Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Art~ Week 15

This week in art, the students created lions with charcoal.
We talked about Saint Mark, one of the four Evangelists, whose symbol is the lion.


We talked about sketching and how to add contrast of light and dark to their drawings.








Art~ Week 15 Preschool & Kindergaretn

We made mice today!

Striped Mice...


Spotted Mice....


The children each received a white triangle piece of paper to decorate with paint. Some of the children used paint brushes, while others used their fingers. We then added two brown construction paper ears and a brown tail. Some of the kids cut their tail to make some legs for their mouse.

Art~Week 14

This week in art we talked about religious icons.
We viewed pictures of icons from Holy Transfiguration Church for inspiration.








Art~ Week 14 Preschool & Kindergaretn

This week in art, the little kids created a bird's nest. With all the flowers blooming and the birds singing, what better way to celebrate spring!




We used brown construction paper for the nest background. I cut out blue and yellow circles for the birds, so the kids could have a choice. I cut out a small orange triangle for the bird's beaks. We added colorful feathers for their wings and some brown crinkled paper, I found at the local craft store, for their nests.

The kids had fun creating their birds. They added eyes, legs, and some even made their birds girly by adding eyelashes. It's always fun to see what they will create.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Religion~ Week 14

The Benedictines learned about who the Lamb of God is this week. The Benedictine Class Mom's did an excellent job discussing this with the children while I got the craft set up. The children got to use watercolor paints this week, and they loved that. They were instructed to paint the lamb's body to find a surprise. The surprise was that the name "Jesus" appeared after they painted it. Then they added a head and limbs and a cross to complete their Lamb of God.


In the older classes, we learned about the Lavabo and the Secret prayers. That completed ch. 7. Then we started Ch. 8, and talked about the center of the Mass, the Canon. We were also able to discuss the Preface and the Sanctus. Since the crossword puzzle was such a hit with the Franciscans last week, I made word puzzles for all the older grades 1-6. All the kids really enjoyed this, and it was a great way to review!

Religion- Week 13

The Benedictines learned about the Annunciation this week.


The colored and cut out a picture of Mother Mary and St. Gabriel. Teachers helped them tape the cut outs onto popsicle sticks. I read about the Annunciation from Sacred Scripture, and had the children hold up Our Lady each time they heard the name "Mary", and hold up St. Gabriel every time they heard his name, or the word "Angel". The children seemed to really enjoy this.

The older classes reviewed the beginning of Chapter 7 from Know Your Mass and then finished learning about the Offertory. I then discussed the Annunciation with them as well, and they completed various work. The oldest class did a crossword puzzle and this seemed to be a big hit!

Latin Everywhere!

JMJ

This was so inspiring to me, I simply had to share with all of my Latin-learning families.
Recently, a very dear soul from my hometown went to his eternal rest.  He was a great leader in the Catholic community there: teacher, musician, artist, mentor.
I did not know him personally, but he touched my life through the many friends I have whose lives were--in some part--formed by him.
I once sang a duet he composed.
He taught at the Catholic high school, not the public high school, but he painted many of the beautiful backdrops for my high school choral performances, for free.
He cantored with a big booming, authoritative, yet reverent voice at Mass.

A friend of mine who was close to him inherited this hand-carved wood trim from Mr. Butz's home.  It is a portion of Psalm 150.  A priest friend translated it as such:

Praise Him in the sound of trumpets,
Praise Him with psaltery and harp,
Praise Him with timbrel and dance. - Psalm 150



And here is the most endearing part: he signed it, in Latin.  Butz fecit--Butz made this.



So, if you think there is no use for Latin, think again.  If your child is struggling to find motivation, please show them these pictures.  This man was a Catholic.  He was talented.  He was respected and loved by adults and children in my hometown.  He also knew Latin.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Mr. Bob Butz.

Requiem Aeternam dona eis, Domine
 et lux perpetua luceat eis:
Requiescant in pace. 
 Amen.


Eternal rest, grant unto him/her O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon him/her.
May he rest in peace. Amen.

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.



Thursday, April 3, 2014

Latin~week 14 "People or Persons?"

Latin Week 14

I know I don't usually post, but I found this article that pertains to one of the Latin roots we studies this week:
populus: people
It does not mean one single person, so I asked my husband if he knew whether or not "people" or "persons" was the plural of "person".  Instead of spending time exchanging our own opinions on it, he wisely went to the internet and discovered this article.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/people.htm
Here is a little bit of practical application for our Latin.  There is more information in the article, but here is a section that I thought particularly informative:
The words people and person derive from different Latin roots, the former from populum, referring to the people in the sense of the populace, the latter from persona, “an actor’s mask; a character in a play” and which in the English form person came to refer to an individual human being. (It was first brought in via French in the form parson, which for some unexplained reason soon took on the separate and specific sense in which we still use it, so that the word had to be re-borrowed with a new spelling. And persona itself was borrowed in that form by Jungian psychologists early this century to identify the personality a person presents to the world.)
The normal plural of person was persons, as in “two persons were present”. However, there is evidence from Chaucer onwards that some writers chose to use people as a plural for person, not only in the generalised sense of “an uncountable or indistinct mass of individuals” but also in specific countable cases (Chaucer wrote of “a thousand people”). This began to be questioned in Victorian times, and the pseudo-rule grew up that the plural of person is persons when a specific, countable number of individuals is meant, but that people should be used when the number is large or indefinite.
May God bless you and your home!  

Art~ Week 13

This week in art, we learned about illuminated manuscripts.
source~ wikipedia


The students looked through the Book of Kells.

source~ wikipedia

The Book of Kells is an ancient manuscript written and illustrated by hand by monks. The book tells the four Gospels of the Holy Bible. After looking through the book and viewing the beautiful pictures, the students created their own pictures. They were encouraged to draw a picture inspired by a favorite Bible story or a favorite saint.









Art~ Week 13 Preschool & Kindergarten

This week in art, the children learned the colors of the rainbow.

source~ wikipedia

ROY G BIV

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet

After learning the colors of the rainbow, they children painted a rainbow using watercolors.




They were very eager and did an amazing job of painting their rainbows.