Specials Spotlight

Fifth graders splay (splatter/spray) painted their Jason Naylor heart sculptures this week. Using neon watercolor paints in the spray bottles really gave their fingers a workout, but they persevered. Next week, they will paint the backside, and then they will paint the hands, feet, arms and legs black before I seal them with acrylic spray.

While they waited their turns, students played a new art game called Ouisi. It's a fun art card game that has a variety of ways to play. You can use the cards to play like Dominoes or Train. The original Ouisi game has a photograph or image from nature on each card. Then there is a Getty Images version that has parts of famous paintings and Getty Images on each cards. There's a QR code on the back of each card you can scan to learn about each image too. It's so fun, and it sparks art discussions. It was fun to listen in on the converstations to hear how the 5th graders organized their cards.

Catholic Schools Week is always a highlight of the year at St. Cecilia’s, and this year the library was buzzing with extra energy and imagination! From whimsical mysteries to hands-on engineering, our students dived into a variety of engaging activities.

Primary Grades: Sandwiches and Secrets

Our K–2nd graders continued exploring the Golden Sower Award nominees. After reading Mr. S by Monica Arnaldo, the students turned into little detectives. They spent class time debating a very important question: Is their teacher actually a sandwich? To wrap up the fun, everyone drew their own hilarious interpretations of what Mr. S might truly look like.

Intermediate Grades: Designing the Future

The 3rd–5th graders focused on the heartwarming novel Dogtown by Katherine Applegate. Inspired by the story’s blend of real and robotic dogs, students put on their inventor hats. They designed their own custom robot pets, sketching out creative features and high-tech enhancements they’d want in a mechanical companion.

Middle School: Unplugged and Interactive

Our Middle Schoolers took a well-deserved "tech break" to focus on tactile problem-solving. The library transformed into a maker space where students challenged themselves to solve Rubik’s Cubes or worked together to build functioning radios using circuit kits. It was wonderful to see their focus and collaboration in action!

Happy (almost) February!

I can't believe we have (almost) made it through January already. The Operetta production is well on its way (though there is always so much more to do) and students have been doing a fabulous job. The cast has started working lines off book and digging deeper into the musical numbers.

Our younger students have also been hard at work on their dramatic skills! We have had a lot of fun trying out acting by playing charades in the classroom. The 2nd graders have gotten to experience reading from a script and are working on creating a script of their own, while the 1st and Kinder students are getting to experience trying to tell a specific story through their acting. Kindergarten families, be on the lookout for an invitation soon about our upcoming production that we would love to share with you!

I hope you were able to attend the Flower Festival over the weekend and enjoy the talents of our Middle School choir. They did such a wonderful job performing and representing the school! It occurred to me that I put the wrong performance times in the previous newsletter so I apologize and hope that it did not cause anyone trouble. Sorry!

Middle School students on Monday wrapped up our basketball unit by engaging in a variety of options including P.I.G., H.O.R.S.E., Around the World, Knock-Out, and/or a modified version of 1-on-1, 2-on-2, or 3-on-3. Students did an excellent job modeling sportsmanship while continuously improving on their jump shot. Middle School students on Friday will be starting our soccer unit, which will be high intensity gameplay with three soccer balls and two minute periods. Monday classes will start our hockey unit, which will be very similar to soccer.

PreK through 5th Grade completed our quick golf unit this week. Students were working on chipping and putting. PreK and Kindergarten worked on hitting a target or getting the ball to stop in a specific area from 10 yards away. 2nd through 5th Grade were presented with various ranges of distance and targets for putting and chipping. Next week, PreK through 3rd Grade will work on offensive and defensive strategies while throwing at bowling pins during a game called Pin Guard. 4th and 5th Grade will be completing various relay races.