Holy Trinity Catholic School

Parent Newsletter

November and December 2022

Advent, A Time of Great Joy

Advent begins on November 27th and we begin the season in the atrium with a procession and changing the color of our altar cloth from the green of growing time (ordinary time) to purple of preparation. We are waiting and preparing our hearts for Jesus to come just as Mary did so long ago. We will place the advent wreath on our prayer table and light the first candle, we are reminded that Jesus is the Light and that advent is a time of waiting.

May the days of waiting and preparation for the feast of Christmas, be a time of great joy for all your families!

At Home

Set out an advent wreath. If you do not own one, you can simply make one by setting colored pillar candles in a circle. This is also a good time to set out your nativity scene. Don’t put baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas day.

Volunteer Opportunity

If you are interested in volunteering in the atrium we are in need of assistants on Wednesday mornings with the First and Second Grade Children.

Please contact Danell Rudquist at [email protected] if you would like to volunteer. No experience is necessary.

Joy in the Atrium

The children are beginning to adapt to the flow of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium and have settled into a pattern of work and prayer. You will often hear an array of humming and spontaneous singing arise as the children work on the material that is available to them in the environment. Their joy often overflows as they have new insights they wish to share. This past week, after the presentation of the Parable of the Good Shepherd, the children were asked, "I wonder who these sheep could be that the Good Shepherd loves so much?" Most of the children thought they were pets, but one Kindergarten boy boldly proclaimed that all the children in the room were the sheep and the Good Shepherd was Jesus!

4 Year Olds in the Atrium

The Liturgical Colors

Early in the Atrium year, we offer the children a presentation titled, “The Liturgical Colors.” This presentation names and identifies the colors associated with the Liturgical Year and prepares the child for further work with the Liturgical Calendar and to participate more fully in the Liturgy.

Color Song

"Purple and White and Green and Red, are the colors of the year,

Purple and White and Green and Red,

remind us of the Light.

Purple is for preparation,

White is for celebrations,

Green is for ordinary time

and Red is for the Feast of great Love."

At Home and at Church:

You can ask your child to sing the "color song" and at church ask what color chasuble the priest is wearing.

Kindergarten in the Atrium

Gesture in the Atrium

The first gestures the children learn about is the Sign of the Cross and Genuflecting. The children were taken into the church to practice and ponder the meaning behind these gestures and to recall how close Jesus wants to be to be to them.

We then look at the gestures that are used in mass and the meaning behind them. The children begin by preparing the cruets at the "gesture table" and then then prepare the chalice by pouring the wine and the water from the cruets into the little child size chalice. They are carefully shown that the wine is added to the chalice and then one little drop of water. "So much wine and so little water." They are asked, "What does the wine become at Holy Mass?" They often answer, "Jesus!" We then ask, "What could the water be, who does Jesus want to be so close to?" They know the Good Shepherd wants to be close to His sheep so they respond, "Jesus want to be so close to us!" The children love this work and will continue to return to the gesture table often to revisit the gestures they see at Holy Mass and think about how close the Good Shepherd wants to be to His sheep.

At Church

When you go to Mass, watch as Father prepares the chalice and think about how so much wine is added to the chalice and how just a little drop of water is added and how close Jesus wants to be to us.

First and Second Grade in the Atrium

The Synthesis of the Kingdom of God Parables

The children joyfully proclaim and ponder the hidden meaning of the Kingdom of God by revisiting the parables they have already heard.

The Mustard Seed,

The Leaven,

The Precious Pearl,

The Grain of Wheat

The Hidden Treasure.

The children know that the parables in the bible are short stories given by Jesus with a hidden meaning. We ask, "What could be so precious that someone would sell everything they have to buy it like the pearl or the treasure buried in the field?" The children respond that the pearl is God and we are the merchant or that we are the treasure and God would sell everything for us or that we would sell everything for Him. It is always beautiful listening to the children ponder these parables about the Kingdom of God.

At Home

Do you have a family Bible? Does it have a place of prominence? Sit with your child and look through the Bible. See if they can use the table of contents to find where the Old and New Testament starts. Try finding the Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday together. The website www.usccb.org under the Bible tab can be a resource for finding the readings.

Books of the Bible

First and Second Grade

The first and second grade children have begun working on learning the “The Books of the Bible.” This presentation begins with a meditation on what the Bible is, why it is considered a Holy Book, how we should treat it, and how it came to us. This is followed by taking out the material which contains all the Old and New Testament books of the bible on little wooden tablets or "books". The children were enthusiastic as we opened up the Books of the Bible cabinet and took out one book at a time recalling what they remembered about each book.

The Holy Bible is one large Book made of many books, which tells one history from creation to the parousia made by one God together with humankind.