Catholic Schools Week

This week our school, along with 6,684 other Catholic schools around the United States, celebrates the 40th anniversary of Catholic Schools Week.    The theme for this year, and really the model for our schools at all times, is Faith, Knowledge, Service.   All schools strive for knowledge, and I think most schools support service.  Catholic schools also teach about our faith.  So, in addition to learning to blog (knowledge) and organizing a middle school dance to support Water for South Sudan (service), we also go to Mass every week, take religion classes, and pray together daily.

To mark this occasion, let’s connect with some Catholic Schools!  Here is the link to another school named Epiphany.  It is in Miami.   There is also a  school named Epiphany in New York City.  You can visit these schools and write an email to a teacher letting them know something you found interesting about the school.  What do they do differently than we do?  What is similar?

St. John Vianney in Racine, Wisconsin, started this bulletin board on Padlet for schools to share their CSW activities.

Check out their board and see all the fun activities schools have planned for the week.  Some favorites of mine are: Pajama Day,  Spirit Day,  Twin Day,  and Color Day.  Visit the website of St. Raymond School in Joliet and write an email, or read one of the student blogs at St. John Vianney and leave a quality comment.

If you’d like, visit our blogging buddies in Mrs. Krebb’s class.  They attend a Catholic school in the Midwest.  Read one of their posts and leave a quality comment.

You can also leave a post-it note on our wall.  Sometimes we need little reminders about what’s good at school.  Leave a note on our wall as a pick-me-up for whenever we need it most.

How does your school promote knowledge, service, and perhaps faith?

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Traveling to Nepal and climbing Everest

Photo Credit: Rupert Taylor-Price via Compfight cc
Mount Everest

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.      ~St. Augustine

Hey kids!

Let’s travel.

Let’s wonder at the majesty of the mountains.

Let’s connect with some real people who live in Nepal or who are planning to climb Everest.  Through the magic of blogging, we can meet some students at the Maya Universe Academy Sagarmatha.  Located in the foothills of the Himalayas, this school serves 26 students.  The Maya Universe Academy runs three non-profit, community run campuses.  They are the first of their kind in Nepal.   According to their website, “In 2011, 90% of private school students were admitted to a secondary educational institution compared to 46% of public school students.”  The Maya Universe Schools began as a community endeavor to provide free, quality education to the rural Nepalese people.  Kids at these schools have lives similar to Sun-jo in our story, Peak.

We are also able to flatten our classroom walls and climb Everest with some mountaineers.  Visit Alan Arnette’s blog for a first hand account of everything Everest.  Mr. Arnette has climbed Everest four times as well as completed the Seven Summits.  His blog has tons of  information, videos, photos, and links to other Everest bloggers.  He can show you all his gear, break down the cost for climbing Everest, give you training tips, share some fun Everest facts for kids, and, most importantly,  relay his experiences climbing Mount Everest.  Mr. Arnette’s is the Everest of blogs!  You can spend hours climbing through his posts, reading and learning.

Today we will visit Nepal and climb Everest vicariously through blogging.  After you travel to the Maya Universe Academy and climb Sagarmatha, leave a note for the students and climbers you encounter.

People with goals can do incredible things, like open schools and climb mountains.

Like St. Augustine, let’s marvel at the people we meet and the people we are.

What did you learn by visiting  the Himalayas and Sagarmatha?

 

 

 

 

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Roland Smith’s Peak

Roland Smith’s award-winning novel, Peak, lends itself to thought provoking discussion in multiple disciplines: philosophy, history, politics, religion, science, ethics, and education. As we read about the adventure of the protagonist, aptly named Peak, we will have opportunity to share our thoughts on these topics.
After just reading the back of the book, or watching the trailer below, I immediately questioned the ethics of not only allowing, but encouraging, a 14-year-old to climb Mount Everest, the Earth’s highest mountain. Stunningly, this feat was accomplished in real life by an American teenage mountaineer, Jordan Romero, on May 22, 2010.

Watch the trailer. Watch the National Geographic video.  Watch the interview with Jordan Romero.  Then decide…

Would you climb Mount Everest?

(Write a quality comment.  Yes or no is not enough.)

13-year-old attempts to summit Everest

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It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It’s the hap, happiest season of all

With the kids jingle belling

and everyone telling

you be of good cheer!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Well, wait a minute.  Just what makes this the most wonderful time of the year?

Is it the presents you’ll receive?  Is it the special and delicious food you’ll eat?  Is it parties you’ll attend?  Is it vacation from school?  Is it snow?  What actually makes this a wonderful time of the year?

Years ago a movie was made that has become a classic at Christmas time.  It’s called It’s a Wonderful Life and is about a man named George Baily who didn’t realize just how wonderful his life was.

George learns that one life touches many through all the ways we help people. That’s what makes our lives wonderful: touching other lives, helping others.
This Advent, use your wonderful life to bless others. Here is a digital Advent calendar to help you spread love, hope, joy, and peace. Click on each day from now until Christmas for a reflection and a “microchallenge”, a small way you can take action to bring love, hope, joy, and peace to others. Even though the Advent Calendar is a Christian tradition used at Christmas time, any one of any faith can use it to help spread love, hope, joy, and peace…..to help others and yourself to live a wonderful life.
Report back here to let us know how you are creating and enjoying the most wonderful time of the year!

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Edublogs Awards

It would be wonderful if the pursuit of academic excellence garnered awards and attention in the way that actors, musicians, and athletes do, and the The Edublog Awards make that possible.  As blogging enthusiasts, we would like to nominate the following blogs and tools for making the blogging universe infinitely more interesting and engaging.
Photo Credit: fdecomite via Compfight cc
Playmobils of the world

Best class blog: Huzzah! 

Best individual blog: Anthony’s Cool Blog

Best group blog: Cougar News Blog

Best free tool: PhotoPeach

We wish our nominees well!

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We are Thankful For….

In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving this month.  Thanksgiving began when the Pilgrims thanked God for their new home in Plimoth and their new friends, the Wampanoag tribe.

We are grateful for our friends at Huzzah who helped us learn the basics of blogging last year.  They continue to be an inspiration to us, and we want to congratulate them on their recognition today from The Edublogger as an exemplary classroom blog.

Hooray for Huzzah!

Hooray for Huzzah!

As we mentioned yesterday, we are also thankful for our veterans.

For the rest of this month, we’d like to make a list of everything for which we give thanks.  Add to our list by leaving a comment and continuing the count with a numerical number.   Let’s see how much thanks we can give!  100 items?

We are thankful for…

1. Huzzah! 

2. our veterans

3. finding my lunch box that had been lost for a week!  Thank you, Mr. Mackey!

4. watching my son and daughter play basketball for their school teams this afternoon.

5.  the knowledge that God is watching over me.  Today I lost my car key and couldn’t go home from school.  Without realizing it, I had put it down this morning, along with a lot of other things I was carrying, on a wall near some bushes.  When I picked up all the other bags, I left the key there.  At lunch time, a 5th grader found it in the mulch.  He told his teacher.  She brought it to the office.  At 4:30 when I wanted to go home, I had no key.  After frantically looking through my pocketbook and schoolbag, I headed back into school to look on my desk, telling my daughter to pray to St. Anthony and praying myself, “Dear St. Anthony, please look around.  Something’s lost and can’t be found.” Mrs. Gunther, the 6th grade teacher I ride to school with, followed me back into school, even though I told her she could wait in the car.  She saw the 5th grade teacher and told her we were looking for the key.  The 5th grade teacher had found the key; it was in the school office!  BUT the office was locked. and everyone had gone home.  Boo hoo.  We tried the parish office.  Yes!  Brother Peter had a key and knew the code to the alarm.  He unlocked the door, turned off the alarm, looked around for my key, FOUND IT, reset the alarm, and gave me back my key.  In order for me to get my car key back, all of the following had to have occurred:  Mrs. Gunther had to have decided to follow me back inside school; the 5th grade teacher had to also have been working late AND walking out of the building at the exact same time we were walking back in, the 5th grade boy had to play in the mulch today and found the key to begin with; Brother Peter had to be available late in the day.  THANK YOU ST. ANTHONY!

What are you thankful for?  Write it down!  Next comment starts with #6.

 

 

 

 

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Veterans’ Day

American Soldiers...Memorial Day 2010

Photo Credit: Beverly & Pack via Compfight cc

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”  Have you ever really thought about the words we say each morning as we pledge allegiance to the flag?  Our flag is a symbol of our country.  We are very lucky in our country to:

  • be one nation without civil strife
  • have freedom of religion
  • enjoy liberty and justice for ALL

Sometimes we take our freedom for granted.   Today is a day to remember all the veterans who fought, many giving their very lives, so that we may continue to have these freedoms today.  American veterans have also fought and served our so that others in the world could have these freedoms.   We thank these veterans for their service and for allowing us to live in freedom.

On September 11th, we wrote a post A Day of Remembrance.  Revisit this post and then visit The Learning Lair, Huzzah!, and/or Mr. Miller’s Class and see what students and teachers around the world are doing to remember our veterans and promote peace.

As we know from our studies of Medieval times, from this summer’s novel A Long Walk to Water, from last year’s novel Under the Blood Red Sun, and from the story of Malala, war is, sadly, a constant in our world.  Our class is trying to contribute to peace in some small way, and we have voted to hold a middle school dance to raise funds to dig a well in South Sudan.  We hope to contribute to peace in our world through dance.

 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal … a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance … a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to lose and a time to seek; a time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We thank our veterans for this time of peace in our country and pray for peace throughout the world.

Do you know any veterans?  How has their service impacted you?

What can you do to promote peace in our world?

.

 
 
 
 
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Huzzah and Godspeed!

Hear ye, Hear ye!

We are about to embark on our annual journey to the Fair!  Join us as we travel back 1000 years to the days of castles, lords, ladies, serfs, and knights.

mcmanus pat

Mummers and jugglers at the fair!

To learn more about the medieval days, travel through history with your guide on this interactive medieval site.

medieval fair 2

Selling our wares

Or take a tour here, with this guide to medieval life.

List three things you learned about life during the middle ages that you did not know before.

Write one thing you want to know.

Let the journey commence!

 

medieval fair

Playing the age old game of checkers

 

 

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Student Blogging Challenge: Week 5

Hey Kids,
This week’s challenge focuses on the inherent rights we have as human beings. Included in these rights are specific rights that children have.  The challenge comes from the theme of Blog Action Day.

The Human Rights Document from the United Nations outlines these basic rights in 30 articles.  The rights of the child are contained in this document.

Read through the list.  Do you think all people on our planet are receiving everything they have a right to receive?  Is there anything each one of us can do to promote the rights of all human beings?

Portrait of Pakistani Schoolgirl
Photo Credit: United Nations Photo via Compfight cc

Now, read this article about Malala, a 16-year-old Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for promoting the right to education for girls.   What are your thoughts about Malala?

Here is another question:  Does our protagonist, Maniac Magee, have everything he is entitled to have under the rights of the child?

Hmmm.  Think about it.

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Service Survey

Thanks to everyone who brainstormed ideas on how we can make a difference and help dig a well in South Sudan. We chose Water for South Sudan because the whole middle school read the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park as our summer reading book this year.
Here are some of the ideas we collected. We’d like to implement one on Make A Difference Day, celebrated this year on October 26th.  We hope you’ll help us decide what to do by voting for one or more of the ideas below.  Before you vote, watch the video about Water for South Sudan and its remarkable founder, Salva Dut.

What do you do to make a difference in people’s lives? Do you smile at people you greet? Do you volunteer? Help around the house? Let us know how you make a difference.

 

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

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