Donuts with Dads, featuring 4th and 8th Grade Rock Ceremony this Thursday
Dads, hope you can make it 8 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2. We’ll all meet in the sanctuary to have chapel together (we’ll actually have room this year!), and then head to the gym for donuts and juice. At this time, 4th and 8th graders will split off for the rock ceremony with their homeroom classes- siblings are more than welcome to come to rock ceremonies! See more details below about the rock ceremony…
Shepherding a Child’s Heart Book Club
Come join us as we seek to learn to speak to the hearts of our children. This insightful book written by Dr. Tedd Tripp will serve as a springboard for encouragement and practical help in parenting biblically. Sarah Billman and Annette Kemp will serve as facilitators.
We’ll meet after chapel at 8:30 on the following Tuesdays: Feb. 7, March 7, March 28, and April 11. Please email annette.kemp@provprep.org to let us know you are coming and reserve your book. Book cost is $10 or you may provide your own. |
Town Hall Meeting, Thursday, Feb. 2 at 8:45 am
Thanks to all who came to our Jan. 26 Town Hall! There will be a reprise this Thursday in the chapel, following Donuts with Dads. Important: you don’t have to be a Dad to come to the Town Hall!
Grammar School History Fair
Our sixth graders have been preparing projects on the American Revolution and will share them with lower school history classes on Tuesday from 11:25am-1:20pm. To accommodate this special event, some lunch schedules have been adapted. If you are planning to eat lunch with your child on Tuesday, please call the school and confirm his lunch schedule. Thank you!
5th and 6th graders, please remember to bring a lunch on Tuesday that does not need to be microwaved.
Bonhoeffer’s Birthday this Friday, February 3rd
Bonhoeffer House is invited to celebrate by wearing house colors and jeans.
Heart the Cart, February 10th
Cart-decorating and cart-racing are back for our upper school’s annual cart celebration! Our third competition this year will be “Odes and Sonnets.” Write an ode to or sonnet about your cart and submit it to Mrs. Glenn or Mr. Billman by Thursday, February 9th. Instructions for the cart decorating and poetry contests can be found here. |
4th and 8th Grade Rock Ceremony
This will be our first ever Rock Ceremony, and hopefully it’s a precedent that we can follow years from now. Let’s think through some of the details:
A reminder that this involves the parents, particularly dads, of 4th and 8th graders. If a dad cannot participate, mom, grandfather, or some other special adult may present the rock. We know we have a few dads who can’t make it for various reasons.
An example of how this will play out:
I have a fourth grade son. So today (or sometime before Thursday), I will get a rock (somewhat smooth that I can hold in the palm of my hand). I’m planning to get it from a creek near our house where my son has played in over the past few years. Maybe there’s a special place for where you can get yours? I am planning to use a nice calligraphy marker to write on the rock (although I won’t use “real” calligraphy. I’m not skilled in that area.) You can use anything to write or etch on the rock.
I might use the word “discernment” for my son. So I’ll write that on the rock, and then a meaningful verse reference for this word. I may write the verse reference Hebrews 5:14 on the rock, as well. I am considering this word because it is a character trait that my wife and I see growing in our son over the past year.
After that, I am going to think and pray about what to say. I only have about a minute, so it won’t be long. That goes very quickly — it’s about the length of short paragraph. But I want to be prepared. I will probably make a couple of notes on an index card, but that may not be necessary for you.
A (suggested) basic structure for what to say:
- Show the rock/word, and read the verse, if you want to.
- Generally, explain how have you seen this trait grow in your child. You may want to briefly give an example.
On Thursday, we’ll all go to chapel together. We’ll dismiss 4th and 8th graders first, along with siblings from other grades. These students and their dads (along with siblings from other grades and other family members who may be there), will go to their normal classrooms. Some 4th graders will go to Mrs. Kiesle’s room, and others will go to Mrs. Porterfield’s room — whichever one they normally go to after chapel. ALL 8th graders will go to room 259, the algebra classroom, for the ceremony.
In the classroom, each rock will be presented – again, about 1 minute per rock.
We’ll have donuts and juice in the room, and we’ll hopefully have a few minutes for fellowship.
This document, linked in earlier Lamp-Posts, mostly covers the same ground as this article.
7th and 8th graders participating in a team-building / challenge course in Georgetown on Jan. 22.
Stay & Play
Younger siblings of Providence students are invited to come with their parent to play on the school playground after morning chapel on Thursday, Feb. 9th and 23rd from 8:30 till 9:30. (Weather Permitting)
Moms who are interested in assembling a Preschool Busy Bag for your child during this time please RSVP to Sarah Billman at sarah.billman@provprep.org. Building a collection of Busy Bags is a helpful way to keep your preschooler entertained and learning on your home days. Let Sarah know if you want to participate! $2 covers the supplies. We will assemble them on the playground while the kids play.
Feb. 9th: Lacing Activity -$2
Feb. 23rd: Velcro Building Sticks- $2 |
Spelling Bee Dates Set
6th-8th grades: Tuesday, February 21st
4th-5th grades: Thursday, March 23rd
Both bees will take place after school in room 247. Study the spelling words that will be used here or pick up a printed list from the office.
February Upcoming Events
2 – Donuts with Dads and Town Hall
3 – Bonhoeffer’s birthday
6 – Faculty Inservice Training
7 – 100th Day of School
Shepherding a Child’s Heart Book Club
9 – Stay and Play
10 – Heart the Cart
14 – Valentine’s Day and Fun Lunch
16 – What’s Brewing with Mr. Billman
21 – 6th-8th grade spelling bee
Speech Meet begins |
BIBLE/CHAPEL
SING: Hymn of the week: This Is My Father’s World
PRAY:
Focus Country of the Week: Panama
Answers to prayer: More political and religious freedom! There was once a military dictatorship, but now there is a democracy, and more openness for Christian ministry.
Challenges for prayer: Panama is a nation of great diversity and great potential. Because of its strategic location and the Panama Canal, Panama is a melting pot of many cultures. The country’s motto is “Panama, Bridge to the World, Heart of the Universe.” Pray that this unique nation may bless the world!
Scripture Memory: 1 Cor. 13: (1) If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (3) If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (8a) Love never fails.
READ/TALK:
Tuesday, Jan. 31 Reading in morning chapel: Jesus Teaches How to Be Blessed, Matt. 5:1-20
Discussion Questions:
- How many times did Jesus say “Blessed”? Can you remember some of the ways that Jesus said we would be “blessed”?
- What does it mean to be “blessed”?
- What are some of the ways that Christians think and live differently from the way the world thinks and lives?
| Wednesday, Feb. 1 Reading at home: Why We Need Never to Worry, Matt. 6:19-34
Jesus Storybook Bible: “Treasure hunt!”
Discussion Questions:
- Why do people love money and want to store it up? (People love money because it can buy them nice things.)
- Besides money, what other kinds of things can we love more than we love God? (You name it. Just about anything people like to collect can become a treasure they love more than God. We can make our toys, cars, baseball cards, clothes, video games, and many other things our treasures here on earth.)
- What kinds of earthly treasures do you love the most? What would you most hate to lose if a robber stole something of yours? (Parents, help your children here. You probably know the answer to this one.)
- What kinds of things could you do to store up treasure in heaven this week? (Parents, help your children think through this.)
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Thursday, Feb. 2 Reading in morning chapel: Jesus Is Anointed, Luke 7:36-50
Discussion Questions:
- Why did the woman was Jesus’s feet with her tears, dry them with her hair, and then put expensive perfume on them? Why did she love Jesus so much?
- Why did Simon think Jesus should not let her touch him?
- In what ways are you like this sinful woman?
| Friday, Feb. 3 Reading at home: Review yesterday’s chapel reading. We may not be able to get to all or some of it due to Donuts with Dads. |
| Monday, Feb. 6 Reading at home: The 4 soils (Matt. 13:1-23)
Discussion Questions:
- What kind of soil is your heart most like? (Parents, help your children think this through. Our children start with hard, rocky, weed-infested hearts. It is only after God softens their hearts and breaks up the soil that they become fertile and open to the Gospel.)
- What is different about the eyes and ears of those who follow Jesus? (Their eyes can see and their ears can hear, so they believe in Jesus and understand his teaching.)
- What did Jesus say would cause us to give up on Him and fall away? (Because of the tribulations and troubles of life. It is easy for them to trust Jesus when all is going well, but when times get tough, they fall away.)
- What kind of soil do you want to be? (Parents, see if your children can make the connection to the parable. It’s probably a good idea to follow up with “Why?”)
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