Reconciliation: Tuesday, February 24th

Please remember that the celebration of first Reconciliation will be this Tuesday, February 24th 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 Tuesday night!

Geometry

Here are the winners of our shape making contest! Each group was given seven figure outlines to fill in precisely with pattern blocks. This group of boys won after a lot of teamwork and patience. Everyone did a great job of working together and fitting together these many shapes to make new shapes.

The second grade has also been studying space shapes. These are geometric shapes that basically take up space. It took us three days, lots of glue and patience, but everyone was able to make their own set of space shapes. I hope that they are useful in our continued study of geometry.

Apple Tasting

We celebrated Valentine's Day in many ways today from decorating cookies with our seventh grade buddies to making valentines mailboxes out of old tissue boxes. But one of the most interesting activities we partook in was an apple tasting. Susan Taylor from the Good Food Project came in with several apples for the whole class to try. Ask your son or daughter about the steps to apple tasting: first smell it, then lick it, and finally chew and savor it. Each student chose their favorite variety of apple and wrote it in on the letter sent home. After the tasting, each student was called forward to make an "apple slinky" with a special crank that Susan brought. We all learned a lot about apples and how great they are for us! Look in your son or daughter's folder to find coupons for $3.00 off apples at a local grocery store.

Windsocks!

Today we took advantage of the sixty degree weather by constructing our windsocks and testing them outside. Each student labeled the four cardinal directions on their cardboard pieces and then affixed them to their wooden dowel. Before venturing outside, we checked the weather page in the newspaper to see their prediction. Then, we were ready to test the weatherman's prediction of southwest blowing wind. Overall, most students concluded that the weatherman was partially correct. We recorded mainly south blowing winds - which meant the windsocks were coming right into our faces! Try using your son or daughter's windsock at home with them. Make sure the corner labeled north is facing north and then watch which way the windsock blows!

We will continue to study the weather and seasons over the next couple of weeks. Try to discuss the daily weather at home with your son or daughter. And also ask about any activities or experiments we are doing in school!

Fr. Jose Maria's Classroom Visit

Fr. Jose Maria visited our classroom at the end of the day on Friday. Father took questions from the students about their upcoming celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation on the evening of February 24th.