"Our Lady of Guadalupe School fosters Gospel values, inspires academic excellence, and develops service and leadership. We face this as a sacramental community united and empowered by the Holy Spirit."
Jan. 28th Newsletter
January 28, 2015
Dear OLG Families,
This next week will be an exciting one, as we celebrate Catholic education at OLG! Please continue to help us spread the word about Sunday’s Open House to prospective school families. Click here for the full schedule of the week’s activities! Note that students are asked to wear their uniforms to Mass this weekend – and for those who do, Monday will be a Free Dress Day!
Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers who have signed up to help at the Open House and to provide muffins for Special Persons’ Day! There are still some openings, so if you are available this Sunday between 9:00 and 1:00 or can provide muffins next Wednesday, please click on the links below.
Our after-school Smart With Art clay class is off to a great start. A few spots still remain in the Sing Out Seattle drama camp, which begins Monday. We are waiting to see if Chess Wizards can provide a second instructor, as we are currently over-enrolled for a one-instructor class. Additional registrants will be placed on a waiting list. It doesn’t look like we will have sufficient numbers for this winter’s percussion class, so that will be rescheduled.
Thank you for all that you do to make OLG such a special and faith-filled learning community.
Thank you to Cassie Jenkins and Jessica Burris for organizing OLG’s first-ever Trivia Night last Saturday! The evening was a huge success! We had great attendance, our trivia host was amazing, and the food was perfect! The family-friendly competition between the teams was infectious and kept the evening fun and exciting. Our planners thought of everything from 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prize baskets to “bonus round” prizes that offered anyone, of any age, the chance to win something. Of course, no trivia evening would be complete without some amazing chili, hot dogs and concessions! I would like to extend a special thank you to Shadowland for the generous food donation which included their incredibly delicious chili. I would also like to thank all the volunteers who helped with set-up, served food, worked in the kid zone and helped clean-up when the night was over. The Parent Org looks forward to bringing you many more Trivia Nights since we had such a great response this year. Please keep your eyes open for next year’s date so you can plan ahead and join the fun. This is an evening you won’t want to miss!
Mark Your Calendars!
Tuesday 2/9/16 – January Parent Org Meeting at 6:30 pm in the school – All are welcome!
Sunday 2/21/16 – 5th Grade serving Coffee & Donuts after Sunday Masses with the Knights of Columbus
In second grade, our main focus this month has been on making final preparations to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. Reconciliation is the special sacrament in which we celebrate our loving choices and ask God’s help in reconciling our unloving choices. As we recognize our own sins and are forgiven for them, we grow closer to God. In this sacrament, we make a commitment to try to make more loving choices in our daily lives, while God promises to walk beside us in our journey. The sacrament of Reconciliation also calls us to go forth and help reconcile the world we live in – forgiving others, as well as ourselves, whenever necessary.
Last Saturday, many of the second graders received the sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. For our celebration, we used Rite II of the sacrament that includes both a communal prayer component and the individual confession component. Families gathered in the church, were reminded that their journey began with baptism, listened to scripture readings together, then the children had one-on-one time with Fr. Jack or Fr. Don for individual confessions. To end our celebration, families gathered back together for a final blessing. It was a beautiful celebration of God’s love & mercy. The smiles on the children’s faces after their special time with the priests said it all – their hearts felt clean as their sins were washed away.
We thank all those who have helped prepare the children for this sacrament: the parents/guardians (the primary educators of the faith) and the Sacramental Preparation team (Fr. Jack, Helen. Oesterle, Mrs. Hoch, and Ms. Mia Sazon).
As we move through this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we pray that you and your family will take time to celebrate this loving sacrament. We pray you will experience the immense joy that comes with knowing that God has wiped all your sins off your heart…that you have a clean start. Finally, we pray that you will be great reconcilers in our world, sharing God’s love and mercy with all those you meet.
Fr. Jack is available for Reconciliation every Saturday from 4:00-5:00 pm. There will also be several communal Reconciliation Prayer services throughout the Lenten season. Times & dates will be posted in the bulletin and on the parish website.
PE NewsAll classes have been working on sportsmanship; what it looks like, why it is important in P.E. and does their class show good sportsmanship. How successful we are depends on the day, the game and sometimes the group dynamic that particular day. Those are our findings so far. We all agreed that it fluctuates mainly because we have so many different personalities in our class!
Competition is another term we have been defining, looking at. When and where is it appropriate as well as when do we need to back off a bit or “let it go.”
Competition and good sportsmanship should go hand in hand but sometimes that competitive nature takes over. In classes, students are asked to be aware of it, notice when it happens and why. When the warm-up becomes competitive, I adjust the day’s activities to lower the competition.
Pre-K and Kindergarten
Pre-K loves to practice any skill. I love their ability to just keep trying; there isn’t much competition here, they are all great! They continue to practice hula hooping and dribbling.
Kindergarten seem to make anything a race to be done first. This group is working on running without falling down, without running into anyone and staying vertical. Dribbling, throwing and catching are also skills we have been working on.Grades 1 – 4
These energetic groups love running and racing each other, especially 2nd and 3rd. Unfortunately, they are so focused on running so fast, they often run into someone or fall down. We have a few crashes during class. They are learning to stop quickly, “stick it,” to dodge or change direction quickly, have awareness of others around them and to run slower but with control. Games requiring teamwork, 54, Pony Express, Shark Tag and Zone Tag are played and we review the game at the end. The reflection and observation of how everyone played gives us the next PE’s practice.
Grade 5
This is a very active and competitive group. What is interesting about this group is how varied everyone’s talents are. We have some fast runners, a long distance runner, a flexible, agile person, strong upper body person, an observant, total picture person (who’s great to have on your team when strategies are required), a very agreeable, easy going person who everyone likes, and I could go on and on with strengths of this group of students.
Grades 6 – 8
Expectations of these classes are high, I know them well. The middle school challenges ebb and flow and I now know to be flexible and base the game on the mood of the group. This is a challenging time, but a great one to experience for me. I see a glimpse of the “child” every now and then which touches my heart, seeing them grow up and being the teen!
They all know good sportsmanship and we have our days of not following the rules just to make the win, but next class is always a new one. Love those do-overs.
8th grade will be showing their good sportsmanship and ability to work as a team as they play against the teachers on the 6th, in a volleyball game. The class plans their strategies and their line-up and supports each other to play their best. They are excited!
Sleep diaries have gone out to classes, with more to come. Fourth grade and middle school will be receiving theirs soon. The goal is just awareness, individually, on how sleep affects our behavior, quality of work and life. Again, this is so individual, no two people are alike, and it helps students learn more about their body. Please encourage them to be honest about their sleep habits, no sleep police here, and to do it for the entire 5 or 7 days.
Attention all Parents and Guardians in our Faith Formation Program:
Due to the upcoming Open House for Our Lady of Guadalupe School on January 31, 2016, please note that we will not have any of our Faith Formation programs in session which will include our Little Lambs program.
The following Sunday, February 7th, we will have our Family Faith Sunday in the Walmesley Gym from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. and hope you can attend that, with our theme: “It All Comes Down to Mercy – Letting Jesus Find Us This Lent”. Lots of fun activities are planned in preparation for Ash Wednesday and Lent. We will have our Lord Lions, Good News Bears and Little Lambs as scheduled on February 7th.
Thank you,
Faith Formation Team
Click here to learn more! about CYO sports at OLG!
Our Lady of Guadalupe School & Parish acknowledges that we are on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People past and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.
February 27th! 
