As I write this, I am still warmed by the energy and release of our Living Souls Day celebration. The last two days seem a bit like a blur to me. The same might be true for some of our students. At recess on Tuesday afternoon, one first year boy asked me, "when do we need to tell people about our saint?" I asked him what he meant. "You know, when we tell them our research."
"I think that already happened today. You already did it." A spark of realization hit him and then he was gone--running to play with friends.
On Monday morning this week our mantra of "today is normal" was subverted by two looming facts. One, our classroom's first birthday of the school year was being celebrated today. (I can't come up with an exact percentage for how rare it is that none of the 32 names on our birthday board--26 students, three elementary staff, two teacher's babies, and one Mary Pat-- had birthdays in September and October, but I can tell you that it is a bit of a statistical anomaly.) The smell of pancakes danced in the air. We began with a few servings of gluten free pancakes for our honored student who turned 7 over the weekend, and his little brother, who visited from Ms. May's class.
The other thing on all our minds that morning was that this afternoon would be our full dress rehearsal for our Living Souls Museum--the culmination of weeks of research and practice. Like anything else in Montessori elementary education, this project contained a baseline expectation (a report, a costume, a picture, and an oral report) but no ceiling. Many older children use their report to practice their handwriting. Others use the opportunity to practice their typing at home, coming in with a beautifully formatted report that surprises the younger students. (One first year student saw a 6th year reading from her printed report to some guests and essentially accused her of plagiarism. "No", she said, "I wrote this. I wrote this on the computer." Incredulous, he took a closer look at the neat lines of small text. "But how?") Other students turned fabric into 4th century Roman tunics. Many readers just recently were working on some of these costumes together with their children at home. Take note of the decisions that you made and the responsibility you took on this year. Next year it will be less. The year after that it will be less than that.
After recess, some older students cleared the hallway of furniture, and placed out a chair for each student. If you have never visited our Living Souls Museum, we take over the hallways of the school, lining ourselves up all the way from the elementary atrium, near Mrs. Dankoski's office, all the way around to our door closest to Mrs. Ashton's classroom.
The students began putting on their costumes. There was the same mix of joy and nerves I remember from theater performances with school kids. This is something greater. They have memorized their own words about heroes they have chosen for themselves.
Here is a list of the saints chosen:
Mary, the Mother of the God
Saint Anne
Saint Germane
Venerable Carla
Saint Hildegard von Bingen
Saint George (We had two saint Georges actually. He is popular with boys!)
Saint John Neumann
Saint John Paul II
Archangel Gabriel
Archangel Michael
Saint Lucy
Saint George
Saint Patrick
Saint Dorothy of Caesarea
Saint John Leonardi
Saint Thomas Becket
Saint John Ogilvie
Saint Paul
Saint Eulalia
Saint Zelie Martin
Saint Therese of Lisiuex
Saint Felicity
Saint Perpetua
Saint Martin of Tours
Saint Francis of Assisi
Represented are martyrs, nuns, and priests, a pope, as well as humble laypeople and mothers. Children chose these saints for many reasons. A piece of art called to them, perhaps. Sometimes it was the name. Two picked their namesakes. Another selected the saint for whom their baby sister was named. Some picked a story that spoke to them: Paul's conversion spoke to one second year who had already been his evangelist namesake last year. The friendship of Felicity and Perpetua called out to two upper elementary girls, who blended their oral report into something which was almost an audio drama. A fifth year was drawn to so much about the story of Saint Francis--his life of poverty, his personal charisma, the stigmata which he received, and so much more.
We had a special guest helping us work the kids and give them the practice they needed for the next day. Paula O'Keefe has been involved in this school for much of its history. She has been part of the Parents Guild and at times its head. She has been part of the team that have made many Mardi Gras fundraisers happen. I mostly know her from being the elementary room parent in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. Some of the best days of the past two years began as field trip ideas in her head. As hard as this is for me to believe, her youngest daughter is a sixth year, and this is the last year she will be a parent in the elementary community.
When I found out that she would be working the polls for the entire day on Election Day, and thus would not be able to join us at the Living Soul Museum, I knew she would have to be part of our dress rehearsal. At the end we took a surprise group picture and gave her a Holy Bible from the elementary class.
When the pictures were snapped we only had a few minutes to take off our costumes and prepare for dismissal. Costumes once filled with saints were folded or balled up and placed on the chairs, ready for the morning. After school a teacher from Ms. May's class tells me about a child who had been watching the rehearsal and told her, "they are on their way to heaven."
The next day dawns in the 50s. By now most of the students are well adjusted to the time change and no longer feeling the languid aftereffects of the five-day All Saints break. The students arrive promptly. They are wide awake and ready.
At 8:30 they start getting dressed. A few children are putting on finishing touches. Some swaddling clothes are prepared for Mary's beloved infant. Likewise, Saint Anne makes a wrap for her daughter Mary, who was once an infant herself. A first year furiously writes a few notes to himself so he can remember what to say about the saint for whom he was named.
At 8:45, a few parents begin walking around and conversing with the saints. The saints began presenting all they learned to our visitors. Who were our visitors? They were parents and grandparents, parents from other classrooms, students from our primary classrooms, and even students from the RMS Atrium on the building's northwestern side.
I had a pocket full of safety pins, which were sometimes needed to secure a tunic or tighten swaddling clothes and angel wings. Tape was sometimes needed for a shield strap or a holy card containing the text of the Saint Michael Prayer.
Some of our visitors gave me their impressions on their way out. Some consistent observations were that the children were confident and unafraid to speak in front of both adults and children. The work they had put in was obvious. Repeat visitors were amazed at the growth in reading they saw in our younger students.
Before lunch, we prayed the litany of the saints, calling on all these saints to intercede for us and that we might be led by their example to follow Christ.
At recess a second year pointed an odd sight out to me--a North American Wheel Bug carrying a yellowjacket it had killed or paralyzed up a tree. Normally these bugs predate upon caterpillars and beetles. I suppose on this warm November day the wasp had let down its guard.
After silent reading, we gave ourselves a pat on the back and went back outside to finish the day with some organized games. One group played freeze tag on the blacktop. Another played gaga ball.
You probably do not have very many gaga ball opinions. After all, most of us did not play it ourselves when we were in school. Its history is obscure, but it seems to have been invented in Israel about 75 years ago and spread from Jewish summer camps in America to schools. Its popularity lies mainly in that kids love it. While you may not have gaga ball opinions, I have one. One of our 3rd year girls plays the game the right way. She is the Shoeless Joe Jackson, Roberto Clemente, and Tony Gwynn of gaga ball. When she is hit, she goes out immediately without complaint. She plays with intelligence and finesse. She doesn't spare her friends or target particular children. She reminds people of the rules kindly.
As the bright and warm sun shined down at an autumnal angle, she was one of the final three players in a hard fought round. When she got out, she walked proudly to the side. A 5th year boy leaned over and put his hand out to receive a high five. She gave him a crisp one.
Maybe you had to be there to see it, but I felt in that moment the presence of the saints and that here in Nokesville we too are learning their lessons and, please God, are on our way to heaven.