Avery Blanchard, a grade 2 student at St. James Catholic School has been selected as a winner in the Draw Your Canada competition. Her drawing depicting what Canada means to her has been published in the Member of Parliament’s calendar for 2011. Avery competed with hundreds of entries across Canada. Presenting Avery with a certificate of recognition is classroom teacher Mrs. Lanci.
Category: Schools
Students of St. Bernadette Spread the Christmas Spirit!
The St. Bernadette school community collected over 200 gifts to share with the residents of the Extendicare Falconbridge. Each year they visit the residence to spread Christmas cheer through caroling and crafts. The residents of Extendicare Falconbridge and the students look forward to spending time together.
Students of St. Bernadette Spread the Christmas Spirit!
The St. Bernadette school community collected over 200 gifts to share with the residents of the Extendicare Falconbridge. Each year they visit the residence to spread Christmas cheer through caroling and crafts. The residents of Extendicare Falconbridge and the students look forward to spending time together.
St. Paul Advent food Drive
Christmas is a time of joy and giving and the students of St. Paul have learned this lesson well. During this season of Advent students donated canned and dried goods to donate to the Coniston Food Bank. On Friday December 17th local firefighters picked up the 1808 goods.
Successful Start to Early Learning at Pius XII
Since September, ELK (Early Learning Kindergarten) students at Pius XII school have been engaged in play-based learning and loving it! Mrs. Heaton (classroom teacher) and Mrs. Monaghan (ECE) believe that carefully planned play centres focused on inquiry in the six areas of learning are key to students’ knowledge development and skill building.
For example, the house center was transformed into a fruit market last month and students were encouraged to write their grocery lists using classroom resources posted at eye level. This month, ELK students will write letters to Santa and family on real stationary in the kindergarten post office. An authentic way for young writers to practise printing skills!
Given the holiday season, the “Polar Express” center was recently added. Some ELK students re-enact scenes from the movie “The Polar Express” which they viewed the week previous to the center opening while others creatively add new scenes of their own. ELK students learn about taking turns, cooperation, and problem solving while engaged in meaningful play. These skills are key in helping students become friendly and positive group members!
The ELK team members are thrilled with the progress made by all of the students in kindergarten at Pius XII and congratulate them on a tremendous start to the school year!
Samaritan’s Purse & Operation Christmas Child
Operation Christmas Child is a special Christmas project affiliated with Samaritan’s Purse, a non-denominational Christian organization. At St. Anne’s this year, Mrs. Belanger and Mr. Thomson’s Grade 7 classes partnered together to pack a total of 37 shoe boxes for needy children around the world. Students and their families generously donate their time and money to fill shoe boxes with a variety of special items such as toys, school supplies, hygiene items, etc. Every gift-filled shoe box is given unconditionally, regardless of religion, gender, or race, in a way that practically demonstrates the love of Jesus Christ around the globe. The boxes will be sent to children in countries in Central America, the Caribbean, South America and West Africa. Way to go Angels!!
St. James Student Proud Winner of “Teddy Bear Colouring Contest”
St. James Catholic School in Lively supported the fourth annual Teddy Bear Picnic– a fundraising event organized by the students at Cambrian College’s Police Foundations program in conjunction with the Sudbury and District Unit of Canadian Cancer Society. The St. James student council donated a bear to the teddy bear auction that raised funds for pediatric and childhood cancer research. Another part of the Teddy Bear Picnic campaign was a colouring contest and Ava Chenier, a Junior Kindergarten student was the grand prize winner of contest. Presenting Ava Chenier with a John Deere bike and a teddy bear is Patricia Clizia from the Canadian Cancer Society.
Cross-Curriculum Learning at Bishop Alexander CCSS
Students taking the grade 10 Canadian History class at Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School got a real hands-on learning experience when they began to study World War II recently. As part of the curriculum, students had to learn about different technology including vehicles and weapons used during the war and were assigned the task of re-creating replicas of some of these technologies. Teacher Catherine MacNamara ask her students to choose a, plane, tank, ship or weapon and create a model based on research as well as write a report on its significance or impact on the war, specifically who used it and why. In order to engage the students, MacNamara teamed up with construction teacher Dennis Duchaine who allowed the students to use his shop to help recreate these models during class time. “What a great way to get students excited about learning,” MacNamara said. “When you allow them to use their creativity and really have a hands-on experience, they are much more engaged in the process and get really excited about the project. Even students who are not the traditional learners enjoy this project because it combines history with practical learning and tools – the end result being students who have created amazing projects and are also quite proud of themselves.”
Duchaine was quick to jump in with the project as he too sees the importance of allowing students to experience learning in different ways. “Cross-curriculum activities are a great way to build positive learning experiences for our students,” Duchaine said. “All of the students involved really enjoyed taking part in this project and we are definitely going to look for more opportunities in the future to do this again with other classes.”
Breaking Bread – B.A.C.C.S.S. Annual Breakfast Club with Parents
For the second year in a row, students and staff of Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School invited parents and community partners to join them at the school’s morning breakfast club program on December 9th, 2010 to see how the program is growing in leaps and bounds. The school’s chaplain, Jennifer Geddes helps with the set up, cooking and clean-up for the program and is enthusiastic about its growth. “Compared to last year, the breakfast programs now feeds approximately 1/4 of the school each and every day.” Geddes stated. B.A.C.C.S.S. teacher Dennis Duchaine really feels it is making a different in the performance of many of the students. “I see big changes in a lot of the kids, “Duchaine said. “ They are more alert and are participating so much more because they are no longer tired and hungry – having the breakfast available to them makes it easy to fuel themselves in order for them to learn. Even teacher participation has grown and staff are often found in the breakfast club room, helping out and ‘breaking bread’ with students and fellow co-workers.” The school invited parents and community partners in to show them how positively the program impacts the students and allows them to see the difference it is making for the school.