February 3rd marks the feast day for Saint Blaise of Sebaste. Blaise was a physician before becoming a Bishop and is believed to have cured a young boy from death as he had a fish bone stuck in his throat. This miracle martyred him and the ritual of throat blessings began.
Every year the students and staff at S.C.C. have the option to have their throats blessed to keep them safe from injury or disease. This year, the throat blessing fell on an ice day so staff was blessed. This was a first for our elementary 7/8 teachers who are new to the S.C.C. family.
Category: Schools
Sharing Indigenous Arts and Culture at MMA
On Friday January 18, 2016, Marymount Academy had the pleasure of spending some of their afternoon with special guest Lisa Marie Naponse. Their guest was introduced by two very confident young women, students Tyanna Soucy and Hailey Organ. These two ladies are currently representatives of the Aniisinaabe Cultural group here at Marymount Academy which is organized in collaboration with Carla Petahtegoose, the SCDSB Indigenous Education Support Worker. Lisa Marie is a self-taught singer and songwriter from Atikameksheng Anishinawbek. She shared her art and music which is a blend of blues, folk, and country. During her visit with Marymount she engaged the students in song and rhythm. Lisa shared with the students that as she was growing up, she was surrounded by music and creativity her mother and father played music and her sisters were pow wow dancers and craftswomen. Lisa speaks to people through music on indigenous life and her experiences as an Anishnawbe Kwe(Woman). Lisa quickly embraced the microphone community; which lead her to eventually co-founding an Indigenous Arts Collective that showcased Indigenous performances and art throughout the city of Ottawa. Today Lisa Marie has returned to her community and is working on new music and art. Finally, to finish off our assembly Hailey Organ kindly presented a gift on behalf of the Marymount staff and students.
Dancing and Moving at St. Paul
The St Paul dance club has come to an end for another season. The students worked very hard all year by learning new moves and dances culminating with them presenting their own dance creations on stage. Teacher Emily Power was very lucky to have 3 amazing grade 8 helpers that volunteered their time all year! Way to go St Paul dancers.
ST. FRANCIS CELEBRATES LITERACY DAY!
On January 27, the students from St. Francis Catholic Elementary School celebrated Literacy Day. Students in kindergarten to grade six were asked to donate gently used books from their home and trade them in for“new” books. The event was organized by Special Education Resource Teacher, Ms. Graziella Visentin who encourages the use of technology to assist with reading as well as the use of traditional hardcopy books to practice reading skills. The school cafeteria and gathering room had a wide variety of book titles on display for students to choose from. Students also donated English and French books. The book swap originally began between two primary classrooms and eventually grew to involve the whole school over the last few years due to its success. The book swap provided an excellent opportunity for students to exchange books within their school community, encourage the love of reading and recycle books. Students enjoyed selecting free books to take home for Literacy Day.
Immaculate Loves Literacy Day!
Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School family members were invited to participate in Family Literacy Day on January 27th with their children. All enjoyed playing a variety of literacy games and activities. Immaculate student Alyssa Williams and her Mom had fun using the ipad to create different posters.
Holy Cross Students Enjoying the Sun and Snow
Taking advantage of the sunny day, students in Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School’s grade 3/4 class had the opportunity to go for a snowshoeing adventure recently. Teacher Christina Lucciantonio said it was “a great way for the students to get some fresh air and enjoy the fresh powdery snow!”
Family Literacy Day in Mme Wright’s Grade 2/3 Class at St. Paul School
St. Paul Catholic Elementary School Grade 2/3 students along with their parents or grandparents took part in Family Literacy Day activities inside the classroom recently. The parent turnout at the event was incredible! The students and parents rotated through three centres. The first station involved a read aloud of the amusing book entitled “The Book With No Pictures” and creating their own fancy bookmark. The second station had the students searching through non-fiction books for a fabulous fact about something of interest to them and then using the Pages app on the iPad to write about what they learned and to include an image. The third was a poetry centre where they worked together to create beautiful Cinquain poems. Parents and students had a great time reading and writing together.
St. John Students Howling with the Sudbury Wolves
On January 25, 2016, 7 members of the Sudbury Wolves took their “off ice” game to the full day Kindergarten class of Mrs. Yasko, Mrs. Gionet and Mrs. Thomson at St. John Catholic Elementary School in Garson.
Encouraged by Coach David Matsos to support and participate in community events, the seven team players played hockey in the gym with students; read hockey inspired stories in small groups; answered many questions from the students and autographed paper jerseys that the children made. In turn, the students proudly gave the players a large hand made “Thank you” sign bearing each of their names on hand drawn mini sticks.
Involvement in the life of a community is something that is beneficial to all. This “Win/Win” play designed by Coach Mastsos and the St John school staff scored well with the players and students! Thank you Wolves!
B.E.S.T. Program Winter Olympics
On Friday, January 22nd Bishop Carter hosted a Winter Olympics for the grade nine and ten students in the B.E.S.T. program. This day was perfectly placed after E.Q.A.O. and before exams, to provide a much needed day of fun with no stress. The Senior Leadership class was in charge of planning, and running the event for as their culminating task.
The morning started off with a walk to the Church for the first two events. Here countries competed againstt each other in Boot Hockey and various Sliding Races. The teams then returned to the school for an Olympic Banquet (lunch). The delicious lunch included hotdogs, various salads and Olympic Ring cupcakes. The afternoon competition included Sticks and various Racing events like the snowshoe relay. After the events teams went to the awards ceremony. Nine specialty medals were given for individual recognition. Ribbons were handed out for the first, second and third place team for the various events. When all was said and done Russia received bronze, Canada received silver and Finland walked away with the gold. Job well done to the Senior Leadership class, and thank you to the B.E.S.T. program for participating. Fun was had by all.