Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Celebrating First Nation Culture at St. Andrew

The littlest members of the St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School Community are fortunate to have Aboriginal Support Worker Joel Agowissa visit their classroom every Wednesday afternoon to share some of his First Nation Culture with them. The students in grades JK/SK, SK/1 and grade 2 are all very engaged and are thoroughly enjoying the stories being shared.

Successful Open House for St. Anne Angels

St. Anne Angels celebrated another successful Open House on Wednesday, September 13, 2012. The halls of the Catholic elementary school in Hanmer were filled with smiling parents and students as they explored the classrooms and met the staff. Students, volunteers, and staff members worked as a team to organize what many are saying is the best Open House St. Anne hosted in years. Families were invited to a free barbeque, refreshments and desserts, along with students having the chance to have their face painted and get some physical fun on a bouncing inflatable pirate ship. “We had an extremely successful Open House this year. We have noticed an increase in enrolment, and we are happy that many of our new families had an opportunity to see how amazing St. Anne Catholic School truly is,” said Guy Mathieu, Principal.

St. Charles Catholic School JK/SK Students Wonder, “Where is God?”

Kindergarten students at St. Charles Catholic School began to explore the Essential Question, “Where is God?”. They found Him in the trees, the flowers, the sky and in each other. Students discovered that God lives in our hearts, our thoughts and our friendships.

Doors Now Open at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School

There were a lot smiles on students’ faces this past week at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School. The brand new school for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board has had a great first week opening its doors on September 4th, for over 410 south end students.

The JK to Grade 6 school is an outstanding new facility and incorporates a multitude of energy saving measures marking it as an extremely “green” school. As well, Holy Cross has implemented brand new technology features that will allow all the students to “be connected” on a variety of levels with computers, smartboards, ipads, amplification systems, etc. It is a dual track school with both regular English as well as French Immersion programming available starting off with four full day early learning classrooms (two regular English and two French Immersion).

Louise Franklin, Principal of Holy Cross was delighted with the first week and is excited to see both the students and staff settling into their classrooms. “It is wonderful how in only a few days, we have forged extremely positive relationships between staff, students and families in this new Catholic school community.” Franklin said. “We are so fortunate to be able to offer this outstanding facility, and exceptional educational opportunities to our south end families.”

Barry MacDonald, Chair of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board echoed Franklin’s comments. “Holy Cross is an amazing school with myriad of cutting edge attributes including its green features, as well as its technology infrastructure. We are very proud of the hard work done by the staff and the board to ensure a smooth opening, and are excited to experience this brand new environment during this upcoming school year. What makes it exceptionally unique is the campus approach in the south end – servicing the needs of families for pre-school (daycare), elementary (Holy Cross) and secondary (St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School) students all on the same property – making it a truly full-service campus.”

Back to School at Pius XII

Pius XII Full Day KIndergarten student, Ella Murray, was excited to return to school on Tuesday and had the opportunity to paint a giraffe. Classroom teacher Jon Tourville, states that “students in full day kindergarten will have different kinds of activities to help young learners explore, discover and grow. Students will be engaged as they participate in a play-based educational program”. Ella was happy to “come to school with friends and have fun”.

St. Charles Kindergarten Students Prepare for a Safe and Enjoyable Summer!

Kindergarten students at St. Charles Elementary School have been “attending” Camp Wanna-Learn-A-Lot (at school) recently where they have been pitching tents, roasting marshmallows, fishing, and paddling across imaginary lakes. The students are getting a head start to the summer with literacy and numeracy activities centred on camping and learning about the outdoors. Teacher Joseph Snofl says that “creating learning activities that are relevant to the students’ interests and experiences can help parents keep their children engaged in their learning during summer vacation. Such activities can, among other things, greatly help them in their overall growth as they continue to explore the world and enhance their imaginations.”

Wild at Heart Animal Refuge Inspires Students to Make a Difference

Students in Cheryl MacRury’s Early Learning class and Kathy Belanger’s Grade 7 class at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School have been inspired. For the past year, these two classes have worked together to support the Wild at Heart Animal Refuge. What started out at as a proposal from the two teachers, resulted in a successful grant application from the Canadian Federation of Teachers to support the students learning about, and helping animals in the wild.
The students decided to call themselves the ABC’S – All Because of Caring Students, and decided that this project was about making a difference in the world, despite being a small group of young students. The project involved contacting and visiting community businesses to begin a fundraiser for the animal refuge. Knowing that ever cent makes a difference, they began a penny drive to help out the animals. Throughout the year, the classes had contact with Wild at Heart Animal Refuge veterinarian Dr. Jouppi and learned about what the centre does to support, protect and care for wild animals.
On June 20th, 2012, the students got on a bus, and visited each of the community business that helped them collect for one last collection, and the last stop on the road trip was at the Wild at Heart Animal Refuge where they got to see the facility and meet with Dr. Jouppi. Dr. Jouppi explained to the students that the centre should be ready within a year to be an educational facility – set up to educate groups about the animals – with an average of about 700 animals visiting the site each year, usually with 150 at the centre at any given time. Dr. Jouppi thanked the students for their donations and support and encouraged them to continue in their efforts to support the care of wild animals. “Living in Northern Ontario, it is our duty to treat animals with respect and to learn to live in harmony along side the animals as they were here first.” Jouppi said. The veterinarian also encouraged the students to tell others about the centre as they are in constant need for volunteers, not only to support the animals, but to help with the construction of the renovations to expand the centre, as well as with fundraising and education.
Both teachers have thoroughly enjoyed working on this year-long project with their students as it has positively affected the classes in numerous ways. “Not only did our students learn about protecting our environment and all the creatures that God has given us,” MacRury stated. “They have learned numeracy from counting the money, they have learned to be stewards of the earth, they have learned communication skills, technology skills in creating multi-media projects, and they have learned empathy in being more aware of what is happening in the world around them.” Kathy Belanger echoed MacRury’s comments and added that they two different classes working together has been a great experience for all the students as well. “Have students in different grades partner up and work together has given them both a different perspective and allowed for a really enriching mentoring opportunity. The younger students really look up to the older students and have been encouraged to be role-models. All of our students rose to the occasion and the whole experience was outstanding. I think this project will impact them for the rest of their lives as it was more than just a fundraiser, it allowed them to have more of a global perspective as it reinforced the importance of thinking of others before themselves.”
At the end of the penny drive, the students had raised over $200 for the centre as well as donated a newly built crate for the animals, a basket of fruit and other food items for the animals.

Family Time in St. James JK class

Sara Allen, a Junior Kindergarten student in the French Immersion program at St. James, enjoys having mom and dad at school. Together the JK class and their family members participated in a sing-a-long and created crafts together. This event reflects the importance of the home-school relationships that are nurtured at St. James.

Springtime in Kindergarten at St. James

The Senior Kindergarten class at St. James Catholic School invited their family members to help assemble crafts that represent the wonderful season of spring. Photographed is Kindergarten student Hannah Swearengen with her grandmother designing butterflies in celebration of the season of rebirth, renewal and regrowth.

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