Students, family members and staff gathered at St. James Catholic Elementary School in Lively on the evening of May 7 as the school hosted a family barbecue and celebration. In honour of Catholic Education Week, the night kicked off with a performance by the school choir (under the direction of teacher Tammy Lanci), and was followed by a short service that included a student presentation of the Virtues that are celebrated by all SCDSB schools. After grace, the crowd feasted on food that was donated by Perkins, and prepared by the Knights of Columbus. As well, the Catholic Women’s League supplied desserts for the gathering. “It is a great way to come together as a community,” Cara Soehner, Principal of the school said. “It also gives our students and their families the opportunity to meet each other socially and spend some time getting to know one another.”
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St. Michael Students Release DVD
Ms. Smith’s Grade 2/3 class at St. Michael’s School invited parents into the classroom to view their newly released DVD entitled “Grade 2/3 Fractured Fairy Tales”. Each student wrote and illustrated their own Fractured Fairy Tale. Ms. Tina Timpano, the technology integration mentor, recorded the students reading their stories, as well as their illustrations. Students and parents spent the morning enjoying popcorn and the entertaining stories. Each parent left the popcorn party with their very own DVD to enjoy for years to come.
Munsch at St. Michael
The Grade 2/3 class at St. Michael Catholic Elementary School performed Robert Munsch plays for their parents during Catholic Education Week. The room was filled with laughter as the students performed five stage adaptions by Robert Munsch.
The students created their own props and dressed up as the characters. The art of narrative and timing enriched each of the five plays!!
St. Mary Students are Winners at “Raising the Flag”
Students from both the Sudbury Catholic and Rainbow Valley East schools had the opportunity to enter a contest entitled “Raise the Flag Day”. The Kin club of Valley East once again supported this nationally celebrated event and hosted the contest for elementary students from the Valley schools. There was a picture/colouring contest for students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 4 and a Literary Contest (essay or poem) for students in Grades 5 to 8. Criteria for the contest was similar as the entry had to reflect what being Canadian means to the student and each student received a certificate of participation from Claude Gravelle, MP. A total of seven Valley schools participated and three of the top winners were students from St. Mary Catholic Elementary School. Connor Foucault (Grade 2 – St. Mary) took first place and Jacqueline Brown (Grade 4 – St. Mary) took third place in the picture/colouring contest. As well, Alyssa Menard (Grade 6 – St. Mary) took second place in the essay contest. Mayor John Rodriguez was also on hand to present the winners with their awards. Congratulations to all of our students who participated in this contest!.
SCDSB Secondary Schools Host Social Justice Fair
On May 6th, 2010, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s first ever Social Justice Fair involving students from all SCDSB Secondary schools took place at Marymount Academy. Students from grades 7 – 12 came together to learn more about local and global issues of social justice. They had the opportunity to listen to inspiring speakers, participated in engaging seminars, visited displays of community organizations working for justice, and celebrated what they are doing in their own schools. Some of the community organizations in attendance included Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury, Development and Peace, Access Aids, Community Foodshed, Free the Children, Sudbury Action Centre for Youth, and Chalice. Some of the seminars offered for the students included, Habitat for Humanity, Native Awareness, Global Solidarity, Social Inclusion (Sudbury Planning Council) Exposure trips, Environmental Awareness and Using Art for Justice. Jennifer Geddes, Chaplaincy Lead for the board was involved with a lot of the planning for the fair. “Today was about celebrating our achievements and exploring how our Catholic Secondary schools and community continue to champion social justice,” Geddes said. “The great thing about today is that they have been given even more tools to take back to their own schools to share with the other students and teachers. As well, the partnerships between the schools and the community organizations have been made even stronger and we will be continuing to act together for social justice.”
St. Benedict Band Goes on Tour
The St. Benedict Band’s went on tour recently and some of their excursions included performances at Southridge Mall, St. Christopher School, St. James School and Corpus Christi. Joanne Comisso, teacher at St. Benedict and Band Director felt that the students were ready to showcase their talents so was thrilled at the many opportunities they have had to perform. “The students have been working very hard so it is great that they have had several invitations in and around the community.” said Comisso.
Award-Winning Author Visits St. Charles Elementary
On Tuesday, May 4th, award-winning author Frank Glew spent the day with students at St-Charles School in Chelmsford. Mr. Glew, author of That Chickadee Feeling, presented his wonderful books and shared his messages about taking care of our earth, accepting diversity and loving each other. Students from JK to grade 4 proudly displayed their work inspired by Frank Glew’s books.
Music Monday at St. Charles Catholic Elementary
On Monday, May 3rd, 2010 St. Charles Catholic Elementary School in Chelmsford gathered outside to participate in the nationwide event, Music Monday. More than 700,000 students from over 2,000 schools in every province and territory across Canada celebrated the sixth annual Music Monday – a nation-wide, simultaneous concert to celebrate the importance of music in our lives – and especially in our schools. This event underscores the importance of music education. Students and teachers from coast-to-coast took their music programs outdoors into their communities and performed the same song at the exact same time, uniting the entire country.
For the second year, the theme song for Music Monday was “Sing Sing,” written by multi Juno-award winning Canadian artist, Serena Ryder. St. Charles students and teachers also sang their school song, He’s Got the Whole World, and This Little Light of Mine.
SCDSB Junior Boys’ Handball Tournament
St. Francis hosted the tournament on Saturday, May 2 and it was a great day of sportsmanship and competition. Eleven schools participated and the following are the results of the day:
First Place – St. Francis
Second Place – St. Christopher
Third Place – St. Raphael
Fourth Place – Pius XII
Next Saturday, May 8th is the Girls’ Handball tournament at St. Francis school starting at 8:00 a.m.