PAYING IT FORWARD

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

When Mr. Gerkin quizzed his six grade science students about the homily delivered by Father Enrique during Wednesday’s Mass, it appeared more like an equation in mathematics,  the relationship between blessings + gratitude = service to others.  Wednesday, September 3, was the memorial of Pope Saint Gregory the Great.  Father Enrique shared about the life of this saint and how he sold his possessions and turned his home into a Benedictine monastery.  Students learned how he then used his money to build six more monasteries. After seeing English children being sold in the Roman Forum, he became a missionary to England.  As Pope, he collected many melodies and plain chants that are now known as Gregorian Chants.  

One of the hallmarks of Catholic schools is that our children must learn and experience serving others.  The appreciation of the many blessings that each of us receives and in turn giving thanks to God for them, needs to be followed by many random acts of      kindness and commitment to serve others, exactly the message given during Father’s homily.  Here at Saint John’s School each class is required to do at least one major   service project, in addition to numerous other smaller undertakings.   

One example I witnessed today, was several of our eighth grade students serving in the cafeteria lunch line.  With plastic gloves on their hands and smiles on their faces they filled the lunch trays.  Later they catered to their younger siblings and friends by refilling their water glasses.  Something small, maybe? 

Mrs. Olsen’s Extended Day Program is just getting their service project off the ground.  Thankful Thursday’s is the title of their project.  Any student, teacher or staff member may nominate another student, teacher or staff member for why they are grateful for that individual. The nominations are gathered in a glass jar and there is a winner each week. The winner is then given a surprise put together by the Extended Day children and staff.

You will be hearing more about how our students, faculty/staff and you parents can reach out and serve others.  We are our brother’s keeper learning to love and serve each other.

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt

SUNDAY A SPECIAL DAY!

Dear Saint John’s Families,

Please join Catholics around the word to celebrate on this coming Sunday, April 27, the canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.  What a glorious occasion this is!  By now you no doubt have picked up prayer cards from the Church.  How special it is to have modern day saints, individuals in our own lifetime that we can relate to and understand what a difference their lives have made in today’s world and especially to us as Catholics. 

This occasion certainly presents itself as an opportunity here at Saint John’s School, to include this exciting addition to our Religion curriculum.  What does it mean to be a named a saint?  What are the steps to becoming a saint? What is beatification?   Can anyone become a saint?  We are all called to be saints!  Do we pray “to” saints?  What does intercession mean?  Why are saints important in our lives? 

Teachers will be making the topic of sainthood come alive Thursday and Friday of this week.  Our students of all ages, already have a strong understanding and knowledge of saints. Each child already identifies with their classroom saint.  Teachers address students by their class saint’s name in “lining up” to go to their classroom, or perhaps to lower their voices to a “zero”!  With the sacrament of Confirmation just around the corner, our older students have had to research and give deep thought in making the decision of the name of a saint they choose for themselves.  Maybe one of the students will make plans for next October to come to the Halloween Carnival dressed as Pope Saint John XXIII? 

Who are the “un named saints in your life? 

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt 

OH COME LET US ADORE HIM

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

Saint John’s students had a new and special experience this week!  While going to Adoration has been on 2^nd-8^th graders Thursday afternoon schedules for many years, this week was extraordinary.  Our children were “wowed” when their class entered Saint John the Evangelist’s new Adoration Chapel for the first time. 

Classroom instruction and discussions before and after the students’ visits to the Adoration Chapel perhaps took on new meaning.  Students responded, “Eucharistic adoration is a practice in the Roman Catholic Church in which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and adored.  Adoration differs from other acts of worship. Adoration (Latin) is respect, reverence, devotion. The term comes from the Latin adoratio, meaning “to give homage or worship”.  Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator.  Students learned  that Perpetual adoration is a Eucharistic devotion whereby members of a given parish, (now Saint John the Evangelist Parish) unite in taking hours of adoration before the Most Blessed Sacrament 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Other remarks were so powerful coming from the mouths of our youth, “Today adoration made me feel so much closer to God.”  “I felt peaceful”.  “It was awesome”. “I prayed for my Grandpa”.  Several indicated that it wasn’t their first visit to the Chapel.  They had come with their parents before.  Students remembered that they had helped raise $’s to build this very special place on our campus. Father Frank continues to encourage parents and all of us to take time from our daily lives to go to the Chapel, and bring our children with us.

Have a safe, fun and relaxing spring break.  Maybe a visit to the Adoration chapel? 

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt

 

UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER

                 UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER                      

Dear Saint John’s School Families, 

On the forty days and forty nights of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday, we are all called to Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.  Father Frank and Father Sam are leading us in this     challenge.  Our students at Saint Johns were each given a form asking them to promise Jesus to do three things during Lent in these areas of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. 

Father Sam’s homily during our Thursday School Mass specifically focused on Prayer .  He taught us about the different kinds of prayer:  I. Prayer of Praise II. Prayer of Adoration  III. Prayer of Contrition (Penitence, sorrow for sins or faults)  IV.  Prayer of Thanksgiving  V.  Prayer of Supplication (asking earnestly and humbly).  To help us remember, we were asked to use the letters of PACTS ( our agreements or contracts) to pray during lent. 

Today, Friday, our staff development day, Saint John’s faculty attended a catechetical class on the Pillar IV.  i.e. Prayer.  I would like to share some of the nuggets received during this class.

The central question:  What is prayer? 

Some definitions:  “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God”   St. John Damascene, CCC25591.

“For me, prayer is the surge of heart, it is a simple look toward heaven, it is a cry of    recognition of love, embracing both trial and joy.”  (St. Therese of the Child Jesus)

Pray without ceasing-1 Thes 5:17

Yet, we fail to do it-Why?

“Let’s now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day.  We are reluctant to begin.  We are delighted to finish.  While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us. And, we know that we are not alone in this,”  C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

“Man, on the whole, does not enjoy prayer.”  --Romano Guardini

Saints seem to do it effortlessly, right?  Always for joy and consolation, visions and voices-that’s for them and not for me.

Where does prayer starts?    With God, calling us into a relationship with him.

Prayer is a “Hallmark” of Saint John’s Catholic School.

Shalom,

Lois Schmitt

                       

A “ WOW” FIELDTRIP!

     

Dear Saint Johns School Families,

What could be more exciting than students, parents and teachers learning together?  For those of you would were not involved in yesterday’s huge learning experience, I must tell you it was THE BEST!  Yes, 90 of Saint John the Evangelist middle school students accompanied by a large, dedicated group of parent chaperones and middle school teachers eagerly explored the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. 

While we all know that parents are the first teachers of their child, it was amusing to observe students coaxing their parent to see special exhibits of the Maya, and assisting them to create their own Mayan name, to learn that Mesoamerica connects North and South America, or to join them in building patterns of stars, snakes, or to observe, Rosemary, a parent, actually learning to weave, Mayan style.

Following the Maya:  Hidden Worlds Revealed, our large troop moved on to a Cosmic Journey in the Planetarium.  It was “totally awesome” as one student declared. No one became ill as we swirled in outer space, and  actually were seeing planets “up close and real”.  We left by our students receiving a sincere compliment from the lady providing the program, “This group is the very best”. 

Taking our pair of special glasses we entered the IMAX to enjoy a 3D trip to Jerusalem, a word so familiar to us here in our Catholic School.  One could feel oneself walking down the very paths that CHRIST walked. It was like we were with Jews, Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem.  Yes, then there was Bethlehem.

What a day this was!  Learning was fun for everyone.  Thank you students, parents, and middle school staff for being such a great community eager to grow.

Enthusiastically,

Mrs. Schmitt

JOY TO THE WORLD

Dear Saint John School Families,

Here we are in the last school day of 2013.  What a joy it is to count our many blessings that we have received here Saint John’s School during this past year.  Joyfulness abounds when one works daily with children.  The hugs, the smiles, the surprises, and best of all, love is experienced daily. 

Tuesday evening’s music concert was a testimony to the joy of our students giving of themselves as they “sang with all their hearts”.  From the preschoolers to the 8^th graders, it was truly a gift that was given to us.  Mr. Bradberry, you are amazing!  You instill in our youth a true love of music.  What talent you have to bring well over 230 + children together for a concert that they so enjoyed doing.  

I would like to take this opportunity to share some joyous and special words of Mother Teresa:      The fruit of silence is prayer,

                                  The fruit of prayer is a deepening of faith,

                                  The fruit of faith is love,

                                  The fruit of love is service and

                                 The fruit of service is peace

“Merry Christmas” Everyone!

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt

WHAT IS YOUR SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT?

                WHAT IS YOUR SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT?

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

“Hands on learning” --- Learning by doing”.  Saint John’s Science Fair is just that! What an impressive display to see the work of young minds in one location.  Every single student 5^th-8^th completed their assignment, that of doing a science fair project.  There was no doubt that students had been taught and understood the process needed for this accomplishment. It is very obvious how much creative thought and work it took to make this such a meaningful experience.  The  uniqueness of each study was exciting and brought smiles to the viewers of the Fair i.e. DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION-------PLEASE DON’T PASS THE SALT-----BRIDGE G-FORCE -------HOW CLEAN ARE PUBLIC POOLS----DOES MUSIC AFFECT THE GROWTH OF SEEDS?-----SLEEP DEPRIVATION----HOW ACCURATE ARE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS?    I learned how to make homemade casein glue! 

The draft of each project had to be signed by an adult sponsor and placed in a Science Fair Data Book.  The display had to address the Purpose—The Question, the Hypothesis, the Procedure and, of course, the Results, Analysis and Conclusion. The Scientific Method is no stranger to our students.

Mr. Estergard and Mrs. Rottinghaus you are to be applauded for the outstanding job you did of teaching, guiding and challenging our Saint John’s students to think scientifically.  Congratulations students on a job well done!

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt