Head of School Update – September 30, 2022

Happy Aloha Friday Saint Mark Parents!

I hope you all are doing well.  I am writing with the latest Saint Mark updates as we conclude the first quarter and head into the fall break.

COVID-19 UPDATE
As you have hopefully noticed, Saint Mark is working hard to re-establish student events, activities, and trips to a pre-pandemic status. Of course, this can become complicated as COVID remains in our community and on our campus.  Despite the continual complications brought about by COVID, I’m happy to report that this has been a successful first quarter with only mild symptoms reported for our COVID-positive students.  Even with the wide-spread release of the latest B.4/B.5 targeted boosters, we expect the remainder of this school year to be full of COVID related absences.  However, we are confident in our policies/procedures and believe that the benefits of re-establishing our pre-pandemic activities outweigh what we currently see as a fairly low associated health risk. With that, Saint Mark will continue our current COVID protocols and activities as we move into the second quarter patiently & thoughtfully forging our path out of this pandemic.  Mahalo for your continued support!

STAYING HOME WHEN SICK (Your help is needed and appreciated)
We are thankful for your help and continue to emphasize how important it is that families monitor their children for any signs of illness and keep them home if they show any symptoms.  Symptoms of illness include but are not limited to Cough, Runny or Stuffy Nose, Fatigue, Sore Throat, Body Aches, Headache, Shortness of Breath/Difficulty Breathing, Decreased Sense of Smell and/or Taste, Diarrhea, Nausea, Vomiting, and Chills/Sweats or Fever of 100.4° F (or higher) in the past 24 hours.  Any student arriving to school with COVID-like symptoms (or developing symptoms while at school) will be removed from the classroom and parents will be called.

TIE-DYING in the ELC
The PK4 students had a blast tie-dying (and then wearing) their shirts earlier this month.  This was part of their unit on clothing and how clothes are made.

BUILDING COMMUNITY in GRADE 1
The grade 1 class is working on strengthening the classroom community as part of their Social Studies lessons on community.

GRADES 2 & 3 VISIT LOKOI’A ANCIENT HAWAIIAN FISHPOND
The grade 2 and 3 students learned about the unique aquaculture system created by ancient Hawaiians to provide a sustainable food source for the people of an ahupua`a. The students explored the pond and discovered what lives in the pond and how it affects the pond environment.  They also enjoyed an educational boat ride to the Makaha portion of the fishpond and learned about the construction and uses of the pond itself.

GRADE 4 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS PROJECTS
The grade 4 students worked on a group research project this quarter. They used the new Chromebooks in the Collaborative space to research the eight major Hawaiian Islands. After gathering facts, each team created a presentation (using Google Slides or a poster board) that they presented to the entire class and Dr. Gaudi.  The students loved collaborating and sharing their projects!

CREATIVE CONSTRUCTION in GRADE 7 GEOGRAPHY 
The grade 7 geography class was tasked with creating famous global landmarks from a variety of materials.  Does this one look like the Eiffel Tower?

FUN in MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE
The grade 6 earth science class is excitedly preparing for their upcoming challenger center visit by performing communication tasks in the classroom. The grade 7 life science students were treated to a visual demonstration of passive diffusion (substances moving from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration) with their Skittles activity.  The life science class also recently completed their cellular respiration unit by making bread. They learned that yeast is ALIVE and how important live yeast is to making the bread rise. Unfortunately, none of the student’s bread rose, but the students still ate very dense bread (which they thought was delicious) while learning a valuable lesson regarding the fragility of live yeast 🙂 The grade 8 physical science students had a ton of fun learning about molecular chemistry by using various foods to construct molecular models of different chemical compounds.

SUCCESSFUL JV VOLLEYBALL SEASON
The JV volleyball season ended yesterday with two resounding victories over Calvary Chapel.  With yesterday’s victories, the girls team finished their season with an 11 – 1 record and the boys finished 9 – 3.  A BIG congratulations goes to all the players (Micah Estell, Titus Ornellas, Alaka’i Rogan, Royce Van Ness, Lenix Chen, Kenzie Brayce, Kira Keawe, Kailena Kepaa, Leyla Mafua, Isabella Rodrigues, Kaiya Truesdell, Yula`Breez Atisano’e, Aila Kawamoto, Kate Kuartei and Kayla Reis) along with Athletics Director/Coach, Mr. Markillie and Assistant Coach, Ms. Shiroma for an extremely successful season.

FUN RUN FUNDRAISER (Coming Soon)!
Saint Mark is excited to be participating in its first every All-School Fun Run Fundraiser. It will be the school’s main fundraiser for the year and is an exciting program which promotes fitness and healthy habits.  The kick-off is on October 18 and the run will be on Wednesday, November 16. Students will be running and walking laps (about 30 minutes) and asking friends, family and co-workers for donations. This is going to be a blast!!

TRUNK or TREAT!
Saint Mark Church is excited to be hosting a “Trunk or Treat” event on Saturday, October 29 from 4:00 to 6:00pm on the Saint Mark campus. Students are invited and encouraged to come in costume to receive small toys and candy from the decorated trunks of our church family and school faculty.  There will also be fall crafts and games on the lawn.  Please mark your calendar to join in this family fun!  More info to follow.

PK-8 PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES
As you should be aware, Saint Mark has scheduled Parent-Teacher Conferences for all students (PK to Gr 8) the week we return from fall break.  To allow adequate time for the conferences, the students will have half days on Thursday & Friday.
The pick-up times for this Thursday (Oct 20) and Friday (Oct 21) are as follows:
        11:15 to 11:30 a.m. for grades K-2
        11:30 to 11:45 a.m. for grades 3-5
        11:45 to 12:00 p.m. for grades 6-8
        12:00 to 12:15 p.m. for grades PK

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES
First Quarter Ends – Friday, Sept 30 (Early Dismissal)
School Resumes – Monday, October 17
Saint Mark’s Fun Run Fundraiser Kickoff – Tuesday, October 18
Parent Teacher Conferences – October 19 – 21
Early Dismissal – Thursday, October 20 and Friday, October 21
Trunk or Treat – Saturday, October 29 from 4:00 to 6:00pm
Grade 5 & 7 Camp Erdman Trip – November 7 to 9
Veteran’s Day (No School) – Friday, November 11
Saint Mark’s Fun Run – Wednesday, November 16

SAINT MARK on FALL BREAK
Saint Mark Lutheran School is on fall break from October 3 to October 14 with classes resuming for all students on Monday, October 17, 2022.  Please enjoy a fun, safe, and relaxing break, and be sure to call the school office at 247-5589 should you have any questions.  Office hours during the break are 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Mahalo, Blessings and Have a Wonderful & Safe Fall Break,

David Gaudi
Head of School