St. James Catholic Elementary School was recently recognized for its participation in “Our Dreams Matter Too” – a walk for culturally based equity for First Nation children. The walk is organized to say now is the time for First Nation and non- Aboriginal children to work together to ensure all children in Canada receive equitable, culturally based services that help them succeed and feel proud of who they are. The project began as a result of the school’s vice principal, Dan Stargratt introducing the Grade 7/8 FI class to “Shannen’s Dream” which is a student and youth focused campaign designed to raise awareness about inequitable funding for First Nations children, and encourages supporters to write letters to their Member of Parliament, to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, and to the Prime Minister of Canada. The students then brainstormed and came up with the idea of getting involved with the “Our Dreams Matter Too” initiative by having all Grade 4- 8 students at St. James write letters to the Prime Minister to look at federal school funding. This past June, the St. James students presented their letters to Member of Parliament Glenn Thibeault to bring to Ottawa. This past October, the students were sent a certificate of appreciation from the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada for their participation in the initiative. The students are Chris White, Katrina Cayen and Enara Iturregui.
Category: Schools
St. Charles College and Laurentian University Partner for Forensic Science Programming
St. Charles College is pleased to announce that it has added yet another partnership to its learning community to better support its students. The Department of Forensic Science of Laurentian University – which delivers the only accredited forensic science programs in Canada, has formed a partnership with the school, in order to allow for new and outstanding learning opportunities for the students of St. Charles College. Senior students in both the school’s Specialist High Skills Major in Health and Wellness, as well as the senior law classes will now be taking part in regular workshops and labs with the Forensics Department at the university. The forensic professors – including Dr. Fairgrieve, Dr. Watterson and Dr. Donohue, have agreed to gear their presentations to meet the curriculum needs for both areas of learning, and will directly tie into their areas of study. The forensic courses will introduce the students to blood spatter, arson investigation, autopsy, hair and fibre analysis, facial sculpting, forensic botany and entomology, criminal profiling and DNA analysis.
“This linkage to our programming – both our law and health and wellness classes – is exceptional as it is giving limitless opportunities for our students to pursue a variety of careers they may not have considered before.” says Principal Mardero. “This hands on learning will allow them to really receive a deeper understanding of these sciences.
St. Charles College is a proud partner of Laurentian, and this new agreement reinforces the strength of our relationship with the University.”
Classes have already begun working with the university starting the end of October, 2012.
Celebrating the Feast of St. Andrew
November 30th was the feast day of St. Andrew. Father Sam from our community parish of St. Andrew the Apostle invited all the staff and children to a feast day celebration. Everyone celebrated the Eucharist together at 11am and then Father hosted a pizza and juice party in the church hall. The Catholic School Council provided delicious cupcakes for dessert.
Father spoke to the children about St. Andrew. His name is Greek meaning “strength” and Andrew spent most of his ministry in Greece spreading the lessons Jesus taught him. St. Andrew was the brother of St. Peter who was the frist pope in Rome. St. Andrew is remembered as the first leader of the Greek Church.
At the conclusion of the Eucharistic celebration the children, teachers and parents joined in singing “Happy Feast Day to You.”
SCDSB Teacher Launches Third Book of Poetry
Marymount Academy English teacher Kim Fahner is a bundle of nerves. Even though this is her third time, she is having a hard time keeping her anxiety at bay. On Friday, December 7, 2012, Fahner will be launching her third book of poetry, “The Narcoleptic Madonna”. “Each time I launch a book I get so nervous,” Fahner said. “For the week or two before the launch, I get extremely anxious leading up to the day.” Her previous books, “You Must Imagine the Cold Here” (1997) and “Braille on Water” (2001) are, according to Fahner much different than her new book of poetry. “ “This new book is a collection of poems from the last twelve years. It deals with very personal issues like falling in and out of love, taking care of aging parents and, ultimately, coming to terms with mortality. It is a much more mature collection of poems. My inspiration has come from traveling – both physically, spiritually and emotionally. By traveling, I often find that I get to know myself better, and better understand my place in the world.” A teacher for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board for 12 years, the majority at Marymount Academy, Fahner tries to teach her students that poetry is not a scary thing – that, in fact, she makes it her job to reverse their fear of this writing style. It is her hope that they leave her class with an interest in poetry. Fahner considers herself a poet who teaches, and frequently brings in other poets into the classroom to help inspire her students. “When you find creative people who can educate, it really brings out the creativity in kids,” Fahner states. “I think it is important to have artists as teachers in the classroom.” Interested readers can also check out Fahner’s writing on her online blog entitled The Republic of Poetry. (http://kimfahner.wordpress.com/) Here she writes her thoughts and reflections on her own life as well as events around her. From musings from her travels, to her inner dialogue when trying out new things, “The Republic of Poetry” gives her readers a glimpse into the thoughts and observations of life.
Fahner tapped on the creative talents of her fellow SCDSB teacher and friend Trish Stenabaugh for the artwork for her new book. Stenabaugh is a teacher at St. Charles College as well as a gifted artist so Fahner thought it would be a perfect fit for the artwork for her book cover. “Trish’s artwork is really vibrant. I am inspired by her as an artist and a friend.” Both ladies will be at the book launch which will be taking place on Friday, December 7 at the Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University. Some of Stenebaugh’s art will be on display and Fahner will be reading selected poems from her new book. Reading will begin at 7:00 p.m.
Holy Cross Students’ Transit Ride to Public Library
The Gr. 2 students in the Regular English program at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School recently participated in a program arranged between the Sudbury Public Library and the Greater Sudbury Transit. A class bus pass granted them the opportunity to ride the Sudbury Transit in order to spend the morning at the South End Public Library. For many of the students, this was their first time using the public transit and it proved to be an exciting adventure. The school program consisted of a tour of the new South End Library, a demonstration of how to locate and access books on the computer, story time and a craft. By the end of the session, students were able to leave with their personal library card, a good book to read and a reason to return with their family or classmates.
Having Fun with Conflict Resolution at St. Bernadette
During this year’s Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week students from St. Bernadette Catholic School participated in various lessons and activities to promote peaceful relationships and conflict resolutions; such as school-wide read-alouds, teachings around how to be “bucket fillers” by doing kind deeds for others, and, as pictured here, participating in the “Kelso’s Choice” conflict management skills program. Through active role play and puppetry students learned that they are smart enough and strong enough to make good choices.
Sudbury Catholic Schools Presents Dr. Karyn Gordon
On November 26 2012, Dr. Karyn Gordon visited both St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School as well as Marymount Academy to speak to all grade 7 and 8 students. Dr. Gordon is a relationship expert for organizations and families and has over 14 years of professional national media experience in TV, print and radio including CityLine, Chatelaine Magazine and “The Mom Show”. Invited by the Catholic Regional Parent Involvement Committee (C.R.P.I.C.), Dr. Gordon spoke to the students about self-esteem and anxiety. Introduced by the student senate, Dr. Gordon helped the students to identify which self-esteem attitude they hold, to recognize the power their attitude has on motivation, dating, friendships, peer-pressure and their body, and how to empower themselves by learning practical steps to building a healthy self-image. The presentation was interactive as Dr. Gordon had students using improv and acting out different scenerios so that the group could see evidence of the power of healthy self-esteem. David DiBrina, Sudbury Catholic Student Trustee, as well as leader of the Student Senate felt it was a very impactful presentation and that the students were engaged and responsive to Dr. Gordon’s message. “This presentation wasn’t just the students sitting and listening to words, it was much more than that. Dr. Gordon really hit home with the audience about how important a healthy self-esteem is, and that we all need to work towards this positive self-confidence, as it will shape our future success. Many of the students in the audience were visibly moved by Dr. Gordon’s words and a large number of students stayed behind after the presentation to talk one on one with her about their personal situations. I congratulate C.R.P.I.C. and the Sudbury Catholic Board for being proactive in addressing the needs and well-being of the students.”
Dr. Gordon was also invited to speak to the community at a free event at the St. Benedict auditorium that same evening. Over 150 parents, teachers and other community members listened to Dr. Gordon’s message of understanding the faces of youth self-esteem and how it impacts their decision making, as well as learning about powerful communication strategies to “bridge the gap”. The audience learned different ways to encourage their child to open up, accept responsibility, build confidence and reduce anxiety.
Christmas Food Drive at Marymount Academy
Every year Marymount Academy holds a Christmas food drive to help stock the shelves of the Sudbury Food Bank for the holiday season. Last year the school paired up with “kids helping kids” which was started by Edgar Burton and is the biggest food drive in the city. We raised and incredible amount of cans, over 13 thousand cans. They were told in September that they raised the most cans out of all the schools participating with “kids helping kids”. MMA was then rewarded with “the handing over of the official Vancouver Olympic torch” from last years winner, Lively District School. A group of students went to the mall on Nov 15th, and several tv and newspaper reporters were there including Mel from the radio who talked about how Edgar Burton ran with the torch in Sudbury during the Olympics. He then bought the torch for $500.00 and decided to donate it to the schools who raised the most cans. Marymount Academy now gets to keep the torch for one year
As well, on Monday Nov, 19th, our Marymount Catholic Charities council was asked to visit with the Mayor, her staff, Frank Elsner (the chair of the Sudbury Food Bank), several food bank volunteers, as well as Edgar Burton’s daughter and of course the media for the official signing of the Proclamation. Several MC3 members sat with the Mayor as she explained the process of the signing of an official Proclamation. The girls were thrilled to sit with the Mayor and to be congratulated for their efforts to help the less fortunate in our community. They told her how they just learned about the steps of a Proclamation in their Civics class at school. (they got to see it in action).
The girls were very impressed at being part of history, they were very proud of their efforts and vowed to continue helping our community.
St. Paul Presents…A Night of Television Premieres: Family Math and Literacy Night
On the evening of Wednesday, November 14, 2012 St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Elementary School welcomed approximately 60 guests which included students in Grades 3 to 6 and their families for a night of learning and family fun! Families had the opportunity to participate in four different stations; Are You Smarter than a Smartboard?, Star Tech: The Next Generation, How I Met Your Math Teacher and The Amazing Game. Each station had either a math or literacy focus and demonstrated the importance of technology and how it is integrated in all areas of the curriculum. A great time was had by all!