On Wednesday, October 10, students at St. James Catholic School joined thousands worldwide as they gave their school a hug.
“Give Your School a Hug™ day provides an opportunity for students all over the world to identify how to make their school better and invite members of the school community to join them to create a caring, safe and accepting school.” (Idea created by Heartspeak)
Superintendent Rossella Bagnato joined staff, students and parents as they gathered to literally give their school a hug.
Category: Topic
St. James – Bears Who Care!
Dressed in their best jammies, brothers Jackson and Carter Drigo proudly show off their coin donation in a specially decorated can. St. James held a PJ Day and coin drive on Friday, October 5th. Students brought in loose change in support of a local family whose young son has been diagnosed with cancer. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend, students were reminded that even though the young boy attends a different school, we are all part of a larger community and we are thankful for the chance to show our support . The single day event raised more than $1700 for the family of 5 yr-old Carson Widdifield.
Buster Visits St. Andrew
Buster the Bus visited the students of St. Andrew School on the afternoon of Friday October 12th. With the help of Consortium staff, Buster taught the children bus safety rules. Pictured with Buster are Jaida and Kayshia from the JK class.
It Takes the St. Anne Community to Make Stone Soup
Students in Grades 7 and 8 at St. Anne Catholic School in Hanmer experienced first hand what it was like to come together as a village. For the past four days, students have had the opportunity to listen to different variations of “The Stone Soup” story. They also brought donations of food forward to create their own stone soup. Students worked together preparing all of the necessary ingredients, and learned that working together as a community has its own rewards. “Even though we shed a few tears while cutting onions, it was still fun working my fellow classmates,” said Stephanie Fortier, a Grade 7 student at St. Anne Catholic School. Students enjoyed their delicious stone soup on Friday, October 5th, 2012. The general consensus was that working together to provide for one another was a rewarding experience that everyone will cherish for a long time.
Surpassing Science Expectations Across a Nation
Students at Marymount Academy had a very unique opportunity on Friday, October 12, 2012. Classes from four different grades took part in what could be the world’s largest science lesson. Students from a grade 7, 8, 10 and 12 science class took part in the attempt at a world record for the largest practical science lesson with the hopes of inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records. Alongside thousands of other Canadians, different groups took part in this activity across Canada as the official launch of National Science and Technology Week 2012 through Science.gc.ca.
Following strict guidelines, students had to sign in, and the entire activity was documented with time-stamped video and pictures to ensure the group was following the outlined rules. After a brief video introduction from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, the students watched another short clip that demonstrated the two different experiments – “the Kissing Balloons” and “the Water Mister”. Using simple materials such as balloons, string, plastic cups and water provided at each table, the students then worked together in groups to perform both experiments and document their findings. Working in the school’s cafeteria, giggles and laughter could be heard throughout as each student worked through their part of the experiment. Marymount science teacher Lise Callahan was the organizer for the event and made sure she followed all outlined instructions for her students to be included in this monumentous event. “It seemed pretty simple at first,” Callahan remarked. “Just sign up the students and provide the materials… however, I quickly realized that it was a much more involved process. We have to ensure that everything is done properly to be included in the world record attempt. The students have been quite excited leading up to this event and we are thrilled to be a part of it! At Marymount Academy, we have really outstanding students and knew that their level of enthusiasm for this project would be really high. I am proud of our school for participating and can’t wait to see if we do actually set the record!” All of the participants have to have their results sent by October 19 and would find out soon after if their attempt was successful for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records.
St. Anne Leads the Way to Wireless Technology
Staff and students at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Hanmer are excited to showcase the new technology that recently rolled into their school. Last year, teachers in the Intermediate division submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Education to increase student achievement in writing. This proposal, with a focus on assessment for learning and the imbedded use of technology, was approved in February 2012. The $45,000 grant allows for the purchase of a 2 to 1 student iPad program.
The students at St. Anne Catholic School were fascinated when the new technology was finally incorporated into the classroom. Learners started the week with interactive math lessons delivered wireless through the magic of Apple TV. “It was so great to see our classroom go wireless! We were able to answer questions from our own group and our responses were projected on the large screen using our iPads. Everyone in the classroom was able to work together to solve group problems,” said Davey Meeks, Grade 8 student at the school.
Providing effective and timely feedback to students is a corner stone of the proposal. Each teacher received live scribe pens to help achieve this important goal. The pens allow for the delivery of interactive audio descriptive feedback. Students can now better understand how to improve their work and set next steps. “It was awesome to hear suggestions of how to improve my work. I can listen to suggestions over and over, and improve as I move along,” said Christopher Balaz, a student in Grade 8.
The Ministry of Education allotted a portion of the grant to be spent on the professional development of teachers and collaboration with community partner. St. Anne Catholic School is a dual track Kindergarten to grade 8 school, offering programs in both English and French Immersion, as well as the Full Day Kindergarten program.
Generous Donation is Music to Sudbury Catholic’s Ears
Students at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board are on the receiving end of a wonderful gift from Newcap Radio once again. For the fourth year in a row, Director of Programming, Rick Tompkins paid a visit to the Sudbury Catholic Board office to present Nicole Snow, Superintendent of School Effectiveness with a cheque for over $7500 to put towards music programming for the board. The cheque is a result Newcap’s commitment to supporting music programs and education in Sudbury as part of an agreement between Newcap Radio and the CRTC. Through this agreement, the radio station promised to help foster musicianship among area youth, particularly through providing support of local school board music programming – including the purchase of instruments. Nicole Snow was thrilled to be accepting this donation on behalf of the board. “We are absolutely thrilled to have such a great relationship with Newcap Radio,” Snow stated. “Their generosity year after year has had such a positive impact on our students as it has allowed us to enhance our music programming at the board. We are very grateful to Newcap for their ongoing support and generous commitment to Sudbury Catholic.” Over the past four years, the radio station has donated close to $30,00 to the Sudbury Catholic Board’s music programs.
University Information Night – October 15, 2012
There will be a University Information Night on Monday, October 16, 2012 for all students interested in finding out more information about Ontario universities. Representatives from all 21 of the provinces universities will be on hand to answer any questions from prospective students including admission requirements, residence, scholarships, application processes and much more. Students and their parents or guardians will be able to attend three different presentations from universities that will be thirty minutes in length. After each presentation, a question and answer period will follow. This university information night was created to help students in their decision making process before they apply to universities beginning January 2013. This event will be taking place at Lockerby Composite School from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
St. Raphael Students Work to Establish New World Record
Grade 8 students from teacher Marilyn Barbeau’s class prepare to lead St. Raphael Catholic Elementary students in an amazing 30 minute Science feat. On October 12, 2012, the students will work to establish a new Guinness World Record for the Largest Practical Science Lesson at multiple locations. Thousands of Canadian students will take part in this endeavour at the same time all across Canada. Stay tuned to learn if this industrious student body gets into the record book. For more information, you can visit Science.gc.ca.