Group+E

=  Group E=

Please keep in mind that only one person can edit this page at a time. It is recommended that each of you choose a colour of font and use the same one throughout.

As you work on your social action project (committed to 12 hours of dedicated time to giving service to others) plus responding in a Wiki format with your group of three, you will answer the following question: In light of your understanding of who do you say that I am, what does it mean to be Christ to others through your project? You will share your thoughts and observations and actions of setting up to kinds of things you did to what you observed or saw to the final pieces of your project. At the end of your project (Dec. 2 or what you have completed thus far), your group will come up with a group response to Who do you say that I am based on your social action journey. Let's start answering this question tonight. What does it mean to you, "Who do you say that I am? "  What does it mean to me, "Who do you say that I am?.....It feels like I'm like Peter, when Jesus asked Peter who He was, and Peter replied "You are the Son of God:" and then several minutes later, Jesus tells Peter that Satan is with him, and to go away!!!! So many times I proclaim that I am a Christinan and that I love Jeus and want to do His will, and yet, here I am, doing the exact opposite, as you get distracted with life and caught up in the moment.....However, because of Jesus's gift of reconciliation, I pick myself up again one more time, and proclaim again "You are the Son of God"...and hope that this time I have grown a little deeper in my faith.....Dianne

Just an upate on some of my community hours...This past friday Oct.10, our school had a community Thanksgiving Diner...Apperently, they have this event every year, but this year, I decided to include my students as part of the diner..The grade5/6 students were the hosts and servers... Instead of having adults do this task this year, I organized for the students to be part of the plan...The grade7/8 students peeled over 50 pounds of potatoes (amazing it only took them 30 minutes ) as well as set up all the tables and chairs (which they had to bring across the parking lot from the church)...The grade 3/4 and 1/2 together, were in charge of decorating the hall..with cute little stuffed paper turkeys (what a chore) The cdner was a huge success....people from the whole community, not just parents from the school, came to enjoy a lovely gathering of food and fellowship... Oct. 13th.2008 Dianne  I believe that we are all followers of Jesus. We are instruments of Gods' hands. In so, we draw out the best from our students (just as Jesus did) and we invite them to take risks. As a teacher, I believe that I am on a journey just as my own students are. When we take risks and challenge ourselves we grow as a person. Do we truly know who Jesus is? When we look within ourselves, I think this is when we know who Jesus is - the image we see within ourselves. Social Justice: At St. Monica's I have already begun a few endeavours. (1) We have a student in our school who is dying of Lukemia. He is in grade 6 this year and was diagnosed in Grade 1 (I'm teaching a 5/6 class). Two weeks ago we held our "walk/run for cancer" in the students' name. Although it was difficult for him, he was in attendance at a set destination during our walk. The students were giving him (who I will call John) high 5's as they ran past him! This was one of Johns wishes before he was to die. To be remembered by his classmates and friends as a believer, a friend, someone you could count on, honest, trusthworthy, funny, and most of all strong. The following week we heard that he had taken a turn for the worse. We quickly, as a school community, put together an assembly to recognize John. We were unsure if he was going to be in attendance, or for that matter, we were unsure if he would still be with us. All the students in the school made cancer ribbons, writing down John's strengths, characterstics, etc. I assembled the choir to perform a musical selection "Blessed Be" and the assembly was to be video taped for John and his family. John does not want to be forgotted ! Students wrote letters to John of the great times that were shared. A school award was created that will be in rememberance of him, and will be awarded each year to a deserving student. (2) My class also organized a Thanksgiving Food Drive - which ran for the week and a half before Thanksgiving. Charting the donations made by the school, the students quickly realized that it was a challenge to bring in the MOST food. They were proud of their donations.( Renate)

Oct. 19th, 2008 I have sent a previous draft on the Thanksgiving diner held at my school...I hope you can navigate and find it....I did find my draft but it wasn't with "who do you say that I am"...if you can't find it let me know.. I will be working on another project pertaining to my community hours...my husband was walking home one day, and has always noticed that we have a neighbour who is in a wheelchair...my husband decided to stop one day, and acutually talk to him to see if he needed any help...with a few minutes my husband was fixing his screen because his wheelchair had broken it and a lot of mosquitoes were getting in..then he said that he has a ramp going to his backyard, but that is was broken, so therefore had not been in his backyard all summer...so my husband took mayby an hour to fix his ramp and when it was done, he wheeled himself down the ramp and said'''I can't believe it, it is so beautiful back here, I have never even been in my own back yard because there was know one to help me:....Needless to say when my husband came home and recounted his aftertoon walk, we talked together and decided to do something for this man...As it stands, my husband has taken on the responsibility of fixing his house with the 'metis council' and other organizations that has finances for him, but know one to cordinate the job....My task, is to clean his house...it is impossible to even get in his house for the workers to being there job, so my task is to start from the beninning and clear a path, clean up the debris, clean the kitchen, etc....for the eventual task of renovating his home....Isn't it amazing what a simple walk and reaching out can do? I will keep you posted on this project....Dianne Ross

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008. Yesterday was a difficult day for our school community. Connor Thompson, a student in grade 6, died of cancer. As a community we celebrated Connor's life a few weeks ago by running/walking the Terri Fox Run in his name. 2 weeks ago we had an assembly in recognition of all of his great attributes - creating a beautiful award that will be recognized / and given to a student who exemplifies the qualities Connor had. Yesterday, he passed away early in the morning. As a school, we were notified early in the morning of his passing so that we could be prepared and come together at 8:15 before school began to pray for him. We prayed and spoke to our individual classes when they arrived (many of them had been informed via telephone that were close to him). We were given a prayer and scripture reading that would be done in each class and then at 9:30 am the entire school joined together in prayer. It was a very emotional time for everyone! We are very fortunate that as a Catholic school community we are able to pray together for the loss of this beautiful child. As a class, we shared our thoughts around our prayer center, we prayed together, we sang together and we celebrated together. Students were given some time to reflect on their thoughts and feelings by sharing them in words and/ or drawing. Some students drew pictures of a memorable time, some wrote an acrostic poem, and some took the time to reflect and pray in the chapel.... Renate Woods

Who do you say that I am? At first, I didn't know how I wanted to answer this question. I feel that I am a strong individual, who is independent and has found a deeper meaning of who I am. This has not been an easy task for me, and like our students and community members I continue to grow. I have often questioned my faith during times of uncertainty and despair. The loss of loved ones and tragic events have allowed my mind to wander from t ime to time, but I continue to pull myself back to the roots of my faith. I believe that there are lessons to be learned, even in the hardest of circumstances. The compassion and support that my family and friends have shown me is without question the most important gift. A gift that we not only receive, but one we have the power to give back. I believe that I am a "giver", one who can share experiences, compassion and strength to those around me. Even the students who appear to have it all figured out (that used to be me) still have so many questions. I hope to be the person to help them to follow God's path and realize that "one person" can make a difference. It is so important for our students to understand that they all have the power to change the lives of others around them, even those they have never met. This is possible through helping others by donating clothing, food, gifts, and other items they might need. I want to inspire others to "Want" to help others, not just because they are told to, or it is required. Wanting to help someone is such a huge act of kindness, one that I wish would be shown more often. So who am I, I am a believer that I can make a difference in other people's lives, the way Jesus did. Lindsay

A brief up-date: Oct. 30th,2008 Assessments are being done on the individual's home, to be able receive financial aid from the 'social service'. In the meantime, my husband and I tend to his daily needs as it occurs. thank you. Dianne Ross

Nov. 4/08 "Operation Christmas Child" Last year in Windsor, I was involved with a project called, "Operation Christmas Child". This charity collects Christmas presents for children who live in 3rd world cointries who don't have anything, especially gifts at Christmas. This organization collects show boxes for both girls and boys at various ages full of school supplies, toys, hygiene items, etc. that are packed onto planes and then delivered over the holidays. It is done throughout Canada and has drop off stations everywhere!! This year, not only am I going to send several shoe boxes and get my family and friends involved, but I am going to be colunteering at the processing centre in Kitchener to help organize the boxes at the end of November. I am really excited about this opportunity. On thier website (samaritanspurse.ca) you can find movie clips and a ton of information about the project. They have so many different ways to get involved. You can also request resources for your classroom to help get others involved. They are no cost. I have ordered several resources, such as a curriculum kit (can use this project in your classroom for so many different areas), posters, pamphlets, DVDs for the students to watch, music, etc. As you know, I am an occassional teacher, so at first I wasn;t sure how I could reach others because I didn;t have my own class to do this project with. However, then I realized that I was in a unique situation. i travel all over Simcoe County right now supply teaching and go to several differnt schools in a week. So, each time I go to a new school, I will be bring the pamphlets for the "Operation Christmas Child" with me to leave in teachers mailboxes. Who knows, maybe someone else will take an interest too! I will keep you posted and let you know if I get any feedback. Lindsay Nov.16th/08 Thanks Lindsay for your sharing...it sounds like a wonderful project...I'm anxious to talk to you about next class..can you bring me a pamphlet..thanks.....well, things are moving slowly with my project, but we are determined to see it through...we especially like to be able to set 'him' up for Christmas...I am thinking of involving my children, so they can take part in the giving to another human being who is in so much need...I am also going to ask my students to create some christmas cards for him, as he has no family around...it's amazing sometimes that this person just lives up the street from us and that we don't have to travel very far to find someone in need...God Bless, Dianne

Dec. 308 Here is my final wiki....everything has fallen into place...Our neighbour received funding to go ahead and fix his home....my husband and I and a few other neighbours, have begun to clean his house in order to get access to his bathroom....my husband will be installing a wheelchair accessible shower...my job along with the children is to clean his place up....my students have made christmas cards in which we will present closer to christmas....I also plan on sharing some of our christmas diner...he cannot make it into our home for we are not wheelchair friendly, but plan on visiting him...Thank you for taking the time to share my thoughts with you....God Bless Dianne

Hello Ladies! December 7, 2008 This is my final wiki as well. Lindsay - are you going to be printing it off for class on Tuesday? In my class a week ago, I read the story The Christmas List, by Susan Leigh. It is a story about a family, 2 children in particular who are busy preparing for Christmas. The boy has his Christmas List all ready, and as expected is long with things for himself. He keeps asking his sister if she has her list made yet, but she doesn't. She doesn't know what to put on it. During Sunday School, the teacher talks about Mary and Joseph and how they had to travel to Bethlehem because of the census. One of the children asks if God has a "list" of who gets to heaven. Not to give the story away, because you will really want to read it, but the girl in the story finally figures out what she wants to put on her Christmas List. She draws a large heart with a cross in the middle of it. Her Christmas gift / wish is to share the Christmas Story with others!

Well, as you can expect, this really created some great conversation in my classroom. A number of my students are on the Social Justice Committee (which is run by another teacher in the school), and what the class came up with is they wanted to run a "COINS FOR CHRISTMAS" or in some schools known as CHRISTMAS CHEER. They wanted to collect coins and then give that money to a needy family in our community, or to a family / parent with a child who has "nothing," something that will make a difference in their lives and to make their Christmas better.

When we talk about who Jesus is, and the discussions that we have had so far, one thing that comes to mind is the "pay it forward" idea. When we follow in Jesus' footsteps and think of others before ourselves, we pay it forward. We make a difference! By sharing our gift of belief in others, and our faith that others will extend those gifts as well, don't we all make the world a better place?

Maybe this is what our final answer should contain? What do you think?

Renate

Dec. 7/08  First, I just want to say thank you for sharing your action projects with me. Dianne, it is so wonderful that you are able to help that person in need to be able to live more freely in their own home. I think a Christmas visit is very thoughtful. All your hard work has certainly made a difference! Renate, I always look forward to reading your posts because you have such amazing stories to tell. "The Christmas Story" sounds like a great book, and is now one that has made it to my Christmas list (along with Robery Munch books of course!!). Anyway, your touching entries have been a pleasure to read, thank you for sharing them with me. As, for printing of the wiki, I will take care of it and bring it on Tuesday.  As for my social action project, I am so excited to share what has been going on. This year, I packaged 9 shoe boxes full of all kinds of educational supplies, (pens, pencils, rulers, erasers, writing pads, pencil sharpeners, coloured pencils, stickers, etc.) toys, (all kinds!!) hygiene products (toothbrushes, kleenex packs, socks, etc.) and treats (of course!) for boys and girls ages 5-9. I went to the various stores and loaded up on supplies and wrapping paper and spent the entire day last week setting up the boxes for each child. It was so exciting for me to put things I thought each child would like in the box. I laughed at myself when I had to go back out that night to buy more because I thought some kids had more in their boxes than others. (They would have never known, but I knew and wanted them to all have the same!!) I gift wrapped each of the boxes and stacked them in my car. Last Friday, I dropped all the boxes off at the United Church (one of the drop off centres in Barrie). I left there feeling very emotional. I hope that the children enjoy opening their boxes and know that they were packed with so much enthusiasm and love. I love giving gifts to others, especially those people who really need it!

Each member of my family will be presented this Christmas with the information surrounding "Operation Christmas Child" and how they contributed to helping a child have a gift to open for Christmas. I intend to give each person a pamphlet and indicate whether they gave to a boy or girl, contents that I placed in the box, and information about where the box and money I donated would end up. I also have a very emotional video from "Samaritan's Purse" (name of the charity) that I would like to show everyone. I hope they enjoy my gift to them as a giver!

I will still be volunteering in Kitchener (weather permitting) at the processing centre towards the middle of the month. I think this will be a great experience! I can't wait until next year, I intend on sending even more!!! Hopefully I can get a school involved or maybe even my own class!!! (wishful thinking!!)

In closing, Renate, I think you said it perfectly when you mentioned the idea of "Paying it Forward". Is that not why we are here?? It is the little things that we do at home, with our families, and at school, that make such a differnce! Teaching others how to become givers is a wonderful feeling for everyone.

Have a happy holiday Lindsay