Happy Halloween!

Several families combined forces to create the Ghostbusters' vehicle, Ecto-1.

The OLS families gathered to celebrate Halloween at our annual Trunk or Treat event.  Beautiful weather, creative costumes, and silly jokes made it a fun night for the OLS community.  Happy Halloween!

Skeletons and Other Creepy Figures

Mrs. Hodgson's first grade readers have been hard at work reading lots of  Halloween books, learning Halloween poems and songs, and making Halloween art projects!  They read some non fiction books about skeletons, then made some scary skeletons out of packing peanuts.  They've been busy! If you come down the their hallway, be sure to check out their haunted "shack" , full of creepy figures, and exclamations! BOO!

Packing peanut skeletons on display!

Opera on the Go

As part of their Opera on the Go program, Opera Theatre of St. Louis visited OLS to introduce students to several aspects of an opera performance.  Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students participated in several workshops with the OTSL members.  During the workshops, students learned how opera composers use music to portray various character traits and emotions, discovered the importance of movement as a means of storytelling, and saw how makeup can transform an actor into a character.

These students learn the intricacies of stage makeup.

The finished product.

While opera is often assumed to be serious and dramatic, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis presenters showed that opera can be funny, too.  They staged an excerpt from The Pirates of Penzance, a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan.  The opera was a hit among the students!  The whole school attended the performance, and they especially enjoyed watching the upbeat song "Modern Major-General", a speedy tongue-twister that elicited uproarious laughs from the crowd.

On the move: the students participate in a movement workshop.

The Atoms Family

In science class, the eighth graders are learning about atoms as they begin to explore the elements on the periodic table. Check out this song they learned to make sense out of atoms:

The Atoms Family:

They're tiny and they're teeny
much smaller than a beany.
They never can be seeny,
the Atoms Family.

They are so small. (snap, snap)
They're round like a ball. (snap, snap)
They make up the air
they're everywhere,
can't see them at all. (snap, snap).

Together they make gases
and liquids like molasses
and all the solid masses,
the Atoms Family.

They are so small. (snap, snap)
They're round like a ball. (snap, snap)
They make up the air
they're everywhere,
can't see them at all. (snap, snap).

Neutrons can be found
where protons hang around;
electrons they surround,
the Atoms Family.

They are so small. (snap, snap)
They're round like a ball. (snap, snap)
They make up the air
they're everywhere,
can't see them at all. (snap, snap).

Iroquois Longhouses

Some 5th graders pose near their longhouse display.

As the students of the fifth-grade social studies class study the cultures of the Eastern Woodlands, they enjoyed creating their own Iroquois longhouses.  A longhouse is a narrow, windowless structures, which could house up to 20 Iroquois families.

Spirit Saturday #3

The students gathered to enjoy an interactive science demonstration presented by Mad Science, an organization holding an after school program at OLS in November and December.  If your child wants to participate in the program, there's still time to register!  Complete online registration by October 30th.

Not interested in science?  There's an after school Lego class available too.

Reconciliation Retreat

The OLS 2nd graders recently participated in a Reconciliation retreat with the Sacred Heart sisters.  Held in Faenger Hall, the retreat gave students the opportunity to work as a team and learn more about the sacrament they will receive next month. 

The sisters planned a lively day with music, crafts, and games, and the students had a blast!  A special thank you to Mrs. Huelsing and the Sacred Heart sisters for planning this special day.

The students listen attentively as the sisters begin a song.

Plenty of giggles as the 2nd graders passed the ball over and under down the line.

First Grade Writers: Ducks and Fall

Proud of their efforts, these first graders show us their duck paragraphs.

Mrs. Mongan's reading group has written two paragraphs so far!  The first paragraph was about the adventure of a duck, and the second paragraph was about the season of fall.  The children have been very successful with composing sentences.  They like to add illustrations to their paragraphs.

More hard-working first grade writers and their fall paragraphs.

Lenses, Refraction, and the Human Eye

Dr. Garbo explains the parts of the eye to the junior high.

Dr. Amy Garbo visited the 7th and 8th grade science classes last Friday.  She taught the junior high students about lenses, refraction, and the eye.  They were able to actually view concave and convex lenses and learned about the focal length and focal point involving the correction. 

Students take a first-hand look at different lenses.

Pen Pals

Mrs. Banahan's third graders are writing letters to their new senior citizen pen pal friends from Our Lady of Life Center. When writing to their pen pals, the third graders will use proper letter format. They will write a first draft, proofread and revise, and then publish. Then they will make a Halloween picture to go with the letter. They can't wait to hear back from their senior friends!

Forest Park Field Trip: 8th Grade Report

The final field trip report comes from three of our 8th graders: Nathan L., Adam W., and Caitlyn N.

On Thursday, October 9, the sixth, seventh, and eight grades went on a field trip to the Missouri History Museum and St. Louis Art Museum. The History Museum was all about the World's Fair in 1904. We saw artifacts, the map of the Fair, and things from it. We learned about the Forest Park and how it was an actual forest before they cleared out the forest for the World's Fair. We saw the whole layout of the Fair and all of the names and sizes of all of the buildings built for the World's Fair. They chose to put the World's Fair in Forest Park because it had four entrances, it was a public park, and it was big enough for the Fair. Some people actually used some of the buildings from the Fair for themselves, but most of the buildings were destroyed.

The students also went to the St. Louis Art Museum that same day that was called Louis IX: King, Saint, Namesake. The museum was completely dedicated to King Louis. The Art Museum was very interesting with many cool paintings, sculptures, and artifacts. To me, most of them were very interesting and amazing. There were many cool and old weapons and guns in it that was interesting to me. The Art Museum wasn't very big, but we only went to the Louis IX part of the whole museum, and I am sure the museum was a lot bigger than what we saw. Both museums that we went to were very cool and fun, and I would want to go on that field trip again.  -- Nathan L.

Compiling the elements for their water filtration system.

On October 9, 2014, the sixth, seventh, and eighth classes went on a field trip to the St. Louis Art Museum and the Missouri History Museum. At the History Museum, we took a tour of the newest exhibit which was all about the 1904 World’s Fair and the 1904 Olympics. We look at some of the cool items that they sold at the World’s Fair. Also, we looked at some pictures and a huge map of the World’s Fair. After we spent awhile in the exhibit, we took a little tour of where some historical sites were and what they look like now. After that, we went back inside and did an experiment on how to make water clean and how to make a filter. After that we went to the St. Louis Art Museum.

Once we got to the St. Louis Art Museum, we went to go see one of the newer galleries, Louis IX: King, Saint, and Namesake. We did a little hunt to see if we could find different types of art of King Louis IX. There were very beautiful pictures, carvings and manuscripts of him. Also, I think we all learned something about King Louis IX that we did not know. After we went through the whole entire gallery, we met up with our groups and explored some of the galleries and saw some very cool things. After a fun filled day, we went back to school to finish the rest of our day. -- Adam W.

The 8th grade class pauses for a photo op near the Grand Basin.

On Thursday, October 9, the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classes went to the Missouri History Museum and the St. Louis Art Museum, both located in Forest Park. At the History Museum, we learned what St. Louis and Forest Park were like in 1904 when the World's Fair came to our city. We saw what the layout of the park was, the souvenirs people would have bought, and what other countries brought to St. Louis. We took a short walk through the park and saw what we would have seen when in 1904 as the city prepared to host the World's Fair. At the end of the field trip, as a special part of our field trip, we made a miniature water filter, like what they would have used to filter water in the city for the Fair.

After the History Museum, we went straight to the St. Louis Art Museum for the Louis IX: King, Saint, and Namesake gallery. We went through two exhibits filled with art from King Louis' reign and paintings of him. We were each given a little packet with questions to answer on the art. We all had fun working together and learning more about our city's namesake. A huge thanks to the teachers and parents that went along with us! -- Caitlyn N.

Forest Park Field Trip: 7th Grade Report

This post features field trip accounts from four of our 7th graders: Casey A., Vincent L., Amy D., and Jack S.

On October 9, the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades of OLS went to the St. Louis Art Museum.  When we all got there, we were given a small booklet.  The directions were to find certain pictures of St. Louis and write things about him in the book.  We were able to learn about things such as why Saint Louis was so famous, why St. Louis was chosen to be our city's name, and other facts about St. Louis.  We also were taught about the making of manuscript.  The materials used to do it were feathers, a carving tool, paper, and ink.  When we finished the booklets, we got to just roam around and look at other exhibits.  There were paintings, sculptures, architecture, and other types of art. -- Casey A.

 On Thursday, October 9, the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade took an educational field trip to the very well-known Forest Park. We took this field trip to learn more about the great 250 years of our city’s past. At the History Museum, we went on a tour about the 1904's World Fair and we experimented on filtering water to make it cleaner; we made our own water filters. The workers there did a superb job at explaining the ups and downs of the 1904 World’s Fair. Although there are other exhibits at the museum, they feature a World’s Fair exhibit year-round. If you get chance go and check out the exhibit because there are definitely things in there that you haven't heard of and they really fill up your brain. In the end, I really enjoyed this field trip because I learned more about how fantastic St. Louis' history is. -- Vincent L.

The students listen to directions from their tour guide.

    The 6th, 7th, and 8th grades went on a field trip to the art and history museums. We had a great experience at the History Museum. We went to the “Let’s Build a Fair” exhibit. We saw a lot of old artifacts from the 1904 World’s Fair, and took a walk to the fountains in front of the Art Museum to see what the grounds would have looked like. At the World Fair, there was a miniature version of Jerusalem. We also learned that it was the 1904 World’s Fair was the first appearance of the Ferris Wheel. We also did an activity where we tried to filter water. We put rocks, sand, marbles, cotton, and coffee filters in a soda bottle, poured dirty water in it. It worked really well! We didn't sanitize the water so we couldn't drink it. Our visit to the Missouri History Museum was a success.  -- Amy D.

Testing out their water filtration systems.

On October 9, 2014 the OLS 6th, 7th, and 8th graders took a field trip to the Art and History Museums of Missouri. At the History Museum, we got to take a tour of Forest Park, build a filter to make dirty water become clear, and just look at all the different things they had on display. When we took a tour of the park, we got to learn all about the 1904 World's Fair. One really interesting fact about the fair was that it had the first Ferris Wheel. Each car on it could hold sixty people. With thirty-six cars on the wheel, it could hold a total of 2160 people! When we went inside, we were able to make a filter to represent cleaning the water from the Mississippi River. We took old soda bottles and put layers of various things such as coffee filters, cotton balls, rocks, sand, and marbles. After we finished doing that fun activity, we just went and looked around at the exhibits they had. There were lots of cool things to look at and if you want to see them, head down to the History Museum! This was a very fun field trip and it was an awesome success!   -- Jack S.

Forest Park Field Trip: 6th Grade Report

Today we have a special edition of Student Reporter News.  You'll find several posts from our student reporters giving accounts of their recent field trip to Forest Park.  In this post, the reports were written by two of our 6th graders: Amanda W. and John D.

Piled into the bus and ready for a day of fun.

On October 9, 2014, the OLS 6th, 7th, and 8th graders went on a field trip to the St. Louis Art and Missouri History Museums in Forest Park.  At the History Museum, we look at their really cool displays, talked about the World's Fair, and did a science project where you had to build a filter to make dirty water clean.  The first thing we did at the History Museum was build a filter.  Before we started, the instructors talked to us about how the people back then wanted to have a sparkling clean fountain and not the muddy water from the Mississippi River.  We made a filter to turn the muddy water into clean water, just like they did.  The displays that the museum had were all mainly about the World's Fair.  They had found many different things, made of plaster, that were buried under ground from that time.  Later we talked about the World's Fair.  We discussed how hard it was to make the fair and also how much money it would have cost to construct it.  -- Amanda W.

Creating a water filter at the History Museum.

 On October 9th, 2014, the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders went on a field trip to the Missouri History and St. Louis Art Museum.  After going to the History Museum, we went to the Art Museum by bus.  At 12:00, we were doing a packet on Louis IX about the paintings around the exhibit on Louis.  We look at many Louis pictures in the Morgan Library Picture Bible and watched a video at how to make manuscripts, a writing board before paper.  Manuscripts were made using animal skins that were washed, stretched, and covered with white paper.  At the second exhibit, we learned about Louis' life.  After that, we walked around the 1st floor.  There were many Indian statues, paintings, pottery, and furniture.  There were swords, armor, and lots of Indian stuff.  We played near the Louis statue and took pictures of the STL250 cake.  After that, we went back to class.  If you want to see ancient art, go to the Art Museum!  -- John D.

Working on their packets at the Louis IX exhibit.

Spirit Saturday #2

Each morning, two first graders announce the saint of the day over the PA.  This bulletin board reminds students of the saints for the current week.  All you holy men and women, pray for us!

Art Inspired by Klee part 2

Using watercolors to imitate Klee's artistic style.

As mentioned last week, the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders have been studying the art of Swiss expressionist Paul Klee.  The sixth grade created castle watercolor paintings, inspired by Klee's use of watercolor and lines to create mosaic effects.

Water Gardens and Animal Tracks

The first graders show off their water garden.

The first graders have combined literature and science!  After reading the story "First Grade Ladybugs", they made their own water garden out of the tops of a turnip, a carrot, a parsnip, and a radish.  They are really growing - well, all except the parsnip!

Hard at work studying animals, these first graders display some animal tracks they've studied.

In addition to their water garden, the first grade scientists are also studying animals.  They are learning about habitats, animal tracks, and how birds use their beaks to eat.

Apples, Applesauce, and John Chapman

Last week, the OLS third graders honored and celebrated John Chapman, whom you might know as Johnny Appleseed, by reading a book about his life. Then they made homemade applesauce that cooked all day in their classroom. It was delicious!

Second Grade Math

In second grade, teamwork helps get the job done.  Mrs. Huelsing's students work together in groups to solve their math problems.  By working together, students learn to think through problems as a team, and they discover how to explain concepts to each other.

Student Reporter News: Socks for CF

Samantha L. reports on a recent fundraiser to raise money for a good cause:

On Monday, October 6, students were allowed to wear crazy socks for a $0.50 or more donation.  We are raising money to help put an end to CF, Cystic Fibrosis.  Cystic Fibrosis is a disease that affects mostly the lungs but also the pancreas, liver, and intestine.  Difficulty breathing is the most serious symptom and results from frequent lung infections.  Also, this affects the child's life span.  All proceeds will be put towards a foundation for finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.  The Sakamoto family personally knows a nine year old boy named Charlie with Cystic Fibrosis, and OLS is donating all proceeds for Socks for CF in his name.  Let's end CF together!   --Samantha L.

A few of our students sporting crazy socks to support the fight against CF.

Spirit Saturday #1

This weekly feature captures the heart of Our Lady of Sorrows.  In these Saturday posts, we highlight the spirit of an OLS education beyond the classroom walls.

A little rain won't dampen their spirits! These OLS girls share an umbrella - and a laugh - on a soggy morning.

Addition Sentences

Mrs. Mongan explains addition sentences to her first graders.

Mrs. McGrath's and Mrs. Mongan's first grade math groups created addition sentences. In this lesson, the different colored apples represented the addition facts.  To create their addition sentences, the students colored, cut-out, and glued the apples onto their apple trees.

Art Inspired by Paul Klee

Fifth graders hard at work on their Klee-inspired art project.

After learning about the expressionist artist, Paul Klee, the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders created their own pieces which focused on line, color and space.

The fifth grade created magical aquarium crayon resists, inspired by Klee's Fish Magic. To create crayon resists, students work first with crayon and then apply watercolor paint over the entire paper.  The waxy crayon resists the watercolor paint resulting in a multidimensional and textured piece of art.

One Little Seed: All About Me

Our booming preschool program, called One Little Seed, includes three classrooms: one for 3-4 year olds and two for 4-5 year olds.  Over the past two weeks, the preschoolers in all three rooms have been hard at work learning about each other by sharing "All About Me" projects.  Each student created a poster about themselves at home and brought them back to share with their classmates.

After sharing their posters, Ms. Trisha and Ms. Debbie's green room students looked at their fingerprints under magnifying glasses and listened to their heartbeats using a stethoscope.  In the yellow room, Ms. Heather and her students created an All About Me chart.  The children looked at themselves in a mirror and identified what color eyes and hair they have, and if they are a boy or girl.  The children went around looking at each other's eyes and comparing hair color.  In the blue room, Ms. Lisa's students listened attentively while each child took a turn presenting their poster, and they all asked great questions of their friends.  In all three rooms, the children have found that while they are all unique and special, they have a lot in common, too!

One Little Seed: seed of faith, seed of knowledge, seed of our future.

Student Reporter News: St. Louis the King Prayer Service

The OLS school family gathers to pray.

To develop strong writing habits, our junior high students take opportunities to write about the special events that take place at OLS.  Our student reporters provide an excellent glimpse into life at school and give you a chance to see their emerging writing skills.  In this first online edition of Student Reporter News, eighth grader Tiffany S. recounts a special prayer service.

Fr. Pete and Mrs. Liermann leading the prayer service.

On Friday, September 26, 2014, our whole school gathered in the gym lobby for a prayer service.  The prayer service was for a new picture of St. Louis that our school received when they participated in a special mass at the Cathedral.  We chose to hang the picture on the far wall that you see when you walk in, so we can always remember to look at it.  Every grade participated in the prayer service by saying a petition, and then everybody else responding, "Pray for us."  The prayer service was a good way to end the school week together as a Catholic community.--8th grader Tiffany S.