As we have entered into this season of Advent and learn more about the meaning of that, our Religion students have been learning about the Mysteries of the Rosary.  The final activity for that unit is centered around each student creating their own rosary.  We don’t dictate how the students should create the rosary other than requiring that it be in the form of a rosary.  Each year, my students amaze me with the thought and creativity they put into these beautiful rosaries.  This year is no exception. 

One of our students made his rosary by using his talent of paper folding. His origami rosary is about six feet long with each bead folded by him.  Another student shared that the colors of each of her decades represent members of her extended family and occupations that have been held by grandparents, great grandparents and her parents.  One rosary is completely made out of beautiful fabric flowers — I can’t wait to hear the meaning behind it.  In the next few days, students will present the thought behind what they have created.  The depth of meaning behind the rosaries truly shows that our students are taking this form of prayer and the power behind it very seriously.

In 7D, we always thoroughly enjoy our visits from Miles, our therapy dog.  We gave the first gift of Christmas to Miles today in the form of an ornament just for him.  It is decorated with paw prints and all of the students in 7D signed it.  Merry Christmas to Miles and the Haney family; we thank them for sharing Miles with all of us!

Many blessings to you and your families this Advent Season!

As time marches on we are looking forward to a lot going on this week  and in the next few weeks.  This week in seventh grade, we will be going to Boys Town for a pilgrimage and the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Servant of God Flanagan.  You probably know that the cause for the sainthood of Fr. Flanagan is alive and well and moving forward.  On Wednesday, our seventh graders will have the opportunity to learn more about this man who impacted the world beginning in our very own city.  You might want to take a minute and ask your seventh grader to share some of what they learned about this very holy and insightful man.  

Next week, we will be going to Marian high school to watch as some of our very own alumni perform in White Christmas. It is always good for our students to experience live theater with the added bonus of seeing students from our school performing.  

Recently, my mod 8 Religion class fulfilled the roles of ministers for our grades 5-8 mass.  They did a lovely job, and I included a photo of some of them carrying gifts to the altar.  I am also including a little Gospel Author humor for you.  If you don’t understand the cartoon, your seventh grader would love to explain it to you!

In math classes, students are learning all kinds of new things as we continue to take what they have learned in the past to a whole new level. My mod 1 students were recently competing with one another to solve problems.  My mods 3, 5, and 6 are all working together reviewing for our upcoming test.  

I hope this newsletter finds your families healthy and happy.  You are always in my prayers.

Happy Fall! 

We are almost there, and the students are showing that by settling in very nicely to our routines and their new schedules.  

In Math, right now we are finally moving into some new territory for the seventh graders. Up until now, we have done a lot of review to make sure they are ready to tackle our pre algebra and algebra topics. The students will be coming home with work using Order of Operations, Exponents and Integers in the next few weeks!

The seventh graders were the mass ministers last week at our grade 5-8 mass.  I included a picture below of some of them leading us in the choir.  These were students from my mod 7 Religion class. We will trade off each time which mod is ministers for mass.  Those ministries include: reading, singing, gift bearing, serving, singing the psalms, and greeting.  We love to see parents come to our masses, so if you are able to be there I encourage you to come.  

In Religion classes, we are studying the authors of the four gospel authors.  The students will learn some of the background about those who gave us the gospels we listen to each week at mass.  If you don’t know very much about them, please ask your child to share the interesting information they are hearing.