The St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School Council hosted a Family Pasta Night on Thursday April 19. The council members Angela Paris, Jennifer Whynott, Anastasia Rioux, Rikki Larcher, Lisa Wrights and Natasha Folino have provided families opportunities throughout this school year to come together with families from our school to play and socialize. There was a Pizza Night Open House in September, a Family Movie Night in December and now this Spaghetti Supper in April. Families enjoyed the opportunity to visit, enjoy good food and let their children play together in an after school setting. The co-chairs of the Council hope that this relaxed atmosphere will encourage parents to become comfortable and ultimately more involved in their children’s school and the Catholic School Council.
Category: Parents/Parent Involvement
Immaculate Students Continue to Inspire Change
Several months ago, a group of three students in teacher Chantal Rancourt’s grade 5/6 class were inspired to make a difference in the world. All on their own, these grade 6 Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary students decided that they wanted to start fundraising for the Ryan’s Well Foundation, which helps buy and build wells in countries where there is little access to clean water. In December they launched their own school fundraiser with the goal of raising $2000 to contribute to this foundation. After their first initial event, the girls – Abigail Morgan, Sydney Hall and Alexa Connors, had raised over $210 from the one day. Since then, they have had an additional $300 raised through more donations. On April 18th, 2012, the students organized a “fun day” fundraiser to secure more funds for their cause. “They have basically made all of the arrangements and plans all on their own,” teacher Chantal Rancourt stated. “These girls are amazing – they have done all the set up, organized all the events, and planned all the teams and team captains. I am so proud of their enthusiasm with this initiative!” Immaculate students were asked to bring in a toonie to take part in the fun day which included an obstacle course and a variety of sports and speed games. At the end of the day, their total had climbed to over $1650 – very close to their goal of $2000. The girls have one more event planned – a zumba fundraiser. When asked to comment about their inspirational efforts, the girls replied in unison “Inspiration is the key to the future!” The girls explained that this was their motto and they had decided to be inspiring and to spark inspiration in others. Their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed as a person from their community, after reading the initial story on their fundraiser, was so inspired by their determination, offered to help them reach their goal and would top up the remaining funds after their events were completed. Abigail, Syndey and Alexa were thrilled that they had inspired a stranger to get involved. All three have decided that this is just the beginning, and will continue to make positive changes in the future.
Donovan Community Welcomes Spring with Traditional Feast
With a new season beginning, we must welcome it with open arms. Wednesday evening, March 21st, 2012, a traditional feast was in order for the Sudbury community to celebrate the beginning of spring. Performing the ceremony, was traditional elder Vince Pawis. Taking place in the gym of St. David Catholic Elementary School, several community members, families, students and staff were on hand to take part in this event. Cheryl Partridge, local aboriginal singer, opened the celebration with the welcoming song Biidagenh which means welcome, come in, in the local Ojibway language. The translation of the lyrics are “Welcome every nation, come in and sit down. Join us” – a fitting song to begin the evening’s event.
Pawis began with a prayer and smudge to spiritually cleanse all participants. He then explained the significance of the four directions in aboriginal culture, focusing on the Easter doorway as it signifies spring. “I am sitting in the Eastern doorway because the season that sits in the East is spring,” Pawis explained. “New life, newborns, marriages usually happen around this time.”
The gym was decorated with the colours of each direction, and after the explanation by Pawis, the group sat down for the “main event”. Traditional foods were served to the guests including fish, wildrice and strawberries. During the meal, Pawis also spoke to the group about the significance of each of the foods and their importance to Aboriginal culture. St. Charles College student Chayenne Oechsler was on hand for the Feast and felt it was successful event for the attending community. “I really enjoyed this evening with Vince,” stated Oechsler. “It was a really welcoming atmosphere, and it was great welcome spring together as well as learn more about Aboriginal culture.”
Submitted by St. Charles College co-op student, Cheyenne Oechsler.
St. James School “Fun Family Faith Night”
St. James Catholic School and St. Pius X Parish of Lively partnered to create an event that brought the school and the faith community together. The School Council led by Chairperson Jane Saal planned a “Fun Family Faith Night”.
The evening offered an opportunity to share in many faith-based activities and games geared to both students and their families and provided a forum to celebrate the virtues and values of our Catholic School. The school community was welcomed at the door by parish priest Father Terry Fournier and Deacon Pat Raymond. School Council chairperson Jane Saal stated that, “One priority for the St. James School Council is to augment the school’s spiritual atmosphere by facilitating family faith development and a family faith evening was a perfect occasion to implement our goal. This event provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen the home, school and parish connections at St. James School. The evening was extremely well received and well attended and judging from the feedback we will continue the tradition of a faith night again next year”.
St. Mary finds 100 things to celebrate!
On the 100th day of school St. Mary students, staff and families took part in an evening celebration. The school community sat down to a wonderful pasta dinner and then broke off into stations where numeracy and literacy games were lead by teachers and the principal. “It was really neat because everything was about the number 100. Even the books and writing activities were about the number 100,” said student Matthew Roy.
Parents were also invited to an information session in the library where they took part in group discussions about how to help their children with homework, how to engage their child in reading and the importance of parents in the education of their children. Parents left with 100 practical literacy tips and homework bags to use at home.
Later on this year parents will be participating in St. Mary’s “Families with a Kick Program.” Students will be kickboxing while parents will be invited to read articles and dialogue about how they can help their child improve in literacy and numeracy at home.
“John Hattie has suggested parents are important to the academic success of their children. Therefore, we need to provide our families with opportunities to network and share ideas with each other,” said principal Sherry Bortolotti.
Math is More than Numbers
Parents of Grades 1-5 students at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School were invited to the school and experience math with their child using IXL, a math tool using technology. At St. Charles school, math concepts are approached from all angles, offering visual representations, word problems, interactive activities and more. Grade 4 teacher, Maria Petroski states that ‘with an abundance of math problems for every learning style, students can’t help but build lasting skills and confidence’.
IXL Parent Lunch at St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School
Parents joined Grade 2 and 3 students at St Raphael School on January 24th for math stations, including practice together using IXL, a web-based math tool that both classes have home and school access to, as part of an action research project this year. Students and parents engaged in math talk and shared a pizza lunch.
Community Bands Together to Celebrate the Season of Giving
On the eve of December 14, over 100 Donovan area families gathered for a festive feast at St. David Catholic School. Better Beginnings, Better Futures hosted the event and provided all the trimmings for the evening. All families received a full Christmas meal, including turkey and ham. Inspector Bob Keetch, Constable Randy Hosken and Sargent Mark Brunette graciously served the meal. Children were entertained by Patches the Clown, the raffling of door prizes, and of course the jolly old man himself — Santa Claus. Santa Claus gave out surprise bags to each child and he also had outer wear for those children in need. “This was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the season as a community. The children were so excited to see Santa and the families seemed to appreciate the time and energy that went into the planning of the event”, stated Samantha Beaudry, Youth Engagement Officer for the Better Beginnings, Better Futures SmART Attack after school program at the school.
St. Paul’s Parent Engagement Night a Huge Success
Studies show that parent engagement is important to the learning process. On the evening of December 9th, about one hundred students and parents filled the school gym for “popcorn and a movie night”. The evening was geared to parents and kindergarten to grade four students.
It was also an opportunity for parents to get comfortable with the school surroundings and enjoy an evening of entertainment with their kids — as well as other parents and kids.
The event was so well received that the School Council is already making plans for the next parent engagement night.