St. Andrew School held a Student Conference Evening on Thursday February 19th to showcase student growth. All students invited their parents or grandparents to the school so that they could showcase their growth so far this school year. The children prepared themselves with questions and evidence to share and parents were given questions that they could possibly ask their child.
Category: Schools
Shrove Tuesday Celebrated at St. David Catholic School
St. David Catholic school celebrated Shrove Tuesday, more commonly known as Pancake Tuesday, by making pancakes for all staff and students. The school staff gathered at 7 am in the school kitchen and started the task of making pancakes for all 250 students and their teachers. In the Catholic faith, Shrove Tuesday is the day preceding Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. The penitential season of Lent is a period of 40 days ending with the celebration of Easter. Eating pancakes the day before Lent started as a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk and sugar.
The students enjoyed their pancake breakfasts with their teachers. “They were yummy” commented grade 2 student Fred Ranger after finishing his meal. “I really liked the blueberry topping on my pancakes. I think the fruit was my favourite part” stated Tate Armstrong, grade 1 student. The students also learned the term “Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday”, again referring to the tradition of eating foods rich in fats and sugars on Shove Tuesday. “This is a wonderful tradition at St. David School. We have been making pancakes for the students and staff for as long as I can remember on Shrove Tuesday. It is a wonderful time to come together as a community of faith and enjoy good food and good company. It makes for a great start to the day”, stated Nancy Costanzi, the school’s resource teacher.
St. Andrew celebrates Ash Wednesday
Staff and students at St. Andrew school celebrated Ash Wednesday in the school gym on Wednesday February 18 at 1pm. Students were reminded that lent is a time for fasting and almsgiving. Each class was challenged to choose a fasting and almsgiving project to work together on during the 40 days of lent.
Cardinals take 2015 NOSSA Skiing Title
The NOSSA high school alpine ski championships were held this week at Adanac Ski Hill. Lockerby is always favoured to win – but the Cards upset the ski community with a strong showing that allowed them to clinch the level two girls’ title.
Level two means the skiers have raced at some time in the past.
Grade twelve Stephanie Martin racked up the most points for the team with a first place overall for girls’ skiing.
Three of the Cards girls’ placed in the top five – which secured the overall title win.
Lorenza Mottinelli came fourth overall, and Lauren Gareau came fifth overall. Grade ten student Alyssa Scott finished eighth.
The girls’ will now compete at OFSAA later this month at Blue Mountain in Collingwood.
Coach Gregg Kolodinski says “the girls’ were very modest and showed a lot of class this week which will prepare them for what’s to come in Collingwood. It’s nice to cheer for the underdog and see them sweep the podium.”
Marymount Alpine Ski Team Captures 5th Consecutive NOSSA Title
On Wednesday, Feb. 11th/15 the NOSSA Alpine Championships took place at Adanac Ski Hill. Approximately 80 racers took part in competition hoping to earn their way to the Provincial Championships at Blue Mountain. Serina Seguin finished with silver medals in slalom, giant slalom and overall combined while Katherine Boyce finished the day with three third place finishes. Marika Moskalyk finished the slalom event in 8th place and completing the team of five was Brier Cook and Sidney Smith. These five girls took the overall team title in the Level 1 category which is high school trained only racers with no club racing affiliation or history past the Nancy Green level. This is Marymount’s 5th consecutive NOSSA title and will be the 6th time in 7 years that alpine racers from Marymount represent the Level 1 program out of Northern Ontario at the OFSAA Provincial Championships. OFSAA takes place at Blue Mountain from Feb. 22nd-24th and will travel with racers from St. Charles, St. Benedict’s, Lasalle, and Lockerby.
Blessing the throats of talented singers
Students and staff at St. Charles College had their throats blessed today to celebrate Saint Blaise’s feast day.
Blaise was a bishop and is the patron saint of wild animals and those with throat maladies.
Deacon Steve Callaghan also visited the vocals music class to bless the throats of those who have share their gift of singing.
Parents visit St. Paul for Family Literacy Day
Mme Wright’s grade 2/3 French Immersion class invited parents to participate in some Family Literacy Day activities.
There were four different activities set up. The first was a read-aloud of the book entitled “The Book With No Pictures” by B.J. Novak. Everyone soon discovered that a book does not have to have illustrations for it to be a fun and entertaining read. The Book With No Pictures left everyone in giggles – especially when it was read by the adults!
The second station had the students share the books they created using the Book Creator App on the iPads. Students also taught the guests how to legally copy images from the internet to use in their own writing. They wrote their own riddles and knock-knock jokes at the next center. Finally, at the fourth station, they had some fun playing Bananagrams and Scrabble, two “word creating” games.
Afterward, the guests joined the students in their classroom for lunch. What a wonderful way to celebrate Family Literacy Day!
St. Francis Celebrates Literacy Day
On January 27, the students from St. Francis School celebrated Literacy Day. This year a book swap was organized for students in grades kindergarten to grade six. Students were asked to donate gently used books from their home and trade them in for“new”books. The school cafeteria and gathering room had a large variety of book titles on display for students to choose from.
The book swap provided an excellent opportunity for students to exchange books within their school community, encourage reading, recycle books and select books for free.
St. John hosts the Canadian Hearing Society on Literacy Day
St. John students had a special Sign Language presentation for Family Literacy Day. Pat and Lise from the Canadian Hearing Society showed students how Communication and Literacy comes in many different forms such as, writing a grocery list, reading a newspaper, reading a recipe and using Sign Language. Pat is the Deaf Literacy Coordinator and Lise is the ‘interpreter’ with the Canadian Hearing Society.
The morning began with the sharing of a story followed by a song called, Don’t Laugh at Me. The song fit well for Pat, as he is deaf, and he placed himself as the character signing the lyrics as they read, “I’m fat, I’m thin, I’m short, I’m tall, I’m deaf, I’m blind hey aren’t we all….someday we’ll all have perfect wings, don’t laugh at me.”
As the presentation ended, students were introduced to various vocabulary and they attempted their signing skills with hand expressions. Peculiar and familiar hand shapes had students interact with curiosity and laughter. At the end of the presentation, all of the students used ‘sign language’ to clap by raising their arms waving their hands to clap in appreciation.