January 10, 2025

**Revised January Calendar**

Don't forget to place your pizza lunch orders!

SVdP’s annual Catholic Schools Week Pizza Lunch will be held on Wednesday, January 31, and is a wonderful event allowing students, parents, and other special guests to come together for fellowship and Valentino’s. As noted in an earlier mailing, we are asking all families (including those who will not be present or who will provide their own lunch) to complete and submit the online Pizza Lunch order form by January 17. That will allow us to ensure having enough food and seating available. Click here to place your order now!

Pizza lunch volunteers needed

The success of this year’s Pizza Lunch will depend on parent volunteers stepping up to help on the day of the event (January 29). Depending on your interests, you can assist with our check-in table group, greeting and providing tickets to guests or with our lunch helpers group, serving meals. A variety of time slots are available, so volunteering will still allow you to enjoy the Pizza Lunch with your own kids. Click here to sign up now. Your generous gift of time is appreciated!

Classroom Pictures - January 16-17, 2025

Homerooms will be taking their classroom pictures on Thursday, January 16. Preschool students who do not attend on Thursdays will take their pictures on Friday, January 17. Eighth grade students will also be taking their cap and gown pictures on January 17, which will begin as soon as they arrive. For cap and gown pictures, boys must wear a white shirt with a dark-colored tie with their normal uniform bottoms, and girls will wear their normal uniform. 

The following picture schedule is tentative and will be followed to the best of our ability to include as many students in the pictures as possible, but the best way to ensure your child does not miss the picture is for them to be at school for the full day. Eighth grade students who miss the cap and gown pictures can make up their pictures during cap and gown retakes in late February/early March (date TBD). However, there will not be retakes for the homeroom class pictures.

Catholic Schools Week 2025 At-A-Glance

January 25 – January 31, 2025

Before CSW:  Please sign up by January 23 here if your child in grades 4-8 wants to help serve at the pancake breakfast on Sunday, January 26.

The pizza lunch order form will be sent January 6. Please submit (even if not ordering)  by Wednesday, January 15. Orders will be accepted through Friday, January 17.

Friday, January 24

In anticipation of CSW and to raise money for our sister school in Guatemala, there will be a special “$1.00 Dress Down Day" today. Students may bring $1.00 (or more) for the students in San Ildefonso. Clothing should follow the guidelines for dress-down days. Students may wear their school uniform if they choose not to participate.

 Saturday, January 25 - Sunday, January 26 - CELEBRATE OUR PARISH
- Students are asked to wear their school uniforms to Mass this weekend.
         Show your school pride and gratitude to all our parishioners.

Attend the Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast Sunday morning (and see a special video collage created by teachers!).

The Awesome Angels children’s choir will sing at the 9:00 A.M. Mass.

Monday, January 27 - CELEBRATE OUR STUDENTS    
·   Please send a rosary with your K-8 child(ren).  All teachers, staff, and students in K-8 will gather in the church to pray together.
·   Jersey Day! Wear a jersey or other team attire. Student may dress down on the bottom (following dress-down guidelines). Students may not wear an official SVdP team jersey.
·  Grade 4-8 will attend the school spelling bee.

Tuesday, January 28 - CELEBRATE OUR COMMUNITY     
·  All-School Mass at 8:15 A.M.
·  To prepare for our parish community's SPREE 2025, it's SPREEHAW dress down.
·  Buddy Activity: Students will join with their buddies to assemble toiletry packages for those in need in the Omaha Community.

Wednesday, January 29 - CELEBRATE OUR NATION
·  PIZZA LUNCH! All parents are welcome to join us. Orders due Wednesday, January 17.

·  Patriotic Dress-down! Wear our school colors of Red, White, and Blue. Students may dress down on the bottom (following dress-down guidelines).

·   Patriotic door decoration competition and all-school Pledge of Allegiance.              

Thursday, January 30 -  CELEBRATE VOCATIONS  
·  Grade 8 students will join other eighth graders from the city as Archbishop Lucas celebrates CSW Mass at St. Cecilia’s.

· Special prayer for vocations will be said during each lunch period.

· Dress down day—"Dress like your favorite decade"—1880s, 1950s, 60s, etc.

· "Decade interruptions"— It's a surprise!  

Friday, January 31 - CELEBRATE FACULTY, STAFF, AND VOLUNTEERS

· 12:00 dismissal

· Crazy hair and pajama day!

· Students will watch a movie with their class.

· Students will gather in the gym for a friendly volleyball competition. 

Throughout the week: 

· Prayer buddies

· Grade-level classrooms will compete against each other in fun competitions (grade levels will do these different days, due to space availability).

· Our school service project for the week will focus on praying for the students and staff at our sister school, San Ildefonso, in Huejuetenango, Guatemala, and assembling toiletry packages for those in need in the Omaha area.

Pro-Life Art Contest

For Kindergarten – 6th Graders

Rules

Design must be on paper no larger than 8 ½ by 11 inches.

Drawings should focus on the beauty, goodness, and preciousness of babies and our preborn brothers and sisters!  

A short pro-life message should be included on the poster. The message could be a simple title (e.g. “Pro-Life”), a bible verse, a quote, an original thought, etc.

It must be an original idea. You may not copy off any published Pro-Life materials. Tracing other artwork is not allowed.

Color pencils, crayons, markers, or paints can be used (no glitter, please).

Include your name, age, grade, phone number, address, and teacher’s name on the BACK of the entry.

Deadline

Please return artwork to the SVdP School Office or Religious Formation Office by Wednesday, February 5th.

Prizes

Top winners will be awarded cash prizes and the opportunity to compete in the statewide contest.

Sponsored by the SVdP Knights of Columbus and Respect Life Committee. 

For more information contact Kristina Gradoville at kristigrad@gmail.com.

Star Testing Winter Session 2025 

Starting on Tuesday, January 7th, Star testing for reading and math began for grades K-8. The testing window will be open from January 7-31. Please do your best to avoid your child(ren) being absent, as there are no retakes for this test. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Mr. Horner or Mrs. Skudlarek. 

School Apparel Store is now open.

Delivery February 19th.

Employment Opportunities At SVdP School

SVdP School is accepting applications for the following positions: 

After School Care 

St. Vincent de Paul School is accepting applications for part-time After School Care employees. The position follows the school calendar from August-May. Hours will be 3:00-6:00 P.M. Please contact Mrs. Diane Warneke at warneked@svdpomaha.org.

Please visit our school website to fill out an online application. 

Morning of Inspiration

Saturday, January 25 from 8:45 A.M - 11 A.M. in Kampschneider Hall

Join guest speaker Fr. Taylor Leffler as he discusses "Elements of Personal Prayer" during this inspiring morning. Light breakfast will be served, followed by the talk, music with our own Hannah Keisling & Fr. Taylor plus reflection time.

Open to all - men and women, parishioners and non-parishioners!

Free-will offering to cover the speaker and the meal.

Please RSVP by Monday, January 20 at Https://tinyurl.com/AMInspoRSVP