October 2025

Preschool - Mrs. Malone, Ms. Onkka

All of our preschoolers are making great progress learning the routines and procedures of school. This month we discussed feelings, 5 senses, and one of our favorite fall topics, apples!

Our 5-day class has been enjoying PE with Mr. Boone! He has been helping them work on locomotor skills, taking turns, and cooperation.

If you haven’t accessed your child’s Google Classroom account, please do so soon! It’s a great way to know what’s happening in your child’s classroom!

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

We've been in school for over a month, and the kindergarteners are adjusting wonderfully! Hopefully, the parents are as well! Our first month has been a busy time with introductions to school rules, new friends, beginning sounds in reading, positional words in math, the five senses, and recognizing that God made all of us and the beautiful world around us.

First Grade - Mrs. Kleffman, Mrs. Caito, Mrs. Wynegar
Happy Fall! October brings all sorts of new activities to First Grade. One of these is Gumball Math Time tests. Please start studying addition fact families 0-4 to prepare for this. Students have 2 minutes 30 seconds to correctly complete at least 40 problems to pass to the next level.

Thank you to everyone who came to Curriculum Night! We appreciate your time. Please keep signing assignment notebooks and unpacking green folders daily.

Our favorite 1st grade event, All Saints Day, is coming up quickly! Please watch for further details coming home soon. We are excited to share this special day with you!

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

What a wonderful way to start to the school year! Thank you to all the families that donated food to our food drive. What an amazing way to honor St. Vincent. 

In Math, 2nd graders have been working hard on adding and subtracting as well as place value. Our readers have been busy trying to find the theme of stories. Please remember to have your child practice spelling words, work on math facts, and read at home. All these skills build the foundation of core subjects. 

We are working hard to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Students will be getting their Blessed books very soon. Please be looking for chapters assigned to do at home in assignment notebooks.

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

This school year has started great!

The students have been working hard on transitioning to a new grade and routine. Third graders continue to utilize the assignment notebook as a tool to organize, prepare for dismissal, and complete daily work. Thank you for your assistance in helping them become responsible learners.

Students are using XtraMath at school as a way to develop and maintain quick recall of basic facts. You can access this program at home on your child’s Chromebook or through Google Classroom on your personal device.

It is almost time to “Circle the Wagons” and “Put on the Feed Bag” at SPREEHaw 2025. Our classroom project will be on display at this fun event. Thank you to the parents who came to school and helped the students create a project that will definitely bring home the trophy for SPREE.

We are galloping towards a great year in third grade!

Fourth Grade - Mrs. Madison, Mrs. Thede, Mrs. Schroen

How quickly the first two months of school have gone by! Students are adjusting well to fourth grade and the new daily schedule. Please continue to encourage your child to do his or her best and for completing and returning assignments on time.

In social studies students are learning about the rivers and regions of Nebraska as well as continents and time zones! They are enjoying learning about our state. Up next the lessons will be all about our federal and state government.

The fourth grade engineers began the year creating prototypes with specific criteria and constraints. Pictured below are the winners from each homeroom for the strongest straw structure and the "Three T Challenge" where they had 10 cards, 10 cm of tape, and 10 minutes to create the tallest structure to hold a notebook. We will do other challenges throughout the year.

In science class, the engineers have been using criteria and constraints to complete tasks. The straw structure, 10-10-10 challenge, and creating a hearing-enhancing prototype are the tasks that reinforced engineering terms in a fun way. Below are examples of the prototypes created.

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

Fifth graders are off to a great start this school year! We are learning how to be organized and how to get from class to class with all our materials. In social studies, students have been learning about early explorers and have done a great job preparing and assessing our first two chapters. We are looking forward to moving on to learning about the settling of colonies in North America. In English class, we completed a unit on punctuation and capitalization, which will help students all year long with the writing they will do. We are currently working on (auto)bio poems about ourselves. It is fun to read each student's biography! In science, students have been diving into the fascinating world of matter and its unique properties. Now they’re gearing up to explore the amazing ways matter can transform from dramatic reactions to surprising changes in form!

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

Social Studies - We are wrapping up our exciting unit on hominids, where students explored early human ancestors and how they lived. Next, we will begin learning about Ancient Mesopotamia, often called the "cradle of civilization." Students will discover how the first cities, writing systems, and governments developed along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, laying the foundation for human history. This new unit will offer fascinating insights into the beginnings of society and culture.

Math - We have been working on decimal operations, practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with decimals to build strong number sense. We also explored exponents and used them to simplify expressions. Recently, we focused on the order of operations to solve multi-step problems accurately. Currently, we are diving into expressions, learning how to write, simplify, and evaluate them with confidence

English - We will finish our noun unit in September and move into pronouns. Students will continue working on editing, grammar, and vocabulary. Remember that the vocabulary and spelling words are the same. Students have until 3 P.M. the day before the test to complete the online assignments in Sadlier Connect. The assignments are made available the same day the vocabulary chart is due or the day of the test. That way students have time to complete each assignment and should not rush through them.

Literature - We will wrap up our Hatchet novel unit at the start of October and move into Where the Red Fern Grows. Ask your children if they think they would be able to survive in the wilderness like Brian did!

Religion - Students will be exploring the wonder and awe of God—how we see His beauty, power, and presence in the world around us. As part of this, they will create their own mosaics to express what inspires them and how they experience God's wonder in their lives.

Science - Students will be learning about simple machines, work, and power as they explore how things move and function. They will apply their learning by designing their own inventions in preparation for the Invention Convention on November 14, 2025.

JUNIOR HIGH

English – Mr. Leever 

English 7—Students have been working on writing personal narratives, peer editing, and drafting for publication. We will begin studying nouns and their functions in sentences (subjects, objects, complements, and appositives). Students continue to learn and practice writing conventions using Daily Oral Language sentences to hone their skills.

English 8—Students completed writing How-To Articles. We have begun using sentence diagramming to review parts of the sentence that we learned last year. So far, students have diagrammed simple sentences and compound sentences. Students continue to learn and practice writing conventions using Daily Oral Language sentences to hone their skills.

Science - Mrs. Kolberg 

7th grade

7th - Seventh graders have been busy looking at a Kingdom that they did not know exists—the Protist Kingdom.  We are also taking a look at the Moneran Kingdom and the Fungi Kingdom.  The microscopes have been a hit with the students enabling them to glimpse into a previously unseen world!!

8th grade

Eighth graders have been studying waves and the ways waves interact with us. We have done labs with reflection, absorption, and transmission. We are also learning about the ear and are also moving into learning about the eye, since those two sense organs are the main ways we can learn about sound and light.  Quite illuminating!

Math - Mr. Polacek

We are off to a great start here in 7th and 8th grade math in 2025. The 7th grade math class is going over some positive and negative numbers to begin the year. We have reviewed chapters on decimals and fractions to get us going before working our way into some algebra expressions.

The pre-algebra classes started off with some new topics such as integers and negative exponents and will soon be solving equations and inequalities, which require quite a bit of pencil and paper work. 

The algebra classes are finishing up solving equations and will be solving and graphing inequalities and solving systems of equations in the next couple of chapters.

With continued work in our Simple Solutions books, an emphasis will be placed on reading problems carefully and trying to be as meticulous with our work as possible. The students have done a great job of showing work so far, and we are looking forward to that continuing as we tackle many more new algebra topics down the road.

Religion - Mrs. Nigrin

In religion class, the seventh grade has begun to discuss the “I am” statements from the Gospel of John. They will also be discussing the Trinity and the part God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit play in their lives. 

The eighth graders are discussing the different forms of prayer and how to make time in their busy lives for prayer. We will be moving into how we pray and the different traditions and rituals the Church has that assist us in our prayer life. We will also be preparing for our upcoming retreat!

Social Studies - Mrs. Sullivan

In social studies, the 7th graders have been working on several aspects of geography including the themes of geography, maps, and the Earth’s systems. They will be working on projects, including a biome project with a partner as well as learning about world governments. The 8th graders have been focusing on learning about European exploration of the Americas and the first European settlements in the Americas. In the upcoming month, we will focus on learning about the colonies, including who settled where, the government, interactions among people, and starting to learn about what led to the Revolutionary War. It has been a great start to the school year. Looking forward to the coming months!

Literature - Mrs. Fosbender

The seventh grade literature students have been reading The Skin I’m In, and eighth grade are reading My Brother Sam is Dead. Students have been practicing comprehension skills, being leaders of discussion, and making connections with their novels using a variety of strategies. Both seventh and eighth grade students have been working on a poetry project that brings in details from their novel. There are some very creative ideas!

SPECIALS

Art - Mr. Pflaum

The SVdP art classes have had a wonderful start to the school year, and the students are very busy with a variety of projects.  Here is a summary of what is happening in the art room:

Kindergarten - The students recently completed Van Gogh-inspired sunflower drawings and have now started a fall-themed watercolor resist painting.

First grade - The first-graders are creating a drawing to usher in fall by combining crayons and paint.

Second grade - The students have been introduce to clay pinch pot sculpting by creating ‘Dot Pots.’

Third grade - The third-graders are learning about the color wheel by illustrating a Color Wheel Tree.

Fourth grade - The students were introduced to Mandalas and have been working their own mandala drawings.

Fifth grade - The fifth-graders let their creativity fly with the ‘Divide and Rearrange’ project and are currently starting their ceramic crosses.

Sixth grade - The students are finalizing their iPad SVdP church paintings and beginning work on their Day of the Dead watercolors.

Seventh-grade - The seventh-graders learning about using a grid to create their realistic colored pencil drawings.

Eighth grade - The students are painting their ceramic mask sculptures and have begun Landmark drawings with a color scheme and crayons.

Samples of student artwork can be viewed pin the SVdP Instagram gallery: https://www.instagram.com/svdpmrpflaumart/

Computers - Mrs. Kuhr

In Kindergarten, students learned how to log in to laptops and navigate to the Kindergarten Symbaloo. They practiced moving the mouse, explored letter placement on the keyboard with Typetastic!, and were introduced to Kid Pix by recreating pictures with drawing and painting tools. They also began discussing rules for staying safe in “My Online Neighborhood.”

In 1st Grade, students practiced letter placement with Typetastic!, explored different types of technology found at home, and started coding basics in Kodable by arranging steps to guide a fuzz character through a maze.  Here are the class codes for students to practice their coding skills at home,

11 - 11blue

12 - 12pink

13 - 13red

In 2nd Grade, students learned how to log in to Google Classroom and began touch typing practice in Typing Club. They are also being introduced to Google Slides to complete a fun “Digital Color by Sight Word” Halloween activity while learning to use the fill tool.

In 3rd Grade, students logged into our keyboarding practice site Typing.com and took their first keyboarding test. We are now beginning a project to create positive message badges for classmates while learning how to use Google Drawing.

In 4th Grade, students practiced keyboarding in Typing.com with a goal of reaching 20 words per minute. They were introduced to Artificial Intelligence (AI) through the lesson Discover AI in Daily Life, where they explored how AI is used around the world. Students tried AI art generators, trained AI to recognize different drawings, and discussed both the advantages and disadvantages of AI. They also started setting up presentations to explore AI tools using Google Autodraw and Google Translate.

In 5th Grade, students are working toward 25 words per minute in Typing.com. For their group project, they began creating interactive “If-Then Adventure Stories.” First, they brainstormed settings, characters, and plot ideas. Next, they set up the first slides in Google Slides and began adding choices and links that lead readers to different parts of the story. Each group member will create four slides to bring their adventure to life!

In 6th Grade, students started the year with a Digital Safety Unit. They explored how hackers can gain access to accounts, files, and devices when passwords are not secure. Using spreadsheets, students created lists of simple passwords and learned to strengthen them by creating word variations with the concatenate function. They simulated a dictionary attack to test weak passwords, then used the tool How Secure Is My Password? to check their own. To wrap up, students learned what makes a password strong and created their own secure password to protect their digital information.

In 8th Grade, students kicked off the year with the SVdP Podcasting Unit. They began by brainstorming what makes a strong podcast and developing a list of possible topics. Each student then chose one idea to focus on, planned how to structure their story, and created a script highlighting the key points they wanted to share. They are now beginning the exciting step of recording their very first podcasts!

Yearbook Reminder: We are collecting photos from the first day of school as well as 7th & 8th grade Grandparents Day. Please send your photos to Ms. Kuhr at kuhra@svdpomaha.org so they can be included in the yearbook.

Educational Strategists 

Mrs. Heavey Grades K-2

Make Read Alouds part of your daily routine with your child.

Parent Read Alouds can have a positive impact on your child’s literacy development. Choose a book and find time to read to your child. This activity can help nurture a love of reading and build vocabulary. Here are some tips to get started:

- Allow your child to pick a book that interests them.

- Build vocabulary by stopping and talking about new words.

- Ask questions about the story and encourage your child to share what they are wondering about.

- Connect the story to your child’s world.

- Make Read Alouds part of your family routine.

Check out readingrockets.org to find other ideas.

Mrs. Price Grades 3-5

Welcome back to School! It is hard to believe that we have been in school for over a month already. The third graders are in the swing of things and started the reading groups and math support groups. The fourth graders have also started their reading groups, and I provide push-in services for math support every day. Both grade levels have been working on becoming more independent workers and have set a few personal and academic goals to work towards. My 5th graders are receiving push-in services for reading and math support in collaboration with the 5th grade teachers to meet student needs. With a month behind us already, students have settled into their routines, are adjusting to the work load of being in 5th grade, and are continually learning how to use their work time wisely.

Ms. Bousquet Grades 6-8

Parents often feel overwhelmed by the different applications students use throughout the day and which ones they need to use to help their students stay on track. We get it. There’s Google Calendar, Google Classroom, Google Drive, PowerSchool, and, of course, the assignment notebook. It can feel overwhelming, here’s a quick guide to know what each application does!

Google Calendar: lists the assignments due the following day. If you have a Gmail account, you can add the homework calendar to your calendar. This is the most accurate way to know what is due each day for your child.

Google Classroom: contains worksheets, activities, links, and instructions for certain assignments. It is a tool for teachers to communicate with students and a place for students to submit assignments. However, it is only used when necessary, so it’s not used every day.

PowerSchool: mainly for grading. If you’re using PowerSchool to check for homework each day, you’re likely seeing assignments a day or two too late. Teachers usually don’t add assignments to PowerSchool until they are ready to enter a grade, which is often a day or two after the due date.

Google Drive and Google Tools: this is like an online storage area where all files created in Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Forms, Google Sheets, etc. are stored. All Google Tools like Docs, Slides, Forms, and Sheets will automatically save your child’s work to their Google Drive.

For further assistance with these applications, please reach out to your child’s classroom teacher or myself, and we will be happy to assist you!

Guidance - Mrs. Skudlarek

We have had an excellent start to the school year!  The kindergarten students have been learning all about the role of the counselor in the building. We read the story, We Don’t Eat Our Classmates and focused on the importance of being a kind and respectful friend. First graders are learning about teamwork and how to be the best member of the team in their classroom.  We ended the month by reading, How Full is Your Bucket and did different activities to practice being a “bucket filler.” Second grade students focused on worries. We read, Wilma Jean the Worry Machine, and discussed the difference between worries we can control and worries we cannot control. Additionally, students in grades 2-8 will continue with the guidance curriculum called Freindzy. This is a biblical friendship curriculum. It teaches and empowers kids to have healthy relationships and build stronger communities. The units are the same across the grade levels but with a different age-appropriate focus. Our first unit is called Better Together!  

HAL - Mrs. Miller
The year is in full swing now that we are a month into the school year. The students have been stepping up to the challenge of getting back into their school routines with only a few hiccups. One thing I would encourage for the math students—at all levels —is to review math facts. Sometimes when we are working on higher level skills, the students make mistakes because of simple computation errors. Math facts should be mastered by the start of 4th grade and reviewed by all grades as the students move forward. Likewise, all reading/literature students should read every day at least 15—20 minutes. Often this is easy to do if reading/literature homework is assigned, but time spent reading is crucial to comprehension skills in every subject. I also suggest that students choose at least one non-fiction book to read. If students read non-fiction choices, it makes it easier for them to understand how to read their textbooks. Focusing on specific vocabulary and word usage in any type of reading will also build better readers AND writers. I am looking forward to watching all the students hone their talents this year.

Media Center - Mrs. Kaiser

Today is a great day to read with your child! Students in all grades spend part of every library class reading. Those students who are not yet able to read text practice reading pictures and picking out words and letters they recognize. Help your child make a habit of spending time with books every day.

Thank you to the following students, families, and parishioners who donated book to the library: Mac McMannama, Eva Burns, William Hagedorn, Zackary Kimball, Hudson Singh, Mrs. Singh, Nael Konkobo, Ruby Kleber, Maggie Hammes, Jasper Frey, Corinne Dineen, Penelope Heimann, Connor Clifford, Quinn Scheppers, Avery Morris, Josette Bird, Brooks Meek, Beau Meek, Keira Langdon, Moxen Latham, Hardy Stiles, Casper Stiles, Cora Stiles, Emmett Stiles, Millie Stiles, Millie Hammes, Morgan McClure, Presley DeHart, Kinsley Menicucci, Jack Menicucci, and Eli Shada.

Music - Mrs. LeMense

The 4th and 5th graders are preparing for their October 16th concert! We’re paying tribute to the Grand Ole Opry! Watch your emails for more details!

Our 3rd and 2nd graders have been working on hand clapping games!

The Kindergartners and 1st graders have begun working on their Thanksgiving program that will be presented on Thursday, November 20th.    

Music - Ms. Campbell 

6th and 7th Graders are working hard at learning the ukuleles. They are learning how to form chords, performing strumming patterns, and reading sheet music. Students will be able to perform the chords C, G7, F, and Am by the end of the quarter 

8th graders started the year creating their dream music festival. They are now starting to learn about different percussion instruments and patterns from around the world. 

I recently was asked to compose music for a kid’s book about electrician! It will be part of a series that highlights different trades that are sometimes looked over. Each class gets the opportunity to contribute snippets of music that may be added into the book(s).

All middle school students prepare music for the upcoming week’s liturgy by singing through hymns and psalms to start class. We discussed how singing in mass should uplift God and express our love for him. Students are also starting to prepare for their Christmas concert, which is on December 11! 

PE - Mr. Boone

Welcome back everyone!  A lot has happened in the first month back from summer. Take a peak and see what we’ve been up to.

K-2  Have been working on their locomotor skills. These included running, skipping, galloping, leaping, sliding, jumping, and hoping. Activities like Sneak Attack, Scavengers, Bye-Bye Tag, Driver’s Test, and Freeze Dance were used to perform the skills. The students are currently working on cooperative and invasion activities such as Human Alphabet, Snowflakes, Helicopters, and Don’t Steal My Sandwich.

3-6 Have been working on cooperative activities where they had to work with either a partner, small group, or large group. They did things such as The Challenge, The River, Tunnel Relays, Tether Tag, and Dots and Cones. The 6th graders did partner support skills such as hip sit, superman, and basket hold. They have also done small group activities where they made a basket and tossed someone onto a large matt, trust falls, and pyramids. They also did relay races with four square balls where they had to pass off the ball without using their hands. Currently students in these grades are working on their fitness tests. This will lead them into Soccer skills as we head into October.

Marathon Kids-Grades 2-6 have been doing this program since the second week of school. The students do a five minute run once a week and scan their ID cards to keep track of their laps/distance ran. Currently, the students have surpassed 570 miles ran! The school goal is to reach 7,500 miles by May 8th. I think that we can do it and the students seem very eager to see how far they can run.  

PE - Mrs. Conry

7th & 8th grade 

We began the year with reviewing and learning the football positions and their responsibilities. Quarterback, center, running back, receiver and defender. The students were understanding each position and what their job was when on the field.  Each class made pass routes. They all took turns, running the routes at first and then we added a defender.

We did a skill test of passing, centering, receiving, and defending.

We discussed what touchdown, extra point, field goal and safety were Other terms we discussed was first downs and how many yards you needed for a first down.

We played mini-flag football games and tried to incorporate all that we learned. We will finish up the unit with a quiz.

We will finish the unit up with a quiz. 

Spanish 2nd-4th - Mrs. McDermott
Students in second grade Spanish are learning basic greetings such as Buenos Dias (Good morning), Buenas tardes (Good afternoon) and Buenas noches (Good night) and how to use good manners by saying Por favor (Please), Gracias (Thank you) and De nada (You’re welcome).

Students in third grade Spanish are learning the names of breakfast foods such as: el cafe (coffee), la leche, (milk) el jugo de naranja, (orange juice) los huevos (eggs), el pan tostado (toast), el jamón (ham), las salchichas (sausage), el cereal.
Students in fourth grade Spanish are learning the days of the week (lunes, martes, miercoles, jueves, viernes, såbado, domingo (starting with Monday). FYI—the days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized.

Spanish 5th-8th - Mrs. Singh

¡Hola!

¡Bienvenidos a la clase de español! Welcome to Spanish class! I invite you to check in to your student’s Google Classroom as all of our activities and useful information are posted there.

If you need to email me for any reason, please include your students’ Homeroom number. Thanks so much!

The days of the week and the date in Spanish are something we practice each class meeting. Our daily prayer provides an opportunity to learn new words and build fluency.

In September and October, we will celebrate Hispanic Heritage. Students will learn about influential people of Hispanic origin and their contributions to the world. 6-8th grade students have been playing Lotería (like Bingo) to practice terms related to Mexican Independence. 

All classes are learning or reviewing the alphabet in Spanish and practicing vowel sounds. They should know two fun phrases that help them with pronunciation. 7-8th grade students are also practicing a Trabalengua/ tongue twister to work on pronunciation.  

Ask your student! Showing interest in what they are learning and asking them to share information is a big help in acquiring a second language. 

St. Vincent de Paul School, Omaha, NE. 402-492-2111