Enriching lives and sharing Christ through quality, classical Lutheran education.

The Purple Note

January 19th, 2024

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Upcoming Dates:

JANUARY

21-18 NATIONAL LUTHERAN SCHOOLS WEEK

26 MLS BINGO NIGHT

28 NLSW HYMNFEST EVENT 3:00

30 MLS "WatchDOGS" (AKA "Guardians") meeting 5:30

30th and 31st School photo retakes. PLEASE SEE CONTACT info in the article below.

Wednesday Chapel Services:

Services are held every Wednesday at 8:20 am at Zion Lutheran Church. Visitors are welcome to attend! Our Chapel Services are streamed on the MLS Facebook page.

Chapel offerings for the 3nd quarter will go to Lutheran Family Service.

Click here for more information about Lutheran Family Service.

Hat's Off to Early Registration!

Enrollment registration is open for the 2024-2025 school year! To register for the upcoming school year, please use the TADS program found on our website under the "Parent" tab, or click the link below

mytads.com/a/martinlutherbismarck .

Students registering for grades K-8 by February 16 will receive their own MLS baseball cap! Hence, "hats off" to early registration!

Read-a-thon progress. It's not too late to add your minutes!

It will run through January 26th. The Read-A-Thon program is multi-faceted. It helps to get our students excited about reading, offers incentives for reading, shares the mission of MLS with friends and family as it is also a fundraiser for our school.

Current number of minutes read:

8261!

Class with the most minutes:

Mrs. Hood's 5th grade--2664

Class with the most contacts/sponsors:

Mrs.Trester's 2nd grade

Class with the highest amount pledges:

Mrs. Trester's 2nd grade $915

Total pledge amount thus far

$3330.00!

As more students have entered their reading minutes, the numbers have increased exponentially!

Our pledges have increased, as well, with more people hearing about our Read-a-thon. Those text and emails make a difference!

What can we do to make this even more successful?

Currently we have 56 percent of our students in grades K-7 with reading minutes recorded. Imagine what we could do with 100%?!

I'd love to see if we could read 20,000 minutes by the 26th, with at least 75% participation. This is a group effort, and I know that we can do it! I look forward to seeing what this week will bring in our Read-a-thon!

Social Media Also, even if you choose to not have your child be included in social media venues like Facebook, or through texting, please include them in recording their minutes reading. We absolutely understand the privacy of our families, so do not feel that you need to participate in this way. We just want our kids to cultivate a love of reading!

If you haven't done so already, we encourage you to activate your reader’s account today by clicking on or going to https://www.read-a-thon.com/readers/r/323738303537/1 and following the simple instructions. This is where you will be able to view and record their progress.

From the funds raised, we will tithe (give one tenth) to support our chapel offering recipient for the 3rd quarter, Lutheran Family Service.

I'm excited to see how many minutes our students can accumulate during the time of the Read-a-thon! I will try to keep everyone aware of our totals throughout the duration of the event.

Again, many thanks also for the pledges that we see coming in!

We've chosen Read-a-thon because it will not take much of your time, gives your child a reason to read and helps in the development of stronger reading skills.

We hope EVERYONE participates.

Thanks so much,

Martin Luther School

NATIONAL LUTHERAN SCHOOLS WEEK

January 21-28

National Lutheran Schools Week is a special time when we celebrate the blessing of Lutheran education with congregations and schools all across the country. Our theme this year is "Connected," based on John 15:1-5 where Jesus states, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing."

Monday Fiesta Day Wear bright colors! Spanish flair is welcome! Mrs. Nistler will lead us in all school devotions at 8:20 in the sanctuary. (Even though the mission trip to Mexico was postponed due to recent snow storms, we will still go with the bright, festive colors.)

Tuesday PJ Day Pancake breakfast at 7:30 for our families, put on by the 6^th and 7^th grade students. Serving will start at 7:30. We will celebrate God’s wonderful creation focusing on animals! IF you have animal-themed PJs, they’ll work GREAT!

Wednesday Dress-Up Day We CELEBRATE being fruitful! It’s a ball so feel free to dress as if you are going to a ball! (Mrs. Wolfgram has a long tutu, and she's not afraid to wear it.) As we abide in Christ, we bear FRUIT! We will wear masks that emphasize the different fruits and enjoy a fruit-filled lunch and snacks.

Thursday Vocation Day Dress up in what you want to be when you grow up. Learn about how you can be fruitful for Christ no matter what vocation you choose. We will also have some guest speakers in the afternoon sharing how they use their gifts in their vocation to God’s glory!

Friday MLS Spirit Team Day MLS Purple Shirt! ALL-SCHOOL PICTURE IN THE SANCTUARY! Pep fest in the afternoon at 2:15!!

Food drive for the Dream Center. Students are encouraged to bring an item to donate to the Dream Center.

Items appreciated are:

paper plates,
paper cups,
napkins/paper towels
"to-go" boxes,
any dry or canned goods

We will close out our National Lutheran Schools Week with our HYMNFEST!

All of our students K-7 have been working on music to share along side the choirs of our BMLSA congregations. They are excited to share this music, as well as a few of our beloved hymns from chapel. With Tom Wyatt (Mrs. Wyatt's husband) at the organ, and additional instrumentation, this will truly be an event you will appreciate.

We don't often have the opportunity to show appreciation to our association congregations. This will be not only an opportunity to thank them, but as our NLSW theme emphasizes, connect with them. We are truly thankful for the many ways they support our school through their mission offerings, congregational tuition assistance, volunteer service, and prayers. What a great way to say thanks! To GOD be the glory!

This program will last roughly 30-45 minutes with the supper to follow.

AND WEAR YOUR MLS MERCH! We can't wait to see the variety of styles that people chose!

Student Photo Retakes

Those parents requesting student portrait retakes will have the opportunity on Tuesday, January 30th at MLS and the 31st at Shepherd of the Valley Preschool. Just an FYI, a screen/backdrop will be used as a background for these portraits.

We will take the annual ALL SCHOOL PHOTO in the Zion sanctuary including all of our preschools on Friday, January 26th at MLS. Individual class photos will also be retaken that day.

Please contact John Nichols at buckeyepennvisuals@gmail.com in you would like to request a retake of your child's school picture.

Ready for Kindergarten?

Come and see Kindergarten at Martin Luther School!

January 29-February 2

9:30-11:00 (Monday is currently filled.)

Your child can experience a taste of Kindergarten. Please contact the school to preregister for the day of your choice.

(We limit two visitors per day.)

Contact the school office either by email or phone.

office@lutherschools.org or (701) 224-9070

Tours are are available at other times by appointment, also.

Calling all Dads!

(Thanks for returning the yellow notes! :)

MLS has been investigating the opportunity to participate in the program "Watch D.O.G.S." This effective program has been successfully around the country to involves fathers in schools. This offers dads the opportunity to help keep our school family safe, as well as just being great role models in just everyday living. Simply being present in everyday situations, whether it means being an extra set of eyes at recess or spending time with students at lunch, YOU can make a difference.

With the help provided in the Watch D.O.G.S. program, we plan to define our own organization for volunteers who are looking to help in a capacity. Our planning meeting is set for 5:30 on Tuesday, January 30th. We will provide supper for this event. We will have a sign up link made available in the next Purple Note. We look forward to seeing many of our dads there!