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Thank you all for attending the SFX Back to School Night! I was delighted to meet new parents and greet familiar faces. We are off to a fabulous start and with our partnership and I am confident it will be a fabulous First Grade experience for all of the girls and boys. Please remind First Graders that they should not bring any toys to school – this includes all balls! An afternoon “Working Snack” h

RELIGION Students learned the biblical story of Creation and related the beauty of creation to God’s goodness.  Learning to care for God’s world is our responsibility.  Our God designed a beautiful world for us.  It took six days to form our earth and on the seventh day God rested. We celebrated each day with a project called “Creation on a Stick” to help the children retell the story of creat

We are off to a great year in the library. Classes have been visiting our wonderful library space and we are learning/revisiting library routines and beginning to checkout to students in 1st-8th grade. Kindergarten students will begin checking out later this fall. I am excited to share that our first author visit of the year will occur this month. In partnership with the Book Stall in Winnetka, award-winning author M

RELIGION We started our text book CHRIST OUR LIFE. In the first Chapter titled Jesus is Our Friend, the children learned a story of Jesus and his love for little children. Students learned that the stories of Jesus are found in the Gospels, which are read by the Priest during  Mass. Learning about saints and, in particular, Saint Gregory who is the patron saint of teachers kicked off our periodic study of the many sa

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First Graders had a busy final week of school. Our week started with our last Art Class and a walk to Maple Park for our fun class picnic. Children created Memory Books, Thank You Books for our wonderful Room Parents, Father’s Day Books, cleaned up the classroom, read favorite books, danced at a Fiesta with Senorita and enjoyed each other as First Graders! We concluded our short week by praying together with th

RELIGION We completed our Religion Book CHRIST OUR LIFE this week learning about the Holy Spirit who helps us give glory to God in words and deeds. The students learned that kind words and good deeds bring happiness to people and give glory to God. We prayed at Mass with the SFX School community. The class  learned a  sign language version of THE OUR FATHER, which was on the video for Father Sheridan’s retireme

RELIGION Learning objectives this week began by introducing the children to the Church as a community of baptized people. This guides them to experience a sense of belonging and to appreciate the holiness of the Church. Children heard the story of how Jesus chose Peter to lead the Church and that the Holy Father, our pope Francis, leads and serves  the people of God as Jesus’ visible  representative on earth. L

RELIGION Our learning objectives  this week were to tell the story of Christ’s visible departure and entry into heavenly glory, to describe the Ascension as a pledge of our glory, and to explain that although Jesus Christ has physically departed, he is still present in the Holy Spirit, We attended the all school Liturgy and prayed the Rosary together in thanksgiving  after our wonderful, sunny Field Trip to Lin

RELIGION In our final PROMISE isSue Jesus compares himself to                            a good shepherd who cares for and protects his sheep. We learned           that a shepherd  is an image of God’s care and we identified Jesus as the Good Shepherd.   Children discussed the many people who care for them and how they show they care.  Special Person Day was a wonderful example of sharing the Mass with people w

RELIGION The Risen Jesus helps his friends make a great catch of fish and then invites them to come and eat with him. This Easter appearance story is also a eucharistic story, Jesus’ friends  recognize him in sharing the meal together. Jesus is with us in a special way when we gather together and  celebrate at Mass. Our PROMISE focused  on celebrating Jesus’ presence among us in Word, sacrament, and in ea

RELIGION The objectives this week all led up to our Friday Mass and May Crowning. They were to learn that Mary  is Our Mother and Queen.  Mary helps us be good Christians. The Church honors Mary and we honor Mary by trying to be like her by asking her to pray for us, and by singing to her. We learned about the Rosary and  our class prayed the Holy Rosary led by a class Mom. LITERACY The objectives this week were  to

RELIGION Easter celebrates Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead. This is the core of Christian faith – God raised Jesus, who was crucified, from the dead. Jesus’ Resurrection was a powerful event in the life of the early Christians so they recorded their experience for us. Easter is a season of joy and new life. God is always present in and around us, we can meet Jesus in Church, reading the Bible and

RELIGION Children learned about the events of  Holy Week. We learned to make crosses with the palms from Palm Sunday Mass. The children recognized  the story of Jesus’ entry  into Jerusalem. They learned the meaning of Holy Communion and Mass. We learned that Jesus died so we can go to heaven. Jesus loves us so much that he died on the Cross and rose to new life so that we can go to Heaven. We prayed,”Dea

Please check out the April 18 edition of the Wilmette Beacon! An article on page 13 is about the First Grade trip to Cradles to Crayons. One correction is that Cradles to Crayons served 80,000 people this year. We are so grateful for your donations and to chaperones for helping the first graders help others. This was a meaningful Lenten service project for all.

RELIGION This weeks Gospel shows that Jesus is more interested in us growing      more loving instead of who is to blame. Our Promise issue explored children’s feelings about what  is fair and what is unfair. Children learned that Jesus doesn’t blame. and we shouldn’t blame or tease each other.  Jesus wants us to forgive, not blame. Jesus forgives  us as we forgive. We prayed. “Jesus, help me

RELIGION We learned from the Parable of the Prodigal Son that God is our forgiving Father.  Saying the words “I am sorry” is  practicing forgiveness.. The children recognize the need to forgive and be forgiven.  We attended the all-school Mass and  prayed the Stations of the Cross with the SFX school  community.  First Graders had a unique opportunity to put their Faith in Action with a Field Trip to Crad

Throughout the school year, first grade students visit the library weekly and they checkout 5 books that they keep in their classrooms to have for reading during the school day. These books are a mix of picture books, beginning readers, and, as of this week, transitional chapter books-books with controlled vocabulary but more pages and fewer illustrations than beginning readers. Starting this week, first grade studen

RELIGION We discussed the importance of listening. We recognize that  God calls Jesus his beloved Son, God tells us to listen to Jesus, and Jesus promises and sends the Holy Spirit. Children heard a parable about growth. We recognize  signs of growth  in ourselves and in God’s world. God wants us to grow, and that  disobeying God is a sin  and God gives us second chances and forgives us when we are sorry. We  p

RELIGION Lent is a time for us to  grow in God’s love and to practice choosing loving actions. Jesus had an important choice to make when he began his work.  Should he become a powerful king or should he teach people to love each other?  Jesus said no to the Devils’ temptations, Jesus choose to trust God. LITERACY Learning about story elements continued.  We enjoyed  many magical legends and  stories of f

RELIGION On Ash Wednesday we got ashes on our foreheads to remind us that someday we will die. Lent is a good time for us  to think about how we behave and what we choose.  We made crosses, which remind us of Jesus’ death on the cross, and wrote our Lenten promises on the cross. LITERACY We continue working on story elements,  The title, author, setting, characters, problem and solution were studied  using Jan

RELIGION Last Sunday’s gospel contains what we have come to know as the Golden Rule; Treat others the way you want to be treated. Jesus asks us to love our enemies and do good for them. We prayed that God will help us make loving and kind choices even when we don’t feel loving and kind. LITERACY Our class read and wrote about penguins.  The children choose a type of penguin  to research and  gather inform

RELIGION Children recognized that God shows  his love through creation  and Jesus wants everyone to be happy.  Jesus included everyone in his community, we want to include everyone in our classroom and community.. Our PROMISE explored  what makes children happy and how they seek to bring happiness – and God’s Good News – to others, Jesus healed and forgave people, he asks us to show love today and e

RELIGION This week the children recognized that Jesus called people to follow him and do his work,  Jesus’ followers are all over the world. People in our parish teach us  about Jesus. We prayed to S t. Valentine to help us  show love and kindness to everyone we meet.  Both First Grade classes learned a beautiful sign language rendition of the Our Father, LITEREACY First Graders are official Word Detectives. Th

RELIGION Our class confidently led SFX students in morning prayers this week .Compliments to all!!  Children learned a prayer to  St. Blase . “May we always be grateful for good health and may our throats always sing out your praise. Amen” Our PROMISE issue taught us that Jesus, had problems, like all of us, because he was human.  We discussed the practice oof making decisions that improve a bad situation