Hello Saint Mary School!

This is Miss Melville--- Mrs. Raftery asked me to share with you the experiences the eighth graders had on Friday morning in religion class!

The eighth grade religion curriculum focuses on the history of the Catholic Church, and we are currently in the middle of a unit on the Protestant Reformation.  The Church was in need of reform in the 1500s, and Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk at the time, was the most prominent voice who called for reform. 

I asked one of my best friends, Mr. Kyle Severson, to come into our class as a guest speaker to help the students better understand Martin Luther and his ideas.  Mr. Severson and I were music education majors together at Augustana College, and since graduation, Mr. Severson taught grades 4-12 music in central Illinois.  This past fall, Mr. Severson began his studies as a first year seminarian at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.  He’s looking forward to becoming a pastor for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in the spring of 2015.

Throughout his presentation, the students heard a biography on Martin Luther, learned that John Huss was actually the first person who called for reform one hundred years before Luther, watched a really neat video called the “Luther Rap,” and then split into groups to do a scripture search on Romans 3:23-28, Ephesians 2:8-9, and James 2:14-18, 24.  In their scripture search, students learned that Luther based his central ideas on the Romans and Ephesians text, while the Catholic Church countered Luther with the James text.  Students then made crosses which stated Luther’s central teachings.

The eighth graders learned the Luther called for reform in the mass.  A few changes he wanted included having the mass said in the language of the people, encouraging lay participation through music, and receiving the Eucharist on a more frequent basis. The students were particularly surprised to hear about Luther’s ideas for change because the Church has since incorporated all of these changes into the present-day mass!

Mr. Severson ended his presentation by sharing that it wasn’t until 1999 that Lutherans and Catholics publically took steps towards unity through a document called the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.  Regardless of our differences, we are all Christians who have a love for the Trinity, a love for one another, and a hope for salvation through Jesus Christ.

Thanks again for stopping by Saint Mary School, Mr. Severson!!

-Miss Melville 

Bunny Day!

Last week, on the heels of the visit from the Easter Bunny, the first graders each brought a bunny in to school. They were already excited about the notion of being allowed to bring a special stuffed animal to school for the day, when their teachers let the cat (bunny!) out of the bag about the days activities! They shared stories about the Easter Bunny and other famous bunnies like Peter Rabbit and learned about real rabbits and hares. They then worked with a partner to create a Venn Diagram listing the similarities and differences between their bunnies. They also wrote a paragraph about what they learned about rabbits and created a sketch of bunnies - then added other signs of spring such as eggs, bugs, and flowers! Thanks to the first grade teachers for sharing these fabulous pictures with us!