The red ribbon campaign is the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation reaching millions of young people during Red Ribbon Week, October 23-31 each year. Our OLQA students kicked off the week by wearing some creative, crazy socks to school. Other activities included crazy hats, wearing all red, receiving a visit from the Newport Beach police officers, and styling crazy hair. Say NO to drugs!
In the spirit of the season, our first graders endeavored on a field trip to Tanaka Farms. The children started the tour riding around the farms in a hay wagon. Then, they visited with the goats in the petting farm, found their way through a giant corn maze, and picked fresh vegetables from the field. After enjoying the lunches, they even got to select a pumpkin to take home so long as they could carry it themselves. Oh what fun! Thank you to our first grade teachers, their assistants, and all of the parents volunteers for making this trip a success!
New school year, new sports season! For Fall 2017, the OLQA sports teams are being led by our new Athletic Director, Coach B. Boys flag football and girls volleyball teams compete in the toughest divisions of the Parochial Athletic League. Thank you athletes and coaches for all your hard work to represent OLQA!
Hope to see more of our “fans” at the games to cheer on our athletes, both home and away!
This year’s auction will be held at the Newport Beach Tennis Club on Saturday, November 11 with a Cuban flare. This is our school’s primary fundraiser produced by parents, administration, faculty and volunteers, to raise money for our school programs.
Go to http://olqaschool.org/support/annual-auction/ for all the details and the underwriting opportunities!
Virgin Mary’s birthday is celebrated on September 8th each year. It’s a tradition here at OLQA School that children bring in flowers from their gardens to be made into beautiful bouquets to pay tribute on this occasion. This year, the PSA Catholic Program co-chairs, Trina Melancon-Saeedi and Mariel Burke, took the lead of the celebration.
Blessed Mother Mary is a source of strength and comfort for all of us. Our hope is that our students have a close relationship with Mary. She is always there for them!
What better father/son bonding time than a Saturday night game at the Angels Stadium? A group of OLQA fathers and their sons recently cheered on the Angels while enjoying the company of their friends. A highlight of the night was when the Angels player Albert Pujols reached his 600th homerun with a Grand Slam! Some of our boys even received “big league” sunflower seeds from the friendly Angels relief pitchers. What a fun night!
Thank you to our PSA President, Jen Awad, for organizing this and other fantastic family events throughout this school year!
May Crowning is the special devotion in the month of May honoring Virgin Mary as the “Queen of May.” At OLQA, it also is the time we celebrate the second grade first communicants. This year’s May Crowning was presided by Fr. Brandon. Students brought in beautiful flowers to adorn Virgin Mary. Thank you Mrs. Carlberg and Mrs. Swanson for all you do to prepare our second graders for their First Communion!
In fourth grade social studies, the students spend the year learning about the history of our great state of California. Each year, the school puts on an interactive presentation that delineates this progress. Students are dressed in costumes that symbolize different time periods and aspects of the California history, such as, native Indians, Spanish conquistadors, miners, missionaries, farmers and governors, to name a few.
The presentation engages the students by requiring them to define terms and answer questions to earn points for their teams. Students are rewarded extra bonus when they “strike gold” and shout out “Eureka!” Two hours of presentation flew by. All of our students demonstrated their knowledge in California history and had so much fun while doing so!
Our school held a great book exchange recently. Every child was asked to donate at least two books that they have outgrown, but we spotted many families bringing in bags and baskets of books! Books were then organized by their AR levels and displayed for students to choose from. One child’s “trash” is another’s treasure! Students were thrilled and had so much fun picking out their favorite books. All the remaining books were donated to a Catholic school in need in Nevada.
Thank you to Amy Chung and Kristi Johnson for your efforts in organizing this event, and the many hours you put in to sort through and arrange the books!
Our second graders have been learning about civics and government this year. To help them put all the classroom knowledge in real-life perspective, Mrs. Swanson invited Newport Beach’s Mayor Muldoon for a visit with all the second grade students.
The mayor shared with the children his personal stories, things in his life that inspired him to be a public servant. He also engaged in a very active discussion with the students by answering questions such as the highlights and the most challenging part of his job.
Thank you Mayor for being a great role model for our children, and the inspiration for them to grow up to be good citizens!
