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.
Category: Programs
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.
Elders in the Classroom at St. Paul Catholic Elementary School
First Nation Elder, Vince Pawis visited all grade 5 and 6 students at St. Paul Catholic Elementary School on October 30th. The “Elders in the School Project” promotes awareness, understanding and appreciation of the rich histories, cultures and perspectives of First Nation, Metis and Inuit people. The students experienced a smudge and learned about the Medicine Wheel and heard some of the Seven Grandfather Teachings.
“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.
Provincial Take a Kid to Work Day
Grade nine students in the province of Ontario participated in Take a Kid to Work day on November 7, 2012. At St. Charles College, over one hundred students were on site at job locations around the city. A number of students took on positions in healthcare, education as well as the retail and industrial sectors.
It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for grade nine students to learn about a career opportunity that interests them and illustrates the importance of education, skills development and training.
The day is organized by “The Learning Partnership”, a non-for-profit organization.
“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.
St. Anne Angels Learn about “Being Brave”
Remembrance Day takes on a special meaning in the Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) French Immersion class at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Hanmer. Student Cameron O’Daiskey holds her great-grandfather’s medal. “He got them by being brave in WWII,” said Cameron O’Daiskey.
The class read various books about poppies and veterans. Their favourite book was Proud as a Peacock by Jane Barclay. They also used the iPADs in the classroom in order to research the medals and their meaning. This inquiry led the class to wonder how they could earn medals and make “the world a better place.”
Shoes, Shoes and more Shoes!
Box after box, bag after bag, over 1500 pairs of shoes lined the hallway ready to be sorted. As part of a social justice initiative last year, the students and staff at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board collected a multitude of shoes to donate to other students and people in need in the community. The “Sudbury Catholic Shoe-Drop” was an initiative that was launched in May of 2012 as part of Catholic Education Week and continued until the end of June. To connect with this initiative, the SCDSB also asked Catholic trustees from across the nation visiting Sudbury for the Canadian Catholic Schools’ Trustee Association A.G.M. in June to support this cause. Many came with bags full of brand new shoes that were donated from their local community shoes stores. As well, students and staff from the Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario also stepped up to the plate and sent over numerous boxes from their own shoe drives. It has taken a few months to get the shoes all to one location and preliminarily sorted, and now the task at hand is a doing a more comprehensive inventory of the shoes. Christina Kilby, the grade 8 teacher at St. David Catholic Elementary School volunteered her class to be in charge of sorting all of the shoes by size to make it easier for donation. “I knew that this activity would be a great opportunity to connect to this month’s virtue of justice,” Kilby stated. “Working with my students to service the needs of others definitely speaks to this virtue, and allows my class to be able to connect to their faith through empathy and compassion.” Once organized, the shoes will be sent to those who might need some warm and dry footwear in the Greater City of Sudbury through various charities and outlets. Barry MacDonald, Chair of the Board for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board was thrilled with the response to the call for new and gently used shoes. “What an outstanding success this has been to support those in need in our community,” MacDonald stated. “Especially as we are gearing up for the Christmas season, as well as cold and wet winter weather, this considerable donation is a true reflection of the generous and compassionate spirit of the Sudbury Catholic DSB family, as well as its partners both in the community and across the nation!”
A Creative Halloween at St. James
On October 31st, all students from St. James Catholic Elementary School participated in different Halloween activities. There were many different costumes throughout the school but Avery Blanchard, a grade four student used the metaphor “a fork in the road” to create her unique costume.