This time of year can be quite overwhelming. It's an exciting time of year! I watch the kids getting ready for their Christmas programs. You can feel an electric buzz in the air-the kids are excited. Wish lists are made out and the countdown to Christmas break is on! I really enjoy teaching guidance classes during this month because it helps me stay grounded and focused. I always read a Christmas story to the kids in kindergarten through 4th grade. The discussion focuses on how they have already been given the best Christmas present they will ever receive, which is Jesus. The older kids pretty much know how this lesson goes. They remember and seem to like the story we read. It's the kindergarten class that is super fun, though! When I tell them that they have already received this gift and ask if they know what it is, I am always amused by the answers. I have heard about all kinds of toys, trips, family activities-you name it. Their responses are as sweet as can be. There are usually a few students who get the answer right, as well. And those are the very sweetest. These little souls get it. And it humbles my heart. There is the precious reminder. We have received our gift: God's only Son. We have done nothing to deserve it. But just as we want to take care of our children, God sets the ultimate example by taking care of His children, because of His unconditional love.
So as I said, the kindergarten through 4th grade classes will be reading a Christmas story. Kindergarten and first grade will be reading Mortimer's Christmas Manger, by Jane Chapman. This is a sweet story about a little mouse that makes his home, in stable of a family's nativity scene. He pushes the baby Jesus statue out and make the manger his own bed. Then one day he hears the father reading the Christmas story to his children. He realizes that the statue is baby Jesus and that Jesus was sent to save the world. He puts the baby Jesus back in the manger and prays that Jesus will send him a new home in which to live. Mortimer's prayers are answered when he spies the family's ginger bread house. Second through fourth grade will be reading the The Light of Christmas by Richard Paul Evans. The story is about a man who lights the annual Christmas torch, in the city of Noel. He will be choosing a new person to do this based on the person who gives the best gift to him. A little boy travels to the city to watch the lighting of the Christmas torch, knowing he will not be picked because he has no gift to give. On his way there, he sees an old man lying in the snow. He gives up some of his food, a cloak and ultimately his chance to see the lighting of the torch. While the litle boy steps away, the old man disappears. The little boy eventually makes it to watch the torch being lit and the gifts being offered. In the end, the lighter of the torch picks the little boy, for he (the lighter of the torch) was the old man lying in the snow. He tells the crowd that everyone "gave much but only one gave well," which was the little boy. We compare the story to God giving us His only Son to save us.
The 5th grade classes will be playing a Kahoot game using the iPads, on the 12 Days of Christmas carol. They will be learning the biblical meanings behind each of the verses. We discuss how people were persecuted for their faith. The song was then developed to celebrate the birth of Jesus, in secret. It is a very eye opening experience for them.
The 6th grade classes will be continuing work on study skills. Every 6th grade student has had the opportunity to sign into their KHEAAs account and have taken their first survey regarding careers. They seemed to enjoy doing this and overall the students seemed very excited to be browsing the website. I have explained to all of the 6th grade students that they can access the website at home and a guide to signing on at home will be sent home soon. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the website. I am more than happy to help keep the parents up to date in their student's progress, on the site.
Each school is doing a special advent project. It has become a tradition for the K-3 Campus to collect donations for the Glenn Mary Sisters. It is a very sweet sight to watch the students line up to take their donations out to the sister's vehicle. Look for pictures of it on SeeSaw and the K-3 facebook page. The 4-6 Campus has chosen have a loose change drive for Operation Smile. This is an organization that fund and provides surgeries for children born with cleft palettes, in third world countries. The Aces Crusaders have been giving speeches to the classes explaining Operation Smile and describing cleft palettes. In the past, there has been a reward of some sort for the class that won the "Zap the Penny" competition. This year, the Aces Crusaders have explained that the reward is knowing that their efforts have given the gift of a smile, quite literally. We have such awesome kids in our schools! I talk with each of the classes about their donations. I encourage them to do chores to earn money for the items they donate or the change they bring in. This helps teach the students about truly giving, from the heart.
I hope that each and everyone of you has a blessed advent season and and Merry Christmas!
Kim Bennett
kim.bennett@owensborocatholic.org
