep the brush straight by sitting up straight, and to keep their grip relaxed by imagining they were holding an egg. Students used a special ink and reusable scrolls to practice writing characters, and they had fun asking what each character meant and discovering that they could make new words by joining characters together in different orders. The most popular word to try to write was the name of the city of Beijing, which combines the character for "north": 北  bei , and the character for "capital": 京  jing . While making paper lanterns, students were taught the popular shapes such as crabs, kabobs, temples, and Chinese characters; as well as the traditional belief that hanging a lantern in the window could bring good luck.

We'll be updating our Facebook page with photos and videos from the different workshops, so keep checking back for updates! 谢谢 Xie Xie "Thank You"!

Walk for Wamunyu

Our students raised $5,700 last week! How incredible is that? The money raised for the Mbaikini School will be used to hire a Library Intern who will be distributing and tracking the books and working on interactive ways to use them, for library lanyards/cards, an electronic library system, library books, and ink. Kenya Connect Field Director, James Musyoka said that the schools they have brought cards to are ecstatic about the program. 

Thank you again to Mrs. Cramer, to our amazing parent volunteers, and our student athletes. You've all made a huge and positive difference in the world we live in!

SJPDS Summer Camp

St. John's Summer Camp is especially designed for children 3 1/2 years old up to children entering Kindergarten in Fall 2018 . Campers will have tons of fun while learning. Each week explores a theme that's sure to spark curiosity, a love of learning and more! Read about our themes and more information on our website HERE .



Register Online TODAY!

If you register before March 29th, you can enjoy 10% off .

Make sure to fill out the Summer Camp Release & Consent Form and

Camper Health History Form as well!

Message from the Nurses

CDC is expecting this year’s flu season to be the worst season since the 2009 H1N1 flu season.  One of the 4 strains in the vaccine, H3N2, has mutated and the vaccine is only 32% effective against this strain. This is the strain that is making people ill.  Flu is rampant in the community now and this is early for Maryland. We have approximately 9 weeks left of flu season.  If your child has any flu like symptoms, please keep them home from school .  If your child has a confirmed case of the flu, please let the Nurse’s Office know. Remind your children to practice good hand-washing and sneezing into their elbows.  Our nurses recommend getting the flu shot and if you have any questions or concerns to contact them.

Signs and Symptoms of the flu include:

Flashback of the Week

You like totally don't want to miss this! Book it HERE to see our righteous new " Flashback of the Week" series. Get excited for our 80s Dance by seeing fun pictures, stories, favorite memories, bands, all from St. John's staff and faculty members! Check back often as it'll be updated regularly. So far you can read about Mrs. Hardon, Mrs. Cramer, and Mrs. Richardson.

The PA has restarted the Scrips Program. You order gift cards, (physical or e-cards), pay for them, then use them. The donation percentage from each card is then sent to the school’s business office for our account. Friends and family can participate too. If a loved one wants to participate, that person will need to provide information to confirm their association with a student.

  Sign Up Info Presto Pay Brand Lists

Do you shop at Giant or Harris Teeter ?

Do you have a loyalty card at either of these local grocery stores?

If so, you can help St. Johns earn FREE money by registering your card(s) today.

For the month of January, we can earn double points for the purchase of any Harris Teeter brand yogurt or frozen fruit. Shop away!