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Catholic values permeate all the learning that takes place every day at Annunciation. Students begin their day with a morning flag assembly which includes prayer. In homeroom classrooms, the students share morning prayer, the blessing before lunch, and closing prayers before leaving school for dismissal. The student body attends Mass together each Thursday morning and the parish priests from St. Luke, St. Catherine, and Sacred Heart take turns celebrating Mass with our students. It’s another time of bonding our school community when the "big buddy" classes accompany their "little buddy" classes to Mass. Advent and Lenten Reconciliation services are held for third through eighth graders. During Lent, students attend Stations of the Cross on Friday afternoons. Students also attend parish missions, Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, International Rosary, and unique Catholic Schools Week experiences.
On a smaller, more intimate level, each grade plans and carries out a prayer service during the year to which parents and "buddy classes" are invited. The students are actively involved in planning these prayer services and always provide a spiritual experience with those who attend. "Buddy class" activities add to the spiritual growth and bonding at Annunciation: a weekly decade of the rosary in our Rosary Garden, making a "friendship salad" before Thanksgiving, creating valentines and other activities planned by the teachers. Our Kindergarten through fourth grade students look forward to participating in the annual Christmas program which emphasizes the spirituality of the season.
Each classroom has a "prayer corner" which provides a quiet space for prayerful reflection during the day. It sets the mood for the daily religion classes in which students learn about their faith, the traditions and teachings of the Catholic Church, and the Christian example set for us by the saints.
Every class chooses a "Mother Teresa Service Project" annually. This project involves the students in community outreach and becomes a focus of interest during the school year.
A consciousness of Christian social teaching and social justice is integrated into the curriculum. Students gradually develop a global consciousness and an awareness of others. They learn that if one person has more than is needed, another has less than is needed and students become aware of the responsibility that this awareness brings to each of us. -
Service
Mother Teresa Service Projects
PK & Kindergarten
Donations for the local food pantry through St. Luke’s Catholic community – students bring food donations every Thursday and drop off in church narthex
1st Grade
First Grade makes placemats each month for the family dining area at the Sulzbacher Center.
We also make pictures each month to brighten the rooms at Haven Hospice.
2nd Grade
Three visits to Canterfield of Clay County Senior Living Community annually.
Write cards of encouragement for the seminarians and for the residents of Canterfield.
We decorate place mats to be used when the teachers serve meals at the Food Pantry.
3rd & 4th Grades
Donations for the community food pantry of Green Cove Springs. Students do household chores to earn money to purchase new t-shirts for the Augusta Savage Cloest in Green Cove Springs. They also partner with the seveneth graders who donate gently used jeans and the Catholic Council of Women of Sacred Heart, who provide undergarments.
5th & 6th Grades
Donations for the community food pantry of Green Cove Springs.
7th & 8th Grades
Penny War to benefit Catholic Charities & those suffering from natural disasters; Donations for the local food pantry through St. Luke’s; Gleaning in a produce field; Provide Kiva loans; Donate gently used jeans to teens in need