St. Paul Catholic Elementary School teacher Lisa Wright’s Grade 2/3 FI students had a wonderful morning with Sudbury Catholic outdoor education teacher Brad Blackwell on Thursday, February 18th. Students learned that creatures in this area have 3 choices to make during winter. 1) hibernate 2) migrate 3) stay and tough it out . Mr. Blackwell delivered an interesting and amusing presentation. He brought some “nature treasures” such as antlers and bones and some replicas of tracks and scat. After the in-class presentation, they ventured outside on the Jean Tellier trail near the school. For almost all the students , this was their first time on snowshoes. They explored the trails looking for signs of animal life. They found snowshoe hare, squirrel and mice tracks. Students even found scat!
Category: Programs
Immaculate Runs Fun Friends All Year Round
Thanks to our Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School’s Educational Assistant, Moira Swiatek, students in the primary and junior division enjoy the resiliency based program called “Fun Friends.” In their groups, they discuss feelings & emotions, red & green thoughts and how to change the red thoughts into green or positive thoughts. The children also learn relaxation strategies to calm their bodies down. One of their favourite activities is called the “milkshake” breathing technique where students inhale a large breath and exhale through a straw into a cup of chocolate milk which then produces bubbles. Fun Friends is a safe environment where students can learn to be courageous and make life long friends.
MMA Student Places Nationally in Historica Canada’s “How We Remember” Contest
Grade 11 Marymount Academy student Casey McGee really enjoys art. As well, she loves learning about history. When her teacher mentioned a contest that combined both subjects, she knew that it was something she wanted to get involved with. Teacher Catherine Levesque had heard about Historica Canada’s “How We Remember” Contest that reflected on the subject of Canada’s role in the First and Second World Wars. Students could send in written submissions as well as artwork that reflected the theme so Levesque took the contest and created an assignment for the class with it. The students then had the option of actually submitting their written work or artwork to Historica Canada. With hundreds of submissions from across Canada, McGee was contacted through her teacher to let her know that she placed second nationally for her artwork submission entitled “The Unknown Soldier”. One of the jurors, Scott Waters, shared his opinion of Mcgee’s piece, “This piece was the strongest as it conveyed the most meaning, without being overly literal and illustrative. Its iconic stoicism combined nicely with a playful quality and allowed the piece to occupy varying emotional terrain. It was also a technically strong painting.”
McGee was thrilled that she placed so well in the contest and it has encouraged her to continue with her drawing and learning. “I always carry around my sketchbook with me where ever I go, and this contest was really great in that it combined my love of art and my love of history.” Marymount Academy principal Lucie Cullen, was thrilled with McGee’s second place win nationally. “Casey is a gifted artist and a strong learner,” explained Cullen. “At Marymount we always seek out opportunities as a staff for our students to thrive and really excel. Casey is a great example of this as she was able to showcase her talent on a national level – we are very proud of her.”
Being Kind at St. David School
“It is all about doing kind things.” St. David Catholic Elementary FDK students have been learning a lot about doing kind things recently. “It is a common theme always in our classroom.” explained teacher Cindy Blinn. As part of their learning, the students decided that they wanted to do a kind thing for someone special in their lives. Together they decided to host a pasta luncheon for their someone special and each student was allowed to invite one special guest – whether it be their mom, dad, grandparent, babysitter, etc. The students prepared by planning out the lunch menu – pasta, buns and juiceboxes, with a special cake for dessert. The class even made the decorations for the room so that their environment was filled with colourful artwork for their guests. “it is a great way to really reinforce the concept of kindness with our students,” explained Blinn. “We always talk about it, but more importantly we always try to model this behaviour with each other and with those who are in our lives. This luncheon was a great day for both the students and guests and everybody was very pleased with the outcome.”
St. Charles College Students take their French language to the Streets of Sudbury
The French Immersion students visited the New Sudbury branch of the Sudbury Public Library for a French tour of the library recently.
The students, along with their teacher Sabrina Rocca took the Sudbury Transit and spent the morning reading French books and having French conversations with the Sudbury Public Library staff.
It’s just one of the ways French Immersion students can keep the learning authentic while outside the classroom.
Dancing and Moving at St. Paul
The St Paul dance club has come to an end for another season. The students worked very hard all year by learning new moves and dances culminating with them presenting their own dance creations on stage. Teacher Emily Power was very lucky to have 3 amazing grade 8 helpers that volunteered their time all year! Way to go St Paul dancers.
St. Charles College French Immersion Students take French to the Foods Room
The FI students integrated multiple subjects in the foods class at St. Charles College recently. They used French procedural writing to write and explain recipes as well as the particle theory for Science.
The grade seven students recorded baking recipes on the Ipads. They had to explain their work as they added and mixed ingredients. They were responsible for preheating the oven, preparing the recipe, timing the cooking, doing the dishes and cleaning up. They also had to explain the particle theory through the baking process.
The grade eight students then took the cakes, and had twenty minutes to create a cell. They were recorded and had to explain the parts of the cell they created.
Their teacher, Sabrina Rocca says it was a fun-filled afternoon with all kinds of learning – through written, kinaesthetic and oral language.
ST. FRANCIS CELEBRATES LITERACY DAY!
On January 27, the students from St. Francis Catholic Elementary School celebrated Literacy Day. Students in kindergarten to grade six were asked to donate gently used books from their home and trade them in for“new” books. The event was organized by Special Education Resource Teacher, Ms. Graziella Visentin who encourages the use of technology to assist with reading as well as the use of traditional hardcopy books to practice reading skills. The school cafeteria and gathering room had a wide variety of book titles on display for students to choose from. Students also donated English and French books. The book swap originally began between two primary classrooms and eventually grew to involve the whole school over the last few years due to its success. The book swap provided an excellent opportunity for students to exchange books within their school community, encourage the love of reading and recycle books. Students enjoyed selecting free books to take home for Literacy Day.
Sharing Indigenous Arts and Culture at MMA
On Friday January 18, 2016, Marymount Academy had the pleasure of spending some of their afternoon with special guest Lisa Marie Naponse. Their guest was introduced by two very confident young women, students Tyanna Soucy and Hailey Organ. These two ladies are currently representatives of the Aniisinaabe Cultural group here at Marymount Academy which is organized in collaboration with Carla Petahtegoose, the SCDSB Indigenous Education Support Worker. Lisa Marie is a self-taught singer and songwriter from Atikameksheng Anishinawbek. She shared her art and music which is a blend of blues, folk, and country. During her visit with Marymount she engaged the students in song and rhythm. Lisa shared with the students that as she was growing up, she was surrounded by music and creativity her mother and father played music and her sisters were pow wow dancers and craftswomen. Lisa speaks to people through music on indigenous life and her experiences as an Anishnawbe Kwe(Woman). Lisa quickly embraced the microphone community; which lead her to eventually co-founding an Indigenous Arts Collective that showcased Indigenous performances and art throughout the city of Ottawa. Today Lisa Marie has returned to her community and is working on new music and art. Finally, to finish off our assembly Hailey Organ kindly presented a gift on behalf of the Marymount staff and students.