Merry Christmas !

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

We wish each of you and your families a warm and joyous Christmas and an amazing New Year filled with many blessings!

We will see you on January 6, 2020!

Looking Ahead..

• Wednesday, December 18th - Gift Mass at 9:30 in the Church - Please consider sending in a wrapped toy for a child that is less fortunate. Please put a tag on the gift specifying the age and gender the gift would be best for. 
• Friday, December 20th - 4th Grade Christmas Party from 9:30 to 10:30 - Please note that dismissal this day is the regular time of 12:50 and there is NO aftercare this day. 

English Language Arts

Reading - Students will finish reading about the various Holidays Around the World and complete the graphic organizer.

We will also do several activities themed around "The Grinch" with a Grinch Day where we will talk about character traits, compare and contrast the book and movie, and much more!

Writing - Students will continue to work on persuading Santa to hire them as an Elf in the workshop.

Social Studies

We will be preparing for an activity with the second grade classes as we go on a scavenger hunt to learn all about the traditions and customs of Christmas in Germany.

Math

We will be working on division with and without remainders.

The students will take a x6 timed test this week for a grade on Thursday. They will take the pretest today, Monday.

Science

We are continuing the Mixtures and Solutions lab. This week, we will mix liquids with solids and liquids with liquids. There is NOT a vocabulary test this week.

Religion

We will continue to work in our Absolutely Advent booklet.

Third Week of Advent prayer

Our week begins with “Gaudete Sunday.” Gaudete means “rejoice” in Latin.  It comes from the first word of the Entrance antiphon on Sunday.  The spirit of joy that begins this week comes from the words of Paul, “The Lord is near.”  This joyful spirit is marked by the third candle of our Advent wreath, which is rose colored, and the rose colored vestments often used at the Eucharist.

The second part of Advent begins on December 17th each year.  For the last eight days before Christmas, the plan of the readings changes.  The first readings are still from the prophesies, but now the gospels are from the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke.  We read the stories of faithful women and men who prepared the way for our salvation.  We enter into the story of how Jesus' life began.  These stories are filled with hints of what his life will mean for us.  Faith and generosity overcome impossibility.  Poverty and persecution reveal glory.

Preparing our Hearts and asking for Grace

We prepare this week by feeling the joy.  We move through this week feeling a part of the waiting world that rejoices because our longing has prepared us to believe the reign of God is close at hand.  And so we consciously ask:

Prepare our hearts
and remove the sadness
that hinders us from feeling
the joy and hope
which his presence
will bestow.

Each morning this week, in that brief moment we are becoming accustomed to, we want to light a third inner candle.  Three candles, going from expectation, to longing, to joy.  They represent our inner preparation, or inner perspective.  In this world of “conflict and division,” “greed and lust for power,” we begin each day this week with a sense of liberating joy.  Perhaps we can pause, breathe deeply and say,

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
     my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”

Each day this week, we will continue to go through our everyday life, but we will experience the difference our faith can bring to it.  We are confident that the grace we ask for will be given us.  We will encounter sin - in our own hearts and in our experience of the sin of the world.  We can pause in those moments, and feel the joy of the words,

“You are to name him Jesus,
  because he will save his people
  from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

We may experience the Light shining into dark places of our lives and showing us patterns of sinfulness, and inviting us to experience God's mercy and healing.  Perhaps we wish to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconcilation this week.  We may want to make gestures of reconcilation with a loved one, relative, friend or associate.  With more light and joy, it is easier to say, “I'm sorry; let's begin again.”

Each night this week we want to pause in gratitude.  Whatever the day has brought, no matter how busy it has been, we can stop, before we fall asleep, to give thanks for a little more light, a little more freedom to walk by that light, in joy.

Our celebration of the coming of our Savior in history, is opening us up to experience his coming to us this year, and preparing us to await his coming in Glory.

Come, Lord Jesus.  Come and visit your people. 
We await your coming.  Come, O Lord.