Tiger Tracks - April 21, 2015 by San Jose Christian School

Tiger Tracks San Jose Christian School | April 20, 2015 This Week at SJCS Monday No Events

Tuesday

4/20

4/21

Chess Wizards 3:15pm - Room 19

Wednesday

4/22

Boys Volleyball @ Campbell Christian

Thursday No Events

Friday

4/23

4/24

Frozen Friday MS Performance| The Wizard of OZ 7pm - SJCS Auditorium

Saturday

4/25

Attendance Line (408) 371-4815

Tiger Stripes Reflections on Who We Are by: Bart Den Boer This week is theater week here at SJCS. Having just returned from the 8th Grade class trip to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR, I am now looking forward to this weekend’s SJCS Middle School presentation of the Wizard of Oz. In reflecting on theater I am reminded of the first Christian rock musicians’ question, “Why should the devil have all the good music?” So does the devil have all the good theater? When theater first took off during Greek culture’s heyday, Christians reacted against its pagan, man-glorifying themes and rejected theater altogether. Early Christians failed to recognize that this new art form was not evil in itself, it simply needed to be redeemed for Godly purposes. Last week our 8th graders realized that the plays we saw held out the following as the purposes of life: romantic love, fun, riches and acceptance of change. Together we saw that when these secondary blessings are raised to the level of primary purpose, they fail to give meaning to our life. Jesus says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these other things will be added to you as well.” At SJCS we are called to train up our theater kids in such a way that the devil does not have all the good theater! Next week: Does the devil own athletics as we practice it in the U.S.?

LOVE Serves! What a fabulous finish to our whole-school service project! In total, we brought in 450 tubes! This greatly exceeded our goal of 350. Because of these efforts, nearly 30,000 meals will be served to starving children around the world. A special thank you goes to our 4th grade class, who had the highest average number of tubes per student (3.67) AND was the only class in the school to have 100% participation by all students. We look forward to the 5th-8th graders packing the meals on May 4th (please fill out the permission form that Mr. I emailed if you have not already done so). It is such a pleasure to serve God and the world with you and your children!

Huge Auction Thank You! On Saturday Night, about 125 supporters of San Jose Christian School got together at the Campbell Community Center to enjoy fellowship and to raise money for our school. The specific causes for this year’s event included upgrading 1/3 of our teacher laptops, new math curriculum for grades JK-8, and additional technology improvements. In planning the event, our different needs totaled just over $65,000. With the auction proceeds still being totaled today, we have brought in over $90,000— our highest amount ever! We praise God for His provision for our school, and we thank you for your generosity! If you see Betsy Phillips or other members of the auction planning team this week, please congratulate them for a job well done.

Tiger Tracks Sports this week Girls Soccer:

No Practice this week! The girls will take the week off due to play rehearsal after dropping two games last week to Baymonte and Achiever respectively. The girls will continue their season next Monday as they take on the Campbell Christian Eagles at SJCS.

Boys Volleyball: Monday: Practice 3:15-4:40 Tuesday: Practice 3:15-4:45 Wednesday: SJCS @ Campbell Christian | 3:30 Thursday: Practice 3:15-4:45

2014-2015 Yearbook Reminder The deadline for personalization has passed, however, yearbooks may be purchased until the end of the month without the personalized pages.

SJCS Association Meets in Two Weeks Each May, we hold the annual SJCS Association Meeting in which our Association members vote in new trustees and approve the budget for the upcoming school year.

Tiger Cubs|Preschool Info Article Summer Semester is around the corner! If you have not already done so, please check in with Mr. Intlekofer or Ms. Ashley if you would like your student enrolled. Below is an excerpt from an Australian parenting website (raisingchildren.net.au) that we found interesting: Praise is when you tell your child what you like about his or her behavior. It goes a long way towards helping your child feel good about herself. Descriptive praise is when you tell your child exactly what it is that you like. For example, ‘I love the way you shared your Lego with your brother just now’. Descriptive praise is best for boosting self-esteem and building good behavior – when children get praise for behaving well, they’re likely to want to keep behaving well. You can praise children of different ages for different things. You might praise a younger child for leaving the park when asked, or for having a go at tying his own shoelaces. You can praise teenagers for coming home at an agreed time, or for starting homework without being reminded.

This year’s Association meeting is Monday, May 11 at 7pm in the SJCS Auditorium. If you’d like to join the Association, contact Betsy Phillips in the office (bphillips@sjchristian.org).

SJCS Summer Camp Looking for a great summer experience for your child? Look no further than our very own SJCS Summer Camp! Flyers for summer camp are available in the office, and information (including registration) is available on the SJCS website.

Fine Arts Festival 5/1 Next Friday, our 5th-8th grade students have the opportunity to participate in the Fine Arts Festival at Contra Costa Christian School. The transportation arrangements and scheduling for the event will begin this week. Look for communication from Mrs. Singh.

MS Play on Stage This Week Tickets for the Middle School Play, The Wizard of Oz, are available in the school office! Stop by the office to purchase your $5 ticket today. Performances are in the SJCS auditorium: Friday night at 7pm and Saturday at 2pm. This adaptation is taken from the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by Frank L. Baum. Come support our student actors and producers and celebrate their hard work.

Tiger Tracks Teacher Tales

Spotlight on Chapel!

Check this section each week for exciting stories about teachers doing great things in the classrooms of San Jose Christian School. Love Accepts! --by Miss Hossink This week, the 2nd grade class engaged in an experiment (based loosely on a famous lesson by Jane Elliot in the 1960s—Google it!) to really see what it means to accept others no matter what our differences. It’s easy enough to say that as Christians we accept everyone, but do we really? 2nd graders were randomly given a number, a 1 or a 2. 1s received a sticker and the 2s had to wear a red string around their wrist. They were told that 1s were the best, were smarter, faster, and would be treated as such. The kids, at first, thought this was just Ms. Hossink being ridiculous, but I asked them to play along. It was amazing how within a few hours their attitudes towards themselves and towards others changed. They went from being best friends and well behaved 2nd graders to kids I didn’t even recognize. An argument quickly broke out at recess with 1s making fun of 2s. The 2s saw the 1s getting extra recess, a special treat, and better treatment. The 2s began to sulk and didn’t want to participate in class. The 1s quickly started blaming the 2s for any mistakes made or extra loud noise. They were joyful and excited for the day. I recorded a few of their comments throughout the day: “At recess let’s pretend we don’t know the 2s.” “No, you’re wrong. You must be a 2.” “I’m so glad I’m a 1, not a 2.” By the end of the day the 2s were ready for school to be done. We came together for 30 minutes to talk about how the day went. The 2s were quick to raise their hands to reflect. Here are some of their comments. “I felt invisible. I was angry and sad all at the same time.” “I felt very lonely and wanted to cry.” “I was mad because it was so unfair!” The 1s also wanted to share: “I was both happy and sad at the same time. I like the special treatment, but I didn’t like seeing my friend sad.” I asked them to think about the reason for this experiment. What did it have to do with our theme? Many of them caught on right away. “Today we did the opposite of love accepts!” We talked about how quickly sin can make us treats others differently, especially when others are going along with it, too. I wanted students to not merely read about discrimination in a book, but to have actual feelings to connect to. In the end, we ripped off our numbers and asked God to help us push discrimination out of our minds. Love accepts all, no matter what