On May 6th, 2010, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s first ever Social Justice Fair involving students from all SCDSB Secondary schools took place at Marymount Academy. Students from grades 7 – 12 came together to learn more about local and global issues of social justice. They had the opportunity to listen to inspiring speakers, participated in engaging seminars, visited displays of community organizations working for justice, and celebrated what they are doing in their own schools. Some of the community organizations in attendance included Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury, Development and Peace, Access Aids, Community Foodshed, Free the Children, Sudbury Action Centre for Youth, and Chalice. Some of the seminars offered for the students included, Habitat for Humanity, Native Awareness, Global Solidarity, Social Inclusion (Sudbury Planning Council) Exposure trips, Environmental Awareness and Using Art for Justice. Jennifer Geddes, Chaplaincy Lead for the board was involved with a lot of the planning for the fair. “Today was about celebrating our achievements and exploring how our Catholic Secondary schools and community continue to champion social justice,” Geddes said. “The great thing about today is that they have been given even more tools to take back to their own schools to share with the other students and teachers. As well, the partnerships between the schools and the community organizations have been made even stronger and we will be continuing to act together for social justice.”
Month: May 2010
St. Raphael Students Celebrate Their Mothers
Mothers and grandmothers were invited to a celebration in their honour at St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School on May 5, 2010. As part of the school’s Catholic Education week events, the JK/SK and SK classes put on a special ceremony for all of the students’ mothers and grandmothers. The JK/SK teacher Rosemary Tripodi and SK teacher Lissa Sanchioni had the students work on songs, poems, video slideshows and other tributes to their guests. As well, the celebration included refreshments, two separate draws (one for mothers, one for grandmothers) and take home gifts made by the students. One of the mom’s in attendance, Brooke Belowos, was thrilled with the celebration. “This celebration was absolutely adorable!’ said Belowos. “What a wonderful opportunity to take part in my daughter’s class.” Rosemary Tripodi thanked all of the guests for attending their event. “It is because of you that we are here today.” said Tripodi. “ As May is the month dedicated to mothers, we felt that Catholic Education week was the perfect time to honour our mothers and grandmothers as they are the students first and most important teachers of all!” St. Raphael is one of the Catholic elementary schools that has been selected to be an Early Learning Program site and this event was also an opportunity for parents to get a first hand look at the hands on learning and commitment to students offered at St. Raphael.
Music Monday at St. Charles Catholic Elementary
On Monday, May 3rd, 2010 St. Charles Catholic Elementary School in Chelmsford gathered outside to participate in the nationwide event, Music Monday. More than 700,000 students from over 2,000 schools in every province and territory across Canada celebrated the sixth annual Music Monday – a nation-wide, simultaneous concert to celebrate the importance of music in our lives – and especially in our schools. This event underscores the importance of music education. Students and teachers from coast-to-coast took their music programs outdoors into their communities and performed the same song at the exact same time, uniting the entire country.
For the second year, the theme song for Music Monday was “Sing Sing,” written by multi Juno-award winning Canadian artist, Serena Ryder. St. Charles students and teachers also sang their school song, He’s Got the Whole World, and This Little Light of Mine.
Award-Winning Author Visits St. Charles Elementary
On Tuesday, May 4th, award-winning author Frank Glew spent the day with students at St-Charles School in Chelmsford. Mr. Glew, author of That Chickadee Feeling, presented his wonderful books and shared his messages about taking care of our earth, accepting diversity and loving each other. Students from JK to grade 4 proudly displayed their work inspired by Frank Glew’s books.
St. Benedict Band Goes on Tour
The St. Benedict Band’s went on tour recently and some of their excursions included performances at Southridge Mall, St. Christopher School, St. James School and Corpus Christi. Joanne Comisso, teacher at St. Benedict and Band Director felt that the students were ready to showcase their talents so was thrilled at the many opportunities they have had to perform. “The students have been working very hard so it is great that they have had several invitations in and around the community.” said Comisso.
Poems Are Everywhere!
Anthony Armstrong, a local Sudbury author and retired teacher, visited senior English classes at St. Benedict C.S.S. to give students a poetry workshop. He told them, “Poems are everywhere. I bump into them every day.”, and then demonstrated this fact by reading his poems titled Lily Creek and My Photograph Album. Armstrong captured the students’ attention with his thought provoking, and other times amusing, anecdotes to explain the inspiration behind his poems. For example, when he told U.S. border guards he wanted to visit the VietNam Memorial to write a poem, they asked, “Why? Can’t you write a poem in Canada”? By reading the poems from his book Shirtless Tattoo, Armstrong left the students in the room with new insights into life, the human condition, and inspired with the possibility of writing their own poetry.
Order in the Court for Grade 5 Students at Immaculate
The grade 5 students at Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School had an exciting opportunity on May 2, 2010 to take part in a “Law Day”. As part of the Grade 5 curriculum, students are required to learn about citizenship and government so Immaculate teacher Chantal Rancourt felt that having her students visit the courthouse would make the material much more meaningful and interesting. Two lawyers – Lucille Shaw and Trevor Kestle from Miller Maki visited the school to explain the judicial process. To give the students an even richer experience, the lawyers extended the program even further and booked the Sudbury courthouse for their mock trial and even arranged for retired judge Justice Michel to preside over their case. “The students have been very enthusiastic about the whole process and were quite excited to take part in the mock trial.” said Rancourt. “The students got really involved in the whole unit and were really looking forward to acting as different members necessary during the trial.” The students filled all of the roles required including lawyers for the defence, lawyers for the prosecution, court reporter, bailiff, court sketch artist, jury etc. Christopher Balaz, one of the students involved felt it was a great opportunity for their class. “This is just awesome!” said Balaz. “It is a great experience and makes me consider going into law.” Several parents were also on hand to watch the mock trial take place and said that their kids were really eager to experience the court room with real lawyers and judges on hand.
SCDSB Junior Boys’ Handball Tournament
St. Francis hosted the tournament on Saturday, May 2 and it was a great day of sportsmanship and competition. Eleven schools participated and the following are the results of the day:
First Place – St. Francis
Second Place – St. Christopher
Third Place – St. Raphael
Fourth Place – Pius XII
Next Saturday, May 8th is the Girls’ Handball tournament at St. Francis school starting at 8:00 a.m.
St. Michael Student Becomes Published Poet
Congratulations to Alicia Cunningham Dunlop in Junior Kindergarten at St. Michael School. Alicia won the provincial OECTA Young Authors Award. It is a great honour for Alicia and for St. Michael School!
The provincial winners will be published in a commemorative book that will be distributed to all Catholic schools and all main branches of the public libraries.
Alicia’s poem is titled “My Butterfly”.
My Butterfly
My butterfly was orange
it had two wings
it flew to my house
it sat on a flower
I watched it for one hour
then it flew away
I hope it comes back some day!