It’s beginning to look and sound a lot like Christmas here at St. John! The children are finalizing their Advent projects and singing carols as they make Christmas cards. The rehearsals for the final Christmas Programs are in full swing. We lit the pink candle on our Advent wreath as we celebrated the joy of being another week closer to the birth of Jesus and students in grades 3 – 8 are receiving the Sacrament of Penance this week. May God bless us everyone!
Tomorrow evening, the preschool, kindergarten and primary students will perform in their Christmas program. We begin at 6:00 in the church with preschool. Please follow the schedules that have been sent to you by the teachers. On Friday, we will have a prayer service and awards ceremony at 11:00 in Egan Hall. Eagle Award certificates will be presented to students in grades 4 – 8 who have demonstrated Christian social values and turned in all their assignments. Other end-of-trimester awards – honors and habits of mind awards will be presented in the classrooms earlier on Friday.
The teachers encourage the students to continue reading during the break! The long dark days are so conducive to curling up with a good book! Also remember that there are many fun opportunities to practice math facts! If you are traveling over break, be creative with your math! Ask your child to help figure out the distance traveled, estimate the number of cookies they have eaten and how many presents Santa will deliver. Encourage students to log in to www.mathletics.com. Mathletics provides support in both concepts and computation.
Most importantly, take the time to discuss the miracle of Christmas. As you light the fourth candle at home, talk with your children about the joy and hope that Jesus brings us. Prepare as a family to participate in the Christmas Mass. The Liturgy Commission has planned the theme of this year’s Christmas Eve Masses for families to be “Symbols of Light”. They are asking that the children bring anything they feel is a symbol of God’s light in our lives to the Christmas Eve Masses at 4pm and 6pm. Father will ask them to hold up the symbols during Mass.
I wish you peace and joy throughout the Christmas Season and a very Happy New Year.
Bernadette O’Leary, Principal
