February 24, 2013 - St. Josaphat Parish

6
School News
As a school, we are following the parish's theme of "Where Am I
on the Journey of Forgiveness?" During Lent, the teachers will be
exploring this question with the children as well as teaching about
prayer, almsgiving and fasting. The students drew their hands and
wrote on the hand what they promise to do during Lent, whether
that be giving up something or doing something positive. All of
the hands, together with the children’s hands from the religious
education program, will form a cross that will be displayed at church.
Thank you to Ms. Shields for organizing this project and to the
teachers for implementing it.
School-wide, students are recognizing when
they forgive someone, and hanging a purple
footprint in the hallways when they do forgive
someone. We are going to add "street signs" that
give suggestions for ways to show forgiveness and
advice for when it is hard to forgive someone.
In considering almsgiving, classes are collecting
donations for NPH in the first half of Lent and for
Christopher House for the second half of Lent.
We will focus on prayer in age appropriate
formats, from a jellybean prayer in early
childhood to a Stations of the Cross app in junior
high. Each grade will participate in some form of
Reconciliation prayer service, as well.
We are discussing fasting with the students, and
teachers were again given resources, including a
calendar for recording each day's commitment
and suggestions for fasting. The junior high is
also planning to fast from talking during passing
periods on Fridays. They are calling it "Hush
Friday."
PK4 has been busy in their “Caring and Sharing”
unit. The photos show some of their activities.
The "Middle of the Circle Game" is where oneby-one
the children choose what they would
like to do in the middle of the circle (i.e. hop,
skip, jump, twirl, etc.). The rest of the class claps
along to a little song while the one in the middle
performs.
A class favorite is the "Beanie Bag Dance" where
beanbags are distributed to each child and there
is a song that has children balancing beanbags on
their head, shoulder, elbow, back, foot, and it ends
with a beanbag toss!
St. Josaphat Parish
St. Josaphat School
2245 N. Southport Ave.,
Chicago, IL 60614
phone: 773.549.0909
fax: 773.549.3127
www.stjosaphat.net
The PK 4 class plays "Middle of the Circle Game" and "Beanie
Bag Dance."