Specials Spotlight

Mrs. Geraldine Chilet Munoz, mom of Frances, came in and taught the first graders and I all about the Christmas Novena. On December 16th, nine nights before Christmas, families from Colombia (where she is from) pray a series of prayers in preparation for Jesus' birth. They pray to St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin Mother, Baby Jesus and a prayer about the aspiration of the day (the Christmas story of the day). So to honor this Colombian tradition, Mrs. Chilet showed students how to set up their own Novena count down calendar. They organized nine decroated ornaments on their paper, and under each ornament they drew a picture of or wrote about a gift that they wanted to give to the world. These gifts included: joy, hope, friendship, family, love, kindness, dance, art, chicken nuggets, and many others. Oh how I love their their sweet giving little hearts!!! Each night leading up to Christmas the first graders can lift an ornament and pray about these gifts with their families before bed.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with good health and many blessings!

Also, I found out this weekend that the Nebraska Arts Council has awarded us our AiSC grant that will fund our time with Steven Tamayo, our spring artist-in-residence. Mr. Tamayo will join us in the April. He will be teaching our K-8th graders about the seven traditional rawhide containers used by many different Native Americans who lived on the Plains. He is a member of the Sicangu Lakota tribe, but he has extensive knowledge of various tribes including the Omaha and Ponca tribes and others that he will share with us as well. This will be a cross-curricular residency where we get to learn about the art, history, and science of our land and the first people who lived here. We are incredibly lucky to have this opportunity to work with Mr. Tamayo.

THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH

THE SUPPORT OF THE NEBRASKA ARTS COUNCIL

(WHICH IS SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS)

AND THE NEBRASKA CULTURAL ENDOWMENT.

This week, the library was filled with the spirit of the season as every grade level enjoyed special Christmas stories and activities!

• 5th Grade engaged with a powerful piece of history, listening to Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914. Based on actual letters from WWI soldiers, this moving story detailed the spontaneous moment when opposing sides met in No Man's Land to share carols, exchange gifts, and even play a memorable game of soccer. A beautiful lesson in peace and humanity!

• 4th Grade explored the power of language with one of our Book Fair favorites, The Gift of Words by Peter Reynolds. This inspiring story emphasized the incredible impact positive words and phrases have on spreading hope, joy, and love throughout our world.

• 3rd Grade enjoyed a beloved classic: The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett. After following Teeka's adventure, students let their imaginations soar as they described all the fun and games they would have with an imaginary pet reindeer!

• 2nd Grade tackled the age-old mystery with great creativity! They listened to How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? and offered some truly imaginative and clever solutions to this holiday puzzle!

• 1st Grade got creative, helping to design Santa's New Suit! They came up with wonderful, stylish, and practical ideas for the big man's new threads.

• Kindergarten laughed along with Turkey Claus as he desperately searched for the perfect costume that would allow him to visit with Santa before the big day!

Wishing all of you the joy and wonder of Christmas with your family and loved ones!

I wish you all a very happy Advent and Merry Christmas! May your next few weeks be filled with great family time, festive music, and be free of the stress that sometimes accompanies this time of year.

I am looking forward to the same for myself and am excited to start putting together the Operetta in January. While the older students begin that process, our younger students will be exploring drama and acting. It should be a lot of fun!

Lastly, we are in search of a small, portable basketball hoop (similar to the one shown in the picture above) to borrow for Operetta. Do you have a portable driveway/curbside basketball hoop that you're not using during the winter months? Would you be willing to loan it to us to use on stage for our Operetta, High School Musical, from January 6-March 26? Please contact me at mtucksen@stcecilia.net if you can help us out. Thank you.

First and foremost, I want to wish all our families a Happy Holiday Season! I hope everyone is able to spend some quality time with family, get plenty of rest (Naps are great!), and enjoy delicious food.

This week Middle School students are completing their second round of the Push-Up Test, 60-Yard Timed-Lap Test, and Broad Jump Test. Although we are halfway through, there has been significant improvement across the board. More information regarding personal records and data will be provided when we return to school, most likely as we conclude Quarter 2. 2nd through 5th grade are wrapping up our pickleball unit with a modified game, focused on the serve, two-bounce rule, and rallies. Instead of competing team versus team, students are working as a group at a designated court to consistently rally back and forth. We’ve had an amazing three-week unit, thanks primarily to Jean Batenhorst-Smith, who has generously allowed us to use her nets, thank you. PreK continued to improve on hitting a bounced pickleball over the net. Kindergarten and 1st grade have progressed immensely using a paddle to hit a ball over the net, and even some groups are rallying. To start off 2026, we will begin our basketball unit, which will be geared towards fundamentals.

In our Middle School classes, we have been covering internet safety and digital citizenship. I would like to give you some insight on ways that we are keeping your students safe during the school day. In addition to our content filtering at the firewall level, we use a program called Securly to monitor students.

Securly's core function is filtering web content. It uses advanced technology to automatically block access to inappropriate or harmful websites, helping us comply with federal regulations like the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). This filtering is active on all school-issued Chromebooks which are used by students in 4th - 8th grade.

Our teachers use the Securly platform to maintain a focused learning environment. During class time, teachers can:

• Monitor student screens in real-time.

• Guide lessons by pushing out specific website links.

• Close non-educational tabs to help students stay on task.

• Temporarily pause internet access on school devices.

Please reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns. I am here to help!