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!”
Category: Programs
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.”
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!”
Around the World and Back to Share Her Story
An eighteen year-old student, world traveler and ambassador visited St. Charles College this week to share stories about her work and travels in Africa.
Laura Limarzi is a graduate of Assumption High School in Windsor, Ontario. During her years there, she was the student council president and got involved with many social justice issues and initiatives including HOBEY International and Craig Kielberger’s Me to We program. During her last year in high school she got the chance to travel to Africa with Me to We to learn about life in Kenya, and helped with the foundations projects, focusing on clean water and education.
Upon graduation, Limarzi was awarded the Morehead-Cain Scholarship, which is a full scholarship to attend University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Currently she is taking a ‘gap’ year, which has led her to work with the oraganization Determined to Develop. Through this organization, she travelled to Malawi where she lived for four months working with children. Upon her return, she was invited to Mozambique to work with The United States Military AIDS Research Program.
Limarzi was in town to visit family, and was invited by her aunt, a teacher, to SCC to share her experiences with our students. The goal of Limarzi’s visit was to inspire others to get involved in their school, their country and the world in which they live, always remembering that no matter where we live, our daily struggles are similar. We are united through the human experience.
Throughout the day spent at SCC, Limarzi made two presentations. One to Leadership students and the students who had just returned from Guatemala, and one to the Life Skills students. Her message in each presentation was simple. Get involved! Together we can make this world a better place, whether through local or global causes. Laura also visited Holy Cross Elementary School, and The Soup Kitchen while in Sudbury.
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.
St. David School Celebrates Earth Day!
On April 22, 2013 the students in Mrs. Cimino’s grade 1 class participated in hands on educational Earth Day activities. During the activity centres, the students made Earth Day necklaces as a reminder to keep our earth clean and healthy. They read the book “The Lorax” and discussed what can happen if we do not take responsibility for the care of our planet.
St. David Catholic Elementary School students participate in a school wide recycling program, composting program and vermi composting program.
Next Friday, the grade one students and their fellow St. David classmates will be participating in the community clean up along Jean Street, Frood Road and Dupont Street. “The students had a wonderful day learning about the importance of maintaining a healthy environment while having fun and participating in activities that engaged their minds and kept them physically active. As a class, we have really focused on healthy living and environmentally friendly actions. The students continue to be committed to caring for their environment and making choices that improve and support the positive development of their community”, states Maria Cimino, grade 1 teacher at St. David School.
Good Stewards of the Earth
Grade 3 & 4 students in teacher Graziella Visentin’s class at St.Francis Catholic Elementary School learned about their carbon footprint as part of their Earth Day activities on April 22, 2013. Understanding the effects of our carbon footprint helped the students deepen their sensitivity and connection to a special virtue celebrated this month-Stewardship. Students read a variety of information books and researched ways to be good stewards of the earth by reducing, reusing and recycling resources. The students designed buttons to wear and promote their friendly Earth Day message to others. The class also created a book with student tips on how to reduce our carbon footprint on the earth. Ideas included walking to a nearby destination, riding their bicycles more often, donating used clothing and composting. Grade 3 & 4 students delivered flower seeds to some of the primary classes to beautify the outdoors at home or their school yard. St.Francis students from kindergarten to grade 6 received red pine seedlings courtesy of Xstrata Nickel and College Boreal to take home and plant outside for Earth Day.