St. Christopher School is proud to recognize the efforts of Alyssa Smania (Gr. 3) for her participation in the Lockerby Legion Remembrance Day Poster Contest.
Alyssa placed third in the District-wide competition, which included all students from Grade 1 to Grade 3 in the Northern Ontario District. Alyssa was presented with a cash honourarium, certificate and bronze medal by Mr. Art Moore, Youth Education Chair for Lockerby Legion Branch 564.
Congratulations on an excellent job, Alyssa!
This past Saturday, St. Benedict Football players Erick Lessard and Emilio Frometa took part in the McMaster Marauders “Up Front” Offensive Line Development Camp. Over 120 highschool football players spend the day learning from the past, and present CFL offensive linemen, along with current McMaster Marauder players.
Also in attendance as guest coaches, were Mike Derks (Head Coach for the Lasalle Lancers, Grey Cup winner 86′) and Frank Rocca (Head Coach for the St. Benedict Bears, Grey Cup winner 99′)
Seeds of Peace: April brings the beginning of spring, a time to start anew. In honour of Earth Day, held on April 22, we will plant Sunflowers. A flower, like peace, often starts small and grows into something beautiful. To survive, however, it requires care, so as we tend to our flowers, we encourage our students to tend to the culture of peace at our school.
In being a part of Peaceful Schools International, St. Michael’s is a school that strives to create and sustain a culture of peace. Students have participated in various activities such as writing their own message on “What is peace” next to the image of a dove, they created posters for ‘no name calling week’ and students continue to celebrate the monthly virtues in a school assembly.
In peaceful schools, children are encouraged to be open minded and accepting of others who may look different, have different customs or hold beliefs that do not correspond with their own.
Students in teacher Lyanne Marion’s Grade 5/6 French Immersion class at St. Francis Catholic Elementary School had the opportunity to learn a great recycling idea recently. Classmate Brooke Sagle demonstrated to the rest of her class the “green” wallet. Brooke taught her peers step by step how to create wallets using only empty juice cartons. Lyanne Marion said it was a great opportunity for her students to learn from one another as well as being a really creative recycling idea!
Students from the Sudbury Catholic District Board gathered at Tom Davies Square on April 9, 2010 to take part in the second annual Aboriginal Youth Education Day. During the day, the students had the opportunity to participate in workshops encompassing business, environment, health and education as well as listen to nationally renowned country singer Crystal Shawanda. Several community organizations including Laurentian University and the Greater Sudbury Police Services were on hand to answer questions and provide information to the students. Shelly Frappier, a teacher from St. Benedict felt that this event sent a strong message to the students that it is important for them to respect themselves and to be proud of their culture. “This gathering of community partners and supporters really showcases for the students the positive impact of the many contributions of First Nations People in the North.” said Frappier. “As well, it shows the students how important it is to set goals for themselves to achieve success in life.”
School Bus Transportation in the Espanola, Manitoulin and Sudbury Districts is running today, however, expect delays. Please check the Student Consortium website regularly for updates at www.businfo.ca
Several Sudbury Catholic School Resource and Autism Spectrum Disorder (A.S.D). teachers had the opportunity to listen to Jennifer Krumins on Thursday, April 8, 2010. Krumins who is an autism advocate and author, has been a teacher in Ontario for the last 20 years and her experiences have equipped her with an understanding of all kinds of learning differences and challenging learning difficulties, including teaching her own son both in the general classroom (for two years) and in private therapy at home. It was these experiences that both drained her emotionally and inspired her professionally. Krumins earned her Special Education Specialist and undertook extensive training from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and the Geneva Centre for Autism in Toronto, Ontario. She also had the privilege of working in a private therapy program for her son under the guidance and direction of the Behaviour Institute in Hamilton, Ontario. According to Krumins, it was her work with students with autism that truly educated her and allowed her to write several books that speak to the importance of understanding and support needed for students with autism. Krumins spoke to the staff about her strong belief in empowering individuals with autism to develop their potential and be who they were created to be. As well she wants to help give teachers the tools that they need to plan an individualized, authentic and meaningful classroom program for a student with autism based on sound science and experience. Christina Raso, the Special Education Consultant for the Board was thrilled to have Krumins come to speak to the staff. “It is a real privilege having Jennifer come to our Board and speak to our teachers.” said Raso. “We have her books in all of our schools and we are very fortunate to have this opportunity to learn from Jennifer’s experience and knowledge to better understand our students.”
One of the student organizations at Marymount Academy called the Marymount Catholic Charities Council or MC3, has decided that one of their student run initiatives this spring would focus on raising funds for Breast Cancer research. This group of students has organized different events that the school would focus on for the month of April that would support this cause. Charlotte Roy, President of MC3 said that the council came up with the idea together and felt that being a part of an all-girl school, it was definitely an issue that was important to them. Samantha Shewring, a Grade 12 student and member of the Council said that most of the girls at the school know at least one person who has been affected by breast cancer. “It is definitely something that the students at Marymount can relate to.” said Shewring. “We need to do all that we can to support breast cancer research because it could affect anyone of us in the future!” The students have arranged for several different fund-raising events including “t-shirt” Wednesdays, Sumo wrestling, and “Pink Smoothie” Days. All monies raised will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
In the spirit of the traditional April Fools prank, Mr. MacNeil’s grade 12 history class at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School thought they would play an April Fool’s joke on their teacher by placing all the desks outside before he arrived for class. The tables quickly turned, however, as Mr. MacNeil was quick to turn the joke around on his pupils when, without missing a beat and to their surprise, he began to conduct his lesson outdoors. As the day was beautiful but still a bit chilly, the prank only lasted a few minutes before the students eagerly returned the desks back inside.
