WOW! It hard to believe the 1st semester is about over and we are on Christmas break.(Whew.)
Every year I feel this way but seriously, where has the time gone? 🙂 Continue Reading
Grace visits Benedictine Sisters
Whenever you put elders and toddlers (that’s Sister Mary Jane Wallace with her young pen pal on the left) together, you get magic. We sure had some of that yesterday when Grace preschoolers visited the monastery!
(Of course it was chaotic and everyone needed a nap afterwards … kids and Sisters both!) Continue Reading
Christmas comes to St. Mary Monastery in time for Grace kids
The first sign of Christmas coming has gone up inside the Monastery, as Sr. Mary Core has prepared for Grace preschoolers to visit on Wednesday.
(We also have hung wreaths next to our doors … but that’s outside.) Continue Reading
Shoes full of goodies from St. Nicholas!
Today Grace Academy celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas.
All our students – K-8 – put their shoes out in the hallway when we arrived in the morning.
Then, while we were busy doing other tasks, St. Nicholas visited and left us treats. Continue Reading
Turning “praise junkies” into right-minded, God-guided kids
Recently I attended a workshop on giving praise. The presenter called today’s students “praise junkies.” Oh boy, did she get it right.Today’s students’ brains react to praise the way addicts react to substances. They need it like they need food and water and air. They need it to feel ordinary!
Sharing a Nourishing Holiday Meal
Our Thanksgiving party was a great success again this year. As in years past, we made stone soup (without the stones, of course 🙂 ).
It’s such a great story and teaching tool! Continue Reading
Happy Thanksgiving to our Catholic Sister Pen Pals!
Grace preschoolers have become pen pals with my Benedictine Catholic Sisters this year. It’s one of our service projects, but you’d be hard pressed to figure out who is benefitting more from the experience.
The Sisters love getting their letters, and the kids can’t wait for their replies! Continue Reading
Jesus goes to the Festival of Trees (Thanks to Grace Preschoolers)!
A fun event here in the Quad-Cities is our Festival of Trees. Everybody looks forward to it … but not everybody creates a tree. We Grace Preschoolers did, though!!
We glued popsicle sticks into triangles to make the ornaments. Some were painted and sequined to look like Christmas trees. Some were painted and decorated with wiggly eyes and red buttons to become Rudolf the Reindeer. We loved those! Continue Reading
A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Oh Boy! What a day yesterday was. There was yelling, pushing, hitting and shoving. There was tattling. (I think tattling drives me the craziest.) There was no way we were treating each other like Christ. So I called a Come To Jesus meeting. Continue Reading
Grace Celebrates Veterans Day
Grace Academy celebrates Veterans Day every year. We start around the flag pole with the presentation of the colors by the Mexican American Veterans Association.Taps is played, the National Anthem is sung.
At Mass this year, Fr. Greg gave a beautiful homily thanking the vets for their service and presenting them with a small gift. After Mass, the older students listened to a speaker talk about Hero Street, and enjoyed refreshments with the vets. Continue Reading
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