Students at St. Charles Elementary Catholic school enjoyed ‘100 days of school’ on February 10th. Students were engaged in math and literacy activities to celebrate the big day. Junior Kindergarten French Immersion student, Makenna Jolette was all smiles when it was time to count to 100. This was ‘a great day for students to collaborate with students from other primary classes and participate in ‘100 day’ activities’ says Jennifer Robinson, JK/SK French Immersion teacher.
Category: Programs
St. John Catholic School Celebrates “World Day of the Sick”
In keeping with the spirit of the “World Day of the Sick” (Saturday, February 11th), a celebration was held at St. John Catholic Elementary School on Wednesday, February 8th,at which time students, staff, and invited guests joined together to take part in a prayer service honouring their community. Reverend Jim Ketzler from St. John the Evangelist Church led the service in which statues and crucifixes that were donated by the Sisters of St. Joseph from the former St. Joseph Health Centre (General Hospital) were blessed and then distributed around the school. As well, there were special blessings for all health care providers and the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for all those who were present and in need. “At the beginning of the school year, all of the principals gathered together with Bishop Simard, Senior Administration and our parish partners, to put together pastoral plans for our schools,” Tricia Dowdall-Cerilli, Principal of St. John stated. “We had discussed many options, but we knew that this was definitely something we wanted to celebrate as we were so honoured to be gifted these crucifixes and statues from the hospital. Seeing as in the month of February, we celebrate the virtue of empathy – we knew that the timing was perfect for us to bring our community together, and take part in such a wonderful, meaningful celebration.”
Local Educators Team Up to Provide Students with an Authentic, Educational, Northern Ontario Experience
Killarney Outdoor Education Instructor, Bradley Blackwell, and local grade 5/6 St. David Catholic School teacher, Leo McLaughlin, worked as a team to plan and co-ordinate an authentic Northern Ontario experience for Mr. McLaughlin’s grade 5/6 class – a full day ice fishing at Perch Lake. Both teachers, avid outdoorsmen, thought it important to offer students this curriculum based, beyond the indoor classroom learning experience. St. David Catholic School is located in the heart of Sudbury. The students are from the Donovan, Flour Mill and Louis Street areas.
According to Blackwell, “in planning this ice fishing field trip we based it on our teaching philosophy, which is that our students learn best by doing. They need the opportunity to discover the outdoors and be in nature. They feel better about themselves when they work as a team and see each other having fun while accomplishing a task. Before we went on our ice fishing excursion we covered such topics as outdoor ethics, ice and winter safety and environmental responsibility. We invited a local First Nation Elder to share the teachings of traditional harvesting and protection of animal species for the next generation. Mr. McLaughlin ensured the trip was connected to the Ontario curriculum by teaching about states of matter, fish biology, the food chain and biodiversity.”
The students spent the day at Perch Lake with parents, community volunteers and teachers and learned the most valuable lesson of all: “a Northern Ontario winter can be a beautiful, diverse, and inspiring classroom for all learners”.
Something Interesting for Show-and-Tell!
Noah Knapp-Taillefer – a student in the Early Learning French Immersion class at St. Francis has something really cool to share with his class. For show-and-tell, Noah brought in an x-ray, one that showed off a quarter in his stomach! After a quick visit to the hospital, all was well and Noah thought that his adventure and x-ray would be a great story to share with his friends. Angele Lachance, Noah’s teacher, thought this would be a great opportunity to talk to her students about the dangers of putting objects in their mouths as well as the process of how food is digested through the body. “He was quite proud to talk about his adventure,” Lachance stated. “And we figured what a great segue into safety tips and the human body and how it works – it was an exciting show-and-tell for sure!”
Daily Physical Activity – Northern Style!
Well January may have had it’s fair share of snow days and snow storms, but that did not stop St. Mary Catholic Elementary School School students from braving the weather. They hit the ground running or shall we saying skiing and snowshoeing on several crisp days in January.
Some of the kindergarten students had opportunities to enjoy their first experiences with snowshoeing and the grade 1,2,3 classes learned the steps to cross country skiing. “We are fortunate enough to live in the North where we have opportunities to engage in these types of winter activities,” said teacher Becky Waern. “ We have to take advantage of the snow and winter weather because it will be gone before we know it, “ said teacher Dante Merigioli.
So taking advantage of the winter weather is exactly what they did, and they had a fabulous time doing so! The students not only explored the trails behind their school in Capreol, but they learned how to ski and snowshoe while on their expeditions.
St. James Hosts JK Registration Night
Prospective JK students and their families enjoyed a variety of stations at the Kindergarten registration evening held on February 7th at St. James Catholic School in Lively. The up and coming JKers experienced a glimpse into school life by participating in a wide variety of activities; such as hands-on Smart Board activities, playing with gym equipment, and visiting and exploring the Kindergarten classrooms.
Learning to Make Every Penny Count
Two teachers at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School decided to join forces. JK/SK teacher Cheryl MacRury and Grade 7 teacher Kathy Belanger decided they wanted to get their students involved in a community action project, and figured they would have more of an impact if they worked together. The teachers applied for a grant with the Canadian Teacher’s Federation and were successful, allowing them the opportunity to bring their project to life. Both classes decided that they wanted to help animals, specifically the Wild at Heart Animal Refuge. The two classes split the grant money and put it towards a different part of the project. The grade seven students decided to purchase digital cameras so that they could document their project and put together multimedia projects to showcase their progress. The JK/SK class decided that they would take some field trips to the shelter itself so that they could learn more about the animals they are hoping to help. In order to get their project started, the classes decided to visit local businesses and organizations in their community, and if allowed, leave donation cans in support of their project. All they were asking for were people’s pennies. Several businesses immediately jumped on board. After the first collection, they very quickly they realized that their penny collection was going to be a great teaching tool for their students. Every few weeks, the students gather together in one classroom and break off into groups of a few grade seven students and one JK/SK student. Each student is then given a pile of pennies that have been collected and the older students guide the younger student in counting out 50 “penny piles”. “Peer learning is such a great teaching tool for our students,” Belanger commented. “The older students become mentors for the young students and each look forward to our meetings as they enjoy learning from each other!” So far, the students have collected and counted over $70 in pennies over the last couple of months.
“Our students are not only learning numeracy, they are also learning literacy, technology, the importance of compassion, community and virtues.” Stated MacRury. The two classes will continue to meet on a regular basis to tally their collections right into June. The Grade 7 students will then have the opportunity to showcase their media presentations to the rest of the school. The group is hoping not only to donate funds to the shelter, but also donate much needed items like food and cleaning supplies.
“The dedication and hard work of our staff is second to none,” Catherine McCullough, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board stated. “These kinds of projects really engage our students, and allow them to see beyond the classroom. These are important life lessons that are a foundation for success in life.”
St. Anne Students Believe in Motto “Respect For All”
The pupils at St. Anne School in Hanmer pride themselves on demonstrating Catholic virtues. Since September, the students within the Sudbury Catholic Board have worked very hard to practice those virtues of respect, faith, justice, patience, and responsibility. Recently, a presentation from Camp Quality helped to re-enforce all these virtues and more.
Camp Quality is an organization run by volunteers who provide children with cancer the opportunity to experience the joys of camp life during the summer. The camp location in Northern Ontario can be found on the west arm of Lake Nipissing near Monetville. During the school year, the camp sends volunteers and life size puppets into schools to work with students from all grade divisions. Some of the puppets are recovering from leukemia or cancerous tumours. They explain to other puppet friends their feelings and concerns as they return or get ready to return to school. The performances are free for elementary schools and help children to understand the importance of caring for and offering support to one another, especially when a child has a major illness such as cancer.
The St. Anne students enjoyed the presentation immensely. Many of the students themselves have family members who have experienced cancer. The Camp Quality volunteers not only helped re-enforce those virtues already learned, but helped prepare the children for future virtues such as compassion, courage, kindness, and helpfulness. When asked about the presentation itself, the students from all divisions got the message loud and clear. “We may not always look the same on the outside, but we are still the same person on the inside.” Way to go Angels!
St. Raphael Celebrates Family Literacy Day
On Friday January 27, Family Literacy Day, staff, students, and parents at St. Raphael School participated in a variety of literacy workshops. Each workshop was linked to the importance of being able to read by such presenters as Roger Nash, Sudbury Poet Laureate, Mark Gentili, Managing Editor of the Northern Life, Emily MacMillan, Nickel District Conservation Authority, and Darren MacDonald of the Sudbury Star. Pictured is Brad Blackwell from Killarney-Shebanoning Outdoor Education Centre whose presentation was entitled “If Trees Could Talk”.