Vol. 9 Issue 19 - Our Lady of the Valley Catholic School

Our Lady of the Valley
Catholic School
News you can use
WELCOME BACK & HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We hope you had a restful and enjoyable
Christmas break. It’s full speed ahead with much to do!
ACTIVE Info:
To all my fitness families, due to scheduling conflicts and the unforeseen situation of
my prolonged physical rehab post surgery, I am canceling active/run club for this semester. I am so very sorry for this and please know it was a very hard decision to make.
It will resume next fall with cross country running and then again next spring with
track and field. Again, I am so sorry and I apologize from the bottom of my heart, this
is a VERY important part of my life and it will be back. ~ Mrs. Verna Giani
SPANISH Info:
After school Spanish classes will resume next Monday, January 11th. Payment for
2nd semester should be made out to Brenda Almenas. Cost is $225 Sign up today!!
VOL. 9 Issue: 19
January 4, 2016
Friday, January 8, Auction Mtg.
6:00pm Mrs. Cain’s room
Wednesday, January 13, School
Advisory Board Mtg. 6:00pm
Mrs. Cain’s room
Friday, January 29th GEO BEE
11am at Mat-Su Central
HOT LUNCH
Price: $5
TUESDAY 1/5: Chef Kim Snively,
Baked chicken legs, scalloped potatoes, corn, dessert & drink
THURSDAY 1/7: Chef Liz Quinn,
ROBOTICS: A new vendor to Mat-Su Central, Learning Point Alaska, will be start- Hamburger, fries, veggie, dessert and
ing a robotics workshop in the new year (date to be announced). There will be an drink.
opening for up to 12 students in a week long after school Robotics program from
3:45pm-4:45pm or a two day a week program for 3 weeks. It is open to K-8th students.
The class will be held at the school. The cost is $125 per student and it can be directly
billed and paid through Mat-Su Central. If you are interested please reply back or let
the OLV office know.
UPCOMING DATES:
January 31-February 6th Catholic School’s Week - Volunteers needed
1/30 Auction Ticket Sales begin
2/10 Ash Wednesday Mass 9am
2/12 & 2/15 No School Teacher Work Days
2/19 OLV Stations of the Cross & Soup Supper
2/22-29th Re-Enrollment &New Enrollment begins for current families
3/1 Open enrollment for PK-5th grade only
GEO BEE: For those students that are in the Geo Bee the first competition is January, 29th at
11am at Mat-Su Central. Please inquire with Mr. Lund for more details at
[email protected]
Have a great week!!
~Karen Smith
907-232-6416
BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUTS
JANUARY
8-Dylan Hsu
9-Edward
15-Laurel
23-Phoebe
MRS. VERNA GIANI - PRESCHOOL
Happy New Year Everyone! I hope the Christmas break left everyone happy, healthy and eager for the coming months. We are opening the
semester with our space unit and then will roll right into our dinosaur theme. Please remember to check your child's folder each day for fun
activities to do at home or for anything that may need to be returned. The auction is fast approaching and we need your help, this event can't
happen without "all hands on deck" so please attend our next meeting this Friday at 6pm. As always please contact me for any questions. Peace
be with you all and cheers to the new semester!"
Active
To all my fitness families, due to scheduling conflicts and the unforeseen situation of my prolonged physical rehab post surgery I am canceling
active/run club for this semester. I am so very sorry for this and please know it was a very hard decision to make. It will resume next fall with
cross country running and then again next spring with track and field. Again, I am so sorry and I apologize from the bottom of my heart, this is
a VERY important part of my life and it will be back."
MRS. WAISANEN’S WISE ONE’S K-1
Best wishes for a happy new year! Although I had big plans to be in school working more than I did over the holidays, I selfishly
must state that I really enjoyed spending time with family and my three grandchildren. It felt good to slow down and appreciate
the simple joys of life as seen through the eyes of their youth. I hope you were able to relax and enjoy family time, too.
Miss Verna and I have started planning our next couple units of study for this month and are excited to spend about 2 weeks on
each of the St. Jerome’s Classic Curriculum’s suggested themes to be covered: “There is No Place Like Space” and “Hear the
Roars of the Dinosaurs” (although we came up with our own catchy titles). This week we will focus on the causes of day and night,
seasons, the moon cycle, and the importance of the sun.
Next week we will learn about the planets and space travel. We would love Pre K – first grade families to create a rocket/shuttle/
spaceship out of inexpensive recycled items found around the house that can be hung in our classroom any time in the next couple
weeks. This can be as simple or elaborate as you and your child want. The only rule is that you and your child have fun creating
together!
The children continue to amaze me with their stories and I hope you encourage them at home to continue to write for a variety of
reasons. Whether it is to create a grocery list, write a short note on Dad’s or Mom’s lunch napkin, or illustrate and write a simple
nightly diary entry about their day, these are all valuable learning opportunities for your child’s growth as a reader and writer.
Phonic rules and letter sounds are taught best through children creating their spelling system while writing.
I was thrilled to see two separate children write a story prior to Christmas and use the word “idea.” Both were risk-takers and
wrote the letters, IDU, as it phonetically sounded and didn’t let the unknown spelling stop their creativity. The more children read,
the more they will eventually get the spelling down of words by seeing it over and over and getting a sense of what looks correct.
Until then, we say the words slowly and “guess and go” in order to freely express ourselves in complete sentences.
If you are shopping in the supply aisle, we desperately need new glue sticks in our classroom. Thanks!
MRS. LUND’S 2-3 CLASS
Bible Verse for this week is: “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy.” Psalm 103:8
Religion words for this week are: sorrow, forgive, Epiphany, gold, Frankincense and myrrh.
Greetings and a most blessed Happy New Year to the OLV community of families. The start of the new year also initiates the beginning of the 2nd semester. With all the events your children participated in during the past semester, now a memory, I anxiously
look forward to the learning experiences and additional productions for the new year. Learning takes place in countless places in
addition to the classroom. At OLV our students are given a variety of venues to develop and showcase their God given talents.
OLV students did a remarkable job performing the Christmas play entitled, “The Legend of the Poinsettia.” There certainly is no
shortage of talent at OLV. We thank God for all our blessings.
Our religion lessons this week will include the story based on Matthew 2:1-12 “The Magi Visit Jesus.” The students will learn
about the gifts of gold, Frankincense, a wonderful spicy fragrance, and finally myrrh, a sweet-smelling lotion. They will make
crowns, decorate Kings’ bread and learn the definition of Epiphany.
I have resumed the Math and Lang. Arts homework packets and nightly reading assignments. Please help your child return their
homework each day. Thank you for signing their reading homework bookmarker.
May the “Star” that led the Magi along their searching way, brighten your life with light and with peace for this New Year. God
bless all of our OLV families and donors. Mrs. Lund
MRS. GRISSO’S 4-5 CLASS
Welcome Back! I hope this newsletter finds everyone healthy and happy in this new year!
This week we are hitting the ground running with the start of the new quarter! I am sending home lots of graded work
including tests and book reports today with the students, so make sure you check your child's backpack!
Today in math the Smarties group will be learning about percents, and the Velvet Doublet group will be organizing and
analyzing data onto graphs.
In grammar, the students will be studying the 4 kinds of sentences: imperative, interrogative, exclamatory, and declarative. Then we will dive into topic sentences and supporting versus non-supporting ideas in more depth.
"The gate of heaven is very low; only the humble can enter it."--St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us!
MRS. CAIN’S 6-8 CLASS
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful and wonderful Christmas break! Our family enjoyed a trip to Homer (it’s better in
the summer…lol) and time together over the holidays.
Here’s what we have planned for January….
Social Studies
We will begin our unit on the Revolutionary War this week and I am sending study guides home in this week’s homework packet.
As we work through the unit, your child should be studying for their upcoming test on Friday, January 22. I highly recommend seterra.org for map studies and quizlet.com for events, people, and terms.
Science
We are continuing our unit on Chemistry and have an upcoming test on Thursday, January 14. A study guide is going home with
this week’s homework packet. Many of the terms have already been covered in class and can be found in your child’s science journal. Again, quizlet is a great resource to help with learning the important terms.
ELA
We will continue working on vocabulary, grammar (diagramming sentences with adverbs and adjectives), and reading Johnny Tremain. We will also begin a persuasive writing unit, which will also tie into our studies of the Revolutionary War.
Religion
This week we plan to finish up our study of the Nicene Creed, begin our next chapter in our Faith and Life book about Jesus as
Priest, Prophet, and King, and learn about who the Pharisees are in our study of the gospel according to Mark.
Latin
Cambridge students will continue working on past tense verbs. Visual Latin students will begin their studies of the Nominative
(nouns) and Genitive cases (possessive nouns).
Have a great week!
Mrs. Cain
PVO CORNER
Dear Parents,
The New Year has begun and there is much to do. An email will be sent with future PVO meeting date and
time.
Upcoming activities:
Catholic Schools Week. January 31-February 6th. Volunteers needed to plan activities, carpool, etc.
Friday Stations & Soup Supper: February 19th 6pm. Volunteers needed for soup, bread, serving and clean
up.
Thank you!! Peter & Brenda Scott
If you have not had a chance please complete the Safe & Sacred certification. go to www.archdioceseofanchorage.org website Safe Environment
tab, adult online training etc.
Please make sure to login to Sycamore regularly for updates and volunteer opportunities.
Thank you for your active participation!
Peter & Brenda Scott, PVO President [email protected]
Amanda Weglin, PVO Vice President [email protected]
Ivy Massie, PVO Secretary [email protected]
Auction News Corner
Co-chair contacts: Verna Giani and Julie Gag
All hands on deck! We are roughly 100 days until the auction. We need your help and support now. Please attend the
next auction meeting this Friday Jan 8th from 6-7pm. The auction cannot happen without everyone working together.
This is a priority for our school right now and we still have so much to be done. Please allot the time to attend the meetings, see you all there.
Thank you! Have a blessed week! Verna
Contact:
Verna Giani, email: [email protected]
Julie Gag, email: [email protected]
APR IL 16, 2016