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.
Category: Parents/Parent Involvement
December 2015 OAPCE Newsletter
As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting our Sudbury Catholic parents, the SCDSB would like to provide a link to the latest newsletter from The Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education (OAPCE).
This month’s newsletter can be found here.
Parent Involvement Key at SCDSB Summer School
Parental involvement is an important component of Sudbury Catholic’s Summer Learning Programs. The Summer Learning Programs ran from July 6-July 24. Every Tuesday morning, parents were invited to “Coffee Chats” and have the opportunity to sit in a variety of workshops such as, “Helping Your Child Succeed in School”, Understanding Your Child’s Learning Style” and “Advocacy & Self-Advocacy”.
June 2015 OAPCE Newsletter
As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting our Sudbury Catholic parents, the SCDSB would like to provide a link to the latest newsletter from The Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education (OAPCE).
This month’s newsletter comes in three parts:
11 Years and Running for the Johnathan Hetu Walk at St. Charles Elementary
This year’s students and staff at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School may not have had the opportunity to meet Johnathan Hetu, a student who passed away in 2004 after a two year battle with leukemia, however his memory continues to live on each year as the school holds its annual Johnathan Hetu walk. Teacher David Nicholls felt compelled to do something to honour Johnathan’s memory and so he started the Johathan Hetu walk 11 years ago, and has continued it every year. Funds are collected and donated to the Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer. Principal David Soehner was overwhelmed with the support that his school brings forward. “Johnathan’s spirit is our inspiration each and every year,” explained Soehner. “We are so proud of our students and staff for their outstanding efforts once again in fundraising for such an important group, as well as honouring Johnathan and his family. We are overwhelmed with gratitude as our school community has once again showed its tremendous Ram spirit, and allowed us to give back to an outstanding organization that is the N.O.F.C.C. as well as remember and celebrate Johnathan.” This year’s the school collected over $6200 bringing the grand total to over $65,000 in eleven years.
St. David School Parents “Show Off” their “Love of Reading”
Parents and Grandparents flooded the hallways of St. David Catholic School to share their love of reading with the students in the school. Family members were welcomed into St. David School for breakfast and to read a book with their children. Parents and grandparents learned about the developmental reading assessment program (DRA) the school uses to assess student reading levels and skills they can use at home to support their children improve in reading.
As a parent, reading to your child is one of the most important things you can do to ensure school success. Even after children learn to read by themselves, it’s important for families to read aloud together. By reading stories that are interesting, but alittle beyond a child’s reading level, parents can motivate their children to improve their skills.
“One of our school improvement goals is to motivate our students to read so they will practice reading and become fluent readers. This happens when they enjoy reading and continue to read for pleasure” states St. David Learning Strategies Teacher, Cathy Dore.
Coffee Drive at Pius XII to Support Elgin St. Mission
Kathleen Donnelly, Resource Teacher at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School has initiated an urgently needed “coffee drive” to assist the Elgin Street Mission, who are in short supply of the popular beverage that helps many people get through a rough day and provide some comfort. In the spirit of helping our community, Kathleen has inspired the students and their families to help support the organization by donating such items as coffee, coffeemate creamer, tea bags, disposable cups, coffee filters and sugar.
“Mrs. Catalano “The glue that holds our school together.”
St. Benedict parent, Alice Allison Catalano, is the recipient of the Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education parent award. According to the students and staff of St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School, she is someone “we all can go to and talk openly with. She is someone who we would describe as completely selfless and the most caring and compassionate person amongst the school community. She is a trustworthy, hard working, motherly figure to us all and the work she does for our school is out of this world! She spends a substantial amount of her valuable time volunteering at our school and not a moment that passes with her is ever forgotten or not appreciated by any student or staff. We feel that Mrs. Catalano perfectly embodies the definition of a selfless Samaritan. Mrs. Catalano has the special ability to see the best in everyone and no matter how tough the situation is, she is willing to lend a helping hand and devote 100 percent of herself. We can recount hundreds of times that she has given up her time and selflessly devoted herself for the well being of a student. Not only does she volunteer her time but also her wisdom of real life. She is always willing to help a student by giving valuable advice and sharing life experiences with us. She’s the star of this school and we all hope to be half the person she is! Thank you Mrs. Catalano.”
Indigenous Celebration Held
The Diocesan Centre is planning an inclusive day of celebration based on indigenous culture, and would love a big turn out at this event. All students, staff, families and friends are welcome and encouraged to attend! It looks to be a great day planned!
INDIGENOUS CELEBRATION
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Fielding Park
5:30 am. Sunrise Ceremony ~
8:00 am. Pancake Breakfast ~
9:00 am. Teaching Carousel – Stations will be set up to be rotated through – 6 stations with 20 minute presentations at each~
a) Children drumming station~
b) Craft – decade of the rosary with four/six colour beads + leather OR~leather bookmark
c) 7 Grandfather teachings
d) Legends – Elders telling the stories~
e) Medicines and Wheel
f) Sacred Elements (fire keeper, tobacco, stones, feather, pipe, drums, smudge, animals) ~
11:00 am. Healing Circle – prayers, scripture (trilingual), blessing~
1:30 pm. Feast – “pot luck”
3:00 pm Travelling Song/Blessing~
For more information and access to resources, please consult:
http://arise-ssm.weebly.com