Welcome parents, welcome students, welcome random readers,

I am so excited to begin a new school year!  It has been a wonderful start.  The students are curious about our learning, and it’s really fun to teach when they are so eager to learn.  I hope my teacher website is helpful to you this year.  Please feel free to email me if you have any ideas that you’d like to see become a part of the website.

Thanks, Mrs. Holtmeyer

Hi Parents!

Happy Summer!  I’d like to impress upon you what a beneficial thing reading is for your child.  During this fun summer time, make sure to have your child reading, or better yet, read with them.  I’m including a link to an article from Healthline magazine that discusses all of the healthy benefits from being a reader for both children and adults.  Please browse through it.  Have a great summer, and I look forward to hearing about which books the students read this summer.

Great easy article:

Benefits of Reading Books: How It Can Positively Affect Your Life

https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-reading-books

“Let Your Light Shine” was the message Fr. Craig delivered in his homily at our first all school mass of the year.  So, we must be “shining lights” for those around us. 

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” ~Matthew 5:16

Dear Parents,

Thank you for attending Open House. I enjoyed meeting you and your children.  I am excited and ready to begin our 4th grade year.  Thank you also for having their supplies ready to go and for donating extra supplies to us teachers to help us do our best job teaching.  Please look for an email soon regarding the upcoming 4th Grade Parent Meeting.  Sincerely, Mrs. Holtmeyer 

Our Mission Statement: St. Pius X/St. Leo School is a diverse community forming students in the Catholic Faith to excel in academics and service to others.  

On Mission Day, the whole school focuses on serving others, as stated in our Mission Statement.  The 4th graders and PreKindergarteners collected donations for refugees from Afghanistan.  They listened to Tom and Margaret Hoarty teach them about what refugees are, the struggles they face, and how we can be of service to them to follow Jesus when he said, “When I was a stranger, you welcomed me.”

The two grade levels then got together to draw and color “Welcoming Cards” for the refugees from Afghanistan.  After school the cards and donations were delivered for those refugees in need.

“Now therefore go,

and I will be with thy mouth,

and teach thee what thou shalt say.“

~ Exodus 4:12

4th graders begin their study of the 10 Commandments by learning what the Israelites and Moses endured and how they escaped slavery. They made “burning bushes” as a fun religion art activity.

This student’s parents won the highest bid at our fall fundraiser to have their daughter be the “Teacher for a Day.”  What fun we both had that day.  Here she sits at her “teacher desk” putting stickers on a word search that she made and asked the class to complete.  She’ll be an excellent teacher one day!

Please help donate items for the Siena Francis House Stocking Project this year! Please bring in new men’s and women’s crew and tube socks, new women’s and kids’ stretch gloves, toothbrushes, boxes of mini candy canes and boxes of hot cocoa packets to give to residents of the Siena Francis House.  There will be a box for drop off of items located in the kindergarten hallway.  This will run until Wednesday, December 8th.  THANK YOU!

St. Pius X/St. Leo School is a diverse community forming students in the Catholic faith to excel in academics and service to others.

“He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.” ~Matthew 28:6

“But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Don’t worry about anything, but in your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking Him with a thankful heart. And God’s peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Jesus Christ.”  ~Philippians 4: 6-7

Here are some ways our students have been putting their intelligence “to fun” during distance learning!

~Thomas writes his spelling words in flour….ooooh, the texture helps the brain to learn with those “ie” or “ei” vowel spellings.

  ~In learning about the 5th Commandment: You shall not kill, Hailey learns more about life!  She values her life as a gift from God. Hailey learns how everyone has human dignity, and we need to value that in all people. Hailey notes gifts that people have given her with gift tags, saying who they were from.  Then, she puts a gift tag on herself to remind herself that she is a gift from God.

A Distance Learning Activity to keep our students happy, creative, and well-rounded last week was making a Stain Glass Window on the Driveway!  Check out one family’s masterpiece!  

This week’s distance learning objectives:

Math: Equivalent Fractions

Spelling:  Patterns with /ei/, /ie/, and /eigh/

English:  Capitalization and Punctuation with Quotations; Introduction to Adverbs

Reading:  Literature Circles with Novels:  Hatchet, Stone Fox, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and Riding Freedom

Religion:  Holy Week