The Grade 2/3 students at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Hanmer are anxiously waiting for spring to arrive. They constructed some bird nests out of thread and sugar water. When they came back to school the next day, their nests had sprouted new life. What a great way to start the Easter season!
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St. Charles Elementary School Volunteers Recognized as Champions for Children
On Wednesday, April 24, a special group of people from St. Charles Catholic Elementary were recognized for their dedication to the school. The 2014 Volunteer awards for the Champions for Children were handed out by Our Children Our Future at an awards celebration and the volunteers for the school’s snack program won the group award for this event.
Vice Principal, Laura Stirrett explained that several days a week, the group of volunteers come in to wash, prepare the snacks, serve them to the students and wash up afterwards. They know that having a nutritious start to the day will help the students succeed. While most students do come to school with some form of snack, their eyes light up when the volunteers arrive with trays of fruit, vegetables and crackers arranged with the loving touch of a mom. Thanks to their unwavering support students are moved from a potential disadvantage to an advantage. “At St. Charles School, we are very lucky to have a core group of volunteers who run our Healthy Snack Program! Running a program like this takes a real dedication to the well-being of our students” says David Soehner, Principal. “We are very fortunate to have this group of ladies volunteer at our school, which is why we nominated them for this award”.
One of the award recipients, Kristine Belanger explained,” It is all about the children, and making sure they are happy and fed. Not everyone is as fortunate to have enough to eat every day so it is wonderful to see how excited the kids get when they get to experience different foods and are happy because they have had something nutritious to eat!”
St. James Supports Daffodil Week
During the month of April, St. James Catholic Elementary School held a “Daffodil Week” to raise money for cancer research. Students and staff brought in over $700! Pictured are members of the student council (C3) with teacher and campaign organizer Tammy Lanci, as they present the cheque to Cathy Burns, a representative from the Canadian Cancer Society.
Bookie Monsters at St. John
After 7 months of preparation, The St. John’s “Bookie Monsters” are proud of their third place finish at The Battle of the Books Competition held on April 23rd at Tom Davies Community Centre in Lively. Furthermore, the team won the spirit award thanks to the quick thinking of Mrs. Roque, teacher and Bookie Monster parent, who created the team cheer on the spot! Coaches Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Walker are very proud of James Roque, Ashley Ross, Lauren Carlson, Avery Hoffman, Madison Michalowicz, and Aidan Gardner.
St. Raphael Students Soar at Kiwanis
St. Raphael Catholic Elementary Life Skills students competed at the Kiwanis Music Festival this year. Living Rhythm, the name of the group, won a gold medal for their performance of the percussion ensemble piece “Earth Happiness” written by their musical director Jeff Stewart. They were notified recently that the group was also recommended for a second award. On Monday, April 14,2014, at the final concert of the Kiwanis Festival, they were given the Muriel E. Holford Memorial Award, a $75 award in the memory of Muriel E. Holford.
Muriel was a piano teacher near Ottawa in her younger years and staunch supporter of music festivals throughout her life. In the 1960s she played a huge role in the coordination of the Onaping-Levack Music Festival. She was always a strong supporter of the Kiwanis Music Festival in Sudbury. Her children all participated in the festival and, when she passed away she left a large sum of money to be given as yearly awards to the Kiwanis Festival. Mrs. Holford’s daughter assured the group that her mother would be very pleased to know that Living Rhythm won this award.
Professional Learning to Support Aboriginal Education at Sudbury Catholic
In adherence to the Ontario First Nation, Metis and Inuit Education Policy Framework, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board continues to support strategies which are based on a holistic and integrated approach to improving Aboriginal student achievement and well being.
The school board believes that it is important that each of our Catholic schools have the opportunity to effectively analyze relevant Aboriginal student data and determine next steps to better support Aboriginal student success.
To facilitate this process, the school board provided the opportunity for all school teams to participate in professional learning opportunities on April 22 and 23. These professional learning communities included both a cultural and historic component as well as the opportunity to dialogue as individual school teams about confidential Aboriginal self identification, student achievement and well being. Each school team received school based, up to date Aboriginal student data and resources to support Aboriginal student engagement and improved academic outcomes.
Rossella Bagnato, the Sudbury Catholic School’s Aboriginal Lead and Superintendent for School Effectiveness stated, “We know that is very important that our staff continue this professional learning discussion within their school communities. These conversations will certainly assist and support Sudbury Catholic Schools staff to aspire to meet the needs of all of our students.”
The Next Great Invention
The Terrific 3/4’s and Fantastic 4/5’s at St. James Catholic Elementary School recently participated in an Invention Convention. They began by researching and writing a biography about a famous inventor. This inspired students to create their own invention that makes life a little easier. It culminated with a day to share and demonstrate their inventions with the rest of the school. Colin is showing off he’s Hot Dog Cooker. Who doesn’t need an easier way to cook a hot dog. Be on the look out for some of their amazing products at a store near you!
St. Paul Choir Recognized at Kiwanis Music Festival
The St. Paul Choir under the direction of Ms Kristine Shewchuk and Mme Ashley Nodwell participated at the Kiwanis Music Festival at the end of March. The choir, consisting of over 40 members from Grades 1 to 6, sang the song “I Am a Small Part of the World” by Sally K. Albrecht and Jay Althouse. After a lot of hard work and practice, the students were very excited to receive a Gold Award. At the Kiwanis Award Ceremony, the choir was also recognized with the “Elementary School Choir Award”. The adjudicator wrote “What an absolutely enjoyable and thoroughly engaging performance today!” The staff, students and parents are very proud of their dedication in keeping music alive in our school.
SCC Gets Movin’
Halle Berry, Salma Hayek, Nick Jonas of Jonas Brothers fame are just some celebrities living with diabetes.
On April 15, 2014, students at St. Charles College were educated by representatives of the Canadian Diabetes Association in preparation for the Sudbury Rocks!!! Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes on May 11th.
Afterwards, a $2500 cheque was presented to the Association on behalf of the students who are participating in the Mother’s Day run. In addition to training weekly, the students have also been collecting door-to-door pledges to support Diabetes research.
More than sixty Cardinal students and forty staff members will lace up their running shoes for the big race.
Teacher Chantal.Dagostino who is heading up the large pack of runners says “Many of our students are impacted by diabetes either individually or because a family member close to them suffers with the disease or has died from complications because of it. It just makes sense to educate this generation.”