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!!
Category: Topic
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.
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.
“God truly gives his gifts to the poor and always does right”
The spirit of altruism is alive and well at St. Charles Catholic School in Chelmsford. The yearly food drive for the needy was a huge success for the entire community. Students and staff collected 5 092 food items for La Maison d’Amitié/Friendship House. Mme Bouzane’s Gr. 5/6 French Immersion class co-ordinated this yearly endeavour from start to finish. Although they encouraged everyone to bring in canned goods, their class contributed over 1 000 cans to the food drive, making them the winners of this school-wide friendly competition. These champions are the recipients of the “Golden Can” Award. Way to go RAMS!
A Very Timely and Meaningful Holiday Message from St. Raphael Students
The students at St. Raphael School have been busy decorating brown bags to warn adults about the dangers of drinking and driving. The one thousand bags will then be distributed to LCBO customers in New Sudbury during the month of December.
Students in grades four to eight are involved in the project which ties into the substance abuse curriculum, as well as art and media literacy. The goal is to remind adults that drinking and driving don’t mix while teaching the adults of tomorrow this important life long lesson.
St. Charles Catholic Elementary School Students Take Part in Anti-Bullying Activities
The week of November 15-19 marked Bullying Awareness Prevention Week. Students at St. Charles Elementary in Chelmsford recognized this important week by participating in a variety of activities including creating skits, songs and posters, all focusing on bullying awareness and prevention. Students in Ms. Harasymowicz’s grade 8 class chose to recognize this important issue by creating and wearing t-shirts displaying a wide variety of anti bullying messages and slogans. This also tied in perfectly with the theme of Justice, which was the virtue of the month for November.
St. Bernadette Stands Up for Peace
Students at St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School took part in several creative activities in honour of Bullying Awareness week. Each class discussed how every single student has an important role to play in fostering a safe and caring school environment. Some of the week’s activities included a mass, taking the anti-bullying pledge and taking part in a live demonstration of peace by creating a student-body peace sign on the school’s front lawn.
Sudbury Hosts Bolivian Students
Ten students from Bolivia are in Sudbury until the end of January on an exchange program through an organization called Canada World Youth. Ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-six, the students arrived in Canada on November 1 and Sudbury on November 3 and are taking part in St. Albert’s Adult Learning Centre’s English as a Second Language Program to better adapt their communication skills while in the city. The school was contacted by the organization to see if they would be willing to accept the students into their E.S.L. class and the staff at St. Albert readily agreed.
The students are living with host families and, as well as school, also do volunteer work in the community three times a week. Their volunteer work allows them to learn about themselves and their new community, increases their involvement in local and global issues and give them tools to contribute to the well-being of the city as well as taking them back with them when they return home. Some of the volunteer locations for these students include Habitat for Humanity, Eat Local, the Friendship Centre and the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth (SACY).
Mai Hellak, the ESL teacher at St. Albert was thrilled to learn of the students’ arrival in her class. “I have been teaching ESL with the Catholic Board since 1996 and it is always so much fun,” Hellak said. “When you have students learning English as a second language, you are teaching at multiple levels and it makes for a lot of hard work but it is very rewarding. I also have another teacher named Claire Kamber who volunteers in the classroom and helps with the workload tremendously.”
Cassandra MacGregor, Principal of St. Albert was also excited to learn about the Bolivian students taking part in classes at their school. “We are delighted to have these students here as it allows us to learn about their culture while we are supporting their learning – and it also promotes diversity in our community.”
Exchange student, Cecilia Montalvan is the Bolivian co-ordinator and said that the group is really happy with the weather here so far as it is very hot in Bolivia and they can’t wait for snow. As well, even though they have been in Sudbury only a short time, they are thoroughly enjoying themselves, their host families, and are looking forward to exploring the city. “We have planned group activities every Wednesday afternoon,” Montalvan said. “ This is the time that we get together and take part in a more organized events and we are really looking forward to all of the different opportunities open to us.”
Pyjama Day at St. Bernadette
It was a day of comfort and fun for the students and staff of St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School as Friday, November 12 was pyjama day. Students were encouraged to come to school in their comfiest pyjamas for the St. Bernadette spirit day as well as to promote bedtime reading. “What better way to celebrate and promote bedtime reading for the students with their parents than with a pyjama day?” asked Diana Salvador, Principal of the school. “We always encourage students to read with their parents and guardians at home and know that the students really benefit when this shared reading takes place.” When asked if they enjoyed the day, several students responded that they wished everyday was pyjama day!