Sharing the sentiment of the Year of Mercy put forth by the Pope, Bishop Coyne has deemed this year the Year of Creation. As part of his mission to "heighten focus on ecological justice," the Bishop asked all of the Catholic schools in the Diocese to find a way to improve their school's community.
For Christ the King, this meant spreading our resources (read: kiddos!) throughout the 5 Sisters neighborhood and down Pine Street to clean up the trash revealed by the newly melted snow. After Mass and some well wishes from Monsignor, and equipped with our rubber gloves, highlighter-green t-shirts ("Catholic Schools WORK!" y'all!), garbage bags, and a little determination, we collected bags and bags of garbage!
For Christ the King, this meant spreading our resources (read: kiddos!) throughout the 5 Sisters neighborhood and down Pine Street to clean up the trash revealed by the newly melted snow. After Mass and some well wishes from Monsignor, and equipped with our rubber gloves, highlighter-green t-shirts ("Catholic Schools WORK!" y'all!), garbage bags, and a little determination, we collected bags and bags of garbage!
The Kinder Crew put on our boots and headed across the street to Calahan Park. Like a search party, we weaved our way back and forth across the main field, picking up every piece of garbage in sight. For the most part, the area was pretty clean! In the whole park, we didn't even collect a whole bag of garbage! So, shout out to the people of Burlington for keeping the park fairly clean!
It really was a great way to spend our morning. We watched a couple videos before Mass which explained how our "job" for the day wasn't just a one-time thing. Instead, we learned that it is our responsibility to take care of our earth by reducing emissions, recycling and throwing away garbage properly, reducing waste, caring for animals, and so much more. If you are interested in seeing the videos we watched or reading the Pope's encyclical "Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home", you can click HERE! There are some great resources, and I actually learned a lot about The Church's stance on our current environmental and ecological issues!
Later in the week, it was time to celebrate Easter. While it doesn't get the "hype" of Christmas, Easter really is the most important holiday. Easter does an especially beautiful job of reminding us of some important and difficult lessons. One being that even in what seems like the most hopeless times, there is salvation. Or, my favorite phrasing of that particular lesson: "first the pain, then the rising". No matter what life throws our way, the grace of God isn't far behind.
We discussed this blessing and many other Easter lessons all throughout Lent. The kids learned of Jesus's struggle and sacrifice, and we set goals for ourselves on how we could make sacrifices in our own lives. We also learned from Jesus's time in the desert that we need to be more mindful about adding prayer to our days more frequently, and in more intentional ways.
We discussed this blessing and many other Easter lessons all throughout Lent. The kids learned of Jesus's struggle and sacrifice, and we set goals for ourselves on how we could make sacrifices in our own lives. We also learned from Jesus's time in the desert that we need to be more mindful about adding prayer to our days more frequently, and in more intentional ways.
I was even able to loosely tie in our science unit to our Easter religion discussions: each morning begins with the sunrise. This daily blessing literally and figuratively represents both new beginnings and the assurance that after the darkest times comes the light. In the Bible, after the pain and the waiting, Jesus returned bringing his light and hope back to the world. We painted our own sunsets behind the crosses, revealing a secret message written in white crayon: He Is Risen!
To celebrate the lesson of "new life" that Easter represents, we tied it into the lesson of how the season of Spring brings forth new life in nature. Plants regrow and blossom, and animals have their babies! So, we got together with our Big Buddies and made our own spring babies: chick puppets!
To celebrate the lesson of "new life" that Easter represents, we tied it into the lesson of how the season of Spring brings forth new life in nature. Plants regrow and blossom, and animals have their babies! So, we got together with our Big Buddies and made our own spring babies: chick puppets!
I hope you all had a fun and blessed Easter! I can't wait to show you all of the fun we have coming up...so keep an eye on the blog to see what the Kinder Crew has been up to!