“Food Driving”
This week, Grade 6 students spearheaded the St. Vincent de Paul Thanksgiving Food Drive in conjunction with St. Bridget Parish. They consolidated collection boxes and bags throughout the school – 63 boxes of nonperishable items in total!
Here is another advisory group entry: Food Stadium
A new twist this year: Middle School Advisory groups participated in a structure building competition. The competition entailed creating free-standing structures out of the donated food collected by each Middle School advisory group. Winners will be selected in two categories: the tallest structure and the most creative structure.
The winner of each category wins a free dress day!!
Ms. Reznicek/Ms.Sprute’s Advisory won “Most Creative” (below)
Empire State Building
Ms. Pothier’s Advisory won “Tallest Structure” but sadly no photo of their creation was captured.
Please Pass the Peanut Butter
Grade 6 students made sandwiches to be delivered to St. Francis House. This is an ongoing community service project. Students prepare sandwiches for delivery once a month.
Using 24 loaves of bread students assembled a grand total of 250 sandwiches! Thank you Geri Henling for transporting the sandwiches this month!
Giving to Others…Easy as Pie
A 5th grade tradition continues! Students in Mrs. Jones and Mr. Richey’s classes made pumpkin pies for the 26th annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the Matt Talbot Center – a recovery center for the homeless, addicted and mentally ill located in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood.
Students paired up to begin assembling pies. Each team rolled out their pie crust, occasionally dusting the dough with flour and constructively debating the appropriate thickness. Mrs. Jones demonstrated how to use a rolling pin to drape the dough over the pie pan and fit it snuggly to the pan’s interior. The class completed this step and then moved on to the pie filling.
The fundamental mission of the Matt Talbot Center is to provide individuals and families the opportunity to overcome obstacles that hinder self-sufficiency. The center offers hope, services and support to those in need. Members are provided with the tools and opportunities to restore productivity and self-sufficiency to their lives and to reestablish relationships with their families.
Members of Holy Rosary Parish, Edmonds, have sponsored this event for many years, and the Villa Academy 5th graders are excited to provide “the trimmings” for this special dinner.
First Grade Class Visits with Grandfriends at Northaven
The First Grade classes visit Northaven Retirement and Assisted living in Seattle as their community outreach project. Each class visits Northaven four times during the year, alternating visits each month. The children read stories with their grandfriends, share a snack, and maybe sing a song. Everyone enjoys this special time. Mrs. Portwood’s class made their first visit this week.
Henry O. shares a story.
Fall Book Fair Thank You
Parents, Staff, Faculty and Students,
The Fall Book Fair, which we conducted in coordination with the University Book Store, was a huge success! Your purchases earned approximately $2000 for the purchase of books for the Villa Library. We hope you enjoy the books you purchased as much as our students will enjoy the new books we purchase for the library with the book fair proceeds. We are also especially thankful for the many books that were purchased for the library from our wish list. Our children will enjoy a variety of new books for years to come, due to your generosity.
Many thanks are offered to our wonderful volunteers! These parents helped the students with book selection, estimating the cost of purchases, counting money and making change. A special “thank you” goes to the following volunteers: Wendy Gibbons, Amy Fouke, Suzanne Moreau, Nina Stuyt, Ann Selberg, Staci Foster, Kelli Smith-Bailey, Jennifer Porter, and Michael Guadagno.
Special events like the Book Fair could not happen without Villa’s Facilities Department personnel. We truly appreciate the “behind-the-scenes” efforts, including putting up banners, setting up tables, and helping to load and unload books.
The staff and management at University Book Store were extremely supportive and knowledgeable and the book selection was perfect for Villa’s clientele. It is always a pleasure partnering with an independent bookstore for this event. When you are in the U District, stop by their store on the Avenue, and enjoy the incredible selection and customer service.
Again, many thanks to all the Villa families, friends, staff and faculty who contributed to the success of the Fall Book Fair!
Karen Strand
Marta Franzen
Villa Students Participate in Mock Election
A controlled but eager crowd at the Villa Theater Precinct
On Tuesday, November 6th, students in Grades 3-8 had an opportunity to “vote” for the next President of the United States and the Governor of Washington State. In addition to voting for their favorite candidates, students voted on a referendum to extend the school year in Washington State to 200 school days.
The process began two weeks prior when students were encouraged to register to vote. During lunch recess, fifth grade students were on hand to help with the registration process. A week later, all registered voters were added to a “voter signature” sheet and received a voter registration card, which identified their voting precinct.
On the day of the election, the precincts were set up in the theater and 5th grade students were stationed at the sign-in tables. After signing in, students received their ballot, voted and placed their ballots in ballot boxes for safe-keeping. Later in the day, all of the 5th grade students gathered to tabulate the vote.
After all the votes had been counted, the Villa students had elected President Barack Obama (59.6% of the total vote). Rob McKenna was elected the next governor (53% of the vote). Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift were write-in candidates on some ballots.
The referendum to extend the school year to 200 days was overwhelmingly defeated with an 85% “NO” vote! No surprises there!! After the counting was completed, results were announced the to the entire school.
Looking back at the process, we were able to generate some additional statistics. There were 219 students eligible to register to vote. Of those, a total of 98 (44.7 %) registered. Of all students registered to vote, 90 (92%) students voted in the election. Overall, 41% of the total eligible population exercised their right to vote!
God Bless America!
Trick-orTreat for UNICEF Update
As their service project for the first trimester, the second grade students conducted Trick or Treat for UNICEF. Students made posters to advertise their project and visited lower school classrooms to explain their project and pass out Trick or Treat collection boxes.
The second grade collected a grand total of $1,120.57! Way to go Villa! Over 60 pounds of coins were collected, and the students spent one math class attempting to count them.
Barbara Purn and Robert Downey
