Talon Times

Engaging with Your Child’s Media

If you have not yet read Glen Shultz’s latest blog, Some Haunting Questions, you should take a moment to read it today. Mr. Brenner shared this blog with our school family earlier this week. It is a very thought-provoking and convicting post. I have challenged our teachers to think about what being “Christian” really means and how we can fulfill our mission to “assist parents…in the education of children, from a Biblical worldview, to impact their world for Christ.”

One way that I believe we can fulfill our mission is by sharing some great resources with you to help you understand the culture that our children are growing up in. If your son or daughter is anything like my two girls, he or she has a tablet and spends time watching videos online. We try to closely monitor what they watch, but as I recently discovered, my four-year-old has learned some words that we did not know she knew. These are words that we do not use in our home and I cannot think of anywhere that she could have heard these words other than a video that she watched on YouTube – and we only let our girls use YouTube Kids.

Common Sense Media is a great resource for reading reviews on a wide range of topics –including movies, books, YouTube Channels, etc. In fact, the leading story as of this morning is about Fortnite.

My go-to guide for movies is Plugged In. This is a resource from Focus on the Family that provides reviews on movies, TV, games, and books. I use their reviews anytime we want to watch a movie with our girls.

Think Christian is a new resource that I’ve recently learned about. It has several articles about popular culture, including movies, TV, and games.

I would encourage you to become familiar with these resources and for you to spend time looking through each one. You will discover a lot of helpful information that will better prepare you to understand the culture that our children are engaged in every day. There is no substitute for being involved in what your son or daughter are doing each day. I encourage you to watch the videos they watch, read the books they read, play the games they play. George Barna recently shared that movies, TV, music, books, internet, public policy, and family are the most influential in American culture. So, if we as parents are not influencing our children, you can believe that the media they are engaged with daily is.

Christmas Spirit Week

As the Christmas Season is upon us, let us rejoice in the fact that at a Christian school we can say CHRISTMAS! The SGA has come up with several days of Christmas Spirit attire.

Image result for polar express — Wednesday 12/5 is “Polar Express Day”. Get those Christmas pajamas ready.

Image result for christmas characters — Thursday 12/6 is “Christmas Character Day” – who is your favorite Christmas Story character? Santa, Elf, the Grinch, Mary, or Cindy-Lou Who?

Image result for christmas shirt — Friday – Christmas shirts – It’s Fruit delivery Day

Image result for 12 days of christmas — Monday – 12/10 is “Twelve Days of Christmas” – dress as one of the twelve days mentioned in the song.

Related image — Tuesday – 12/11 is “Decked out for Christmas” – wear as much Christmas stuff as you can.

Image result for christmas socks — Wednesday – 12/12 is Christmas Sock Day – (WE HAVE YEARBOOK RETAKES AND SPORTS PICTURES – Keep it simple.)

Image result for ugly christmas sweater — Thursday – 12/13 – Tacky/Ugly Christmas Sweaters –Schoolwide Christmas Chapel

Image result for santa hat elf hat reindeer — Friday – 12/14 – Santa Hats, Elf Hats, Reindeer Antlers

Schedule Change

December 3, 2018

Dear WCS Family,

We have exciting news. One of the nation’s top thought leaders on Biblical Integration is coming to WCS to help our teachers … at no cost! In order to make it happen, we have to rearrange our schedule a little.

January 2^nd – 4^th will now be teacher in-service days instead of class days. To help compensate for the lost instructional time, we are changing the parent/teacher conference days in January and March to full days of instruction. The Daycare and Preschool will operate as normal and all athletic events will continue as scheduled. Here are the specific changes:

New Schedule

Jan. 2^nd – 4^th: Teacher In-Service (No Classes)
January 7^th: Classes resume
January 11^th: Full Day of Classes
- If you would like to schedule a conference with your child’s teacher, you may call the school office to schedule an appointment at your convenience.
March 15^th: Full Day of Classes
- If you would like to schedule a conference with your child’s teacher, you may call the school office to schedule an appointment at your convenience.

Our mission is to assist you and your church in educating your children from a Biblical worldview. We have the opportunity to bring Dr. Bryan Smith, one of the nation’s top thought leaders on Biblical Integration, to campus. Your faculty will learn from one of the best! We will spend three days learning more about Biblical Integration, developing ways in which to seamlessly integrate these ideas, and discussing ways to implement the new and better ways to integrate faith and learning!

We realize that this schedule change may create an added burden for your family. That is why we are informing you as soon as plans for our speakers were finalized. We feel that the benefits of taking the time to equip and enable your teachers over these first three days of 2019 will reap great rewards in the classroom for your children.

Sincerely,

Paul Brenner

Administrator

P.S. Visit www.kingdomeducationministries.com for family oriented, Biblical Worldview teaching. You can become a prime member for only $15/year with the special code: WCSNC18.

Affinity Programs

Feel like you visit Amazon or the grocery store every day? Wouldn’t it be great if all that shopping helped out a worthy organization? Every time you shop at one of these locations, WCS will receive a percentage back–and there is no additional cost to you!

Amazon

Support WCS by starting your Amazon shopping at smile.amazon.com. It has the same products, same prices and same Amazon Prime benefits if you are a member — and WCS receives 0.5 percent cash back. Please note that you must complete the check-out process via smile.amazon.com, rather than via the Amazon app or the regular Amazon website, for your purchase to benefit Wayne Christian School.

BOXTOPS for Education

Clip Box Tops labels from hundreds of your favorite products and send them to WCS in an envelope marked BOXTOPS. A list of participating products may be accessed at www.boxtops4education.com/earn/participating-products. Each grade competes throughout the school year to earn prizes for the most Box Tops collected.

Harris Teeter

**Your VIC card must be relinked every August.**

1. Go to www.harristeeter.com/together-in-education.

2. Click on the green “Link Your Card” button

3. Sign into your Harris Teeter account when prompted.

4. Under the green “Together in Education” header, type Wayne Christian School into the search box.

5. Select Wayne Christian School from the drop down menu.

6. Click on the green Add a School button. WCS should show up at the bottom of the page under the green “Linked Schools” header.

Office Depot

Make a purchase of qualifying school supplies, provide the school’s ID at checkout (in store or online), and WCS will receive 5% back in credits for FREE supplies. WCS’s school ID number is 70061222.

What’s Happening: Week of December 3

Hat, Coat, and Scarf Drive. During this time of the year, we take for granted the warmth of a coat. As a school, we are collecting gently used or new coats for those in need. We will have drop-off boxes in the day care, elementary, and junior high building.

Be on the lookout for the Wayne Christian Float in the Goldsboro Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 1^st.

The 3^rd/4^th Grade Christmas Program isDecember 4^th. Mrs. Whitfield has been working with the 3^rd/4^th grade classes to prepare for the Christmas season.

December 7^th will be a fruit filled day for us all. The high school students will be unloading the fruit early on Friday, Dec. 7^th. Delivery will begin when all students have separated the boxes and checked all the fruit.

Enchanted Forest Book Fair

What an odd time of year for the book fair! Yes, but God had a reason for using Hurricane Florence to rearrange our plans, and we’re going with it! It’s going to be an Enchanted Christmas Forest, so join us!

Visit the WCS Library from 8 am to 4 pm, December 3-7, for some fantastic book bargains from Scholastic. Your student’s class will be assigned a time to come browse through the selections, and books make great Christmas gifts! Credit cards will be accepted this year, as well as the online “E-Wallet”, so that you can deposit whatever amount you want your child to spend. Online shopping will also be available November 28-December 11.

Be sure to check out our book fair website, and download the free Scholastic Book Fair App, which can be used to scan books at the fair, create a wish list, or make a purchase that will also be credited to our school’s book fair sales. (Share the“wish list” with out of town family who may be looking for Christmas gift ideas for your child!)

Our goal is $3000 worth of sales, with all profits being used for the benefit of your students who use our library.

Beverly Deck, librarian

Tablet Drive

Annual Fund

Dear WCS Family,

If you haven’t heard, we kicked-off our Annual Fund Campaign with the BoosterThon–and it was a huge success. We raised 1/3 of our goal! Our goal for the Annual Fund is $100,000 and we netted $33,000 through the BoosterThon.

WCS relies on the Annual Fund to help support essential things outside the operating budget like professional development, new technology, curriculum enhancement and many other things. You can support WCS by giving online at our verified and secured website: http://www.waynechristian.org/annual-fund/. If you own or run a business and would like to be a sponsor, I would be happy to talk with you about that as well.

Putting the Money to Good Use

We’re already using the money we’ve raised. We’ve purchased a new server and are making plans to install it over Christmas Break. We are also working with engineers to upgrade our wifi infrastructure so that we can utilize educational apps during classes to enhance the learning experience. As we continue towards our goal, be on the lookout for more upgrades across our campus.

On the Horizon

A successful Annual Fund helps set the stage for us to reach even higher goals, which is to begin building a new Middle School & High School building in the next two years. The Board has already begun doing the groundwork to help make this a reality.

It’s an exciting time to be an Eagle! Join the rest of the WCS family. Invest in our school to make it better tomorrow and for years to come.

Sincerely,

Paul Brenner
Administrator

P.S. If you haven’t joined the Booster Club, take advantage of the $100 promotion. You’ll receive an umbrella and a family pass for EVERY regular season home game. Contact Mr. Buddin for more information: mbuddin@waynchristian.org.

P.S.S. Remember WCS on Giving Tuesday.

No Off-Season

What's Happening

I was recently counting the days before Christmas – it’s 41 in case you’re wondering. Of those 41 days, 21 are school days. That’s incredible!

Over those 21 days, we will see our kindergarten students perform their Thanksgiving program and our third and fourth graders perform their Christmas program. Students will also begin to prepare for the ACSI Spelling Bee, participate in service projects, and get ready for our Christmas Chapel. As you can see, there is no off-season at Wayne Christian School.

Here are some upcoming events:

K5 Thanksgiving Program – November 20
Last day to donate canned goods for the Salvation Army – November 20
SGA “Coats, Hats, and Scarves” drive – November 26-December 18
Popcorn Friday (elementary) – November 30
3^rd & 4^th Grade Program – December 4
School-wide Christmas Chapel – December 13
Elementary AR Ice Cream Party – December 14

The Book Fair is December 3-7, and students will have the opportunity to visit the library and purchase books. Parents and grandparents are also invited to come and check out the Book Fair. We are also in need of volunteers to help with the Book Fair. If you’re interested in helping, please contact Mrs. Deck at bdeck@waynechristian.org.

Christmas will be here before we know it, and the semester will be over even quicker than that.

Teaching a Biblical Worldview

All Truth is God’s Truth!

We’ve all heard it. Most of us have probably said it. But, do we believe it? I mean, truly believe it.

According to Barna Research, most of us don’t. Their research indicates that only 10% of the U.S. population has a Biblical Worldview.

I had the opportunity to attend a Biblical Worldview Conference with Mr. Miranda and Mr. Vohringer last week. I was reminded (and convicted) of two things that I have learned over the past 25 years in education.

Relationships matter. We cannot teach if we do not have a relationship with our students. The old adage is true, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”
God matters. We cannot teach our children about the truth of this world and omit God. Without discussing the role of the Creator, Sustainer, and Savior, we are saying that God doesn’t matter. If we teach science, literature, math, social studies, or the arts–and omit God–we are not teaching the whole truth.

Our mission at WCS is to partner with you and your church to educate your children from a Biblical Worldview.

As a father of two children (Hannah is grown and will be married next summer, and Zach is a junior at WCS), I know that I have failed on many occasions, just ask my kids. I will continue to fail. So, I am constantly on the lookout for ways to help me instill a Biblical Worldview. I’ve found a great resource: www.kingdomeducationministries.com.

WCS has joined Kingdom Education Ministries to provide professional development resources for our teachers. There are also resources on parenting, grand parenting and other topics designed to equip us to train our children and youth in the Lord. Your family can have access to these same wonderful resources through the school’s subscription.

Theindividual yearly subscription rate is regularly $25. However, Kingdom Education Ministries isoffering our parents a special one-time rate of $15. You can become a KEM Prime Member by going to www.kingdomeducationministries.com. Once there click on the tab “Become a Prime Member” and chose “Individual Annual Membership”. When you complete the application page, enter WCSNC18 on the line labeled “coupon.” This offer is good until December 31, 2019; after that, the annual cost will be the regular rate of $25.

You can also get a free, trial membership to get a glimpse of what is available. Use the following for the free trial:

Username (case sensitive): KEM21

Password (case sensitive): NovTrial

Thank you for allowing us to partner with you and your church to educate your children from a Biblical Worldview.

Paul Brenner, administrator