Tag: Lutheran Schools

The Last Day of 5th Grade: A Walk Across the Parking Lot

Published on by noteworthymommy1 Comment

We made it.

The last day of fifth grade has arrived, and somehow my little girl is no longer so little. Mini Me has officially finished her final year of elementary school at Zion Lutheran School and is preparing to take the next big step into junior high.

Now, before anyone gets too emotional, let’s remember that junior high is literally a walk across the parking lot from the elementary building. She’s not changing schools. She’s not leaving home. But as any parent knows, sometimes the smallest physical steps represent the biggest changes.

As she heads toward junior high, she will gain more independence, face new challenges, discover new interests, and continue becoming the person God created her to be. Meanwhile, this early childhood Noteworthy Mommy is entering completely unfamiliar territory. Aside from my own junior high experiences, which, if I’m being honest, have been carefully tucked away in the farthest corners of my memory, I don’t know much about this stage of parenting.

But before we start looking ahead, I want to pause and celebrate what an incredible year fifth grade has been.

From the very beginning, Mini Me was blessed with amazing teachers. Miss Skerston and Mrs. Cornejo helped prepare her academically, socially, and emotionally for the transition to junior high. They challenged her, encouraged her, and helped her grow in confidence. Most importantly, they loved her and pointed her to Jesus every single day.

Miss Skerston, Mini Me, & Mrs. Cornejo.

Fifth grade was filled with unforgettable adventures.

There were field trips that brought learning to life. Mini Me toured Busch Stadium, stepped into the world of business at Junior Achievement BizTown (where she proudly served as the CEO of a technology company), and attended Lutheran High’s spring musical, which only deepened her growing love of musical theater.

The friendships this year were especially sweet.

One of the highlights of the year was discovering that her best friends were all in the same class. Even better, their group welcomed another girl who may have been new to Zion but was certainly not a new friend. Mini Me and the “new girl” had known each other in preschool, and it was wonderful to watch that friendship pick up right where it left off. Together, this quartet of girls became nearly inseparable. They supported one another, laughed together, and created memories that I hope will last for years.

Mini Me and her friend group!

Mini Me also stepped outside her comfort zone and tried some new activities.

She joined the fifth-grade choir under the direction of Mr. Thoelke and immediately fell in love with singing. She also began learning the clarinet with Mrs. Thoelke. While the clarinet wasn’t quite an instant success story, she signed up for band again next year, so I’d call that a win.

She even gave volleyball a try.

One of my favorite moments was the first time she successfully served the ball over the net. Her entire team erupted in cheers. It wasn’t about winning a game or scoring a point. It was about perseverance, encouragement, and celebrating a teammate’s accomplishment. 

Academically, fifth grade brought some exciting milestones as well.

This was the year her class tackled classic literature, reading books like Bridge to Terabithia, Holes, Hatchet, and Where the Red Fern Grows. Her love of reading continued to flourish, culminating in an incredible achievement: reading more than one million words during the school year. The reward was a special pancake breakfast served by her teachers, a well-earned celebration for a girl who loves stories.

Then there was Camp Wartburg.

For Zion fifth graders, Camp Wartburg in Waterloo, Illinois, is practically a rite of passage. A two-night stay away from home. No technology. No screens. Just nature, friendship, faith, and adventure.

Mini Me could hardly contain her excitement leading up to camp. She carefully packed everything herself and was completely prepared for the experience.

While she quickly discovered that the wet cave adventure was not exactly her favorite activity, she absolutely loved the creek walk and canoeing. Although, according to her detailed report, she and her best friend spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out how to steer their canoe and may have crashed into an overturned canoe along the way.

The best part for me came after camp.

I was fortunate enough to drive the girls both to camp and home again. The return trip was one of those unexpected parenting moments that becomes a treasured memory. For the entire drive home, I received a complete recap of every moment from Day One through Day Three. I learned what they ate, what activities they did, who liked what, which events received the highest ratings, and which ones did not. At some point, I believe notes were consulted, and there may have even been a hand-drawn diagram of the bunk room involved.

It was glorious.

Those conversations are the kinds of gifts that parents don’t realize they’re receiving until they’re happening.

Fifth grade also brought several beloved Zion traditions.

There was the planet project, where Mini Me chose Uranus. There was the famous egg drop challenge. There was the research paper, for which she studied Chile and even interviewed a missionary family friend who had served there.

And then there were the special touches that made the year so much fun.

One memorable highlight was trivia day, complete with themed tables and snacks. Mini Me’s group proudly won the award for best-decorated table with, of course, a plant-themed design. Because if you know Mini Me, you know plants were absolutely the correct choice.

As wonderful as all the projects, field trips, activities, and accomplishments were, the greatest blessing of all was knowing she was loved.

Every day she was surrounded by teachers who cared about her. Teachers who not only taught math, reading, science, and social studies, but who also taught her about Jesus. Miss Skerston and Mrs. Cornejo modeled God’s love through their patience, encouragement, kindness, and guidance.

That is something I will always be grateful for.

So now we enter summer.

A season of swimming, sleeping in, lake house adventures, and making memories before another school year begins.

And then, before we know it, we’ll make that short walk across the parking lot.

Junior high is waiting.

There are exciting things ahead. There are probably a few scary things ahead too. If I’m honest, both of us are feeling a little bit of each.

But the same God who walked beside us through preschool, elementary school, field trips, volleyball games, choir concerts, Camp Wartburg, and one million words read, will walk beside us into junior high as well.

Wherever we go and whatever lies ahead, we know this:

Jesus is already there.

The Noteworthy Mommy Goes Back to Preschool

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This past semester has been one I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

When I walked into the preschool classroom at Zion Lutheran School in St. Charles, Missouri, something deep inside me stirred. It felt familiar, sacred even. And then it hit me, this wasn’t just a full circle moment. It was a three-circle moment!

I attended Zion Lutheran Preschool in Belleville, Illinois when I was four years old. Those early memories…learning, singing, being loved and cared for in a faith-filled space were the very beginning of my story. Years later, my very first contracted teaching position after graduating college was teaching half-day preschool at that same Zion Lutheran School in my birth church in Belleville. That classroom was where I learned who I was as an educator, where my calling first took shape.

And now, thirty years later, I found myself teaching half-day preschool again at Zion Lutheran School. This time in St. Charles, MO. This time at Mini Me’s school. This time at a church that has become an incredible home for my family of three. God’s timing is never accidental, and this moment was no exception.

When I heard that a teacher friend was in need of a long-term substitute, I felt something I had never felt before. There was no debate. No list of pros and cons. No second-guessing. I felt called…clearly, unmistakably called to step in. The Holy Spirit was working inside of me, nudging me forward. There was only one answer my heart could give.

Yes.

I won’t pretend it was easy. It wasn’t. There were sacrifices…real ones. I no longer had the opportunity to pray with my Moms in Prayer group or meet with my morning Bible study. My energy tank was empty most days, leaving no fuel left for workouts at the YMCA. Our household felt it too with less prepared meals, a little more chaos, a little less order.

But oh, how the sacrifices paled in comparison to the blessings.

When I say yes to something, I’m all in. One hundred percent. And I gave this job everything I had. In return, I was given a class of littles who loved stories. Truly loved them. If they could have spent the entire day listening to books and eating snack, they would have been perfectly content.

So I answered that love with books…lots of them. High-quality, beautiful picture books and some repetitive texts. Some I remembered sharing with kindergarten students I taught years ago like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and “Mrs. Wishy Washy.” Some I had once read aloud to my own Mini Me when she was in preschool. And a few that were brand new to me like “The Gingerbread Girl.” Every story felt like a gift.

And of course, the reading consultant in me couldn’t help herself. I modeled comprehension strategies while reading. I taught them how to make predictions, how to wonder, how to notice new vocabulary. I stretched them gently, intentionally and they rose to the challenge! The growth these littles made in such a short amount of time was incredible.

The greatest blessing of all was teaching them about Jesus and showing them His love every single day. Attending chapel each week. Praying together. Helping them learn letters and sounds using Open Court Reading and alphabet sound cards. And wow, the instruction stuck! They remembered. They applied it. They grew.

One of the sweetest blessings in this adventure was how much Mini Me loved having her Noteworthy Mommy at school. She beamed with pride every single morning. She and her BFF would often help me set up the classroom, straightening chairs, setting out materials, doing the important “teacher work” before the day began. Watching her move through her school day knowing I was on campus was pure joy. She loved having me there, and I will treasure those moments forever.

The Noteworthy Mommy in 1995 with her students on a field trip.
The Noteworthy Mommy in 2025 with her students at an Advent program.

This position, which was meant to be temporary, ended up being extended longer than originally planned. And honestly, it felt exactly right. Like God saying, “Stay a little longer. There’s still more for you here.”

This semester stretched me. It exhausted me. It blessed me beyond measure. And as I look back, I can say with full confidence this wasn’t just a job. It was a calling revisited. A circle completed. A reminder that God isn’t finished with us yet, and sometimes He brings us back to where it all began, not to repeat the past, but to show us how much we’ve grown.

Third Grade…A Transitional Year of Learning and Love

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It seems like yesterday that I walked my mini me into the Sonshine Center for her first day of preschool. Now she is a big third grader and requested to be dropped off in the carline. My sentiments echo what parents across the world are thinking… if you blink you are going to miss it! If you look away for a mere minute, her childhood will be over. So embrace this stage and age with all the good and the bad and know that like a shooting star, if you look away, you may miss the magic!

What Makes Third Grade Special?– The last grade level under the early childhood umbrella, third grade takes the skills taught in first and second and expands on them. Third graders read complex text, develop fact fluency (in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and read for meaning in science and social science. In third grade we begin to see the shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” As a reading consultant I don’t like to use these terms because we learn while we are reading at all grade levels and most third graders continue to need phonics instruction which falls under learning to read. But it is a phrase used by many to describe the changes we begin to see during this transitional year. The best thing you can do for a third grader at home is to get them to read. Easy to say as a reading consultant but if I’m being honest, hard for this Noteworthy Mommy to implement.

First Day of School Cookies– Gone are the days of the ceremonial reading of “The Kissing Hand” but the tradition of making Nana’s famous homemade sugar cookies lives on! This year my friend, Ms. Ginger, helped us bake the delectable cookies that my mini me gifted to her teachers and administrators on the first day of school. Instead of making cutouts of hands and hearts, like we did in years past, we used a cookie stamp with Martin Luther’s rose. Borrowed from Ms. Cherie, who I refer to as my Zion mom, it made a sweet addition to our back to school cookies.

Making homemade Back to School cookies with Martin Luther’s rose design!

Miss Firminhac– My mini me has a young and energetic teacher this year. Miss Firminhac is new to Zion and came to us after completing two years teaching fourth grade in another state. She is a third generation Lutheran school teacher and we are thrilled to have her! The minute I met Miss Firminhac I knew she was a natural teacher. She is confident, kind and tall! What impressed me the most is how she got down on my mini me’s level and spoke directly to her in a soothing tone that eased any trepidations my mini me had about starting a new school year. With her inviting classroom and infectious smile, my “eight year old self” secretly wishes she had Miss Firminhac for a third grade teacher! I know my mini me is going to learn exponentially under the guidance of her dynamic teacher and will not only learn about the love Jesus has for His children but will be shown love by Miss Ferminhac as well.