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St.
Mary’s School September Newsletter
Each new school year begins with a sense of anticipation in both the
students and teachers of all the new and exciting things we will be
learning this year. And this year on the second day of school I learned
something about the awesome powers of both suggestion and gravity. At
lunch that day one of our new teachers said that she hoped she’d
wouldn’t do anything to embarrass herself in front of her students. She
specifically mention falling. This year I have a new piece of furniture
in my classroom, a chair with rollers. (I had to solemnly promise our
principal I would not challenge any of the other staff members to a
race down the hall.) That afternoon, seated on my new chair, I was
using the document camera as I taught handwriting. When the lesson was
finished, I apparently did not push the chair back under the table.
Later when we were beginning clean up time, and I was passing by the
chair at my usual breakneck pace, I cleverly managed to tangle my foot
around the base of the chair. Well the next thing I knew, the chair and
I were tripping the light fantastic. After waltzing around for several
seconds, I began to topple toward a cluster of desks. I caught myself
by slamming my hands down on an empty desk and coming nose to nose with
a rather astonished first grader, who no doubt was wishing for the
security and safety of her old kindergarten room. To quote one of Gene
Kelly’s lines from Singing in the Rain, “Dignity, always dignity.”
I mentioned new teachers. This year we welcomed Casey Dietz as our new
kindergarten teacher and Brenda McCoy who teaches Language Arts and
Social Studies to the fifth through eighth graders. We are all very
happy that they have joined our school family.
This year “Talk Like a Pirate” Day, September 19, fell on a Monday. The
pirates invaded our school several days earlier, on Friday the 16. Fall
pictures were scheduled for Monday, and I assumed most parents prefer
their children not to be dressed as pirates on picture day. The annual
treasure hunt was a success and the bounty was shared by the first and
second grade pirates.
Because Patriots’ Day fell on Sunday this year, the school gathered
around the flagpole on Monday, September 12, for a prayer service to
remember all those who perished on that fateful day. We prayed for
peace and healing for our world. Students and staff joined in singing
“Amazing Grace” accompanied by Jacob Dircksen on guitar.
As a Catholic school, our primary goal is to help our children develop
their faith and deepen their spirituality. To that end, this year we
have been practicing Christian meditation. On August 16 , Denise
Warnecke, from the Sidney Office of Evangelization , came to St. Mary’s
to lead a prayer workshop for the teachers. The staff was introduced to
Christian meditation. Because we were going to implement meditation as
part of our school prayer life this year, the staff was ask to commit
to meditation as part of their personal prayer lives. Now I have to
admit that I was the resident skeptic on the staff. I didn’t see how
sitting quietly thinking about the word “Maranatha” over and over for
two minutes was...well all that useful. I have to admit that since I
have begun daily meditation, I have noticed a change in myself for the
better. I have found that even meditating a small amount of time proves
beneficial. As for my class, we meditate daily. Being little children,
they meditate for about forty five seconds. Again, it
doesn’t seem like much, but one of my children remarked that she felt
refreshed. All the classes have been practicing meditation for time
periods appropriate for their ages. At our last staff meeting, Mrs.
Dietz said that one of her kindergarteners said after meditating, that
it sure cleared all the junk out of his mind! On the whole the
atmosphere at school seems to be more peaceful. Do we have a school
full of perfect angels? Not quite! But we are definitely working in the
right direction.
As a final note, this summer the remaining windows in the school were
replaced. Talk about a happy staff! The windows are great. In all the
years that I have taught in my classroom, this is the first fall that I
have been comfortable. In past years, even with the air conditioner
thermostat turned to the lowest setting, my room was usually in the mid
to high eighties by dismissal. This year, I actually had to turn the
thermostat up because I was cold.
And on that happy and grateful note I will close.
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