March News

We had our winter break, a week-long vacation from school. The three of us sisters stayed in Manchester, New Hampshire, where we slept in, went to a later Mass, went out to eat, and went shopping. The more lighter, more flexible schedule left more room for spiritual reading and prayer, which was a blessing. At the end of the week, we attended the New Hampshire state spelling bee. One of our students represented us there. She made it through the first cut, and knew all the words on the provided list of words. She got one wrong when they went off the list. We were very proud of her, and the family appreciated our attendance and support. I hadn't ever been to a spelling bee before, and I enjoyed the experience. It was definitely humbling to watch 8th graders (and younger!) spell words that I hadn't ever heard of!

We had our retreat day on Sunday. On these days prayers are private, and we go to a local monastery for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We also watched an hour-long talk about what it means to serve God. It was inspirational and challenging.

Now we're back to school again! We just set our clocks an hour ahead, which I'm still adjusting to. Judging by my students' behavior today, they are too.

October Up-date

We celebrated the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary with a living rosary at the school. The entire school gathered in the cafeteria and the kindergarten and first grades held a large rosary. The rest of the students stood around them and we prayed a whole rosary together. Our principal, Sr. Frances, was prayer leader, and the children behaved beautifully. Also, during the month of October, we are praying one decade of the rosary a day. My class is already doing this year-round, so to make October extra special, each of my students is taking turns having a statue of Mary on his or her desk and leading the rosary. The children are enjoying this new ritual.

 

My class is working on a long-term project for Social Studies. We are finishing a chapter on the landforms of our nation, and the project has replaced the chapter test. They are writing a paragraph about a specific landform and creating a diorama of it. This is largely a project to be done at home, though we are dedicating some class time to it as well. I am looking forward to seeing their finished products!

 

This weekend we are going to Enfield, Connecticut. It's a holiday weekend, in commemoration of Columbus Day, and we have Monday off. While Sr. Frances runs an errand in the area, I'm going to take the opportunity to visit with the sisters of the central convent, and to go out to lunch with my former novice director. It's always good to have a day off, and I'm glad that I can use it to reconnect with the larger community.

 

We have a third sister living with us now. Sr. Thomas will be teaching 7th and 8th grade religion at the school, as well as helping at the local parish youth groups. She moved in on October 1st, and is a gentle, friendly sister.