Ms. Reale’s Grade 1 & 2 students at Holy Cross School had fun learning about the solar system! Students listened to the story, “There’s No Place Like Space” during story time. Following, as a class, the students imagined living in space and created rules that they would need to follow to keep safe.
Here are some of their rules for living in space:
Stay together as a group.
Always be kind.
Always put your space gear away when not being used.
Don’t talk to aliens!
Always wear your space safety belt.
Be helpful.
Students then picked the rule they felt was the most important and designed their very own postcard that will be sent into space. These postcards will be returned and upon return, each postcard will get stamped with an official “Flown to Space” stamp.
Club for the Future will send the postcards into low Earth orbit on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Watch the New Shepard Rocket launch and land with thousands of postcards.
Thanks to a partnership between Let’s Talk Science and Club for the Future, Canadian students are invited to design a postcard that will be sent into orbit. Now is the chance for students to own something that has been to space and back. There is no deadline for this project, the earlier you submit your postcards, the earlier they will return.There are many ways you can use this activity with your students. It can be a fun craft or mindfulness activity that also sparks reflection and creativity. If you would like to have a grade appropriate lesson presented to your class can contact christina.raso@sudburycatholicschools.ca
Students in Ms. Holly Swain’s Grade 4 class at St. Charles Elementary School created their own cryptography wheel and became cryptographers solving mystery messages all afternoon!
Nicholas Butt, Outreach Coordinator for Let’s Talk Science and special guest Morgan, first year Master’s Student in Neuroscience at University of British Columbia led the students in this week’s STEM activity. Students gained an understanding about the history of cryptography and how ancient Greeks were known to have ciphers over 2000 years ago. Students also learned that computer science uses cryptography to secure information and communication techniques using algorithms to transform messages in ways that are hard to decipher.
There is still time toRegister Your Class for fun and interactive STEM activities intended for Grade 4-6 students! Each week, Let’s Talk Science, features a different hands-on activity using minimal, easy-to-find materials. Students will also have the chance to learn from and ask questions to inspiring STEM role models.
An English activity is offered two times per week (Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. ET & Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET), and a French activity is offered once a week (Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET).
When he is not inventing a new donut called “The Magnolia” at Beards Bakery, he is a busy Grade 3 student in Mrs. Whalen’s Grade 3/4 class at Holy Cross School.
Pictured: Holy Cross Student and Donut Designer, Nate proudly shows off his “Magnolia” donuts outside Beards Bakery
Why did Nate create a donut, and what does this have to do with school? Well, it all started with an idea and a little persuasion.
This past school year, Mrs. Whalen taught Nate and his classmates about the author’s purpose, which involves concentrating on convincing others and practicing persuasion through persuasive writing.
To help students understand persuasion, Mrs. Whalen had an idea to get each student to design a donut with the goal that once their creation was complete, they had to convince their other classmates why their donut design was the best. This would put their writing skills to the test and make them ponder how they could best convince and persuade their classmates using the skills they had learned from their lessons.
To make this persuasive writing activity a reality, Mrs. Whalen reached out to Beards Bakery, located on Kathleen Street, at the end of August to see if the owner would be interested in helping out.
Pictured: Beards Bakery’s Magnolia Donuts
Jess, Beards Bakery owner, quickly and enthusiastically agreed, and the plan was set in motion!
Under Mrs. Whalen’s instruction, students illustrated and labelled their donuts and then wrote a paragraph to persuade their audience (classmates) to believe that their donut design was the best. Following this, students presented their donut designs, and each student voted for their favourite. The activity was extra exciting because Beards agreed to serve the winning donut at their storefront on Nov. 6th.
Fast forward to this November. Students then worked on designing a donut using nothing but their imagination and a toppings list provided by Beards.
The students all did a fabulous job using their words and illustrations to persuade the class. Nate was crowned the ultimate donut designer and was excited to have Beards Bakery bring his winning donut, “The Magnolia,” to life. What made the occasion more fun was his brother’s 10th Birthday fell on Nov. 6th and was celebrated with a specially designed Beards donut.
Nate’s family ordered many donuts to share with their friends and family. The rest of the class also had the option to visit Beards to purchase a donut on the day. A HUGE thanks to Beards Bakery for embracing this idea and helping us out. ‘Donut’ forget that you’re fantastic!
Your newest member of our provincial EQAO Student Engagement committee. WOW!
We want to congratulate Myra who was selected out of 250+ students to be on this very important committee to promote student voice and find ideas/ strategies that will help our school community become more inclusive. Myra and the 34 other students that were selected in Ontario, carry on a role of leadership in their schools by attending regular zoom meetings and have wholesome discussions around equity and student needs. Well done Myra, we are extremely thrilled to celebrate your accomplishment, while starting our grade 11’s off in the OSSLT testing this week.
November 1-7 is Treaties Recognition Week, an important time of year where Ontario students acknowledge and learn about treaties as well as the histories, perspectives, and contributions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board (SCDSB) is celebrating its participation in Treaties Recognition Week. This year, we honour Indigenous histories, perspectives, and contributions through meaningful lessons, presentations, readings, events and celebrations for students and staff at all our schools.
School Highlights
St. John
At St. John Catholic Elementary School, students in Mrs. Galipeau’s class learned about wampum belts in an activity where they could make their own belts out of Lego. Students in Grade 5 and 6 created the 1764 Treaty of Niagara wampum belt. Pictured are Nathan and Olivia, Jaguar students proudly showcasing their class’s completed belt. Wampum belts represent agreements and promises that last “as long as the sun shines and rivers flow”.
On Nov. 2nd, Grade 2 students in Mrs. Child’s class at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School read “Dakota Talks About Treaties.” Afterwards, they created a word web to describe what the word “treaty” means. Also, reading a story was Ms. Trudeau and Ms. D’Angelo’s class! “A Family Cookout” was read to help students explore measuring objects. Afterwards, Ms. Trudeau led an engaging lesson on making bannock where students used their knowledge in a real-life context. However, reading wasn’t the only popular activity. Mrs. Blakely’s grade 1 class learned all about the medicine wheel, smudged, made wampum belts and created their very own classroom treaty.
At St. David, a school-wide activity was implemented in preparation for the week. The Grade 5 class mapped the forested area in an educational exercise that touched on Indigenous identity, history, and ways of being. In an abundance of activities, students learned about treaties, promises, wampum belts and what it means to be indigenous. The school listened to “The Drum Calls Softly” and students created versions of the artwork in the video.
Over at Pius, Treaty Recognition Week was in full force. The school’s Grade 6 students took part in a lesson that included constructing their own Wampum commitment string. Wampum commitment string symbolizes an agreement of respect and peace. Collectively, all the strings will attach and form a family circle to honour Treaty Week.
To commemorate Treaty Week, the students in Grade 2/3 FI at St. James explored the significance of wampum belts as representations of promises that were made to last. They recreated the Treaty of Niagara wampum belt with Legos and other materials and mapped out some of our province’s treaties.
St. Benedict’s kicked off Treaty Recognition Week with Smudging available to students and staff. Classes participated in the Treaty Awareness dialogue. For example, Treaty is ‘Legally Binding’ and that there is also a ‘Sacred Element’ to the agreements. In addition, the school’s Life Skills Class learned and designed a Wampum Treaty Belt of their choosing. Tobacco was offered to our Indigenous Support Worker, Ms. Agowissa, for knowledge sharing. “We Are All Treaty People and are in the Robinson Huron Treaty region.”
Other highlights included secondary students participating in the Robinson Huron Treaty “Treaty Talks with Tomorrow’s Leaders”. Students were able to listen to different Ogimaak/Chiefs from RHT communities share treaty knowledge past, present and future about ‘Gweksijigewin’ (making things right). This knowledge was applied on Friday, Nov. 5th, with presentations from the students.
It truly is very exciting to see what beautiful things our schools are doing to honour this essential part of the learning experience. Thank you to all our staff and community leaders, who took the time to capture and share some of the many wonderful things they were able to participate in this week. For more school activity updates, check out Indigenous Education SCDSB.
We are pleased to announce that the SCDSB’s Monday, Nov. 19th PA day is multi-themed. A variety of professional learning opportunities will be provided including topics such as mathematics, literacy, mental health and wellbeing, etc.
Nicholas Butt, Outreach Coordinator for Let’s Talk Science, lead a group of grades 4-6 students at St. Anne, St. Charles, St. John, Holy Trinity, and Immaculate Conception in both a minds on and hands-on activity about Space Probes. Students learned about the three types of Space Probes: orbiter, interplanetary and the lander. Then, from recycled materials students created their very own Space Probe Lander.
Mrs. Bradley, Grade 5 & 6 Teacher at Immaculate Conception School stated “Students enjoyed exploring ways to stabilize their space probes to be sure they didn’t fall over when hitting the ground. The engagement and sharing of ideas with each other was amazing!”
To watch the recording of this lesson in either French and English Click Here.
STEM Club is ideal for busy educators, whether teaching face to face or remotely! There is still time to Register Your Class for fun and interactive STEM activities intended for Grade 4-6 students! Each week, Let’s Talk Science, features a different hands-on activity using minimal, easy-to-find materials. Students will also have the chance to learn from and ask questions to inspire STEM role models.
An English activity is offered two times per week (Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. ET & Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET), and a French activity is offered once a week (Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET).
The second cohort starts November 2nd, and the third on January 27th, 2022.
Students in Mr. MacNeill’s grade 7 & 8 class signed up for the annual Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge. The challengeis a commitment to ongoing outdoor learning throughout the school year. Mr. MacNeill, his students and 700 000 other students across Canada made the commitment to learning outside at least one day per week.
This year marked the 11th annual Take Me Outside to Learn Day and in partnership with Canada’s Non-profit Outdoor Learning Store and MEC, they hosted a full week of speakers, activities and events that not only engaged students but deepened their connections with Indigenous perspectives, strengthened their health and well-being with outdoor learning, and increased their knowledge on climate change and the environment.
On Thursday October 21st, Mr. MacNeill’s class along with seven hundred classes across the country were excited to participate in a live inspirational talk and Q&A with Dr. Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. Dr. Goodall spoke about growing up without television and social media and how she spent most of her time outdoors. She stressed the importance of living in harmony with nature as it improves our mental well-being.
The Jane Goodall Institute explained the opportunity for students to participate in their Roots & Shoots funding program. Roots & Shoots focuses on Jane Goodall’s inspirational message of hope, reminding participants that every individual is important and every individual can make a difference. Through a unique 4-step program, educators lead youth from inspiration; to mapping their community for sustainability issues for people, animals and the environment; to taking action to solve those issues; and then celebrating the impact they have made. Through this journey, youth are engaged to take action on sustainability issues and become compassionate leaders.
We can’t wait to hear about the action project ideas that Mr. MacNeill’s class will discuss next week!
Last week, a call out was made to all grades 2-6 at St Anne students to see if they were interested in participating in the first-ever Skills Ontario’s Junk Drawer Races! Over 100 students attended the first planning meeting. Due to the overwhelming response, the school has organized their own tournament with local winners advancing to the regional competition.
Each challenge nicely aligns with the grade specific science curriculum expectations. This is an excellent opportunity to integrate the curriculum while giving our students fun and engaging hands-on learning experiences.
There is still time to register your class, the deadline is:
November 16th at 4:00pm.
We are hoping to have representation from each of our schools and will provide a small budget for the extras that might be required for our students to participate. In addition, Dan and myself will be available to present the challenges with the specific details to individual classes or to a group of classes via Zoom.
