Halloween
So this was the first time in years that I have dressed up for Halloween. I am actually not generally comfortable with the whole Halloween idea for Catholic schools (which I work at). My students completely knew what Halloween was (and did not understand why we don't get the day off haha!) but hadn't even heard of All Saint's Day. Our closest Church didn't even have a Mass that day! It seems like it is becoming less important to a lot of people. As a result, I don't often dress up. It bothers me that the focus is so completely on candy and parties in a Catholic school.
However, there is something to be said about working with enthusiastic, fun people! My fellow co-workers were very excited to dress up, and wanted the kids to see how much fun you could have with costumes. My friend, "Miss Frizzle" in the middle, convinced me to be the Magic School Bus and then she designed this fantastic bus. The kids adored it! It had a license plate, the Magic School Bus Children in the windows, a horn, everything! It was a huge hit. She was Miss Frizzle from the Space episode. Even her shoes had stars on them! Our other friend was a Cave Woman, inspired by Flintstones but modernized ;-), but since her students have been learning about the fur trade they were convinced that she was trying to be a Fur Trader! It really was adorable to watch their reactions to the teacher costumes. Many of our teachers went all out... we had a pirate, Steve Jobs, a chipmunk, Papa Smurf, the Flash, and more!
However, there is something to be said about working with enthusiastic, fun people! My fellow co-workers were very excited to dress up, and wanted the kids to see how much fun you could have with costumes. My friend, "Miss Frizzle" in the middle, convinced me to be the Magic School Bus and then she designed this fantastic bus. The kids adored it! It had a license plate, the Magic School Bus Children in the windows, a horn, everything! It was a huge hit. She was Miss Frizzle from the Space episode. Even her shoes had stars on them! Our other friend was a Cave Woman, inspired by Flintstones but modernized ;-), but since her students have been learning about the fur trade they were convinced that she was trying to be a Fur Trader! It really was adorable to watch their reactions to the teacher costumes. Many of our teachers went all out... we had a pirate, Steve Jobs, a chipmunk, Papa Smurf, the Flash, and more!
All Saints' Day
Today we had a wonderful morning studying the Saints. I wish I had taken more photographs because the children were very enthusiastic. We started off filling this sheet out as a class:
The children thought it was pretty cool. The bonus was that they did know the names of a lot of Saints (since so many schools in our district are named after saints!). They were also convinced that the priest from our local parish is a Saint, so we had to have the Big S little s Saint discussion too.
Afterwards we headed to the computer lab where the children studied a Saint of their choice. I gave limited choice due to the fact that this was their first research assignment with me. They could research St. John Bosco, St. Kateri, St. Clare (of Assisi), or St. Patrick. We used St. Valentine as an example for the whole class.
I bought this worksheet from Catholic Icing for $1.00. It was well worth not having to make it myself! It also had a map, and we are learning our continents so I made them circle what continent their Saint was from!
Afterwards we headed to the computer lab where the children studied a Saint of their choice. I gave limited choice due to the fact that this was their first research assignment with me. They could research St. John Bosco, St. Kateri, St. Clare (of Assisi), or St. Patrick. We used St. Valentine as an example for the whole class.
I bought this worksheet from Catholic Icing for $1.00. It was well worth not having to make it myself! It also had a map, and we are learning our continents so I made them circle what continent their Saint was from!
Afterwards we took a break from our work and did some worship singing. This group loves to sing worship songs... it might have something to do with the fact that they are allowed to sit on top of their desks when they do, but let us keep that hush, hush!
It would have been perfect to get a video of their singing... At one point they all linked arms and started swaying with the music with big smiles on their faces! It was a wonderful way to end a week where they were having some difficulties getting along with each other. Some of the songs they chose to sing today were:
It would have been perfect to get a video of their singing... At one point they all linked arms and started swaying with the music with big smiles on their faces! It was a wonderful way to end a week where they were having some difficulties getting along with each other. Some of the songs they chose to sing today were: