Preschool - Mrs. Malone, Ms. Onkka
3-2-1 Blast Off! Exploring our solar system was out of this world! We learned that God created everything including the sun, moon & stars. Ask your child to name their favorite planet. We also had fun learning about the total eclipse that took place on April 8th.
Our 2-day and 3-day classes really enjoyed when The Rose Theater came to do movement workshops with them.
Our students welcomed spring 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?
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Kindergarten - Mrs. Guinan, Mrs. Millar, Mrs. Vaughan
The kindergarteners had two very special events in April. Students welcomed their grandparents/special friends to school for Mass and a few games of Bingo on Grandparents' Day. They also debuted their first musical performance on Wednesday, April 10th for their parents and grandparents. They enjoyed singing songs about being happy!
The boys and girls also went on their first field trip of the school year to the Omaha Children's Museum. They did lots of exploring and creative playing.
They are also working on getting to know their math facts better with the start of Gumball Math.
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First Grade - Mrs. Kleffman, Mrs. Nigrin, Ms. Hermsen
Thank you to all of those who either came or sent a special guest to our Grandparent's Day and Special Friends 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.
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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 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. In science, we have been reviewing our map skills, learning about bodies of water, and how the surface of the earth changes.
In math we have worked on 3-digit addition and subtraction as well as started looking at fractions and probability. Keep reading with your child and working on math facts daily!
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Third Grade - Ms. Ruelas, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Schofield
He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
On Thursday, April 25, third graders “hit the trail” on Pioneer Day. Leading up to this day, Mrs. LeMense spent time during music class to teach the students a few pioneer dances and songs. The day challenged students to try new things like dipping candles and homemade butter. A favorite part of the day was a story teller from Humanities Nebraska who retold the life experiences of a Nebraska pioneer family.
On May 2, third grade has planned a field trip to The Rose Theater. We are excited to watch the stage adaptation of Charlotte’s Web come to life.
The year is winding down quickly. Please continue to encourage your child to keep working to the best of their ability.
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Fourth Grade - Mrs. Madison, Mrs. Thede, Mrs. Caito
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Field Trip to State Capital |
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Fourth graders had a wonderful time visiting the capitol and the Supreme courtroom. We participated in a scavenger hunt at the Nebraska History Museum where we discovered Nebraska arts, agriculture, technology, and famous Nebraskans.Thank you to all of the volunteers that helped with making the Lincoln trip a fun, learning experience.
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Fifth Grade - Mrs. Dotzler, Mrs. Jones, Ms. Salerno
The 5th graders have been learning about the Westward Expansion, and they will finish the year by learning about the Civil War and Reconstruction. We are also looking forward to our field trip to Schramm State Park on May 2nd. We will learn about water conservation, the water cycle, and how our drinking water, which comes from the Missouri River, is processed and made safe to drink.
In English, students have been learning about pronouns. They will end the year learning about prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. After this, they will have learned about all the parts of speech! They will finish the year learning about and writing a personal narrative.
Fifth graders have moved on to space in science class. Students are learning about many patterns we observe on Earth but then are blasting off into deep space shortly after that!
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Sixth Grade - Mrs. Wane, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Guinotte
English - Students will be finishing up the end Unit 4 in preparation for seventh grade. Students will finish by working on writing a letter to themselves as an eighth grader. These letters will be saved and returned to them at graduation.
Literature - Students will continue to work on the novel, A Wrinkle in Time. I encourage you to talk to your student about the book and ask questions. What do they think about Camazotz and Meg’s journey to find her father? Students will finish the year creating their own planet to visit and sharing them with the class. This is my favorite project, as students get to shine with their creativity and imagination.
Math - Students just finished their unit over central tendency (mean, median, mode, range) as well as a bit of algebra to practice for next year. They also participated in Math Madness where each class competed against each other while also practicing math skills. The winner of Math Madness will be posted to the next Virtual Backpack as well as a picture featured in the yearbook! To finish out the school year, students will be graphing ordered pairs as well as converting various measurements. At the start of May, they will be administered the Computation Test as well as the post Simple Solutions test to see their growth over the last several months!
Social Studies - Students are in their final chapter for the school year, Ancient Greece. They will be learning about the origin of democracy, the battle between Athens and Sparta, and the infamous Greek gods.
Religion - Thank you to everyone who made the Seder Meal possible. It was a great experience for our sixth grade students! We will end the year discussing the theological virtues, morality, and service.
Science - Students will be learning about volcanoes and how they change the Earth. We will also end the year discussing fossils and how they tell us about our past, present, and future. If we have time, students will learn about the stars and the galaxies around us.
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English - Mr. Leever
7th grade students have completed their final grammar unit on prepositions. Students have also completed their editing and writing assessments. Our next writing project will be to choose a topic to write a persuasive essay about. The goal of the essay will be to use logic, facts, statistics, and expert opinion to support the student’s opinion/position on the topic. Following completion of the essay, students will prepare to give a speech, based on the essay, to the class. Students will incorporate a slideshow/powerpoint to present during their speeches.
8th grade students have completed their final grammar unit on gerunds, participles, and infinities. Students have also completed their editing and writing assessments. Our next writing project will be to choose a topic to write a persuasive essay about. The goal of the essay will be to use logic, facts, statistics, and expert opinion to support the student’s opinion/position on the topic. Following completion of the essay, students will prepare to give a speech, based on the essay, to the class. Students will incorporate a slideshow/powerpoint to present during their speeches.
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Science - Ms. Kolberg
7th grade
Seventh graders have been studying the different systems of the human body. We have looked at real bones, a real heart and lungs, and looked at models of organs in the body. We are working towards our final big project—dissection of the frog and learning the similarities and differences between the two organisms. A totally “riveting” way to end the year!
8th grade
Eighth graders are learning about Newton’s three laws—inertia, force = m x a, and for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. We have learned about the mu of our shoes and used motion sensors to see how to graph motion. Our final project will be putting together a rocket that we will be launching in May. The research will, hopefully, pay off and send the rockets over 100 feet in the air!!!
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Math - Mr. Polacek
Even though the final month is winding down, 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 a chapter on radicals and trigonometry and one on 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 find equations and inequalities 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 is found to an enjoyable challenge as they continue on. Have a fantastic summer!
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Religion - Mr. Dunn
Eighth grade students are finishing the Sacraments of Service as well as examining how each person of the Holy Trinity is present in our lives.
Seventh grade students are learning about the Book of Revelation as well as stories from the Old Testament. Seventh grade have also completed the initial steps on the way to the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Maranatha!
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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.
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Social Studies - Mrs. Sullivan
In American history, the 8th graders are finishing up studies of the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Movement. The students used their textbooks as well as Powerpoints and guided notes to learn about these topics. The students will be completing an end of the year project focused on the major events we have discussed this year. The students will have the option to work alone or with a partner to create a Top 10 in U.S. History or the ABC’s of U.S. History presentation.
In 7th grade students will be finishing up their studies of Asia and moving into learning about Antarctica and Australia. The 7th graders have been using both their textbooks and Power points 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 will have the option to work alone or with a partner to create a poster, report and presentation about a country of the world. They will be the tour guides as they present their projects to their classmates.
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Art - Mr. Pflaum
As we near the end of the school year, the students are wrapping up their various projects. Here is a quick summary of each grade level:
The kindergarteners are completing a Resurrection story painting and the first grade students have put final touches on their mixed-media spring paintings.
In second grade, they are working on a southwestern desert watercolor landscape painting.
The third-graders are using their doodling skills to create a spring themed drawing.
In fourth grade, the students are drawing a 2-pt perspective tree house while in 5th grade, they are finishing a meandering line drawing.
The sixth-graders are working on ceramic tiki glazing, sumi-brush paintings and abstract watercolors.
The seventh-graders are completing their pointillism drawings and color wheel paintings.
Finally, the eighth-graders are in the middle of their pop culture group paintings.
Samples of student work can be seen on SVdP instagram art gallery: https://www.instagram.com/svdpmrpflaumart/
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Computer - Mrs. Kuhr
Kindergarten - Students started the month learning about AI and using Scroobly. They are now working on sentence typing by posting on a group forum using Wakelet.
1st Grade - Students started the month by programming our little robots, Sphero Indi. We talked about identifing websites that are “just right” and “not right."
2nd Grade - Students have started robotics with the new Sphero Indi. They have been challenged to figure out how to get the Indo to move, and next will be programming it through the app.
3rd Grade - They have been practicing keyboarding and are now beginning a new project. They will design badges to give to classmates using Google Drawing. The badges that they are designing are to have positive words or messages on them.
4th Grade - They have also been practicing keyboarding and finished their digital citizen superhero. They learned about digital safety and made a comicstrip of a digital hero saving the day. Next we are on to learning about ASCII text art.
5th Grade - Students learned about different types of ciphers and then created one of their own. It’s now time to practice and to get ready for our last keyboarding test of the year.
6th Grade - Students are each finishing an animation unit by creating a 30-second animation story.
7th Grade - Students are well underway in a robotics unit with Sphero BOLTs. They are building a chariot that their Sphero BOLT will have to pull. They then need to write a program for the BOLT to race around a track. Finally, they will race their chariots against each other in chariot race.
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Educational Strategists - Mrs. Heavey, Mrs. Price, Ms. Bousquet
As the school year is drawing closer to the end, we are hoping that students don’t forget everything they have learned. It's also the time of year when nervous parents take on the challenge of keeping their children physically busy and mentally active during long summer days. Please check out the list below from Education to the Core who has provided 25 summer learning activities for students of all ages. These activities will enhance your child’s learning and keep them engaged all summer!
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Guidance - Mrs. Skudlarek
What a month it has been in guidance classes. Our kindergarten and first grade students learned about the importance of brightening someone’s day by using kind words and giving compliments. Students put this into practice by writing kind things about a few of their classmates. Second grade students wrapped up talking about the importance of staying away from harmful materials and using good judgement to make decisions. Third and fourth grade students have been learning more about the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. In fifth grade guidance classes the students got to dig a little deeper into how using harmful substances can effect the developing brain. I am always amazed at their questions and information they share. Sixth graders have been learning about conflict resolution and how to use their feelings to benefit their relationships rather than harm them. Seventh grade students are wrapping up talking about big emotions. We will finish the year with careers.
In the month of May, the focus is always on careers. It is a great opportunity to talk with your child about their hopes and dreams for the future. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out. Have a lovely weekend.
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HAL - Mrs. Miller
The 4th and 5th grade HAL Math students have been working on a variety of geometry topics. The students learned about measurement, angles, perimeter, and surface area while emphasizing the importance of knowing their math facts. The 6th grade group finished their unit on polynomials and are getting started with factoring polynomials. They learned the importance of FOIL for not only multiplying but also factoring. The 7th grade algebra students studied statistics and are ready to tackle probability problems. In the literature classes, the 7th grade are wrapping up their unit on Greek mythology and creating character lockers, scrapbooks, or a Mount Olympus newspaper for their final projects. The 8th graders created totem poles highlighting their past, present, and futures.
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Media Center - Mrs. Kaiser
Spring is here! Grades K-2 have been listening to folklore from many countries. As we end the year, we’ll do some STEM challenges including building a chair for Goldilocks, building and weight testing a spider web, and building a bridge for the gingerbread man. Grades 3 will be writing our own stories starring a fruit or vegetable. Grades 4-5 will review research resources, focusing on how to use and cite Nebraska Access articles. Grade 8 will be looking at strategies to avoid misinformation and disinformation online.
Thank you the following students and families who donated books to the library: Nealie Vaughan, Cian Salerno, Leighton Vance, Halle Birkel, Katie Kerns, Emily Miller, Finn Wurth, Rory Wurth, Henry Pick, Jay and Amy Vankat, Corinne Dineen.
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Music - Mrs. LeMense
5th Graders – Students have been working on learning to play the C scale on their ukuleles!
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4th Graders are becoming experts at playing the recorder!
Jacob Cizek can play “Ode To Joy” by heart!
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3rd graders learn some folk dances in preparation for Pioneer Day.
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1st and 2nd graders are finishing up Orchestral Instrument Families.
Kindergarten gave a fun show all about happiness this month! 🌷
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PE - Mrs. Conry
In the Fall I administered the Fitness Gram Test. We recorded pre scores, did the test, and recorded actual scores we got. This spring we are in the process of taking the test to see how we did. We are once again putting in the scores we want to get and then record actual scores.
Many of the 7th & 8th grade students slightly improved, improved, or had the same score. The objective is to see improvement. These scores are based on individual goals. Most often measure of fitness involve these key areas:
Aerobic fitness, which involves how well the heart uses oxygen. Muscle strength and endurance, which involve how hard and long muscles can work. Flexibility, which is how able joints are to move through their full range of motion. It also tests the strength of their core through curl-ups. I hope the students will continue their fitness journey through the summer and have better scores next fall.
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PE - Mr. Boone
One more month! It’s hard to believe that is all that we have left. Here is how April shaped up for your kiddos.
Kindergarten - Scooters. One simple word can bring back so many memories from us adults from our PE classes. These students reviewed safety rules of the scooters to protect their fingers and to keep from getting clothing stuck in the wheels. They got to play games like Hamburger Tag, Kayak Tag, Speed Racers, and Crab Scooter Soccer. Heading into the last month, these students will begin to practice field day games.
1st and 2nd - completed their striking with a bat unit. They were able to do activities such as Adder Up, Batter Up, Alien Attack, and a home run derby. They focused on aligning their hands correctly, pivoting on their trail foot, and swinging through the ball. Students were able to understand a batting order by taking turns, using addition, fielding a ball, and throwing a ball.
3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th - completed their post fitness testing. They worked not he fitness components of flexibility, muscle strength, muscle endurance, and cardiovascular endurance. They were able to write goals down before each test and then compare to see how much they have grown in those areas since the fall. They used the same Fitness File sheet as their previous tests to make the comparisons.
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Spanish 2nd-4th - Mrs. McDermott
Students in 4th grade Spanish are learning the names of over 30 sports.They will practice sports names by playing Charades and talk 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 are learning vocabulary words related to school (la escuela). They will use words in Spanish to talk about people and places in school along with classroom items.
Students in 2nd grade Spanish are learning the parts of the body in Spanish. They are having fun playing Simon Dice (Simon Says) to practice parts of the body vocabulary. They will also have fun drawing and labeling a funny creature with numerous body parts.
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Spanish 5th-8th - Mrs. Singh
Students are working hard in the last few weeks of school to show what they know!
5th grade students have learned about a famous Spanish Speaker, and will use our current vocabulary, Itroducciones, to introduce their famous person to the class and be able to introduce themselves to others.
6th graders have been studying ordinal numbers, class subjects and school supplies. Students will present a portion of their horario / schedule by stating when they have the class (first, second, etc), who teaches the class and one school supply they need in the class.
7th graders have completed a unit studying lunch and dinner foods. Using information they researched during their Menú project, students are presenting a restaurant skit in small groups. As part of their skit, each student needed to order food and a beverage, mention one traditional food, and pay in the currency of their selected country.
8th graders are working on country reports that incorporate skills they have learned this year. In their report, students needed to include cultural, historical and geographical information about a Spanish speaking country of their choice. They used a two verb structure to state what travelers “could do”, “should see”, “needed to try”, “Had to visit”, etc. They are ready for vacation!
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