Newsworthy Notes
Vol. 17 Issue 3 September 10, 2004
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from Sister Therese Marie |
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The Archdiocesan Testing will take place in grades one through eight beginning September 20 through September 24. These are different dates than on the school calendar. The data received from the tests is a very important part of the student records. Hopefully, no one will be absent during those crucial days. A good night’s rest and a wholesome breakfast are sensible prerequisites for testing
On September 14, the school photographer will be here. It is a DRESS-UP day for all the students. Students may change into their uniforms after the pictures have been taken. Just a very important reminder: The payment with the order form must be in the hands of the photographer at the time that he takes the picture--one order form per child. You may write one check, but please indicate this on the other forms.. Dismissal
Lunch Lottery
Kdg. - Sam McKee
WANTED!!! Current judges who do not have a red or green judge’s card must attend a meeting to update cards. New parents interested in judging must attend a meeting too. There are two dates available, Wednesday, September 22 and Saturday, September 25. If interested , please contact Anne LaVigne in the third grade room, or Tina McNulty in the office.
Mothers’
Club Meeting Tuesday,
September 14, 2004 Agenda: Mother's Club Thank You A big thank you to Patty Winkelmann and Tina McNulty for all their hard work facilitating the Grocery Store Coupon sales during the 2003-2004 school year. Their efforts and those of the many others who sold in carpool line throughout the year brought in $6213.00. This money, which directly benefits the students, was used to purchase new computers in the computer lab. Thanks also to everyone who purchased grocery store coupons and please keep on buying! September 25 Yard Sale.....Collections have begun!! From now through Sept 22 you can bring items for the yard sale to the upper church parking lot during school hours and following weekend Masses. For more information, click here. Supplies needed: hangers, shopping bags, empty coffee cans and moving boxes. Thanks! |
On September 15, at 7:00 p.m., parents are invited to meet in the Parish Life Center for Back-to-School Night. It will begin with a general meeting where you will be introduced to the teachers and receive a detailed schedule indicating the time and place of the specific classes for each grade. After the meeting you may visit the classrooms as you desire. Observe the excellent educational opportunities your child/children are receiving at Our Lady of the Pillar School. Teachers will present their goals, objectives and expectations for the school year. Please remain in the classroom so you don’t miss the relevant information that is especially directed to parents. Fall Fund Raiser
Boys and girls, watch out for the monkey!!!!!!!!!!!
Please continue to save box tops. The first pick-up will be on September 24th and the three highest classes will have a dress-down day on September 30th. Remember to cut the "box top" coupon along the dotted lines. The box tops we turn in are those that have an expiration date on them. Sometimes the real Box Top coupon is on the back of a label or box. We do not turn in Betty Crocker points. Additionally, OLP earns Box Top funds when you purchase items online through the Box Tops Booster Club. One OLP family just purchased a computer through the Box Tops Booster Club. Log on to the boxtops4education.com website for details on how to support OLP with your online purchases. You'll be surprised at the amazing number of stores participating in this program. Eddie Bauer, Lands' End, Staples, Office Depot, Dell, Barnes and Noble -- check out the Marketplace online!
Dierberg's and Schnuck's gift cards will be sold in the car pool line on Mondays and Thursdays again this year. Both stores now use the convenient gift card; no more paper coupons. Shop-n-Save will no longer be available. OLP earns 5% on all sales and all proceeds benefit our computer lab. Please support this simple fundraiser for our school. The earnings really add up! Help
Wanted to Sell Coupons Men's
Club
Interested in Scouting? We have 1st through 6th grade troops and would love to add a Kindergarten troop. If you are interested in co-leading a new Kindergarten Daisy troop or would like more information, contact Diana True, 569-9456.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at stm@olpillar.com |
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| Class News and Student Activities |
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Our
Lady of the Pillar Math News Our Lady of the Pillar students had a great year displaying their many math talents. On Saturday, Feb. 21st, 24 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students took on the challenge of the Bishop DuBourg Math Contest. Each student took an hour-long test that covered all ranges of mathematical concepts. Ten ribbons were awarded at each grade level, and eight team awards were given. In the sixth grade Colleen Evans won the third place ribbon for her individual test performance and Ryan Bedell won the second place ribbon for his individual test performance. The sixth grade won the overall second place team for performance, which is dependent upon the four top scores. Ryan Bedell, Colleen Evans, Rosemary Howell, and Lauren Smith made up the winning team. The eighth grade students won the seventh place team award for their performance; and the team was Stephen Lindsley, Ben Evans, John Westermayer, and Eliot Gusdorf. The seventh grade students received honorable mention; but they are ready for next year. What a great day! On Saturday, Feb. 28th, 5 eighth grade students attended the St. Louis University High Math Contest; and they left feeling great! Ben Evans won second place out of 120 competing students. The team scores of Ben Evans, John Westermayer, and Sarah Cody won a 6th place out of 24 teams. The team’s representatives, Ben Evans, John Westermayer, Sarah Cody, Eliot Gusdorf, and Stephen Lindsley all agreed that this was one of the hardest and most competitive contests they had ever encountered. Yeah, Pillar!!! On Saturday, March 27th, the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics held one of the annual math contests at CBC High School. Our Lady of the Pillar sent 9 very fine students to participate. They had a fine day, indeed. In sixth grade problem solving Rosemary Howell won 6th place and Chris Kobe received honorable mention. In sixth grade Concepts Mary Chivetta received 11th place. In fifth grade problem solving Stephen Seyer received the 9th place ribbon and Will Pohlmann received the 11th place. In fifth grade concepts Gina Gaia earned acknowledgement at 11th place. In the fourth grade Tess Griesedeck received the 5th place ribbon for problem solving and Andrew Wright received 11th place. In 4th grade Concepts Dixon Anthon received 11th place. These results are especially pleasing because enrollment at the individual school determines how many students may be sent to the contest. We could only send 3 students at each level; some schools were able to send 6. We are very proud of our students and all their hard work and fine display of good sportsmanship! Our last major contest of the year took place on Saturday, April 24th, at Rosati Kain High School. Our 6 seventh grade girls took part and represented us royally. An astounding 277 girls participated in the two-part contest. Each girl took a 45 minute individual test and then the girls broke into teams of 2 or 3 to do a team round. It was an exciting and challenging day; but it was uplifting to see so many girls doing all levels of math and enjoying themselves. In the individual testing round, Christina Huck, Cara Jacobsen, Megan Niedringhaus, and Anna Rose Rodway won 4th place ribbons. Mary Clare Walter won a 3rd place ribbon and Vanessa Steger won the 5th place trophy for her individual test performance. We are especially proud of the fact that our school had only six contestants while some of the large school had as many as 30 to 40 students. Our wonderful girls are ready for new math challenges next year!! The year has been a wonderful time for learning, trying, experimenting, and seeking solutions. Mathematics is a study filled with challenge and excitement!! Wait till you see what we do next year!!!!! Remember---God is a Mathematician!!!! |
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Kindergarten News Sept 3 - Our Kindergarten class is making wonderful progress. Everyone is turning in their homework. We are very responsible.
Aug 27 - We have enjoyed our first week of school. We have been very busy learning the routine. Our favorite quote of the week comes from John Robert. When asked what we know about Jesus, John replied, " He is the Light of the world." WOW! First Grade News Sept 10 - The first graders are learning about each other. They are making large posters that tell "All About Me". It's fun to learn likes and dislikes and thoughts about what the future might hold. Stop by the hallway and take a look. We also have painted lady caterpillars eating their way to chrysalises in our room. We are learning about insects and have started a collection in our room of insects the children are bringing in. And of course, reading is lots of fun!!!! We are getting better at figuring out new words and writing sentences. Aug 27 - We’re off to a great start in first grade. We have 29 students who are eager to begin a year of fun and learning. We would like to welcome Charlie Murphy who is new at Pillar this year. We know he will love OLP.
Aug
27 - The second graders have had a GREAT first week of
school. Everyone is smiling and we have all settled into our routine
very quickly. I am very Third Grade News Sept 10- The Honor of Mary Medal moves to Cooper Hudspeth this week. A classmate caught her performing an act of kindness, and for that we applaud her !!!! We got over the hurdles of the first Math and Language Arts tests this week. We also led our first Mass on Wednesday. The readers were great and the singing very enthusiastic !!! Sept 3 - Our Honor of Mary Medal has been passed on to Ryan Glazer this week. Good going, Ryan !! We are working hard to under-stand place value in Math, and we wrote our first spelling sentences of the year this week. Have a nice, well-earned, long weekend ! Aug
27 - Welcome to a new year !! The children have had a
great first week back in school. As you can tell, we have jumped
right in and have been quite busy.
September will be a musical month here at school. Here is what each grade can look forward to doing in music. In Kindergarten we will be learning a song about meeting people called "Say Hello". We also are learning to count and keep a beat with "Steady Beat Shake-down". "Peanut Butter" was a big hit, because we got to use the instruments! "Get up and dance", showed us how to echo sing and that we could move to the music, something we love to do. There were some great musical opportunities for 1st grade this summer. Since we are excited about the Cardinals, we sang a song called "Barnyard Baseball". Imagine that! We will also learn to sign letters and phrases. Second grade also pictured and wrote about their summer music experiences. Way to go 2nd grade! We listened to "Getting to Know You", from The King and I. 2nd grade loves learning that this musical is based on a true story. We will also learn to sign letters and phases in 2nd grade. Third grade sang a song called "Music Bus". It was a challenge because it is written in three parts. One of the parts is a rap. We had to go fast and keep the beat! We are also going to do signing in the third grade. Fourth grade
learned a song called "Music Express". It is very upbeat
and jazzy. We even provided our own accompaniment. Next we will
learn a patriotic partner song called "Spirit of America ".
It will be a challenge Fifth grade
also learned "Music Express" . They even performed it
for Sister Therese Marie! She loved it, especially since it had
solo parts too. "All Aboard for Broadway" is another snappy
show tune we are learning. "Reach for the Rainbow", shows
us we can do anything if we try. Seventh grade has begun to study musical theater. We will see what it takes to put on a musical. We will also learn about various composers in musical theatre. Eighth is learning about time periods in music. Our study has begun with the influence of African music of long ago. We will then explore ragtime and jazz.
Don't forget! Back to School Night is September 15!! |
Fifth Grade News Sept 3 - The first week of school went really fast. This week we are learning about the Nominative Case and how to diagram nouns used as subjects and subjective complements. We are also writing letters to the Sisters at Carbarry Campus. On Thursday, September 9th we will visit the Sisters and treat them to a K.F.C. lunch. England is our choice for International Day on April 8, 2005. We are looking for some unique ideas so if you are interested let us know. We would like to thank the Mothers’ Club for the generous gift of $100. We will put it to good use. God bless you and have a great and safe Labor Day. Aug 27 - The fifth grade is off to a good start and we are looking forward to a great year. We have made a change so that the students do not have to leave the classroom for Social Studies. One less book to carry will make it easier for them. We will try to keep everyone updated as the year moves on. May God bless all of you. News from Mrs. Ryan Sept 10 - The sixth graders are looking forward to our TEAMWORKS field day on September 15. Remember to pack only a nutritious sack lunch, a bottle of water, and a light jacket (if the weather turns cooler). Also, do not forget your thinking cap, since every member of each team needs to participate in the problem solving. The 5th grade scientists must demonstrate skill in recording accurate and reliable observations. On Wednesday, students shared lists of quantitative and qualitative observations which we used as clues to identify “mystery” objects.
Both groups are progressing with Literature assignments, and the fifth graders wrote vivid first drafts about a very unlikable chap named Eustace! The sixth graders are also reading a novel, The Word Eater, and each student will complete a writing assignment about the characters and theme. Aug 27 - Our full day of TEAMWORKS Challenges is September 15 at Greensfelder Park. The sixth grade homeroom has already put teamwork to good use. God’s inspiration helped us create twenty unique and beautiful works of art for our classroom wall. These images will be daily reminders of our call to appreciate God’s creation and His abundant gifts to all sixth graders. Both fifth and sixth graders are doing well with their first Science assignments. Parents should see class and home work accumulating more often in the green binders, with some homework assignments from the textbooks. Both Literature classes used the same Greek mythology lesson to tie-in with the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens, Greece, and to kick-off our work with vocabulary, comprehension, and paragraph writing skills. We also read from the Olympic Creed, “...the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle...” . News from Mrs. Jones Sept
10- The 7th and 8th graders
are working hard at this time, adjusting to new classes and bigger
expectations. When parents come for Back-to-School Night, be sure to check out our display of Native American Folk-Tales, near the Science room. The fifth graders used great creativity in these presentations, while expanding research. Aug 27 - We would especially like to welcome our new seventh grader Jalan Jaskot to our class. The summer has gone quickly and hopefully everyone will be back in the swing of things in no time at all. We are already working on Forces and Motion Experiments and are looking forward to putting together our Roller Coaster for science demonstrations. Eighth Grade has already begun a project about the Underground Railroad in Social Studies. In Science, we are experimenting with reaction times, and how fast people respond to light, sound and touch. In fifth grade, our math group is moving at a great clip and we are practicing factor trees and prime and composite numbers. Our Social Studies group is reviewing the five themes of geography before we move on to early American history Eighth Grade News Sept 10 - Father Tobin joined us for a prayer service and signed each eighth grader with holy water, saying, “You are called to be a leader.” Refreshments followed ~ Mrs. Rodway’s wonderful sherbet punchand Mrs. Wankum’s delicious Rice Krispie treats. Thank you both!
Computer Bits & Bytes Sept 10 - Greetings! The school year has gotten off to a wonderful start. With two weeks of classes behind us, all the students seem to be settling into their new routines very well. Our Kindergartners are learning how to have better control of the mouse as they practice stamping the alphabet in Kid Pix. The first graders have just completed their Assessment Tests in Jump Start First Grade and are moving into the program this week at their respective levels. Several of them are proving to be very good at math and have won trophies in Turbo Math already! Second graders are learning about the keyboard and using Reader Rabbit 2 to enhance their language arts and math skills. Besides continuing to improve key-boarding skills, third graders have been enjoying the Adventures of Clue Finders while sharpening their language arts and math skills. Fourth grade students are improving not only typing skills, but also grammar as they use Type to Learn and Grammar Games. The fifth grade class has been creating a Kid Pix Slide show describing their summer. Sixth graders have done a review in word processing and are currently creating a “How-to” Hyperstudio stack. Seventh and eighth graders have created colorful schedules in Excel. Seventh graders are also working on a review of Power Point, while eighth graders are doing a review project in PageMaker. I am looking forward to helping the students utilize the computers in their studies during the year. Panther Prints started on Tuesday, September 7th. Thanks to the Mothers’ Club for the generous class gift. God’s blessings. |
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| News
from the Office |
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I would like to thank parents for their respectful feedback regarding our Pillar uniform shoe policy. We understand that there are many factors to consider when purchasing ‘back to school shoes’. Price, fit, comfort, durability and color are all important criteria by which to evaluate your purchases. In an attempt to maintain respectable continuity in our uniform policy, it is important to provide guidelines. However, it is not my intention to create hardship for our parents. Please do not rush out and buy another pair of new shoes for school. However, if you did not purchase your new school shoes for this year, please select a white tennis shoe that is free of fads or decorations (i.e., lights, ribbons, beads, shocks, cartoon characters, strips, color tips, stripes, color heels, etc.) If you have a new pair, please select a white pair for your next purchase. We do thank all those who did follow the guidelines. Thank you again for your thoughtful input on this and all matters that concern our school children. |
Students who walk or ride bikes from school must have a signed permission note in the School Office. These were to be turned in by August 30. Insurance Forms If you are interested in purchasing insurance found in your packet, please return the form to the office by September 10th.
To submit your important announcements in Newsworthy Notes, please e-mail Mrs. McNulty at tmcnulty@olpillar.com by 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday of a regular week and by 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday of a short week. Anything submitted after those times will be saved for the following week. At the same time, please e-mail Judy Rieke at jrieke22@swbell.net for items to be printed on the school web site. |
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Archdiocesan
Testing 
Individual
Pictures
When
you make the curve toward the Parish Life Center, please display
your car pool number so the teachers and patrol students can
readily see it. The two rows of cars near Lindbergh must alternate
moving out and merge into one line.
Cafeteria
Update 
The
following children received a can of soda as winners in this week’s
lottery in the cafeteria: 
Buzz
Book
Back-to-School
Night
The
wrapping paper/candy fund raiser is well under way. Don’t
forget to go out and sell. This fund raiser is important for our
students and the school Your interest and cooperation in this project
are greatly appreciated. The sale will end on September 21st.
Grocery
Store Coupons 
September
Girl
Scouts at OLP
This
article was not published earlier on the website due to my oversight.
I know how hard the students and teachers work that participate
in the various Math contests throughout the year...so I wanted to
put this information abou the 2003-2004 school year in the online
NWN to give credit to all those who worked so hard and for the successes
they achieved. Also maybe this will be an inspiration for
the students this year!! -- webmaster
In
religion class, we are talking about our special names. When the
discussion led to St. Joseph, one of our children volunteered that
a carpenter makes carpets. 
We
are beginning our study of the insect world and will be hatching
Painted Lady Butterflies soon. Our room has a lot of pictures and
specimens of our bug friends. Did you know that most insects are
good and help our world?
This
is the Honor of Mary Medal and is given to a child caught doing
something nice for a neighbor. This encourages us to look for the
good in each other instead of finding fault. This week the Honor
of Mary Medal goes to Brayton Briggs who got caught being kind to
a neighbor. Congratulations, Brayton !!!
The
composer of the month will be studied in all grades each month.
This month we will learn about Billy Joel! You can learn more about
him by visiting the 
Sixth
graders have used topographic mapping skills and have visited 
Reminder:
All emergency and student health information were to be sent to
the School Office by Monday, August 30th. Thank you!
Uniform
Shoes
Permission
Form Needed!!
Newsworthy
Notes