All Sudbury Catholic Elementary School are hosting full day kindergarten open houses today, February 7th, beginning at 6:30 p.m. For more information, please contact your local Catholic Elementary School, or call the Board Office at (705) 673-5620.
Category: Schools
Students at St. David School Welcome Messages of Anti-Bullying and Restorative Justice
Chad Solomon, local artist and author of the graphic novel series, “Rabbit and Bear Paws” presented a series of interactive workshops to the students of St. David School. The sessions were based in restorative justice and advocating for a bully free school environment. Chad Solomon is a member of the Henvey Inlet, First Nation. His grandfather Art Solomon, was a traditional healer and justice activist. Mr. Solomon told stories of his grandfather to the students, always with the hint of laughter and his life lessons learned.
The restorative justice sessions were interactive workshops using the puppets, “Rabbit”, “Bear Claw” and “Strawberry”. The students became the puppeteers and were able to discover how to resolve bullying using restorative justice practices. Mr. Solomon also worked with the intermediate students at St. David Catholic School to help them create a graphic novel page based on the Seven Grandfather Teachings of love, wisdom, respect, humility, truth, bravery, and honesty. Mr. Solomon encouraged students to recall their own personal experiences and use their imagination when creating stories. According to Tara Theriault, the school’s Child and Youth Worker, “It was a great day for the students of St. David School. They heard a message that promotes equality, understanding and respect. Mr. Solomon used humour as a tool when he worked with our students and they really enjoyed the day and walked away being inspired to make a difference”.
Learning to Make Every Penny Count
Two teachers at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School decided to join forces. JK/SK teacher Cheryl MacRury and Grade 7 teacher Kathy Belanger decided they wanted to get their students involved in a community action project, and figured they would have more of an impact if they worked together. The teachers applied for a grant with the Canadian Teacher’s Federation and were successful, allowing them the opportunity to bring their project to life. Both classes decided that they wanted to help animals, specifically the Wild at Heart Animal Refuge. The two classes split the grant money and put it towards a different part of the project. The grade seven students decided to purchase digital cameras so that they could document their project and put together multimedia projects to showcase their progress. The JK/SK class decided that they would take some field trips to the shelter itself so that they could learn more about the animals they are hoping to help. In order to get their project started, the classes decided to visit local businesses and organizations in their community, and if allowed, leave donation cans in support of their project. All they were asking for were people’s pennies. Several businesses immediately jumped on board. After the first collection, they very quickly they realized that their penny collection was going to be a great teaching tool for their students. Every few weeks, the students gather together in one classroom and break off into groups of a few grade seven students and one JK/SK student. Each student is then given a pile of pennies that have been collected and the older students guide the younger student in counting out 50 “penny piles”. “Peer learning is such a great teaching tool for our students,” Belanger commented. “The older students become mentors for the young students and each look forward to our meetings as they enjoy learning from each other!” So far, the students have collected and counted over $70 in pennies over the last couple of months.
“Our students are not only learning numeracy, they are also learning literacy, technology, the importance of compassion, community and virtues.” Stated MacRury. The two classes will continue to meet on a regular basis to tally their collections right into June. The Grade 7 students will then have the opportunity to showcase their media presentations to the rest of the school. The group is hoping not only to donate funds to the shelter, but also donate much needed items like food and cleaning supplies.
“The dedication and hard work of our staff is second to none,” Catherine McCullough, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board stated. “These kinds of projects really engage our students, and allow them to see beyond the classroom. These are important life lessons that are a foundation for success in life.”
St. Mary Students “Stand Up” for Family Literacy Day
On January 27th, 2012, St. Mary Catholic School Staff decided to host a “Stand Up Day.” “We wanted to make sure the students were learning an important message on Family Literacy Day ,”said Ms. Waern. “It is for this reason the teachers decided to work with an anti-bullying theme.”
Children travelled from station to station in the afternoon. At one station they listened to literature about bullying and then they participated in oral exercises. At another station, they listened to fairy tales such as Cinderella. The students were then asked to reflect on what they would do if they were being bullied and how they could change their behaviour if they were bullying others. The children were also asked to act out scenarios. Finally, in Ms. Waern’s class students listened to their teacher read books and then they were asked to group together to write poetry with an anti-bullying theme.
The day culminated in the library, where the children created their own “Stand Up” bracelets and “Self-esteem” cupcakes. “
The children were taught the words of Mother Teresa, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” “So how do we belong to each other?,” asked Ms. Brunneau. Her class responded by saying, “Make other people feel good about themselves, and you will feel good about you.”
This message sent by our junior students, sums up the learning of our children on Family Literacy Day. In addition, “The message brings truth and light to our Catholic vision and values ,” said principal Sherry Bortolotti.
St. John Students Celebrate Literacy Day with a Twist
Primary students at St. John School celebrated World Literacy Day on Friday, January 27th with a Fairy Tale twist. Students enjoyed dressing as their favourite Fairy Tale character as they spent the morning engaged in literacy activities. At one station, students played Fairy Tale Trivia, answering questions about some of their beloved stories. Students also listened to and acted out Fairy Tales with their teachers.
St. Andrew Celebrates Family Literacy Day
For Family Literacy Day at St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School, Fire Chief Dan Stack and Public Safety Officer, Mitch Therriault read stories to the primary students. Police Officer Midena read stories to the junior students. Students enjoyed popcorn, and dressed in pyjamas for the day.
Reading with the Wolves
St. Paul the Apostle School welcomed four Sudbury Wolves on the morning of Wednesday Feb. 1. These four players visited the various classrooms and read hockey related books for the students. Pictured is Nathan Pancel with Madame Wright’s JK French Immersion Class. He shared the book “Just One Goal” written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko.
Students Get Hands-On With Health Care
The Introductory Health Care class at St. Charles College recently visited St. Albert’s Adult Education Centre for a shared lab. The high school students joined forces with the Personal Support Worker students to gets some hands-on practical health care skills in the areas of feeding, oral care, vital signs assessments, patient transfers and basic bedside care.
The Introductory Health Care Class is part of the Specialist High Skills Major for Health and Wellness offered at St. Charles College. It gives students the opportunity to start pursuing health care related classes in their high school years.
In photo: Students get hands-on with health care
The Introductory Health Care class at St. Charles College recently visited St. Albert’s Adult Education Centre for a shared lab. The high school students joined forces with the Personal Support Worker students to gets some hands-on practical health care skills in the areas of feeding, oral care, vital signs assessments, patient transfers and basic bedside care.
The Introductory Health Care Class is part of the Specialist High Skills Major for Health and Wellness offered at St. Charles College. It gives students the opportunity to start pursuing health care related classes in their high school years.
St. Anne Students Believe in Motto “Respect For All”
The pupils at St. Anne School in Hanmer pride themselves on demonstrating Catholic virtues. Since September, the students within the Sudbury Catholic Board have worked very hard to practice those virtues of respect, faith, justice, patience, and responsibility. Recently, a presentation from Camp Quality helped to re-enforce all these virtues and more.
Camp Quality is an organization run by volunteers who provide children with cancer the opportunity to experience the joys of camp life during the summer. The camp location in Northern Ontario can be found on the west arm of Lake Nipissing near Monetville. During the school year, the camp sends volunteers and life size puppets into schools to work with students from all grade divisions. Some of the puppets are recovering from leukemia or cancerous tumours. They explain to other puppet friends their feelings and concerns as they return or get ready to return to school. The performances are free for elementary schools and help children to understand the importance of caring for and offering support to one another, especially when a child has a major illness such as cancer.
The St. Anne students enjoyed the presentation immensely. Many of the students themselves have family members who have experienced cancer. The Camp Quality volunteers not only helped re-enforce those virtues already learned, but helped prepare the children for future virtues such as compassion, courage, kindness, and helpfulness. When asked about the presentation itself, the students from all divisions got the message loud and clear. “We may not always look the same on the outside, but we are still the same person on the inside.” Way to go Angels!