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St. Mary’s School
Gold,
Frankenstein and Metal
By Kathy Ayette
Got a riddle for you. What do you call a group of beings who are
vibrating so much from anticipation they are falling out of their
chairs, and producing such an electric sense of excitement that it
makes your hair stand on end? You got it…my first and second
graders eleven days and counting from Christmas. (Either that or
gravity has gotten really intense in my room.) It is definitely
getting close to Christmas. I have pulled out the red and green
paper strips and we are once more working on the “world’s longest paper
chain”. It’s kind of a tradition, plus at this point all my
students have Christmas brains and after religion, math and phonics,
they’re done.
On December 6, St. Nicholas’ Day, we had a visit from the saint
himself. The music teacher for the upper grades, Tim Nealeigh,
happens to be a very good friend of St. Nick and arranged for him to
visit. St. Nick told the students about his life and had a treat
for one and all. Now he also knows that the little kids in our
school put their shoes out for him, and knowing how much they enjoy
that tradition, he filled their shoes with candy while they were in
class. That evening the second graders received the Sacrament of
Reconciliation for the first time. Between the visit from St.
Nick and the anticipation of First Reconciliation, there was one
teacher who had a very loooong day!
The next day after the second graders received Reconciliation, I was
doing the wrap-up lesson. At the end of the lesson, one of my
boys began to beam and said, “You know we are Catholics and we received
Reconciliation so all our sins are gone. We’re on the (Santa’s)
nice list!” I may have to ask our pastor about that one! I was
slightly tempted to remind my young student, he still had a ways to go
to Christmas and staying on that nice list might be a little tricky.
This year instead of having a traditional Christmas program, we had a
Christmas Family Fun Night. The upper classes are involved in a
spring musical every other year. On the years with a musical, the
primary teachers are in charge of the Christmas program. This was
one of those years and I was one of those in charge of the fun in the
Christmas Family Fun night. The families enjoyed decorating
cookies, making a Christmas craft and listening to Christmas
stories. Afterwards we all joined in a Christmas carol
sing-a-long led by the kindergarteners through fourth graders. I
was at the cookie table the majority of the night. I thought it
went well, albeit we had to wash several butter knives that little ones
had licked while decorating. That icing is so tempting!
December 8 was the feast day of the Immaculate Conception.
Usually on holy days the children are treated to donuts. However
we had just had donuts on the 7th to celebrate the second graders’
First Reconciliation. So instead of donuts we had ice cream
bars. Another reason our principal opted for ice cream was on
December 14, we had Donuts with Dad. Fathers and their children
enjoyed before school donuts. No wonder no one can lose any
weight around here.
On December 18, the kindergarten through four grade will go to
Heartland and Rest Haven retirement home to sing Christmas songs for
the residents. We have added to our repertoire. The children know
all the verses to the Grinch song. The residents seem to really
enjoy hearing the children sing and many join in with us.
Santa (aka the Darke County Humane Society) came early to my
classroom. We have a new document camera for the
SmartBoard. Yes I wore out the old document camera. The new
camera is a HoverCam. It is about a fifth of the size of the old
ones. It runs through the computer so when I can instantly switch
from computer mode to camera.
December 20 is the last day of school before the break. If you
happen to be downtown, the students will be caroling.
I have a Christmas story to leave with you. I was teaching about
customs in social studies class and we talked about Christmas
customs. I told my class my daughter’s in laws are from Mexico
and they don’t open gifts on Christmas, but on Epiphany to commemorate
the gifts of the Magi. I asked if anyone knew what the Wise Men
brought to Jesus, and they came up with gold, Frankenstein, and
metal. OK. I know a teacher who has her work cut out for
her. On behalf of the students and staff of St. Mary, I would
like to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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