Pumpkins, Plants, Bats and Saints!

We are FLYING through the Fall season here in first grade! Your children did a WONDERFUL job completing their inventions and presenting them to the class. Their creative, hard work is now on display in the school library. Check out our mock Henry Ford assembly line and finished "candy cars"! (All of our inventions photos are at the end of this post.)

Our next project will involve researching and writing about a saint. We'll choose our saints this week in class and bring home a one-page writing assignment to complete in time for Thursday, November 1st - All Saints Day. We'll learn about the current cultural celebrations that comprise Halloween and understand the differences between these celebrations and the Catholic roots of Halloween. We'll understand that saints are models for us to emulate in our lives, and we'll learn about All Saints Day and All Souls Day, attending Mass on November 1st. If you have any photos of deceased loved ones that you would like to send to school for our "Remembrance Prayer Wall" - please send them in! We will pray together with the "Communion of Saints" and learn what this means.

* A SPECIAL NOTE! This year for Halloween, our SMS community is putting "Faith into Action" by bringing in special items for the homeless to show our compassion for those less fortunate. Please send your child in their costume for Halloween, along with as many small toiletry items that your family budget can spare. An email was sent with details from St. Mary School. Please be generous, and thank you for your support!

We had a BLAST on our field trip to Goebberts Pumpkin Patch, despite the sleeting weather! Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who came to help. I hope you enjoyed checking out the pumpkin, gourd and corn that your child chose. In Science we'll continue our study of plants through October, wrapping up our study of pumpkins this week. We are also diving into BATS - both fiction and non-fiction, skeletons, and Halloween literature. These topics will be covered in language arts, science, and math. PS - If any parents got a good group shot of first grade at Goebberts Farm, please email me the photo, and I'll post it on the blog! Thank you. :)

The October Scholastic book order has been placed, and November/December is coming home this week. November is the last order I will place prior to Christmas, so be sure to plan ahead! There are some excellent deals in the Holiday Gift Book flyer. Paper orders are due Friday, November 16th, but I will accept online orders until Wednesday, November 21st. Our order will have plenty of time to ship and be distributed prior to Christmas break.

Congratulations to Fr. Denis who celebrated his Jubilee 50th Anniversary as a priest! Thank you for faithfully serving our community, Fr. Denis! Here is a banner we made in his honor:

Our Inventions!

  

Trip to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm