All of the grade 7 and 8 St. Benedict students sat in the school’s new cafetorium to take part in the school’s grand opening for the 7 and 8 wing. On hand for the celebration were the Board’s Director, Catherine McCullough, members of Senior Administration, facility staff, building staff, members from the architectural firm of Yallowega and Belanger, teachers, trustees, parent council members and parents. Also included in the service were parish partners who took part in the ceremony – including Bishop Noel Simard who spoke to the students about living the life of St. Benedict who’s motto was pray and work. Simard asked the students to follow this motto in school and in life, and to recognize that being a part of this new St. Benedict community “is a source of joy.” Simard explained to the students that the board and the community have come together not only to build a physical building, but in a way to help ‘build’ the students, with learning, knowledge, and wisdom to live a fulfilled life and be happy.” Simard along with the school’s other parish partners, blessed the new space as well as individual crosses for each of the new classrooms.
The 22,000 square foot new space boasts a third gym for the school, eight new dedicated teaching classrooms with smartboards, as well as two new discovery rooms. To find out more details about what the new space includes, visit the board’s website at http://www.scdsb.edu.on.ca/schools/construction/info-ben.php.
Category: Schools
Marymount Academy Annual Canned Food Drive
This past month, Marymount Academy kicked off its Annual Canned Food Drive for the Sudbury Food Bank. Every year Marymount has great success with this fundraiser, usually raising approximately 10,000 cans. The organizers of this event, the MC3 (Marymount Catholic Charities Council) set a goal of 5,000 cans for the school to collect. This year, the Marymount girls went above and beyond what was expected. They spent countless hours going door-to-door can food collecting, and all of their hard work paid off. One grade 7 student, Brittany Critch, single handedly collected 697 cans on her own! By the final day of the canned food drive on October 21st, the Marymount Regals not only exceeded their goals of 5,000 cans, but beat the school record collecting over 13,300 cans! All of the collected food has been donated to the Sudbury Food Bank. This was a very successful fundraiser for a wonderful cause, and was a great way to kick off a year full of fundraising and charitable events.
By: Shannon Reed, MC3 President
Fabulous Fall Follies at St. Anne School
The French Immersion Early Learning Kindergarten class at St.Anne School was thrilled to pursue their inquiry about the wonders of Fall at J& J Ranch. They took a wonderful hayride in the woods to observe Fall’s fabulous colours. The red, yellow and orange leaves along with the summer like weather made the day a beautiful one! Afterwards the children made wonderful turkeys as replicas of the ones they had seen in nature.
The students would like to thank the owners of the ranch, Mr. & Mrs. O’Daiskey for allowing them to try a new method of transportation. The students are hopeful that they can visit their new animal friends sometime in the near future!
“Trick or Tree”
This fall the teachers and students of St. David Catholic School have embarked on a challenge to make their school a healtheir place. One of the “green” initiatives they have initiated is to plant almost 2000 saplings in a local area that suffers from deforestation. The grade 5, 6 and 8 classes and their teachers learned from local biologist, Franco Mariotti, that “if one class plants trees, we have created a new habitat. If everyone in the school plants a tree then we have created an ecosystem”.
“This is a great example of authentic learning”, teacher Jennifer Gran stated, “we are excited that our students have the opportunity to take classroom learning into the real world and have fun while making our community a healtheir place”. Not only are the students planting saplings in the community, they all were given a sapling to take home and plant with their parents and families.
St. James School “On Fire”… Truck
Fire Prevention Education starts at a young age and the Kindergarten students at St. James Catholic School had a hands-on approach with a visit with trained personnel, thanks to the Greater Sudbury Fire Department. In bringing the fire truck to school, the students learned about fire safety and awareness. The hands-on approach was the perfect way to get important fire safety message across while still having fun in the process. Very excited to discover how the fire truck works is Senior Kindergarten student, Abigail Delongchamp.
St. Anne Junior-Intermediate Students Practice “Test Driving” For The Future
Recently, Mr. Thomson’s Grade 6/7 class from St. Anne Catholic School in Hanmer participated in a culminating Science activity where they put together their knowledge of energy, motion, force and structures to build Spool Racers. The Sudbury Catholic School Racers were put through a thorough testing phase that included speed racing, distance endurance and design analysis. These budding Junior/Intermediate Scientists did a great job in designing some very unique racers while at the same time developing scientific skills of perseverance and creativity. Who knows? One day these young creators may be the next inventors for such events as the Molson Indy, the Indy 500, and the Grand Prix. We will wait to see. Well done Angels!
Dragons Training Around their Den
Students at St. David Catholic Elementary School have set a goal for themselves. They are going to become runners. Teacher Terri-Lynn Lapage issued a challenge to the grades 1-5 students to learn how to become runners and fifteen students have accepted this challenge. Twice a week this group – called the St. David Roaring Runners – as an homage to the school’s mascot, the dragon, can be seen and heard playing cooperative games, running around the block, and cheering each other on. Lepage’s hope is to get the students moving and fit all the while having fun. “The club promotes physical fitness for students and staff and encourages sportsmanship and a positive mental attitude,” Lepage stated. “It’s about supporting the whole person – mind, body and soul… and with the running club – the kids are getting that positive support.” The Roaring Runners are preparing for the Santa Shuffle on December 3rd and are busy collecting pledges to donate to the Salvation Army’s Women and Children’s shelter. All of the their progress is charted in a blog that Lepage has set up at http://groups.runforlife.ca/roaringrunners. “Running club is a place where all children (and teachers) can experience success. I can’t describe how great it feels to see students cheering each other on or proudly announcing that they ran 7 laps this practice instead of 3 or 4.” St. David principal Dawn Wemigwans is quite proud of Lepage and the students. “What a fantastic opportunity to promote wellness and healthy living for our students,” Wemigwans stated. “There is nothing better than seeing the kids running around the school, laughing and cheering, with great big smiles on their faces – that is what this club is all about.” Lepage and the Roaring Runners are issuing a challenge to all other schools and running clubs in Sudbury to start up similar clubs and match or even beat their donations. Lepage encourages others to go to her blog to find out more about the St. David Roaring Runners and says to expect to see them in fine form at their very first race, the Santa Shuffle, in December. “This race is only our first goal – the first step in a journey of healthy living for our St. David community.”
Reading Buddies Start up at Pius XII
The reading buddies program has begun at Pius XII! This literacy program generates a strong sense of community at the school. In the program, big and little buddies read to eachother. The Reading Buddies program works to proactively prevent bullying in the school by building strong relationships across all grades.
St. Anne E.L.K.P. Students Work On Getting “Stuffed” For Fall Celebrations
The month of October can be an exciting one for little people. The English and French Early Learning Kindergarten Students at St. Anne School in Hanmer are no exception. Along with their regular classroom activities during the month of October, they celebrated Thanksgiving and will also be celebrating Hallowe’en. Finding a mascot to help tie the two celebrations together wasn’t very hard. Who better than the scarecrow? The farm fields are full of scarecrows in the fall as the farmers prepare to gather in their crops and those same scarecrows watch over the most important Hallowe’en crop of all. Pumpkins!
With the help and guidance of their teachers, the youngest students at the Sudbury Catholic School in Hanmer took advantage of the nice weather and headed outside to build their own fall scarecrows. Armed with a wooden base for the body, a bale of hay, and all the usual clothing one would expect to find on a scarecrow, the students took turns not only talking about the order and appearance of their individual classroom scarecrows, but also took turns grabbing handfuls of the hay and stuffing their scarecrow bodies. In the end, three different classrooms had created three different looking scarecrows. The scarecrows will sit in the flower beds in front of St. Anne School for the entire month of October watching over the school’s own gardens and helping to put students and staff from all grades into a season of celebrating. Never let it be said that the English and French E.L.K.P. students at St. Anne School aren’t “stuffed” with ideas about having fun!