Honesty
Honesty-seven letters of the alphabet create a word with enormous meaning.
Honesty-a small word with a powerful punch.
Honesty + Truthfulness = the way to live life.
Honesty is our character theme for the second quarter. Our Chapel speaker, Josh Cooper, last Thursday gave us a powerful challenge with this simple word… Honesty. When students make a mistake and are in the office with Mr. Mounce or me, it takes much courage for them to admit their wrongdoing. We believe that when students make mistakes, admit them, and serve the consequence, they deserve a fresh start or a new beginning. Each student deserves a chance for a fresh start.
“God has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
I encourage you to join me in adapting this as a life verse. If, as adults, we model justice, forgiveness, and humility, then our children are empowered to adopt these principles in their lives. What a powerful impact our students, your children, can have!
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Supporting Our Troops
In preparation for our annual Veteran’s Day Chapel, to be held on Thursday, November 6, we would like to prepare military boxes for troops stationed in the Middle East. We have adopted two soldiers and their units that have direct connections to our CAL family, and we need your help filling the boxes! The first is LTC James Campbell and his unit, the Farah Provincial Reconstruction Team. His daughter is in the 8th grade. The other soldier is SSG Eric Cowin. 1st Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment! Wow what a mouth full!! His sister is Mrs. Marsh, a 7th grade teacher.
Because of the overwhelming amount of supplies we received last year for our military boxes, we ask that each family only send in one item from the list. Please do not send in items in bulk. We are only able to send a limited number of boxes, and we always seem to have more than enough items to fill them! Here is a list of the items we’d like to collect:
- AAA and AA Batteries
- White Athletic Socks
- Music CDs
- Books
- Candy and Gum
- Kool Aid (sweetened powder) or Gatorade mix
- Cheez-Its / Ritz Bits / Saltine Crackers
- Baby Wipes and Hygiene gear
- Carmex / chapstick
- Ramen Noodles / cup o noodles
- Cracker Jacks
- Letter Writing Supplies
- Rice Krispy treats
- Pringles
- Beef jerky
All items should be given to your child’s homeroom teacher by Friday, October 24. We’d like to assemble the boxes in homeroom by October 30. Thank you to the Student Council, Mrs. Peggy Preston, and Mrs. Laura McFarren for overseeing this project. Please be sure to visit the middle school blog site (esms.christianacademywebs.org) for information on including your military service family members in our special Veteran’s Day Chapel. We want your participation!
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Life is fragile. Life is a miracle.
Do you remember when you brought that tiny baby home from the hospital? Do you remember how fragile your child felt when you gave that first bath? Life is fragile and life is a miracle was the theme of my testimony that I shared with students in Chapel last week. You never know for sure what students will take away from a Chapel speaker, but I am prayerful they heard why I value each one of them. I know that your middle school student is far from the tiny baby you brought home from the hospital, but your middle school child is just as fragile. Yes, I view the students as fragile miracles. Think of your child as fine crystal or china, so fragile that it cracks and breaks easily. The words said to a middle level student have the potential to send tiny cracks into the inner core of their being. Words said in anger or haste are often never forgotten; neither are words said by friends or classmates who are “just kidding.”
Tuesday, October 14, students will be divided into gender groups during homeroom to continue the discussion based on Frank Peretti’s book, “The Wounded Spirit.” The topic will be “Got Worth?” and the discussion will center on Psalm 139 and how God loves us and is always watching over us. My prayer for our students is that they will find their value in God and for them to know that they are created in His image with a purpose to bring Him glory in everything they do or attempt to do.
Thank you for letting me spend my days with your children.
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No More Bullying
Are you compassionate? Compassion is the character theme in middle school for this quarter. Today in Chapel, middle school students viewed a one hour video by Frank Peretti. Mr. Peretti is well known as a Christian author and has experienced much success. In the video, Mr. Peretti shared his personal story of being teased and excluded druing his elementary and junior high school years. According to Mr. Peretti there are kids who are wounded, kids who do the wounding, and those who live out both experiences-when others hurt them, they find someone weaker whom they can beat down. Mr. Peretti delivered a challenge students do not hear often. Be noble. Show compassion. He states, “Depth of a person’s character is not measured by his or her physical strength, but by the depth of his or her nobility. How do we treat those who are weaker?”
Each Tuesday in October students will be divided by gender during homeroom to deepen our discussion on how we treat each other. Next Tuesday, October 7, students will discuss times they have been hurt and/or times they have hurt others. I’m not sure how responsive students will be in these groups, especially furing the first few meetings, but opening the dialogue will let stduents know our desire for middle school to be an emotionally safe place for them. We will revisit portions of the Peretti video each quarter so the dialogue about how we treat each other will continue throughout the school year. We plan to keep you informed of our topics.
References for parents by Frank Peretti: The Wounded Spirit (out of print but avilable on amazon), No More Bullies
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Veteran’s Day Chapel
On Thursday, November 6, the middle school students will prepare a special Veterans Day chapel service, honoring all of the men and women who have served our country, focusing on the soldiers in our own CAL middle school families.
If you or a member of your family served in the armed forces, we would like to know. Also, if you would kindly provide the veteran’s address, we would be privileged to send him or her an invitation to attend the chapel service with the students. On or before October 20, would you please complete the following form and return it to your student’s homeroom teacher?
- Additionally, if you have a picture of the veteran, we would appreciate either a paper or digital copy. Photos of the veterans will be displayed on a large screen during the chapel service, along with the CAL student’s name. If you would like to send a digital copy, please visit http://www.middleschoolcomputer.com/vets no later than October 20.
- Due to the large number of submissions last year, we will need to enforce the October 20 cutoff. If submitting a picture by this date will be a problem, please contact Mrs. McFarren at lmcfarren@christianacademylou.org or 502.244.3225, ext. 1602. Thank you for your assistance.
Please Print or Submit on http://www.middleschoolcomputer.com/vets
IMPORTANT: If you returned a form last year, you must submit a new form this year (as we want to be sure we have current information). However, if you would like us to use the photo from last year, please indicate that below.
*** PLEASE USE ONE COPY OF THIS FORM FOR EACH VETERAN ***
*** Froms are also available in the middle school office***
Student’s Name: ____________________________________________
Student’s Grade: ___________
Veteran’s Rank/Name: ____________________________________________
Relationship to Student: ____________________________________________
Branch of Service: ____________________________________________
Dates of Service: ____________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Photo(s) Enclosed: Yes _______ If so, number: _______ No _______
Use Photo from Last Year: Yes _______ No _______
- All paper photos will be scanned and returned to the student.
- Thank you for your family’s service and for your participation in this event.
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