St. David Catholic School learned “it’s OK to learn in a different way” today when the Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury did school wide presentations to the staff and students. Angie DeMarco, community outreach worker for the Association, based her primary grade presentation on the Warner Bros. movie “Happy Feet”. “Students were provided with messages of understanding, tolerance and appreciation of their peers who learn a different way”, stated Learning Resource Teacher and presentation organizer, Cathy Dore. Dore also stated that throughout the presentations “were messages about bullying and respecting the unique and special characteristics each of us possesses”.

St. David School is celebrating the value of empathy this month and the presentations complimented the school’s daily messages of appreciation for each others special gifts and talents. The intermediate grades participated in an interactive workshop, presented by DeMarco, that not only provided awareness about learning disabilities, it also had students experience processing challenges that increase empathy and understanding. It is through the exposure to the many quirky experiences that students arrive at the conclusion that, “a different way of learning can lead to success”.

Students in Miss O’Reilly’s grade two class at St. Raphael School had a Poetry Café to celebrate their writing achievements this year.
 
Every student had an opportunity to stand up and be heard at the microphone.
 
Here is a sample of one student’s work on “How to Heal a Broken Heart”:
 
If you want to heal a broken heart,
First you need to give it some love to heal the first crack.
Next you need a hug to make the person happy.
That’s another way to heal a crack.
Then you can make a card to cheer them up.
It also heals a crack.
Of course, you need to be polite to the person or they will not like you.
That definitely heals a crack.
 
By:  Sabrina Folz

Grade 2 students at St. John Catholic School recently made their math thinking visible during a Three Part Math Lesson. The lesson structure actively engaged students in their learning and allowed for the development of mathematics in their classroom community.
To get started students activated their prior knowledge by arranging various coins from least to greatest. Groups of students were then challenged to solve the following problem: Mrs. Roque has five coins in her pocket. Mrs. Smith has six coins in her pocket. Mrs. Roque has more money than Mrs. Smith but neither has more than 100 cents. How much money could each teacher have? Students were encouraged to use a variety of strategies to justify their solutions and communicate their thinking so that others would understand their answers. St. John Principal, Tricia Dowdall-Cerilli recognizes the importance of hands-on learning and sees value in having the students work with a variety of learning tools. “In order for students to really make that connection, we know that it is so important to have many learning options available for our students – as not every student learns in the same way,” Dowdall-Cerilli stated. “By providing these options, we are supporting the success of our learners.”

St. Raphael students in Mrs. DeAngelis’ Life Skills class honoured the pets in their lives on Monday, May 2nd as part of their Catholic Education Week activities. The students have been studying animals all year and putting on a play for their parents was their culminating activity.

The students then worked with their parents and relatives to complete artwork to celebrate the animals in their world.

Thank you for the animals in our lives – like cats and dogs and goldfish – are wonderful pets whom we love. Some – like cows and sheep and chickens – provide us with food and clothing. Some work for us, some scare us, some love us, some entertain us and some amaze us, but they all enrich our lives. May we always love and protect them as Saint Francis of Assisi did. Amen