Volume 19 Issue No. 1 October 2016

Designed by:

Alissa Madrigal 8th

Grade

St. Francis de Sales School

1111 Michael Way Las Vegas, NV 89108

Telephone: (702) 647-2828 FAX (702) 647-0284

Web-site: www.sfdslv.org Office Hours: Monday - Friday

7:45 AM - 3:30 PM

Ministerial Staff

Fr. Bruno Mauricci, Pastor Fr. Michael Conway, Assoc. Pastor Fr. James J. Bevan, Jr., Special Assistant

Administrative Staff

Principal Mrs. Manfredi Administrative Asst. Mrs. O’Connor

Teaching Staff

Kindergarten Mrs. Hensley Mrs. Larson First Grade Mrs. Thomas Second Grade Miss Aveni Third Grade Mrs. Cooper Fourth Grade Mrs. Tully Fifth Grade Mrs. Oddo Sixth Grade Mrs. Bochenczak Seventh Grade Mrs. Antos Eighth Grade Mrs.Studdard Math Specialist Mrs. Sposato Religion Specialist Mrs. Wilson Librarian Mrs. Wilson Teaching Asst. Mrs. Iorii Technology Director Miss Botti School Counselor Mrs. Pepperman Music Teacher Mrs. Taubert Physical Education & Spanish Instructor Mrs. Villanueva Drama Ministry Mr. Blaskey Before and After School Staff:

Mrs. Taubert, Mrs. Gorski, Mrs. Wattenbarger, Mrs. Villanueva

St. Francis de Sales

Newspaper Staff:

Kennedy Crear, Alaina Herrera, and Anisha Silva

This month’s classroom news was

compiled and formatted by Mrs. Smith!

Thank you!

Designed by:

Danny Gonzalez

Breast Cancer

Awareness Month!

Designed by:

Samantha Premas

KINDERGARTEN

ur first day of school, the Kindergarten classroom quickly filled with loving parents,

grandparents, and siblings; the boys and girls naturally displayed quiet anticipation and a small amount of anxiety. But, within a very short time, the children delighted in new friendships and the joy of learning, and they began to arrive each morning with smiles of excitement and interest. We gratefully continue our Religion course of study in the form of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is an approach to religious formation for children, rooted in the Bible, the Liturgy of the Church, and the educational principles and gifted insight of Maria Montessori. This inspiring and prayerful curriculum encourages the children to quietly listen as God whispers to each of them personally. The boys and girls enter the Atrium in peaceful silence and after listening to a presentation, proceed with their hands-on work and in it, find a closer and deeper relationship with God; while at the same time learning about the liturgy, scripture, and the history of our Church.

We excitedly continue our reading series, “The Superkids!”

This comprehensive

curriculum is in complete alignment with Common Core Standards and could not be more appealing to the children. Every eight to ten days the boys and girls receive their very own workbook and meet an engaging new character, and through these characters and their diverse interests, learn all the essential elements necessary to become confident, independent readers. In Math, we have been building the children’s number sense, which includes recognizing the relationships between numbers and representing numbers in a variety of ways. The boys and girls enjoyed learning more about each other by sharing their Thinking Map “My Stories” each week. And, while researching the five senses in Science,

we had both a “Sense of Taste Party” and “Sense of Smell Party”.

Each week of the first five weeks of school we focused on one of our Student Learning Expectations, as we discussed growing and learning to be active faith

filled Catholics, lifelong learners, effective communicators, and responsible citizens, as well as culturally aware/global citizens. On September 8th we celebrated Blessed Mother’s birthday, singing “Happy Birthday” to our Mother in Heaven as we reflected on her example of living every day of her life on earth with complete faith and trust in God and the importance of each of us trying to do the same. These gentle little people are already practicing so many of the St. Francis Life Skills each day: effort and responsibility as they complete their class work. And perseverance, as they practiced their prayers throughout August and September, allowing them to confidently recite a decade of the rosary with the Student Body each morning in October. Additionally, the boys and girls display friendship, cooperation, and respect each morning and after lunch, as they excitedly enjoy recess together. Recognizing that conflict is a natural part of life, we are teaching the students through a program of “Conflict Resolution” to become responsible problem-solvers. Calming techniques and listening skills are taught through a series of student lessons, providing the boys and girls with peaceful ways to respond when distressed or upset. The children are getting to know and truly enjoy the relationship with their Eighth Grade prayer pals; they anxiously look for their pals on campus. We will have a number of opportunities throughout the year for the boys and girls to continue to enjoy and benefit from the time spent with the Eight Grade students. We are proud of, and grateful for, this very special group of young ones and we pray daily in thanksgiving for blessings received, for peace in the lives

of all of the children of the world, for special intentions, and for those whom we love and who love us. God has truly blessed us all!

Students of the Month

Grace Medford Esteban Chavez

Birthdays

September Amina Baghdadi Grace Medford October Calista Sanchez

SCRIP

Purchases

Science Materials Treasure Box Treasures Sand Play Items

-Mrs. Hensley & Mrs. Larson

FIRST GRADE

First Grade is enjoying an active autumn! We welcomed three new students to the Thomas Team: Anthony Arce, Melanie Garcia, and Jeri Pulido-Ortiz. During our first few months of school we have been working on the writing process with Thinking Maps and prompts. We are also continuing to learn about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and scripture. Exploring patriotic themes and communities; living and non-living creations; working on place value and math fact families; and reading about the Super Kids all add to our learning experiences. The Accelerated Reading program has been a popular attraction and a great way to instill the love of reading while increasing fluency! We have had a blast using Kagan strategies to explore teamwork and collaboration.

Each week we focus on the Life Skill and Ethics across the Curriculum theme by

O

using literature, real life examples, and discussing how we live these values. Some of our favorite stories include: I Can Cooperate, Sheila Rae the Brave, Fine, Fine, School, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, How Leo Learned to be King, A Chair for my Mother, and I Can Respect. Our School wide Learning Expectations are evident as we learn about our Catholic faith, have a desire to learn, practice responsibility, follow the Golden Rule, and learn effective communication skills. Conflict Resolution is a primary focus for learning how to solve disagreements and talk things out. This program is empowering us to seek solutions in a peaceful way. These are great reminders of what we learn in the Gospel messages. Autumn highlights also include: praying the Holy Rosary each day, celebrating the Feast of Guardian Angels, meeting our Prayer Pals, attending the Annual Festival, and having a Halloween celebration. I would like to thank Mrs. Parrish, Mrs. Scott, and Mrs. Kruger, our wonderful room parents, and the dedicated First Grade parents for their generous donations of time, assistance, and treats for our class. Scrip purchases provided classroom supplies. Thank you very much!!

Fall Students of the Week

Carter Cullum, Kaitlyn Doucet, Cameron Feely, Melanie

Garcia, Lazaro Ibarra, Raven Kruger, Elise Owens, Aiyanna Sarmiento, Kylee Scott, and Chelsea Verry.

Students of the Month

Matthew de la Rosa London Ramos

Fall Birthdays

Dylan Fontanilla, Arianna Anaya, Jeri Pulido-Ortiz, Moni Luevano, Sydnie Owens, Daniel Banyai, and Matthew de la Rosa

SAY IT TO THE SAINTS

Once again this year we are blessed to have our Saint Bernards return for our literacy program! Mrs. Atiyeh generously donates her time and talent by bringing in Bentley and Murphy. Students anxiously await their turn to read to their furry friends. We appreciate Mrs. Atiyeh for providing this incredible program.

SCRIP Purchases

Classroom supplies

-Mrs. Kelly Thomas

SECOND GRADE

Second grade is just flying by! We cannot believe that it is already October! In Math, we just finished our chapter basic addition and subtraction facts. It was a good refresher from our summer break. Now, we are learning about place value

to the hundreds spot. We cannot wait to make our place value candy corn! In Reading, we just finished Unit 1 and cannot wait to learn more about the

Superkids’ adventures in Unit 2! In Writing, we just finished writing and publishing our very own autobiographies. We loved writing about ourselves and creating a self-portrait. Also, we just finished our opinion rough draft on the book, Duck! Rabbit! In which we had to discover and form our own opinion on whether we saw a duck or a rabbit! If you stop by our classroom, you can see what we picked! We will soon begin some fun fall poetry! In Science, we just finished our chapter on plants and the types of plants that have special adaptations to where they live. Now, we are focusing on the different types of animals and how they are alike and different. In Social Studies, we just finished our chapter on the types of communities we might live in or around. We had fun make a foldable about rural, urban, and suburban

communities. Our next chapter focuses on all the types of landforms our country has, as well as the different regions that are in the US. In our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program, we just reintroduced ourselves to the Atrium and decorated our lovely folders about God. We also wrote love letters to God on the back! We have worked on our sacred history chart, which helps us know the timeline from Creation to Redemption to Parousia. We are preparing hard and looking forward to receiving two special sacraments this year. We are practicing and learning about what it means to “carry our own light.” In Accelerated Reading, we are just flourishing with books! I have never seen so many students who love to read! To date, we have taken and passed 453 quizzes. We awarded some

OWL’s with AR awards: Super Readers: Caeleb Espinosa, Skylar Goldyn, Nicolas Munoz, Lucas Sabbadini

Advanced Readers: Adrianna Adam, Angelina Adam, Braeden Osotio Here are some whooo-riffic upcoming highlights: Parish Festival, Nevada Day, baking pumpkin treats, and poetry writing!

August to October

OWLs of the week

Chloe Ontiveros, Braeden Osotio, Gabriela Whitehead, and Skylar Goldyn

August to October

Birthdays

Elias Dils, Nicolas Munoz, Maleah Mee, Trenton Howard, Benjamin Howard, and Aiyanna

Wong

SCRIP Purchases

Classroom supplies

-Mrs. Olivia Aveni

THIRD GRADE

I am so proud of my Third Graders and how hard they have been working since the first day of school. They are doing a

wonderful job adjusting to the curriculum. In Religion we are visiting the Atrium weekly to do our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd lessons. So far we have reviewed the articles used during Mass and we have spent time on Creation, Redemption, and Parousia. The students are also reading Scriptures in the Bible. It is so fascinating to witness the students’ understanding of these concepts in our Catholic faith and to really understand how much God loves each and every one of us. We have also prepared our first Mass for this year. Praying the Rosary each day during the month of the Holy Rosary with our SFDS family makes us feel so special. We love our dear Blessed Mother! This month we have been reading Charlotte’s Web by E.B.White. This story incorporates so many of our life skills such as friendship, caring, patience, and perseverance. The students were very creative in writing their Haiku poems, and painting beautiful fall landscapes using the skills we are learning from our Arts Attack program. We are blessed with so many God given talents! Congratulations to the “Whoo Loves to Read?” raffle winners, Cassandra Thompson and Kyle Sims! We had many entries in our August and September drawings, great reading Third Grade! Here is the good news about our AR Readers. So far the Independent readers (10+ points) are Ethan Bonn, Claudia Cabrera, Bailey Cockhill, Breanna Cross, Avi De Remer, Connor Gardiner, Lucille Jaynes, Eric Landaz, Jacob Rosenberg, Jasmine Sierrapeniche, and Hailey Wells. The Super readers (15+ points) are Emma Mariani, Makenzie Medford, Jayden Messer and Gabrielle Pabustan. We also have Advanced readers (20+) points and they are Riev Angeles, Alexa Carambas, Kamryn Farley, Gisele Hernandez, Pio Ibarra, Danielle Marrero, Zachary Owens, Rome Ramos, and Devin Vidrios.

Students of the Month:

Eric Landaz

Hailey Wells

Birthdays

August Zachary Owens Coen Junker

Avi de Remer September Kyle Sims Alexa Carambas Gabrielle Pabustan Emma Mariani October Makenzie Medford

SCRIP Purchases:

Classroom supplies

Parents, thank you for all you do for your children, both academically and spiritually!

-Mrs. Mary Cooper

FOURTH GRADE

We have started the year off by showing our caring and generosity towards others in a big way with our annual charity drive! We worked very hard collecting snacks to add to the lunches for homeless children here in

our valley. The generous spirit of the students and families’ in our class is inspiring! We see the love of God working

through them! We were able to collect over 1400 snacks, so we filled the truck! The Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth was very impressed, and assured us that our help will make a real difference in the lives of many children. We have also been collecting ring tabs for Ronald McDonald House charities. Mrs. Turner has already made a delivery to the home on West Sahara for us. Keep up the good work! In Religion we have been introduced to the new Atrium set up in Holly Hall just for us! We are looking forward to a wonderful year growing in our faith. We will continue to honor Mary, Our Blessed Mother, each day during the month of October by praying the rosary. We also created a special spot in

our classroom to place pictures we colored as another beautiful way to honor our Mother Mary. Finally, we have been discussing our Lifeskills such as: honesty, responsibility, caring, and kindness which are so important in our daily lives. In Reading, The Whipping Boy, was the first novel we read together. It is an exciting story of friendship and loyalty loosely based on the classic story, The Prince and the Pauper. We also read the novel Hatchet, by Gary Paulson. It is the story of a boy stranded in the great northern woods of Canada and how he learns to survive. It is filled with one catastrophe after another and was very exciting to read. Our current novel is a Halloween tale, Bunnicula, by Deborah and James Howe, which we are enjoying very much. In addition, our nightly reading has also been filled with many wonderful stories! Keep up the excellent work!

In Social Studies, Fourth grade concentrates on Nevada History. We are learning many new things about the great state of

Nevada. We have learned all the major symbols of our state along with the reasons they were chosen to represent us. We have been honing our map skills by using the compass rose, map key, and scale, and we have even learned how to use lines of longitude and latitude to locate selected spots on a map. We can distinguish the differences in the six ecosystems here in Nevada and are now learning how the earliest settlers, the Native Americans, were able to survive without our modern conveniences like air conditioning! In Science we started the year off with the study of the major organ systems in our bodies. We began with the muscular skeletal systems before moving on to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. We are currently learning about the digestive and nervous systems. Throughout these lessons we will discover how important it is to keep ourselves healthy with proper nutrition and exercise. Math has been a review and mastery of our

addition and subtraction skills. We have just completed the move to multiplication with double digit multiplication problems. We are working hard to catch up on our AR Math Facts in a Flash! As always, nightly practice on basic math facts will help every student to become more confident in their work. Accelerated Reader Award Winners! Independent Readers – 10 points Ethan Abarca Jeremy Baker Maxwell Meek Super Readers – 15 points Sargon Adam Dominic Barr Lindsay Betke Riley Cornman Abigayle Laning Annika Laning Advanced Readers - 20 points Claire Barr Jude Ibarra Jason Le Kayla Luna Luke Martin Sean McEvoy Titus Molnar Cara Ontiveros Sophia Perez

Students of the Month

Riley Cornman Lindsay Betke

Birthdays

September Sophia Perez Sargon Adam October Cara Ontiveros Maxwell Meek Valentina Moore

SCRIP Purchases

Classroom art supplies

-Mrs. Nancy Tully

FIFTH GRADE

Fifth grade had a great time at the Parish Festival! The 5th grade is so happy and appreciative of all of those who came together and made it all happen. The amount of hours and dedication spent towards this event is astounding and it all pays off when so many people have so much fun!

Here is a summary of all that we have been learning! In English, we have written two essays and are exploring different kinds of nouns. We have focused on

singular and plural nouns along with proper and common nouns. The students are working hard using the My Access program. Also, we enjoy focusing on our thinking maps weekly and seeing how we can use them while writing our essays. In math, we began our year with a review of our mastery of subtraction, addition and multiplication. We have just ended a chapter on multiplication and have begun division. As we completed our chapter on multiplication we ended with our favorite activity- multiplying money! We will now move on to division of single digit quotients and the patterns of division.

In reading we have enjoyed reading stories with varying genres

including poetry, narratives, and realistic fiction. This past week we wrapped up our first unit and completed our benchmark tests. We are focusing on skills such as theme, comparison and contrast, and character traits. The 5th grade is working hard to achieve our AR goals and we enjoy reading the books as we go! We are excited to start reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The 5th grade has been learning about the earliest people in American civilization. We are so interested to learn about the American Indians including the Mound Builders, Mayans, Aztecs, Anasazi’s, and other early Americans. We were so excited to learn about the different types of corn and what they meant to the American Indians and how the earliest Americans lived. In science,we have learned about the Scientific Method and have begun our exploration of plants. We were very excited to have our first experiment to explore the different steps of the Scientific Method. Did you know the top layer of the leaf is known as the epidermis? That is the same name as the top layer of your skin! We are excited to continue our investigation on plants! Arts Attacks is an amazing part of our curriculum. The students learned how

to explore different types of lines to convey different emotions and depth. We have also begun our underwater scene in which we are exploring secondary and tertiary colors. Finally, we have begun our journey of

faith for the year in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. We have reviewed the time line of our faith and reviewed the Maxims. We are very excited to

continue our journey of faith with Mrs. Silva! We have constructed a popsicle stick Bible to help us remember the books of the Bible in order, they are currently on display in our hallway. We are very excited to begin our collections for the Cam Tam Children of Peace International - our class service project. It is an amazing organization that is helping to support lives in Viet Nam. For each donation of 25 cents, each 5th grader will receive a raffle ticket towards a fun Halloween surprise! Every month we will have a different theme and a different prize. Thank you in advance for your support for this important charity! As a class, we have been working very hard on the Life Skills of tolerance, integrity, life-long learners, courage, cooperation, responsibly, effort, and caring! As we reflect on each of these Life Skills we tie a ribbon onto our Life Skill wreath to see what a difference they make in our lives. As a new teacher, I am so excited and thankful to be here! This class is so amazing and loving; I could not be happier! I am looking forward to an special year of faith, learning, and love of God! AR Update: Keep reading everyone! Please, continue to read at least 20 minutes each night to make sure you reach your AR goals this year! Advanced: Noah Bonn, Caelynn Corcoran, Vince Daidigan, Sofia Lara, Mia Lopez, Emily Sabbadini Star:

Annabelle Jaynes, Jozef McCrea, Kelly

Nguyen

Classic:

Nathaniel Verry

Wow! Congratulations and keep up the

great work!

Students of the Month

Sebastien Peck Caelynn Corcoran

Birthdays Claire Gallob August 15th Miranda August 19th Demi September 11th Michael October 4th

SCRIP Purchases

None

-Mrs. Oddo

SIXTH GRADE

The Sixth Grade loves being in Middle School especially since we get to switch classes. It is nice to be able to learn from different styles of teaching. Right now in Math, we are finishing up with number sense, addition and subtraction. Mrs. Sposato’s class just finished their first Chapter Test and Mrs. Studdard’s class is right behind them. We are also loving Practice Sheets. Since we had Simple Solutions nightly last year, having the same amount of problems to solve - but on a weekly basis - is nice. Another subject the Sixth Grade loves is Science. We are learning about the different types of body tissues and the skeleton. Moving on to Religion, the Sixth Grade just finished our Chapter 3 Test in our Religion textbook, which was about prayer, and now we are moving into

Lesson 1 in Family Life. Now in Social Studies, we are studying Ancient Civilizations, specifically about Ancient Egypt and Nubia. The Sixth Grade is also learning map skills and how river can help a community. Nouns, nouns, nouns! All about nouns! The Sixth

Grade is going over nouns in English. We cannot have books without nouns! Reading is

quite interesting with the new books. Since we had the Journeys Reading textbook last year, using a new Reading textbook, Collections, is fun. The two stories that we have read were about dogs, and we definitely learned a thing or two about them. Middle school may be tough, but the new Sixth Grade class is taking the year head on. -Katie Clevidence AR Update Keep reading! Keep up your great efforts in maintaining your goal for this year! Remember to see me to redeem your points for incentive coupons. Always, Mrs. Bochenczak The following students have achieved Certification recently: Advanced: Noah Allen, Briane Angeles, Gabriel Bacani, Kaitlyn Clevidence, Abraham Colunga, Lenny Estrada, Noah Fortez, Stephen Landaz, Mia Madrigal, Connor McEvoy, Marina Munoz, Albert Ogutu, Anacidalia Rivera, Bea Verry, Julia Wattenbarger Star: Noah Allen, Briane Angeles, Kaitlyn Clevidence, Albert Ogutu, Bea Verry Classic: Kaitlyn Clevidence, Albert Ogutu, Bea Verry

Students Of The Month

Wyatt Dorsey Alektra Anaya

Birthdays

Christian Brownfield Sept 3 Angelina Wagner Sept 13 Alan Box Sept 29 Wyatt Dorsey Oct 1 Abraham Colunga Oct 29

SCRIP Purchases

None

Grade 6 is looking forward to our Drama Ministry Play at the end of October. We are now rehearing for our

performance. During our Reading class discussion about our dog stories we have been exploring the Life Skills of Caring, Perseverance, Curiosity, and Initiative. We also wish to thank everyone for their support of our fun-filled Parish Festival.

-Mrs. Bochenczak

SEVENTH GRADE

The Seventh grade would like to extend

a warm welcome back to St. Francis

de Sales Catholic School. It seems hard to believe that we are already almost through October - and now November is just around the corner. This year is a preparation year for 7th grade as we strive to become leaders in our school. We have been given some new responsibilities this year such as raising the flag every morning, 1st grade prayer pals, and the preparation of the Stations of the Cross during Lent. 7th grade has enjoyed spending time with their prayer pals, at our first “meet and greet” we shared cookies and good conversation about getting to know each other. We have also gone to Mass with 1st grade as well. We look forward to our many gatherings throughout the year. We also have been busy reviewing Thinking Maps. For example, in Social Studies we analyzed the cause and effect of King Phillip’s War using a multi-flow map. We have been enjoying Kagen Structures in class like Quiz, Quiz, Trade; Hands up, Pair up, Stand up; and Think, Pair, Share. In addition, the students also worked on a brace

map for the solar system in Science. The students have enjoyed the Arts Attack program, they completed a contour drawing of Wild Horses and are currently working on Thanksgiving artwork for the holiday season. Stop by our hallway to admire the wonderful art work being displayed. This year the 7th grade Service project is Shade Tree. We will be collecting items for their “Gift of Holiday Hope” starting in the month of November through December. Remember, your gift has the power to transform the lives of women and children. Thank you! Subject Happenings: Science: Currently we are studying the Rock Cycle along with weathering and erosion. We are looking forward to our very first Science Fair this year. English: We just had a test on nouns and adjective. We continue to work on My Access writing assignments on a bi- weekly basis. Religion: This year we are learning about many new interesting facts in Religion. Currently, we are studying parables in the Bible. In the near future we will begin studying the women of the Bible. Reading: This year should be an awesome year in reading. Our reading book is filled with many stories. We are also starting our Greek Mythology unit. Social Studies: We are currently studying about early colonies as well as learning more about the geography of South America and Europe. Math: Is so cool, but it is also going to be a challenging year. We are looking forward to learning more about Expressions and Equations using integers. 7th grade is up for the challenge of being responsible citizens who love to learn. We look forward to a dynamic year filled with opportunities for us to grow and learn throughout the year. AR Update: Keep reading, everyone! Continue your great efforts in progressing toward your

goal. Remember, all of you can start using your points for incentive coupons. See me if you would like to “buy” one. -Mrs. Bochenzak The following students have received AR certification in these areas: Advanced: Kennedy Crear Erica Fish Sarah Ogutu Kiarra Osotio

-Mrs. Desiree Antos

EIGHTH GRADE

The final year for the class of 2017 from St. Francis de Sales is well underway. On the opening day of school, we welcomed two new students, Jacqueline Kulin and Cristian Ramirez. We wish them a very successful year at St. Francis de Sales. Our first week of school was exciting with putting together our 8th grade “Circle of

Friends” classroom bulletin board as well as the hallway bulletin board collages. The hallway bulletin board project was through Arts

Attack with students drawing a portrait from an upside down position. They turned out very well. Our October art project is through Arts Attack in which the students draw geometric shapes using a color wheel. They learned about cool/warm colors as well as complementary colors. We have a lot of talented artists in 8th grade. We are keeping very busy with 8th grade responsibilities throughout the day. One of our major responsibilities is pizza lunch clean-up and on Monday through Thursday we also help putting away the Atrium articles. On a weekly basis, we have been reviewing the SLEs as well as the life

skill of each week. We are always working to improve our achievement of SLEs as active faith-filled Catholics, life-long learners, effective communicators, responsible citizens, and culturally aware/global citizens. We also have opportunities to practice conflict resolution and the manner in which it applies within the classroom and outside of school. We would like to thank Mrs. L. Sinobio for being our room parent this year. Thank you also to all the parents who are helping out with the pizza lunch sales as well as our other fund raisers which all benefit our class trip funds. We were thrilled to meet with our Kindergarten Prayer Pals in late September. We made cards for them and then we were able to sit with them at Mass the very next week. We are looking forward to the Thanksgiving Feast with them.

Ms. Studdard’s math class is concentrating on integers and rational numbers while Mrs.

Sposato’s math class is concentrating on various types of algebraic equations. We can tell that this year will be a very busy year in math! In science, we are learning about the Periodic Table of Elements in-depth. We are also slowly beginning to work on the Science Fair research paper. The February Science Fair will be upon us before we know it. In English, we just finished our essay on the Statue of Liberty. We tied in our essay with what we are studying in social studies. In social studies, we are discussing immigration and city life as the United States became more populated. We had the awesome privilege of seeing the play The Diary of Anne Frank at Bishop Gorman High School on Thursday, October 6, 2016. This was a fantastic opportunity after we had just read the play about her during reading class.

We would like to thank Mrs. Wilson for displaying our art work in the hallway of the Blessed Mother collages. They are all simply beautiful. Spanish is always exciting with learning new verb tenses and new vocabulary. We always enjoy the presentations which we do in class. In technology we continue to work on projects which enhance our technology skills. AR Update

Keep reading! Keep up your great efforts in maintaining your goal for this year! Remember to see me

to redeem your points for incentive coupons. Always, Mrs. Bochenczak The following students have achieved certification recently: Advanced: Ayden Ybarra, Alina Langit, Victoria Legaspina, Lillie Martin, Matthew Naples, Cristian Ramirez, Anisha Silva, Juliana Sinobio, and Spencer Turner Star: Ayden Ybarra Victoria Legaspina, Lillie Martin, Cristian Ramirez, and Anisha Silva.

Students of the Month

Alina Langit Matthew Muyot

October Birthdays

Katherine Owens Oct 9 Xavier Perez Oct 23 Spencer Turner Oct 25

SCRIP Purchases:

American Scholastic Challenge Registration

Have a great year!

-Mrs. Linda Studdard

STUDENT COUNCIL NEWS

This year’s Student Council has gotten off to a terrific start! We will be joining the other Councils this

month at St. Viator to discuss future projects and planning. During this month we will look forward to praying the Rosary,hosting our annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest, and enjoying Black and Orange Day. We would like to welcome and congratulate the following class representatives to Student Council: Kindergarten: Mia Madrigal 1st grade: Caitlyn Goode 2nd grade: Kellee Savage 3rd grade: Matthew Muyot 4th grade: Sargon Adam 5th grade: Annabelle Jaynes 6th grade: Julia Wattenbarger 7th grade: Kennedy Crear 8th grade: Spencer Turner Happy Halloween! Happy 152nd Birthday to the great state of Nevada!!

-Mrs. Carol Wilson

NJHS

As we kick off the 2016-2017 school year, I would like

to announce the new National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) members! Starting off with our Seventh Graders, they are: Francis Akoh, Riley Baker, Michael Betke, Kennedy Crear, Erica Fish Caitlyn Goode, Ethan Langit, Kiarra Osotio, and Dominic Villanueva. Our Eighth Graders are: Christian Ramirez and Jacqueline Kulin. These members were graciously invited into NJHS at a beautiful induction ceremony hosted by Victoria Legaspina, John Sullivan, Matthew Muyot, Samantha Premas,

Freedom Washington, and Spencer Turner with a beautiful reception following. In addition to the new members, our new officers were announced: President: Victoria Legaspina Vice President: Caitlyn Goode Secretary: Erica Fish Treasurer: Matthew Muyot Historian: Jacqueline Kulin This was all made possible by our moderator, Mrs. Bochenczak. We hope to have a happy and exciting year for our new and returning NJHS members! Jacqueline Kulin NJHS Historian

MUSIC

October finds the music room busy with Halloween songs and sounds. Who’s Hootin’ and Night on Bald Mountain are two of our favorites. The classes have been learning about rhythm, mood, and pitch. We hope to try our hand at composing in 6th Grade soon. At the end of the month, choir will have the annual Halloween Party. We appreciate all food and drink donations. I’ll bring the bagels. If anyone has a food allergy, please make sure to bring something that you can have. It is very important that choir members make every effort to attend all rehearsals. Believe it or not, Christmas is around the corner and we will begin music for our program next week. If you are having trouble making it, please let me know. Looking forward to a fun month with all the classes and choir!

-Mrs. Carol Taubert

Computer Bits

We started the year off in Technology Class working on our keyboarding. We

have added a new Word Wall to our classroom where students who reach their Words Per Minute (WPM) goal have their names displayed. 3rd Grade’s goal is 15 WPM. 4th Grade’s goal is 20 WPM. 5th Grade’s goal is 25 WPM. 6th Grade’s goal is 30 WPM. 7th Grade’s goal is 35 WPM. 8th Grade’s goal is 40 WPM. Students can practice at home for free at www.keybr.com. Click on “Start Typing Practice”. The class with the highest percentage of students on the WPM wall by Christmas Break will get a special surprise!

Students in the upper grades have started instruction using Microsoft Office while students in the lower grades have been learning about computer basis and functions. We are eager to continue instruction on Cyber Bullying and proper “netiquette” throughout the entire year.

Anyone in need of assistance activating or using Edline, please feel free is contact me. All parents in grades 3-8 have accounts. It is a great way to keep up to date on your child/ren’s academic progress.

-Ms. Angela Botti

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

It has been a very busy month. Our Swim team did fantastic. I am very proud of them for doing such a great job. The swim team took many 1st place

medals. Congratulations for the 11th year in a row!

Our varsity soccer team lost one game during the season, and our JV team went undefeated. Now it is time for them to put all their hard work into getting into the finals. The tournament starts the week of Oct. 10th and both teams hope to get to the Championship game. I am very proud of both teams. The finals will be held at St. Francis and Bishop Gorman. We are now preparing for boys basketball. The boys will be practicing very hard until the season begins. We are hoping to do well and place in the finals. Please come and support our games. Our players really enjoy having large crowds and our cheerleaders like having a crowd as well. I am looking forward to a fun season. In Physical Education class we have learned about offense and defense in Soccer. We learned about dribbling, passing and shooting. The lower grades worked on the fundamentals of soccer. Our upper grades also worked on reinforcing their fundamentals. They are also playing in scrimmages so that they can learn about the game and the

different positions. Overall, students have done a terrific job and getting even better at playing soccer.

Next month we will begin our basketball unit. We will continue to learn the importance of good sportsmanship, and the importance of staying active and living a healthy active life style. Please continue to keep your children active.

Thank you!

-Mrs. Villanueva

LIBRARY NEWS

Autumn is here! What a great time of year! Here is a list of my top ten Halloween books:

The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson Clifford’s Halloween by Norman Bridwell Pinkalicious: Pink of Treat! by Victoria Kann

Happy Halloween, Curious George by H. A. Rey Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

Halloween Hustle by Charlotte Gunnufson It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz

The Halloween Hoax by Carolyn Keene Halloween Special by Gertrude C. Warner Horrible Harry at Halloween by Suzy Kline Happy Halloween and Happy 152nd Birthday to the great Silver State of Nevada!

-Mrs. Carol Wilson

NEWS FROM OUR PRINCIPAL

It has been a wonderful start to the 2016-2017 school year, with many blessings and good times already happening at St. Francis de Sales School! Our Welcome Back Barbeque was so much fun, with delicious food, great company and lots of fun! Back to School Night was also a success, giving the parents all a chance to listen to the awesome things our teachers have planned for their students. September came along rather quickly, as we celebrated the birthday of our Blessed Mother! Then, before we knew it, we started getting ready for our Terra Nova tests! I’m sure everyone tried their best to show how hard the students at St. Francis de Sales have been working and all that they have learned over the past year. Before you know it, we will be getting those test results and using them to plan instruction for the next coming year. Our school spirit was raised to a new level as we celebrated our 11th year in a row as winners of the Diocesan Swim Meet! Our students showed true St. Francis de Sales spirit as they swam to their hearts’ content that night, winning First Place! September ended with our beautiful National Junior Honor Society Induction Ceremony, celebrating those students who have worked very hard to join such a prestigious organization! October has come and Autumn is in the air! Praying the Rosary every morning is the best way to begin each October day! We started October with Parent/Teacher Conferences, which are always a great opportunity for parents to get to know their child’s teacher a little better and, most importantly, to see just how well their child is doing in school. We are all very happy to have begun our Hot Lunch Program, with the hard work and dedication of all of our volunteers! We all look forward to Wednesdays now more than ever and for the family like setting and feeling that the Hot Lunch Program brings us! October was also a month for honoring students, as we celebrated the many ways in which our students live their lives according to our Student Learning Expectations at our SLE Awards Ceremony. We also had our Student

Council Induction Ceremony, when our new officers for this school year were introduced as our school’s government leaders. October was another month for celebrating our school spirit as our Soccer Teams performed to the best of their athletic abilities! Throughout October, we were very excited as we prepared for our Annual Parish Festival, with raffle and candy donation contests! It was a wonderful time for all!

-Mrs. Janet Manfredi Scrip Purchases: NCEA Membership

St. Francis de Sales School-wide Learning Expectation Awards Ceremony

Active Faith-Filled Catholics

Life-long Learners

Effective Communicators

Responsible Citizens

Culturally Aware/Global

Citizens

Kindergarten Genevieve Leos Adrian Herrera Fiona Wendelboe Kayla Tran Genevieve Lara

1st Grade Saya Mariani Lazaro Ibarra Kylee Scott Elise Owens Moni Luevano

2nd Grade Jacob Fernandez Skylar Goldyn Angelina Adam Chloe Ontiveros Elle Doud

3rd Grade Riev Angeles Rome Ramos Cassandra Thompson Gisele Hernandez Kyrene Sideco

4th Grade Dominic Barr Sargon Adam Claire Barr Jude Ibarra Cara Ontiveros

5th Grade Noah Bonn Nathaniel Verry Jade Storey Owen Wells Demi Gronauer

6th Grade Lenny Estrada Stephen Landaz Kaitlyn Clevidence Gabriel Bacani Anacidalia Rivera

7th Grade Kennedy Crear Riley Baker Francis Akoh Dominic Villanueva Kaden Hufford

8th Grade Lillie Martin Juliana Sinobio Alaina Herrera Alina Langit Matthew Muyot

Welcome to this first issue of Got Spirit!

Got

Spirit! V

olum

e 19; N

um

ber

1

Oct

ober

2016

Student Reporters: Kennedy Crear, Alaina Herrera, Anisha Silva

Boys Basketball News!

The Boys Basketball Season will be underway soon!

Congratulations go out to each of our teams! Representing our JV Team: Gabriel Bacani, Noah Bonn, Christian Brownfield, Christian Castro, Riley Cornman, Carlo Daigdigan, Mike de La Rosa, Steven Landaz, Zef McCrea, Sean McEvoy, Tristan Molnar, Albert Ogutu,

Christopher Rogers, and Sebastian Szydlo.

Our Varsity Team includes: Sumi Akoh, Aidan Bonn, Tommy Brascia, Logan Conway,

Mikey Farley, Jeffrey McEachern, Dominic Pryor, Cristian Ramirez, and Steven Spurlock

Mrs. V. is looking forward to a great season and hopes everyone will come out to support our teams!

G-O-O-O Spirits!!

St. Francis de Sales Cheer!

This year’s Cheer Squad includes ….. 5th Grade: Emma Kazmarek,

Sophia Roberts, and Kelly Nguyen; 6th Grade: Paris Sotelo,

Sabella Schwarz, and Mia Madrigal; 7th Grade: Kiarra Osotio; 8th Grade:

Samantha Premas, Freedom Washington, Madison Page, Jules Sinobio,

Ali Madrigal, and Anisha Silva! Our Moderator,

Miss Aveni, is amazed by the “SPIRIT!” shown from

each of our talented girls!!

Monday, October 31st, is Halloween! Student Council is sponsoring “Black and Orange Day” and our Annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest!

October Articles: Page #

Sport News 1

Interviews 2

Halloween Recipes 3 & 4

Halloween Fun! 4

Sports Updates! 5

Welcome! 6

We are very excited to welcome our new teachers and principal to St. Francis de Sales! We thought the following interview would help you to

get to know them! Welcome to St. Francis!

Page 2 Reporter News Got Spirit!

Mrs. Manfredi Miss Botti Mrs. Oddo

Where did you grow up? Long Island, New York Las Vegas Las Vegas

Where did you attend school? Molloy Catholic College

Adelphi University and

St. Joseph’s College

University of Nevada, Reno Carroll College in Helena,

Montana

What is the name of your

favorite prayer?

The Hail Mary Angel of God The Memorare

What is your favorite food? Calamari Italian! Mexican!

What is your favorite dessert?

Italian pastry, especially

one called Sfogiatelle.

Yum!

Luv It frozen custard Cupcakes

What is your favorite color? RED PINK TEAL

What is your favorite holiday?

Why?

Christmas, because it

is truly the season that

brings out the true

nature of people which

is goodness!

Halloween because it is the

start of the holiday season

and the cool Fall weather.

Christmas- Not only are we

celebrating the birth of our

Savior, but there is also a

certain feeling! Everyone

is kind and caring.

Do you have any pets? If so,

tell us more!

I have a dog

named Bruno.

I have three dogs. Harley is

a pit-bull. Bandit is an

Anatolian Shepard mix and

Roxie is a Border Collie mix.

I have two dogs. One is

named Bailey and she is a Jack

Russell Terrier. My other dog

is named Pixel and she is a

miniature Dachshund.

When is your birthday? February 3rd January 5th

August 25th

What is the name of the last

book you read and do you have

a favorite book or a favorite

author?

I just read What Great

Principals Do Differently.

One of my favorite books of

all time happens to be a

children’s book called Noel,

not just because it is a

Christmas book but because

it teaches about the true

meaning of Christmas. Max

Lucado is a favorite author

of mine.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

(it’s a play, not a book… but still.)

J. K. Rowling is one of my favorite

authors (Ravenclaw pride!) along

with Harlan Coben and James

Patterson (those mystery thrillers

always get me!).

The last series I read was the

Selection Series written by Kara

Cross.

In your opinion, what makes St.

Francis de Sales a unique

school?

What makes St. Francis a

unique school is that the

students, parents, teachers,

staff and administration all

believe in the same things;

respect for all, love of

learning and love of Jesus.

I think St. Francis is unique

because we have the most loving

and supporting faculty members

that truly love to be here every

day working with the students.

I believe St. Francis de Sales is a

unique school because everyone is

here to learn- children and adults

alike. Everyone is very kind and

helpful and are very well versed in

the Life Skills. I love the fact that

we are able to pray together and

attend Church with one another at

least once a week.

Spirit! News … We are very excited to report that our Spirit! Newspapers will feature the artwork and

designs of our 8th Grade students. Each month, students will be encouraged to submit their entries and our

teachers will have the opportunity to vote and select the cover each month. This month’s cover was

designed by Ali Madrigal. Thank you Ali and thank you Miss Botti!

Halloween Treats

By Anisha Silva

It’s that time of year to get your spook on with tons of Halloween Treats and Crafts fun for kids and parties, here are some easy, delicious treats to help make your Halloween Spooktacular! Pretzel Pumpkins

• 1 bag mini pretzels {you won't use the whole bag, only about 1/4} • 1 bag M&M's candy, needing only the green ones • orange food coloring, you can use gel or liquid food coloring whatever works for you • 1 bag White Chocolate chips, melted slowly {directions below} • 1 tbsp. shortening, milk or coconut oil, to thin out chocolate

Step 1. Melt the chocolate, before you put the chocolate in the microwave; add about 1 tbsp. shortening, milk, or coconut oil. You need to thin out the chocolate prior to dunking the pretzels or else the chocolate will be too thick. Remember to go slow, white chocolate dries easily, so go slow and stir frequently. Once the chocolate is melted add your orange coloring and stir gently, until it's nice and smooth. Step 2. Once you've dunked your pretzel, adding a nice coating, lay it out on a piece of wax paper. While it's still wet, take a green M&M and set it in the crook of the pretzel, on the side.

Candy Corn Marshmallow Treats

• Wilton candy melts in orange and yellow • White chocolate chips and yellow and orange food coloring • Large marshmallows {only the big ones} • Lollipop sticks • Parchment Paper • Milk, Shortening or coconut oil to thin out the chocolate

Step 1. Microwave candies melts according to package directions, or melt the white chocolate chips in two different bowls, one for the orange and one for the yellow food color. Add a tablespoon of milk, shortening, or coconut oil to the melts/chocolate to make the candy smoother and not as thick for dipping. Stick a lollipop stick in the marshmallow, then dip 2/3 the way up the sides in orange. Let cool and harden completely on parchment paper, then dip the bottom 1/3 of the marshmallow in the yellow candy melt. Let cool and harden before serving or eating. We have one more delicious recipe on the following page!

Page 4 Reporter News Got Spirit!

Sweet and Salty Halloween Treats Ingredients : 1 Bag of pretzels (the flat square-shaped ones work the best) 1 Bag of Hershey’s Hugs 1 Bag of Reese’s Pieces M & M’s How to make them: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap ALL the Hershey’s Hugs. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper Cover the cookie sheet with pretzels, place the unwrapped Hugs on top Put in the oven for 5 minutes, at most. I checked on mine after a few minutes… you’ll know they’re done because they’ll still have some shape to them, but they’ll look soft and shiny. Immediately place Reese’s Pieces and M & M's. (Each of these recipes come to you from Pinterest).

Halloween Fun Facts By: Alaina Herrera

Another name for Trick-or-Treating is guising which originated from the Celtic roots in Ireland. The Catholics in The Celtic region of Ireland started Halloween to satisfy the spirits roaming the

streets after a famous festival called Samhain. It is estimated that Halloween has been around for almost 6000 years. The first Jack-o-Lanterns were made of turnips. The largest pumpkin was 836 pounds and broke the world record in 1993. Halloween is the second $ grossing holiday besides Christmas. A fear of Halloween is also known as samhainophobia. Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1962 from appendicitis. When Halloween first started you had to dance for candy. Halloween is more Irish that St. Patrick’s Day. In small American towns Halloween was called “Cabbage Night.” Mexico celebrates Dias Las Muertos or “Day of the Dead” on November 1st. . All students and families please be safe this spooky Halloween !

www.softschools.com/facts/holidays/halloween_facts/149/

www.darkshadowghosttours.com/100-halloween-fun-facts.html

www.factretriever.com/halloween-facts

Page 5 Reporter News Got Spirit!

Sports Updates – By Kennedy Crear On Thursday October 13, 2016, our school had our first pep rally of the 2016-2017 school year! The pep rally was held to honor our swimmers for winning the All Catholic Schools’ Swim Meet for 11 years in a row. At the pep rally - and throughout the whole day we really played off the number 11. The school was awarded with free dress and 11 extra minutes of recess. We also had 11 raffles at the pep rally. During the pep rally the boys Varsity and JV basketball teams were introduced and the soccer team was also honored. Then the swimmers were awarded with their medals! Our cheerleaders did a fantastic job - even with the technical difficulties. Overall, the pep rally was a huge success! Congratulations to the basketball, soccer, and swim teams! G-O-O-O Spirits!

On Wednesday, November 2nd, the All Catholic Schools Cross Country Meet will be held at St. Francis. The following students will be representing our school at the Meet:

3rd Grade: Breanna Cross; 4th Grade: Sargon Adam, Jeremy Baker, Lindsay Betke, Mathieu Gutierrez-Roig, Luke Martin, Sean McEvoy, Scarlett Schwarz, Sebastian Szydlo, and Michael White; 5th Grade:

Romeo Coronel, Annabella Cross, Shane Enriquez, Claire Gallob, Gavin Gonzalez, Sofia Lara, Mia Lopez, Kelly Nguyen, Anabelle Ramos, Emily Sabbadini, Jade Storey, Lauren Ticsay,

Adrianna Toro, and Owen Wells; 6th Grade: Alektra Anaya, Katie Clevidence, Wyatt Dorsey, Baylee Farrington, Donavunn Janson, Ava Junker, Connor McEvoy, Albert Ogutu, Sabella Schwarz,

Paris Sotelo, and Angelina Wagner; 7th Grade: Riley Baker, Michael Betke, Aidan Bonn, Tommy Brascia, Erica Fish, Serene Gronauer, Hailey Lynn, Holly Lynn, and Dominic Pryor;

8th Grade: Michael Farley, Ayden Goshorn, Sebastian Macias, Jeffrey McEachern, and Cristian Ramirez. Congratulations!

The annual Pepe Cup will take

place on Friday, November 4th!

St. Francis has always done a

great job in golf and we will

update you on the results in

next month’s issue!

Page 6 Reporter News Got Spirit!

We welcome all of our new students to St. Francis de Sales!

A special “St. Francis Welcome” to our new students in

Grades 1 through 8!!!

The St. Francis

de Sales

Kindergarten

Class!