Students celebrated Grandparents and Special Person’s Day at Queen of Apostles School on Nov. 1, 2019. Students were able to invite a grandparent or other ‘special’ person from their lives and host them at the school. While a lot of students invited their grandparents, the school campus saw several aunts, uncles, and older siblings walking around. Some even had their own parents over to celebrate the special day and showcase their efforts in class.

Every year, Queen of Apostles holds this annual event to help get the children celebrate and show gratitude to those closest to them. The day started with Holy Mass with Bishop Oscar Cantu who was kind enough to concelebrate Mass with Father Jeff Fernandez and Father Richie. The Kindergarten class dressed up as saints to bring attention to All Saints Day. The students could sit with their ‘special person’ during the Mass. This was followed by a delicious spread of snacks and coffee for all the guests. Students took their special person to their respective classrooms to participate in individual activities and games that allowed them to get to know them better. One of the activities in the first grade involved doing a personal interview where the students asked clever questions that revealed unknown, ‘special’ facts about their special guest. Some of the answers brought out a lot of giggles and wonderment among the first grade students.

One of the parents volunteered to capture these moments and photograph the students with their guest. A lot of happy faces and expressions were captured that day! The day ended with a trip to the Scholastic Book Fair being held and well timed with this event. The students got to buy books of their choice either for themselves or their classroom or even contribute some to the school library. This marked the end to yet another beautiful and blessed day of bonding, camaraderie and fond memories for the students of Queen of Apostles School!

Each of the classes at Queen of Apostles School takes care of the main courtyard and for one month during the school year focuses attention around the Mary statue for their class. This year, as part of a social studies lesson about the state of California, the third graders planted California Poppies in small blue green plastic pots. Poppies are the official California state flower. The students have been monitoring the progress of the plants to learn about their life cycles as part of a science lesson. They recently exuberantly proclaimed “they’re sprouting!” Once the plants have grown a bit more, they will be placed near the base of the statue of Mary in the main courtyard in November.

As one of our previous pastors, Fr. Jim Mifsud, often told the students: “This is your family, this is your home.”

Queen of Apostles has a long standing tradition of fostering a strong sense of family and community that is embodied in this 2019-2020 school year’s theme “Stepping forward as One”. Throughout the school year, a parent committee coordinator schedules monthly Community Dinners at local restaurants. Also, the Development Department and school hold a Community Dinner on campus once in the fall. These Community Dinners are festive events for the school’s families to join together to share a meal, share time together, and build stronger relationships. This year we are fortunate to have two of our alumni students Amanda Lahey and Victoria Staudenraus returning as teachers. Amanda, our K-3rd science teacher, brought in pictures of her family including her brother, parents, and grandparents so her students could analyze traits in her family such as similar hair color and eye color and face shape. Our principal, Mrs. Trela visited her maternal grandparents, who were celebrating their 70th anniversary. When she returned she brought her parents to visit the school and students that she now leads. Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez each read a book to the kindergartners and then toured the school. Mrs. Trela said her parents engendered a love of reading in her and they spent time here doing the same with some of our youngest students. We look forward to having Grandparents and Special Persons on campus to visit at the start of November.

Near the end of the school year, each of the 8th graders reflects on the Schoolwide Learning Expectations (SLEs) that have guided them throughout their school years at Queen of Apostles School and their lives. There is some laughter and some tears as they share their memories. Students often appear in each other’s pictures and reflections of their activities, even as far back as kindergarten, both at school and outside of school. They’ve matured and can express their changing views of the expectations. Often there is a basic view of being a Caring Christian and knowing they should take care of each other when they can as they start school. But this grows into a deeper understanding that they should seek opportunities to be caring and helpful. As Active Learners throughout their time at school and in their daily lives they develop the ability to learn all kinds of information and the ability to seek out learning experiences. They learn that being Self-Confident and Responsible Individuals is more than just the ability to do small things on their own, but also for example to be able to pack and take care of themselves when they are away on extended overnight field trips and be mature while doing so. And finally, the expectation of being a Healthy Individual grows from eating right to encompass exercise and having a strong mind and spirit (being strong mentally and physically). They know they are doing all these things for others and for themselves and that it is forming them into the people they are now and are going to be in the future.

Often these reflections are about starting and continuing in school to the 8th grade and looking ahead a bit to high school, but many have ingrained these values and formed lifelong virtues that shape their outlook on life. Parents who are fortunate enough to get to see the presentation are often moved to tears along with the teachers who are there to see and support the presenters. Each student’s personal growth and readiness to move on to the next part of their education is shining.

The fifth grade class at Queen of Apostles School brought history to life during their recent Living Museum class activity. Students each read a biography or autobiography about a person of their choice. After reading the books and learning about the life of the individual, they created posters and “became” the person. Parents and the fourth grade class were invited to the living museum where they asked the fifth graders questions. The fifth graders then answered as the individual would have.

Queen of Apostles School third grade teacher, Mrs. Christine Usis, volunteered a week in January to support schools and children in Cambodia. Christine described her mission and goals: “ I am traveling with the non-profit organization, Jordan International, to aid in humanitarian relief. I have been presented with a life-changing opportunity, to establish temporary schools in the floating village of Siem Reap. It is my goal to serve this community by teaching children how to do basic math, learn letters, and arts and crafts. More than education, I want to give my time to these children to give them hope for the future. I have realized that if you can change a classroom, you can change a community, and if you change a community, and if you can change enough communities, you can change the world.”

When she arrived, she was able to accomplish her goals of serving and teaching. She led the hygiene education station, where she taught approximately 60-80 children/day. The main goal of teaching this topic was to educate children on the importance of washing hands in order to prevent common illness and disease. She taught the basic procedures, while making personal connections with each child.

One of Queen of Apostles School’s Schoolwide Learning Expectations is being an Active Learner who demonstrates pride and responsibility for learning and communicates information through reading, writing and speaking. The third-grade class exemplified being true representatives of Queen of Apostles’ Active Learners when they all boarded a bus to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. A busy day was planned ahead for them. They arrived at the Academy of Sciences early at 9:30 a.m. and checked in. There they saw some very interesting animals and got to explore the tide pools by touching starfish, shark eggs, and kelp.

Through the aquarium, they learned about the connection between water and life. They saw jellyfish, python, pipefish, snapping turtles, fresh water fish and seahorses. The most interesting meeting was with Claude, the albino alligator. The students learned that while Claude appeared to be all white, it was actually a complete lack of pigmentation that made him look that way.

Next, the third graders attended a Planetarium show called “Expedition Reef” where they were introduced to the endangered marine ecosystems. They watched how corals grow, feed, reproduce, and support over 25% of all marine life on Earth.

After the show, thanks to beautiful weather that day, they had lunch by the fountains and enjoyed exchanging notes on all that they saw. The final destination was an incredible earthquake simulator and a visit to a dome with a neo-tropical rainforest around them. They met sun beetles, leafcutter ants and an Amazonian tree boa!

Thrilled and satisfied, the students thanked their chaperones and headed back to school excited to write about what they saw, reflect about everything they learned, and ask all the questions they still had.

This year, Queen of Apostles School opted for a school theme that revolves around positivity and aptly called it “Think Positive, Be Positive!” It was unveiled in the form of bright, yellow cheerful bees displayed on a prominent school board. These bees acknowledge students and staff members who show a positive spirit. Each student or teacher reflecting a positive attitude in the form of sportsmanship, generosity, or being respectful to their peers earns a bee in their name on the school board. They will also be doing various activities throughout the year to promote the theme.

With an intent to be inspirational and have each story encourage others within the school to be more considerate, thankful and supportive of each other at every turn, the school theme hopes to inculcate positive and healthy relationship skills among the students while at the same time forming responsible and enduring societal values. As Mrs. Weinstein, the first grade homeroom teacher puts it, “the kids are motivated to exceed their own expectations of what a good deed may be. They aspire to reach out to more people around them each time they think they can extend a hand or just say a kind word. The students are making an effort to go above and beyond their own classmates and spread positivity among the whole school.”

Besides the annual school theme, Queen of Apostles also has the school-wide learning expectations that form the corner stone of its mission. These include being caring Christians, active learners, healthy individuals and self confident and responsible individuals. Coupled with the school theme of thinking and being positive always, the thought they would like to leave the students with is to ultimately develop an appreciation for their blessings in the form of school, community and family, and take responsibility for their actions and never give up on their Catholic values.