A Walk Back Through History

A Walk Back Through History
(And we did a LOT of walking!)
by Diane Main
As we set off from the hotel, leaving
Gaithersburg, Maryland to head to
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, I began to
reflect on our first four days on the 8th
grade DC Trip. When I first learned, only
a few weeks earlier, that I was going to
join the group on their trip (due to a late
change in staffing plans), I was delighted
and I had some ideas in my head about
made the five-hour drive, did a whirlwind
tour, and drove back, arriving home very
late at night. On that day, we only saw a
fraction of what I have now visited in our
nation’s capital. What struck me most
profoundly on the MCS journey was the
constant evidence of God’s plan in the
design and birth of our nation.
what the trip would hold for me. What I
experienced in the first few days, however,
ended up being completely different from
what I had expected.
I had only been to Washington, DC once
before in my life. I grew up in New Jersey,
just outside Manhattan, and we took a
one-day trip during my junior year of high
school. We left very early in the morning,
After having taught fifth grade at MCS
for five years, I was excited about finally
getting to see the locations we had studied
in our history books. Even though I grew
up on the East Coast, I had never visited
most of these sites in my twenty-six years
there. At Mount Vernon, we walked down
the stairs from Washington’s bedroom to
his office, following the same short route
he walked daily in his later years. Mr.
continued on page 6
Spring 2008
The Lion's Roar
In the Roar
A Walk Back Through History
Superintendent's Sidebar
From the Principal
ESLRs
MCS Creative Writing Contest
Free Tickets to Six Flags
Counseling Corner
The Spirit of America
Box Tops For Education
Teachers Earn Grant
Fourth Grade Missions
Work-Off Hour Opportunity
Preschool News
Fame
Parenting From We to Me
Career Day
Fourth Grade Science
Summer Information Night
Colonial Days
ACSI Speech Meet
MCS Spelling Bees
ACSI Spelling Bee
AR Store Needs
MCS Math Olympics
ACSI Regional Spelling Bee
Scholastic Book Fair
Calendar Dates
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Superintendent's
Sidebar
Parents,
At Milpitas Christian Schools
-While our academic track
record is outstanding, we
specifically focus on the
character and ethical/moral
continued on page 2
Page 1
Superintendent continued...
development of each child
from a Biblical Christian
perspective. We invite each
child to have faith in Jesus
Christ as the foundation for
life.
-We have implemented a new
online registration process
for both new and returning
families.
- We a re c o n t i n u i n g a n d
expanding our summer school
and day-care programs to
accommodate more students
than ever before.
-All supplemental instruction
including technology labs,
the learning lab, physical
education, instrumental and
choral music and library hours
will continue for the duration
of the present year and all of
next year, and the year after
that and into the future. We
are planning to increase our
supplemental instruction to
include foreign language.
-Our trained and experienced
physical education teachers,
choir and band instructors,
learning lab tutors and
technology teachers offer a fully
complete and well-rounded
educational experience.
-We are not planning any
reductions in programs for the
2008-2009 school year.
-The level of academic
achievement of the average
child at MCS is high enough
to qualify for admission into a
GATE program.
I am I believe justifiably proud
of the quality of teaching and
learning that takes place every day
at Milpitas Christian. Won’t you
tell your friends and neighbors
about the good things happening
at MCS?
Page 2
From the Principal...
I love this quote from a very famous child development expert Dr. Benjamin Spock.
His work remains a respected part of child rearing literature, though some of his ideas
are not much in vogue anymore.
Play Is the Work of Children
by Dr. Benjamin Spock
Adapted from Baby and Child Care
When we see children building with blocks, pretending to be airplanes, or learning
to skip rope, we’re apt to think, in our mixed-up adult way, that these are just
amusements, quite different from serious occupations such as doing homework or
holding a job. We are mixed up because most of us were taught in our own childhood
that play was fun, that schoolwork was a duty, and that a job was a grind.
When I taught pre-school I used to love watching the students build complex buildings
or even whole towns with the blocks. I would hear them collaborating to solve problems
much as my software engineer friends collaborated on their projects. This was job
related skill building.
They would engage in intense study of their structures to determine just how stable
the building was, and what would topple it. I even saw 4 year olds use buttresses to
shore up a tower. Future architects?
I saw them react, both appropriately and inappropriately when someone destroyed
their structure. They learned social skills and how to deal with disappointment. They
learned all of this, and so much more, in the block area. Play is the work of children.
Several highly respected educators are now promoting a “family game night” in which
families structure time to play board games together. Children learn many skills, but
spending quality time with the family is a magnificent bonus. There are so many
challenging but age appropriate games available that, with some creativity, all ages
can participate. In our family, we often give the younger kids a “handicap” or partner
them with a parent. There are many ways to get everyone involved.
Sets is an example of a card game that promotes higher order thinking skills but can
be played at different levels for different ages. Check out the game section of the local
toy store, and enjoy some quality learning time together.
The pace of our lives, both at home and at school is erasing play-learning from our
children’s lives. I know it is hard not to worry when children are “just playing” because
the demands of our intensely achievement oriented society are pressing. But it is just
those skills learned and practiced in play that will lead to success in this society. Lets
strive to remember that Play is the Work of Children.
Expected School-wide
Learning Results
Followers of Christ
Good Citizens
Well-rounded Individuals
Good Communicators
Complex Thinkers
The Lion's Roar
Spring 2008
MCS Creative Writing Contest
Grades 4 – 8
Submitted by Marsha Watson
All of our fourth through eighth grade students were busy writing during November,
December, and January. Each student was competing for the top score from their class
so that their project would be submitted for judging for our MCS Creative Writing
Contest. Mrs. Datlowe, Mrs. Morasci, Mrs. Lockrem, and Miss Ritsema were our judges
for this in-house event with forty entries to judge. After the judging was completed two
highest superior scores from each grade level had their work submitted to the ACSI
Creative Writing Contest for further evaluation.
Awards for our MCS Creative Writing Contest results:
4th Grade:
Charles Chen
Good
Kelly He
Good
Grace Cheung
Good
Vera Ong
Good
Serena Patel
Excellent
Matthew Dang Tran
Excellent
Patrick Yieh
Excellent
*Naomi Shak
Superior
*Danielle Tatsuno
Superior
5th Grade:
Amberlin Chen
Excellent
Dmare Arafiles
Excellent
Tricia Nguyen
Excellent
Kyle Chin
Superior
Christopher Dangvu
Superior
Megan Seidal
Superior
Dylan Law
Superior
*Josephina Hu
Superior
*Caitlyn Young
Superior
6th Grade:
Matthew Hemker
Excellent
Christian Tran
Excellent
Marco Atendido
Superior
Alex Chi
Superior
*Sami Glenn
Superior
*Lena Egbert
Superior
7th Grade:
Kelly Chu
Excellent
Isabel Auyeung
Excellent
Julianne Miyashiro
Excellent
Linus Chan
Excellent
Nathaniel Shak
Excellent
*Stephen Chien
Superior
*Kevin Tahara
Superior
8th Grade:
Andrew Vaquilar
Excellent
Grace Chen
Superior
Dehowe Feng
Superior
Janya Holmes
Superior
Noreena Lau
Superior
Angela Sheu
Superior
Winnie Yao
Superior
*Olivia Tang-Kong
Superior
*Ryan Carlsson
Superior
*Indicates that these students had the highest average score for their grade level and
had their written work submitted to the ACSI Creative Writing Festival for further
judging.
Spring 2008
The Lion's Roar
139 Students
Earn Free
Tickets to
Six Flags!
CONGRATULATIONS to all our diligent
readers who earned their free tickets to Six
Flags Theme Park! Our kindergarteners
through six graders were challenged
to read six to twelve hours beyond
homework time, and 139 of them met the
challenge! They will be receiving their free
ticket to a participating Six Flags Theme
Park in early May. The tickets will be valid
from June 19 to August 10, 2008.
How about the rest of the family? There
will be an offer on each student's Read to
Succeed ticket to purchase tickets at the
special Read To Succeed discount price
online. Information will arrive with the
tickets in early May.
See you at Six Flags!
Teri Yeung
Six Flags Reading Club Coordinator
Counseling
Corner
Spring Blessings to you and your family.
Spring is a time of renewing our personal
growth and developing new friendships.
Through our Counseling Center Mrs.
Bristol enables students and parents to
set aside painful habits and experiences
to enter a more beautiful, integrated
time of personal growth. She is working
with several students in learning how to
make better choices in their interpersonal
relationships so they can get positive
attention and affirmation rather than using
negative patterns to get negative attention.
This helps them in friendships here at
school and family interactions at home.
Also our Counseling Center is committed
to helping students and parents heal, cope
and thrive throughout family conflicts
and illnesses. By partnering with each
other to create achievable academic and
behavior goals, both parents and students
succeed.
Mrs. Bristol is a counseling provider with
Blue Shield Health Care, UBH & USBHPO,
and is in process of becoming a provider
with other health care insurances.
Page 3
The Spirit of America
By Ashley Ricks
Recently, MCS students were entertained
by a play called “The Spirit of America”,
which was performed as an assembly
in the library. They enjoyed learning
about the history of America, starting
with Columbus’ discovery and ending
with Martin Luther King’s motivational
speech. Some other historical characters
presented were Thomas Jefferson and
Thomas Edison.
“Dream Scene”. Some wished to end
poverty, while others wanted wars to
end. That scene wasn’t scripted; it was
the students’ real dreams and hopes for
this country to be a better one.
This was an enjoyable event for all as
we learned about our country’s history,
with a comedy twist in it too!
The students also enjoyed watching
their classmates perform in it, since
several from all grade levels were
chosen to participate. It was a good
experience for them because they got
to work with real theatrical actors. A
few of the student-actors got to express
their dreams for America in the play’s
Save Those
Box Tops For
Education!
Want to help send this year’s 7th graders
to Washington D.C. next year?
You can help by bringing in Box Tops for
Education found on cereal boxes, Kleenex
boxes, and many other packages. Go to
www.boxtops4education to learn more
ways to help.
You will not only have the satisfaction
of helping your friends, but the top 2
classes that bring in the most Box Tops
for Education will win a pizza or ice
cream party! A flyer will be sent home
soon, so watch out for it. Information will
also be on www.mcsi.org under “STEP”.
Remember our 7th graders, and help fund
their trip DC 2009 trip with Box Tops!
Teachers Earn National Semiconductor Grant
Submitted by Diane Main
Earlier this year, in an article about geocaching, I mentioned that we had applied for a grant from National Semiconductor. We
have good news to report: WE GOT IT!
A few years ago, as a part of its “K-12 Initiatives,” National Semiconductor launched a program (“Science in Action”) in which they
would award one million dollars over the course of three years for the promotion of “innovation in education using technology.”
They want to support hands-on science in the classroom. For our grant application I enlisted a group of classroom teachers to
become involved in an idea for a data collection project. The group consists of the three fifth grade teachers (Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Yao,
and Mr. Peevyhouse) and the sixth grade science/math/social studies teacher (Mr. Mercado).
Fifth and sixth grade students will use GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers to mark the coordinates of spots where they
hide data collection kits. They will then use the geocaching.com website to publish the locations and purposes of these specialized
hidden geocaches. Inside the containers will be materials for conducting tests and collecting data about weather (for grade five)
or water quality (grade six). People who find and use these data collection points will record the results both in the logbook in the
container and on the geocaching website when they log in to report that they found the container. The students will then track
and graph the data in computer technology class.
A large portion of the $5000 grant has been used to purchase fifteen (15) Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS receivers. MCS already
had five of these units, so we now have twenty. (These GPS units are different from the one you might have in your car.) This
means that we will have them available to loan out to classroom teachers to use with their classes (typically five to ten units to a
class at a time) as well as for this project and for a middle school mini-course on geocaching. The remainder of the funds will be
used to purchase thermometer/hygrometers, water testing strip kits, and materials for making, camouflaging, and re-stocking the
containers themselves. There was an additional award of $2000 for the participating teachers to divide up, each receiving $400.
These funds are for the teacher’s own use at his or her discretion.
Even if your child will not be in 5th or 6th grade next year, he or she will benefit from this grant. As most of the funds were used
to purchase GPS units that can be used for a variety of activities and projects, many students in other grades will have a chance
to use them in technology or other classes. We are planning geocaching and GPS mini-courses in middle school, and we already
conduct some geocaching activities in our upper elementary technology classes. Several of our teachers and administrators have
and use their own GPS receivers, so we anticipate that these new units will get a lot of use all over campus and perhaps on future
Outdoor Education and other field trips.
Page 4
The Lion's Roar
Spring 2008
Fourth Grade Missions
By Parker Glenn
The fourth grade classes at MCS were
very excited to hear that they were going
to build missions! Each fourth grade
class made missions out of foam core to
look like real missions. It all happened in
December 2007, when the fourth grade
classes drew, cut, glued and even spackled
to build missions. Building them helped
fourth grade students learn about the way
missions work.
The students were put into groups each
with a project manager. To build the
missions, students (with the help of
parents) drew the pieces of the mission on
foam core board, cut them out, hot glued
them together, spackled the mission, and
added details like people and animals.
Then, the finished missions were put on
display in the library. It was all hard work,
but most students agreed they would miss
building them.
Work-Off Hour
Opportunities
For Saturdays
On most Saturdays of the month, I
work in the garden from about 10:30 to
noon. If you would like to earn some
work-off hours in the next few months,
I would be very happy to have you help
me. You need no experience. I have all
levels of work available. Please email
me [email protected] and I will set
up a group email to let you know which
Saturdays I will be working.
Mindi Wojdylak
Preschool News
We have had busy days at preschool! We
celebrated Valentine’s Day on the 14th in
each of our classes. The children shared
Valentine’s cards, and had class parties.
They were reminded of the love that Jesus
has for them every day!
CPT Kevin Casas came and visited our
preschool on February 25th, during
Community Helper Week in Mrs. Casas’
class. He told our four year old students
about the work he does as a Quartermaster
Officer in the Army. He even cooked a
few MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) for the
children to try! We appreciated his visit
and his enthusiasm!
A wonderful group of parents working
in the garden on March 8th.
Three of our classes visited the BuildA-Bear Factory in Westfield Mall. The
children enjoyed making and taking
home their bears. Three other classes
have visited the dentist’s office—we were
so blessed to have Dr. Benjamin Cho of
Milpitas talk with our classes, give our
children dental care bags, and explain
what happens during a dental visit and
cleaning. Thank you Dr. Cho!
We have been very blessed to have so
many parents willing to help and share
their time in our preschool classes. We
have parents who have shared with our
classes about their jobs. Other parents
help by preparing art, helping with
cooking projects, bringing library books,
and even participating at circle time.
Thank you!
Blessings,
Milpitas Christian Preschool Staff and
Children
Spring 2008
The Lion's Roar
Page 5
A Walk Back Through History
Continued From Page 1...
Richards, a full two inches taller than
General Washington, had to duck even
more than our first president would
have done every morning. We visited
Washington’s tomb and left flowers to
his memory. When we went to the White
House for a tour, we witnessed first-hand
the intensely increased security there, and
at the Capitol, and later at the Pentagon.
This helped the students understand the
high cost all Americans risk paying for
the freedom unique to our land. The
previous night, we had visited the Korean
War memorial in the dark and we all read
the inscription on the wall that states,
“Freedom is not free.” Later in the day of
our White House, Capitol, and Pentagon
tours, we read many quotes by Franklin
Delano Roosevelt at the memorial built to
honor him. He reminded us, through his
hit the Pentagon. We turned a corner
and found ourselves at the monument. A
Naval officer, AW1 Joseph John Pycior, Jr.,
who had graduated from my high school
between my older sister and brother, was
among those killed in the terrorist attacks.
When we got to the memorial, I was able
to pray for him and his survivors while
touching his name on the wall, read the
pages in the book about his life, and sign
those students has a grandfather who had
participated in escorting home the body
of the Vietnam-era unknown. That soldier
was later exhumed from the tomb when
his remains were identified through DNA
testing. Modern technology allows us
never to have to bury another “unknown,”
but it can’t stop the bodies from coming
home to devastated loved ones.
Another deeply moving experience was
our visit to the Holocaust Museum. I
profound words, that the struggles of the
past centuries have not ended, but rather
they have just manifested themselves in
new ways. As our multi-ethnic group
wandered through the FDR Memorial, it
was not lost on them that the struggles of
the past were for their present and future
benefit.
I thought back to earlier in the week when
we visited Arlington National Cemetery on
Monday. Four of our students participated
in the solemn ceremony of laying a wreath
at the Tomb of the Unknowns. One of
was especially affected by a scale model
of the Auschwitz gas chambers. People
were herded in and ordered to remove
all their clothes for de-lousing showers.
Beforehand, as they removed their shoes,
some were even photographed, expressing
bewilderment at having to get undressed.
Those eyes that stared into mine as I faced
their pictures would soon close forever
in the gas chamber. The sheer number
of lives that ended in such a hateful and
disgusting manner made me weep at the
very thought.
On a similar somber note, we saw the 9-11
Memorial at the Pentagon. I was shocked
to learn that the spot where I stood was
the actual impact point of the plane that
Page 6
The Lion's Roar
the register on behalf of my graduating
class of our high school. I would also find
myself praying at Ground Zero at the end
of the week; Dennis Gerard Taormina, Jr.,
another graduate of my high school, died
in the World Trade Center on September
11th. In addition to being vice president
for finance at Marsh & McLennan, Dennis
was a volunteer fireman alongside my
other brother in our hometown of East
Rutherford. His own brother, Jeff, has
since become a volunteer fireman in
Dennis’ honor and to take his brother’s
place on the squad.
All of these experiences truly brought home
to me the fact that not only is freedom not
free, but that regular people like you and
me and our students can be heroes. The
founding fathers of our country were
regular people, mostly farmers, who stood
continued on page 7
Spring 2008
FAME
continued from page 6
firm for their beliefs. It is because of their
faith in their cause that we have the honor
and privilege of living in a country where
we can send our children to a Christian
school and teach them about our own
faith. But even everyday folks, such as
our guides (Edna, Christie, and Hayden)
and our drivers (Lorenzo and Abe), are
heroes for the way they took care of us
and shared our nation’s history with the
next generation of potential heroes. While
I am completely awed by the majesty and
power of the hand of God in our nation’s
Thank you to all the parents who participate
in our FAME program. The kids enjoy learning
about an artist and composer through this Fine
Arts and Music Experience. Thank you too to
Toni Ann Gatzke for the wonderful pictures!
history, I am also intensely proud to be
an American. Like many of my students,
I have immigrant parents. Like many of
my students, I was unaware of many facets
of our proud national story. And like
many of my students, I had an amazing
and humbling experience on this trip.
MCS and Mount Olive
Present
Parenting Families
From Me to We
Vicar Chris Ng, invites you to explore how to develop
healthy families. We will discuss and improve from a
child-centered Me to a We based family mentality.
Come join other parents in sharing practical strategies
and encouragements.
Six English-based video sessions 3/26-4/30,
Wednesday nights 6:45pm-8:30, refreshments and
childcare provided (ages 0-4 & 5-8).
Registration is $12 for one, $20 for a couple.
Sessions will be at:
Mount Olive Ministries
1989 E. Calaveras Blvd. Milpitas
Too much happened during this time to
capture it all in words. I hope that if your
child attended this trip, he or she will
share with you the impact it had on all
our lives.
Spring 2008
Please contact Chris Ng at (408) 262-0506 or [email protected] to register.
The Lion's Roar
Page 7
Career Day At MCS
A very big thank you to all of the parents
who made Career Day possible. The
children really enjoyed learning about
the many careers represented that day.
A special thank you to Barbara Lee, Lisa
Glenn, Wiwiek Junus, Toni Ann Gatzke,
STEP and all of the parent professionals
who helped make this day a great
success.
Here's what some students had to say:
Yes, it showed me that there are different
jobs I didn’t know about. The veterinarian
was fun to listen to and learn about what
she did.
Rebecca Fraser
It was worth it for me! Because I learned
new things that I should learn to become
a doctor!
Anmol Jandaur
It was worth it because it showed me all
the different types of jobs and how you can
use your talents to serve the Lord. The jobs
that inspired me were the fire fighter and
the police officer because they risk their
lives everyday to do their job.
Ashley Ricks
Fourth Grade Science
Submitted by Valerie Meisner
Students in fourth grade had the
opportunity to create their own
electrical device. Using instructions,
they gathered and created supplies
and assembled the pieces. Some had to
be very creative as to what substitute
materials they could use. Most devices
used a series circuit design. Students
presented their devices to the class
identifying the electrical path and the
switch. We had lid lights, illuminated
forks, airplane bottles, electric dice, lid
lights, noisemakers, robot hands, and
bumper cars.
Page 8
The Lion's Roar
Summer
Program
Information
Night
If you want to keep your child in an
academic environment over the summer
or need Summer Day Care, please plan
on attending the Summer Program
Information Night on April 23, at 6:30 pm,
at the Birchwood Campus. You can learn
more about Academic Summer School,
Fun-Filled Day Care (K-8), Summer
Theater and Summer Preschool (ages 3-4).
This event is open to everyone. Look for
updates and online registration which will
be available through the website at www.
msci.org.
Spring 2008
Colonial Days
By Chloe Hill & Amy Junus
We’ve had this opportunity to tell about
the fifth grader’s Colonial Day. During
Colonial Day all the fifth graders got to
wear Colonial attire and experience how
a girl or boy in that time labored. The
first thing we did on Colonial Day was,
we went to school. We learned how to
write with a quill pen and how to use
a hornbook which was a tool that the
students used back then. If you did a bad
thing in class you would be put in the
stocks or whipped, we did not actually
get whipped but we did get put in the
stocks!
Another activity that we did was we went
to a tea party. It was at Lady Lockrem’s
house. Lady Lockrem gave us pastries as
well as tea, and Mistress Wojdylak gave all
of us maple candies. Along with getting
to eat snacks we had to give orientations
or speeches to entertain our classmates.
Afterward we all gave our thanks and left
Lady Lockrem’s house eager to learn more
about a colonial girl or boy’s day.
ACSI Elementary Speech Meet
Submitted by: Marsha Watson
Thirty-eight students from MCS completed a day of school and then gathered at
Valley Christian School for the ACSI Elementary Speech Meet on Friday, March
14. The students and parents waited as each student from the eight other schools
presented their selection to be judged. The following MCS staff members and
parents served as judges or room monitors for this event: Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Glenn,
Mr. Ford, Mrs. Funk, Miss Funk, Mr. Kim, Mrs. Lem, Mrs. Lockrem, Mrs. Morasci,
Mrs. Simoes, Mrs. Urbach, Mrs. Watson, Miss Watson, and Mr. Van Meter. All of
the students who participated received ribbons at the San Jose event. They were
also recognized during chapel at MCS and were presented with an ACSI certificate
for their participation.
Carag
Poetry
Bible
Furrer Poetry
Bible
Aquino Poetry
Bible
Eaken Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Twining Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Uzaki
Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Ferrante Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Johnston Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Vertin
Next, we went to a Quilting Bee, which
is when many people (mostly Colonial
Women) got together to quilt. During the
Quilting Bee we all sewed together a four
patch quilt. Time passed very quickly
when we all talked and joked together,
and soon we all had to leave that station
and move on. Even though we were sad
to leave we all got to learn how to sew a
four patch quilt.
Later on, we ate our lunches that we
had packed at home. We had to pack
our lunches with absolutely no plastic
because there was no plastic back in the
Spring 2008
Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Jade Welder
Jeanell Dimapasoc
Julia Peterson
Dylan Glenn
Amy Le
Britney Le
Dayna Reed
Mikaela Lopez
Benjamin Wu
Ankur Chadha
Allen Cheung
Emerald Gilana
Nicole Yu
Dawn Ford
Tiffany Chiang
Jessica Nguyen
Daniel Tran
Cassie Munoz
Caretha Richardson
Matthew Kim
Sabrina Broyles
Krystal Sandez
Kaipo Lem
Caleb Faizi
colonial days. After lunch we went back
to our activities. Our activity was making
a lantern with Master Peevyhouse and
making a toy called Jacobs Ladder. We all
had fun making the toys that we almost
forgot that it was Colonial Day, but we
didn’t.
After that everyone went to a place called
the game room where we all got to play
some games that the Indians or Colonial
kids played to learn many things. My
favorite game was called “Ring Taw”. The
object of the game was to use big marbles
to hit the little marbles out of the circle.
We think that the object of the game was
to learn how to aim and that would help
with hunting.
Guajardo Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Hamm
Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Meisner
Poetry
Bible
Fable/Folklore
Clark
Poetry
Patriotic Oration
Dramatic Bible Prose
Peevyhouse
Poetry
Bible
Derek Feng
Jonah Davis
Charles Chen
Jenisha Samson
Joshua Chiang
Serena Patel
Rebecca Fraser
Vera Ong
Ashley Ricks
Amy Junus
Amberlin Chen
Justina Kim
Karli Endow
Julie Nguyen
Patriotic Oration
Serena Simoes
Dramatic Bible Prose Hugh Zhang
Yao
Poetry Hannah Zampaglione
Bible
Sydney Muendelein
Dramatic Bible Prose Kevin Yao
how to make purple candles. The candles
we made turned out beautiful and some
fat, everyone got to take their candles
home to use. Before we left Mistress
Moraci told us the importance of candles
back then and we all started to realize
how important they were and still are
now. Then we left the room and said
good-bye to all the teachers and left to go
home. While everyone was going home
we knew that nobody was going to forget
this experience.
The last place we went to was the science
room. There Mistress Moraci taught us
The Lion's Roar
Page 9
ACSI Spelling
Bee Grades 5-8
MCS Spelling Bees
Grades 1-8
Submitted by Marsha Watson
Submitted by Marsha Watson
As coordinator for the MCS Spelling Bee competitions, November was extremely
busy with our school sponsoring eight separate grade level events. The hundreds
of words used for our spelling bees were sent to our school from ACSI. Mrs.
Datlowe and Mrs. Morasci worked many hours writing hundreds of sentences
required for those contests. I would like to also thank the following staff members
who took a responsible role in the success of these events for our students: Mrs.
Coco, Mrs. Datlowe, Mrs. Lockrem, Mr. Lovejoy, Mrs. McHattie, Mrs. Morasci,
Mrs. Smoak, and Mrs. Wojdylak.
Each classroom in the first through eighth grades conducted a classroom
bee and the top three spellers from each class advanced to our MCS grade level
bees. The following students skillfully competed in their grade level MCS
Annual Spelling Bee:
1st Grade:
Isabella Castro
Alexis Glawitsch
Leon Lu***
Casey Park*
Annabel Su
Emily Tran**
Tim Wang
Krystal Yang
Andrew Zhao
2nd Grade:
Tiffany Chiang
David Hoang
Kristy Lee**
Kelly Lue
Dayna Reed***
Nathalie Rivera-Mayorga
Jan Silva*
Genie Tu
Benjamin Wu
3rd Grade:
Rishi Desai
Jessica Nguyen
Kovi Nguyen**
Nelson Pang
Paul Quach***
Olivia Su
Michelle Taw
Vincent Yu*
Henry Zhang
4th Grade:
Nicholas Lai
Rohan Madhu
Vera Ong***
Ashley Ricks
Jenisha Samson
Jocelyn Su
Sarah Tam**
Jason Yeung*
Patrick Yieh
5th Grade:
Amberlin Chen*
Josephina Hu***
Justina Kim
Tina Phan
Megan Seidel
Rafael Soriano**
Minni Tu
Annie Yeh
Hannah Zampaglione
6th Grade:
Marco Atendido***
Dean Brewster
Lena Egbert**
Michaela Giordano
Sonia Kapoor
Naomi Kawamura
Nicholas Takahashi
Erica Tran*
7th Grade:
Isabel Auyeung ***
Justin Birch
Emily Chen
Kelly Chu**
Ruchi Desai
Firoz Gill
Max Kirchgesner
Sayeri Lala*
Madeline Nguyen
* First Place Winner
** Second Place Winner
8th Grade:
Ryan Bogert
Dehowe Feng
Noreen Lau*
Bhargava Manja
Nishant Mattu
Ashley Nguyen
Vivian Phung***
Sarin Puri
Angela Sheu**
***Third Place Winner
Congratulations MCS Spelling Bee Winners!
Page 10
The Lion's Roar
All of the winners from grades fifth
through eighth advanced from the MCS
Spelling Bee to the ACSI Spelling Bee
held Friday, January 25, 2008, at Fremont
Christian School. The following staff
members also participated as judges at
the event: Mrs. Coco, Mrs. Datlowe, Mrs.
Lockrem, and Mr. Lovejoy. Our students
did a wonderful job representing MCS
at each grade level. The parents and
staff members were so proud of each of
our students. This ACSI competition
recognizes first through fourth place
winners at each grade level. MCS students
took nearly half of the awards distributed
at this event and seven of our students
received ribbons or medals.
ACSI Award Winners
5th Grade:
1st Place: Amberlin Chen
2nd Place: Rafael Soriano
4th Place: Josephina Hu
6th Grade:
3rd Place: Erica Tran
4th Place: Marco Atendido
8th Grade:
2nd Place: Angela Sheu
3rd Place: Vivian Phung
ACSI Run-Off Bee
The ACSI Spelling Bee for grades fifth
through eighth continued with an addition
ACSI Run-Off Spelling Bee. All of the
first and second place winners competed
together for the top spellers of this ACSI
event. The run-off bee consisted of only
eight students and we were all thrilled
to watch as three of those students were
from MCS.
Rafael Soriano (5th Grader) placed 5th
*Amberlin Chen (5th Grader) placed 4th
*Angela Sheu (8th Grader) placed 2nd
This event also distributes awards for first
through fourth place winners. Amberlin
Chen and Angela Sheu will now advance
to the next competition that will take place
on March 13th in Sacramento.
AR Store Needs
The 1st and 2nd grade AR store is in need
of donations and volunteers. If you can
help, please contact Miss Uzaki for more
information at [email protected]
Spring 2008
MCS Math Olympics
MCS Students
Shine at
Regional
Spelling Bee
Submitted by Marsha Watson
Submitted by Karen Datlowe
The third, fourth, and fifth grade MCS Math Olympics was held after school on Tuesday,
February 26, 2008. The students completed two different tests with a time limit of ten
minutes each in their appropriate category. The students also completed an additional
test of Mental Math which was scored as a tiebreaker for the competition to declare
a winner. The competition was administered and graded at grade level by all of the
following teachers: Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Ferrante, Mrs. Guarjardo, Mrs. Johnston, Mrs.
Hamm, Mrs. Meisner, Mr. Peevyhouse, Mrs. Vertin, and Mrs. Yao. Each classroom
had two students in each category competing in this event. All of the contestants that
placed first, second, and third in their grade level and category received a MCS Math
Olympic medal and the rest of the participants received a MCS Math Olympic ribbon.
Congratulations to all of our competitors at MCS.
Participants
Grade Teacher
3rd
Ferrante
Johnston
Vertin
4th
Guajardo
Hamm
Meisner
5th
Clark
Peevyhouse
Yao
Computation
Paul Quach
Jessica Nguyen
Anna Simoes
Vincent Yu
Brandon Dimapasoc
Kristy Nguyen
Brandon Nguyen
Jocelyn Su
Gibson Chu
David Ren
Erick Tram
Amie Nguyen
Amy Junus
Tim Chen
Hugh Zhang
Tricia Nguyen
Trisha Hui
Tina Phan
Reasoning
Daniel Tran
Mai Tran
Matthew Arquero
Tiffany Nguyen
Jessica Cao
Haley Tran
Geordan Banks
Ivy Ho
Matthew Dang Tran
Oliver Yang
Kevin Lin
Patrick Yieh
Amberlin Chen
Justina Kim
Brenda Wang
Josephina Hu
Megan Seidel
Hannah Zampaglione
The competition was intense with our students competing against one another for a
chance to advance to the ACSI Math Olympics in April. Our fourth grade reasoning
students finished the competition with a three-way tie for first place, therefore
the tiebreaker test was used to establish our placement winners. The third grade
competition also had a tie for second place even after scoring the tiebreaker test. Anna
Simoes and Paul Quach were required to take a fourth test the next day to establish
their placement in the competition.
MCS Math Olympic Medalists
Grade
1st Place
3rd Gr. Computation
Vincent Yu
3rd Gr. Reasoning
Tiffany Nguyen
4th Gr. Computation
Gibson Chu
4th Gr. Reasoning
Patrick Yieh
5th Gr. Computation
Hugh Zhang
5th Gr. Reasoning
Megan Seidel
2nd Place
Paul Quach
Jessica Cao
Amie Nguyen
Oliver Yang
Tricia Nguyen
Brenda Wang
3rd Place
Anna Simoes
Haley Tran
Jocelyn Su
Matthew Dang Tran
Amy Junus
Amberlin Chen
All of the medal winners will advance to the ACSI Math Olympics that will be held on
Saturday, April 26, 2008 at Milpitas Christian School.
Spring 2008
The Lion's Roar
The ACSI Northern California
Regional Spelling Bee was held on
Thursday, March 13 in Elk Grove. Two
of our students, eighth grader Angela
Sheu and fifth grader Amberlin
Chen, had made their way to this
event by way of their performance
at the ACSI district spelling bee held
in Fremont in January. The top four
spellers at the Elk Grove bee go on to
Washington DC to participate in the
ACSI national bee, to be held May 10.
Their parents as well as Mrs. Watson
and Mrs. Datlowe were there to cheer
them on. There were twenty-seven
top spellers from northern California
taking place in this event, and the
competition was excellent. We are
pleased to announce that Angela
placed 2nd, and Amberlin 3rd. Both
students have won the right to go to
Washington and represent northern
California and MCS. We are so
very proud of them both. Way to
go, girls!
Angela, Aberlin and Dave Phillips of
ACSI at the Elk Grove competition.
Reading
Road Trip
The Scholastic Spring Book Fair will
be May 12 - 18, in the MCS Library.
Our evening family event will feature
a guest author, Dave Keane, who will
read from one of his hilarious books.
Look for more information coming
home soon! If you would like to
volunteer for this event, please contact
MariAnn Wilson at [email protected]
or (408) 945-9722 ext. 109.
Page 11
Calendar Dates
March
18
21
24 - 28
31
April
7-11
9
11
15
18
21-25
24
25
29-30
May
5
6
7
12-16
14
16
19-23
23
26
27
30
June
5-6
6
9-12
10
12
13, 16
17
3rd Grade Recorder Concert; Mt. Olive at 7:00 PM
School & Daycare Closed - Good Friday
School Closed; Daycare Open
School Resumes
Ocean Week
Noon Dismissal
Ocean Dress Theme Day
1st and 2nd Grade Concert at North Valley Fellowship at 7:00 PM
Race for Education
SAT Testing
Board Meeting With Parents at 7:00 PM in the MCS Library
Progress Reports for Grades K-8
4th Grade Outdoor Ed
MS Musical Dress Rehearsal at Milpitas High
MS Musical at Milpitas High at 7:00 PM
Spring Instrumental Concert at Mount Olive at 7:00 PM
Scholastic Spring Book Fair
Noon Dismissal
Sports Picnic
7th Grade Outdoor Ed
Celebrate America Dress Theme and Family Day
School and Day Care Closed
Honor Choir Concert at Mount Olive at 7:00 PM
Noon Dismissal
8th Grade Finals
MS Social
Vacation Dress Theme Week
Graduation at CCCM at 7:00 PM
Last Day of School; Noon Dismissal; School and Day Care Close at Noon
Day Care Closed
Day Care Reopens for Summer; MS Report Cards Mailed
The Lion’s Roar
The Milpitas Christian Schools Newsletter
3435 Birchwood Lane, San Jose, CA 95132
Milpitas Christian Schools
Business and Superintendent’s Offices
3435 Birchwood Lane
San Jose, CA 95132
(408) 945-9722 / (408) 945-9746 fax
MCS Elementary and Middle School
3435 Birchwood Lane
San Jose, CA 95132
(408) 945-6530 / (408) 945-3124 fax
Preschool and Day Care at:
Christ Community Church
1000 S. Park Victoria Dr., Ste. 100
Milpitas, CA 95035
(408) 262-2630 / (408) 262-0787 fax
Rejoice in
the Lord
always.
I will say
it again
Rejoice!
Philippians
4:4