During the month of May, grade 3 and 4 students from St. Francis Catholic Elementary School are celebrating the Month of Mary. Students are learning about Jesus’ mother Mary and the special role she had in His life. Each student was given their own rosary from their teacher, Ms. Graziella Visentin, to keep and use during daily morning prayers on the announcements and prayer after lunch in class. Students are developing an appreciation of the rosary as a special way of praying to God that honours Mary, the Mother of Jesus. As students recite the prayers of the rosary, students will reflect on certain stories in the lives of Jesus and Mary. The class is developing a greater awareness that Jesus will be with them in the joyful times of their lives and in times that are sorrowful. The events from the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries are reminders of this as students learn that the rosary can also be used to pray during Advent, Lent and during Ordinary Time in the liturgical year.
Category: Programs
Soccer Opportunities at St. Benedict
A group of grade 10 students enroled in the school’s soccer focus class from St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School recently had the opportunity to watch a professional match between Toronto FC and Montreal Impact at BMO field in downtown Toronto. Students at St. Benedict can register for this phys-ed soccer-focused course to learn and experience the various aspects of soccer – from playing, to training, to coaching, to refereeing, to nutrition, to strategy, and so on. In the photo, soccer class students with teacher and “A” license coach, Giuseppe Politi, pose at the entrance gate of the stadium.
Funky costumes, make-up and theatrics make Godspell a must-see this week at SCC
A cast of ten actors is bringing the parables in the Bible to life at St. Charles College this week. The students ranging from grades nine to twelve are putting on a production of Godspell in the school gymnasium.
The musical which is structured by a series of parables was created by Stephen Schwartz. It ends with Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus Christ is played by senior student Cole Thomson. Student President David DiBrina doubles as John the Baptist at the beginning and Judas Iscariot at the end of the show.
The play was last showcased by the school eighteen years ago when it was a co-production between Marymount College and St. Charles College. The director and producer of the school musical, Mrs. Diandra Zafiris was featured as a student in the 1995 production.
This week is Catholic Education Week and many of the students attending elementary feeder schools will be coming to St. Charles College to enjoy the performance.
It is also open to the public from May 8th to the 11th at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Children age 6 and under are admitted for free.
Holy Cross Students Take Music Monday Global!
Students from Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School teacher Ginette Toivonen’s grade 4/5 FI class have taken Music Monday global! The Holy Cross class has been blogging with students from Buenos Aires, Argentina over the last few months and on Monday, May 8th they sang along with them via Skype. The song “Is Somebody Singing” collaboratively written by Ed Robertson and Chris Hadfield is being shared with the world in hopes of uniting everyone through their love of music. Students in both countries feel very strongly about the importance of music education in their schools. Music Monday is an annual event that brings together thousands of students, musicians, parents and community members across the country to celebrate the gift of music in our lives, on the same day at the same time.
Sudbury Catholic Students Participate in Metis Heritage Days
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board recently held Metis Heritage Days at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School. Nine elementary schools participated in the cultural presentations. The facilitator, Scott Carpenter, a Community Development Officer with the Metis Nation of Ontario, led the hands-on presentations.
Highlights for many student and staff participants included Carpenter’s beautiful display of Metis artifacts. The Metis people are one of the three recognized aboriginal peoples in Canada. They trace their descent to mixed First Nations and European heritage. Almost 400,000 people self-identify as Metis in Canada. Joel Agowissa, the Aboriginal Youth Worker for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board said, “The students were engaged, interested and had a many questions for Mr. Carpenter. It was an honour to have Mr. Carpenter who is a member of the Metis nation speak to our young students and help us build inclusive learning environments for our students.”
Celebrating Catholic Education Week
At St. Francis Catholic Elementary School, the students and staff have embraced this year’s theme “Growing Together in Faith” in a very creative way. To bring the school community together as one, teachers Christina Bedoya and Lise Malette took all of the student photos and designed a “growing tree of life” which included a picture of every single student and staff member, including teachers, EAs ECEs, the custodian, administrators and the parish priest, Father Larry – all are all part of the tree. The arrangement was created to match the poster for Catholic Education Week. School vice-principal Krista Sarmatiuk was very proud of their creation. “What a wonderful tribute to our school and our faith,” Sarmatiuk stated. “This tree of life represents us as a school, and as part of the Catholic family – it is a wonderful embodiment of us as the St. Francis community – rooted in our faith!”
St. David Student Receives Surprise Gift
Christine Sola, local Sudbury business woman visited St. David Catholic Elementary School. Sola who is associated with the production of the movie “The Fighting Man” which is being filmed locally, dropped by the school to talk to students. During her visit, she gifted an autographed photo of Kim Coates, who is a Canadian actor who plays Tig Trager on the popular television show, Sons of Anarchy. St. David grade six student, Darrian Boucher, who is a big fan of the show, was the proud recipient of the autographed photo. When receiving the photo, Boucher replied, “Tig is one of my favourite characters on the series Sons of Anarchy!”
What’s Inside My Computer?
Teacher Karen Healy and Early Childhood Educator Angela Ross’ class use forms of technology everyday, but how does that technology work? Through hands-on investigation, the full day kindergarten class at St. Francis Catholic Elementary School was able to dismantle a computer tower and a laptop to get a closer look at what is inside. Students Aiden Galloway took apart the CPU fan to get a closer look and Violet Smith tried to figure out where the memory chip goes on the motherboard. When Aiden was finished he said, “I can’t believe I took out a piece of the computer!”
Marymount Academy Presents – Sleeping Beauty
Elementary students from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board were treated to Marymount Academy’s rendition of Sleeping Beauty – which ran from April 23 – 26. Under the direction of teacher Jolanta Tourville, with the assistance of teachers Anna White and Cathy Fairgrieve, and former student Jessica Pugliese, the students at Marymount Academy put on a stellar performance of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty for all audiences.