May 2026

Preschool - Mrs. Malone, Ms. Onkka

Our students welcomed April, discussing the true meaning of Easter as we finished up Lent. We hope everyone had a blessed Easter and enjoyed their time off. 

Our next theme was an author study of Laura Numeroff. We discovered that many of her stories are circle stories, which start and end at the same point. Ask your child which story is their favorite.

We followed that up by talking about the signs of spring we are noticing outside. We discussed weather changes in spring and being prepared for stormy weather. Students also explored the world of plants. Can your child name the parts of a plant? 

The 5-day class had a wonderful time playing bingo and eating cookies with a grandparent or special family member on April 17th. Our 3-day class enjoyed Donuts at Drop-off on April 22nd. May will bring even more fun activities as our school year comes to a close. 

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

Students welcomed their grandparents/special friends to school for Mass and a few games of Bingo on Grandparents' Day. 

The students are becoming fluent readers with all the words they recognize. They also are practicing their math facts with Gumball Math pages.

The boys and girls went on their first field trip of the school year to the Rose Theater. They enjoyed riding a school bus and the play, Ada Twist the Scientist. They’re looking forward to their next field trip to the Omaha Children's Museum in May!

First Grade - Mrs. Kleffman, Mrs. Caito, Mrs. Wynegar

Thank you to all of those who either came or sent a special guest to our Grandparent's Day Mass.  What a wonderful way for us to meet and celebrate our students' families!

As we approach the end of the school year, please watch for emails about various upcoming activities that will be held to help us celebrate the end of our school year. We ask that you please maintain a regular sleep schedule and after school routine as we go through these final weeks. There is still much to learn in the classroom.  

Please continue to practice counting coins, telling time, and math facts with your child on a regular basis.

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

Congratulations to all the second graders on First Holy Communion. Now, they get to fully participate in Mass. We love being able to see them fully receive Jesus into their hearts. 

Students have been hard at work learning about producers and consumers in Social Studies and will be learning about how they can make a difference in the world. We really want to thank our parent volunteers who have come in to teach Junior Achievement. Students love all the different activities! In Science, we have been reviewing our map skills, learning about bodies of water, and learning how the surface of the earth changes.  

Mathematicians have finished up working on 3 digit addition and subtraction and have moved on to fractions. In reading we have been working on sequence of events and point of view in stories. Keep working hard these next few weeks! 

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

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

On Tuesday, April 28, we are heading downtown to watch Creighton vs North Dakota State play baseball at Charles Schwab Field. Please pray for good weather and a safe bus ride!

On Friday, May 1st, third graders “hit the trail” on Pioneer Day. Leading up to this day, Mrs. LeMense spent time during music class teaching the students a few pioneer dances and songs. This day will challenge students to try new things like dipping candles and making butter plus eating it on crackers! A new speaker joins us this year from Humanities Nebraska who will bring the past to life by sharing stories and showing real artifacts from pioneer days. 

The year is winding down quickly. Please continue to encourage your child to keep working to the best of their ability.

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

Grade four visited the capitol building and Nebraska History Museum on Monday! They got to hear about the Nebraska Hall of Fame people like Father Flanagan, and they got to see the legislative chamber as well as the Nebraska Supreme Court room. 

They completed a scavenger hunt at the history museum finding economic, technological, and Native American artifacts from early Nebraska.  

What a fun day in Lincoln, and the students were amazing!

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

5th graders had a great field trip to Boys Town and the Mormon Trail Center yesterday, April 16. The weather was beautiful, and the students enjoyed learning about local history! This semester is flying by as will the month of May. It is hard to believe that in a few short weeks our year together will come to an end. That being said, we rely on you to ensure students are well rested and ready for these last days of school. We have some end of the year testing upon us, and seeing growth is our overall goal as teachers. Please help us out at home to make sure we finish strong!

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

Science

We will end the year going to the moon and beyond. We will study the stars and galaxies around us.

Religion

We will end the year focusing on the corporal and spiritual work of mercy and how the Beatitudes are part of our every day.
Look for our end of the year field trip/year end celebration coming out next week. It has been a wonderful year with your children, Have a wonderful summer!

English

Students will finish up the year with the Diagramming unit in English. We will put our knowledge into action to pull sentences apart and show how words can work together visually. Literature students will finish the novel, A Wrinkle in Time, and create their own planet to share with the class. It is my hope that we will end by comparing our novel to one of the movie versions of this fantasy classic.

Social Studies

We are wrapping up the year by learning about Ancient Greece and the many contributions it has made to our world even to this day. We will move on to Rome quickly and spend time learning about the marvels it still holds including the Colosseum, the Aqueducts, and so much more. 

Math

Our year ends with review skills and tests that help us to see the growth we’ve made. We will finish with our “Geometrycity” project where we will apply the concepts of area and perimeter to 3D shapes. 

JUNIOR HIGH

English - Mr. Leever

English 7

Students have completed their spring editing assessments. We are studying identifying types of adverbs and correct usage situations. We will end the year learning about verbals and how they function in sentences in order to improve sentence fluency. I appreciate all of the hard work and increased focus students are showing at the end of the year!

English 8

Students have completed their spring editing assessments. We are studying identifying types of adverbs and correct usage situations. Students will end the year with a paragraph assessment. I’m looking forward to ending the year on a positive note.

Science - Ms. Kolberg

Seventh graders have been studying different systems of the human body.  Mr. Wulf asked the students to make a model of the respiratory system. In the pictures attached, you can see the 7th graders busy working on those models. Once all the main systems have been covered, the 7th graders will get a chance to dissect at the end of the year!

Eighth graders were busy the last couple of weeks with Newton’s Laws. One of the big projects they worked on was the balloon car racer. They really found out about friction when they wanted their car to go the length of the science lab!  Attached are some pictures from the balloon car racers.

Math - Mr. Polacek

Even though the final month is winding done, all of the classes still have important topics to tackle on the way to the finish line. We work hard to give a head start on topics that will be expected to be mastered next year.  In algebra we will be finishing with chapters on trigonometry and rational expressions. The last one will also contain a large dose of factoring, which will be a great review before heading on to high school.

In pre-algebra we have a great chapter on slope to finish with, which will include some geometry and graphing and a good review of our Algebra skills to make sure we are prepared for our algebra 1 class next year. 7th grade math will be looking into inequalities and graphing in the last month. These are great algebra topics to get us ready for a big jump to pre-algebra next year.   

Lastly let me say a big “thank you” to everyone for all of their support throughout this year. The students rose to meet all kinds of challenges and have learned so much. I truly hope it has been a positive experience and math class is found to be an enjoyable challenge as they continue on. Have a fantastic summer!

Literature - Mrs. Fosbender 

The eighth-grade literature students are finishing their books about the Holocaust and the seventh-grade students will finish their Adventure/Mystery-themed novels. Each student completed six different reading strategies throughout the novel to help increase their understanding of the novel. To end the year, the eighth-grade will be reading The Outsiders, and the seventh-grade literature students will be reading The Lightning Thief.

Religion - Mrs. Nigrin

Our 7th graders will be finishing the year working on studying the different types of prayer and how we can incorporate them into our lives. We will be discussing how to make prayer a more intricate part of our lives. To my 7th graders, I look forward to spending next year with you and growing your faith with you! Let us work together to bring the Kingdom of God to others!

Our 8th graders will be finishing up their year discussing their journey with Jesus. We have focused this year on our faith being not a destination but an ongoing journey in which we continue to grow. We will be discussing ways to continue that as we head off to our new schools. To my 8th graders, good luck as you transition into a new school. The surroundings may be different but the beauty is that God never changes! He will continue to be with you and the Holy Spirit is there to guide you as you navigate this new part of your life. Lean on Him, trust in Him, and most especially call on Him as you face new challenges.

Social Studies - Mrs. Sullivan

In American history, the 8th graders are finishing up studies of the Civil Rights Movement. The students used their textbooks, PowerPoints, and guided notes to learn about these topics. In addition, we will talk about 1980 to present day. The students will be completing an end-of-the-year project focused on the major events we have discussed this year. 

In 7th grade, students will be finishing up their studies of Asia and will be moving on to studies of Australia. The 7th graders have been using both their textbooks and PowerPoints with guided notes to study these places. The 7th graders will have an end-of-the-year project that will focus on creating a travel expo of the world. The students create a poster, a report, and presentation about a country of the world. They will be the tour guides as they present their projects to their classmates.

SPECIALS

Art - Mr. Pflaum

Here is a summary of what the students are creating before the end of the year:

In kindergarten, students have competed a clay project, which should be fired soon.

The first graders are working on a couple of fun drawings in class while in second grade, the students are using their collage skills to create new art using construction paper.

In third grade, they are working on watercolor crayon paintings inspired by contemporary artist, Grant Haffner.

The fourth graders are learning about two-point perspective and drawing a treehouse, and the fifth graders have just completed their Georgia O'Keefe acrylic paintings.

In sixth grade, the students are using sum-i brushes to create an ink painting and will be starting a chalk drawing soon.

The seventh graders are sculpting and glazing their clay houses while in eighth grade, the students are nearing completion of their large format pop culture paintings.

Various student work can be viewed on the SVdP Instagram 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. 

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, and 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

It is not too early to be thinking about your child’s summer learning plan. It is important to keep your child’s reading skills growing-even while enjoying some time off from school. Children in grades K-2 make reading progress when they read regularly. Summer is an important time to keep this going. Build reading into your daily routine. Here are some things to think about as you make your plan.

-Encourage your child to read each day. Even 15 to 20 minutes of reading each day can make a big difference.

-Using a monthly calendar, add a sticker to each day your child reads.

-Visit the library. Let your child choose books that interest them as well as books on their reading level.

-Join the summer reading program at the library. The new Omaha Library is now open. Take a visit to check it out as a family!

-Support your child and read together. Take turns reading pages from a book. 

-Ask your child questions about the stories to improve comprehension. What was your favorite part? What do you think will happen next?

-If you feel your child needs tutoring, secure a tutor for the summer.

Go to readingrockets.com to find other ideas on summer learning.

Mrs. Price Gr. 3-5

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing Easter break! It is time to finish the school year strong and think about summer reading. How does a child know how to choose a book at their instructional level? 

Have you heard of “The Five-Finger Rule”? The student picks a book of interest and chooses one page to read. For every word that is unknown or mispronounced, a finger is held up. The number of fingers held up at the end of the page tells them if the book is the right level. Please see the guidelines below:

0-1 fingers it is too easy

2-3 fingers it is just right

4-5 fingers it is too difficult for independent reading

With a child finding a book of their interest and instructional level, they will be ready to soar through reading this summer! For more information, please click on the following link from Scholastic: https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/five-finger-rule.html

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:

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

What a wonderful and busy month it has been in guidance classes!

Our kindergarten and first grade students focused on the importance of kindness—learning how small actions like using kind words and giving compliments can truly brighten someone’s day. They put this into practice by writing thoughtful and encouraging notes about their classmates, spreading positivity throughout their classrooms.

Second grade students wrapped up their unit on making safe and healthy choices. They discussed the importance of staying away from harmful materials and practiced using good judgment when faced with decisions.

In third and fourth grade, students have been learning about the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. These conversations help build awareness and encourage smart, healthy choices.

Our Fifth grade students took this learning a step further by exploring how harmful substances can affect the developing brain. Their curiosity and thoughtful questions continue to impress me!

Sixth grade students have been focusing on conflict resolution—learning how to understand and manage their feelings in ways that strengthen, rather than harm, their relationships.

Seventh and eighth grade students are wrapping up their unit on big emotions. 

Looking ahead to May, our school-wide focus will be on careers. This is a great time to have conversations with your child about their hopes, dreams, and interests for the future.

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

HAL -  Mrs. Miller

The students in the HAL classroom are pushing hard towards the goal line for the end of the year. Both the 4th and 5th grade groups continue working on polygons and area formulas. The 4th graders added measurement in both customary and metric forms, and the 5th graders are focusing on surface area and volume. These are challenging topics for both groups! The 6th grade group finished up computation with polynomials this month and started learning about factoring polynomials. They will review skills needed to carry them forward into 7th grade as we wrap up the year. The 7th graders studied proportional relationships this past month and started dabbling in trigonometry. What seemed a bit overwhelming at first became much easier when they learned SOH CAH TOA proportions. Right triangles are right on! The 7th and 8th grade groups finished up novels and started their last novel of the year. The 7th graders are reading The Graveyard Book, and 8th graders started The Outsiders. Both groups spent time learning about characterization and direct and indirect ways the author develops each character. We are all looking forward to May!

Media Center - Mrs. Kaiser

Welcome, Spring! Students in grades K-2 have been listening to folktales from around the world. Grade 3 students have moved to the Media Center and have been learning where to find books in that library. Grade 4 students are reading biographies to find the main idea and supporting details. Grade 5 students built circuit cards and practiced building digital circuits. Students in grade 8 are building, testing, and redesigning things that move.

Thank you to the following students and their families who donated a book to the library: Burdorf family, John Eichele, Jaimie Kappuzha, Maizie McMillan, Olivia Patterson, Kennedy Mell, Cian Salerno, Henry Pick, Rory Wurth, Finley Vaughan, Harlyn Hunt, Wesley Hunt, Isabelle Weidauer, and Finn Wurth. 

Music - Mrs. LeMense

Hello, everyone!

Our 5th graders are learning to play chords and the C-scale on the ukuleles!

The 4th graders are going to demonstrate their recorders for the 3rd graders!

We will be in the parish center. Parents, if you want to come, there will be room.

The 3rd graders have learned folk dances in preparation for Pioneer Day.

Our kindergarten and 1st graders have been dancing a bit as well!

Music - Ms. Campbell

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

Students in class wowed me with their singing of Mass and Program music. We learned about composers, operas, influential artists, music genres, music technology, and world music (just to name a few). 

Performing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a big highlight. Thanks to everyone involved for your hard work. 

Finally, I would like to thank staff, students, and parents for making my two (and a quarter) years here amazing. While this chapter may be ending, I will cherish all the memories I made at SVdP. 

PE - Mrs. Conry

We have started learning about pickleball. Many students have played before, so it has been fun so far.

Pickleball is a simple, social paddle sport combining tennis, badminton, and ping-pong, played on a small court with a net, paddle, and plastic ball. Key rules include an underhand diagonal serve, the "two-bounce rule" (ball must bounce once per side before volleys), and a "kitchen" zone near the net where volleys are forbidden. Games are usually played to 11, winning by 2 points.

I am hoping to re-test the Fitness Gram, a health-related youth fitness assessment developed by The Cooper Institute to promote lifelong physical activity. It evaluates students in five key areas: aerobic capacity, body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility, comparing results to criterion-referenced health.

I am also hoping to play a few games of whiffle ball.

Hope you all have a safe and fun summer with family and friends.

PE - Mr. Boone

K-1

Rolling into the spring, the students hopped onto scooters and were off and running. The students reviewed our scooter safety rules as far as where we put our hands and how they are not bumper cars. Typically one the favorite units of the students and one that bring back nostalgia for parents, our scooter unit had our students doing a variety of activities. The students participated in Hamburger Tag where each colored scooter represented a part of a hamburger. Then there were One By One Relays where the students got to ride the scooters in various ways and commented on which ones were easier than others or more difficult and why. Next the students got to play Scooter Soccer where we used a large bouncy ball to kick around.  

Grades 2-5 got to play Scooter Pinball, which was a very entertaining game that saw the students cheering for one another and working with one another to move the ball down the court to knock over pins. Lastly, the students completed the unit by doing everyone’s favorite, Mario Kart.  Modeled after the video game, the students partnered up and drove each other through the course. With obstacle like boulders, trees, walls, bananas, and a rainbow tunnel, the students had to weave their way around the course to earn cups. With cups, the students were able to trade them to earn more bananas to put on the course, turtle shells to throw at other drivers, and a star to tag other drivers with. Whenever the students ran into an obstacle or were hit with a turtle shell or star, they went to the exercise center to perform an exercise before returning to the game. If you get the chance, ask your child about it, I’m sure they will be able to tell you all about it.

6th

The 6th graders completed a health unit which talked about the benefits of exercise and their health.  Things such as the Borg Perceived Exertion Scale, which is used post physical exercise to notify someone of how much energy they feel they exerted. We also discussed the differences between aerobic and anaerobic capacity and exercise and how one requires the use of oxygen and one does not to perform. Other items included fitness components and the differences between health and skill related.  From there we discussed F.I.T.T. principle and the overload principle and how we can use them to design a workout regimen.  Also, we discussed how physical exercise has positive effects on your mental health and how it can help reduce stress, anxiety, depression, increase attention and help reduce symptoms of ADHD, as well as PTSD and other traumatic events.  Lastly, we talked about what types of foods we should eat before and after exercising to help replace sugars and proteins lost during working out.  The unit concluded with a quiz over the material as well as an activity log that the students monitored outside school hours.  This will lead us to our last round of fitness testing and then finishing the year with our track and field unit. 

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. 

Thank you to all students and families who have made my time at SVdP so special. I will not be returning next year, but I will cherish many fond memories. Hope you will all continue to make speaking Spanish a priority in your life!

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 learning about the culture of Spanish speaking countries, creating art and reviewing colors, and learning about breakfast foods. 

6th graders worked for several weeks learning about classroom items and school subjects. They were able to discuss their schedule, including who teaches the class, when it is, and what items they do / don’t need in class. We enjoyed listening to their “school” 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. The entire 7th grade class has had wonderful energy this year!

8th graders finished the year studying their favorite hobbies/past times and learning how to extend / accept an invitation. I hope they can invite each other to do fun activities over the summer. They have also conquered verb conjugations, which they will appreciate next year. 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