Christmas Concert

On Wednesday night, all OLS students came together to celebrate the season at our annual Christmas concert. With performances by the beginning and concert bands and student choirs, the evening showcased the outstanding musical talent of our student body. The audience tapped their toes to lively performances by all the groups and ended the evening with a sing-along of Christmas favorites.

Special thanks to Mr. Litvin, our band director, and Mr. Vizer, our choir director, for the many hours spent preparing for the wonderful concert!

Daily Sentence Editing

The 4th graders are practicing their grammar skills by using the program Daily Sentence Editing.  The students write the sentences correctly and a student then models the correct answers on the Smartboard.  We have many future writers in the class!

 

Student Reporter News: Katie Bannister

On Monday, December 7^th, students from grades K-8 visited with a very special speaker, Katie Bannister, a disabled quadriplegic with an amazing zest for life.  She shared stories of her life before the accident and how she navigates through her daily life now.  You can find her inspirational story on her website access4all.com.  Here are some of the 7^th graders’ reflections.

Katie taught me:
-  Talking to people with disabilities makes them feel more normal

-  That she likes herself the way she is now

-  She can feel left out at times

-  The best way to find your spouse is to be best friends first

-  She likes to write poems and sing

-  Instead of the career in theater she wished for when she was younger, she uses her voice to make

   the world better for people with disabilities

-  She was Ms. Wheelchair Missouri!

-  When she gets angry, she writes her feelings into poems and in her journal

-  Very positive even though she has disabilities.  Super spunky and fun.

-  She doesn’t want to be treated like an alien—people with disabilities are still human.

... It was interesting to see how someone paralyzed from the chest down could be the most optimistic person I'll ever know...It was an amazing experience.--7^th grader Alex R.

Katie...is disabled because of a car crash that gave her a spinal cord injury.  She told us about how the accident changed her life for the better by separating her fake friends from her real ones...--7^th grader Lisa W.

...Not only did she talk about the car accident that caused her disability, but how she overcame her fears about what she could still do or couldn’t do any longer...She showed us some of her tools that she strapped to her arms to apply lipstick, write, and pick up things...Although she has many attendants, she told us that her husband Steve is the one that she can count on the most...-- 8th grader Kaitlyn W

Sock Hop

Last Thursday, our students donned their favorite Christmas socks and spent a wildly fun afternoon with their friends at the OLS Christmas Sock Hop. Each attendee enjoyed a snack, a drink, and an hour of non-stop dancing.

Sponsored by the Ambassadors and the Pro-Life club, this event not only gave students a chance to have fun with their friends, but it also raised money for the missions. A win-win!

Breakfast with Santa

Each year, OLS families celebrate Christmas by attending the Home & School Association's Breakfast with Santa. Children explore Santa's cottage, make crafts, and shop in Santa's gift shop while the adults enter raffles for terrific gift baskets. Of course, everyone enjoys pancakes and donut holes before visiting with the man of honor. This fun-filled morning is always a hit and gets everyone in the Christmas spirit.

Special thanks to Lisa Granadillo, Brighid Kappel, Charlene Corzine, the OLS Men's Club, and all who helped to make this event a success!

Robotics

Thanks to grant funding and generous volunteers from Rosati-Kain High School, OLS launched a robotics program this fall. Designed for students in grades K-3, the program is called Junior FIRST Lego League. A team of six students work together to design and build a model and present it to their families at the end of the program. Along the way, they learn research skills, creative problem solving, and teamwork - and they have lots of fun in the process!

Special thanks to Rosati-Kain and Mr. Tom Skillman from bringing this opportunity to OLS!

Hopi Indians

The 5th grade is studying about Native Americans. The Hopi children received wooden Kachina dolls as learning tools. Our dolls represents an important human value or something in nature.

2nd Grade Saints

In November, the 2nd graders learned about the lives of the saints. Each student chose a saint then created a likeness of him or her out of a paper bag. Once finished, the second grade class traveled around the school sharing information about their saint puppets. They did a great job reading and memorizing information about their saints.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

On this feast of the Immaculate Conception, we pause to remember Mary, who alone among us was born free of original sin. At Our Lady of Sorrows, Mary holds a special place in our hearts. We call on her today to help us lead Christ-centered lives.

 Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Will it Float?

Over the last few weeks, the 1st and 4th graders have worked together on a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) project. They were given the task of building an object that could float, but first learned some key terms, including gravity, surface area, density, and buoyancy.  Equipped with these facts, they paired up and started designing their floating device.   Each team included a 4th grader and a 1st grader.  

Last Thursday, they put their plans into action! Using donations of recyclable items from home, the teams implemented their designs. Once they were satisfied with the product, they put it to the test. If the object could float, they added small critters to see how much weight it could bear. If it didn't float, they returned to their station, made adjustments, and tried it again.

First Reconciliation

On Wednesday night, our 2nd graders celebrated the sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. Together with their families, the students participated in a brief prayer service before receiving the sacrament. Many students were a bit nervous as they made their way to the priest for confession, but all left the confessional with broad smiles and happy hearts.

Special thanks to Fr. Pete and Fr. Sigmund for hearing confessions for the 2nd graders and their family members. Thanks also to Mrs. Huelsing and Dr. Sanders for preparing the students so well for this special sacrament of forgiveness.

Molding Clay

Mrs. McGrath's art students have been trying their hand at sculpting clay. Focusing on ornaments that can adorn their family's Christmas tree, students of all ages have shaped, molded, painted, and transformed their once shapeless clay into works of art. Here we take a peek at the 7th graders working on shaping their ornaments.

Animal Visitors

This fall, our first graders have been treated to some special classroom visitors. Not a substitute teacher or a guest reader, as you might suspect. These guests had more fur and feathers and fewer verbal skills. First up was a bird belonging to Mrs. Kirchner, our school librarian. The students gathered excitedly around his cage and learned a few facts about him.

Later, occupational therapist and school parent Mrs. Cline brought Hank to visit. Hank, a highly-trained dog, helps Mrs. Cline engage with her patients in a variety of therapeutic activities. The first graders loved hearing about Hank's work and learning how he spends his day.

Cafeteria Art

The halls at OLS are always full of student work. From writing assignments to science reports, evidence of student learning abounds in our hallways. Since most of our readers do not have the chance to walk the halls regularly, we wanted to bring the halls to you.

Last month, we found art projects created by our primary students lining the walls of the cafeteria. Students used warm colors to create fall landscapes, including pumpkins, turkeys, golden sunshine, and brightly-colored leaves. In the waning days of fall, enjoy a moment to revel in the beauty of the season as captured by our students.

Thanksgiving Feast

Before diving into turkey with family and friends, our 5th graders and their kindergarten buddies celebrated their own Thanksgiving feast. Each student brought food to the feast, and the kindergartners set the mood by wearing Pilgrim hats. While the menu did not quite mimic the Pilgrims' celebration, the spirit of camaraderie and joy was the same.

The students enjoyed sharing a special day with their buddy. We hope your holiday was filled with as much excitement and joy as this one!

Happy Thanksgiving!

OLS students are always known for their generosity, but around Thanksgiving, they work especially hard to help those in need. During Tuesday's all-school Mass, students were invited to bring a non-perishable food item to stock our parish's St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. They filled many boxes and helped make a difference in the lives of the many families who rely on our donations.

Over the weekend, OLS Cub Scouts also worked to feed the hungry. They patrolled the streets in our neighborhood on a cold morning in rain-turned-snow to collect donations for Scouting for Food. Along with other Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts throughout the region, they collected almost 2 million items to feed the hungry in our city.

The OLS Wolf den bundled up to collect bags of food.

On this Thanksgiving, we wish you a day of peace and joy with family and friends.

Mario Kart Tournament

Last Wednesday, the OLS Student Ambassadors sponsored a unique fundraiser for the missions: a Mario Kart Tournament. It was a huge success! (For our non-video game readers, Mario Kart is a series of go-kart-style racing video games created by Nintendo.)

The 5th-8th grade students were invited to form teams of four and enter the contest for a small fee. Four teams competed against each other, and the races were closely contested.  The winners of Wednesday's tournament were Clayton, Amy, Connor and Dylan. All the gamers gave the event two thumbs up!

Kudos to Ambassadors Vincent, Jack, George, and Ben who spearheaded this activity and did all of the organizing and planning.

Three Cheers for Johnny!

Over the last six weeks, the OLS Home & School Association launched an unusual fundraising campaign surrounding a traveling toilet. You can read the full details here, but in short, OLS friends and supporters sent Johnny to their friends, and he landed on over 130 lawns when all was said and done. Many people shared pictures of their visit with Johnny, which we've culled and posted here. If we missed your picture, comment on this post! We'd love to add it to our collection.

Tremendous thanks to all who made Johnny's campaign a success. Henry Plumbing donated toilets for us to use. Kristyn Noll (wo)manned the spreadsheet, answered countless questions, and kept Johnny moving along. Andy Noll and Bruce Brunner, aka Johnny's elves, toted and hauled Johnny all over OLS nation.

And thanks to all of our friends and supporters who hosted Johnny on their lawns (or in their classrooms!) and financially contributed to Johnny's success. Thanks to your generous donations, Johnny raised $3,500! His funds will help the Home & School Association provide educational extras that our students deserve but that aren't covered by tuition.

Find the list of Johnny's full support crew here. Thanks for helping us spread OLS love and laughter while raising some funds for our deserving students. We are grateful for you!

Egg Drop

In science, the fifth graders have been exploring the scientific method. To deepen their understanding of the process, Ms. Siekerman challenged her students to participate in an egg drop. Each student had to develop a design that would protect their egg when dropped from the third floor to the second floor.

Cheering for their classmates and waiting to see the next egg fall.

After planning, sketching, and creating their designs, they put their plans into action. Plastic floor protectors in place, they sent their eggs sailing! The students enjoyed testing their theories and seeing which designs survived the fall.

Do you think this egg survived its journey?

Preschool Gives Thanks

The Preschool Yellow Room is getting ready for Thanksgiving. They have much to be thankful for, including "my mom," "when my brother plays with me," and "my video games!" It's never too soon to start teaching gratitude!

Preschool will attend their first all-school liturgy, the school's Thanksgiving Mass on Tuesday, and will participate in the non-perishable food drive at that Mass. All are welcome to join us for Mass!

Girl Scout Hayride

On Saturday, the OLS 2nd and 4th grade Girl Scout troops participated in a district-wide hayride at Forest Park. The girls and their parents enjoyed a lengthy ride through the park then toasted marshmallows and made s'mores around a bonfire. This annual fall event is always a hit with the girls!

Waiting for Jesus: an Advent event

Join the parish family of Our Lady of Sorrows on Saturday for an intergenerational event: Waiting for Jesus. At this event, you'll begin to prepare your heart for the start of the Advent season. Activities will include creating an Advent wreath, storytelling, prayer, reflection, and fellowship. Contact Christina at 314-351-1600 with questions or to RSVP.

We hope to see you on Saturday from 9:00-12:00 in the OLS cafeteria for this unique Advent experience!

Building Creative Sentences

Recently, the 7th graders played a game constructing simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentence structures using dice and creative independent clauses. The students wrote independent and dependent clauses, numbered them, and then rolled the dice to combine them into complex sentences. The results got pretty silly, which is always helpful in keeping everyone's interest!

Spirit Saturday #17

In late October, these 7th graders spent their entire day off school helping less fortunate children at Give Kids a Smile, a free dental clinic held at Saint Louis University Center for Advanced Dental Education. At this clinic, over 450 children were treated and over $1 million in dental work was completed.

When the clinic was wrapping up, a member of the staff praised the OLS students for their work: "They were absolutely invaluable to our clinic today. They worked hard, connected with the children, and did everything that was asked of them. Our clinic was a greater success because they were here. We could not have done this without them!"

We are so proud of these girls and their selfless act of service!

Penny March

Last week, the students participated in a Penny March to benefit the roof and the missions. On Tuesday, the students brought coins, marched around the gym, and dropped the coins into a basket. They continued to march until they ran out of coins. The fun continued on Thursday as one representative from each class marched with their classmates' coins. With upbeat music and 8th graders serving as emcee, the whole student body cheered and anxiously awaited to see who would be the final class marching. Ultimately, the 8th grade representative was the only one left.

Both students and faculty had a fabulous time and raised over $200! They will hold another Penny March soon. Thanks to the Ambassadors and Mrs. Ryan for planning such a fun event for a good cause!

A Trip to the Firehouse

On Tuesday, our kindergartners took a field trip to the local firehouse. Located just half a mile away, the students and their chaperones walked to the station on a lovely fall day. (The trip was originally scheduled for late-October on a day that was decidedly not lovely. The rain stayed away this time!)

At the station, the children explored the life of a firefighter. They saw the poles used to move quickly from the second floor, examined where the firefighters sleep, and looked at a firetruck up close. After their tour, they stopped for lunch and playground fun at Christy Park.

Special thanks to the firefighters of Engine House 36 for creating a very special day for our students!