Rite of Spring: The Annual All Ladue Choral Festival

Singers from all schools in the district performed Tuesday night at Ladue Senior High.

You know spring is always around the corner when the annual all-Ladue Choral Festival is held. This year, the festival moved from the new Performing Arts Center to the Nielson Gymnasium. While the accoustics were not perfect, the more expansive area allowed for seating for everyone, and for all the performers to remain "on stage." Students singers and musicans peformed to the delight of parents, siblings, grandparents, friends and neighbors and the like. This is a sample of the perfomances from students at Reed, Spoede, Old Bonhomme and Conway elementary schools; Ladue Middle School and Ladue Horton Watkins Senior High. One again, the entire musical staff of the district led all of these talented performers.

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Connie Jander: We Want All Of Our Kids Healthy and Fit

Old Bonhomme P.E. Teacher has brought the OASIS healthy lifestyle program to her school.

Connie Jander was the 2007 Missouri Physical Education Teacher of the Year. She has taught physical education at Old Bonhomme School in Olivette for 16 years. She is constantly on the lookout for ways to do her job better and to show improvement for her elementary school students. Jander has teamed up with BJC Hospital and St.Louis OASIS to run an after-school program for better physical fitness and a healthy eating lifestyle for her children. Here’s what she told Patch.com about that program: Patch.com: You seem to work very well with the OASIS project director Shelby Schroeder. Jander: We seem to work well together. We worked on some training together. I heard that OASIS had a health and wellness component to it and oh, that sounds …

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Children Need to be Exposed to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity at an Early Age

Social worker Shelby Schroeder talks about her work with the Ladue School District. Part II

This is the second part of an interview with social worker Shelby Schroeder of OASIS, working with young children about a getting a jump start on a healthy life style. Their funder is Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation. Patch: How do you get young kids to focus in on healthy eating after they’ve been in the classroom all day long. Schroeder: There’s a saying with CATCH Healthy Nutrition “If its not fun, it won’t get done. It is not a class. We tell our volunteers to make everything relevant to the kids and use an evidence based curriculum but it is different for each group of kids we work with. The reason our program is K to 5th grade is statistics show that once they hit middle school, they really have a decline in their …

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Childhood Obesity is Reaching Epidemic Proportions Nationally: Part I

St. Louis OASIS is working with local school children to establish healthy lifestyle habits.

Combating childhood obesity is rapidly becoming one of the nation’s biggest problems. OASIS, and BJ Hospital are working on healthy eating and wellness programs with youth in the community. Once a week, this group works with the after-school program for children at Old Bonhomme School. Case worker Shelby Schroeder, MSW is the CATCH healthy coordinator for St. Louis. This is what she had to say about this intergenerational program catching on in St. Louis: Patch.com: We are definitely interested in learning more about the good work you are doing in the community. Shelby Schroeder: We have five St. Louis OASIS offices, one at the Center of Clayton, one at the Forest Park Visitors Center, a building downtown, I am based at Christian Hospital …

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All Ladue Students are Back in School

Old Bonhomme was a buzz with students marching through the doors for the first day back.

Summer is officially over for the Ladue School District. On the day when the district got the good news, getting a perfect 14 of 14 on district-wide MAP testing, students piled through the doors for the first day of school. Building Principal Cheryl Kirchgessner and her teaching team were out front, greeting the students, their parents and well wishers on the first day of school on Tuesday. Everyone was in a very good mood, especially the bright-eyed eager Kindergartners, getting their first experience in a more structured environment. Patch roamed around to get the best shots of the kids bustling back to reading, writing and arithemtic at Old Bonhomme Elementary School in Olivette. The same was everywhere throughout the district. To see …

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Seems Like Most School Years Begin/End With a Picnic

Old Bonhomme School Community gathers in force at Stacy Park This week.

It would hardly be a year for any elementary school without the traditional picnic. Old Bonhomme in Olivette is no exception. The school community gathered for a barbeque with all the fixings at Stacy Park last Thursday evening. Earlier, there was orientation for the Kindergarten parents. Then the rest of the school children came to meet their teachers, get their assignments and pack up some school supplies. Then it was a fun late afternoon and evening all over Stacy Park. The playgrounds were crammed, there were lines for the swing sets. Parents mixed and mingled and enjoyed a hot barbeque dinner prepared by the members of the Old Bonhomme Parent Teachers Association (OBPTO). Nancy Weinrich was the gracious host, as she has been for 15 …

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Old Bonhomme School Presented “You Can Build a Bridge” at Their Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

Old Bonhomme students shared poetry, performances, videos, readings and music at the Ladue High School auditorium.

Students from Old Bonhomme School presented their program, “You Can Build a Bridge,” at their sixth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at the Ladue High School auditorium. It was a night dedicated to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his civil rights contribution. Through dramatic performances, poetry, videos, readings, and music themed around the idea to build a bridge between all people, students celebrated Dr. King Jr. as well as those throughout history who built a bridge to gap racial inequality to end racism. Their performance showed how we can build a bridge even today. Several local mid-century activists who made significant contributions to the civil rights movement were also honored through a dramatic presentation…

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Rhonda Weiche

1:37 am on Sunday, January 22, 2012

It was a fun experience Tammy. I am amazed at the talent represented at your program. Thanks for taking to time to talk afterward.   more ›

Old Bonhomme Teacher In The Running For Publishers' Contest

Voting is done through Facebook and the deadline is December 18.

  Stacy Butz, fourth grade teacher at Old Bonhomme Elementary has written a children's literature book called "A Mother's Gift." This book has been entered into the Meegenious Publishers Contest. Patrons may vote on line but they must have a Facebook account to vote. The winner's school gets an entire library of E-books for one year. Here is the link to the contest. Butz was selected Old Bonhomme Teacher of the Year last year and is an enthusiastic and dedicated educator. Information was provided by the Communications Department of the Ladue School District.

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Heather Andrews, Kevin Andrews, Husband/Wife Teachers at Old Bonhomme School

Question and Answers with the fifth grade teacher.

This is part II of a series, going one on one with the husband and wife teaching duo of Kevin and Heather Andrews at Old Bonhomme Elementary School in the Ladue School District. Last week we talked to Kevin, this week we spent time with Heather Andrews, fifth grade teacher. How did you both meet? Heather: Kevin and I met when he was subbing for a teacher during summer school.  I was working for Ladue in their summer school program as a teaching assistant.   He already had a job at Old Bonhomme and I was hoping to be hired.  But, Kevin and I officially met in 2001 when we first started working at Old Bonhomme.  I had been an assistant during the spring of the previous school year and when a position opened I applied and got the job.  
 Who …

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Class of 2015: Meet Jack Fox, Freshman at Ladue Horton Watkins

Fox brings athletic and academic achievement to his next level of learning.

Jack Fox, 14, from Olivette is a freshman at Ladue Horton Watkins High School. He is eager to launch the next step in both his educational and athletic career. Fox, who turns 15 on Sept. 1 learned a lot of football at the Ladue Middle School program. In a program that turns 10 this year, Fox started a tradition that spread quickly. At the end of each practice, he’d unbuckle his chin strip, pull off his helmet and gloves and go down the line, shaking hands with each of the eight to 10 coaches at any particular practice. It was his way of thanking the coaches for volunteering their time. The tradition became an instant success. Soon, other athletes were following him in the greeting line. Fox, already 5-foot-8-inches tall, is an aspiring …

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James Baer

8:00 pm on Thursday, August 11, 2011

Thanks for reading this series about our five local freshmen; the Class of 2015. It was fun to produce and present.   more ›