Mr. Stoelting's Eighth Grade Class Blog

The 8th grade students presented an iMovie production they created from a Literature story called The Landlady by Roald Dahl. Their assignment was to play the role of a detective and question the Landlady to see if they could get her to confess to killing and then stuffing her guest, Billy Weaver. They had to write the story boards and then act out the scene with me playing the Landlady. Once that was completed, they used iMovie to create and edit their own movie scene.
They had to present what they did with the project and how it assisted them to use technology at the Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) Conference in Grand Rapids earlier this month.
They did a great job of representing OSL. CONGRATULATIONS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

I wanted to say thank you to the OSL community for all their prayers and support as I filled in for Mr. Cohrs during his recent surgery.  I enjoyed being the Acting Principal and hope that you felt the school was in good hands while he was out recovering.  Thank you to Mr. Cohrs for trusting my abilities and allowing me to cover for him.  I just want to say that we have a VERY good group of students here at OSL.  I enjoyed working and getting to know all the lower grades and the 7th and 8th grade students most of time stepped up to the plate and rolled with things as I was needed around the school during the day.  I feel inspite of being out of the classroom at times, learning still continued because the kids were focused when I was able to get some class instruction done.  They are to be commended for their self-control.

As many of you know, I am currently getting my Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership at Concordia University in Ann Arbor.  Taking on this role certainly assisted me in learning what the job of a Principal will be like on a daily basis.  This opportunity gave me some on the job training.

I am now officially finished as Acting Principal since Mr. Cohrs has come back full time begining today.  THANKS again to the OSL Community for doing your part in making OSL….GREAT!!!!!  It is definitely a place where the students come first and the teachers give 100% every day.  I truly am blessed to be a part of the ministry here at OSL.

I made it through my first day as Acting Principal. I appreciate all the support the teaching staff has shown me and I will do my best to support them and our students during the absence of our Principal.

I want to advise the parents of my 8th grade and 7th grade classes that I will be in the classroom full time and instructing them. That is my main responsiblity through all this. There will be times however, that administrative duties will need to be attended to. If those arise during the school day, I will get a sub to teach for me so that the kids won’t be left unattended and learning will continue to take place. I have talked with the kids and asked them during this time to “step up to the plate” so to speak and show their leadership skills in helping me do my jobs. That means that if I am out of the room, they have been asked to conduct themselves in a manner that shows a lot of character and self control. I’m sure they will make us proud by their efforts.

Please continue to keep the Cohrs family in your prayers for strength and quick healing.

I know, what a strange title, but we have begun a new year! Can anyone tell me what this means?

The 8th grade is coming along well academically. We are in the throws of getting ready for the Christmas Program at school. Mark your calendars now. The date of the Christmas Program is December 20th at 6:30 pm. The kids have welcomed a new/old student this past Monday. Brian Shreve has rejoined the class. WELCOME BACK Brian!

I would like to let all of you know that Mr. Cohrs has informed us that he will be having surgery for colon cancer. The doctors have told him that they have caught it VERY early and for this we give God the praise. In his absence, Mr. Cohrs has asked me to fill in for him in the role of Principal. I’m very honored that he has this confidence in me and I will do my best to fill his shoes. Thanks Mr. Cohrs for the chance to help out in this role.

Today the school observed Halloween in all the classrooms.  Parties and costumes abounded throughout the school.  You name it, we had it!  We had a parade of all the classes in the gym followed by a party in the classrooms.  A good time was had by all of them.  Would you believe it, some of the teachers even got dressed up!  I want to thank all my students for dressing up as me.  I was very flattered that you thought enough to be me!  Have a safe evening and remember I like Kit Kat bars!

(You want good grades this marking period, pay up )

On a more serious note, this day is also very significant for us as a Lutheran School.  Today is the day that a monk by the name of Martin Luther posted some questions on a church’s door in Germany that he wanted answers to.  He wanted to have the church leaders explain some of the practices they were teaching at this time.  Luther had found a couple verses in the Bible that freed him of many of the beliefs he had about God.  Those verses are found in Ephesians 2:8-9.  Luther’s challenge of the church back then began the Lutheran Church we have today.  He  believed strongly in Christian Education and that is why we are in the business of educating children today!

Hi all, Dan Stoelting, the 8th Grade Teacher here.  I’m trying this “blogging” thing out for the first time.  I first would like to apologize for not getting on here sooner.  I really have no clue what to write about or how to do this.  Here goes nothing!

8th grade has been busy getting back into the swing of things.  They are quite the social group, but in a good way.  I see genuine concern being shown to fellow classmates with the occasional lapse of judgement that all young adolescents seem to have from time to time.  They are making good academic progress and believe it or not, we are at the end of the first marking period already.  They told me that this year is going by so fast.  They were convinced that it was going to be a boring year when I met with many of them during home visits this past summer.  I think they are beginning to rethink those statements.    We have just completed the MEAP exams, and I think they have done a good job on them.  TIME WILL TELL!   They also completed  a novel entitled HATCHET by Gary Paulsen and then created their own powerpoint presentation of the main character’s, Brian Robeson, thoughts.  This will be shown at our Fine Arts Fair in early March ‘07.  Plan on attending to see what your students have been up to since September.