BCS Weekly Warrior. The ONE place to get the information you need!

Nov. 15, 2020

Weekly Warrior

Stay in touch. Stay informed.

"For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves." 1 Peter 2:15-16 (NIV)

Please note that this is the last edition of the Weekly Warrior before the break.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. There is much for which to be thankful.

What’s Inside:

Week at a Glance

Quick Links

Elementary School News

Middle/High School News

Warrior Sports

BCS and You

Prayer Warriors

Admin Announcements

Week at a Glance

Monday, Nov 16

6:30pm - Europe trip parent meeting in room 708 (See RSVP info in MS/HS News)

7pm - Costa Rica Mission Trip parent meeting in room 708

Tuesday, Nov 17

4pm - Basketball games (MS-HS) @ BCS

*Possible volleyball playoff game*

Watch your email for updates

Wednesday, Nov 18

BRACKEN SERVES (MS/HS)

(See MS/HS News for detailed information.)

12pm - Half day. Students dismissed after lunch.

12:30 - Teacher training

Thursday, Nov 19

Camo and/or bling day for elementary students/teachers

8:30 - Fire Drill

3:15 - Club Invention

Boys varsity basketball tournament

Friday, Nov 20

Last day of school before Thanksgiving break

Junior off-campus lunch

Boys varsity basketball tournament

Sat, Nov 21 -Sun, Nov 29

Thanksgiving Break

Monday, Nov. 30

Return to school

Elementary School News

Sheila Kerby, Principal

After a week of hard work, the junior cheerleaders gave a wonderful performance Friday night during the football game halftime. It was hard to miss these young Warriors as they numbered 51 strong!

Fabulous job, junior cheerleaders!

And congratulations to our elementary pass and punt competition winners and participants!

Without our families and veterans able to attend this year, we had a quieter Veterans Day Chapel than normal, but beautiful voices still filled the gym on Tuesday. Our elementary choir sang lively renditions of all of our military service songs to honor our Nation's veterans. We hope you were able to watch it online, and thank you to all who have served!

Mrs. Marhofer's fifth grade class brought a little bit of the rainforest to Bracken this week as they recreated the habitats in class. Getting their hands dirty, they layered pebbles, activated charcoal, moss, and dirt, and then added the plants to learn about the four layers of the rainforest.

Not much can beat hands-on learning!

APEX Fun Run

Wow! What an awesome two weeks. We had so much fun at the fun run. We could not do this event without the support of our families, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, teachers, and our amazing students. We are so grateful to each and every one of you. Bracken Warriors rock. We will have the final total of funds raised in about ten days, and I will share the awesome news with you. A big thank you to Awesome Oscar and Bashin' Brandon!

Club Invention

This has been a busy week at Bracken, and yesterday afternoon was a full energy day at Club Invention. We started our session watching a video about the local Bracken bat cave and discussed the ecological significance that bats have not only in our community but worldwide. We discussed some of the challenges humans have made on their environment; but we also learned that we build structures that facilitate their shelter. This week the students could choose their project -- or even participate in both. Students could choose to work with their group to create a device or process to protect the habitat of the bat, or they could challenge themselves to make a scale model of a Mexican Freetail Bat. Please click here to link to the Flipgrid videos of the projects.

A few reminders for parents of traditional and STREAM students:

· If your child is going to be absent, please call the office by 9:00 am. You may contact the teacher, however, the office must be informed as we record the absences as excused or not excused.

· If you are going out of town, please call the office and let us know when and how long your child will be out.

· When you enter the building please check in at the office to get your temperature checked and to sign in.

Pick Up Reminders:

· We are experiencing traffic problems in the afternoon when parents using the drive-through pick up for Pre-K- 1^st grades continue to wait there for their older children. Once you have picked up your Pre-K, Kinder, or 1st grader, please pull out of the drive-through lane and into a parking space or to the front of the school. If a line has already formed for 2nd-5th grade pick-up, we still need parents to move out to the front of the school into a parking space to make room for others trying to pick up at the drive-through.

· Choir dismissal on Tuesday is at 4:15. Please do not arrive too early as it will back up traffic down the hill and out Old Boerne Rd. If you arrive early, please pull into a parking space.

Middle School/High School News

Tashi Land, Principal

Parents,

We started walking through the book of James this week in our devotions Thursday. James 1:2-3 says, “Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” Many of us have had trials this year, whether it be specific family struggles or just 2020 in general, but we have all had trials. My prayer for our families and students is that we will allow these trials to lead us closer to God and to deepen our faith and dependence on Him.

A very big thank you to all who participated in the Anython Color Battle Fundraiser! The 6th grade class (traditional and STREAM combined) raised the most money. Congratulations to them for all of their hard work! The students had a great time at the color battle on Thursday! As soon as we begin using the funds for campus improvements, we will update you and send pictures!

Information for this week (11/16 - 11/20)

GAP Schedule (just for students)

Monday - student choice/StuCo Meeting room 706

Tuesday - MS Chapel/HS Color groups

Wednesday - student choice (7th grade prayer in room 401)

Thursday - Devotions (in class sponsor rooms)

Friday - Student choice

Monday

6:30pm - Parents go to https://rsvp.eftours.com/9byvh5p to RSVP for the Europe trip (March 2022) in room 708. *This trip is for 9th and 10th grade students.*

7pm - Costa Rica Mission Trip (June 2021) parent meeting in room 708. *This trip is for current 8th - 12th grade students.*

Wednesday

BRACKEN SERVES - Students come to school as usual, wearing their Bracken Serves shirts and jeans (no holes, please)

8:30am (approximately) students will travel to their service locations

11:45 am(approximately) students will travel back to school

12pm - students will go home (please make sure your student is picked up by 12pm)

Friday

Junior off-campus lunch (Permission waivers must be signed/turned in)

Warrior Sports

The Lady Warriors snagged a 3-0 victory over the St. Joseph Eagles this weekend to clinch the regional championship. Congratulations, ladies!

Now it's on to the semi-finals!

The Warrior football team never gave up this past Friday against a talented Cedar Park Summit Christian Academy team. While the Eagles prevailed, our Warriors fought hard until the end.

BCS and You

There are many ways you can support YOUR Bracken Christian School. Choose to volunteer, donate classroom items, participate in fundraising campaigns, and make monetary donations. See below for many opportunities to help your Warriors thrive!

Fall Sports Raffle Update

Thank you to all who sold and bought raffle tickets to help support Bracken athletics! The athletes raised $10,500!

The winners of the raffle drawings were: Megan H. and Terry O. (Southwest tickets), Terry J. (HEB KODI cooler), Sarah B. ($250 VISA card), and Erick S. ($100 VISA card).

The top selling male and female athletes were Seth and Athena who each earned a $50 VISA card.

Thank you to the many sponsors who supported our first Bracken Warriors Fall Shootout held on October 29th. Your support helped us raise $19,000 for the Bracken Scholarship Fund. We gratefully acknowledge our top sponsors: TGAS Inc., Keystone Concrete, Martin Marietta, and San Antonio Masonry and Steel.

We also appreciate everyone who sponsored items for our live and silent auctions, as well as the many teams who participated. Great job to the following Bracken Warriors who participated:

Christina Janowiak (8th grade), Isabella Isgro (9th grade), Brogan Ortman (11th grade), Grant Peters, (11th grade), Justin McGarity, (10th grade), Ryan Jester, (10th grade,) Ty Wolf (11th grade) and Dylan Merz (11th grade).

The Giving Tree

BCS classrooms have needs that you can help meet. Weekly featured items are below. Please contact teachers for any questions you may have.

Featured MS/HS needs:

Document cameras for each secondary classroom

Revenue Sharing Fundraising

Help Bracken with no extra cost to you.

Raise money for BCS with gift cards through Scrip. When you buy a gift card from Scrip, you give a gift to Bracken. Over 700 merchants.

See Heather Rutherford in the elementary office or go to ShopWithScrip.com and click "Join a Program." Enter code 6BL5A91B6151.

SO EASY! Use your own Amazon account to login in to smile.amazon.com, make Bracken Christian School your charity, and start shopping. Same products, prices, and features as Amazon.com. With every purchase of eligible AmazonSmile products, 0.5% of the price can go to Bracken! It adds up! Note: AmazonSmile does not work on the iOS Amazon app.

No clipping. No sending Box Tops to school. All you need is your phone. Download the Box Tops app HERE, shop, then scan your receipts. The app will automatically credit your school's Box Tops earnings online.

Prayer Warriors

Please be in prayer for our school and these specific requests:

Pray for Mr. Armstrong’s granddaughter's vision and other health issues.

Pray for safe travel and a restful Thanksgiving Break with family and friends.

Pray for Mrs. Wilcox’s daughter-in-law who is enduring a long recovery after brain surgery to remove a tumor.

Pray for Mrs. Kerby's grandson, Ezequiel, who will have surgery Nov.16^th.

Pray for continued health for all students and staff.

Pray for an increase in spiritual depth on campus, for students and staff to be overwhelmed by God’s amazing love for them.

Pray for the Lord to move in power and reveal Himself to each of our students, and that our students would know Him and receive His love.

If you have a prayer request that you would like to share in the newsletter, please contact one of the principals or Amy Day to have it included here.

Administration Announcements

The Bracken Uniform Plus store will be open M-F from 8:00-8:30 am. For your convenience, appointments can also be made by contacting Amy Day at 830-980-3267 or amy.day@brackenchristian.com.

In it Together

Below is a list of Bracken's efforts to keep our campus COVID free. Staff and faculty are working diligently to keep our school safe and open!

Digital face scanners are being used in the MS/HS to catch potential symptoms.
Temperatures are checked with a non-contact forehead thermometer for elementary students and any visitors entering the campus.
Faculty and staff wear face coverings.
Sanitizing with Vital Oxide via an electrostatic sprayer twice a week.
Frequent hand washing is practiced and sanitation stations are numerous.
UV lights have been installed in the air conditioning units to reduce pathogens.