Students and staff celebrated the feast of Saint Andrew Patron Saint on Nov.30th, an important date in the annual liturgical calendar, because it determines the date of the First Sunday of Advent. Saint Andrew is the patron saint fisherman of Scotland and Russia. Andrew, the first Apostle called by Jesus, was a fisherman and he was the brother of Simon Peter. A school and parish connection was made as parents, staff and students celebrated the event at St Andrew parish with a mass, and pizza lunch at the church. As well, a special painting was sketched of St Andrew the Patron Saint and was blessed by Father Sam.
Month: December 2011
St. David Enjoys “The Adventures of Sparky the Traveling Fire Dog”
Mitch Theriault, Public Safety Officer with the Greater Sudbury Fire Services visited St. David Catholic School to launch the pilot of a new fire prevention program called “The Adventures of Sparky the Traveling Fire Dog”. The program is geared to grade 1 classes. The students have the opportunity to take a stuffed animal, a talking Sparky doll home for one week. During this week, the children are asked to complete a fire safety checklist with their parents and add a page to Sparky’s journal that outlines his adventures in the homes of different families.
“This is a fun new way to get our safety messages into the homes of young children and families” said Theriault ” The entire family follows a checklist that asks them to do things like test their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, practice a fire escape drill, and make sure candles are in a safe place among other tips.”
McKena Houston in Mrs. Cimino’s grade 1 class stated that when she brought Sparky home, her and her mother started their adventure by reviewing the fire safety tips in the booklet. McKena was quoted as saying “Sparky is awesome!”
A Love of Animals Really “Pays Off” For St. Anne Kindergarten Students
The English Early Learning Students at St. Anne School in Hanmer are on a mission. They plan on helping out as much of Sudbury’s animal population as much as they can. Earlier in the fall, the young students from within the Sudbury Catholic School Board nicknamed themselves “The ABC’S”. (All Because of Caring Students). They brainstormed and came up with a fundraising idea to purchase items that could help out the communities injured or needy animals. Through the help of local businesses like Hanson Family Dentistry and Paula’s Canine Country Club, as well as contributions from family and friends, the students put their logo on small donation cans that ask for one penny. The cans were placed at the businesses by the student’s teacher, Cheryl MacRury. The students chose a penny because it was the only piece of money that most of them recognized. Although a penny doesn’t seem like much, the donations collected have really been “paying off”! Within the first two weeks and with the help of Mrs. Belanger’s English Grade 7 class, the older and younger students were able to count and roll out over 1300 pennies. If the fullness of the donation cans is any indication, the second round of collecting promises to be double that of the first. The students have chosen to make their first donation to the Wild At Heart Animal Refuge. Using counting charts, the penny values of items, and real life pictures of objects from the refuge’s list, the young Catholic students will choose which donations they can afford to purchase and present them to the Center as Christmas gifts for its injured wildlife. Who says little people can’t make a difference? Christmas for the English Kindergarten children at St. Anne School allows them to tell everyone that the “spirit of giving” feels great!
Corpus Christi Celebrates Mass with the Bishop
Recently at Corpus Christi, students and staff were honoured that Bishop Simard and Father Larry Rymes came to say Mass. School trustee Estelle Scappatura was also on hand to celebrate with the Corpus Christi family.
Mayor for the Day at St. Mark
Grade 6 student Haley Cornthwaite chaired a mock Council meeting after being granted 8 hour Mayoral powers recently. Her classmates acted as members of the council, eagerly listening to facts surrounding the proposed road closures for the Santa Claus parade. To give them a helping hand, the students heard from Constable Petroski and home inspector. In addition to learning the municipal ropes, the students also had an opportunity to learn of the important work of city home inspector as well as a chance to pose questions to Constable concerning his job as as OPP officer. To cap off the morning, the students of St. Mark school closely inspected an emergency response vehicl as well as the pump truck at the Fire Station.
Victory for the St. Charles Boys’ Hockey Team
The boy’s Senior Hockey team won the Nippissing District Association tournament in North Bay on the weekend of December 2-4th.
The boys had a round robin record of 2-0-1 which gave them a birth in the quarter finals versus the Scollard Hall Bears. The boys won the game 6-4 which lead to a semi-final game versus the Franco Cite Patriotes. S.C.C. won the game 4-1 which gave the team a feeling of retribution over a finals loss to the Patriotes in the recent Lively tournament. The win gave the team a birth in the finals versus St. Mary’s Eagles from Kitchener. This was the team that the Cards had tied in round robin play.
The Cards were tied 1-1 after one period and 2-2 after two periods. Zach Belanger scored with just over 5 minutes to play to win the game and bring home the championship!
Belanger lead the team with 13 points in the tournament, earning MVP honours. Trevor Bedard also had twelve points to help seal the victory.
Our Lady of Peace and St. Mary Catholic School Partner to Help Out the Less Fortunate
When Mrs. Paul, Catholic Women’s League president called St. Mary School to elicit the school’s support for the Operation Christmas Child Project, St. Mary’s Catholic School Principal and staff said they would be happy to provide support to such a worthwhile project.
“It’s important that young people in our schools feel they are part of the parish community, and the global community at large. There is no better way to reduce poverty than by participating in goodwill projects,” said principal Sherry Bortolotti.
The school has thanked their school secretary Claire Olivier who passionately embraced this idea and ensured there were enough boxes for every student to give one shoe box stacked with toys, soap, socks, books etc. to a child in need. “I fill good knowing that we’ve made Christmas better for a handful of children, that is the true meaning of Christmas,” said Olivier.
Local Co-ordinator for Operation Christmas Child, Karyn Stenbraaten stated, “The key to being a happy person is giving to others.” St. Mary’s children are happily waiting to take on their next goodwill project
Cougars Unite!
Kathryn Turpin (Immaculate Conception Cougar) and Alexis Pike (St. Christopher Cougar) embrace during their Penpal Party. The Grade 4 students from these two schools, have been writing back and forth to each other, and had the opportunity to meet at Immaculate Conception on December 7th. They took part in a ice breaker activity, scavenger hunt, pizza lunch and various math games on the Smartboard. They look forward to their next meeting at St. Christopher’s in March, and then a field trip together at the end of the school year.
Welcome to the North Pole
The Student Council at St. Charles College hosted a North Pole day December 8th. The students were invited to get into the holiday spirit with a North Pole inspired dress down day. The student body was a sea of red, green and white.