SCHOOL NEWS
Congratulations
1st Quarter Honor Roll
8th Grade:
First Honors:
Genevieve Jesse, Calla Kessler, Maddie Lenz,
Kate Liveringhouse, and Colin Wattonville.
Second Honors:
Megan Begley, Gabi Caffrey, Garrison Emsick,
Anna Engelbert, Becca Eske, Jimmy Esola, Janie Kilgore, Andrew Krawczyk, Eithne Leahy, Danny Pavlik, and Ben Scheibeler.
7th Grade:
First Honors:
Hannah Bohacek, Rachel Callahan, Delaney Fisher,
Shannon Jerram, Frances Meng-Frecker, and Maggie Pierson.
Second Honors:
Allie Barnhart, John Begley, Nick Hofmaier,
Adam Kamp, Colin Krist, Maura Mulcahy, Colleen Nosbisch, Rebecca Plumb, Stephanie Richards, Molly Rosales, and Cody Stockfleth
US Cellular $100,000
“Calling All Communities”
Challenge
US Cellular is Calling all Communities: vote
for HOLY CROSS SCHOOL and help us be one of ten schools to win $100,000! St.
Francis Catholic School in Humphrey, Nebraska won last year and we want to make it Holy Cross’ year this year! We need your help – and your neighbors, co-workers, friends, family mailman
(you get the idea). We are not even in the top 20 yet, so we really need
to spread the word!
What you can do is simple. Go to a US Cellular store (locations by Crossroads Mall, Oakview Mall, Westroads Mall, and Shadow Lake
Towne Center) and ask for a Calling All Communities card to vote for Holy Cross! They
will give you a card with a number on it. Enter the number and the school’s
zip code, 68106, on US Cellular’s website. All the information is on the
card. Only one entry per person is allowed.
The contest runs from November 13, 2009-January 15, 2010. Please share
this information with everyone you meet! TOGETHER WE CAN make this happen for
our school. Please see the Word attachment and forward it to your family and
friends.
Invention Convention
Mrs. Cunningham and the sixth grade Science
class would like to thank all the parents and students who attended our second annual Invention Convention that was held
in the gym on November 12th. The sixth graders worked really hard on their inventions and had a wonderful time presenting
them to their friends and family. Thank you for your support!
Christmas
Program
The Holy Cross Christmas program
will be on December 15th. The 3rd, 4th and 6th grade students will be involved. The program will be both in the
afternoon and in the evening at 7:00. Please put this on your calendar for a wonderful way to share in this blessed
season.
Christmas
Vacation
Christmas vacation begins on Monday, December
21. School resumes on Monday, January 4, 2010.
Have a safe vacation.
Christmas
Eve Mass
A choir is forming to sing at the Christmas
Eve Mass at 4:00 on December 24th. The choir would meet at 3:00 to warm up and sing carols before Mass starting at 3:30.
They would practice from 3:20-4:00 on December 3rd, 10th and 17th. If any 5th-8th grade student would like to share
their musical talents and join the choir, please let Mrs. Hall know as soon as possible.
The 7th and 8th grade
Junior High Program will be on March 4th. Mrs. Hall will need help from parents with props and costumes. If you
would be willing to help, please contact the office and give your name.
Many
Thanks
Student Congress would like to thank everyone
who brought in canned food for our canned food drive. As a school we collected 3,405 food items. Congratulations to 8A and
7B who won our canned food contest, and won a dress-down day. All food items were sent to the St. Vincent de Paul food bank.
They were extremely grateful for and amazed by the amount of food we collected.
Holy
Cross Sweatshirts & T-shirts
The new Holy Cross embroidered hoodie sweatshirts
and Irish green Holy Cross T-shirts are now available for purchase in the school office.
The sweatshirts are $30.00 each and the T-shirts are $13.00 each. These
make great Christmas gifts so avoid the mall and stop in today!
Home
& School Association
Please join us for the Home & School December
Potluck! The date is Tuesday, December 1, 2009, from 6:30-8:00pm in St. Ed's Hall. Home & School will be supplying
a delicious main course of lasagna. Please bring a side salad, veggie or dessert to share. Can't wait to see you
all there!!!!!
Christmas
Gift Program
If you are planning to make a donation to
the Christmas Gift program for the faculty and staff of Holy Cross School, you need to do so by Tuesday, December 8th. Please put your donation in an envelope marked “Christmas Gift Program”
and include your family name on it. Please make checks payable to Home and School. Thank you.
2010-2011
OPS Textbook Loan
Parent
Forms (Grades K-7 only)
Textbook Loan forms will be sent home on Tuesday,
December 1st. They are due back by Monday, December 7th. It is imperative that you sign and return both forms
in order for your child to participate in the Textbook Loan Program for the 2010-2011 school year. If you have any questions,
please contact the school office.
Campbell’s
Soup Labels
Thanks to all who have saved Campbell's &
Pepperidge Farms UPCs (bar codes) over the summer and the first quarter. Campbell's is running a promotion which doubled the
first 2500 points we submitted - a HUGE help. So far, we've had enough points to order playground equipment for 4 classes
plus instructional DVDs for 1 classroom. Other items on our teachers' wish lists include a digital video camera, an overhead
projector, a shredder, VHS instructional tapes, and projector. Keep eating all those healthy soups, breads,
and juices, and saving those bar codes to help our school!
Catholic
Schools Week
Mark your calendars for Sunday, January 31st,
2010. We will be having a Mass celebrating the beginning of Catholic Schools
Week. An Open House will follow from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. Additional information regarding the events taking place during Catholic Schools Week will be sent home
in January. Just a reminder, on Friday, February 5th, we will dismiss
at noon. There is no afternoon daycare.
Community
Night
Please join us on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 for Community Night. The Pancake
Man will be in the Holy Cross gym serving pancakes and sausage from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
The cost is $3.50 per person.
Inclement Weather
With the cold weather and snow upon us, we
want to remind you about the expectations for winter apparel at recess time. For
all students, winter coats, gloves, and hats are important. If your child is
not dressed appropriately he/she will not be able to go outside for recess. In
the event of inclement weather, please listen to radio station 1110 KFAB for school closing information.
Kiln
For Sale
Because of fire code regulations, we can no
longer operate the kiln at Holy Cross School. It has rarely been used and is
in great condition. If you are interested, please contact the principal, Terri Anderson, at 551-3773.
Kindergarten
Round-Up
Save The Date! Kindergarten
Round-Up will be held on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. Please encourage your
friends and neighbors to send their children to Holy Cross School and to attend our Kindergarten Round-Up. Additional information will be sent home in January. Please
call the school office at 551-3773 if you have any questions.
Support
Holy Cross
Holy Cross is participating in the "Save
Five For Schools" program sponsored by Land O'Lakes. Rinse & save the bottle caps from Land O'Lakes white milk,
chocolate milk, and orange juice. Turn them in at the Campbell's label collection bins. Our school will redeem them for
five cents each, the funds going to support our school's education efforts!
We are also participating in the Tyson "Project
A+" program. Clip the panels on Tyson ready-to-eat products which display the "Project A+" logo (we don't need the UPC on
this one). They are worth 24 cents each! Drop them in the Campbell's collection bins at school or church. We'll
redeem them when we have enough to submit. Thanks for supporting our school!
Times
are Tough
Who isn’t talking about the economy
these days? We find ourselves more grateful than ever for the basic necessities
of life. But some of our brothers and sisters are not so lucky. That’s why this year, Holy Cross School’s annual OPERATION GIVING program will use the funds
raised to provide food, clothing, and maybe a few small Christmas gifts to our fellow parishioners who find it difficult to
afford these necessities. Stewardship and charity do not end when money is tighter. It is then that we are called to truly give of ourselves.
Beginning on Dec. 1st, we will
be asking the students to bring in money to support OPERATION GIVING. There will
be collection boxes in each room, and bell ringers outside on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
We will continue collecting money until December 15th, at which time the money will be turned over to the
parish to help buy HOPE food certificates for those in need. We are asking each
child and family to give what they can to our collection.
In addition, we will have our annual “TOILETREE”
under which we will ask the children to place toiletries like toothpaste, shaving cream, toothbrushes, shampoo, etc. which
will be given to the residents at Douglas County Hospital.
Thank you in advance for your support of OPERATION
GIVING and the “TOILETREE”.
Hy-Vee
Receipts
It is that time again. Begin saving your receipts including GAS. Hy-Vee will donate
$1.00 for every $200.00 spent. Boxes are located in both buildings and in the
HOPE room for the receipts.
Save
Pop Tops for the Ronald McDonald House
The 8th graders will again be collecting
pop tabs for this worthy cause. Each classroom has a box where students may put
the tabs when they bring them in. Thank you for helping the parents/families
of sick children have a wonderful place to stay!
Holy
Cross Recognition Plaque
The recognition plaque is a means for families
to honor special people. Plaques measure 2” X 5” ($25.00) allowing
three lines with 25 letters per line (spaces count) or 4” X 5” ($40.00) with 6 lines. The plaques are brass with a glossy black finish and gold lettering.
They are placed in the main hall of Holy Cross School on a large oak frame for all to see.
Order forms can be found in the school office
or online at: www.homeandschoolatholycross.com. Your support goes directly back to the school.
If you have any questions please contact Mary Lou Parr at 556-8183.
All Volunteers
Please remember, if you volunteer at Holy
Cross School, or volunteer with children in the name of Holy Cross, including coaching, you are required by the Omaha Archdiocese
to be currently certified in Safe Environment Training and should have your identification card with you at all times. Please check your card’s expiration date.
We can offer recertification classes here
at Holy Cross. If you have never taken the original training and currently volunteer
in the above capacity, please access: www.archomaha.com for training dates. If these classes are full, continue to check this website
for new classes. If there are no classes available please contact Theresa at
553-7500 or 208-5249.
CLASSROOM NEWS
Computers
My website, Mrs. Krist's Computer World has
moved to www.holycrossomaha.wikispaces.com. There are many links to great websites with free online educational games for the students to play at home. If you
know of any good websites I haven't found, please email me at ChristiKrist@creighton.edu.
Library
The Scholastic Book Fair was a great success this year. We had record sales and are now able to use our profit
of $550.00 to purchase new library bound books for the library. Many thanks to all of you for your support of our fair!
Preschool
The Preschoolers have been working very hard
on learning letter formation and writing their name. I am excited to report that the children are doing a wonderful
job. One of the many great things about my job is watching the children's faces when they can finally write their name,
by themselves.
The Preschoolers are celebrating Thanksgiving
by having a Movie/Pajama/Popcorn party. The children are really excited to have the privilege to watch a movie during
school. The children have been creating art by using the theme of Thanksgiving. We would love to share our art
with you, so please stop by and enjoy the art.
I hope your holidays are filled with love
and joy. I will enjoy the extra time with my family, and I pray that you will too.
God Bless.
Mrs. Bonnemier
Kindergarten
The kindergartners have been learning lots
of things this past month. We have been working hard on our two letter phonograms and starting to find them in the books
that we read. We have been reading fairy tales and many different versions of familiar ones and then acting them out
with puppets or masks! The kindergartners learned about the first Thanksgiving and we had a little feast in our room.
We are thankful for the things that God has given us and are looking forward to His birthday! During December we will
finish learning the two letter phonograms and will be doing lots of Advent and Christmas activities. Have a Blessed
Christmas season.
Mrs. Sobczyk
First Grade
First grade has been having fun while learning
about the 5 senses. We have been doing various activities like feeling different
textures, making leaf rubbings, making a sight book about objects that were the colors of the rainbow and doing a taste test
with different foods to discover the difference between sweet, sour, and salty tastes. In math we have been working on subtraction
and fact families while continuing to practice our addition facts and work on our Timed Test Tuesdays. We had a religion
lesson from Fr. Al and Mrs. Rookstool teaching us about the country of Uganda. We are making plans with
our 5th grade buddies on how we will raise money to help the needy people in Uganda with our READ TO FEED program. More
information will be coming home soon about our ideas. To celebrate Thanksgiving, we had a feast with our buddies and
shared food and made butter for our bread. This is the perfect time of year to take a step back and thank
God for all the wonderful gifts he has given to our Holy Cross Community. Have a blessed holiday season.
Mrs. Bassett and Mrs. Engelbert
Second Grade
November has been a great month for the Second
Grade Stars! We have been learning to classify the words in a sentence according to the parts of speech, and have written
our first two point paragraphs. We really enjoyed having our grandparents celebrate Mass with us, and having them come
back to school so we could "show off" our room. We also really enjoyed getting together with our 2nd grade Religious
Education friends. It was a fun hour of singing, treats, and crafts! We ended our dinosaur unit by making a fossil
of our own. And now we're learning about goods and services, and producers and consumers in Social Studies. But
most of all, we've been getting ready for our First Reconciliation on December 6th. Please pray that the Holy Spirit
will help us all to make good confessions!
Mrs. Adams
Third Grade
The third graders are busy working on different
habitats and organisms that live there. Their habitat posters will be on display,
come by and take a look. We will be starting Rocketing towards being a master
of multiplication facts. Get your engines going and practice, practice, practice! The third graders participated in a hands on activity which focused on how to be a
Special Friend to people with special needs. This was a great learning experience. On December 10th we will be going to the Holland Center to watch the Christmas
Band Concert with Mrs. Hall. The children will be hearing the instruments they
have been learning about in music class. This is always an enjoyable concert. Have a blessed Christmas break.
Mrs. Crown
Fourth Grade
This month the fourth graders have been writing
different types of personal narratives. For their November book reports they
will be creating dioramas for a fiction book they’ve read. We have finished
reading the novel Chocolate Fever and are now reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
In Science we have been getting acquainted
with the “Physical Science Unit.” In this unit we will be working
with roller coasters, catapults and magnetism along with light and sound.
The fourth graders have been busy learning
about the Northest region in social studies. Did you know that the state of Massachusetts
is the cranberry capital of America? Happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Coolon and Mrs. Kaschmitter
Fifth Grade
Many of the 5th graders volunteered to work on Honey Sunday to help the
mentally handicapped. Several groups sold over $200 worth of honey to help the GOARC organization. All the 5th
graders have been involved in bringing canned goods to help those in need. Religion finds the 5th graders studying the
Eucharist and the Church Year. Fraction skills have been covered in math. Science finds the students studying
ecology and running a simulation called, "Oh Deer." Ask them about it! We
read a Golden Sower nominee The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, and it received several thumbs-up! Before Christmas break, we will read two more novels that have been nominated for a Golden Sower. After Christmas, we will read Bud, Not Buddy written by Christopher Paul Curtis. The 5th graders have been playing a lot of spelling and vocabulary games
to help them increase their vocabularies and to help them become stronger spellers.
Mrs. Neville and Ms. Vesely
Sixth Grade
The sixth grade will be learning
how to cite references for a research paper, completing their study of Ancient Egypt, and reviewing map skills in Social
Studies. The students will also study Ancient Mesopotamia. Hopefully, their
typing skills will also improve as they continue working on touch typing. The students will complete a research paper
for English on different Christmas customs. In preparation for the Open House
in January, the students will create an author display. The DWP skills that will
be covered are Service to Others, Leadership, and Initiating Solutions. The class novel that the sixth grade will read
is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Mrs.
Justice and Mrs. Henkel
Seventh Grade
Hello from the 7th grade. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is here, and Christmas is just a few short weeks away. We had a great time at the opera "Brundibar" and listening to Ela Weissberger, a Jewish Holocaust surviver. She performed the opera during the Holocaust in Terezin, a concentration camp. She was very interesting to listen to. 7th
and 8th graders who tried out for the Wits Clash team had their final test today and the team will be announced
when we return to school after Thanksgiving. Reader's Quiz Bowl will be starting
after the Christmas break. Any 7th or 8th grader that likes to read, this is
the group for you. After the Wits Clash competition, the Math team will begin with practices once a week for 7th and
8th grade, and Algebra separately from others with Mr. Fisher. 6th grade will practice with
Mrs. Justice. Look for more details at the end of January or early February.
I will need two 6th graders, two or three 7th graders, three or four 8th graders for this competition. Good luck 8th
graders on the High School exam. I am willing to answer your questions after
results are published for math courses to take freshman year.
Mr. Fisher and Mrs. Edinger
Eighth Grade
Sometimes it seems as if we were out of our
classrooms this month more than we were in them! On November 3rd the
8th graders, accompanied by Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Taylor, attended Celebrate Creativity at the Joslyn Art Museum where
they participated in workshops on art, music, and drama. On Thursday of the same
week, 6th-8th graders attended the Holocaust opera “Brundibar” at the Rose Theater. Saturday, November 14th was their Confirmation retreat which was held at
the Columban Retreat Center. After Thanksgiving we intend to stay put for a while!
In
History class the 8th graders are studying the Constitution and also reading Johnny Tremain in Literature
as we integrate what we learned about the Revolutionary War with this Newberry Award winning book. They are also reading a historical fiction book on their own as an independent reading project and will
write and design file folders to report on these, which will be due sometime before Christmas.
In Science we’re finishing the atmosphere and will then study weather and weather patterns.
During the month of December important decisions
need to be made. Students need to decide on their Confirmation names and sponsors;
both are due before Christmas. A mandatory meeting for parents will be held
in Holy Cross Church on January 13, 2010 at 6:30 P.M. This meeting is with Fr. Salanitro and guidelines for Confirmation
will be presented. 8th graders will also need to register for the
placement/scholarship exams at the Catholic high schools if they plan on attending one; this test is Saturday, January
9th.
Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Cunningham
PARISH NEWS
7th
and 8th Grade Youth Group
All 7th thru 12th Graders
of Holy Cross Church are invited to go Ice Skating at Hitchcock Ice Rink on Sunday, December 13th from 2:30 to
4:30. Cost is $5.00 and includes skates. For More information, contact Kim Rookstool at the Parish Rectory - 553-7500.
First Reconciliation
First Reconciliation will be Sunday, December
6th at 2 pm. All candidates and families are welcome afterwards to St. Ed’s Hall for certificates and
cookies.
Do Not
Miss "Donut Sunday"
The Rectory Staff will be hosting "Donut
Sunday" on Saturday and Sunday December 12th and 13th after all the Masses in St. Ed's Hall.
We have limited space for organizations and parishioners who have new items or homemade crafts to sell. Please bring
them so people may snack and shop for Christmas gifts. Call to reserve your spot at 553-7500 or 208-5249.
Wrapping Gifts at County
On Saturday, December 5th from 9:30-11:30 am we will be wrapping gifts
for the residents and their families at Douglas County Health Center. We are
in need of gift wrapping, tape, postage stamps, and any gift items (may be gently used).
We give each resident 4 gifts, 3 to give, one to keep. Please drop off
donations at the Rectory prior to December 5th. We also need help at the Care Center on December 5th. Please call Theresa at 208-5249 for more information.
HOPE
Order your HOPE online 24/7 at www.ShopWithScrip.com - Our organization code is LF9FA1LL2931. Your HOPE can be picked
up in the rectory during office hours or after all weekend masses - also at school on Fridays
from noon - 3:45pm.
If you'd like to place a standing order (so you don't have to remember to buy!) please email what
you'd like every month srmaryhope@yahoo.com.
REMINDER
Newsletter items for the Falcon Flyer are
due by the 15th of the month. Please e-mail Mrs. Anderson at: tlanderson@schools.archomaha.org.