Students from St. David’s Catholic Elementary School joined together on Friday, March 25 to celebrate their community’s cultural diversity by holding their first Italian Day.
To begin the day, students listened to “Canto Degli Italiani” which is the national anthem of Italy. Festivities that followed included mask making, a parade and a tarantella dance competition, in honour of Italy’s annual Carnevale. Students had the opportunity to buy pasta and meatballs prepared by the Caruso Club and staff’s family members (mothers, aunts, grandmothers etc.) also baked homemade Italian cookies for the entire student body. Diana Colilli, professor at Laurentian University and President of the Caruso Club attended the school’s celebration and donated a book she authored entitled “Italian Faces” to the school. School Vice-Principal, Tina Timpano helped coordinate the day’s events and spoke of the importance of embracing the community and its diverse culture. “ At St. David’s we encourage our students to learn about each other’s cultures and family histories,” Timpano said. “Through these types of celebrations, we are encouraging equity and inclusivity in our school and in our community – and we are thankful for community partners like Diana Colilli who help us make our celebrations so special for our students.” Students and staff embraced their Italian theme by dressing in green red and white, painting Italian flags on their cheeks, showing slideshows of Italian images and listening to Italian music. Teacher Maria Cimino also helped in the coordination of the day’s event and was thrilled by the students’ enthusiasm. “At St. David’s we really embrace cultural diversity, and our community partners – like the Caruso Club, have really supported our efforts and for that we are very thankful.” Seeing as the entire school enjoyed the day’s events so immensely, the staff has already begun brainstorming for the next culture day at St. David’s.
Category: Schools
Marymount Academy Girls Hockey Division Two Champions!
Recently the Marymount Academy Girls Hockey Team won the Division Two championship series in two straight games over Lasalle. The first game was all Regals as Maddy Pos scored all six goals in a 6 -1 win. The second game was much closer due to Marymount missing a key player, Lindsey Castonguay. The final game had a scoreless first period and then Lasalle scored two goals in the second period to lead by two heading into the third. With 5 minutes left in the game the Regals got on the board when Maddy Pos found the back of the net making it 2 -1. Then Emily Herbert tied the game up with just over a minute left in the third to send the game into sudden-death overtime and save the day. Overtime only lasted a few minutes when Maddy Pos became the hero and does what she does best by rushing end-to-end and sc oring the winning goal. Congratulations Regals!!
Pius XII Early Learning Students Loving New iPads
With the recent addition of ipad centres in the ELK classrooms at Pius XII school, many students are opting for time with technology during play! The kindergarten classrooms received 4 ipads each loaded with interactive games focused on the development of students’ fine motor, literacy and numeracy skills. The classroom teachers and early childhood educators also each received an ipad to help facilitate the documentation of student learning. A welcomed tool to help in the recording and organization of student observations! “We are fortunate to be at a school in a board that recognizes the importance of introducing technology to students at an early age. The ipads provide the ideal environment for a 21st century learner!” explained classroom teacher, Camille Heaton. “Almost all of my students got the ipad in hand and began navigating it and its application with ease.” she added.
Moving through Zumba at St. James
Students at St. James are getting metabolism-boosting, strength-building benefits thanks to parent Jennifer Pattison who volunteers to hold Zumba classes during lunch. But for the students it’s not so much about fitness as it’s about having fun through dancing to hip-hop, Latin and international music.
Shrove Tuesday at St. Paul
Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent. In St. Paul tradition, parent and grandparent volunteers prepared a pancake lunch for all the students and staff. Everyone shared a blessing and then ate together at tables that were set up in the gym.
Students from St. Anne Take on the World in a Unique Math Competition
On March 1, 2011, the grade seven students at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School participated in World Math Day. The event involved students from all over the world playing againstt each other in real-time battles of mental arithmetic using the newly updated Live Mathletics game engine, their laptop computers, and accessing the internet in the classroom. Students were also able to access the site at home to practice. Students learned more about world time zones and discovered that at a certain times during the day they are more likely to play students from particular countries. This was a truly unique world event and a fantastic way to promote numeracy within the school and the students learned that Math is fun!
St. Anne Students Learn About Their Past
Learning about the past can be amazing, especially when you can relate to the people and events. That’s what the St. Anne Grade 5 students did by participating in the 2011 Historica Fair. The primary focus of the Fair was to encourage students to research their past and present the results of their efforts to the community at large.
There were 4 winning entries that will move on to the city wide judging taking place at Laurentian University. This year’s local historica theme winners dealt with heroic grandparents who were veterans of the Korean and Second World Wars, an uncle and local hockey hero, Andrew Brunette, and the history of Sudbury Secondary Highschool. Winners were judged on their research and presentation skills, as well as their oral and written reports. Congratulations to all Gr.5 students for their great efforts and participation in such a worthwhile fair. You have truly uncovered your history!
Pyjamas and Zumba Spell St. Anne Spirit
Imagine the comfort of getting to wear your pyjamas to school as well as having fun with your friends while doing so. Mrs. Lafrance’s Gr.3/4 class and Mme Pickard’s Gr. 4FI class recently did so while celebrating spirit day at St. Anne School.
While in their pyjamas, the students participated in a special Zumba dance class led by a parent, and qualified Zumba instructor from Zumba Vibe, Mrs. Stacey Kydd. Mrs. Kydd donated her services for this special event. For 40 minutes, the children and their teachers shimmied and danced to the upbeat music. The students would like to extend a big St. Anne thank you to Mrs. Kydd for her efforts and enthusiasm. It was a fantastic Zumba/school spirit experience and all St. Anne classes are looking forward to seeing what excitement the next spirit day brings!
Poet and Pizza Day at St. Mark
Recently the children and parents of St. Mark School, had an opportunity to write poetry with their parents and guardians. All groups were introduced to the different types of poetry as children read some examples of well-know poems.
The group was taught what a cinquain poem is and then everyone was given an opportunity to write a cinquain.
Rebecca Reimer helped us with our understanding of free verse poetry and she gave everyone a chance to write a free verse poem.
Students and parents were given poetry packs to work with.
Pizza was also served to help nourish the minds and bodies of our authors.
Here is an example of a cinquain poem written by grade 4 student, Madison Reimer Roy and her mom:
Baby
Happy, small.
Kicking, small, waiting, sleeping.
Excited to come out.
Youngling.
Here’s some free verse written by kindergartener Zoey Cryderman and her dad:
Flowers,
From the garden,
They dance with me,
They wear rainbow dresses.
This poem was written by Haley Cornthwaite and her dad:
Water,
The flowing water,
It looks so peaceful,
It looks so blue.
Mrs. Kennedy (parents) remarked, she had a pleasant afternoon with her son and appreciated the uniqueness of the event.
The poets ended the afternoon by sharing some of their new pieces of writing in front of the group.