May 2025 

Preschool - Mrs. Malone, Ms. Onkka

We began the month of May with an Eric Carle author study and read many of his books about bugs. Can your preschooler tell you why a spider is not an insect? We can tell a bug is an insect if it has 3 body parts, 6 legs and 2 antennae. We also learned that bugs are very useful!

All of our classes had a ton of fun when our parent volunteers created some fun activities for our Mini Field Days! The 5-day classes hosted their families for an end of year picnic. It was a great way to send off our future kindergarteners!

We finished off the year discussing all of the fun things we are going to do this summer! Thank you again for sharing your children with us. We can’t wait to see what the next school year  has in store for all of us! 

Kindergarten - Mrs. Guinan, Mrs. Millar, Mrs. Vaughan

We hope your child enjoyed learning in kindergarten as much as we enjoyed teaching them! If you get a chance, encourage your child to read and write and even pull out the flashcards for review. First grade has a great class coming their way!

Have a fun and safe summer!

First Grade - Mrs. Kleffman, Mrs. Caito, Ms. Wright

As we look back on the school year, we would like to take this chance to thank each of you for allowing us to be a part of your child's life. The 1st graders have been such a blessing to us this year! In order to transition successfully into 2nd grade, we have the following suggestions for the summer months: Please review addition and subtraction facts through 20 on a regular basis, read to and with your child daily, have them spend time writing about their summer adventures to keep their writing and editing skills current, and make sure to take time for prayer. We also want to extend our sincere thanks for the many hours of volunteering your time and talents to our classroom activities and helping your child be prepared for school each day. Have a GREAT summer!

Second Grade - Ms. Hargens, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Truscott

Thank you for a wonderful year! It is hard to believe the school year is over. It has been quite the journey. Thank you for all the support you have provided. The students have learned so much socially and academically. As teachers, we love to watch how they blossom over the year. We know they are ready for third grade. Keep practicing math facts and continue to find some new adventures in reading!

We hope you have a safe and relaxing summer!

Third Grade - Ms. Ruelas, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Schofield

Everyone has worked so hard to develop and master many new concepts this year, especially writing in cursive and multiplication/division facts. Engaging in reading, writing, and math practice throughout the summer will help students cement these concepts and keep the summer slide at bay.The students can continue to access Xtra Math, Read Theory, and RAZ Reading through the end of July.

The third grade teachers and associates would like to express our gratitude for entrusting us with the education of your children. We have all grown because of the many experiences the students have brought to our lives.

God bless you, and have a safe and relaxing summer!

Fourth Grade - Mrs. Madison, Mrs. Thede, Ms. Geist

The 4th graders ended the year by going on a field study where they documented evidence of weathering, erosion, deposition, and root wedging and animal holes.

We appreciate all the parents’ time and support this year and for sharing the blessing of your children with us. What a joy it has been this year teaching your children and watching them grow academically and socially!

Please have them continue reading and practicing math facts over the summer. Have a safe and relaxing summer!

Fifth Grade - Mrs. Dotzler, Mrs. Jones, Ms. Salerno

5th graders had an amazing time at the Water Works Festival at Schramm State Park. We appreciate all the chaperones who went along with us that day. We have enjoyed getting to know all the 5th graders and watching them grow and progress throughout the school year. Please help your child continue to grow this summer by practicing math facts and reading books. Have a safe and fun-filled summer.😊

Field Day 2025

Sixth Grade - Mrs. Wane, Mrs. Bernt, Mrs. Guinotte

Thank you for sharing your children with us this year. It was a pleasure to have them in class. We hope you have a safe and blessed summer. Please remember to read and practice your math facts.

The sixth grade team :-)

JUNIOR HIGH

English - Mr. Leever

English 7 - Students have completed the spring editing assessment. Students also completed essays on a medical or health-related topic. These essays served as the basis for a 3-5 minutes speech to the class. We ended the year by learning about infinitives and infinitive phrases, and how they function in sentences. I hope everyone has a great summer, and I look forward to seeing everyone next year.

English 8 - Students have completed the spring editing assessment. Students also completed essays on the topic of citizenship. These essays served as the basis for a 3-5 minutes speech to the class. We ended the year reviewing sentence types and learning about adjective and adverb clauses. I hope everyone has a great summer and a successful high school experience.

Science - Ms. Kolberg

Seventh graders wrapped up the learning a ton about frogs the whole year. We compared our systems to the frogs and found lots of similarities but also some differences. I am looking forward to having this group again next year. I hope that you all have a restful summer and I will see you next school year!

Eighth graders ended the year with a blast—rockets, too!. We had rockets reach over 200 feet in the air and with a parachute deploying over 9 seconds in flight time. We even had an entire class with all the rockets' parachutes coming out for spectacular flights. Hopefully, in between all the fun, the students learned about Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. My hope is that the students continue to soar in their next venture—high school! Have a great summer, and I hope to see some of the alumni soon!

Math - Mr. Polacek

First off, let me again say a big “Thank You” to everyone for all of their support throughout this year. The students have so much curriculum to learn, from decimals and percents, to the Pythagorean Theorem and trigonometry, but we really do work on more than just that.

We also emphasize creating good habits for the future in all the classes as we try to prepare them for what lies ahead. Taking notes, asking questions, and showing work are three of the big habits that we push throughout the year. Those traits will help them not just in future math classes but in all of their academic pursuits down the road.

I have truly enjoyed seeing these eighth graders grow, and I feel they have received a solid foundation for the high school classes that lie ahead, and while the 7th graders do have big jumps to take next year, they are in an excellent place so they, too, can be successful in the future.

I hope everyone has a great summer and is able to relax and recharge so they can come back even stronger next year to continue our educational journeys. Again, a huge “Thank You” to all the students and parents who made this such a positive year for me, and I hope it was a positive experience for all involved!

Literature - Mrs. Fosbender 

Where has the time gone? It is hard to believe that it is time to say goodbye to our eighth grade students. Over the last two years I have seen so many positive changes in each and every student and expect to hear about all the wonderful things happening in their futures. Thank you for sharing your children with us, and I want to wish them the best of luck for next year and with their futures!

Religion - Mrs. Nigrin

Farewell students! Summer is upon us!

Congratulations to all of our 8th graders! You are off on a new adventure, and my prayers go with you. Remember to keep God in your life and to continue this journey with Him. Thank you for the opportunity to be your teacher. Stay in touch, let me know how things are going, and remember your theme for this year, “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.” God Bless You All!

Social Studies - Mrs. Sullivan

The school year has come to an end. It is hard to believe, as it seems like only yesterday that we started. I have so enjoyed each of the students in class and have especially enjoyed watching them grow, change, and learn over the year. As the 8th graders head off to their next adventure, I share with you one of my favorite quotes: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." — Eleanor Roosevelt.

We are looking forward to working with the 7th grade students next year. As junior high teachers, we are so lucky to see how much your children grow from the beginning of 7th grade to the end of 8th grade! 

SPECIALS

Art - Mr. Pflaum

We had a wonderful, creative year in the school art room. The students should have all of their work returned and ready to be taken home. Be sure to ask your child about their art work. It is also very good for the kids to draw or create artwork during the summer. It will increase their art skills, reduce their time on electronics, and keep any summer boredom to a minimum. There will be more student art samples on the St. Vincent de Paul student art gallery at this link: https://www.instagram.com/svdpmrpflaumart/

Computer - Mrs. Kuhr

Kindergarten - STEM ROK Block Kits. Students were excited to be introduced the ROK Block Kits, which will enhance their understanding of engineering and creativity. We thought like engineers by building, measuring, and solving problems.

1st Grade - Sphero Indi Robot. Students finished up using our little Indi robots. While working on this unit students practiced creativity and problem-solving skills. Animation Station. We then finished the year up with a little a little animation introduction. Students developed their creativity, problem-solving, and design skills by watching their drawings come alive with frame-by-frame animation.

2nd Grade - Digital Design - Optical Illusion Art. This exciting project will allow students to explore the fascinating world of optical illusions through digital design using Google Drawing. Students learned basic animation elements by creating their own simple thaumatrope.  Students then learned to change colors, group items, and copy & paste to create 3D cubes using a template provided in Google Classroom.

3rd Grade - Keyboarding Practice. Students started the month practicing their keyboarding skills with a goal of reaching 15 words a minute.  AI Generated Art Project. We finished the year with students analyzing and interpreting images created by an AI Image Generator. Then each student chose a prompt and created one image to add to a group slide.

4th Grade - Keyboarding Practice. Students started the month practicing their keyboarding skills with a goal of reaching 20 words a minute. Introduction to ASCII Text Art. I was excited to introduce students to ASCII Text Art. This creative endeavor allowed them to explore coding text into art.

5th Grade - Keyboarding Practice. Students started the month practicing their keyboarding skills with a goal of reaching 25 words a minute. Please encourage your child to practice their keyboarding skills at home this summer to prepare for the challenges ahead!  By the end of their sixth grade year, the goal is to have students typing 30 words a minute.  I have links in my Google Classroom for two websites we use in class, Typing.com & Nitro Type.

6th Grade - Keyframing Using Tweening.  Students continued with our animation unit.  Using the animation software Wick Editor, students explored how to use tweening to create smooth animations.  Create an Animation. As the final project for the unit students were to use the Wick Editor, and create a 30-second digital animation. The project requirements include:

30 seconds long

360 frames at 12 frames per second

Rated PG

Can include backgrounds, clipart, and/or hand-drawn elements

Must tell a story

7th Grade - Designing & Building a Sphero Chariot. Sphero is one of the robots we use in computer classes. Students designed chariots for the Sphero to pull! This hands-on project will teach them valuable skills in design, engineering, and programming. Students were to use Google Drawing to create their chariot designs, build their chariots with LEGOs and other materials. Students then created a program using the Blocks canvas, enabling Sphero to complete the chariot course autonomously.

Please encourage your child to practice their keyboarding skills at home this summer to prepare for the challenges ahead! Students should learn and practice keyboarding because it builds essential skills for today’s digital world. Efficient keyboarding improves typing speed and accuracy, which saves time on assignments and tests involving computers. It also supports better focus and productivity, reducing frustration from slow typing.

I hope everyone has a great summer! As we take a break and start thinking about next school year, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for your ongoing support and partnership. Together, we are creating a nurturing environment for our students to thrive.

Educational Strategists -

Mrs. Heavey Gr. K-2

Summer is here! While summer is a welcome break from classroom structure and teacher-led learning, it is an important time to incorporate activities to keep skills sharp and ready for the new school year ahead. Here are some ideas to help you as you guide your child.

1. Read with your child each day.

2. Visit the library often and take advantage of enrichment activities offered.

3. Encourage educational activities: puzzles or word games.

4. Connect reading to hands-on activities. If your child has a love of nature, read books with this topic and create a backyard scavenger hunt.

5. If your child is a reluctant reader, explore different reading genres such as graphic novels, magazines, joke books or adventure series.

6. Consider starting a summer book club with family or friends. Check out these Book Club Basics https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/read-across-america/celebrate-all-year/book-club-basics

Go to readingrocket.org to find more details on summer learning and other ways you can help your child with literacy. Enjoy your summer!

Mrs. Price Gr. 3-5

Summer is a perfect season to enjoy the many outdoor activities with your family and friends. It is a time to create memories, reflect on the past school year, and build on children’s writing skills. Here are a few ideas to help your child keep their writing abilities sharp over the summer!

1. Keep a daily journal with attention specific details one might forget over time

2. Write a letter to a family member or friend who lives far away

3. Write a reflection about the past school year—blessings, challenges, adjustments for next year

4. Find a favorite place to write—a park, back patio, bedroom, windowsill, etc.

5. Write down goals and track progress on those goals for the summer and next year

6. Do “sentence to paragraph to story” by adding one line per day to a story, and see where the story takes you by the end of the summer

Ms. Bousquet Gr. 6-8

Recent studies indicate that students lose about 20 percent of their school-year gains in reading and 26 percent of their school-year gains in math during the summer. This phenomenon is known as the “summer slide” and is particularly evident in younger children whose learning includes more fundamental skills like decoding, word reading, and math facts.

Fortunately, dedicating a few minutes to reading and math each day can help your children maintain the important academic skills they acquired this year.

Here are a few activities to consider:

Scholastic Summer Reading on Home Base

This is free, educational program in which kids can enter reading minutes online to unlock exclusive digital rewards.

Participate in the Omaha Public Library Summer Reading Program.

Omaha Public Library offers numerous activities throughout the summer, including book tasting parties, story times, ooey gooey science, and many other activities.

Consider practicing math facts for a few minutes each day.

Simple Solutions, which SVdP students use throughout the school year to help reinforce essential math skills, has a book for each grade level called Summer Solutions. This book is a great resource to continue reinforcing the math skills students learned throughout the school-year.

Encourage your children to journal. Taking a few minutes to write about one’s day encourages self-reflection, but it also provides a stress-free opportunity for students to practice their handwriting, sentence structure, and story-telling skills.

Lastly, enjoy the summer! I look forward to hearing all the wonderful things our 8th graders will accomplish in high school and beyond and am excited to see my students returning to SVdP next year!

Guidance - Mrs. Skudlarek

It is hard to believe this is the last classroom update of the year for guidance!  It has been a phenomenal year. Thank you for sharing your children with us. We spent the last few weeks of school focusing on careers. Students were asked to think about their future and what it may look like. Be sure to ask them about their future plans...some of them may hold on to these and not look back. Others seem to have a new idea each day. Either way, it is so important to nurture these ideas and goals to help shape our future doctors, lawyers, nurses, athletes, astronauts, hair stylists, teachers, and more! 

Summer Tips from the Counselor:

Sun Protection: Taking a few precautions can help reduce the chance of skin damage caused by the sun. Make sure kids wear at least SPF 30 sunscreen every time they go outside even if it isn't sunny outside. Overcast skies can be just as damaging to the skin as sunny skies. Have kids wear a hat and sunglasses if they feel comfortable, it is a great way to protect the ears, head, neck and eyes from sun exposure.

Swimming Safety: It is very wise to teach your children how to swim or take your child to swim lessons. Always make sure your child is supervised even if they are an excellent swimmer. When it rains or storms, no one should be in the water. Also make sure your child is aware of the rules at the pool, for example no running, pushing, etc.

Staying Hydrated: Kids should be drinking water throughout the day to stay hydrated. Carrying a water bottle through the day can really help to prevent dehydration and sluggishness. Drinking lots of water is so important especially when kids are out in the hot sun losing water through sweat.

Bicycle Safety: Go over bicycle safety with your child before they go anywhere. There are many areas of the body that can be protected while riding a bike but the most important is the head. Bicycle helmets are extremely important and are available at discount stores and specialized sporting good stores.

Firework Safety: Kids should never be allowed to play with any type of fireworks of any kind. Fireworks give off a tremendous amount of heat and a serious burn or body part damage is always possible. Fireworks should be handled with supervision.

HAL -  Mrs. Miller

Another year has quickly passed, and the students have learned so much over the past several months. Be sure to help your child prevent the “summer slide” by practicing math and reading over the summer. Every student should have math facts mastered. This may mean that you need to help them study by doing flash cards every day for 10 minutes or complete a Summer Solutions page every day.

Also help them review adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing whole numbers, fractions, and decimals. These skills are fundamental to being able to reach some of the more difficult concepts we complete in class.  

Reading should also be a focus over the summer. Choose a book that you can read to/with your child and make your own “book club.” There are thousands of websites that have different discussion questions for you to choose from. Or even better, assign your child to write 5 questions for you to answer for each chapter as you read and choose at least 3 new words to define. This will not only encourage your child to read, but also help him/her critically analyze what is being read. I always encourage students to read a non-fiction book over the summer to help improve their ability to read textbooks. Since students use textbooks all of their academic lives, it is important to know how to decipher non-fiction text. Paying close attention to headings and sub-headings is a relevant skill to increasing their comprehension.

Enjoy your summer!

Media Center - Mrs. Kaiser

Summertime = Reading Time! Take advantage of the long summer vacation to give your child time to read for pleasure. Reading for fun expands your child’s world, develops empathy, and improves reading skills like comprehension and fluency. 

Best wishes to all SVdP families for a blessed and safe summer!

Thank you to the following students and their families who donated books to the library: William Wigen, Autumn Luetkenhaus, Trevor Luetkenhaus, Faye Strickland, Teddy Strickland, Gaby Rodriguez, Isabelle Weidauer, Claire Hyder, and Nadia Gotsmanova.

Music - Mrs. LeMense

The 5th graders began playing ukuleles during this month. They will continue ukuleles when they return as 6th graders.   

The 4th graders finished their first year of recorder. We’ll do one more unit in 5th grade with the recorders, so don’t lose them over the summer. 

Our tentative concert schedule for next year looks like this:

October 16 — Grades 4 and 5
November 20 — Grade K and 1
December 11 — (Christmas concert) Grades 6th,7th, and 8th
February 26 — Grade 2 and 3
April 23  — 6th-8th grade play

Have a great summer!

Many thanks to our Eagles Wings Choir! They did a fabulous job lending their musical talents to enhance our junior high Masses.   They were able to sing in harmony and sometimes they made up their own harmonies, which added so much to the songs we sang. 

We also were fortunate to have a great percussion section this year!

Conor Langenfeld and Gabe Gregory played the trap set!  

Adding to that we had 5th graders Maguire Gass, Connor Kroenke, Coby Royer, and Leo Meyers!

Many thanks!  

Music - Ms. Campbell

It has been a great year in music class this year! 

6th grade started the year learning about different musical styles/genres and prepared for their musicals program. Later in the year they learned about opera and created their own scenes with props! Finally, they've learned about all different types of ostinatos. 

7th grade students started off the year preparing for their program and then studying different composers through history. Second semester's units included music technology and ukuleles. On their last day of class, students celebrated with a Hawaiian party! 

8th graders also prepared for their concert at the beginning of the year. Then, they learned about jazz, rock, and hip hop. They explored music careers and created their own music festivals! 

We still had time for games in music class as well. Favorites include Just Dance, Song-Word Association, Karaoke, and Music Wordle. I look forward to what next year has in store! 

PE - Mrs. Conry

In the fall I administered the Fitness Gram Test. We recorded pre scores, did the test, and recorded the actual scores. This spring we took the post test. We recorded the spring test scores. Many of the 7th & 8th grade students slightly improved, or had the same score. The objective is to see improvement. These scores are based on individual goals. The tests measures key areas of fitness: Aerobic fitness, which involves how well the heart uses oxygen; Muscle strength and endurance, which involve how hard and long muscles can work; Flexibility, which is how able joints are to move through their full range of motion. It also tests the strength of their core through curl-ups. My hope is the students will continue their fitness journey through the summer and have even better scores next fall.

We played wiffle ball, and it was fun. For some students it was something new. For others who had played it before, the rules are a bit different than baseball or softball rules. The ball and bat are different as well. We completed the unit with a short quiz.

Have an awesome summer! See you in the fall.

PE - Mr. Boone

What a year! It’s really hard to believe that we are at the end already. I want to first start by saying thank you to everyone for their help and contributions to our Field Day this year. We stuck it out and had an amazing wet time. I think it’s safe to say that the slip and slide was a huge hit. It’s something to keep in mind for future field days. The last few weeks of school saw our students doing some fun activities.

K-2:These students worked on their throwing skills. We focused on using opposition where they were stepping with the opposite foot while they threw. Activities like Perfect Passer, Pin Blaster, Two Ship Battleships, Pin Smash, and throwing at our large blow up target helped students hone their throwing skills. 

3-6:These students went outside and competed in our own track competition. The students ran in events such as the 50m dash, 100m dash, 200m dash, 400m dash, 800m dash, 4x1 relay, 4x4 relay, and the Steeplechase. The students gave it their all and showed courage to push themselves while they ran.  

I want to thank you all again for a wonderful and safe year. I look forward to seeing you all in the fall and I hope you have a fun-filled and safe summer.  

Spanish 2nd-4th - Mrs. McDermott

Students in 4th grade Spanish learned the names of over 30 sports.They practiced sports names by playing Charades and talked about their most favorite and least favorite sports using Me gusta (I like) and No me gusta (I don’t like).

Students in 3rd grade Spanish learned vocabulary words related to school (la escuela). They used words in Spanish to talk about people and places in school.

Students in 2nd grade Spanish learned the parts of the body in Spanish. They had fun playing Simon Dice (Simon Says) to practice parts of the body vocabulary. They also had fun drawing and labeling a funny creature with numerous body parts.

Spanish  5th-8th - Mrs. Singh

Students in all grades have accomplished so much this year!  

I am pleased that they are continuing to learn and improve even as the year comes to an end.

5th graders have come to class each week with curiosity and excitement. In addition to always practicing “calendar” information, students spent most of the second semester studying the geography of Spanish speaking countries. They have applied tech skills in Spanish, including using international keyboard, and learned how to attach files and submit their work in Google Classroom. 

6th graders worked for several weeks learning about seasons and weather expressions. They were able to discuss the differences between weather in different regions of the world, especially in the southern hemisphere. They also learned how to convert temperatures in fahrenheit to celsius. Each student created a weather forecast for a Spanish speaking country and can find their country on a map. We enjoyed listening to weather report presentations in class. 

7th graders have studied foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We have also talked about how to build a healthy “plate” for a balanced diet. Students researched a traditional dish from a Spanish-speaking country and listed ingredients as well as wrote a short description of the food. We will continue learning about foods at the start of next year. If they’d like to do some research this summer, I asked if they could find a restaurant from a Spanish-speaking country other than México this summer. I will look forward to building a list from their research.  

8th grade - I enjoyed treating the graduates to a “Jarritos” tasting for Cinco de Mayo…ask your student what sabor/flavor was their favorite!  

As part of their final assessment, students created questions (and included the answer) about each theme we have covered. We used these questions in a game called “Redención” (Redemption!). This was a fun way to review everything they have learned. 

Wishing them all the best in high school! 

Students, as you celebrate your achievements, remember the perseverance it took to reach this point. Let your success motivate you to continue learning and putting forth your best effort in school. This verse affirms that your daily efforts have paid off! 

No nos cansemos de hacer el bien, porque a su debido tiempo recogeremos la cosecha si no nos damos por vencidos. - Gálatas 6:9

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9