What became of November?
Only 3 school days left before the children leave for Thanksgiving, before November school days come to an end, before the first half of the second quarter is over – yikes!
At school we began the month of November by celebrating loved ones who had died, as we close the month we celebrate all that we are thankful for in our lives.  It seems most appropriate that the month that emphasizes giving should follow.  Our children learn their sense of gratitude and generosity from their parents and their grandparents, from those very special adults in their lives, from their teachers and from their peers. 
Our Student Ambassadors will guide our Advent Food Drive this year.  They will speak with each of the classes, spur them on to generosity, and applaud their efforts.  After much discussion the Student Ambassadors set our school wide goal at 1,500 items – that’s about 5 items per person.  They also negotiated a pajama/scrubs/dress down day for the entire school if we meet our goal.  Epiphany, January 6, the day that celebrates the magi’s visit to the infant Jesus bringing with them gifts of frankincense, myrrh and gold will be our day to celebrate our successful Advent Food Drive. 
RULE #1 – Students, let your generosity speak loud and clear of your gratitude.
RULE #2 – Parents, if your child raids your pantry without permission, then you get the pajama day.  Please encourage your children to participate in the Advent Food Drive, but also encourage them to take some responsibility for “buying” the items.
RULE #3 – one item equals one package, so a package of 12 rolls of toilet paper is one item – one very generous item.

VIP Day – Grandparent’s Day – Feast of St. Margaret of Scotland
Whatever the title it was a great success, except for being way overcrowded in the cafeteria.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  The children performed amazingly under the direction of Mrs. Merideth.  I had watched the dress rehearsal from the front and loved watching the kids’ faces light up when their turn came along or they especially loved another class’s performance.  The day of the event I watched from the back – totally as much fun.  I didn’t get to see the facial expressions, but I got to see kids dancing freely and comfortably in the back row when they thought they were undetected. 
Another Great Success!
Many, many thanks to all our parents, grandparents, etc who made the effort to get to Borders over the weekend.  Our profit to be shared by the library and Mrs. Merideth for music was over $1,600.00.  Our Fifth graders performed wonderfully.  They were a little shy at first, but soon got past that initial shyness and sung with joy and pleasure.  There are some lovely voices in 5th grade, but even better Mrs. Merideth is gifted in choosing just the right songs to match their growing talents.  She is able to make every child think he or she can sing. 

As Second Graders Prepare for First Reconciliation

All of our Second graders learn about the sacrament of reconciliation with their teacher Mrs. Dooling, but their favorite days are when Fr. Tom comes to teach.  This week his topic with them was absolution.  He guided them through it’s linguistic meaning of “to wash away” into their own imagery of waterfalls and rushing waters.  The children understood cleansing waters and now they understand the power of reconciliation.

Past Thursday Newsletters