FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE
Our Lady Queen of Heaven School :: February 10th, 2014
The FHS is a monthly on-line school newsletter. It will be emailed to you through School Reach. There will be weekly reminders of important events and activities that are planned for the upcoming week.
Soaring student pizza party by axiall
INVITE NEW FAMILIES TO OPEN HOUSE – February 13, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
Our open house this January is for all current parents and well as prospective parents. If you know of a family that is interested in becoming a part of the OLQHS community, please encourage them to attend. There will be tours and registration information available. For more information on open house, tours or new family registration please contact Megan O’Quin: moquin@olqhs.org
Dear Parents and Members of the OLQHS Community
One of our 8th grade students, Hailey Guth, has asked as the Beta Club President to start a Beta sponsored service project. Hailey had a wonderful experience last summer when she went to Nicaragua with Monsignor Torres’ missionary group. Hailey was very distressed by the living conditions especially the lack of hygiene items available to these impoverished people. Hailey along with her fellow Beta members would like to begin collecting items to be sent to these people to help provide the opportunity for better cleanliness and better health. Boxes will be provided in each classroom for the items collected for the missions. The Beta students will be responsible for collecting and sending these items.
Here is a list of needed items: hotel size shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soaps. Regular size bar soap wrapped in a small wash cloth, lip balm, tooth paste, tooth brush with a plastic cover, gallon size zip lock bags and 8 pack crayons.
I believe as a Catholic school we should encourage our children to serve others and to give to others. This is a great opportunity as a community to help our students learn the importance of serving others.
OLQHS is an incredible place to be.
Ms. JoAnn
“Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful.“ (Luke 6:36)
OLQHS Alumni
OLQHS Alumni
OLQHS Alumni
Important Messages From Our School
- Open House – Thursday, February 13th at 6:00 in school cafeteria.
The 2014-2015 Registration Packets need to be returned to the office by February 14. If you did not receive a packet it is because you are not up-to-date with your tuition payments and fees. All registration fees will be drafted through FACTS on March 27, 2014. If paying by check, or if you do not receive your registration packet, you must see Pam Goodwin in the accounting office.
Registration for St. Louis Catholic High School New Students is February 10 – 19, 2014. Submit applications during this time to better ensure your place! Call 436-7275 ext. 244 for more information on the process or visit www.slchs.org. Applications are available in the front office.
If families have not submitted their freshman application, please do so as soon as possible. All Incoming Freshmen must be registered in order to take the High School Placement Test.
The Bishop Scholarship Forms to apply for financial aid will be available February 10th in the accounting office. They will need to be turned in to the accounting office with a copy of your 2013 tax return or extension by April 15, 2014.
Call Pam Goodwin 477-7349 or email pgoodwin@olqhs.org with any questions.
New student registration begins on Thursday, February 20. The office will open at 7:00 to take applications.
Job Opportunity:
An OLQH family is looking for one-on-one teacher for their autistic child. Private school setting, approximately 20 hours per week, good pay. No specific education required, however, certified teachers are welcomed. Training will be provided. Please call 540-1493
Instant Wisdom
Defining Bullying Behavior – Bullying exists everywhere. It is important to recognize what is actual bullying.
What is bullying? At first glance, many people might think this behavior is easy to define. Their first image of bullying might be of a physically intimidating boy beating up a smaller classmate. While that can still be considered bullying today, parents need to know that bullying behaviors can be much more complex and varied than the stereotype.
For example, harmful bullying can also occur quietly and covertly, through gossip or on the Internet, causing emotional damage.
As a starting point let’s consider a few other features that have been included in definitions of bullying. Although definitions vary from source to source, most agree that an act is defined as bullying when:
· The behavior hurts or harms another person physically or emotionally.
· The targets have difficulty stopping the behavior directed at them, and struggle to defend themselves.
· Many definitions include a statement about the ”imbalance of power”, described as when the student with the bullying behavior has more “power”, either physically, socially, or emotionally, such as a higher social status, is physically larger or emotionally intimidating.
Many definitions also include:
· The types of Bullying: The behavior can be overt, with physical behaviors, such as fighting, hitting or name calling, or it can be covert, with emotional-social interactions, such as gossiping or leaving someone out on purpose.
· Intent of the part of the student with bullying behavior: “It is intentional, meaning the act is done willfully, knowingly, and with deliberation to hurt or harm,” but there is some controversy with this statement as some assert that not all bullying behavior is done with intent or that the individual bullying realizes that their behavior is hurting another individual.
· Distinction about amount and duration: Many definitions indicate that the bullying is “repeated”, but the reality is that bullying can be circumstantial or chronic. It might be the result of a single situation, such as being the new student at school, or it might be behavior that has been directed at the individual for a long period of time.
· The implications for all students: It is also important to note that bullying is not just about the implications for those targeted by the behaviors, but that the behavior can impact all students in the school, including those who witness the behavior and those that engage in the behavior.
· Additional factors: these can include; the differentiation between bullying and harassment, enumeration of protected classes, statements around the use of technology, how the behavior impacts educational performance and the physical locations that would fall under the jurisdiction of school sanctions.
A basic guideline for your child is this: Let the child know that if the behavior [of another student] hurts or harms them, either emotionally or physically, it’s bullying.
HOMEWORK FOR ABSENT STUDENTS
We appreciate conscientious parents and students in requesting homework when absence from school is necessary. However, because of frequent class interruptions to request homework assignments, a structured procedure must be followed.
Reliable friends in the classroom have always been good sources for getting assignments to absent students, but if that is not possible, the following procedure is to be followed:
1.Call the school office (477-7349) before 9:00 A.M.
2. The secretary will send an assignment form to the student's homeroom teacher requesting homework.
3. The homeroom teacher will circulate the sheet to all course teachers.
4. The completed form will be returned to the reception office with materials necessary to complete the assignments.
The assignments can be picked up between 2:30 and 3:30 P.M. Parents or siblings are not to go to the classrooms to get assignments. Assignments will not be ready before 2:30 P.M.
If a student is too ill to complete a homework assignment, please do not request it. If the homework for an absent student is requested, it becomes his/her responsibility to have it completed when returning to class.
No homework assignments will be given in advance of an unexcused absence, for example, a family trip. It is the responsibility of the parent and student to make up missed work. The student will be allowed one day for each day out to allow make-up work to be done.
Caught You Being Good this week at OLQHS!!! Let’s Celebrate!!!
Brylee Williams displayed Christ-like behavior when she consoled a classmate after he didn't win in the sight word game.
Mackey Derouen spotted me struggling with a load of boxes and broke away from his group of friends and opened the library doors for me. Thanks Mackey
Pre-K and the Letter “P”
Our Pre-K had a great time last Friday as they studied the letter “P”, with a Pajama Day and a special visit from James English with Cici’s Pizza, who taught them how to make their own pizza!
What Can I Do Before Lent Begins?
Anything worth doing is worth preparing for.
Just imagine that this Lent is going to be different from every other Lent we've experienced. Imagine that there will be many graces offered me this year. Let's even imagine that God is going to help transform our lives, with greater freedom, greater joy, deeper desires for love and service.
If we want it, we will choose it.
Lent will be this wonderful season of grace for us if we give ourselves to it. And, we will give ourselves to it to the degree we really want it badly. So, in these days before Lent, we need to prepare our hearts. We need to prepare by realizing how much we want to grow in freedom, how much we need to lighten our spirits and experience some real joy, and how much some parts of our lives really need changing.
So, preparing our hearts is a process of preparing our desires. This means practicing our sense of anticipation. If I imagine Lent as an "ordeal" or a time I dread in some way, then I've already pre-disposed myself to not get very much out of it. These days before Lent are a time to start anticipating something wonderful that is about to happen.
Our Focus: On what God wants to give us.
Our sense of excitement and anticipation will grow more easily if we begin to imagine what God wants to give us. There is really something coming that we can truly look forward to. If we get too focused on ourselves, and what we are going to do or not do, we could risk missing the gift God wants to give us. We have to keep aware of the fact that grace comes from God. This is about God's great desire to bless us. Then, it is easier for us to imagine that what we really want to do is place ourselves in a space to receive what God wants to give us.
Not starting from a dead stop.
Taking some time to get ready for Lent will ensure that we aren't going to miss the first week or two of Lent, because we are just getting started. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, but we want to be ready to really take off on that day, rather than just beginning to think about Lent on that day. Part of what makes a vacation or a special anniversary so special is the build-up to it.
Before we get to Ash Wednesday, we should start asking ourselves some questions and we should start with some preparations. "What does God want to give me this year?" This question may require that I slow down a bit and listen to my inner spirit. For example, even if I'm very busy, I realize I'm hungry when I hear my stomach start "growling." "What am I going to be doing on Ash Wednesday?" Too often, Ash Wednesday is like every other day, except that I manage to get to church and get ashes on my forehead. Is there anything else I can do on Ash Wednesday? How will fasting and abstaining happen for me, for my family on that special day?Common Core Explained -What Is Close Reading?
The very first Common Core Anchor Standard for Reading states that students will:
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
Confession: I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that until the onset of the Common Core, I had never even heard of close reading. I set out to learn exactly what close reading was, how it looked in the elementary classroom, and most importantly, how we could use it to teach our students to become better readers. After researching, I realized close reading wasn’t really new at all. To put it simply:
Close reading is purposefully reading a text several times in order to analyze and gain a deep understanding of the text. Reading something enough times so you can understand it, explain it to someone else, and asks and answer questions about it using evidence from the text.
Another approach would be to use an analogy of digging a hole in the yard. The idea of "digging deeper" every time you read makes sense when you describe close reading like this:
The first time you dig your shovel in (read), you just scrape the surface off the ground. The second time you dig in (read the text again), you get a little more dirt (meaning). And every time you dig in (read) after that, your hole gets bigger and bigger until it’s just right and you get the full meaning.
Close reading teaches students to seek out micro-levels of understanding. It’s more than being able to retell a story or provide a main idea or supporting details from a text. When students are taught to read a text closely they become more skilled at locating evidence within a sentence or a paragraph or a page of a text or story. Then orally or in writing, they can justify answers to text-dependent questions based on evidence. These are basic close reading skills as outlined by the Common Core English language arts Standards that every student must know to succeed in college and career.
Yearbook Reminder
The deadline to purchase a 13-14 yearbook and a yearbook ad is Friday, March 21, 2014. Order forms can be found in the front office. If you have questions about yearbook orders email kbabineaux@olqhs.org or pbeverung@olqhs.org .
If you have questions about ads, email ctanner@olqhs.org.
The Art World
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19—ARTSONIA T-SHIRT DAY!!!!! Wear your Artsonia T-shirt with jeans on that day to show your support for the Art Program. If you order your shirt TODAY you still have time to get the shirt before the 19th (it usually takes 5 to 7 days to get an order). Remember, you can wear this T-Shirt for any T-Shirt Day throughout the year.
We have two new Artsonia Hall of Fame Students. They are Madelyn Cormier-McCann in Kindergarten and Carter Weeks in First Grade. Congratulations!!
Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade will begin work on their Mardi Gras Masks. Second Graders will actually make a mask (with feathers, glitter, and an elastic band) that they will wear to the Kindergarten Mardi Gras Parade.
Third Graders are working hard on their Mary of Guadalupe pictures. Fourth Graders are beginning their Picasso Portraits after a brief study of the artist Pablo Picasso and his artwork. Fifth Graders are busy with their Indian or Day of the Dead Masks on gourds.
Seventh Graders will begin an Aborigine Art Study and will be working on a birdhouse gourd on which they will design their own original Aborigine-style artwork. Eighth Graders are finishing their original Abstracts in the style of local artist, Jay Bowdon. Mr. Bowdon will return on the weekend to critique each student’s work and place the critiques on the Artsonia website.
Did I mention that WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 is Artsonia T-shirt Day?
We are creating, making messes, and having FUN!!
Brenda Foshee, Art
NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY
Congratulations Triple AR Star, Jake Hanks, 6th grade; and AR Stars Elizabeth Broussard, 8th grade; Ethan McCorquodale, 7th grade; Alivia Mudd, Ava Mudd and Nick Veuleman, 6th grade.
Mary Katherine Meche was a fantastic “Librarian of the Day” last month. She continues to help whenever she is in the library. Great job, Mary!
SAVE THE DATE – 2014 OLQHS GOLF CLASSIC!
Sign up NOW to PARTICIPATE in and/or SPONSOR the OLQHS Golf Classic!
It will be held Friday, March 14 at the Lake Charles Country Club, beginning at 11:00 am. For entry forms and sponsor information click here. For more information, concerning this event or how to be involved, please contact Megan O’Quin: moquin@olqhs.org
Little League Girls Fastpitch Softball
Little League Girls Fastpitch Softball registration at College Oaks from 10 to 1, Feb 8th and 15th or you can request forms from us at lakecharessoftball@yahoo.com and mail them in. Registering girls from 4 to 16. League age is determined by your age on Jan 1st, 2014. Will need copy of birth certificate and proof of residence.
Thanks
Carl (337) 513-6246
MATHCOUNTS Team (All in 8th grade)
> Timothy Curol
> John Noble
> Alyssa Johnson
> Abbie Grace Milligan
Local MATHCOUNTS tournament held at DeRidder Jr. High School onWednesday January 22. We placed 2nd in the team competition and John Noble placed 3rd in the Individual Competition.
Other participants included: Gaby Welling, Gabrielle Kuehn, Travis Sharpe, Maggie Bruchhaus, Katherine Jester, and Olivia Moncrief.
About Our School
Lake Charles, LA 70605
Phone: 337.477.7349
Fax: 337.477.7384
Email: drivero@olqhs.org
Website: www.olqhs.org
Location: 3908 Creole Street, Lake Charles, LA
Phone: (337)477-7349