St. Francis Catholic Elementary School teacher Rhonda Martel wanted to do something different for her students. As a teacher of the Junior Communications class, she knew that many of her students would be more engaged with hands on learning and looked for a way to bring this experience to her classroom. Made up of students ages 7-10 who have been identified with Autism or a communication learning disability, Martel knew that this class would really benefit with a unique hands on activity that would blend learning with a physical activity that the students would enjoy. Martel decided to apply for a grant she saw online through Learning for a Sustainable Future and Environmental Education. Successful in her application, Martel received money for her class to plant and grow a butterfly garden on the property of the school. Fortunately, there was an already existing empty planter that they chose for their project. Bringing the learning into focus, the class researched the lifecycle of the butterfly, migration patterns, and what kind of plants were good for and also attracted butterflies in our community. The students then started their garden from the dirt-up. They set up, planted, weeded and watered their selected plants that included perennial sage, milkweek, Shasta daisies, and Miss Ruby butterfly bush. The students take turns watering and weeding their garden and are quite excited each day to check out its progress. For the summer months, they have even set up a partnership with the daycare in the school – Jubilee Heritage Daycare, which will have some of its students take over the watering and weeding duties during the summer months to sustain the garden for the class into the fall. Martel was thrilled with the end result and knew that her class was quite proud of their butterfly garden. “It is so nice for my students to have this type of hands on experience and see the garden take shape from just soil, to flourishing, healthy plants,” Martel explained. “ It is these types of experience that really engage our students and give them the opportunity to have positive hands on learning, success and fun at the same time.”
Category: Schools
Sudbury Catholic Student Dancers Shine at Community Pow Wow
Over 200 Sudbury Catholic School students and families participated in the community pow wow hosted by the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre. The students and their teachers were honoured to be invited to the National Aboriginal Day celebration. National Aboriginal Day is celebrated across Canada annually on June 21. On this day Canadians are encouraged to learn more about First Nation, Metis and Inuit peoples and celebrate their unique and diverse cultures.
Lynise Royer, St. David School grade 4 teacher stated that, “the pow wow was an amazing opportunity not only for my students but also for myself. It was a beautiful day. Our students were extremely respectful and 100 percent engaged in the teachings presented by the Elders and community representatives. I learned a lot today as well about the students I teach and their rich heritages.” Miss Royer continued to say, “on behalf of the Sudbury Catholic Schools community, I would like to thank the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre as well as Joel Agowissa and the 4 school board pow wow committee members on a beautiful celebration of culture and identity. Their hard work and dedication is much appreciated by myself, the students and their families. Miigwech to everyone involved in the planning of this spectacular day”.
Sudbury Catholic Student Dancers Shine at Community Pow Wow
Over 200 Sudbury Catholic School students and families participated in the community pow wow hosted by the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre. The students and their teachers were honoured to be invited to the National Aboriginal Day celebration. National Aboriginal Day is celebrated across Canada annually on June 21. On this day Canadians are encouraged to learn more about First Nation, Metis and Inuit peoples and celebrate their unique and diverse cultures.
Lynise Royer, St. David School grade 4 teacher stated that, “the pow wow was an amazing opportunity not only for my students but also for myself. It was a beautiful day. Our students were extremely respectful and 100 percent engaged in the teachings presented by the Elders and community representatives. I learned a lot today as well about the students I teach and their rich heritages.” Miss Royer continued to say, “on behalf of the Sudbury Catholic Schools community, I would like to thank the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre as well as Joel Agowissa and the 4 school board pow wow committee members on a beautiful celebration of culture and identity. Their hard work and dedication is much appreciated by myself, the students and their families. Miigwech to everyone involved in the planning of this spectacular day”.
Sudbury Catholic Student Dancers Shine at Community Pow Wow
Over 200 Sudbury Catholic School students and families participated in the community pow wow hosted by the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre. The students and their teachers were honoured to be invited to the National Aboriginal Day celebration. National Aboriginal Day is celebrated across Canada annually on June 21. On this day Canadians are encouraged to learn more about First Nation, Metis and Inuit peoples and celebrate their unique and diverse cultures.
Lynise Royer, St. David School grade 4 teacher stated that, “the pow wow was an amazing opportunity not only for my students but also for myself. It was a beautiful day. Our students were extremely respectful and 100 percent engaged in the teachings presented by the Elders and community representatives. I learned a lot today as well about the students I teach and their rich heritages.” Miss Royer continued to say, “on behalf of the Sudbury Catholic Schools community, I would like to thank the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre as well as Joel Agowissa and the 4 school board pow wow committee members on a beautiful celebration of culture and identity. Their hard work and dedication is much appreciated by myself, the students and their families. Miigwech to everyone involved in the planning of this spectacular day”.
Sudbury Catholic Student Dancers Shine at Community Pow Wow
Over 200 Sudbury Catholic School students and families participated in the community pow wow hosted by the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre. The students and their teachers were honoured to be invited to the National Aboriginal Day celebration. National Aboriginal Day is celebrated across Canada annually on June 21. On this day Canadians are encouraged to learn more about First Nation, Metis and Inuit peoples and celebrate their unique and diverse cultures.
Lynise Royer, St. David School grade 4 teacher stated that, “the pow wow was an amazing opportunity not only for my students but also for myself. It was a beautiful day. Our students were extremely respectful and 100 percent engaged in the teachings presented by the Elders and community representatives. I learned a lot today as well about the students I teach and their rich heritages.” Miss Royer continued to say, “on behalf of the Sudbury Catholic Schools community, I would like to thank the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre as well as Joel Agowissa and the 4 school board pow wow committee members on a beautiful celebration of culture and identity. Their hard work and dedication is much appreciated by myself, the students and their families. Miigwech to everyone involved in the planning of this spectacular day”.
St. David Celebrates Their Hubby Award with a Video
St. David School is the proud recipient of the 2014 Edgar Burton Youth “Hubby” Award in
Education. This award is awarded to deserving individuals or organizations as a public
acknowledgment of their compassion, dedication, integrity and hard work for the people of
Greater Sudbury. The “Hubby” is a uniquely Sudbury Award. Award receivers are decided on criteria’s of giving, commitment, and belief in the people and City of Greater Sudbury.
The award is in memory of Hub Bray who was 60 when he died of cancer, leaving behind family and a city to mourn him. Hub Bray was a popular community leader and local lawyer who tended to avoid the limelight, but worked hard behind the scenes to improve
life in the city. He was president of the Sudbury Food Bank, which has organized the Annual Hubby Awards in his memory. The school created this video to celebrate their award and each other! Enjoy!
Celebrating Friendship Through Music
Both Maggie Schell and Kaylyn Collin have been friends since grade 7. Now in grade 9 at Marymount Academy, they have discovered that their friendship means even more as they have both discovered their mutual love of music. Schell, about a year ago, decided to teach herself guitar. After playing around with it for a while, she decided to write a song, adding bits and pieces along the way. Already knowing how to play the violin, French horn and trumpet, Schell’s musical background allowed her to be creative musically and came up with her very first song entitled, “What About Love?” Collin, a bit newer to the guitar, decided to pick it up just a couple months ago when the two started talking about performing at the May 15 Marymount Gala event. Already able to play the cello, and percussion, Collin decided to learn guitar to be able to play Schell’s song with her and make it a duo. The end result was a beautiful friendship that become even stronger as result of their mutual musical endeavours. The pair have been able to perform the song at a number of venues over the last two months and are hoping to write and perform together even more in the future with the possibility of perhaps even putting together a full band.
To hear the girls perform, click play on the video below:
Sowing the Seeds of Friendship
Students from the grade 4/5 class at Holy Cross along with the the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) class at St.Benedict’s got together recently and did some planting. Together they sowed some seeds and established some friendships in the process!
SCDSB Award Winning Authors
Three students from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board have been selected as winners of the Young Authors Award through the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association. Ethan Matte, a student at Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary Award won for his non-fiction submission entitled “The Art of Fishing”. In the secondary panel, St. Benedict student Nikki Lemieux won for her non-fiction submission entitled “Consumer or Consumed”. The final winner is Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School student Shanleigh Brosseau for her short story submission entitled “La Couleur D’Amour”. Her short story “La couleur d’amour” was inspired by the approaching celebration of St. Valentine. Shanleigh enjoys writing in her spare time, especially “chapter books” on her IPhone. Her enthousiasm of music and writing is what pushed her to create a very metaphorical short story of a broken heart pendant.
All three award winning submissions can be found in this year’s OECTA Young Authors Awards 2014.
Congratulations to all three students for your outstanding writing pieces and we look forward to reading future works!