Preschool - Mrs. Malone, Ms. Onkka

After spring break our students enjoyed a Laura Numeroff author study. We discussed how many of her stories are circle stories that start and end at the same point. Ask your child which story is their favorite.

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.

Our 2-day and 3-day classes had so much fun when the Rose Theater’s movement workshop visited us! We are looking forward to having some more visitors in April.

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

Our students are thinking about how they can be more like Jesus during the Lenten season. We have been working hard to show kindness to others and filling our Kindness Jars.

The kindergarteners are very excited for their grandparents/special friends to join them on Monday for Mass and a few games of Bingo.

The students are getting better and better at reading CVC words, and in math, they have enjoyed learning how to tell time to the hour.

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

In math, 1st graders are expanding their skills by adding double- digit numbers. Another goal for each 1st grade student during these final months of the school year is to become a more independent learner. To prepare students for 2nd grade, we will be asking more of them in reading and following directions, being a problem solver, and completing work independently. We want all students to be ready to tackle the new challenges they will have in 2nd grade.

We are looking forward to all of those who either came or will send a special guest to our Grandparent's Day Mass. What a wonderful way for us to meet and celebrate our students' families!

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

Congratulations to the 2nd graders on receiving First Holy Communion. We look forward to being able to fully participate in Mass now! 

Spring is here! Let’s hope it is bringing the warm weather with it. Please remember that your child may still need a jacket for first recess. It is not always to the high temp of the day when we go out at 11:00 A.M.

Our mathematicians have been working on place value and are working on adding 3-digit numbers. Scientists have been exploring different land and water habitats. Please continue to practice math facts nightly! 

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

Great News! Pioneer Day 2025 will be Friday, April 25th. Information about dressing as a pioneer, packing a pioneer lunch, and opportunities to help with activities on Pioneer Day will be sent via email soon. We will need parent volunteers for some of the activities, and a Sign-Up Genius will be sent out with a variety of ways to help. Please be on the lookout for this information.

Our authors have been working with adjectives to add details to sentences and make our writing more interesting. We will be using this new knowledge as part of our focus when we revise and edit our personal narratives over the next few weeks.

Wishing you a meaningful Lenten journey!

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

On March 3, grade 4 students celebrated Nebraska’s statehood day! Nebraska turned 158 years old on Saturday, March 1. The students celebrated with cookies and a birthday party!

Also, in science we have been studying how weathering, erosion, root wedging, and deposition change the Earth’s surface. Next up, rocks!

As we approach Holy Week, we wish all of you a blessed Easter.

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

5th graders are experts at states and capitals, the Constitution, the amendments, and the 3 branches of government. Thank you for helping them study and prepare at home for these recent tests! We have begun learning about the early days of our young republic and the first leaders of our Nation. As fifth graders are  wrapping up their life science units, they are very excited to begin blasting off into space next! In English, students are learning about adjectives and how to improve their writing with stronger words and better vocabulary. Our State Fair was a HUGE success! So many guests viewed wonderful displays and reports about the 50 states. They were very impressed with our 5th graders' writing skills and knowledge. Thank you for all of your support at home with our State Fair project!

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

English - Students continue to work on mastering the English language as well as editing their writing. We will be taking the writing and editing assessments this month to see how much students have improved since the fall.

Literature - Students have been working hard this year and have come to our final sixth grade novel. Look for A Wrinkle in Time (AWIT), as it was sent home at the end of March. Students will also be taking the Archdiocesan Language Arts assessment this month as well as checking their growth as a reader through benchmarking.

Math - Students are working their way through the geometry unit. Students are practicing identifying types of angles and polygons, finding the area of various polygons, and labeling the parts of a circle. Next up is algebra and graphing. In the coming weeks, students will also be reviewing for their upcoming assessments - Simple Solutions post-test, Math Computation, and Star testing. We will practice reviewing and taking tests as well as covering material from the previous school months.

Social Studies - Students are beginning Ancient Greece. We are learning about its geography, all of the parts of society that Greece has contributed to our lives, and diving deeper into the many different types of government Greece experienced and passed on to the world. Students are also continuing to learn about the global marketplace during our Junior Achievement sessions.

Science - Students will study tectonic plates and how they change the Earth’s surface through volcanoes and earthquakes.

Religion - Students have been studying the Exodus and Seder Meal. Students will participate in a Seder Meal to celebrate Passover, on Monday, April 14th in the Parish Center. Thank you so much for all of the volunteers who will make this special event possible.

JUNIOR HIGH

English - Mr. Leever

English 7

Students are currently working with verbals (participles, gerunds and infinitives) to use in their writing to provide sentence variety. We will then begin diagramming sentences to review the parts of speech and sentence functions that we have studied this year. Students will also begin writing an essay, either informative or persuasive, that will be used as the basis as a speech that will be presented to the class.

English 8

Students are currently diagramming sentences to review the parts of speech and sentence functions that we have studied this year. Students will then begin studying clauses and the difference between simple, compound, and complex sentences. Students will also begin writing an essay, either informative or persuasive, that will be used as the basis of a speech that will be presented to the class.

Science - Ms. Kolberg

Seventh graders are starting to learn about the human body. We are starting with the skeletal system and progressing forward with the circulatory, respiratory, digestive, and excretory systems to the ultimate - finding those organs in the frog (dissection in May)!  Maybe we will find some future doctors or veterinarians in the making!

Eighth graders are building balloon car racers to learn about Newton’s three laws. They are finding that it isn’t as easy as they thought to get that car to run down the science lab’s floor! As they are learning, my hope is for them to apply their “discoveries” to the rocket building in May. Words like friction, force, motion, velocity and speed should become common place this month!

Math - Mr. Polacek

It is hard to believe that we have made it to Quarter 4 of this fast-moving year. The students have been fantastic in their efforts, and we still have many important topics to cover to make sure the students are well-prepared for next year.

The algebra classes are finishing up quadratics (ask them to sing the quadratic formula to you) and will be starting on radical expressions and trigonometry. We will be simplifying square roots and cube roots and doing all of our mathematical operations on them as well as perfecting our Pythagorean Theorem.

In Pre-Algebra we are concluding the algebra chapters with a look at polynomials and slope, both are a great introduction to the rigor that will be expected next year in Algebra. We will be adding, subtracting, multiplying and even dabble in factoring of the polynomials. Algebraic expressions and equations will be the final topics in 7th Grade Math as we get ready for a big leap into 8th grade! Keep up the great work and finish strong!

Religion - Mrs. Nigrin

As we head into the holiest of times in the Catholic Faith, the 7th and 8th graders will be spending time reflecting on the Easter message. They will be praying the Stations of the Cross, which each class has written on their own, and discussing the events of Triduum and Holy Week. At the end of the month, we will be celebrating the canonization of the newest millennium saint, Saint Carlo Acutis.

The 7th graders will be focusing on identifying God’s love in our everyday world and the effects of a good prayer life.

The 8th graders will be examining different forms of prayer and how to incorporate those into their daily life.

Literature - Mrs. Fosbender 

In eighth-grade literature, students will be finishing the book, Touching Spirit Bear. Each student will be creating a totem pole with five symbols that represent their family or the student’s personality. Through the months of March and part of April, the eighth grade will be reading the Holocaust/WWII unit. Students will work with a literature circle group and practice different strategies throughout the novels.

The seventh-grade students are starting the Adventure/Mystery unit novels. Students will be using their creative side to complete three-tier projects that consist of some researching, writing, and illustrating. Seventh grade will also work with literature circle groups. 

Social Studies - Mrs. Sullivan

In social studies, the 8th-grade students are finishing up their studies of World War II and will be moving into studies of the Holocaust. During our studies of the Holocaust, we will use PowerPoints with guided notes and videos, and each student will do an in-depth study of a specific person from the Holocaust. After Easter break, we will start our studies of the Cold War. 

The 7th-grade students are beginning their studies of Asia. They will spend time learning about the countries, culture, geography, history, religion, language, and many other aspects of life in these countries. Our next studies will take us to Africa. As with our other continent studies, the students will explore the history, geography, and ways of life in many African countries. We will use a combination of textbook, workbook, and PowerPoint/guided notes to help us with our exploration. The 7th graders will also engage in small group projects and investigations. 

The eighth grade students would like to thank you for supporting their frozen food fundraiser. The students raise money to buy a gift for the school from the eighth grade class.

SPECIALS

Art - Mr. Pflaum

Here is a quick summary of what students are working on in art class:

Kindergarten - The students will be introduced to clay sculpting.

First grade - The first-graders are in the final stages of their Romero Britto-inspired drawings.

Second grade - In second grade, the students are putting final touches on their construction paper collages.

Third grade - The students are working with chalk on their lighthouse drawings.

Fourth grade - The fourth-graders are learning about two-point perspective while designing their treehouse drawings.

Fifth grade - In fifth grade, the students are using observation skills to recreate a Picasso picture by drawing it upside down.

Sixth grade - The students are glazing their clay tiki sculptures and have started a drawing project using the human skeleton as their reference.

Seventh grade - The seventh-graders are working on multiple projects of pointillism drawings, building illustrations and clay sculpting.

Eighth grade - The students have begun their favorite project of painting large scale pop-culture characters.

A variety of student work can be viewed on the SVdP art gallery at this link: https://www.instagram.com/svdpmrpflaumart/

Computer - Mrs. Kuhr

Kindergarten - Students wrapped up the robotics unit with the Sphero Indi. The students had a blast and learned how to code the little robot using different colored squares. Now they are going to do a few lessons on CAD (Computer Aided Design) and using CAD style websites.

1st Grade - For a few classes, students went on a really fun math site called, Prodigy. Think of it as a cute Pokemon math game. The site also goes at their level and builds on to what they know. Each student received a login and a slip to take home with them to practice. No worries if your little student can’t find their login info. Just email me at kuhra@svdpomaha.org. The link is on my 1st Grade Symbaloo.

2nd Grade - Second grade students have also been logging in to their Prodigy accounts. Difference between 1st and 2nd, second graders can use their Google school accounts. They can find their link in their Computers Google Classroom. This account I will keep this account open for them all the way through their 5th grade year. The game with also grow with their knowledge of math skills.

3rd Grade - Students have started a Google Earth unit. Besides learning how to use Google Earth, students will be finding land formations or buildings that, from above, look like a letter from their name. They will then added all the images they found to a Google Drawing to recreate their name.

4th Grade - Students are currently in the Digital Citizen unit. Students are learning about online safety through discussions and creating their own digital hero. They will finish the unit creating their own comic strip, where their digital hero saves the digital day by following the rules of online safety.

5th Grade - Students have finished working on programming a platform style game in Scratch. They have worked so hard. The games look really good. You will definitely want to see what they created. We are now starting a ciphering unit. We will be going over a couple of different ciphers and then students will create their own cipher.

6th Grade - Students are currently working on an animation unit. They made flip books and GIFs. They will start using the online tool Wick Editor to create a traditional animation clip, and one using key framing. They will then create a 30-second animation.

7th Grade - Students have finished a Cave Surfing game in Scratch. These projects are a must see. They have started a robotics unit using Spheros. They will design a chariot and program it to race around the room.

YEARBOOK photos are needed. Please think about sharing photos of your students Confirmation and First Eucharist photos. Scholarship, sports, holiday parties, and more are needed for the yearbook.

Educational Strategists - Mrs. Heavey Gr. K-2

Help your child strengthen reading comprehension skills by practicing these strategies.

Activate Prior Knowledge: Good readers connect personal experiences or prior knowledge to ideas in text. This connection helps the reader understand the material.

Make Predictions: When readers anticipate what may happen next in a story, it provides a greater purpose for reading. It is fun to find out if the prediction is correct.

Ask Questions: Check for understanding by asking your child questions about the story. Try to make this more like a conversation then a drill. “I was surprised when the character jumped in the lake. Why do you think he did that?” Turn the tables on your child and have them ask you questions about the story.

Retell the Story: Ask your child to retell the story in his own words. If your child is having trouble with this, model how to retell the story or reread the story a second time.

Mrs. Price Gr. 3-5

In 3rd-5th grades, students have an opportunity to practice and master their math fact fluency (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). By mastering their math fact fluency, children can solve more difficult concepts quicker, improve on their problem-solving skills, boost their confidence, and prepare for math courses and life skills in their future.

There are several ways for students to practice their math facts and make it a fun learning experience outside of school. Listed below are a few ideas.

1. Games – card games, dice games, even playing hopscotch outdoors

2. Music, videos, chants

3. Flashcards

4. Skip counting, organizing patterns

5. Online math websites - (Xtramath, Fact Monster, Math Fact Lab, etc.)

6. Life situations – baking/cooking, buying groceries, building/crafting, supply planning

Most activities only take 5-10 minutes! Even when you are waiting for food to cook, driving across the town, waiting in line at a drive thru, or waiting at sports practice for another one of your children, you can still do flashcards, play mental math games, or have your child complete math tasks of your choosing to earn small rewards. You can never have too much math practice!

Ms. Bousquet Gr. 6-8

Artificial intelligence has become ubiquitous in a very short period of time. My iPad summarizes long emails into brief but effective snippets of information, Google features AI-generated responses at the top of search pages, ChatGPT is acing bar exams, and AI competitors like Grok, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity seem to be emerging all the time. AI chatbots have the potential to be wonderful tools, but they are also tempting options for kids to turn to for essays and other assignments.

Copying AI-generated responses is no better than plagiarizing or copying answers. It is also entirely counterproductive. The purpose of writing assignments is to teach kids to think critically, to write effectively, and to develop the organizational tools necessary communicate well. While copying an AI-generated response allows students to finish essays or assignments in seconds, doing so will not help students become better readers, writers, or critical thinkers. If you come across your student using AI chatbots for school (they are blocked on school computers, so they would have to use phones or other devices), consider having a conversation about AI and its limitations. Using AI for schoolwork is like using a car to train for a marathon. It may be a faster and more efficient way to reach the finish line, but it doesn’t help students achieve their long-term goals. 

Guidance - Mrs. Skudlarek

March was a great month in guidance class. Students in kindergarten, first, and second grades all learned about harmful substances as well as healthy and unhealthy habits. We discussed different types of household items and every day use items that can harmful to them and those around them. One area we focused on was medicine and not tasting things when we do not know what they are. Third and fourth graders learned about staying drug free with an emphasis on saying no to alcohol, tobacco/vaping, and drugs such as marijuana. Fifth grade students continued to learn more about the ripple effect of alcohol and marijuana use. While the conversations are a way to arm them to say "No" to things that can be harmful to them, you as parents have the strongest voice in teaching them about legal and illegal substances. The students had a wonderful time at Career Day. Happy Easter!    

HAL - Mrs. Miller

The month of March flew by! The 4th graders learned how to divide decimals and are getting ready to study simple geometry. The 5th graders finished up a measurement unit and will learn about area and volume of 2D and 3D figures. Sixth graders spent time using percent proportions and equations to solve a variety of problems, and the 7th graders learned about computing with radical expressions. In literature class the 7th graders are reading The Lightning Thief and will learn about Greek mythology. The 8th grade group will create personal totems as a final project when they finish reading Touching Spirit Bear. This is one of our favorite projects!

Media Center - Mrs. Kaiser

New books! Cartons of new books have been arriving for both libraries. We are grateful to all of the families who make it possible for us to order new books throughout the year by shopping at the Book Fair. 

Students in grades K-1 have been listening to folktales. Grade 2 students have learned to use call numbers to locate a book on the shelf. Grade 3 students have focused on identifying genres. Students in grade 4 are using the tinkercad program to build things for our 3D printers. Grade 5 students used their research skills to learn about circuits and will build a light up greeting card with a working circuit. Students in grade 8 are working through the design cycle—design, test, redesign - and are building their reading stamina with 20-minute reading sessions.

Thank you to the following students and their families for donating books to the library: Eddie Fyfe, Nessi Fay, Nathan Eggers, Peyton Stubbs, Henry Kerns, Katie Kerns, Cooper Conrady, Mason Birkel.

Music - Mrs. LeMense

The 5th graders are coming to the end of their recorder unit. 

They have learned to play some complicated pieces. You can hear them play in the church during Holy Week for the April 15th Stations of the Cross and for the April 16th Wednesday Mass.

The 4th graders are in the midst of their Recorder Karate Unit.   Students earn little “belts” for each song that they can play. The belts are pieces of yarn tied onto their recorders.  

It’s a fun unit! Students can really see how they have progressed!

Our 3rd graders are learning folk dances in preparation for Pioneer Day. We’re learning a circle dance, a set dance, and a square dance. For the circle dance, the boys had to hold hands with the girls.Lots of hand sanitizer was needed ♥. Actually they handled this pretty well. 

Here’s a dance they could do with their friends ⬇️

2nd graders have been working on note durations – whole note, half note, quarter note, and eighth note.     

1st graders have been learning to read notes on the staff. We start very simply with pitches, sol and mi—next come la. We’re learning the letter names of notes, too. 

Kindergartners are preparing for their show called, “Spring Has Sprung.” Their performance will be on Wednesday, April 9th  at 9:30 A.M. in the school gym. You’re sure to get into the swing of Spring with their light-hearted tunes. More information will be coming!  Stay tuned!   

I want to congratulate all the students who participated in the play! They all worked super hard and were extremely well prepared despite the 5 snow days interrupting our rehearsals! It brings me so much joy to see them have fun onstage 

7th Grade will officially begin their ukulele unit next week. 6th grade is learning both rhythm values as well as african drumming. We recently learned about Axatses, Gankogui, and Dunun instruments that are native to West Africa. Students love getting to play them in class. 8th grade has finished up their music careers project. 

PE - Mrs. Conry

March madness is in the air, so it makes perfect sense to have a basketball unit. It was important for me to understand what the classes knew about basketball. Many played, but some have not. We talked about obvious violations traveling, double dribble, and fouls. I showed the classes what these violations are and when these happen, the other team gets the ball. There was a difference in skill levels. 

They learned team offense and defense skills and strategies. They applied the knowledge of basic rules of basketball in game situations. I divided the teams so that it was a good mix of skills. We discussed the importance of  proper etiquette and good sportsmanship while playing. I emphasized to be kind to those and tolerate those who do not play basketball and help them.

I was happy with the progress the classes made. They seemed to enjoy the game. I picked teams, and they played games with double elimination. I gave the classes a study guide, and we ended the unit with a quiz.

PE - Mr. Boone

Spring is here….well sort of. We are winding down the school year with some of the most popular activities. Thank you again for those who contributed supplies to Field Day. I greatly appreciate it. Please take the time to look at the sign up and see what else is needed. 

K-2 The feeling of nostalgia will probably hit most of you when I tell you that the these students worked on the parachute. Typically, an adults number one memory of PE classes was doing the parachute. While using the parachute, the students really received an emphasis on following directions and teamwork. The students did activities such as Hot Air Balloon, Color Races, Flying Saucer, Popcorn, Sharks and Lifeguards, Climbing The Mountain, and Switcharoo. Listening to verbal cues and observing the teacher were key in making these very enjoyable.  

3-5 Keeping with the theme of nostalgia, these students hit the road (gym floor) with their scooters. A great way to build up leg muscles and speed, the scooters provided opportunities for the students to work with partners or teams to reach their goals. Hitting the ground running, the students started off by doing Turbo Races, Scooter Tag, Pooper Scoopers, Partner Protector, Mario Kart, Poison Berries, and Swimming. Building muscle strength all over the body was achieved during this unit.  

6th One of my favorite units for the 6th graders is our health unit of Health Related Fitness Activities. During this unit we discussed things such as the Borg Perceived Exertion Scale, the F.I.T.T. Principle, the Overload Principle, Health vs. Skills related components of fitness, aerobic vs. anaerobic exercise, nutrition, and the effects exercise has on mental health. The students took notes in class for a little over a week and then were tested on that information. After that, the students were introduced to a form or exercise called Circuit Training. They had a chance to practice a series of exercises for one class and then the following class when through the full workout. It was very beneficial to them physically and mentally.  

Spanish 2nd-4th - Mrs. McDermott

Second grade through fourth grade Spanish are finishing up the topics they have been working on during 3rd quarter: 2nd grade - La Familia (the family), 3rd grade - Los Animales (animals) and 4th grade - Las Estaciónes y El Tiempo (the seasons and weather). They will have their work published in a class book that will be kept in their classroom. Students can read this class book at their leisure during free reading time. They will be excited to see each others work published in a book.

Spanish  5th-8th - Mrs. Singh

¡Hola! Students came back from Spring Break energized and ready to work! What a great way to start the 4th quarter! This month, all students will learn how to say “Happy Easter” and learn about how Easter is celebrated in Spanish-speaking countries.

5th grade students are studying Spanish-speaking countries and where they are located. We will investigate interesting facts about each country, and students will give a short presentation about their country.

6th graders have been studying weather terms and reviewing numbers. We have practiced converting degrees Farenheit to Celcius in order to talk about the current temperatures. Students will create a presentation about the weather in a specific Spanish speaking country. 

7th graders have completed a unit studying breakfast foods. This month we will move on to foods we enjoy at lunch and dinner (and we won’t forget dessert!).

They are also researching traditional dishes from Spanish- speaking countries.  

8th graders have been expanding their sports vocabulary by learning how to conjugate verbs… so they can talk about who is playing,etc.

We are also reviewing sports vocabulary by saying where people go to engage in these activities.  

Students are practicing the verb structure “ir + a + infinitive” to state what they are “going to do”. They can use the verb “Ir” to say where they are going AND what they are going to do there.