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!

Our Talented Speech Team

On Saturday, OLS participated in the first Bellarmine speech meet of the year. The students and their coaches, Ms. Schweiss and Mrs. Ryan, worked hard to prepare for the meet and their dedication paid off! The team received 3 gold ribbons, 2 blue ribbons, and 1 red ribbon. We are very proud of the way our team represented OLS. Great job!

Building Structures

For Mrs. Mongan's 1st graders, hands-on learning is a way of life. Recently, her class tried their hands at building structures. Given an array of parts, the students brainstormed, sketched ideas, and put their imaginations to work. They designed and built unique structures, learning the value of teamwork in the process.

We Mustache you a Question

When you study Edgar Allan Poe in late-October, what's the best way to celebrate this famous poet? By sporting your own Poe-inspired mustache, of course. Mrs. Ryan's 7th graders pose with Poe after studying some of his works:

Celebrate Christmas with OLS!

Though some of us may be denying it, Christmas is nearly upon us. At OLS, one of our favorite ways to celebrate the season is with our annual Breakfast with Santa. We invite all school families, parishioners, alumni, and friends to join us for this spectacular event. Kids can make crafts and shop in Santa's gift shop while parents bid on creative raffle baskets. And of course, everyone has a chance to visit with Santa.

We hope you'll join us on December 12th for this wonderful family event. Reserve your spot today by completing this form and returning it with payment to the address listed. We're also accepting donations for Santa's gift shop and raffle baskets. Let us know if you have something to donate!

Opera Comes to OLS

Opera on the Go, an educational outreach program sponsored by Opera Theatre of St. Louis, recently visited OLS. The 4th grade had the opportunity to participate in a few workshops about opera. They learned about movement, make-up, and singing. After the workshops, the entire school was treated to an abridged performance of "The Barber of Seville" by Gioachino Rossini.

Thank you to Mr. Vizer for bringing opera to Our Lady of Sorrows!

Family Group Lunch and Games

Recently, the OLS family groups gathered to eat lunch and play games. Mrs. Ryan and Mrs. Garbo's group enjoyed a math facts game called Skunk. For each letter of the word skunk, two die were rolled and their numbers were combined. Students kept score in columns under the letter. The older kids helped the younger with the addition, although several didn't need any help! After lunch, the group wanted to return to the game, but sadly family group time was over. Until next time!

Student Reporter News: Exploring Egypt

Last week, the 6th graders and kindergarten students worked together to study Egypt. The older students spent weeks preparing by learning a great deal about ancient Egyptian history, culture, and art. Discover more about the event from a couple of our 6th grade students:

"The sixth grade just had their Egypt Day on Wednesday with the Kindergarten. It was a lot of fun because you got to know the Kindergarten, tell them about mummies, what they keep in the tombs, and if they were rich. It took up their last period. The sixth grade made necklaces. The Kindergarten made mummies, colored a tomb, and got to write their name in Hieroglyphs." -- Max S.

"The sixth grade and the kindergarten had Egypt Day on Wednesday. We talked to them about how the Egyptians lived in life, and we taught them about the stages of mummification. Also, this was a great time for the kindergarten to get to know us." -- Maria K.

Student Reporter News: Dissecting an Eye

Last week, our 7th and 8th graders had the opportunity to take a hands-on approach to science. Two of our 7th graders report on their experience:

"On Tuesday, the Our Lady of Sorrows 7th grade took a field trip to SLU to dissect a pig eye. They cut out many parts of the eye and pointed them out. After three hours of hard work, they learned so many new things about the eye, including how the pupil works and how we see. One of the 7th graders said that dissecting the eye was one of the best field trips they had ever taken. This just shows how fun dissection can be if you are just interested." -- Andrei C.

"On Tuesday, we went to SLU to dissect a pig eye. Last week, Mrs. Garbo's daughter, an eye doctor, came in and talked about the eye to prepare us for the field trip. This helped me know what the speaker at SLU was talking about. It was really cool to see everything that is in an eye. At first, I was grossed out, but then I wasn't after a while. It was really fun, and I would like to do it again." -- Grace C.

Trunk or Treat

The OLS community celebrated Halloween on Friday night with our annual Trunk or Treat. At this popular event, families park on the school lot, decorate their cars, then hand out candy to excited and cleverly-costumed trick-or-treaters. All ages came together to celebrate, ranging from tiny babies to nonagenarians.

While our families always create impressive car displays, this year's crowd truly exceeded all expectations. A haunted house, a shower, a full Christmas setup (including lights synchronized to music!), and a beach party were just a few of the scenes on display. Hats off to all for your incredibly creative and unique designs!