January 2025 

Preschool - Mrs. Malone, Ms. Onkka

“Baby Jesus, baby Jesus, fast asleep, fast asleep…”

Christmas Day will soon be here, and we can hardly wait!

Our classes have been busy learning about Advent as we prepare for Jesus’ birthday on Christmas Day. The joy of the Christmas season is evident in each and every one of our preschoolers! Thank you again for sharing them with us.

Our 2-day classes had a wonderful time decorating gingerbread houses with a family member. It was a super sweet time! Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who helped us celebrate the season by planning our Christmas parties. 

As 2024 ends we would like to wish each of you a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

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

Throughout December, we've learned about the season of Advent. We have prepared our hearts for Christmas by brainstorming gifts to give Jesus and ways to be kind to others.  

We are learning more and more sight words and are very proud of what we can read! Use flash cards to practice sight words with your child and see how many he or she recognizes!

In math, we are working with counting big numbers using tens and ones.

From our classrooms to your homes, we wish you lots of happiness and joy during this holiday season!

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

It has been a joy to watch your children prepare their hearts for the coming of the Infant Jesus. It has increased our holiday joy immensely to spend the season with your fantastic first graders! Thank you as well for all of the help you provided for our classroom Christmas parties. You are a gift to us!

As we go into the second half of the year, first graders will continue to work on math facts. We are hoping to have most first graders pass level 12 of the Gumball program by the end of the year. Christmas break is a great time to practice math facts and help your child continue to improve their math skills.

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

We wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and many blessings in the new year!

Thank you to the parents who helped plan the classroom Christmas parties. The students and teachers appreciate your kindness.  

To help students prepare for third grade, they will receive a percentage score on tests only. Percentages will begin in January.

Students worked hard on 2-digit subtraction with regrouping. Please continue to practice this skill over break. Second graders also worked on identifying the main idea and key details in stories. Ask your child if he or she can identify these while reading a story.

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

Thank you to the families of Owen Patterson, Nolan Burcham, and Colin Horgan for purchasing the SPREE Dress Down and Extra Recess for their classroom.  We are looking forward to using this gift.  

During the first semester, third grade students have loved spending time with their seventh grade buddies. They have worked together on various activities talking and laughing the entire time. The students are always excited to be with their new friend.

Thank you to the parents who helped organize and implement the games and activities, and brought treats for our Christmas parties. Your creativity is greatly appreciated.

It has been a fast and wonderful first semester, and we are grateful for all you have done to make it a success.

We wish each and every family a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

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

In fourth grade we have been studying our Circle of Grace program. We discussed internet terminology and various strategies to stay safe on the internet. We will continue to reinforce internet safety throughout the school year. 

The fourth grade scientists continue to explore light and sound waves by comparing transparent, translucent, and opaque objects. Along with teacher Miss Giuliana, the students will be ending the year with a static electricity activity.

We wish you and your family all the joy and blessings of this holy Christmas season and in the coming year.

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

The 5th graders have been going through the writing process to write another paragraph for their research paper about famous people from their state. Again, thank you to the parents for being part of this process when the students needed someone to revise and edit their paragraph. Your help is appreciated! Students have begun studying about the American Revolution, and just finished taking their 50-state geography test. We will move onto learning the capitals for the third quarter. The students are also continuing on in their first unit of biology, having investigated how energy and matter move through organisms and the ecosystem. 

Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who helped with the classroom Christmas parties. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!  

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

Literature students will work on poetry in January. Look for their poetry notebooks to come home as they learn various ways to express themselves through their poems.

English students will participate in the classroom spelling bee and continue to learn about parts of speech during the month of January. Students will continue to write and review grammar daily as their knowledge grows. Unit 8 vocabulary will also resume. Please help your student stay on top of their online assignments, as these are not things to put off or rush through.

Science students will learn how minerals are mined and how the rock cycle changes rocks and minerals.

Religion students will focus on the liturgical year and sacraments.

Social Studies is just finishing our Ancient Egypt studies, which included making our very own pyramids! Next up in 6th grade, we will be studying Ancient India.

Math students just wrapped up all operations involving fractions, everyone's favorite! We also will be discussing the various ways math is used in the real world. Our next unit will be ratios! 

JUNIOR HIGH

English - Mr Leever

English 7

In December, students completed writing a short essay discussing how a character (from TV, literature, movies, etc.) changed over the course of the story. Our grammar sessions centered around different types of verbs: transitive/intransitive/linking; verb tense; moods; and modal auxiliary verbs. When students return in January, we will study prepositional phrases and how they function as adjectives, adverbs and nouns. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas!!

English 8

In December students researched and wrote a paragraph about either...

1) a vacation destination that they would like to visit or

2) the history of a holiday tradition.

We spent several days researching, learning what it means to avoid plagiarism by paraphrasing original works, and using the MLA stylebook to create internal citations and a works cited page.

In January, we will start our grammar studies with verbals (infinitives, participles, and gerunds) and verbal phrases so that students can intentionally use them in their writing to create more varied and interesting sentences. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas.

Science - Ms. Kolberg

7th grade
Seventh graders have been finishing up some of the things that cells do each and every day by studying diffusion, osmosis, and homeostasis. One of the new labs we did was to attempt to keep Homer alive for five minutes or more!  The students had to work together to maintain his temperature, maintain his liquid level, and maintain the coloration of his liquids. Hopefully, they learned that it takes a lot of work to maintain our millions of cells!

I hope you and your families have a great break!

8th grade
Eighth graders have been moving more into chemistry by learning about the states of matter. In addition to solid, liquid, and gas, we added plasma to the list. We have been working in the lab with condensation, making crystals by making a saturated solution (the ornament that went home!), and by learning about why salt is placed on the sidewalks when it’s icy (a solid into a liquid—with some help of some pesky ions!)

I hope you have a nice two weeks and can enjoy spending time with family.

Math - Mr. Polacek

We are looking forward to a great start here in 7th and 8th grade math in 2025.  The 7th grade math class is going over some statistics to begin with. Then we have a chapter on geometry to get us going before working our way into some algebra expressions.

The pre-algebra classes will start the new year with some probability before setting our sights on some new algebra topics such as inequalities and slope. The algebra parts of the curriculum are always a good challenge as we work to be ready for a full-fledged algebra class next year!

The algebra classes finished solving systems and will continue with more great algebra chapters on factoring polynomials and graphing parabolas. After that we jump into solving quadratics by a variety of methods.

With continued work in our Simple Solutions books, we are putting an emphasis on reading problems carefully and trying to be as meticulous as possible. The students have done a great job of showing work and we are looking forward to that continuing as we start this new semester.

Mrs. Nigrin, 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 Friday, December 20th. We will be watching a movie and enjoying some tasty goodies!

Looking ahead: On Thursday, January 30th, 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. 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.

Merry Christmas!

SPECIALS

Art - Mr. Pflaum

As the classes wind down for the semester, here is a summary of what the students are completing.

Kindergarten - The students are putting their final touches on their winter snowfall forest paintings.

First-grade - The first-graders are creating artwork to help everyone get into the Holiday spirit.

Second-grade - The class worked on shading techniques using cones and chalk to create a winter landscape drawing.

Third-grade - The students are being introduced to semi-abstract drawings with their oil pastel snowman drawings.

Fourth-grade - The fourth-graders are putting finishing glazes on their coil pottery.

Fifth-grade - The classes are using their architect and art skills to depict Santa’s North Pole castle/workshop…complete with glitter.

Sixth-grade - The students are nearing completion of their Cubism watercolor paintings.

Seventh-grade - The seventh-graders have competed their printmaking artwork and added final touches to their building stacking illustrations.

Eighth-grade - The class are working to complete their ceramic masks and doodle grid drawings.

Samples of student work can be viewed on the SVdP student art gallery on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/svdpmrpflaumart/

Computer - Mrs. Kuhr

Kindergarten - We have been learning about coding. We have used Code Monkey Jr., and now we are on Kodable. The students can easily practice their coding skills at home using Kodable, where they have to program a fuzz through a maze. The class codes are k1cat, k2dog and k3pig.

1st Grade - Students were introduced to Apple Keynote. They filled in shapes to make different fall and winter themed puzzles. They also practiced typing sentences for these slides.

2nd Grade -We talked about what is a powerful password and how to create one.  Students combined two words together, then add or substituted numbers, symbols, and capital letters. They then went to How Secure is My Password to test them out.  Now, they are learning about using keyboard shortcuts such as > Command+C & Command+V for copy & paste.

3rd grade - In December, it is an Hour of Code month. Many grades start to learn more about programming. Students in 3rd grade started practicing some coding skills this month. They were introduced to Blockly and coded a dance party on Code.org. After break they will start programming their own dance party on Scratch. Scratch is an online programming site, where students can create their own computer programs.

4th grade - Students were introduced to one of our robots, Sphero. They learned how to program the Sphero to move and dance. They are now collaborating to tell a story with a partner on Google Docs. In this lesson they are learning about Google Docs and the ability to work on the same document via the distance. They can not sit by their partner and were taking turns writing.

5th Grade - This month students were introduced to our micro:bits, little pocket computers and how to code them. They are now creating pixel art in Google Sheets by using conditional formatting rules. This will speed up the process.

6th Grade - Students finished up their digital safety unit this month. They finished learning about password safety and creating safe passwords. They used Google Sheets for this project and use the CONCATENATE function to use for a dictionary attack on their passwords. Next, we talked about what students should and should not post online. They looked at fake user accounts and tried to find out as much information as they could on these fake accounts. It is a great lesson on learning how big your digital footprint can be. When they come back from break, they will be creating an “Extreme Sports” game in Scratch.

7th grade - In January, 7th graders will be having computers and I can’t wait to see them.  

8th grade - Students created a quest style game in Scratch. They used Broadcasts to switch scenes and tell a story. In January, 8th graders will start seeing Mrs. Kaiser for Media. I have had a great time teaching and working with this group of students. I will miss seeing them in class and wish them the best.

Educational Strategists - Mrs. Heavey, Mrs. Price, Ms. Bousquet 

13 New Year’s Writing Activities

Start January off on the right foot with your children with these 13 fun and fabulous New Year’s writing activities! These new year writing activities are designed to help kids improve their writing skills while also focusing on a positive start to the new year. This is an ideal time to establish any new goals and priorities with your students.

Activity #1 — Write a New Year’s Poem

Activity #2 — Describe the Experience of New Year’s Eve

Activity #3 — Research Cultural Celebrations and Write a Report

Activity #4 — Write Directions for Sticking to Your Resolutions

Activity #5 — Best and Worst: A Reflection of the Previous Year

Activity #6 — Design a Calendar of Goals

Activity #7 — Start a New Year Happiness Jar

Activity #8 — Write a Toast for the New Year

Activity #9 — New Year, New You: How You Hope to Grow This Year

Activity #10 — Write a Story About an Old Habit You Wish to Break

Activity #11 — Set Your Own New Year’s Resolutions

Activity #12 — Write a Fictional Story About a Character with a Goal for the New Year

Activity #13 — Establish New Rules for the New Year

Guidance - Mrs. Skudlarek

December has flown by. In kindergarten and first grade we talked about the importance of waiting our turn to talk. We read the story My Mouth is a Volcano and talked about different ways to stay patient before blurting out our words. We had time for a little festive fun before Christmas break. Be sure to ask your child all about what they did. Second graders have been busy learning about putting the needs of others before their own. We have used the Friendzy book to identify different ways to be helpful to others in and outside of school. Third graders have spent the last few weeks celebrating all the great things that make them unique. Students were assigned partners to learn new things about. Once they had all their information, students wrote a paragraph about all the important things they learned about each other. Be sure to have your child share their page with you. Fourth and fifth grade students have been focused on “You First.” They came up with an acrostic poem to define the word “Others” and how they can put the needs of others before their own. Sixth through eighth grade students have been continuing to practice using kind and respectful actions and words to show love.  

Students in grades 3-8 had the opportunity to attend a presentation from The Smart Gen Society on Thursday, December 5th. Each presentation focused on the importance of staying safe in a world full of technology and immediate access to almost anything. Thank you to the parents who were able to attend the parent session. If you want more information about this presentations, don’t hesitate to contact me or The Smart Gen Society.  

HAL - Mrs. Miller

Merry Christmas from the HAL room! The students have been as busy as the elves in Santa’s workshop this month. The 7th and 8th grade literature classes have both been focusing on finding figurative language in their novels. Seventh graders finished up The Westing Game and wrote their own 2-minute mysteries. We have some very clever writers! The 8th graders read John Steinbeck’s novella The Pearl and discussed the idea of whether or not all the riches in the world would bring you happiness.  HAL Math students were equally as busy this month. The 4th graders learned all about computation with fractions and mixed numbers while the 5th graders began their fraction unit focusing on GCF and LCM. The pre-algebra group concluded a unit on solving a variety of equations, and the algebra group reviewed how to compute with polynomials. Things are really beginning to “add up” for the students!

Media Center - Mrs. Kaiser

Many wishes for a blessed Christmas to all SVdP families! Students in grades K-2 have been hearing Christmas stories and using their STEM skills to build snowflakes and Christmas stars. Grade three continues to practice determining the genre of a story. Students in grade four are rotating through research, building a robotic art machine, and learning to use the 3D printing software. We will switch stations after Christmas break. Grade 5 students have started a unit on biographies and will be creating a Google slideshow about a famous person. Grade seven students finished out their semester with a unit about how to find the best online information and strategies for when and when not to share.

Thank you to the following students and families who donated books to the Media Center in honor of their birthdays: Andrew Stillmock, Caroline Stillmock, Iver Vaughan, Rachelle Abba Moussa, Hannah Birkel, Sophina Holmgren, Emma Luetkenhaus, Jake Armbruster, Haley Armbruster, Mr. Boone, Brooke Williams, Viv Peters, Brody Meek, Augustus Schroen, Cael Griffin, Camden McDonald, Madelyn Schmit, and Christopher Schmit. 

Music - Mrs. LeMense

Thank you to all of our 1st and 2nd grade students for such a fun Christmas program! Every student had a part to play!  We even used the new scoreboard for a PowerPoint presentation!

Very fun! Many thanks to the 4th grade recorder players who helped with the “Eleven Pipers Piping”!    🎶

 

The 5th graders are in the midst of their recorder unit – based around the C scale.  

We’ll throw in the accidentals of F# and Bb and then students will be able to play millions of melodies!

Our next program will be featuring the 3rd and 4th graders! More info to come soon on that. The show is set for Thursday, February 27th!  

Kindergarten kids learned a circle folk dance to “Deck The Halls” and performed for their teachers.  

Music - Ms. Campbell

I was thoroughly impressed with the 6th graders and their concert! We spent the rest of our time before break learning about Christmas music and completing a music escape room!

7th grade just finished their composer presentations. I loved how creative they were in turning what some may consider “boring” composer stories into fun skits. These skits taught me more about Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, and other composers than I had previously known. Bravo tutti!

8th grade created their own bands based off of the three music styles we went through in class. They made some great tunes, some of which belong on the radio! 

Results of the school play are out! Congrats to all who tried out and made the cast! Rehearsals are after school Wednesday and Thursdays from 3:15-4:30 after we get back from break. We will perform on March 27th! 

K-6 PE - Mr. Boone

Seasons greetings and happy holidays to you all!  I hope that you all have a wonderful and restful break and come back in one piece!

K-2 got the chance to experience both Thanksgiving and Christmas in some wild and crazy ways. Starting the month off, the students did a scooter activity called Turkey Tail Feathers. Students would ride a scooter with a short pool noodle stuffed in the handle of the scooter with a scarf in the noodle. They would try and pull each others’ scarves. Once pulled, the students would do an exercise and return to the game. Wrapping up the month (no pun intended) the students did some fun Christmas activities. They did Feed The Reindeer, Unlock the Igloo, Grinch Tag, and lastly Reindeer Relays.  

3rd-6th got to finish up their volleying unit by playing nitro ball, four square volleyball, and speed volleyball. They were introduced how to rotate in a volleyball game while working the skills of serving, passing, and spiking. The younger grades used beach balls for volleyball to allow a slower target and a higher chance of success hitting the ball. The games were fun and had the students moving quickly around the gym.  

7-8 PE - Mrs. Conry

The 7th & 8th grade played volleyball most of December. There was such a variety of skill levels; it was fun to watch how skilled many of the students are. We were all learning and refining our skills.

Volleyball includes several different skill sets. Players must be able to play both offensively and defensively. It seemed like many improved and enjoyed playing with a team.

Students with practice were able to serve, set, pass, attack, block, and dig. Serving started the ball in motion from behind the baseline. Setting gently hitting the ball high into the air to set up another teammate for an attack. Passing seemed to be used the most by everyone. A block was usually used mostly by the more experienced players, but many tried to jump up with hands outstretched to stop the ball as soon as it crossed the net.

We also played 4-corner volleyball with a lighter ball, bigger in size, and changed some of the rules. Lastly, we talked about the rules, scoring, and finished up with a test.

Happy Holidays to you and you family. All the best in 2025.

2nd-4th - Spanish Mrs. McDermott

Students in 4th grade Spanish are practicing the months of the year by answering the question “Cuando es tu cumpleaños?” (When is your birthday?) with “Mi cumpleaños es ……” (My birthday is……). They are also practicing how to read and write any date in Spanish.

Students in 3rd grade Spanish are learning the names of clothing and accessories. They are also reviewing the colors by drawing clothing on a paper doll and labeling the clothes with the name of the clothing and its color in Spanish. Did you know that in Spanish adjectives go after the noun? For example, la blusa azul (blusa=blouse, azul=blue)

Students in 2nd grade Spanish are practicing the names of 13 colors including gold (oro) and silver (plata) by playing a game called "Caliente ó Frío” (Hot or Cold). They are also becoming pretty proficient in saying the "Ave Maria" (Hail Mary) in Spanish.

5th-8th - Spanish Mrs. Singh

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!  Happy New Year! 

5th graders have been singing Villancicos / Christmas songs and practicing calendar terms.  

They should be able to tell you what day of the week they have Spanish. We are also practicing saying dates by putting the day first, then the month. In the new year we will continue to review numbers 0-30 and add 40-100.

6th graders completed a quiz on calendar terms and how to write out dates. We are also learning how to say special holidays in Spanish. I hope they can tell you how to say Christmas and Christmas Eve!  After winter break we will create a calendar page for one month of the new year and learn about the seasons and weather terms.

7th graders are finishing a unit about body parts. They are presenting a short skit in which they tell their partner which body part is hurting, and their friend will give them advice to feel better. 

After the new year we will start a new unit to learn about breakfast foods.

8th graders are studying sports and activities. We’ll discuss two sports that aren’t familiar to students: Jai Alai and el Toreo. We are also learning about subject pronouns and how to conjugate verbs in the present tense. To celebrate the New Year, students will learn about the Spanish tradition of eating 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve.

Hoping to ask a favor of you… if you email me with any questions, please let me know which homeroom your student is in. ¡Gracias!