The 2nd Grade Service Learning Project for the school year is The Fruits of the Holy Spirit. These are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.  We will be working with each Fruit to help the children understand what it means as well as doing activities to apply it within their daily lives.  Mrs. Geary and I work with both second grade classes on this service learning project. 

JOY

                "You will fill me with joy in Your presence..." Psalm 16:11

The second Fruit that the students are learning in December is the Fruit of Joy.  This is a joyous season as we are celebrating the birth of the greatest being of all, Jesus Christ.  For this, our class has done two activities so far.  First, we got together with our Kindergarten buddies and worked on a Christmas project-a picture of the nativity.  The students from both grades had a wonderful time and helped each other in so many ways to complete the project.  The second activity that my class is doing is sharing the joy of this season with people who need a home.  Instead of a Christmas gift exchange, we will be collecting money and then turning it into Menard Scrip which will be given to Habitat for Humanity to help purchase supplies for building homes this summer.  The students agreed that this would be a way to help someone their age who might not have a home of their own.

KINDNESS
          
                "Be Kind & compassionate to one another..."  Ephesians 4:32

For the month of December, the 2nd Graders are working with two Fruits of the Holy Spirit.  The first is the Fruit of Kindness.  This is an appropriate Fruit as this is the time of year when we should be thinking of others more than ourselves.  To do this, the students created uplifting posters which contained some beautiful messages to be displayed at the Room at the Inn at St.Louis the King Church.  The students came up with very welcoming, loving and kind messages to include with their pictures to make the posters a wonderful addition to the area set up for the homeless.  We have been told that the posters were most appreciated by the people who came.

 

               "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God."  Matthew 5:9

 

For the month of November, the 2nd Graders are working with the Fruit of the Holy Spirit called Peace.  We talked a lot about the Peacemakers of the world namely our veterans-those from service past and those in service now.  We discussed how their selflessness and devotion to our freedoms helps us have all that we have in this country and that we sleep peacefully every night because of their duty.  The 2nd Graders will be making cards of thank you to the veterans and these will be delivered to the Jacobetti Veterans hospital.  The 2nd Graders will also be writing about how they can be role models of peace in their daily lives as well.  If you or someone you know is a veteran, we thank you and hope you will share your story with your children.

 

GOODNESS

 

                "And do not forget to do good and to share with others..."  Hebrews 13:16

 

For the month of October, the 2nd graders will be working on the Fruit of the Holy Spirit called Goodness.  We will be showing pour Goodness by helping all the students in the school prepare for the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary.  The 2nd graders will be counting and packaging rosaries for all the students in the school according to class.  They will be delivering these to the teachers so that all the children will have a rosary on October 7th when Fr. Ben Paris leads us in this most special and powerful prayer.  Mrs. Geary and I will also be working with the 2nd graders to come up with ideas of how they can spread Goodness not only throughout the month of October but throughout their entire lives.  You can help with this Fruit by being an example of Goodness to your child.  Show them that people with Goodness have a generous spirit by giving to the Church, the poor, charitable organizations, etc.  Show them that people with Goodness care about others by donating toys, books, clothing, etc. to St. Vincent dePaul and food to the St. Vincent dePaul Food Pantry.

 

PATIENCE

 

                 "...be patient, bearing with one another in love."  Ephesians 4:2

 

The 2nd Graders have been learning the Fruit of the Holy Spirit called Patience.  This is a fruit we use all the time and the students found that patience is not as easy as we think it is to attain.  They hear from  me all the time how "Patience is a virtue" and  they understand why Mrs.F says it so much.  In fact,  I have heard it said by my students from time to time.  We also practiced our Fruit of Patience when we went to visit our Kinder Buddies in Mrs. Hocking's room.  The 2nd graders were wonderful as they let the buddies tell them what they wanted to do with their monster pictures and the 2nd Graders also learned how to give suggestions in a nice way.  The monster pictures they worked on are displayed outside of Mrs. Hocking's classroom.  You can be an example of this Fruit by being a role model of patience  especially when it seems that everything is working against it.