October 7th is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and our entire month is dedicated to this wonderful prayer. We have introduced rosaries to the students and we have been discussing the different mysteries that we can think about as we pray. Please take some time to talk to your child about the rosary, perhaps show them any rosaries you might have at home and maybe pray a decade or more together. This powerful prayer is so special and what a wonderful think to share with your child. On a side note, Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 13th as we end our Year of Faith so it would be extra special to focus on Mary, our Heavenly Mother, and the rosary can help us with our efforts.
On Friday, we also celebrated the Feast of St. Francis. We spent time during the week talking about Francis and watching a movie about him on Friday. I was blessed to be able to backpack through Italy during the summer and I visited Assisi for a few days. What a beautiful, inspiring place...so while I was there, I picked up prayer cards for our class. You may have noticed them in their blue folders (complete with the Prayer of St. Francis in Italian on the back). I was excited to be able to share my experience in Assisi with our students and I hope they find a special place to put their card...perhaps if they have a prayer table in their room or even by some of their animal stuffies (since St. Francis loved animals). So often, we are bombarded with photos of famous people who may not be the best role model...how wonderful to have pictures around of people who really are holy heroes. St. Francis, pray for us.
WALKATHON NEWS: Our class has raised over $900 so far which is AWESOME!!! Thank you so much for your help and support and please know that we appreciate all of your efforts. Our class goal is $1200 and we will be having our final Tally Day on Wednesday, October 9th. We are trying to excite the students for our walk on Friday and we are hoping that each student can try to bring in a few more dollars so we can reach our goal. Please return the Tally Day note on Thursday. The big walk will be on Friday. We will start with Mass and then get ready for the walk. Thank you to everyone who has offered to walk with us as the more the merrier. Students should wear their uniforms but I would encourage all students to have rainjackets with hoods and boots (as long as they are comfortable for walking). Please no umbrellas for our students as they tend just to poke people :o) We will walk together and then return to our classroom for Hot Lunch, followed by our NOON DISMISSAL! Students will be dismissed directly from our classroom as it usually takes us a little longer to eat Hot Lunch so please come directly to our classroom to pick up your child. Again, thank you for your help and support in building CCS into a bigger and better place. We could not do this without your support and every single dollar makes a difference.
FIELDTRIP NEWS: We are still hoping to go to the Pumpkin Patch on October 24th but unfortunately, while we have many families offering to drive and supervise, we have very few families who have completed their Criminal Record Check and/or our School Drivers Form. (Right now, we only have two of our drivers who have completed both of these requirements). This means that while you may supervise and drive your own child, you would not be able to do so for another child in our class. I would ask if you are planning on supervising or driving, that you complete these forms as soon as you can and let me know so that I can ensure we have enough people for this fieldtrip. I am only able to send home our permission slip once I know we have followed our safety guidelines so the sooner we have those forms in, the better. Also, while siblings are welcome to attend, please note that you will be unable to supervise a group as attention needs to be directed primarily to our school students. There is also a cost if siblings wish to pick pumpkins as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and thank you to everyone who has offered to help and to drive. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to spend the afternoon with us and, hopefully, we will be able to go.
FIRE SAFETY WEEK: This week is Fire Prevention Week so I will be sending home a Fire Safety Handout for you to do at home with your child. While we have been practicing at school, we have also been talking about how important it is to have a plan at home. Please talk to your child about Fire Safety at home and make a plan to be safe. Thank you!
INTERIMS: You will receive an Interim Report on Thursday, October 17th to give you a very brief idea on how your child is doing so far. If you would like to discuss their progress further or have questions based on the interim, please let me know and we can meet. If I have concerns, now or at any point during the year, please know that I will contact you personally to set up a meeting. I often find the students really settle into the school routine over the next few weeks in October (if not already:o) but if you notice your child is continuing to have trouble adjusting, please let me know so we can discuss different strategies to assist your child. But Mrs. Lewis and I often comment on how well this class has transitioned to our routines and the full day and we are both very proud of their ongoing growth and progress. They are all doing well!
SAINT PROJECT: Just for a heads up as we start to get closer to All Saints Day on Friday, November 1st, I will be sending home a worksheet this week for each student to complete that asks them to pick a saint (either one they are named after or one that is particularly meaningful to them or your family) so they can tell the class a little bit about them. This might be the saint they dress up as on All Saints Day as this is a CCS tradition (We do not dress up for Halloween and we try to keep our focus on our Holy Heroes who we celebrate on All Saints Day). I send the worksheet home early so that you have time to talk to your child about which saint they would like to pick and if you need any help finding information about the saint, I can help you. My hopes is that our students become familiar with the stories of some of our amazing saints so that they realize that they too can one day be saints. I often find myself reminding students that saints were not perfect...they sinned like everyone else but they worked hard to love God and make him the most important thing in their lives, something we hope to do too. Thank you for your help with this project and again, let me know if you need any help.
WORK LIEU HOURS: Usually once a month, I ask if there are any families who would like to take home one of our play bins over the weekend to wash the toys. This counts as work lieu hours and you are welcome to take more than one bin if you wish. I try to leave the bins on the blue bench on a Friday so families can help themselves but since it is our walkathon this Friday, if you would like to wash some toys for us, please just come to our classroom and take a bin. We just ask that it is returned on Tuesday so we have it for Centers. THANK YOU!!! We are also looking for anyone who wants to make play dough for our class...I posted a recipe a few blogs ago but this also can count towards hours. Just send the play dough to school in a container when you are done and we will use it as needed. THANK YOU AGAIN!
This week, we will spend a great deal of time talking about being thankful and appreciating all the things that God has given us. I am especially appreciative of all of you as you do so much to support your child and our school. I am thankful for you all and the gift of letting me teach your child. I wish you all a most HAPPY THANKSGIVING in advance and I hope this upcoming long weekend is full of fun, laughter and love. God bless!
