The beginning of our week was joyful and fun as we learned all about the French celebration "Mardi Gras" also known as "Fat Tuesday" or Shrove Tuesday. We learned a brief history about WHY we celebrate Mardi Gras as well as some key words and traditions of this celebration. Everyone got to choose 2 beaded necklaces, make masks, move through mardi gras-themed literacy and math centers, and taste king cake! Here's a photo of the firsties with their king cake:
"Laissez les bons temps rouler!"
The Kohl's Children's Museum Story Bus came to St. Mary's last Monday, and we were lucky enough to participate in the fun. Our class attended and heard the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Afterwards, the kids got to play in the interactive storybook setting. Instead of going through details, here are pictures that speak for themselves! (There's more after the photos...)
On Ash Wednesday, we attended Mass and received ashes. We studied the three main components of Lent: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and we are adding as a class: good deeds. When we do good deeds for others, showing kindness and love, it pleases Jesus. Together, the kids are keeping track of their 40 day Lenten journey as disciples of Jesus, using a Lenten Calendar to track the days (in addition to their usual calendar). So far we've noticed that Sundays in Lent do not count towards the forty day fast, and Fridays require us to fast from meat products. First-graders have learned the vocabulary word "sacrifice" and have done a fantastic job understanding and applying this word in our "thinking discussions." Each time we make a sacrifice, we do not shout it from the mountain tops; our Father in heaven sees and knows our sacrifices. As a visual reminder of our sacrifices, students are allowed to put a bean into our classroom SACRIFICE JAR each time they make a small sacrifice through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, or good deeds. This helps us learn HUMILITY, since we sacrifice not for our own glory, but for the glory of God! We'll study St. Therese of Liseux this week and how she can help us in our small sacrifices:
She knew as a Carmelite nun she would never be able to perform great deeds. " Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love." She took every chance to sacrifice, no matter how small it would seem. She smiled at the sisters she didn't like. She ate everything she was given without complaining -- so that she was often given the worst leftovers. One time she was accused of breaking a vase when she was not at fault. Instead of arguing she sank to her knees and begged forgiveness. These little sacrifices cost her more than bigger ones, for these went unrecognized by others. No one told her how wonderful she was for these little secret humiliations and good deeds.
Our Sacrifice Beans
Stations of the Cross will be a big focus this week. Using our Stations of the Cross journals, we'll learn about each station and write a personal reflection for each station. We'll attend the Living Stations as a whole school this Friday and paint our Stations of the Cross egg cartons in preparation for our Mass Mates event the following week.
We'll be rehearsing for our first grade Mass this week. If your child is assigned a reading part, those will come home tomorrow. Two children will be selected to dress in costume for St. Joseph and St. Patrick, and we have those costumes at school. There is nothing you need to do for this Mass except to come and pray with us next Tuesday, March 19th at the 8:30AM Mass. Hope you can attend! Thank you for all the support you gave your children in completing their Dr. Seuss book reports. All children who showed the virtue of responsibility by turning in their reports on time received a golden ticket. The children will present their reports to the class tomorrow. Next up: LEPRECHAUN TRAPS! These are due this Thursday, March 14th.
We'll be rehearsing for our first grade Mass this week. If your child is assigned a reading part, those will come home tomorrow. Two children will be selected to dress in costume for St. Joseph and St. Patrick, and we have those costumes at school. There is nothing you need to do for this Mass except to come and pray with us next Tuesday, March 19th at the 8:30AM Mass. Hope you can attend! Thank you for all the support you gave your children in completing their Dr. Seuss book reports. All children who showed the virtue of responsibility by turning in their reports on time received a golden ticket. The children will present their reports to the class tomorrow. Next up: LEPRECHAUN TRAPS! These are due this Thursday, March 14th.
Please note that this week there are no challenge spelling words; instead, we will focus on compound words. We will continue reinforcing our learning on contractions. In math, we will take our Unit 7 assessment and begin Unit 8. Tuesday, March 12th is a dress down day for all March birthday kids. I have placed our March Scholastic book order (due 3/8) so that all books arrive in time for spring break. Thank you for your support, parents!
