Citrus Tasting!

Susan Taylor from the Good Food Project came to St. Sylvester today to conduct a citrus tasting with our students! She arrived with a couple of assistants and a few different types of citrus fruits for the whole class to try. Ask your son or daughter about the steps to a citrus tasting: first smell it, then lick it, and finally chew and savor it. Each student chose their favorite variety of citrus on a ballot and included any other comments. Many students were excited to try the "blood orange" that is deep red inside. Also, the student devoured the "Cutie" Mandarin oranges that were given out. Ask your son or daughter which citrus fruit was their favorite. We all learned a lot about citrus fruits, how to describe their various flavors, and how great they are for us! Look in your son or daughter's folder to find a letter about the activities along with a coupon for Cutie Mandarin oranges!

Reconciliation: February 16th

Please remember that the celebration of first Reconciliation will be this Wednesday, February 16th at 7:00 PM. Please bring your son or daughter to the church at 6:45 so that the service can start on time. Also, make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for such an important sacramental event (this means no jeans please!). Here are a few key concepts that you should review with your son or daughter:

contrition: being sorry for your sins and promising to not sin again
confession: telling your sins to the priest
penance: a kind act or prayer we do to make up for our sins
absolution: the priest's forgiveness of your sins in God's name

Lastly, practice, practice, practice the Act of Contrition! Each second grader has done a stupendous job readying themselves for this special occasion. I am already so proud of all their hard work! See you on Wednesday night!

Award Winners

This morning, the whole school came together to honor different students' achievements for the first half of the school year. First, the winners of a national handwriting contest for grades one through four were announced. Yohali Sandoval was the winner for the second grade classroom! Her manuscript writing is very nice and always legible. The second awards that were given out were for the Catholic Schools Week poster contest that everyone joined. Isaac Rodriguez's poster won because it really displayed his own careful thought and work about why St. Sylvester is great.

Lastly, the Peacemaker and Effort awards were given out. Kristina Mazon was the winner of the Peacemaker award for always being so kind and patient with her classmates, as well as including everyone at lunch and recess. Abalus Awudu won the Effort award for working so hard at learning English after moving to Chicago from Cameroon this summer. His reading and writing have improved tremendously since the beginning of the year and he continues to do awesome work! Congratulations to all the winners in second grade!

All-School Olympics

Today, most of the students in our school came together to play in the All-School Olympics! After two days off due to the snowstorm, everyone was excited to get back togethertoday with their classmates. The second grade class was divided into twelve separate teams to play all sorts of silly relay races and games. Their teammates were students ranging from preschoolers through eighth graders. Everyone worked together with their teams to complete the activities and cheered on others. Some of the games we played were: the crab walk, moving a cotton ball with a plate, and a hula hoop circle. Ask your son or daughter to tell you about the other games we played and which was their favorite! Also, look in their folder to see when the rest of the Catholic Schools Week's activities are rescheduled for in the next couple of weeks!

Catholic Schools Week: Pajama Day!

Yesterday, we began our celebration of Catholic schools with an all-school Mass. Many of the students dressed down yesterday in their favorite sports team gear. Also, everyone turned in posters that looked awesome! They will be judged and the winner will be announced on Thursday.

Today, the students wore their pajamas to school! Everyone got comfortable this morning during an extended D.E.A.R.(Drop Everything and Read) time. They shared blankets and pillows as they laid around and read books from our classroom library and home.