Loyola Weekly Roar

February 7: Hearing Screening for K, 2nd, 5th and SDC Students

February 8: Loyola Auction

February 17-21: Winter Break (NO SCHOOL)

February 28: STEM EXPO

Dear Loyola Families,

Today we practiced our Lockdown drill. The drill itself took about 5 minutes and all classes did a wonderful job. Doors were locked, blinds were up and classes were quiet as the office staff went down each corridor to check. Thank you for your support as we practice how to stay safe at school.

STEM EXPO!! Sign Up Now!

Intent to Participate forms are due by next Friday, Feb 7th!

Loyola STEM Expo invites students in grades TK-6 to participate! While engaging in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) projects, students will have an opportunity to design hands-on projects while exploring just how fun STEM can be! This event lends itself to a myriad of learning experiences: within the class or at home, working individually or collaboratively with peers or with adults, and amongst a wide range of STEM categories including: Rube Goldberg, Invention, Engineering (Reverse), Engineering (Robotics), Scientific Inquiry, and Wearable Designs. Ultimately, students will get a chance to showcase their STEM work in a fun and unique venue, with learning opportunities for the entire family. Loyola will be hosting the STEM Expo evening showcase on 2/28/25 from 5:30pm - 7:000pm.

Here is a presentation to help you see and understand more about what the STEM Expo is all about.

To participate in the STEM Expo, please follow these steps:

STEP 1: PROJECT IDEA

Has your child ever asked questions like, “I wonder why…?” or “What if…?” What a great way to start exploring topics for your child’s project! Explore the LASD STEM Expo website (tinyurl.com/StemExpoLASD) for some ideas!

STEP 2: STUDENT INTENT TO PARTICIPATE FORM

Complete the Student Intent to Participate, found here, deadline by Friday, February 7th.

STEP 3: SUBMIT AND PRESENT PROJECT AT THE EXPO

Students will be asked to set up the materials the morning before the event. On the day of the event, students will have an opportunity to have their work reviewed by the school and community. All entries submitted must be taken home after the evening showcase.

Stay dry this weekend!

Be Kind, Be Strong, Be Well and Make Kindness Normal,

Kelly Rafferty

To prevent the spread of illness, we ask that families review the Sick Child Policy to determine when to keep their child home from school.

https://www.lasdschools.org/District/5343-Sick-Child.html

Let us know if you have any questions.

Stay healthy!

Sincerely-

Monica Sidher, MSN, RN, BA

Lead District Nurse / Supervisor of Health Services

(650) 537-8119

https://www.lasdschools.org/District/Department/145-Health-Services

Hearing screening will be done at Loyola for all Kindergarten, 2nd, 5th grades on February 7th. If your child has a known hearing loss please notify the Health Services Staff (lasdnurses@lasdschools.org) before the day of the screening. The district nurses will mail a referral form and contact parents of students who do not pass hearing screening.

Ms. Hernandez's class celebrates Korean Lunar New Year

Hi Loyola Families, we are a group of fifth graders named Santiago, Nori, Elsa, and Henry. For our PBL (Project Based Learning) this year, we are focusing on helping sick children. We would like to spread awareness of how to help sick children who cannot go to school because they are in the hospital or too sick to participate in activities with other kids. If you are interested in helping our cause, please click the link below.

Make-A-Wish Foundation

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

We are so excited that the Loyola Auction is NEXT WEEK, February 8th, 2025. Grab your tickets now! You won't want to pay more at the door! And check out our online catalog full of items ready to be bid on starting February 5th! Including our Live Auction items that are only available at the Auction on Feb 8th!

Also, in case you missed it, please SAVE THE DATE for the following events… more details will be provided soon!

• Friday, March 7 for Loyola’s Ice Skating Night at the Winter Lodge

• Saturday, April 26 for 63rd Junior Olympics

• Saturday, May 10, 5PM for San Jose Giants family event

Christine Corbett & Marvin Peña

Your Loyola PTA Presidents

loyolaptapresidents@gmail.com

Today we are excited (and a little sad) to share our final READ Poster with you. Anyone who has ever been in Ms. McDonell's classroom knows that she is an avid Harry Potter fan. We hope these posters have brought a little bit of library magic into your week!

We welcomed 2025 with the Character Strong trait of “Perseverance: pushing yourself to work through challenges and obstacles”, as well as “Honesty: being truthful in what you say and do.” We practiced these skills throughout class with a plank challenge, decibel challenges and balancing challenges, like bird dog, warrior III and flying frog. The focus was on being in control of our bodies, and honest with ourselves regarding when we needed to push harder and when we needed to back off to maintain control.

The Focus Mindfulness Exercise was a Mindful Rainstorm!

1. Listen: Rub your palms together, and start to hear the rain.
2. Light Rain: Fingertips tap your head lightly as you hear the rain build.
3. Rain: Fingers pat up and down your arm.
4. Rainstorm: Palms clap up and down your legs as the sound increases.
5. Heavy Rain: Hands come to the ground, then reverse through the steps back to just hearing the rain, and end with a deep breath in and out.

This is a nice massage technique and may help with focus as it allows one to get out extra energy during the heavy rain, possibly leading to a calmer body, breath and mind as the rain subsides.

Our Focus Poses for January were Plank Pose and Warrior II, working on lengthening our spines and maintaining alignment while staying strong! We asked the students to continue working on their planks over winter break, and can’t wait to see how they have improved!

The 4th-6th graders began journaling time with the usual check in prompt:

1. How do I feel today? (Emotional wheel, i.e. confident)
2. How does my body feel? (Light, heavy, tired, full of energy)
3. Where are my thoughts? (Scattered, focused, blank, spiralling)
4. How is my breath? (Shallow, deep, slow, fast)

Next they journaled about a challenge they faced in the past year, how they handled it, and what they learned from it. Even if the outcome wasn’t what they had hoped for, it’s important to learn from challenges and remain curious and open to new things, this is also a part of perseverance.

Since February is a short month interrupted by winter break, we will not see the students again until March, but will continue through May this year! We are looking forward to building upon the skills students have already developed and incorporating the Character Strong trait of cooperation in March!

With Warmth,

The Bridge Mindfulness & Yoga Team

Ms. Nadiya & Ms. Becky

bridgemindfulnessyoga@gmail.com

Donations to LAEF are funding teachers and staff for computer science, PE, library, 4th-6th music, the Living Classroom program, the Art Docents program, junior high electives, and mental health counseling this school year.

• Each student may utilize a maximum of 15 ISP days per school year
• All requests for ISP must be received and approved by the school office at least ONE full school day prior to the first expected date of absence

• Be sure you and your student are ready to do 3 hours of work per day so you get credit for each day of the ISP.

• Work MUST be completed during the absence and returned to school on the due date
• Parent to initiate the ISP. Please use this link: https://app.informedk12.com/docs/128894?campaign_id=155096&ie_fix_copy_from_form_request_id=&recipient_id=29908189&subject_id=25034479&token=enerkAu1xZM7mBiwnqPnTx21