Tiger Tracks San Jose Christian School | November 30, 2015 Attendance Line (408) 371-4815
This Week at SJCS SEE PAGE 2 FOR SPORTS THIS WEEK!
Mon
11/30
Sports Practice
Tues
12/1
Sports Practice
Wed
12/2
Sports Practice
Thurs
12/3
Mom’s In Prayer | 8:30am Room 16 Girls & Boys Basketball Games
Fri
12/4
Boys Sports Practice Annual Christmas Concert | 7:00pm Central Christian Church
Advanced Dates 12/10 PS Christmas Concert 12/11 Staff Luncheon hosted by CPTA 12/17 JK/K Christmas Performance 1/8 CPTA Meeting 1/12 School Showcase 1/23 Touch a Truck 1/29&30 3-5 Musical
Jenn’s Pen by: Mrs. Jennifer Thompson | ’Tis the Season
Including today, there are just four more Mondays until Christmas. That means that in just three short weeks, we will all be off with our families, celebrating the birth of God’s greatest gift to us. We will all get busy with decorating our homes, taking family pictures to send as Christmas cards, baking, entertaining, attending concerts, traveling, and wrapping gifts. For some, that creates stress with a capital S. However, I challenge you to do something else that begins with S – be Still. (For me personally, that is one of the hardest things to do!) Psalm 46:10 reminds us,"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." When we are still, we can reflect upon why we celebrate, we can remember God’s goodness to us, and we can re-energize in order to serve others. ‘Tis the season, alright. The season to truly know the Savior.
SJCS Christmas Concert
Join the 5-8 Concert Bands, 7-8 Jazz Band, and SJCS Choir for an evening of Christmas worship and celebration of our gifts. The concert will begin at 7 PM at Central Christian Church (2555 Meridian Ave, San Jose). Students will present songs, and we will conclude the evening with a time of carol singing led by the students. 5-8 students will warm up at 6:30 (choir) and 6:45 (band). Student dress code expectations are white dress shirts (collars for boys) and black pants (or skirts with leggings for girls). Red accents are acceptable. No hats, please.
Tiger Tracks Annual Financial Drive Bridge Fund
Touch A Truck Is Coming
Two weeks ago, you should have received information regarding the Bridge Fund, this year’s Annual Financial Drive. Our goal of $200,00.00 will bridge the gap between tuition income and additional programs and opportunities that we are planning for this year. Each week, we will be giving an update on our progress. Continue to pray for your involvement this year as we bridge the gap for a strong future for SJCS.
We need your help! Volunteers are needed to help plan and run this fun event. Volunteer update: we currently have zero volunteers. We hope to have at least 500 attendees at this event, so your help will make all the difference. Please see the attached flyer and contact Mr. I if you are able to help. We already have at least 10 trucks confirmed and hope to have 20 or more. Please plan on attending, and tell your friends!
39% of our goal!
Already, generous donors have helped us reach 39% of our goal. This is a tremendous start. We praise God for each person who has already participated and for those of you who will be part of the bridge building team this year.
CPTA December Coffee Cart Join the SJCS community in front of the school office this Friday for the December Coffee Cart. This is a great time of fellowship and community. Logo wear will be available this week also. Logo wear makes wonderful gifts for friends and family!
Sports this
Amazon Shopper If you are an Amazon shopper we encourage you to sign up for Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support SJCS every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to SJCS. Click here to learn more about using AmazonSmile.
week Girls Basketball
Mon
Practice 3:15pm - 5:00pm
Tues
Practice 3:15pm - 5:00pm
Wed
Practice 3:15pm - 5:00pm
Thurs
SJCS @ Campbell Christian 3:30pm
Fri
No Practice
Order Holiday Scrip. Save Money. Order Scrip for the hoidays! This simple program allows families to raise funds for SJCS and their own tuition while making your holiday purchases. The next order is due this Thursday, December 3. Check out the revenue sharing policy for more information, and start buying Scrip today! If you have questions please contact the school office at (408) 371-7741.
Boys Basketball Mon
Practice 3:15pm - 5:00pm
Tues
Practice 3:15pm - 5:00pm
Wed
Practice 3:15pm - 5:00pm
Thurs
SJCS @ Campbell Christian 4:45pm
Fri
Practice 3:15pm - 4:15pm
Tiger Tracks Teacher Tales Check this section each week for exciting stories about teachers doing great things in the classrooms of San Jose Christian School
Someone I’m Thankful For: Miss Lee by Mr. I Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday—low pressure and low stress (especially if you’re not hosting!) and centered on family and thankfulness. We all have so much to be thankful for, but today I’d like to focus on a person for whom I am very thankful—Miss Lee. For those of you who have not heard, a couple of weeks ago we received sad news about our fantastic middle school science teacher: her application for an H-1B visa was denied. We had been walking beside Miss Lee in this process as a school, and our immigration attorney had been very optimistic the whole time. Unfortunately, nothing is certain when dealing with immigration, and we were not able to obtain a visa for Miss Lee. We explored other legal opportunities for keeping Miss Lee in the country, but they did not pan out, and she has decided that she will return to Korea in early January. Miss Lee has handled the news with grace and faith, trusting God to guide her as she begins the next chapter of her life. Her thoughts have consistently been for her students, not herself, and she has repeatedly insisted that I hire a suitable replacement so the science program will remain excellent. (Job search update below.) Even over Thanksgiving break, Miss Lee was working and emailing me to ensure that the rest of the year is planned out. She will undoubtedly finish strong! Miss Lee has been a wonderful member of our school family for the last year and a half. She works extremely well with her colleagues and is always willing to help another teacher if there is a need. She holds high standards for herself and her students, and she often uses her free time to attend students’ sports games, offer after-school help sessions, or meet with a student in need. She consistently strives to improve her teaching, and she has shown herself to be an outstanding teacher and mentor for our middle school students. She is dedicated, loyal, and loving to all. Please join us as we pray for Miss Lee, and be sure to tell her how much she has meant to our community. Although her time here was relatively brief, I am sure we are all thankful for the positive impact she has had on SJCS.
Tiger Tracks Tiger Cubs Check this section each week for exciting news about our youngest Tigers! Teaching Hard Work & Determination by Suzie VanEwyk Experts now say that teaching kids the value of hard work and determination is more important than building self-esteem, and the skill of perseverance is essential to a child’s social and emotional development. But how do we develop in our children, our students, and our family the belief that hard work is essential, especially in a world where things come to us, and our kids, so easy? Here are five tips that will help you teach your child how to develop perseverance and determination: 1. Praise the effort more than the accomplishment. 2. Put kids in difficult but doable situations, and don’t help them too much. Encourage them to keep working even in the face of frustration. 3. Modeling, of course, is always important. Like any skill you want your kids to have, you need to demonstrate it in your own life. 4. Read and tell stories of people who worked very hard to acquire skills and accomplish great feats. 5. Teach kids to recover and grow from failure, such as mistakes in cooking or Do It Yourself projects. Show your children how you don’t quit, how you try again. When your child fails, help them turn those feelings into a time to ask questions and get better.
Job Search Update Since receiving news about Miss Lee’s visa denial, we have been aggressively seeking a highly qualified teacher to join our middle school faculty. We have posted job openings on our school website and multiple other job-search websites, and we have been in contact with other administrators in the area to take advantage of our contacts and cast as wide a net as possible. Mr. I has reached out to career services administrators at Christian universities around the country to inquire about mid-year graduates who are looking for a job or a long-term substitute position. We are also exploring options from contacts within our school community. We have already received multiple inquiries and applications for the position, and we will be interviewing candidates in the near future to determine the right fit. We have very high standards for our teachers, and you can trust that we will find the best fit for our school community. Mrs. Wynbeek, SJCS Board member and former science teacher, has graciously offered to mentor any new teacher, and her expertise and experience will be an invaluable resource. Mrs. Thompson and Mr. I have also both taught middle school science, and we are ready and willing to help where needed. Although mid-year faculty changes are not ideal, we are well set up to make this transition as smooth as possible and maintain the excellent education for the students that you have come to expect from our school.