Exemplary Auxilliary Events and Classes!

Go Music!
By Anna Katherine Meyer
Layout/Design Editor
  
            The students in elementary music accomplished many things this quarter. The first and second graders visited the computer lab to use Mimio Studio to work on identifying instruments correctly. They looked at an instrument and listened to its sound. In addition, grades one, two, and three worked on music theory and learning about the instrument families of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Third grade also went to the computer lab to write music and practice rhythm composition. In addition, these students practiced for Ash Wednesday by preparing for the Mass during class and during recess. The fourth graders practiced their recorders, and they might start playing for Mass. The fifth graders have been working on a research paper about a composer. This quarter, the composers were Scott Joplin, Franz Joseph Hadyn, Franz Liszt, and Johann Strauss.
            The first and second graders performed their spring concert Go Fish this quarter. First grade provided the backup singing while second grade used their acting skills to take on the lead roles of the story. The moral of the story was that even though the fish were all different, they were able to live together as equals.
            The Honor Choir has had their hands full this quarter as well. They performed at Mass for Cardinal DiNardo. To practice for this Mass, the students met once a week to practice individually and in small groups. The stronger singers in the choir were trained to help the smaller groups practice. The Honor Choir also practiced for the Lion King. Since the students no longer needed to use the script during practice, the choir was able to practice the entire play in one rehearsal. The students were brushing up on not blocking other actors, speaking with a clear voice, and acting in character. They have even finished learning their dances, so they began working on moving in unison.
            Both the elementary music classes and the Honor Choir have had very busy schedules during the third quarter.
  

Sixth grade art students work on animal sculptures.

Gallery of Art Projects
By Emily Colgan
Photo Editor
  
            During this past third quarter, many great things happened in art! The Artisan students worked on latch-hooking with the color wheel, 3-D scorpions, plexi-glass art, and Cuban-themed drawings, just to name a few. The Art 1 students worked on quick-draw sketching, water color pencil, crayon flowers, a drawing series, and the Rodeo Art Show. Meanwhile, the sixth grade Wheel students worked on puzzle art, mat weaving, basket weaving, pinch pots, creature sculptures, and copper metal molding. Fifth grader Michael Frain says that his favorite part of art is doing those fun extra projects in addition to his regular schedule.
            In class, the students participated by staying on task, being hands-on and active, and also problem solving. They also have new kinds of media in art. These new media were water color crayons and new Prismacolors. Seventh grader Felicia Hernandez’s favorite tool to draw with is a water color pencil. This year the art classes are going to participate in the Society of Performing Arts Art Contest, where they must draw a Cuban-themed piece.
            Overall, the art classes had a great third quarter!
 
New, Great Additions
By Madeline Bogard
Editor in Chief of Video Production
  
            This quarter our students experienced great religion with their first Saints Family activity of the quarter. All the students gathered outside and had a Mardi Gras picnic and were very happy to be outside with such great weather. During this meeting, many of the students learned about Lent and what it meant. For the Lenten season, many of the upper elementary classes and middle school classes experienced Stations of the Cross in our chapel. Also, the sixth graders plan to give a shadow presentation of the stations on Holy Thursday to the whole school. Recently there have been new additions to the altar serving team. Some new fourth and fifth graders were trained to serve during Mass at school, so they can do the job for years to come. Soon, Mrs. Richard will be appointing the job of head altar server to a seventh grader to be in charge during his or her eighth grade year. 
            There were a few special Masses this quarter, and there are many more to come. Earlier in January, Cardinal DiNardo came to our school to celebrate Mass. We also had an Ash Wednesday Mass, and everyone was able to receive the ashes on their forehead in the shape of a cross. In the future, our seventh grade seminarian who the students have been following since their third grade field trip to the seminary, Fr. Richard McNealy, will come to celebrate Mass with the school. There will also be many more wonderful Masses to come. In the future, at our 7:10 Masses, we will have Adoration immediately afterward, so  more volunteers are needed, since during the exposure of the Eucharist there always needs to be someone in the chapel with our Lord. We’re so glad and fortunate there are such great opportunities to live our faith at school. 

 
Saints Families gathered for a picnic on Mardi Gras to celebrate the beginning of Lent.
            
Third Times a Charm
By Jack Van Ryan
Features Editor  
 
             We’re already halfway through the year, but work and energy doesn’t slow down or stop in the SJPII library. The students during their library time learned how to use maps, globes, and atlases, and what purposes they serve. In addition, they used “quick reference” books like dictionaries, almanacs, and encyclopedias. On top of that, there is going to be an upcoming book fair! It will be held from March 31-April 7. With all of these exciting events going on, there has to be some help. The library has over 50 generous parent volunteers who do a variety of different jobs that benefit the library. They check books in and out, organize shelves, and processed the 500-600 new books they get each year. We are very grateful for what they do. Speaking of new books, there were an eclectic variety of new arrivals including books about science, oceans, planets, and mythology and legend and picture books. Also, there were new middle school novels. As if there aren’t enough books already, more books are on the way. Ms. Lamb has ordered two large shipments of books, which should be arriving soon!
            On another note, the AV team, which Ms. Lamb sponsors, is into the third quarter. New teams have served at Mass. Ms. Lamb says the students are quick learners and rise to meet the challenge under pressure. The students in AV team learn how to operate PowerPoint slideshows and the timing of them. Things have been going great, and we look forward to the fourth quarter.    
 
Deadlines to Headlines
By Larissa Lucas
Managing Editor

                As the third quarter began, the journalism students got straight to work producing Halo News and trying to reach the big yearbook deadlines. The students are working very hard to stay on track. Halo News takes a lot of time, so the journalists scrambled a bit to keep up. They will meet their deadlines! Halo News, so far, is doing great! The students got more comfortable and smoother on camera. All they need now is for the teachers to remember to tell them when important events are coming up, so the students can cover the events!
            On the other hand, the students made very sophisticated page designs for the yearbook so the pages took more time to be completed. Eighth grader Maggie Pierce agreed and said that the hardest part about journalism is meeting the deadlines. Luckily they always do! It’s no one’s favorite to proofread, but they had to do it to reach the deadlines. This quarter, the students enjoyed Halo News and the photo booth for the cover. It was a lot of fun and hard work to take pictures of the whole school! Eighth grader Caitlyn DeCorte enjoyed how she can be so creative and make all her own designs for the yearbook. Luckily, the seventh graders got a lot better with InDesign this quarter, but Photoshop still befuddles them. Seventh grader Emily Colgan said that it’s fun to write stories and create the yearbook. She also loves the environment in the journalism class. All the students are very responsible and come every day ready to work.
            As the last quarter approaches, the eighth grade journalism students are looking forward to their field trip to KHOU-TV and The Printing Museum. They are also very excited to finish yearbook pages and ads. Lastly, they are ready to tackle the eighth grade newspaper and present all their work to the school! We can’t wait to see what the journalists come up with next quarter!
 
The Circle of Wheel
By Andrea Colmenares
Senior Editor
  
            During the third quarter in Mrs. Muniz’s digital media Wheel sixth grade class, the students learned new techniques for taking pictures such as backlighting, sidelighting, perspective, framing, and high and low camera. With the pictures they took, they made a digital portfolio and learned how to edit pictures. The students also reviewed and learned new things in PowerPoint. Recently, the students created a PowerPoint animation that went along with the Star Wars Lenten theme of “May the Force Be with You.” The sixth graders had to choose a Star Wars character and make it out of shapes. The new and improved photographers started off the New Year right this quarter!
            In Mrs. Steiber’s wheel class, the sixth graders did many new projects. They made clay pinch pots, painted them, and also learned how to sculpt clay animals with a ball of clay. The clay animals were also painted in seven different colors using acrylic paint. Another project they made was the copper medal molding of an animal. This project was a little more difficult because they had to learn how to stretch the metal. There were also two projects in which the students had to weave: basket weaving and mini mat weaving. The basket weaving was one of the students’ favorite projects. The sixth graders in art have created great projects during this second half of the semester!
Students in the Wheel class learn about animation in computer class.

Cool Computers
By Sarah Schott
Sports Editor
 
            This quarter the elementary students learned more about PowerPoints. The first graders have been working on PowerPoints about emotions. The second graders have been working on PowerPoints about their favorite things. The third graders have been working on presentations all about themselves, while the fourth graders have created comic strips. The fifth graders have made a persuasive PowerPoint to get their parents to take them where they want to go on vacation. The Kindergartners have been working on logging onto the computers, using the mouse, and learning about all the different parts of the computer.
            In middle school, the students worked on creating websites. They also improved their typing and discussed different parts of the computer. In Wheel the students, studied animation, PowerPoints and programing code. In robotics, the students will continue working on programing loops and switches, competing in robot racing, and continue working on robots and programing them. The Robotics Club has also had a recent event for their robots with a talent show during class. The students chose a robot to design from the NXT website. They built their robot, made modifications, and created presentations in two and half weeks. Overall the students had a great third quarter!
 
Playing Their Hearts Out
By Olivia Babasick
Sports Editor 
  
            During the third quarter, the band students worked very hard. The sixth graders worked in their books and focused on learning the fundamentals, including notes, music theory, and rhythms. The brass players warmed up by playing long notes and lip slurs, and the flute players played any songs that they recently practiced. Also, the reed players soaked their reeds before class began, and percussion played anything they wanted. The most troubling thing for them was recognizing key signatures. Mr. Griffin said that the sixth grade band improved tremendously, and they are ahead of most of his previous sixth grade bands.
            The advanced band practiced Normandy Beach, As Twilight Falls, Accolade, Star Wars Saga, and Pirates of the Caribbean. These songs are very difficult; especially As Twilight Falls because it is so slow. Seventh grader Dylan Michaels said, “The music is challenging, and we practice it a lot. I have fun playing it.” There was an All-Region Band clinic and concert on March 7. Eighth grade All-Region Band student Andrea Ibanez-Flores said, “We read new music that is not too challenging, and we play with friends.” All Region band students are Andrea Ibanez-Flores, Alyssa Thomas, Katherine Kunkel, Beth Ventura, Grace Byers, Gabriela Cano, Fernando Gutierrez, Lillian Sudkamp, Erich Esqueda, Oscar Wells, Erick Lara, and Rory Hibbler. The advanced band warmed up by playing anything they worked on and a warm up routine created by Mr. Griffin. The advanced band is one of the best sight-reading bands that Mr. Griffin has ever had, and the band as a whole is better than most bands.
            For chair competitions, advanced band students could challenge someone in a higher rank than them. They played a piece of the music they worked on at that time. They might also play a few scales. Mr. Griffin chose the music that they played and then chooses the chair. Over all, both bands improved greatly.
 
Talented Students
By Isabel Suschitz
Features Editor
  
            This past quarter the middle school choir and theatre art students had a talent-filled quarter. The middle school choir worked on singing, sight-reading skills, and learning new songs for their competition in April. The students will be competing in the Band and Choral Competition and will sing three songs. The students will also perform several songs for Fun in the Sun Day. Posture, intonation, focusing on directions, breathing techniques, and balances are some of the skills on which the choir has been working. Balancing of the voices is the most challenging thing for the students as well as part singing in duets and trios. The Middle School Choir is even learning to sing songs in different languages.
              The theatre arts students practiced their debate speeches and end of the year play called, The Audition. They used different techniques such as assigning lines, practicing with a partner, and section memorizing to memorize their lines. Some skills they were working on were projection of words, slowing down their delivery, and how to move across the stage. The play, Our Lady of Lourdes, was performed on the feast day of the Lady of Lourdes, February 11. They prepared for the play by analyzing how they believed their character would have acted, such as Bernadette’s vision of Mary, and acted their part accordingly.        
              With the middle school choir preparing for competition and the theatre arts students working on their skills, the third quarter has been a great quarter for them!
  
Facing Tres Quarter 
By Jack Van Ryan
Features Editor
  
            The first and second quarters came and went, and the third quarter arrived in Spanish. The students learned many new things. For instance, the fourth and fifth grade students learned the Spanish words for types of clothing, classroom objects, school subjects, places around the world, and different things in a community. Also, they reviewed question and statement sentences, and how to form well-structured sentences in Spanish. Simultaneously, the middle schoolers focused on conjugating present indicative tense such as AR, ER, and IR verbs. They also learned the Spanish words for house chores and free-time activities. They learned different songs such as the Tengo Musica por Dentro and Bendita tu Luz. In addition, they worked on phonetic rules of Spanish pronunciation and formal and informal ways of addressing someone depending on who the person is. All of the students in each grade virtually visited the different Latin countries and learned about their culture and way of life. Fourth grade is visiting Mexico, fifth grade is visiting El Salvador, and seventh and eighth grade are visiting Guatemala. They located the different places on a map and learned about the diverse people, places, and environments of each country. On February 28, all of the students celebrated Mexican Flag day and learned about the history of the Mexican flag. 
                 In other news, the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders learned the El Ave Maria ( Hail Mary), Padre Nuestro ( Our Father), and the Angel de la Guarda ( Guardian Angel), and the seventh and eighth graders learned the San Miguel Arcangel ( St. Michael the Archangel) and the Nuestra Senora de Lourdes ( Our Lady of Lourdes).
                  Finally, the students learned about the Hispanic traditions during Lent in the celebration of Cuaresma. They learned that some foods are traditionally associated with Lent in Mexico. Also, they learned that in some regions of Mexico there are special celebrations during Lent on each Friday out of six Fridays, one each month. Lastly, they ended the Lent celebration by learning about Semana Santa (Holy Week). It’s been a really busy quarter as you can see. The students have learned many great things under the guidance of Mrs. Fasci, and we look forward to what Mrs. Fasci has in store for the students in the fourth quarter. 
 
Spanish Superstars
By Larissa Lucas
Managing Editor
 
             The elementary Spanish, students started this quarter off strong. They all went deeper into their knowledge of Spanish-speaking countries. All of the students, Pre-K through third, learned about animals. The Pre-Kers learned about opposite words, Spanish culture, and basic animals. The first graders learned about Costa Rica and animals, especially pets. The second graders learned about Ecuador, pets, and about an animal’s environment, movement, and food. Second grader Fabiana Montilva said that she liked learning about animals the most. The third graders went even further and learned about pets and zoos, farms, and forest animals. The first through third graders completed a reading and drawing project, where they would read a short story, find words they knew, and draw their favorite part of the book. When they finished that, they wrote about their drawing using Spanish vocabulary, and then they presented it to the class.
            Ms. Linares enjoyed teaching about animals a lot this quarter. She thought that the students enjoyed doing projects, singing songs, performing skits, and watch videos the best. Kindergartener Andres Mendoza said that his favorite thing to do in Spanish is draw, write, and watching videos. They struggled with comprehension the most. Third grader Ana Caldentey said the hardest things about Spanish were doing the workbook pages, speaking correctly, and spelling. Next quarter, the students can look forward to a continuation of all they’ve been learning. Ms. Linares said she doesn’t teach by quarter, but it’s more like an ongoing theme and what she teaches depends on whether the students are struggling or exceling. Mr. Linares hopes that by the end of the next quarter, her student will end the school year with more understanding of the language. We can’t wait to see what elementary Spanish students accomplish next quarter!
 
Above the Norm
By Alexa Halim
Technology Editor
  
            STRETCH had a great start to the New Year! Fourth graders Lizzy DeGeeter, Annabeth Dronet, and Miette Dronet received third place in the Mars Rover Competition at University of Houston. The Robokids and Awebots competed in the Gold Championship Tournament on February 20, at Stratford High School. The Robokids won first place for robot performance and second place for robot programming. The Awebots did their best and finished 15th out of 73 teams for the robot games. Great job to our Robokids and Awebots!
            The students in the exceptional learners program worked on many projects this past quarter. The Junior Master Gardeners worked on their certification and a cookbook with fruits and vegetables. They also went on a field trip to ANUME farm. Fifth grader Hannah Dvorachek said that her favorite part about Junior Master Gardeners is planting the seeds and vegetables and watching them grow in the Grow Lab. One of the seventh grade groups completed a project about the effect of drugs on the brain. One of the eighth grade groups is working on a detective project. Eighth grader Jadyn Mazzoccoli said, “My favorite part is presenting the project to kids, and making activities for the kids to do.” The students in this program enjoy working on their projects, as well as being creative on them.
            Students in the Neuhaus Basic Language skills program and Reading Readiness program improved this past quarter. They used the Basic Language Skills program; went over letters, sounds, syllable types; and worked on reading comprehension. They used iPads to play reading games. The students have improved in their needed areas and enjoy building their confidence to read well.
            All the students in the STRETCH program have had fun this quarter doing projects and working on their reading skills. They are ready to start the fourth quarter with a bang!
            






















All the Students enjoy the Coin Clash where they donated money for charity while competing with other classes to see who could raise the most money.   

Super Service
By Madeline Bogard
Editor in Chief of Video Production 
 
            This quarter, our NJHS students were very busy. The members started out the quarter with an induction ceremony for the new seventh and eighth graders that applied for a spot. The students welcomed more than 40 new members into NJHS. The officers introduced the ceremony and explained what it means to be an NJHS member. Each inductee lit their candle from the candle of knowledge, and later recited the NJHS pledge with the new members and old members. After the ceremony, the members took a group picture for the yearbook and gathered in St. Jude Hall for a reception with their parents. During the meetings at lunch in the weeks following the induction, the students set up a plan to begin their first service project of the year, the Linus Project. The members partnered up and made blankets for sick teens in the hospital. In the future, Mrs. Drewes plans on creating a project with the students for teacher appreciation in late March and early April.
            Student Council was also very productive. During the Talent Show during Catholic Schools Week, the officers and STUCO sponsor Mrs. Berrie introduced the acts. Other members also participated by being the backstage crew helping to set up for the acts or by handing out trivia question prizes. The STUCO store has also been doing well providing a convenience for the students by providing school supplies before school. For the Lenten season the members offered up the Coin Clash and will contribute all the money collected to charity. All the classes had a great time bombing each other’s jars and trying to earn the most money in their jar. To prepare for the event the members created a schedule for after-school money counting. The Coin Clash was very successful and earned more than $7,000 for charity. The winning class was Mrs. McBee for the second time in a row! In the upcoming meetings they will be discussing their Fun in the Sun Day cupcake contest.