Sudbury Catholic District School Board

St. James Students Help Grinch’s Heart Grow

St. James students are helping to make the Grinch’s heart grow when they are “Caught Doing Something Good”. The following is a poem that was created by teacher Sabrina Rocca and her students. Not only are students having fun watching the Grinch’s heart grow bigger through acts of kindness, but also having fun with Literacy!

At St. James School Christmas Spirit is understood,
as Students are Caught Being Good!

At St. James Catholic School,
Students are all very cool.

To enhance Christmas Spirit,
We need the entire school to feel it.

We are helping the Grinch’s heart grow,
because it used to be as cold as snow.

When students are caught being good
The Christmas spirit is well understood

St. James Students Demonstrate the True Meaning of Christmas

The Fantastic Fours and Terrific 4/5’s at St. James Catholic Elementary School got into the Christmas spirit early by packing gift boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Families went out and purchased items such as: hygiene products, clothing, toys, and school supplies. When all was said and done, the two classes filled 47 boxes. Inside each box was a letter of hope to the child that will be receiving the gifts. The St. James staff is very thankful for the generosity and support of the students and their families. Together they showed the true meaning of Christmas – how it is better to give than to receive!

Celebrating the Feast of St. Andrew

November 30th was the feast day of St. Andrew. Father Sam from our community parish of St. Andrew the Apostle invited all the staff and children to a feast day celebration. Everyone celebrated the Eucharist together at 11am and then Father hosted a pizza and juice party in the church hall. The Catholic School Council provided delicious cupcakes for dessert.
Father spoke to the children about St. Andrew. His name is Greek meaning “strength” and Andrew spent most of his ministry in Greece spreading the lessons Jesus taught him. St. Andrew was the brother of St. Peter who was the frist pope in Rome. St. Andrew is remembered as the first leader of the Greek Church.
At the conclusion of the Eucharistic celebration the children, teachers and parents joined in singing “Happy Feast Day to You.”

St. Anne/Q92/TD Bank Toy Caravan a Huge Success!

On November 23, 2012, members of the St. Anne Catholic Elementary School community in Hanmer demonstrated their generosity when Terri and Mel broadcast their morning show live on location for the Q92/TD Toy Caravan. The school was bustling with Christmas spirit as students, staff, and parents brought in numerous toys and monetary donations.

This is the second year that St. Anne Catholic School brings the Q92/TD Toy Caravan to the folks in the Valley and Capreol. “It is fun! We are not only helping ourselves become better people, but we are also helping others who are less fortunate have a merry Christmas,” said Brayden Kraemer, a student at the school. Student also enjoyed listening to their very own teachers, Jen Bruneau and Dante Merigioli, participate in “Battle of the Sexes.” Mr. Merigioli secured the win for the boys. Students were excited about this victory, which meant no homework for two days.

Everyone gathered in the library to enjoy baked goods and orange juice generously donated by Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, as well as coffee and treats from Tim Hortons.

“This month, we are celebrating the Catholic virtue of Justice, and when we look at this through the lens of social justice, this Toy Drive is a prime example of what our students are able to do to help others in need,” said Guy Mathieu, principal.

When Life Throws You an Apple, Peel It!

During Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week students at St Bernadette school “got to know their apples” by touching them, throwing them and rolling them around. They were then asked to describe their apples. Students described their apples as bruised, dented, marked up, big and small. After a few minutes, the apples were collected, peeled and dropped into a basket. Children were then asked to find their apple within the pile. Remarkably, most children couldn’t find their apples. “They all looked the same!” students exclaimed. This activity allowed students to discover that, just like the apples, on the outside people, too, come in different sizes and shapes. But, underneath the outer layer, just like the apples, people are all the same. We have the same hopes and fears and dreams.

Students Remember War Veterans

Students from St. Francis Catholic Elementary School in grades 3 and 4 eagerly wrote postcards to war veterans for Remembrance Day. The postcards were provided by Veteran Affairs Canada. The class put their friendly letter writing skills to use in order to compose a thoughtful message. Students in teacher Graziella Visentin’s class annually write postcards to thank veterans for being brave and courageous in order to protect us. The grade 3 and 4 students acknowledged the veterans’ efforts and their gratitude for the freedom we so much enjoy today. This year the postcards were sent to war veterans residing in Ottawa, Ontario.

Christmas Food Drive at Marymount Academy

Every year Marymount Academy holds a Christmas food drive to help stock the shelves of the Sudbury Food Bank for the holiday season. Last year the school paired up with “kids helping kids” which was started by Edgar Burton and is the biggest food drive in the city. We raised and incredible amount of cans, over 13 thousand cans. They were told in September that they raised the most cans out of all the schools participating with “kids helping kids”. MMA was then rewarded with “the handing over of the official Vancouver Olympic torch” from last years winner, Lively District School. A group of students went to the mall on Nov 15th, and several tv and newspaper reporters were there including Mel from the radio who talked about how Edgar Burton ran with the torch in Sudbury during the Olympics. He then bought the torch for $500.00 and decided to donate it to the schools who raised the most cans. Marymount Academy now gets to keep the torch for one year
As well, on Monday Nov, 19th, our Marymount Catholic Charities council was asked to visit with the Mayor, her staff, Frank Elsner (the chair of the Sudbury Food Bank), several food bank volunteers, as well as Edgar Burton’s daughter and of course the media for the official signing of the Proclamation. Several MC3 members sat with the Mayor as she explained the process of the signing of an official Proclamation. The girls were thrilled to sit with the Mayor and to be congratulated for their efforts to help the less fortunate in our community. They told her how they just learned about the steps of a Proclamation in their Civics class at school. (they got to see it in action).
The girls were very impressed at being part of history, they were very proud of their efforts and vowed to continue helping our community.

“Bucket Filling” at Pius XII

Grade 6 student, Grace Tilbury reads the book “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” to Kindergarten students Gabriel Broughton and Ramsey Tolkacz. The message of the book is to be kind to people. In the story, you fill a bucket when you show love to someone, when you say or do somethink kind, or even when you give someone a smile. Every student at Pius XII had the story read to them. Pius is striving to become a school of ‘bucket fillers’ – loving and caring students who say or do nice things that make others feel special.

“Operation Christmas Child” in Full Swing at St. Andrew

Staff and students from St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School have taken on the Operation Christmas Child Project as a Social Justice project during the month of November. On the website of Operation Christmas Child it says:”Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desparate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the message of God’s unconditional love. Every gift-filled shoe box is given unconditionally regardless of religion, gender or race.” We are very proud of the generosity of the staff, the students and many of their families for all of their support for this project.

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