Every student at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Elementary School participated in the Coniston Community Arts project launch event held on Friday, September 27, 2013. This initial event’s (theme: Hands-On in the Community) purpose was to introduce this new arts group to the students. The idea was that the students would leave their mark in town with the handprint on the outside of the outdoor rink. The St. Paul students enjoyed this activity very much. The Coniston Community Arts members took this opportunity to discuss the importance of taking care of our community spaces. The goal of the Coniston Community Arts is to cultivate social capital through skill building, education and relationships that, in turn, provide a platform for individuals to engage with each other, their community and larger social issues. Teacher Tammy Lavalle and all of the St. Paul staff are very pleased to work side by side with the C.C.A. The hope is that as the St. Paul students become involved and they will promote positive attitudes towards their peers and the community. The next project will take place in the next few months. In the Sudbury Memories Project, the students learn how to document and create a biography. Once this project is completed, it will be available in the local Coniston library. St. Paul the Apostle is proud of its partnership with the Coniston Community Arts!! Thank you to Stephanie Aprea (a St. Paul parent) for all of her support with this project!
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St. Paul Catholic Elementary School Leaves Its Mark on Coniston Rink
Every student at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Elementary School participated in the Coniston Community Arts project launch event held on Friday, September 27, 2013. This initial event’s (theme: Hands-On in the Community) purpose was to introduce this new arts group to the students. The idea was that the students would leave their mark in town with the handprint on the outside of the outdoor rink. The St. Paul students enjoyed this activity very much. The Coniston Community Arts members took this opportunity to discuss the importance of taking care of our community spaces. The goal of the Coniston Community Arts is to cultivate social capital through skill building, education and relationships that, in turn, provide a platform for individuals to engage with each other, their community and larger social issues. Teacher Tammy Lavalle and all of the St. Paul staff are very pleased to work side by side with the C.C.A. The hope is that as the St. Paul students become involved and they will promote positive attitudes towards their peers and the community. The next project will take place in the next few months. In the Sudbury Memories Project, the students learn how to document and create a biography. Once this project is completed, it will be available in the local Coniston library. St. Paul the Apostle is proud of its partnership with the Coniston Community Arts!! Thank you to Stephanie Aprea (a St. Paul parent) for all of her support with this project!
Sandra Herbst ‘Sits Beside’ SCDSB Leaders in Their Learning
On October 2, 3 and 4th 2013, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board hosted learning sessions with Sandra Herbst, co-author of several Assessment for Learning books, a noted system leader, speaker, coach, consultant, and educator with extensive experience in assessment, leadership, and adult learning.
With her warm demure and her real life anecdotes, Herbst shared practical strategies that can be used from the classroom to the boardroom that encourage self-assessment, self-regulation and improved achievement for ALL learners in the board. Over 75 members of the SCDSB community participated in the learning and had nothing but positive feedback to share.
Testimonials
“I really feel that this was one of the best presentations I have attended in my fourteen years with this board. I walked away energized, motivated and with many interesting ideas and strategies to ponder. Ms Herbst was a fantastic facilitator and her belief in educating the whole child connected so well with our catholic graduate expectations.”
“I have been reflecting more on my practice and the way in which I can influence and promote progress in my classroom and my school.”
“What I learned was I need to make myself more vulnerable… in the classroom… just like the teachers who opened their classrooms in the videos we watched.”
“It allowed me to clearly connect with concepts… such as… the difference between assessment and evaluation. It helped me spark new ideas for my teaching practice.”
The learning sessions supported our BIPSA priorities in Assessment for Learning and in technology. If you are interested in reading more on Sandra’s presentation, talk to your respective school leaders to obtain valuable handouts that were shared.
That’s a Wrap at S.C.C. – 112 Thousand Cans to Fill Sudbury Food Bank Shelves
Once again, the food drive at St. Charles College was a smashing success. Together with its feeder schools, 112 thousand cans were raised for the Sudbury Food Bank – smashing the goal of collecting 60 thousand cans in less than a week.
The food drive began more than twenty-five years ago, and its founder, former student Jim Szilva still takes part in the drive with his children at the school.
The school also teams up with Q92 and KISS 105.3 as well as the students at St. Raphael, St. David, St. Bernadette, St. Andrew, St. Paul, St. John and Pius XII Catholic Elementary Schools.
Students collect a combination of canned foods and cash – the cash portion totalled 15 thousand dollars this year.
St. Bernadette Takes on the Oreo Challenge
The Grade 5/6 class from St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School have been thoroughly engaged in hands-on learning with Oreos.
On Tuesday October 8th, they participated in the O.R.E.O. project, a scientific math-based inquiry project in which hundreds of schools across the country participated.
The excitement began as students hypothesized how many cookies they could stack. Students then tested their hypothesis as they stacked their Oreos. The highest stack of Oreos was 26. They continued their math learning by finding the mean, median and mode of the class.
The learning excitement will continue throughout the curriculum as they will graph their stacking, write stories and then finally get to make sculptures with the yummy cream filling.
Of course, teacher Chantal Therrien’s students admitted that the best part was snacking on the cookies when the project was complete!
St. Paul “Digs In” with a New Sandbox
Students and staff are quite pleased to announce that we have a beautiful, brand new sandbox at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Elementary School! College Boreal and Ontario works collaboratively with teachers Angela Cundari and Tammy Lavalle during the spring and summer to set up the groundwork and bring this project to fruitition! The sandbox was built during the summer. On Wednesday, October 1st, the students “cut” the celebratory ribbon and blessed the new sandbox. The school community wants to say a big thank you to the St. Paul School Council chair and College Boreal for being part of this great project, as well as the staff that were involved with this amazing addition to the school.
Stacking Cans from the Ground Up at St. Charles College
St. Charles College students and soon-to-be Cards are on a mission from October 7 to October 11 to collect 60 thousand cans of non-perishable food to feed the hungry in our city. The more than 950 students at the school, along with students at several of its feeder schools are helping tackle the huge feat.
With a professional development day scheduled for Friday, October 11, it’s an even more daunting and onerous task to average 15 000 cans per day for the next four school days with a wrap-up aimed for Thursday, October 10th.
Last year, the students shattered their goal for 60 thousand cans by delivering a whopping 121 thousand cans to the Sudbury Food Bank – making it the largest single donation in the history of the Sudbury Food Bank.
The founder of the food drive at SCC, Jim Szilva told the students that the food drive starts at the ground and works its way up with feeder schools like St. Raphael, St. David, St. Bernadette, St. Andrew, St. Paul, St. John and Pius XII working with students in grades nine through to twelve in the high school to accomplish the mission. Szilva started the drive when he attended St. Charles College more than twenty-five years ago.
The school and Szilva are teamed up with local radio station Q92 and KISS 105.3 to “Stuff the Bus”.
Q92 host Melanie Dahl asked the students to remember the times their belly ached because they felt hungry. “Most of you can ask your parents for food or head to the fridge. But consider for a moment you could not do that.”
General public is invited to assist with the stuffing of the bus by visiting the city transit bus each morning between 7 and 9 a.m. at St. Charles College with monetary or canned food donations. There are some added incentives this year – including the option to fill out a ballot to win a ticket to the Sudbury Kinsmen home.
The bus will also be on location at Vrabs Independent Monday afternoon, Dumas Independent Tuesday afternoon and at the Metro on Lasalle Wednesday afternoon.
“Wrecking Ball Face-Off” at St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School
In order to help meet their fundraising goal for the Terry Fox walk, the Teachers of St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School challenged students to a wrecking ball face off. On Friday, September 27, 2013, students paid a toonie to try to knock their teachers off of an inflatable wrecking ball to raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation. The teachers and students had a blast, and to date have raised over $3674.00!
“Think”ing Important at Bishop Alexander Carter
On September 30th, the Sudbury Regional Police and Liaison Officer Victor Leroux visited Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School to hand out “Think Bands”. These are rubberized bands that can be wrapped around cell phones, ipods and other devices. These bands are a symbol to remind students to think before they post things to social media. Constable Leroux handed out over 140 bands and spoke to students about the importance of thinking about what they will post before they press send. Key questions students need to ask themselves include is the information true? Will what they post be hurtful to others? It is illegal? Is it necessary and is it kind?