All School Lenten Retreat

On Friday, we had an all school Lenten Retreat. After Lunch, the whole school said the Stations of the Cross. Then, we broke up in to cluster groups (K-2, 3-5, and 6-8). We broke up each cluster group into three mixed age groups. Then each group went to a classroom and did an activity about one of the pillars of Lent. 

I was in charge of planning activities for the K-2 cluster. Here is what we did:

In the second grade room, the kids learned about prayer. Then they made a prayer cross.

In the first grade room, the kids learned about fasting. Then they made a stained glass crucifix craft.

In the Kindergarten room, the kids learned about almsgiving. Then, the kids made cards for people in our parish who are sick. 

All of the K-2 kids went to each room to learn about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We had a wonderful, faith filled afternoon. 

Lent 2018

The Kindergarten kids have been very busy learning about Lent. Last week, we learned about Ash Wednesday.

We did this activity and drew a cross with pencil on the forehead. Then we smudged the pencil lines so they would look like ashes.

We learned about the three pillars of Lent, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. If you look in the bottom right quadrant of the page, you can see that one of the fingerprints was decorated to look like the child who made it.

We talked about prayer, ways to pray, and who we pray for.

We talked about fasting. Each child chose something that they will give up for Lent.

We have a class almsgiving jar where the kids can put change in throughout Lent. Then we are going to donate the money to an organization. The Kindergarten students are thinking about who to give the money too. I think that they are leaning towards Children's Hospital.

We talked about going to confession during Lent. Since the Kindergarten kids are not old enough to sin yet, we talked about doing things that we know are not nice, such as lying, not treating others the way we want to be treated, not doing when our parents ask us to do, etc...  The kids are going to draw a picture on the grey hearts and then put them into this box. When we get back from Easter vacation, all of the grey hearts will be gone and there will be clean white hearts in the box to represent God's love and forgiveness. 

A seminarian, who is in residence at our parish, came to talk to the kids about vestments. The kids had so much fun talking to him. 

It has been a busy first week of Lent. We have more awesome activities to do in the next few weeks. 

Catholic Schools Week 2018

Last month we had Catholic Schools Week. It was a lot of fun for everyone at school. 

On Monday, we had parent appreciation day. The school gave the parents Starbucks coffee and donut holes.

The Kindergarten kids made clay pots with the kids fingerprints made into fingerprint bugs on them.

Monday was also Spirit Day. Each class wore a different color shirt and presented a cheer to the whole school. Kindergarten won for the first time!

Tuesday was Twin Day. The kids (and teachers) dressed up as twins. I dressed up as my husband, who also works at the same school I work at. 

Wednesday was Disney Day. Everyone dressed up as their favorite Disney character. 

I dressed up as Te Fiti from Moana. My son was Maui. 

Thursday was Sports Day and Teacher Appreciation Day. Everyone wore sports jerseys. The teachers were treated to a lovely brunch in the school hall. 

Friday was Grandparents Day. It was wonderful to see all of the Grandparents at school. 

We had a great week.

Christmas Play 2017

Each year, my Kindergarten class performs a Nativity play for the Kindergarten families. Here are some pictures from this year's play.

We made luminaries to line the walkway to the school entrance. I use a Ziploc bag filled with sand and a battery operated tea light inside the bag. At the end of the night the bag is soggy, but I can reuse the sand and tea light each year.

 The kids made ornaments to hang on the tree. 

One side of the ornament has a Nativity picture and the other side has a picture of the student in their costume for the play. 

I made programs with the order of songs for the play and pictures of each child in their costumes. 

The students also made candy cane Js out of Model Magic and we tied them to a poem I found about the Legend of the Candy Cane. This year the students also made Rudolph ornaments for their Christmas tree.

This is a beautiful Nativity Set that we set up in the back of the hall each year.

This is a beautiful tapestry that was made for our preschool. We put it up in the back of the hall each year next to the Nativity set.

The Kindergarten room mom set up refreshments in the back of the hall.

This is a view of the hall.

I borrowed this stable painting from the Preschool. It is so cute!

This is Bethlehem town. I made this out of paper.

Here are my Kinders all dressed up. I made most of the costumes seen here. I got a white dress from a second hand store for the angel costume. 

I got the star costume from Oriental Trading.

It was a wonderful night.

All Saints' Day

Wow! It has been a busy year and I have not had time to post to my blog since September! On All Saints' Day the kids did Saints presentations. Each student chose a Saint to learn about and came to school dressed up like the Saint they chose. The kids told their classmates about the Saint they chose. After lunch we all walked to our parish Church and went to mass. Then we came back to school and had an all school dance. It was so much fun! 

 We also did a Saint craft. 

We had a wonderful day!

Greater Than, Less Than, Equal To

Over the last four weeks, the Kindergarten students have been working on counting objects, making groups of objects, and addition. Yesterday, we started talking about greater than, less than, and equal to. Our theme for September is Apples so I used a line drawing of an apple tree and red pompoms (to represent apples) for this activity.

We started off by making two groups on the apple tree.

Then, students pointed to the group that was greater.

Next, the students pointed to the group that had less apples.

We talked about what equal means and I showed the students a few examples on the apple tree.

Finally, they counted the apples and found out how many apples there were all together.