St. Juan Diego

Today is the day of the feast of St. Juan Diego. Juan Diego had a wife who died. Then he became a widower. Juan Diego was walking 14 miles to Mass when he met a beautiful lady. The lady requested a shrine where she was standing. She told him that she was Mary Immaculate. She said to go and tell the Bishop for permission to build a shrine. The bishop did not believe Juan Diego. He asked for a sign that she was Mary.

Juan Diego went to go tell Mary to give him a sign, but his uncle was very ill. Mary had told him to come the next day, but he couldn't because he had to look out for his uncle. The next day he felt embarrassed because he did not come the day before. His uncle was dying, and Juan Diego was going to get a priest. On the way he met Mary again.

She said that he shouldn't worry about his uncle, and that he would be safe. She said to use his cloak to go get roses from the old rock and take them to the Bishop. She arranged the flowers in his cloak, and he went to go show the Bishop. The Bishop was surprised to find roses in winter. As he let the roses fall to the floor, a picture of Mary Immaculate appeared on his cloak. The Bishop felt sorry for not believing him, and he fell to his knees and prayed for Mary's forgiveness.

A shrine was built as Mary requested. Juan Diego's cloak is still seen at the church: it's color is unfaded to this day. We celebrate this day for St. Juan Diego, who was cannonized on July 31, 2002 by Pope John Paul II.

Written by Lauro and Emily S.

St. Nicholas

Saint Nicholas is the patron Saint of our class. St. Nicholas's feast day is December 6th. St.Nicholas gave our class candy on his feast day! St. Nicholas is known for leaving gifts for children. One of St. Nicholas's stories is about when he gave the father of three daughters three bags of gold. They needed the gold so the father would have a dowery to give to the grooms. Three bags of gold, three girls, and three gold balls are symbols related to St. Nicholas. St.Nicholas is now named Santa Claus in the United States.

Written by Stephen and Sarah S.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

This morning the entire school celebrated Mass together in honor of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This is a special feast day to honor Mary. She was born without sin because God knew ahead of time that she was going to be the mother of his son. All other people were born with Original Sin, but Mary was pure. God later sent the Angel Gabriel to ask Mary to be the mother of Jesus. Mary said "Yes." Also on this day we honor the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. They are a model for everyone in how to love God.

Written by the 3rd grade class.

Super Class!

I had to post today to tell everybody that I have an amazing class! This 3rd grade class is fantastic when it comes to helping their school. They consistently bring in Box Tops, Mall Receipts, and Campbell's Soup Labels to earn money for our school. They are also great at participating in projects and events around school. We had the most parents and students show up to the school Book Fair. We also brought in TONS of roasting pans and yams for Thanksgiving. I am very proud of the positive and helpful attitude this class has towards others.

We brought in the most receipts to be counted in the program at Fashion Fair Mall. As a congratulations, we got to enjoy donuts and hot chocolate this morning. Thank you Mrs. Serrato for providing the yummy treat for us today! It was delicious. The hot chocolate was perfect on this overcast and chilly day.

Mrs. Forcey

Going to Confession

Today all the 3rd graders went to confession. We all felt kind of nervous. This is what we did. We all got ready to go. We all walked to the church. One by one we all sat down and waited for our turn. One by one we all went to confession. We all sat down next to father and one by one said, "Good morning Father. In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen." Then we told him our sins. We said the Act of Contrition. Then our sins were forgiven. Now our hearts are free of sin. Now I feel excited because I know that I can try not to sin anymore. I also feel free of sin because I was forgiven.

Written by Emily V. and Tyler

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! No, Mrs. Forcey hasn't gone crazy! Why do you think I am saying Happy New Year in November? Let me know on Tuesday!

Mrs. Forcey

News about comments

Hi Kids and Families,
It's Mrs. Forcey. I just wanted to let you know that I had to make a change to the comment section of our blog. For safety purposes, I had to change the way comments show up on the blog. You can still sign in and leave your comments, but they aren't going to show up right away. I have to read them first to make sure they are acceptable to be published on our site. Once I read the comments, I will post them. Don't worry if your comment doesn't show up right away. I know it is exciting to see your comment appear right away, but I promise to check the blog often so comments will show up pretty fast! I hope you are all enjoying your vacation.

Love,
Mrs. Forcey

Happy Thanksiving 3rd Grade

Animations provided by MySpaceGraphicsandAnimations.com

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my 3rd graders and their families! I hope all of you have a wonderful vacation and a blessed holiday. Enjoy the week with your families, and I'll see you next Tuesday. Don't eat too much turkey, and read a book!

Love,
Mrs. Forcey

The Best Helpers Ever!

A HUGE thank you goes out to all the parents who volunteer at our school. Here are three such ladies. We had our first 3rd grade lunch this past Friday. Andrew's mom and grandma and Nicole's mom (pictured in the middle) arrived to package and pass out hot lunch to all the students. You did a great job ladies!

A sincere thank you to all parents, grandparents and relatives who help at our school in any way. Our school is truly amazing because all of you are so involved in all that we do. Thank you!

Working on the blog!

Marisa and Maryanna are at the computer working on the Johnny Appleseed blog entry. Good job girls!

Right to Life Dinner

Every year the classes at OLPH decorate papers that become table covers for the annual Right to Life Dinner. The theme this year was "Babes in Toyland." The 3rd graders had fun sprawling across the floor decorating the huge paper with toys.

Johnny Appleseed Week

Johnny Appleseed's birthday is Sept. 26, so the class spent that week in September learning about this legendary folk hero and eating apples!

We had a fun time learning about Johnny Appleseed. Mrs.Forcey read a book about Jonny Appleseed. Here are some of the facts about Johnny. He grew apple orchards. He sold seedlings. He told fables to others.

We had a party with apple produts only. We made applesauce in Mrs. Forcey's crockpot. We sliced apples, and then we put them in the crockpot. Then we put cinnamon, water, and sugar in the pot. Then we let it cook for 3-4 hours. It tasted really good. We also ate apple slices at our party and drank apple cider and apple juice.

We watched a movie about Johnny Appleseed. We learned a song about Johnny Appleseed. We still sing the song in class before lunch. Here is the song.

"Oh the Lord is good to me,
and so I thank the Lord
for giving me the things I need
the sun and the rain and the apple trees.
The Lord is good to me. AMEN"

One other apple project we did during the week was to find out how many seeds were in an apple. First we looked at the computer to see how many seeds there might be. The research said there would be 10 seeds. Then we cut open the apples in groups. We took out the seeds and counted them. We found out that every apple had a different amount of seeds. All apples are different.

Written by Marisa & Maryanna

Doing Our Part

OLPH School is very involved in service. We believe that it is our responsibility to help those in need. The student council led us in November's service project of donating the items needed to make 500 Thanksgiving Dinners for those who might go without. The 3rd grade was responsible for bringing in aluminum roasting pans and canned yams. They rose to the challenge (as always!) and brought in many pans and yams to be used to cook a delicious meal. I am very proud of this class for always responding to the needs of others.



We are about to deliver our pans and yams to the school office so they can be packaged into meals.

Written by Mrs. Forcey

Beethoven Lives Upstairs

Waiting outside the Saroyan Theater to see Beethoven Lives Upstairs by the Fresno Philharmonic.

Today we went to see the play Beethoven Lives Upstairs. There were two actors. One was the nephew and the other was the uncle. They send letters to each other about Beethoven. At first Beethoven moved in with the nephew, and the nephew doesn`t want to live with Beethoven. Then, when Beethoven is upstairs, the nephew hears people laughing. He goes outside and sees that Beethoven was looking at a piece of paper and he had no clothes on! Later, Beethoven becomes friends with the nephew! When Beethoven dies, the nephew misses him, but the uncle cheers him up.

I thought it was a great play because I didn't know much about Beethoven, but now I do. I would like to see another show such as this.

Written by Miranda

St. Francis Blessing

At the St.Francis blessing for the pets there were a lot of pets at the blessing. The fourth grade class planned the pet blessing. Most of the kids brought pets. If you couldn't bring your pet, you were able to bring a picture. If you don't have a pet, you were able to bring pet food for pets. Father Robert blessed the pets with Holy Water. We blessed the pets outside. Miss Garcia planned the St.Francis blessing in October. It was very nice for the pets.

Written by Annabelle and Andrew

Pinwheels for Peace

In September the whole school made Pinwheels for Peace. A lot of people saw the pinwheels, and they were beautiful. We had lots of fun making the pinwheels. We made them out of paper. Everybody decorated their pinwheel with crayons or markers. Then we cut them out and we folded them into a pinwheel shape. We put a pushpin through the center and stuck it to a pencil eraser. The pencil was the pinwheel stick. After that, the class stuck the pinwheels in the ground in the front of the school. The pinwheels made us think of peace that would save the world, stopping wars, friendship, love, and peace within ourselves.

Written by Erin and Marcus

Noah to the Rescue!

I saved the caterpillar because it was in the classroom. I think the caterpillar walked into our classroom. I saved it so nobody would step on it! I put it on my hand, and I walked out of the classroom. I put it back on the plant outside our classroom door. I am glad I saved the caterpillar because it is one of God's creatures.



Noah looking at the caterpilar.



Putting the caterpillar back on the plant.



Home Sweet Home!

Post written by Noah

Election Video

This post was mainly put here to test the video. Once in class, however, we realized the the video does indeed work! This was shot on Election Day. Tyler was in the process of casting his ballot.

Election Fun!

During the month of October and the beginning of November, the 3rd grade class learned all about the election process. On November 4, each student was able to step into the classroom voting booth to cast their ballot. They were all quite proud to do their civic duty! Here are a few things we learned.

Esteban - I learned how to vote.

Isaiah - I learned to not say the other candidate is bad. Everyone has a right to their opinion.

Tyler - I learned that we use a secret ballot.

Zachary - You have to be 35-years-old to run for president.

Mark - You have to be born in the United States to run for president.

Nicole - I learned you have to be 18-years-old or older to vote.

Maryanna - You can't vote two times.

The 3rd grade each had a chance to cast their ballot on who they thought should be the next president of the United States of America. Obama was the winner in our classroom.

Up and running

We are up and running! My name is Mrs. Forcey, and I teach 3rd grade at OLPH School. The third grade class and I are eager to share our daily happenings with you. Check in often to see new fun things we are learning. We hope you enjoy what we have to share.