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St. John Lutheran School is located in downtown Salem, Oregon just a few blocks from our state capitol building. In fact, the "gold Pioneer" is visible from our playground and we walk there to see the Christmas decorations every year.
Our school has evolved over the years from a small kindergarten in the basement to what is now a preschool and kindergarten with full day extended care. There are preschool classes for 3's and 4's, Monday thru Friday, from 9:00 to 11:30. Parents choose what combination of days works best for them. Kindergarten class is 3 hours/5 days.
We are celebrating our 50th year! Our three classroom teachers have served here for over 20 years! After this long, it definately feels like a family (including approx. 55 school families per year and a supportive church family). As in any "family", several "St. John Family Traditions" have developed over the years. Everything from field trips and seed planting to picnics and special programs have become our "traditions".
Each class has it's traditional field trip (besides the usual pumpkin patch, apple orchard, etc.). The 3's always go to the carousel, the 4's big event is the children's museum and the kindergartners ride Amtrak from Albany to Salem every year. Every year on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we gather for our "feast" and each class brings their traditional dish to go with our chicken noodle soup (3's bring rolls, 4's bring applesauce and k's bring pumpking pie!). Our Christmas program always features the kindergartners acting out the Christmas story with timely interludes of specific songs sung by the preschool "angel choir". We also always participate in "Operation Christmas Child" at Christmas. We always send handmade Valentines to the homebound of our congregation. The Easter egg hunt is always held at Mission Mill and we always stop along the way to "jump from the stump" before heading to where the eggs are hidden! When it comes to spring planting, the 3's always plant Cosmos, the 4's pumpkins and the k's beans. The last day of school is always celebrated with a family picnic at Bush Park where we always play "imaginary baseball". The kindergartners always receive their diplomas under a rainbow of balloons and they always sing "I Can Spell Cat" along with favorites from the year. Every year each graduate is "highlighted" for a few minutes before receiving their diploma; favorite subject, favorite field trip, what they want to be when they grow up...etc. Each child is then presented with a children's Bible before we all gather in the gym for our traditional root beer floats! More than once, an older sibling has come up to me at one of these events and said "I remember when I was a shepherd" or "I remember how I loved imaginary baseball!" These are just a few of the traditions that help make us who we are. For the last few years our board of parish fellowship has hosted a "Welcome Dinner" in the fall for school families and church members. Hopefully this will "stick" as yet another family tradition. In the future, we hope to establish more traditions that involve the congregational members. We also plan to make the St. Jude Trike-a-thon a yearly event (rather than every other year as it is now) and do yearly service projects and/or collect food for the food bank.
Throughout history, cultures have passed their family values to future generations through their traditions. I believe that our "family" values are reflected in the traditions that we practice.
Our school is a thriving mission of St. John Lutheran Church. This year exactly half of our families are unchurched. The "mission field" is walking right in our front door every week day! We value the opportunity to reach out to our "family members" with the love of Christ. By sharing our family traditions with them, we are showing them that they matter to us and we are all part of God's family!
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