Teddy bears, LIFE skills, and bus safety

by Nancy Replogle

Reece and Reese wearing friendship necklaces.

“Friendship” was the first LIFE skill emphasized this year at St. Mary of the Assumption School. The “Bible Role Models” for friendship are the Prophet Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. To help the kindergarten students understand what it means to be a friend, each student made a necklace for another person.

Opening of school and the Van Wert County Fair go hand in hand. Many St. Mary's students participate in 4-H and other community organizations. Students were invited to bring ribbons and awards to school to share with others.

Friday, September 9 was Teddy Bear Day for the Kindergarten class at St. Mary of the Assumption School. Each child was encouraged to bring a teddy bear or favorite stuffed animal. Activities included a "Teddy Bear picnic," a video, putting bears in patterns, doing finger plays about bears and making teddy bear puppets.

School Bus safety is very important as many children now ride buses to school. "Mr. H," Larry Hoverman, visited St. Mary's School with his bus and spoke to the students about being safe on and around the bus. He emphasized behavior on the bus, safety zones around the bus and how to exit the bus in the event of an emergency.

The students at St. Mary of the Assumption School are very excited about a new

Students at St. Marys are learning to use "responders." The third grade class and Mrs. Johnson are shown viewing a graph of their total responses.

technological device that was introduced to their classrooms. The devices are called “clickers” and are more accurately known as “responders”. The responders are hand held devices allowing each individual student to respond to a question projected on a whiteboard. The students’ choices are recorded electronically and class data is provided in front of the class. The responders give immediate feedback. They are a part of the Accelerated Math program which was introduced this year.

St. Mary’s has been involved with the LIFE (Living in a Faithfilled Environment) Guidelines for many years. This involves teaching a good foundation of caring and respect for each other, for their Lord, and for their education. The LIFE skills are words that each students can use to make life better for everyone, all built on the foundation of being trustworthy and truthful, not putting others down, active listening, and doing one’s personal best. Using these 5 guidelines a new LIFE Skill is introduced every two weeks. The students also enjoyed learning words and motions to “The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock.”

David Mathew gave a power point presentation showing why the school participates in the LIFE skills each year.

POSTED: 09/14/11 at 1:35 pm. FILED UNDER: St. Mary's News