NEWSLETTER
Volume 1, Issue 1
December 2016
From the Principal :
Our Lady of Sorrows, along with other Diocese of Superior Catholic Schools, is participating
in a four year strategic management and development program. Last year we updated our
foundational statements including our mission, vision and philosophy. This year our focus is
enrollment and communication strategies. One of the strategies is creating a quarterly
newsletter. We hope that you will enjoy our first newsletter and that it will help you to be
more informed about the school. Should you know of any alumni that may be interested in
receiving the newsletter please contact the school office at 715-532-3232.
OLS students are awesome and this has been a great year so far! Students and teachers
continue to be very busy. In addition to the daily academics and weekly mass, K-8 students
enjoyed a special mass celebrated with Bishop James Powers and three other Catholic schools. Our students have
been doing other great things too. Students have a chance to experience hands on learning by participating in field
trips and to learn greater responsibility as each class is involved in a community service project. Although we would
like to share all the great things we are doing, we will be highlighting only a few in this newsletter.
We are very blessed to have a Catholic School where we can talk about Jesus every day and learn to serve others
as Jesus did!
Blessings,
Tami Stewart
Principal
Our Lady of Sorrows School
Our Lady of Sorrows School
Mission Statement
Our Lady of Sorrows is a four-year-old kindergarten through eighth
grade school that has been serving the Ladysmith community, and surrounding areas, since 1912. In cooperation with parents, parish and
community members, Our Lady of Sorrows School will provide a high
quality educational setting in which children can grow academically, socially, physically, and spiritually. We strive to develop a better understanding of the Catholic faith within each student, as we prepare them
Our Lady Of Sorrows School
105 E Washington Ave
Ladysmith, WI 54848
Phone : 715-532-3232
Email : [email protected]
www.ruskcountycatholiccommunity.org
to be confident, responsible, contributing members of the parish and
community. We believe in nurturing and encouraging each student to
realize his or her full potential. Our Lady of Sorrows School is open to
families of all faiths where, as one family, we will answer the call to
know, to love and to serve God.
Vision Statement
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School will be a place where our children
learn to let their light shine to make the world a better place.
facebook.com/OLSLadysmith
¿hablas español?
This is the second year that students in Grades 6
through 8 are learning Spanish through an online program called Transparent Language. Every
Thursday morning students are provided with
class time to learn Spanish. The students are
able to work at their own pace and use the computers and the headsets with microphones as
they use this interactive program.
Our Lady of Sorrows School
is very excited about the
purchase and installation of
three new interactive flat
panel SmartBoards. They
were installed in the Kindergarten, second and fourth
grade classrooms. Part of
the money to purchase the
SmartBoards came from a
$10,000 grant and the rest
was raised at the annual Golf Scramble. The students and
teachers are very excited to be using this amazing new technology. Classrooms that do not have the mounted SmartBoards are able to share the two portable SmartBoards that
we have had for a few years.
Part of the education at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School
includes participating in various Service Projects. Each grade
chooses a service project that they will participate in throughout the school year and most grades do something monthly
for their project. “Learning to serve others as Jesus did is important to us. Students learn that it is our responsibility to be
generous and to help others. We also focus on giving to others
without expecting anything in return,” said Tami Stewart, Principal.
Students in Four Year Old Kindergarten make Birthday Boxes for
(Sixth graders with items collected for Embrace)
children and take them to the Hope Lutheran Food Pantry. They collect cake mixes, frosting, candles, decorations, small
gifts, just about anything that would make a child’s birthday special. The Kindergarten students make tray favors for
hospital patients and nursing home residents at Rusk County Memorial Hospital. They also go to the nursing home a
couple times a year to sing to the residents. The First Graders draw pictures and write to nursing home residents. The
Second Graders collect pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald
House. They deliver the pop tabs to the local McDonalds in
the spring. This year, the Third Graders will be donating to
the Rusk County Animal Shelter. The Fourth Graders are buddies to the Kindergarten students. They read to the Kindergarteners each week, walk with them to the library, help them
at mass and help them with making tray favors for the hospital/nursing home residents. They also visit the nursing home
residents to play bingo and do activities with the residents.
The Fifth Graders visit and do activities with the residents of
Ladysmith Care Community. The Sixth Graders donate different items each month to Embrace. Some of the items they
donate include: art supplies, paper products, envelopes, garbage bags, thank you notes, cleaning supplies, batteries, balls
(Fourth graders at the nursing home)
and sidewalk chalk.
The Seventh Graders will be doing activities with the children at Tender Learning Center and helping with various projects. The Eighth Graders help the Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center. The teachers and staff donate non-perishable
food items to the Hope Lutheran Food Pantry.
The 2016-17 school year has brought us four new teachers. They
are (L-R) Connie Schalinske, Sharon Sanderson, Rebecca Klindworth, and Teresa Jahr .
Connie Schalinske recently retired from the Ladysmith School District after 26-plus years teaching students with special needs. She
will be teaching part-time in the 4K program at OLS this school
year. She is looking forward to engaging these young children in
fun educational experiences through music, play, stories, art and
structure. In her free time she enjoys walking, gardening, kayaking and campfires.
Sharon Sanderson teaches middle school science and art and sixth grade world history at OLS School. She received a
Bachelor of Science degree in education from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a Masters of Science degree in
education and professional development from UW-River Falls. She also has years of experience as a substitute teacher in
all grade levels and subjects. She has worked as an adult educator at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in Rice
Lake. She also worked as a first grade teacher in the Bruce School District for one year. Her hobbies include flower gardening, reading and missions work for those in need in Rusk County and globally.
Rebecca Klindworth teaches third grade at OLS School. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where
she majored in elementary education and minoring in language arts. Previously, she worked as a substitute pre-school
teacher for ages 3-4 in the Bruce and Fond du Lac school districts. Her hobbies include scrapbooking, cooking, reading
and spending time with family.
Teresa Jahr teaches fifth grade at OLS School. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She also worked as a
substitute teacher for the Rice Lake Area School District for nine years. Her hobbies include reading and scrapbooking.
The OLS Gala is an annual school fundraiser that
began back in 2014. The Gala has a different theme
every year and those who attend are encouraged to
dress up in clothing pertaining to the theme. The
themes for previous years having been a Casino
Night and a Hawaiian Luau. This year’s Gala theme
was a Hoedown and it was held at the Deertail
Lodge. Those in attendance were decked out in their
Western attire and some even got out and line
danced. Every Gala features appetizers, dinner, and a
live dessert auction. There are also silent auction and
raffle items to add to the fun. This year’s Gala raised
a total of $7400.00 for the school.
Be sure to mark your calendars for the
2017 Gala which will be on Saturday,
September 30, 2017 at Deertail Lodge.
The theme of the Gala will be “Deer Camp.”
On October 5th, Our Lady Of Sorrows Students traveled to St Francis de Sales in
Spooner along with students from St Francis Solanus of Stone Lake and St. Joseph of
Rice Lake, to celebrate in the yearly Regional School Mass with Bishop James Powers. The Bishop’s homily was very interactive, giving the students a chance to ask
questions and get to know more about the
Bishop; how he was called to serve God
and his life as The Bishop.
The students
really enjoyed worshiping together, it was
a very special day.
Every year the 6th Grade class has a project where the students
randomly draw the name of a Catholic Saint and then their assignment is to write a report on that Saint and present it to the school
dressed as that Saint. This is a very fun project and a great way for
the students to be exposed to and learn more about those great
men and women of the faith. The Saints that were presented by
this year’s 6th grade class were:
St. Patrick
St. Francis of Assisi
St. John Neumann
St. Teresa of Calcutta
St. Katherine Drexel
St. Bridgett of Sweden
The 2016-2017 school year brings us the 45th annual Our Lady Of Sorrows Invitational Basketball Tournament. The annual tournament is always an exciting event and the money raised by the tournament is used
to help the school with general needs. The first tournament was held
back in 1973 with 8 boys teams on the schedule. All of the participating
schools that year were Catholic Schools except Ladysmith Junior High
and Hawkins. The tournament was originally held at the Ladysmith Junior
High and in 1991 it was moved to the Ladysmith High School. In 1982,
girls teams were added to the tournament. This year there are 7 boys
teams and 7 girls teams for the tournament. With many area schools
participating each year, the tournament is a full day of basketball, friendship, and fun. This year the tournament will be on February 4 and 5,
2017 at the Ladysmith High School. We invite fans from every school to
come out and cheer on your own “home team”.
Upcoming events at Our Lady Of Sorrows School
* OLS Christmas Program in the OLS Church - Sunday, December 18, 2016 at 1 p.m.
* Catholic Schools Week - January 29 through February 5, 2017
* OLS Basketball Tournament - February 4-5, 2017
* Enrollment Open House - Monday, March 6, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.
* Fine Arts Night - Thursday, March 23, 2017 at 6:30 p.m.
* Color Run - Saturday, May 6, 2017
* Education Fair - Monday, May 8, 2017 at 6 p.m.