Christmas is coming ...

...for the children the most wonderful time of the year.  And for the children of Light it should be the most wonderful, wonderful time of the year, because to the Church it is the year's beginning.  No one but God could have made such a beginning, so full of beauty and glory and sheer magic as this.

But you cannot just walk into such a blaze of glory without preparation, to be ready for that sharp sweet moment when an Infant's cry cut the night...:  You must creep up to it, think about it, count the days, watch the signs and prepare.  A child can never know the whole ecstasy of Christmas unless he knows its meaning; unless he takes its meaning into his own two hands and examines it closely and finds its mystery for himself.  It must be made of his own experience and delight and love.

Mary Reed Newland, The Year and Our Children

Advent Offerings

The  Advent Wreath

"Advent for children should rightly be a very busy time, starting with the making of the Advent wreath.  This is a sacramental in which the whole meaning of Advent is symbolized - and symbols are a language children understand very easily.

The circle is a symbol of eternity and the never-endingness of God, and the evergreen is a symbol of eternal life and the never-changingness of God... The four candles in the wreath are for the four weeks of Advent... Purple for penance, but it is a different kind from the penance of Lent. .. The emphasis is on our longing, our need - not only for the great graces of the feast of His Nativity ... but our need to be ready for the glorious moment of His Second Coming." [from The Year and Our Children, by Mary Reed Newland]

In the atrium, we light the Advent wreath regularly with a lovely simple song that accompanies the lighting of the wreath and expresses the vision of the prophecies we give to the children.  Our song for this first week of Advent:

Light the Advent candle one

Now the waiting has begun

We have started on our way

Time to think of Christmas day.

(Refrain)

Candle, candle burning bright

Shining in the cold winter night

Candle, candle burning bright

Fill our hearts with Christ, the Light.

Preparing a Soft Bed for Jesus with Acts of Love

Here is a concrete way to help your child prepare his or her heart for the coming the Christ Child:  Place a small basket in a prominent, child-visible place in your home, and next to it place a container of straw.  Each time a child does an act of love, he or she may place a piece of straw in the basket.  The basket represents Jesus' manger.  The straw represents our acts of love.  We prepare a soft bed for the Christ Child through our Advent acts of love.  On Christmas day, place a small model of baby Jesus in the basket on the straw.

Option for elementary children:  Remove a straw from the basket each time you do a selfish or unkind act.  In this way, the child can continually reflect on his/her behavior in reference to its preparation for the feast of Our Lord's birth.

St. Nicholas Day:  Tuesday, December 6

Next Tuesday, December 6, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Nicholas.

The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in what is now Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra.   He was known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need and his love for children.

One story of St. Nicholas tells of a poor man who had no money for dowries for his three daughters. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window by Nicholas, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas.

Still today, on the eve of his feast day, children leave shoes or stockings for St. Nicholas to fill with candy or other small gifts.   You may want to incorporate this custom in your family's observance of Advent.

Thursday, December 8:  Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Mass at SJV, 8:15 a.m.

Next Thursday, December 8, the Church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of Mary, a holy day of obligation.  Please join us for Mass 8:15 a.m..  There will be no Tuesday Mass next week.

Christmas Caroling  followed by  Family Advent Celebration

Wednesday, December 21 (no school the next day)

Pizza Dinner:                           5:00-5:45 p.m.

Neighborhood Caroling:           5:45-6:45 p.m.

Family Advent Celebration:      7:00-8:00 p.m.

Interested in a traditional evening of neighborhood caroling for you and your children?  We will gather in the elementary atrium at 5:45, and then take our joy into the neighborhood as we sing carols to our neighbors.  Then, we will complete our evening with our Family Advent Celebration in the church, expressing the joy of the anticipation of Christ's coming. The children will lead our celebration in the church with readings and songs appropriate for all ages.  Come for the Family Celebration, or come for the entire evening!

For pizza dinner reservations,

PLEASE RSVP TO NANCY TOON:  271-4171 or ntoon@gscmontessori.org 

Mission Alive!

Each week, we share an aspect of our mission as it takes shape in the lives of the children.  This week, catechist Jana Widmeyer shares the spirit of Advent in the atrium.   

Advent in the Atrium

By Jana Widmeyer, Catechist

We were still sorting our Trick or Treat goodies when a local radio station started playing Christmas music.   This is happening too fast, I thought.  What about All Saints Day and All Souls Day?  What about Thanksgiving?  What about Advent?

The Church gives us four weeks to prepare for Christmas and in the Atrium our lessons follow right along with this time of awe and wonder.  When our students return to school from Thanksgiving vacation, they will not be greeted with Christmas trees or green and red décor, but with the purple colors of Advent.

In the Atrium, we slow down and reflect on this holy season of waiting and preparation. 

For thousands of years, the world awaited its Savior.  The prophets gave us hints of what to look for.  The children reflect on the "people who dwelt in darkness [that] have seen a great light" (Is. 9:1) and on the prophets' clues about a young maiden who will have a child (Is. 7:14), of a little town called Bethlehem from whence would come a ruler and of a star and scepter (Micah 5:2).

This time is so special that the Church begins its Liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent and each week we light another candle in anticipation of the beginning of Redemption when God became man and was born of a Virgin. 

In Advent, we prepare our homes and our hearts for the joyful celebration of Christmas.  And, December 25 is just the beginning of Christmas.  The Church gives us 12 days to continue the celebration. 

One of the favorite Advent songs in the Atrium is Light the Advent Candle.  Perhaps you and your children could sing it together throughout these days of eager anticipation.

Staffing News

Welcome Joan Smoot, Orton-Gillingham Tutor

We welcome Joan Smoot as our new Orton-Gillingham Tutor.  Joan is assuming the tutoring duties of Mrs. Julie Ulliman, our previous tutor, who resigned several weeks ago in order to devote full-time care to her elderly father after he suffered injuries from a fall.

Joan Smoot earned a BS in Psychology from Canyon College in 2005.  In 2010, she completed her Orton-Gillingham training and certification, and has served as a private tutor at the Children's Dyslexia Center since that time.  She has experience tutoring elementary through high school students in the Orton Gillingham approach.  Prior to her Orton training, Joan served in a variety of roles at Miami Valley Christian Academy, including Accelerated Reading coordinator, activities coordinator, technology teacher, and assistant to a special needs student.  We are pleased to have Joan join our staff to provide direct support to our students.

Orton Instruction:  A Unique Feature at GSCM

When interviewing candidates for this position, all of them remarked on how special and unusual it is that our school offers Orton tutoring to students during the school day.  Orton is a time-tested, research validated best practice for helping all children develop skills in reading and spelling.  While Joan will be working directly only with students who need added support in these language skills, it is important for all parents to note that our elementary language teachers have Orton training, and are able to incorporate this brilliant approach directly into the regular curriculum for all of our students.  This fact is not wall-known among our parent body, yet it truly is a feature that distinguishes our academic program from that of other schools.

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Focus on Volunteers:  Recycling 

Holiday News

 Lower Elementary Christmas Family Sale,

6-9 students will have the opportunity to shop for their family members during their annual Christmas Family Sale December 19-21 organized by the Lower Elementary Team .  This provides a great opportunity to learn and participate more in the season of giving. 

As an alternative to buying gifts for all teachers or staff that you might generally buy for, you may want to participate in the "pooled "gift by sending in a donation. All money will be pooled together and distributed to teachers and staff, via their choice of Scrip cards, according to their part-time/full-time status. Suggested donation is $15 per child or $40 per family. Please send donation in by THIS THURSDAY, December 2 to the office marked "Staff Donation". If paying by check, please make payable to GSCM PTO. Thank you.

If you ordered a poinsettia, please arrange to pick it up next Monday, December 5^th. Please bring a check made out to GSCM or cash for the number of poinsettias that you ordered. Poinsettias will be available for pick up on the lower level of the main school building.  

Your cooperation in picking up your poinsettias promptly would be appreciated as we have limited room to store them.

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As winter approaches, please check Channel 12 media (TV and website) for any school closing announcements.  The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori will be listed by name.  We will also send out an email message to all families and leave current school closure information on the school's voice mail message.

For Forest Hills Families:

If Cincinnati Public Schools declares "NO YELLOW BUS SERVICE", or "SCHOOLS CLOSED", the Forest Hills School District will not provide bus service to schools located within that public school attendance area even if Forest Hills Schools are open.

Scrips Program

Christmas is right around the corner ...

Are you looking to purchase gift cards for birthdays or the upcoming holidays? Consider the scrip program. The scrip program is an easy to use fundraising program that costs you nothing but benefits the GSCM staff and students. Monies raised through the scrip program provide funding for staff professional development and tuition assistance for students. Please take a minute to see how you and our school may benefit from this program.

What is scrip?

In its simplest form, scrip is equivalent to gift cards that are purchased at a discount through Great Lakes Scrip. You can use them for your own use or give them as gifts. If you know you want to buy Dad that $100 jacket from L.L.Bean, why not buy the gift cards first and redeem them at L.L.Bean to get the gift? This one simple transaction could put $7.50 towards GSCM professional development and $7.50 towards student tuition assistance.

So how does it work?

The GSCM website has a link to the scrip form. In addition, the school participates in Kroger and Remke's neighborhood reward programs.

Scrip Order Form:

Print off and complete the form

Return it to the office with a check for the face amount made out to GSCM

Orders are collected each Friday and processed

Gift cards are returned to you via backpack mail Thursday or Friday of the following week

Does the Scrip Order Form list all participating retailers?

There are hundreds of retailers who participate in the program through Great Lakes Scrip. We try to list local or web-based retailers and keep it to one page, but we can order gift cards from any participating retailer. The whole list as well as any specials can be found at www.glscrip.com. Ex: Do you know someone who wants Giant Eagle gift cards - NO PROBLEM. Just write on the Scrip Order Form what you need at we will take care of it.

What does it cost to participate?

NOTHING! There is no cost to you to participate in this program. Shop and eat where you want, pay with scrip and help raise money for GSCM at the same time. No need to ask neighbors to buy anything or order magazines you don't need! Painless fundraising.

Book Club

The next book club meeting will be on Wednesday, December 7th at Jen Cavill's house to discuss Confederacy of Dunces by Tooles. If you are interested in joining us for some nice visiting, please RSVP to Dinese Young, dyoung5281@gmail.com. No homework involved, and you can come even if you haven't finished the entire book!