Happy Easter!


Here we are at the end of the 3rd quarter. Only nine weeks of school left and so much too do. We’ve been doing many activities during Lent and now for Holy Week. We read in our religion book that the church teaches us that Catholic should attend Mass on Sundays and holy days because the Mass is the center of the Church’s life. When you do this, you follow the third commandment, “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.” Every time you go to Mass, you are encouraged to receive Jesus’ Body and Blood in Holy Communion. The Church requires that you do this at least once during the Easter Season. We discussed that it is very important for them to attend Mass on Easter Sunday.

We have been studying about different communities. We read about two Native American Communities. Every student had an assignment to make a replica of the Hopi or Iroquois home. The Iroquois lived in the forest of the northern part of the United States. They used the land around home to build their community. Their houses were called long houses. The Hopi lived in Arizona, the desert land. They build their houses of stone and earth. The houses looked like apartment houses. I am very impressed with the work that many students put into this project. They will be on display in the north entrance this weekend. This is just another reason to come to church Easter Sunday.

Ms. Cleveland, from Northland College did a lesson about the Powhatan People in Social Studies. After reading the chapter the students tasted Three Sisters Succotash that the Powhatan people made. Many students really liked it and asked for the recipe. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup wild or brown rice
2 cups canned or cooked lima beans (you can substitute any bean)
2 cups canned or cooked corn
1 cup butternut squash cubed
1 cup banana squash cubed
Oil or butter for frying
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the rice. Reduce heat and cover.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the corn, beans and squash.
3. After 20 minutes, gradually add the corn, beans and squash to the rice. Stir well. Replace cover and simmer for additional 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, sauté garlic and red onion in small frying pan with butter or oil. Sauté until onions are translucent, not until brown.
5. Add the sautéed onion and garlic to the rice during the last 5 minutes.
6. Check rice after to see if done, if not simmer additional 10 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and allow it to cool down before serving.

I’m impressed on how well the students are doing with their multiplication. Keep practicing at home. We are working on division and they are finding out that if they know their multiplication they can do division real easy.

The reading calendars are going really good. As long as they return it Monday or Tuesday they get credit for the week. I will send the April calendar home tomorrow. They can return it on Thursday, April 8th.

Reminder: No school April 2nd – 7th. Return to school Thursday, April 8th. Have a joyous Easter vacation with your children.