On behalf of all of us at the SCDSB, We’d like wish our students, staff, families, and community members a very Merry Christmas! We hope this time of the year brings with it the blessings of good cheer, good will, and love. See you in 2022!
Congratulations to our 2021 Annual Christmas Artwork Contest Winners!
STRESS! We all experience it.
That’s why Sudbury Catholic Schools is pleased to invite you to register for our upcoming wellness webinar in January. At this webinar, two outstanding guest presenters will tackle this topic and provide coping strategies for dealing with stress.
WHEN: WEDNESDAY JANUARY 19 AT 5:30 PM
Alina Rukkila MSW, RSW and Jessie Jones CYW will lead us through an engaging session on dealing with the different types of stress and provide helpful strategies and tips we can incorporate to help us manage it when it happens.
We all know that not all types of stress are bad. Good types of stress can help you focus, ensure you meet your daily challenges, and encourage you to reach specific goals you have for yourself. However, it’s essential to understand the difference between good and harmful types of stress. Over time, a continued strain on the body put on from stress can get the best of you. It’s paramount to identify the causes of daily stress and manage the intensity of these feelings. By knowing healthy coping strategies, we can enjoy life and learn happily.
This week, St. Anne Catholic Elementary School wrapped up their canned food drive with amazing success.
Thanks to the hard work of the students, staff, and families at St. Anne school, the school food drive concluded with a successful collection of 1,234 cans and $556.70 that will be donated to Inner City Home of Sudbury. The generous donation provided on behalf of the school supports the services offered by Inner City Homes to help those in need in Sudbury.
Students and staff enjoyed coming together as a school community to honour the season of giving and help collect donations for an important non-profit in Sudbury. Thank you to Mme Lafrance for her amazing leadership who helped organize this food drive for the school.
A special shoutout goes out to Mme Lafrance’s class that brought in a total of 511 cans and Mme Shonwise’s class that brought in a total of 536 cans. WOW!
On behalf of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, we would like to congratulate our Angels on a job well done!
TRANSPORTATION CANCELLED, SCHOOLS REMAIN OPEN – SUDBURY, MASSEY AND ESPANOLA
BUSSES ARE RUNNING ON MANITOULIN ISLAND
Due to the forecasted freezing rain warning and in the interest of safety, all school related transportation services for English Catholic, English public, French Catholic and French public schools, operating in the districts of SUDBURY, ESPANOLA AND MASSEY (this includes all areas such as St-Charles, Noëlville, Monetville, Markstay, Hagar, Warren, Wahnapitae, Coniston, Killarney, Whitefish, Whitefish River First Nations, Onaping, Chelmsford, Capreol, Valley East, Garson, Chelmsford and Azilda) are cancelled today. All schools will remain open, however, NO transportation will be provided.
Parents who transport their children to school are reminded that they must pick their children up at the end of the school day.
All staff are expected to report to work.
Grade 4 students at St. David Catholic Elementary School were thrilled to discover their September video submission was honoured as a national winner in the 2021 Take Me Outside Student Video Contest.
The Take Me Outside Student Video Contest is a national competition aiming to get students outside by encouraging them to submit their best, self-made video, featuring how they like to spend their time exploring the outdoors in Canada.
With a tight deadline of Sept. 17th and less than two weeks back at school, Mrs. Toffoli’s class were up for the challenge and placed second nationwide in the class category. In reward for their tremendous work, the class received gift cards from MEC to help get them outside even more!
“I am so proud of my classmates and my teacher because we won second place in Canada.” Edrea, Gr. 4 Student
“I am so happy that we got second place. Our hard work paid off.” Diymtrius, Gr. 4 Student
Mrs. Toffoli and her teaching assistant Brandon Antonioni ensured students had the support and resources to inspire the creativity needed to create the video and follow the rules.
“When I first heard about the contest, I knew right away St. David School had the perfect backyard. We have such amazing trails and a great outdoor classroom that showcases Canada’s beauty. The students worked hard on this contest and came up with some brilliant reasons why learning from and on the land is important to them.” Stephanie Toffoli, Gr. 4 Teacher
“At St. David School, we continue to work to enhance our teaching pedagogy to ensure that we include not only Indigenous theory and knowledge in our lessons but also ways of being. An important part of Truth and Reconciliation is learning on the land and acknowledging the teachings around us in nature. We thank our Indigenous community partners and Elders that continue to support our learning on the land, as well as thank wonderful organizations such as “Take Me Outside” for the encouragement they offer to all schools to take that step outside and enhance our learning.” Dawn-Marie Wemigwans, Principal
The winning video can be found at: St. David Catholic Elementary School’s Take Us Outside Video.
For more information about St. David Catholic Elementary School, please visit, www.st-david.sudburycatholicschools.ca
Launched in 1994 by The Learning Partnership, Take Our Kids to Work Day is an experiential learning opportunity for Grade 9 students across Canada offering them the chance to see the world of work firsthand, explore a variety of careers and sectors, and look at what skills are important to thrive in the world of work. The goal is to ignite students’ curiosity and open the door for them to see what is possible for their future.
On Tuesday, November 3rd, 2021, Grade 9 students had access to both pre-recorded and live virtual content to create an exciting learning experience. Over 200 Sudbury Catholic students participated in the event facilitated by consultant Christina Raso.
Students learned the importance of managing their online reputation and understanding that the internet is a public place and anything posted online is likely to exist forever. A positive online reputation can be advantageous and will likely be seen by future employees so students need to be careful about what they share and how it will be perceived. Students then listened to an inspiring message of purpose and belonging by Sam Effah, RBC Olympian. Watch the video at : Take Our Kids to Work 2021: You Belong Here Following, students joined a live Q and A session on Diversity in the Skilled Trades sponsored by Toronto Hydro. The day ended with sessions hosted by industry experts in the area of innovation & entrepreneurship, healthcare and technology & finance.
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.
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.
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!
This year for Remembrance Day, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board (SCDSB) paid respects to the extraordinary men and women whose services and sacrifices will never be forgotten through preparing a virtual Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11th. The service, which used various forms of prayer, readings, music, and video, worked with parish partners to help acknowledge the day’s importance and was a powerful social connection that included various schools participating in its production.
Following today’s events, the SCDSB has provided a clip of our opening video that was viewed at our virtual ceremony.
The following presentation highlights historic clippings and images of war veterans as well as beautiful artwork and visual displays that our school’s students and staff brought forward this year.
In addition to the video, please see the gallery of photos below. The gallery demonstrates wonderful examples of various artistic and faith-based learning activities and lessons school’s had participated in leading up to and on this important day of reflection.
Special thanks is given to the staff and students whose provided contributions enabled us to put together an amazing virtual service for our entire board. Thank you everyone!
Sudbury, ON – On November 9th, 2021, St. Charles Catholic Elementary School students in Mme Lamond and Mme Jorstad’s class participated in a Zoom lesson highlighting Remembrance Day which allowed them to send letters to Canadian soldiers.
With help from special guest Captain Amirault of the Royal Canadian Air Force Station in Nova Scotia, the class was also led in an exercise that helped our kindergarten students learn about the Royal Canadian Air Force and become more educated about the meaning of Remembrance Day.
During the visit, the class was able to ask questions about helicopters and Captain Amirault showed his uniform.
Upon completing this exercise, students then wrote their letters that will be distributed to Canadian soldiers. Students were happy to showcase their letters in a picture taken with Captain Amirault.
“We love creating engaging opportunities that foster strength in student understanding of Remembrance Day. We’re grateful to Captain Amirault for providing these students with a fantastic experience that will help empower their learning on themes like compassion and respect that are important to address every day.” – Angela Polischuk, Principal.
“Recognizing Remembrance Day in schools and remembering those who fought and continue to fight for our freedom is extremely important at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. Learning stems from the experiences we provide to help our children understand the world. We are very pleased to nurture partnerships with the community and beyond to enhance our student experience.” – Joanne Bénard, Director of Education.
