Dylan Spanish, a First Nation student at St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School proudly spoke of his family heritage and cultural traditions during the school’s annual Heritage Fair. According to Dylan, “the N’Swakmok Friendship Center in downtown Sudbury is where he spends time after school participating in cultural programs”. Dylan likes the Center’s youth activities and goes there every Tuesday and Wednesday after school. Dylan also stated that, “not only am I proud of my heritage, but I also am proud to share what I know with my friends and teachers at school. I feel good telling them about the medicine wheel and what it means.” Dylan further explained that, “the medicine wheel has four colours on it. The fours colours represent all races on Mother Earth and how everyone is equal and has gifts from the Creator.” Dylan also explained what traditional medicines were and how they are used during a sweat lodge. Dylan will represent his school at the Regional Heritage Fair at Laurentian University on May 6, 2010. Congratulations Dylan!
Category: Schools
St. Christopher Holds Successful Family Literacy Night & Book Fair
On Thursday, February 25th/10 St. Christopher School held its annual Family Literacy Night and Book Fair. Thanks to the efforts of staff and students, the evening was a resounding success. In particular, St. Christopher’s would like to acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Dumont’s Grade 6 class who read and dramatized various stories with great flair. Also, a special thank you to Mrs. Zilio for co-ordinating and organizing the Book Fair and to the many parents who gave of their time to volunteer and assist.
St. Mary’s Kindergarten Class Goes Shopping
As part of the Community Theme, the kindergarten students of St. Mary Catholic School in Capreol recently visited the local grocery store, Capreol Foodland. Using their shopping list, students picked up and paid for all the ingredients for Strawberry Smoothies. Back at school, students made and enjoyed the nutritious snack. They even shared a cup with the Principal. Yum!
St. Michael Catholic Elementary Honours Canadian Olympic Athletes
Students at St. Michael school celebrated Olympic spirit on Friday, February 26 by wearing red and white clothing. Ms. Visentin’s grade 2/3 art class celebrated the day by painting Canadian flags to honour Canada’s talented Olympians and their medal count. Students were very, very excited with the outcome of the men’s hockey game on the weekend.
St. Charles College and St. Bernadette Students Working Together to Build Partnership
Grade 6 students at St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School have had a unique opportunity every Tuesday for the last month. Dan Boisvert, a teacher from St. Charles College has had his Grade 10 History students partner-up with the St. Bernadette students to work on their elementary Heritage Fair projects. The secondary students have been helping the elementary students with all of the research, preparation and organization involved in setting up their assignments. Nicole Snow, Principal of St. Bernadette was quite excited about the project with St. Charles College. “Partnerships like this can be very powerful.” said Snow. Chantal Therrien, the Grade 6 teacher was also enthusiastic about the student mentoring. “It is good to create this partnership with St. Charles College.” said Therrien. “Now, when it comes time for the students to go to high school, they won’t be so intimidated. It has been a really great experience for my students that they have enjoyed very much!” The project has allowed the secondary students to guide and share their knowledge with the Grade 6 students. Boisvert felt that it was an excellent opportunity for the two schools to help each other and build a stronger school community. “The more we do this, the better we get at it.” said Boisvert. “It is great to start off with small steps like this and build from here.” The two schools already have two more projects in the works including french language debate with two different class as well as a family studies class from the highschool working with the kindergarten students.
St. Albert Business Program Showcases Student Projects
Over the last several weeks, the participants of the brand new Business Program at St. Albert Adult Learning Centre have been working hard to identify and refine both their verbal and non-verbal communication skills. In order to demonstrate their new understanding of the subtle differences in non-verbal communication, each group created and videotaped two different mock interview scenarios. The scenarios were intended to demonstrate the subtleties between effective and ineffective body language and tone of voice during job interviews and were premiered on March 2, 2010 for several students and school staff. Tina Timpano, one of the Sudbury Catholic Teacher Integration Mentor teachers had visited the classroom over the past few months to assist the students with their video editing on imovie on the macbooks. The students were very enthusiastic about diving into the task of editing their movies in order to create polished, professional looking presentations for their projects. Jill Ospina, the Business teacher at the school felt that the integration of technology as well as the learning of practical hands-on real life skills will allow her students to be successful when it comes times for them to enter the workforce. “For many of the students, this project forced them to come out of their shell and experience real life situations that will benefit them for real job interview opportunities.” said Ospina. “ They have come a long way in a really short amount of time with this project and I am really proud of them.” Cassandra MacGregor, Vice-Principal of the school was thrilled that the students were pleased with the new program at the school. “ The students are earning credits towards their high school diploma as well as receiving specialized training to assist them when they enter the business world – it is a win-win situation for them.” Two of the students that presented their project, Francine Dubreuil and Peghan Verkuil were nervous but enthusiastic about their project being showcased to the other students. “We were really overwhelmed at first with this project,” said Dubreuil “but it has been a lot of fun and we have definitely learned a lot about business and technology. “ Peghan Verkuil also shared similar sentiments. “It definitely has been a lot of work, but in the end it paid off as it was a great experience to prepare us for the future.”
Pius XII Catholic Elementary Celebrates Heritage and Science
Parents, family members, and students from other grades had the opportunity to view all of the Grade 5 and 8 Heritage Fair and Grade 7 Science Fair projects at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School on February 26, 2010. The gym was filled with bright and colourful displays showing off the students’ hard work. Pauline Therian, a retired teacher as well as Glenn Thibeault were brought in to help judge the projects to determine which would be moving on to the regional competition. Todd Horn, the Grade 6/7 was pleased with the outcome of his students’ projects. “These projects allow students to deepen their research skills and utilize technology to find out their information.” said Horn. “With respect to Heritage Fair, it is important for them to find out all about different aspects of the past and link it to the future.”. Megan Murphy, Vice Principal of the school was also one of the judges on hand to evaluate the different projects. “The students are quite proud of their work today.” said Murphy. “It is wonderful to see their pride in their work and their community on display.”. Winners from the school’s Science Fair will move on to the regional competition on March 9 and the winners from the school’s Heritage Fair will move on to the regional competition on May 7, 2010.
St. Ben’s Students “Make the Cut” in Art
Every year, the Art Gallery of Sudbury has an exhibition showcasing local high school students. This year, three students from St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School have been selected to be a part of a juried exhibition which means that not every piece of work submitted “makes the cut”. St. Ben’s students Matt White, Katy Peacock and Cassidy McAuliffe have been chosen to be a part of the group of selected artists making up this showcase of art work. The students art teacher, Bruno Timpano, was thrilled that his students were chosen to be a part of this exhibition and was really proud of them for being selected. The exhibition begins on March 4 and runs through right to the end of the month. The opening gala will be held on Thursday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m.
SCC Antioch Prayer Group Enjoy Retreat In Killarney
Participants from the St. Charles Antioch prayer group took in the beauty of God’s creation and the wonderful weather on February 20 and 21, 2010 in Killarney. The students are part of the team that will put on the next Antioch Weekend (April 16,17,18) at St. Charles College. While in Killarney, the students participated in team building and communication exercises over the course of the two day retreat/seminar. The splendour of the lighthouse scenery, the sacredness of St. Ambrose Church, and the serenity of the Aboriginal classroom provided perfect opportunities for prayer and reflection. St. Charles College would like to thank the people of Killarney for their friendliness, the parishioners of St. Ambrose Parish for welcoming them at Mass, and especially the Outdoor Education Co-ordinator Mike Lavin for taking care of all of their needs throughout their visit.