Dear Families and Friends,

Back to Basic Writing Skills

Want a fun way to get your family to spend more time together? Take the Million Minute Challenge. Encourage your family and friends to play games and contribute minutes to the national total. More details (and creative ideas) can be found online at:
www.millionminute.com/.

It’s really quite simple. Just log in after you play a game with your family and friends, and keep track of how many minutes everyone has done. You can also learn the history of board games, get fun ideas, and download games from the website.

Games are also a great way to educate children. For example, Reading Tutors (www.reading-tutors.com), a website with low-cost, downloadable reading packets, includes not only printable books and worksheets, but also cool printable games in the lessons to help kids learn to read.

Reading Tutors materials are designed so that any parent, volunteer, or even older sibling can help teach reading.

Have fun playing... and reading and writing!

ITBS Tests Coming Up

Beginning next week, students in grades 3-8 will take the ITBS tests. Tests will be given only during the morning.

Let's work together to give our students every extra advantage to make sure they are able to do their very best that week. This would include things like:

• Provide plenty of rest during test week.
• Make sure kids get a good breakfast.
• Avoid "over scheduling" the week--give them time to relax in the afternoon.

"The best preparation for taking any achievement test is concentrated effort related to classroom activities, completion of homework, engaging in activities beyond assigned homework, and undertaking a wide variety of projects which will improve the depth and breadth of a student's knowledge." --Riverside Publishing

Help your child do his/her best during ITBS test week!

Sincerely,

Robert J. Robinson, Principal
Teacher, Kindergarten/1st Grade
San Francisco Adventist School

Beware Football Season

Although some of you can hardly grasp the idea, there is a little three-year-old girl who hates football. It isn't because she is scared of crowds or sensitive to noise. It isn't because a ball was kicked into the stands and hit her. She hates football because... Well, let me hold off on telling you why.

Truth be told, the incident I'm about to share with you could be recounted in terms of baseball or fishing, soccer or bowling, basketball or skiing. And in case you aren't a sports fan, it fits just as well with reading, yard work, or crossword puzzles. Much to my discomfort, it even speaks to church work.

Wanda was babysitting for a three-year-old whom she described as a "petite, dark-eyed, curly-haired bundle of love." As they played and made an evening of girl things, it came to Wanda that it would be the crowning event of their night to polish Carly's fingernails and toenails. She was thrilled at the idea.

"Do you want orange polish?" Wanda asked. "I know your Daddy just loves the ‘Big Orange' football team.""No!" said Carly. And her beautiful eyes were filled with anger! "I hate football. All Daddy says is ‘Carly, be quiet so I can hear the game' and ‘Carly, get out of my way so I can see the game,' and ‘Carly, go upstairs and leave me alone so I can see my football game.' "

Wanda's heart broke as she saw the pain in a little girl's eyes and heard the anger in so sweet a voice. "I know in my heart no parent wants their child to feel that way," she said. "And I know in ten years the score of a football game will mean absolutely nothing. But will this child ever get over the hurt?"

The best thing dads and moms can give our children is ourselves. That means presence, time, and attention. It means letting them know their value by looking them in the eyes, playing their games, and getting into their world. It also means setting priorities and sometimes giving up a big-screen play for a real-life hug, a committee meeting for a recital, or a new novel for an old Golden Book.

To believe they are valuable to God, children must know they matter to their own flesh-and-blood parents. Because nobody wants to be the parent of a runaway prodigal, we must keep our hearts, laps, and arms open to our kids. Otherwise they could wind up hating sports or planes or God on account of us.

--Rubel Shelly

School Calendar and Hot Lunch Menus

Click on the calendar above to access this month's calendar.

Coming Events

Sept 7 Free Dress

Sept 10 Tuition Due

Sept 11 Fly the Flag Day

Sept 12-20 ITBS Testing

Sept 21 Interim Reports

Sept 30 Flagball
Tournament at Central Valley Christian Academy

Oct 5 Free Dress

Oct 8 No School—
Columbus Day

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