Week at a Glance 3/18 - 3/22 Start of Great Lent
Students prepping their witnesses for an SJA mock trial.
Hello and welcome to the new week!
Virtue Formation: Courage
This week we begin Great Lent, a time of fasting, repentance, increased service attendance, self-reflection, and anticipation of hope. Our holy season is an opportunity to consider the virtues, which are disciplines and skills that direct human powers toward goodness. There are a number of virtues, but this week I would like to focus on courage.
Courage is our capacity to face and overcome that which discourages us to continue. Lack of courage not only renders us cowards, afraid to stand up to bullies or to voice truth in the face of falsehood, but also gives way to laziness and apathy. For students the danger in dismissing the virtue of courage is the resulting lack of resilience. When a book is hard to read, a friendship sours, or cooperating with a team feels intimidating, a student without courage will be tempted to give up.
The practice of courage builds resiliency by reminding us that nothing worth having comes easy. Life is filled with challenges that call us to rise up and battle for good things. Think of Frodo, the unassuming hobbit from Lord of the Rings. He was called to a dreadful task in disposing of the ring of power. It would require him to leave his home, risk his life, and face unknown terrors beyond the imagination. But the ring had to be done away with. It was the right thing to do, regardless of how he felt. And so he embarked on a journey of a lifetime.
As we journey toward Pascha during this year's Great Lent, let us reflect on the things that can be accomplished as we step out, each in our own way, and practice the virtue of courage. What daunting tasks in the lives of our young people are waiting for them to rise up, and with strength, face (and even overcome!) their biggest challenges?
Nima Duncan
Now let's look at what the week ahead will bring:
Please know that we will be assigning no homework during this week, to accommodate our attendance at the services.
MONDAY:
Mandatory attendance to the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete start at 6pm
4/5th Grade Science will be finishing physical science unit
6th Grade Math will explore geometric construction, drawing on coordinate plane
TUESDAY:
Mandatory attendance to the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete start at 6pm
6-8th Grade science will be going over sound waves properties and music
7th Grade Math will learn Experimental Probability and Compound Events
WEDNESDAY:
Mandatory attendance to the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete start at 6pm
9-12 Grade Government/Economics class is starting The Game of Life after high school project
THURSDAY:
Mandatory attendance to the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete start at 6pm
&
Students of Grades 1 through 5 will participate in the Math Kangaroo Contest
10-11th Grade Math will learn connection between exponential and Logarithmic Functions
Friday:
12th Grade will start a new block of study statistics-Randomness and Probability. They also will continue to working on the project report paper.
Have a great week!
St. John’s Academy