Pre-School Mrs. Malone, Ms. OnkkaBy the time December arrives we will have discussed personal safety & our Circle of Grace, families & homes, Thanksgiving, transportation, & community helpers.
During November our 5-day students had another opportunity to meet with their 8th grade buddies. In addition, they enjoyed “Pete’s Groovy Science Show”, which was put on by the Children’s Museum.
As we reflect on this Thanksgiving season, we are thankful for our preschool families and all that they do to support learning in the preschool classrooms.
We can’t wait to experience Advent and the excitement of Christmas through the eyes of our 3-5 year olds!
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Kindergarten Mrs. Guinan, Mrs. Millar, Mrs. Vaughan
In math, we’ve been busy laying the groundwork for fractions. The students have learned a lot about symmetry, equal parts, and halves. They have learned some geometry through identifying cones, cubes, spheres, and cylinders.
When reading and writing, we have focused on nouns as naming words and the difference between asking and telling sentences.
After discussing Thanksgiving traditions, our kindergartners enjoyed their own feast with their fourth grade buddies. They gave thanks for their many blessings.
We wish you a blessed and safe Thanksgiving !
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First Grade Mrs. Kleffman, Mrs. Nigrin, Ms. HermsenWe are so excited to share the holy season of Advent with your first-grade student. To prepare our hearts for baby Jesus, the 1st graders will be meeting once a week for a grade-level prayer service. We will also be working to incorporate acts of kindness into our daily lives as we work to live our school theme during this season.
As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, we feel so blessed to be a part of your child's daily life. We will be keeping each of our students and their families in our prayers of Thanksgiving. Enjoy this special time with your family and friends!
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Second Grade Ms. Hargens, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. TruscottHappy Thanksgiving! We hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday! Please take this time to enjoy family time. Try a new recipe or find a game that the whole family can play. Take time to tell each other what you are grateful for.
Students have been working on 2-digit addition with regrouping and will soon be starting 2- digit subtraction. Please continue to practice those math facts so we can have awesome adders and super subtractors.
Please remember that as the weather gets colder students should bring enough layers to be warm at recess. Second grade students are not permitted to wear snow boots at recess. Girls may bring pajama pants or sweatpants to put on under their skirts. These should be easy to put on over shoes. First recess can still be chilly!
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Third Grade Ms. Ruelas, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Schofield
We have started multiplication in 3rd grade, and the students are very excited about it. They are developing accurate recall of multiplication facts 0-10 here at school using the online program Xtramath. Please know this program can be accessed from home. Students can see how multiplication and division are related and reap the benefits of knowing basic multiplication facts. We have been working on a terrific service project! As part of an English-Language Arts writing assignment in our Archdiocesan Standards, the children wrote Christmas letters to senior citizens. These letters will be delivered to the residents of Immanuel Fontanelle Care Center, retired priests in our area, and homebound parishioners of Sts. Peter and Paul and St. Mary’s Churches in South Omaha. Living out the Corporal Works of Mercy through our letters was a beautiful way to spend the month of November.
We hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving break and Advent blessing to all! Our “List of Things We Are Thankful For” starts with you! Thank you for everything you are doing to support the learning happening here at school. We are truly blessed!
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Fourth Grade Mrs. Madison, Mrs. Thede, Mrs. CaitoGrade 4 toured the Douglas County Courthouse today! Judge Keim gave us a tour, and we learned a lot. We just finished our Government Unit so this was a perfect opportunity to see our laws in action!
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Thank you to all the parents who helped in planning such fun Halloween parties!
The fourth grade scientists have been exploring electricity and energy. They enjoyed making series and parallel circuits using wires, batteries, and lightbulbs. The engineers concluded the heat unit by creating "solar cookers." Pictured below are the solar cookers that heated the water temperature the most.
We had fun meeting with our kindergarten buddies doing what we are thankful for activities and having a Thanksgiving feast. Have a blessed Thanksgiving! We are thankful for the gift of your children.
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Fifth Grade Mrs. Dotzler, Mrs. Jones, Ms. Salerno
Fifth grade students have started learning about energy and matter in the ecosystem. Students have been excited to start studying life cycles of animals. In social studies, students have been learning about the 13 English Colonies and will begin preparing for our states geography test before Christmas break. Students are very excited to begin working on the state fair project focusing on attractions in their state and famous people. They will also be learning about the important parts of sentences, subjects, and predicates. Thank you, parents, for your help in revising and editing the paragraphs!
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Sixth Grade Mrs. Wane, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Guinotte
English - Students are exploring personal narrative writing this month. Do your students have stories that they would like to share with the class? They can be funny, scary, or a memory from years before.
Literature - Students are continuing to travel with Billy Colman and his two red hounds in the novel, Where the Red Fern Grows. This is usually a favorite of students when asked about books they remember reading while at SVdP.
Math - Students are finishing up GCF and LCM and moving into everyone’s FAVORITE topic.. fractions! We will begin with simplest form and equivalent fractions and then transition to the different operations with fractions. Adding and subtracting is up first; then we move to multiplying and dividing! Students will also be completing a short writing prompt that answers the questions, “How important is math in the ‘real world’ and what are some examples of how you would use it in everyday life?” This is to help strengthen their writing skills, which is used in all aspects of school and life!
Religion - Students are starting to work on Life Maps and completing the Circle of Grace curriculum. Students will discuss listening and following God’s plans that he has made for each and every person.
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Science - Students will be learning how the Earth is structured. Thank you for joining us at Invention Convention. Students did an amazing job of creating new products to solve real-life problems.
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Social Studies - We just finished up our study of Ancient Mesoptomia with the Persian Wars. Students compared the leaders of the many different empires we studied, which highlighted how harsh these leaders truly were back then. We are about to start Module 4: Ancient Egypt. Within this chapter of Ancient Egypt, students will learn about how the civilization came about, the kingdoms and their emperors, how pyramids were built, and the horrendous process of mummification (warning—it’s gross!). I am excited to start this new and exciting chapter.
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English Mr Leever
English 7 and English 8 students have been studying verb tenses, moods, modal auxiliary verbs, and subject verb agreement. Students will finish the semester studying adjectives, prepositions and prepositional phrases.
After Thanksgiving break, 7th grade students will write a character analysis describing one of their favorite characters from a book they have studied in literature class this semester. 8th graders will research a vacation destination and write a description of the location using information obtained by their research. All information will be attributed using MLA style in-text citations and a works cited page.
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7th grade
Seventh graders have been busy investigating a “real-life” scenario and learning a lot about bacteria—unfortunately, the bad kind. This fits right into the recent tuberculosis situation in West Omaha! Next, we will delve into viruses before we start into our cells.
8th grade
Eighth graders are starting learning about the periodic table. We have been concentrating on density and other characteristics of elements. We have been spending time with using tools in the lab like the triple beam balance scale and graduated cylinders to find mass and volume. Finding the density of irregular objects has been a challenge!
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Math Mr. PolacekAs we finish up a fantastic first semester in 7th and 8th grade math, pre-algebra classes will be finishing up a geometry chapter. This will include shapes and a good deal of vocabulary and formulas that they will need to remember. The students at this level have done an excellent job of handling some algebra-heavy topics and should be more than prepared for an algebra class next year.
The 7th grade math group is working on proportions and percents. They will continue to review some arithmetic skills while being exposed to new pre-algebra topics along the way.
In algebra, we are in the middle of our systems chapter. We will solve them by graphing, substitution, elimination and linear combinations. We will then plunge into polynomials with an emphasis on multiplying and factoring. This is a very challenging course, and with new concepts being shown daily, the amount of knowledge gained has been tremendous.
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Mr. Dunn, Mrs. Fosbender, Mrs. Sullivan
The eighth grade teachers would like to wish you and your families a safe and blessed Christmas and New Year's!
It is hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. The eighth grade students will be having their Christmas celebration on Thursday, December 21st. In the morning, we will be watching a movie and enjoying some tasty goodies!
Looking ahead: On Thursday, February 1st, the 8th graders will be attending a city-wide 8th grade Mass at Cathedral. Parents are not able to attend because of space.
Boys will need to wear uniform pants with a long sleeve white dress shirt and navy tie (same thing they had to wear for graduation pictures). Girls will need to wear uniform skirts with a gray pullover SVdP uniform sweatshirt or a navy/red school sweater.
To finish off the field trip, buses will travel to Creighton University for lunch and fun in the student/fitness center.
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Social Studies Mrs. Sullivan
The 8th graders finished up their studies of the Revolutionary War in November. December will bring learning about the Jefferson Era, the Jackson Era and Manifest Destiny just to name a few. After Christmas break, we will start learning about the Civil War. The students will be doing a variety of individual and small group activities to enhance of studies of the historical events.
The 7th graders completed studies of Canada, the United States, Ancient Latin American civilizations, and Mexico in November. In December, we will explore Central America and the Caribbean, as well as many of the countries of South America. Our studies will include individual and small group projects from making maps to creating slide shows of the countries we study.
Blessings and peace to everyone in this holiday season!
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Literature Mrs. Fosbender
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe New Year! The seventh grade students are starting Summer of My German Soldier. Throughout the novel, the students will plan, create, and present a review game over the reading assignment to their classmates.The eighth grade students are starting Freak the Mighty. Throughout the novel, the students are answering questions in their journal writing that go along with the reading assignments, creating a Family Shield, and doing other small projects. The projects range from reflective writing, to researching and creating a scene from the novel. There are some interesting creations!
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Art Mr. Pflaum
Here is a rundown for the projects that students are working on in the various grades.
Kindergarten - The kindergarteners are creating their own version of Wasily Kandinksky’s Concentric Circle painting. First Grade - The students learned about contemporary artist, Romero Britto, and are designing artwork in his style. Second Grade - The second graders are creating a fun oil pastel fall themed drawing. Third Grade - The students are in the beginning stages of creating a Grant Wood 'American Gothic’ inspired watercolor painting. Fourth Grade - The fourth graders have finished their coil pottery and will begin learning about the color wheel. Fifth Grade - The students have been introduced to Georgia O’Keefe and will be creating this own flower drawings/paintings. Sixth Grade - The sixth graders have been creating a city block illustration using 2pt perspective techniques. Seventh Grade - The seventh-graders will be starting a printmaking project once they complete their building stacking illustrations. Eighth Grade - The eighth-graders are in the final stages of sculpting their clay masks and will soon be painting them.
Various student artwork can be viewed on the SVdP art instagram page by visiting this link: https://www.instagram.com/svdpmrpflaumart/
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Computer Mrs. Kuhr
Kindergarten - Students practiced typing a sentence on the computer. Next, we will be going to Teach Your Monster to Read. This is a great reading site. Login is first name and first letter of last name.
1st Grade - We did Kodable. The students love this site. Class codes are - 11blue, 12pink, and 13red. Next, students are going to start to learn about Keynote, by coloring in shapes, solving a puzzle, and writing about Thanksgiving. Keynote is Apple’s version of PowerPoint.
2nd Grade - Students are making a big step forward by learning how to login to their Google accounts and onto Google Classroom. This is a process to learn, but they have been doing great. Now, I’ll be able to share more with them through their Google Classroom. We’ll start with learning a little bit about Google Slides.
3rd Grade - Students “designed” a video game. They basically reviewed copy and paste to create a video game picture. Then they had to write about and create a tagline. We are now back to keyboarding practice on Typing.com and getting ready for our next keyboarding test.
4th Grade - We are finishing up our robotics unit. Students learned how to program our Spheros. They created poems through programming and taught their robots to dance.
5th Grade - Students are almost done creating a battleship style game using Google Sheets and conditional formatting. Then back to some keyboarding practice.
6th Grade - Students are finishing up a project where we talk about password safety, and using “concatenate” in Google Sheets. They ran a dictionary attack and are seeing how good the passwords that they created really are. The project is due next week. Then we will be talking about what should be posted online and what shouldn’t.
8th Grade - Students finished up their podcasts. There were some outstanding podcasts. Now we will be coding a joke-bot using Javascript in Google Scripts.
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Educational Strategists Mrs. Heavey, Mrs. Price, Ms. Bousquet
As the busyness of the holiday season gets underway, I encourage parents to plan a few activities to keep students reading during Christmas break. Christmas break is the perfect time to explore new worlds, meet interesting characters, and let your child’s imagination soar through the power of reading! Here are a few ideas you may want to consider:
1. Cozy Up with a Good Book: Picture this - a warm blanket, a mug of hot cocoa, and a captivating story. This winter break, encourage your child to create a cozy reading nook where they can escape into the enchanting realms of literature. Whether it's a thrilling adventure, a heartwarming tale, or a mystery waiting to be solved, there's a book for every young reader.
2. Family Reading Time: Make reading a family affair! Gather around the fireplace or the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree and share stories with your loved ones. Create cherished memories by taking turns reading aloud or discussing your favorite characters. This not only promotes literacy but also fosters a love for storytelling within the family.
3. Holiday Book Exchange: Organize a festive book exchange with friends or neighbors. Each child can pick out a book they enjoyed and exchange it with a friend. This not only introduces them to new genres and authors but also promotes a sense of community and sharing during the holiday season.
4. Set Reading Goals: Challenge your child to set reading goals for the break. Whether it's a certain number of books, pages, or a new genre they've never explored before, having a goal can make reading more exciting. Celebrate their achievements and discoveries as they immerse themselves in the wonderful world of literature.
5. Explore Seasonal Stories: 'Tis the season for magical tales set in snowy landscapes and filled with holiday cheer. Explore seasonal stories that capture the spirit of Christmas and winter. From classics like "The Polar Express" to newer gems, there's a vast array of festive literature to enjoy during this time of year.
6. Visit the Library: The local library is a treasure trove of books waiting to be discovered. Take a family trip to the library and let your child explore the shelves. Many libraries also host special holiday reading events or story hours, providing an opportunity to engage with other young readers in the community. Wishing you and your family a cozy and book-filled Advent and Christmas season!
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Guidance Mrs. SkudlarekThe students have been doing great things in guidance this past month! In kindergarten we have been working on being peacemakers instead of peacebreakers. To go along with that, we spent some time discussing the difference between tattling to get someone in trouble and telling to get someone out of trouble. The students enjoyed role-playing different times when it might be a good idea to tell vs. tattle. First grade students are also working on knowing the difference between tattling and telling. Kindergarten and first grade students have been focusing on the following: being Danger Rangers, warning others if a person or animal is in danger; being Problem Solvers by taking charge and trying hard to solve a problem themselves; asking themselves Now or Later? "Is the problem something that needs to be talked about now or can it wait until later". This is something that is difficult and takes practice. Please help your child practice these skills at home. In first, second, and fifth grade we have been talking about our Circle of Grace. Be sure to ask your child what new vocabulary they have learned and how they can continue to keep God sacred within their Circle of Grace. Third and fourth grade students have been focusing on the positive and important qualities of one another. We read a book titled, The Important Book. This book features different items and discusses their importance. Students were then asked to apply this to a classmate and write about that classmate. Our sixth graders wrapped up talking about bullying and harassment. The eighth-grade students have been focusing on managing relationships and social conflicts. I feel very thankful each day for the work I get to do with your children.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
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HAL Mrs. MillerThe students have had another busy month in the HAL classroom. The 4th graders learned their divisibility rules and that was helpful in their understanding of fractions and factors. The 5th graders also spent time working with fractions and have been focusing on solving word problems. We discussed that you should read a word problem a minimum of 3 times—once to read it, a second time to gather facts to solve, and lastly to make sure you answered the question. Hopefully this will help lead to more confidence with this skill. The 6th graders are learning about radicals and simplifying radical expressions, and the 7th graders are working on a unit of linear equations and systems of equations.
The junior high literature class continues with their novels. The 7th graders are working on writing a 2-minute mystery by modeling the style of the popular stories of Donald Sobol. The 8th graders are enjoying their novel The Wednesday Wars and learning about William Shakespeare. The students wrote their own Shakespearean curses and had a taste of a few of Shakespeare’s famous plays.
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Media Center Mrs. Kaiser
Thank you to our volunteers and to everyone who supported the Book Fair. Your generosity will allow us to purchase library books and supplies throughout the year. We also sent three big boxes of new books to St. Bernard’s school.This is the most we’ve ever collected for charity. We are proud to walk in the footsteps of St. Vincent de Paul by sharing with those in need. Upcoming topics in the library will include Caldecott medal winners for grades K-3, citing URL’s for grade 4, 3D printing for grade 5 and a review of research basics for grade 7.
Thank you to the following students and their families for donating a book to the library in honor of their birthday: Sophia Foster, Chloe Nguyen, Elena Penka, Owen Patterson and Elias Heimann. Special thanks to Mr. Ray Bentzen for donating books to both St. Vincent’s and St. Bernard’s schools.
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Music Mrs. LeMenseGrades 3 and 4 are in rehearsals for their Christmas program, which will happen on Thursday, December 14th! Students will be asked to wear dress-up clothes.
5th graders have started their second year recorder unit. We’ve been focusing on the C scale and we’ll be able to play Christmas carols very soon!
2nd graders are working on rhythm reading and writing. They are learning to improvise a rhythm!
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Music Mrs. GoodwinAnother successful program in the books! Our seventh and eighth graders did a marvelous job at their “Karaoke Night” program that featured several students as soloists, dancers, and instrumentalists. It is awesome to have such talented students who come with wonderful ideas to make our programs special.
The sixth graders have been brushing up on their ukulele skills and have already learned quite a few songs! After a long period of preparation for their program, the seventh and eighth graders will take a break from singing and begin to work on composition projects.
Our next middle school performance is our spring musical at the end of March. We will learn a few songs in class to prepare students who would like to audition for the musical.
As the Christmas season approaches, students also have the opportunity to participate in caroling at the Parsons House.
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PE Mr. Boone
K-2 students worked on striking and volleying balloons. They discussed what it means to volley an object and the various ways to strike an object. They started off by using their hands to strike balloons and to keep it up by themselves. They then moved into hitting the balloon with a partner over a jump rope while being limited with the number of hits to do so. Then they moved into striking with a foam paddle while they struck a balloon over a table rather than a net. The did this inviduvally and then with a partner. The students concluded the month with a week of mindfulness, where they learned to stretch, control their heart rate and breathing, and relieve stress by getting rid of negative thoughts.
3-6 students worked on their volleying skills. Students learned how to set, pass, and serve a ball over a net. The students learned when it was appropriate to rotate to the next position on the court by playing Nitro Ball, beach ball volleyball, and speed volleyball. The use of beach balls with the younger grades allows for more involvement from all students and the speed of the game slows down a bit to allow full cognitive understanding of the skills. Grades 3-5 completed the month with fitness knowledge games while 6th grade played table tennis.
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PE Mrs. Conry
We played a game called King Pin. My hope was to encourage teamwork and problem solving. Organized sports or even a neighborhood game of tag will help them learn how to work with others.
I am hoping to continue working on Teamwork. On a team kids should exhibit trust, enthusiasm, ambition, as well as motivation. Trust enables each team member to depend on one another. In many games, sports team, all the players need to be trusting with each other.
We have started volleyball skills; it’s been fun to watch how so many really enjoy it. I am very impressed with how well the classes are doing. I am proud of the encouragement and kindness they are displaying with each other.
Recently an email was sent out to the 7th & 8th grade parents about volunteering their time with our SNAG unit. I encourage anyone with interest to please reach out.
Happy Thanksgiving to your and your family. We all have so much to be grateful for.
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2nd-4th Spanish Mrs. McDermott Students in 4th grade Spanish are continuing to use their knowledge of the days of the week to discuss “hoy” (today), ayer (yesterday), and mañana (tomorrow). They are also learning how to write the date in Spanish (el # de month), for example, "el 25 de diciembre", the 25th of December and how to say their birthday in Spanish, “Mi cumpleaños es …………..
Students in 3rd grade Spanish are learning the names of clothing and accessories. They are also reviewing the colors by describing clothing with a color.
Students in 2nd grade Spanish are learning the names of 13 colors including gold (oro) and silver (plata). They have learned a new game called “Caliente o’ Frio (Cold or Hot) to practice the names of colors by looking for them in the classroom.
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5th-8th Spanish Mrs. Singh
¡Hola!
¡Felices Fiestas! Happy Holiday season! I am so thankful to work with students excited about learning Spanish. I am hearing more “Spanglish” (a mixture of correct English and Spanish), and that always makes me happy.
8th grade students have learned subject pronouns and are perfecting their present tense verb conjugations of regular verbs. We are currently working on dictionary skills (using online dictionarie NOT online translators!), and students are creating their own verbs to demonstrate their understanding of verbs in the infinitive form vs. conjugations. The inspiration for this project was this quote from Frida Kahlo
¿Se pueden inventar verbos? Quiero decirte uno: yo te cielo, así mis alas se extienden enormes para amarte sin medida. Can one invent verbs? I want to tell you one: I sky you, so my wings extend so large to love you without measure. - Frida Kahlo
7th grade students are perfecting their skills telling time in Spanish and learning how to use the “24 clock”. We are also studying breakfast foods. So, it’s a great time to take your student out for some churros y chocolate! churros and hot chocolate are a traditional breakfast treat in many Spanish speaking countries.
6th grade students just completed their unit on calendar information. They are currently studying types of weather for each season. Their next assessment will not be a written test. Instead, students will pick a Spanish speaking country and present a weather report with their partner. One student will talk about the weather during the week and the other student will discuss the weather outlook for the weekend. Students will also learn how the seasons are opposite in different hemispheres…so while it’s Winter in México, it’s summer in Chile!
5th graders are learning about influential Spanish speakers. They have colored/illustrated a cover page about their “person”, and they have started a Google Slide presentation. Each student will complete a slide to introduce their influential person to their classmates. We are also practicing greetings and goodbyes in Spanish.
Expect to hear your students singing “Villancillos” in the coming weeks! All grade levels will learn some Christmas carols in Spanish!
A friendly reminder that it is so helpful to me when you include your students homeroom number if you email regarding grades, etc.
¡Gracias!
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