Teams from all four of the City of Greater Sudbury’s school boards took part in the girl’s and boy’s Early Bird elementary basket ball tournament hosted by St. Francis Catholic School over two consecutive weekends recently.

In the girl’s division, first place honours went to Carl A. Nesbitt Public School, second place was awarded to MacLeod Public School while Marymount Academy finished third. In the boy’s division, Landsdowne Public School took first place honours while St. Francis Catholic School and St. David Catholic School teams finished second and third respectively.

This marks the seventh consecutive year that St. Francis Catholic School has hosted the tournament involving all four boards and 14 schools. The organizers of the basket ball tournament would like to thank the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, all participants, parents and volunteers for their support in helping to make both tournaments such a huge success.

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board in conjunction with the
Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan (OTIP) played host to a Smart Kids Child Safety presentation recently at Corpus Christi Catholic School. Robin MacDonald, Marketing Manager for OTIP (adjacent photo), illustrated a number of key safety tips that students should be aware of through the use a highly informative video which included a “talking dog.” The presentation was followed by a question and answer period which helped students to learn about such topics as;

• Home Smarts – How to stay safe when students are home alone
• Street Smarts – What to do when they are approached by a stranger
• School Smarts – What children should do if they are being bullied at
school
• Internet Smarts – How to keep safe in a virtual world

“As a result of this video program, thousands of elementary teachers and pupils will have access to this valuable learning resource,” stated Robin MacDonald, OTIP’s Marketing Manager. “In this latest session, students watched different scenarios followed by brief discussions to help them relate to potentially dangerous situations. The ultimate goal of the Smart Kids Child Safety Program is to allow the students to develop the awareness and confidence required to keep them safe, whether it be at home, school, on the street or on the internet.”

In addition to providing each school in Ontario with a free copy of the video, OTIP consulted with several elementary teachers to develop
primary and junior level Smart Kids lesson plans. The free videos have been made available thanks to the Sudbury Unit of the Ontario English Teacher’s Association (OECTA) and OTIP.

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board hosted a “BridgeAtSchool”
presentation at St. Andrew Catholic School recently. Chuck Crispin and Doug Foreman, the facilitators of the “BridgeAtSchool” program gave a short presentation to the Grade 5 students in the school’s library and introduced the children to the game of bridge. The objective of “BridgeAtSchool” is to create enthusiasm for learning with a variety of teaching approaches. According to the school’s principal, “Teaching bridge to the students helps improve their short-term memory retention. The game of bridge brings together logic, communication, social competence and decision making in a unique way.”

Rossella Bagnato, Superintendent of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board noted that the additional benefits to the “BridgeAtSchool” program are tremendous. The game helps students increase scores in math, further develops critical thinking and social skills, allows children to learn at their own pace in the midst of a larger group, involves children with their local community and provides opportunities for school spirit through inter-school competitions. St. Andrew Catholic School is one of two schools in which the “BridgeAtSchool” program has been introduced. St. James Catholic School in Lively will be hosting the program for a second time later this year.

Students, parents, family, friends and staff of the Sudbury Catholic
District School Board’s elementary schools, secondary schools and
parishes helped to contribute more than $270,000 to Development and
Peace in support of the victims of the tsunamis in South East Asia in a major fundraising campaign. Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie called for a special collection to be taken up in all the parishes of the diocese this past weekend. All regions of the diocese demonstrated their generosity by collectively raising over $450,000 to aid victims of the earthquake and tsunamis.

In addition to the $270,000 raised by the districts of Sudbury-Manitoulin, the North Bay-Nipissing region contributed $88,000, while the Sault Ste. Marie Algoma region added a further $90,000. In similar fashion, the elementary and secondary schools of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board initiated their own fundraising events ranging from the donation of pizza money, bake sales, dress down days, special prayer services followed by silver collections and numerous other activities. Funds raised by the Sudbury Catholic Board totaled over $15,000. The funds collected by the schools and parishes have been donated to Development and Peace and will be matched dollar for dollar by the Federal Government.

Development and Peace has just recently opened its regional office in
Sudbury, located at 30 St. Anne Road. Fleur Hackett, a teacher on leave from the Sudbury Catholic Board has been selected as the facilitator for the Sudbury office to serve the dioceses of Hearst, Moosonee, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Timmins. “The office couldn’t have opened at a better time,” stated Hackett. “At the moment, people across North America are looking for the best way to offer assistance to those affected by the disaster in South East Asia. Our efforts will be coordinated with contributions from other countries, the United Nations, and from the Catholic Church’s social welfare network throughout Asia. All of these resources help to ensure that contributions for the Southeast Asian relief will be used intelligently and effectively,” said Hackett.Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe celebrated mass at the Sudbury Catholic Board to pray for victims of tsunamis. Development and Peace as of late yesterday had received $9.5 million to date for the urgent appeal, according to Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. “Channeling donations through the schools and parishes gave
people the opportunity to manifest their usual generosity,” stated the
Bishop. The Bishop also noted that Development and Peace as been
working in Asia for more than 30 years and for this reason, this unique organization can count on the support of an active network of partner groups, their staff and resources in each of the countries to assist victims of this terrible disaster.

Greater Sudbury students will be participating in a Mock Trial Competition to be held on Monday, January 17 and Tuesday, January 18, 2005 at the Sudbury Courthouse located on Elm Street. This year’s Mock Trial Competition represents a joint effort on behalf of Sudbury’s legal community and the French Catholic, Rainbow District and Sudbury Catholic District School Boards.

Groups of Grade 12 Law students from participating schools will compete by holding “mock” trials which will culminate in a final round to decide the winner. St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School will have twelve Grade 12 students participating in the mock trial event as well as Mr. Boisvert’s Grade 11 class from St. Charles College. The mock trial competition is an exciting event which is gaining in popularity. This year there will over 100 students from 8 different schools taking part on January 17 and 18. In last year’s competition, St. Benedict’s defence team defeated Lockerby Composite’s Crown team in the final round of play.

The day begins with an opening address at 8:45 a.m. on January 17 followed by the trial competitions at 9:00 am, 10:30 am and noon. The play off rounds will be held on January 18, 2005.

It’s Monday morning and the Grade 1/2 students in Ms. Kindrachuk’s class and the Grade 4 students in Ms. Giusti’s class eagerly await the arrival of artist Val MacMenemey. The children know her as “Ms. V,” a dynamic artist who visits students and teachers at St. Andrew’s school on a regular basis to work with the school community.

The Learning Through the Arts Program was initiated by the Sudbury Catholic District School Board in order to create a partnership between the artist and the teacher so that new and exciting art ideas could be explored and implemented in the school’s art program. “The Learning Through the Arts initiative was an excellent opportunity in that it gave the students and teachers a chance to develop an appreciation of art through a variety of forms and venues,” stated Sherry Bortolotti, St. Andrew Catholic School principal. “More importantly, the program helped our children understand that art is therapeutic and given the right tools and skills it empowers children to express themselves,” concluded Bortolotti.

Students from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board participated in the Victory Team celebration held at Cambrian College recently. The Victory Team Program was created to develop and nurture positive behaviour in the youth of the community by implementing a peer initiative program throughout local elementary schools.

The Victory Team Program gives all students the opportunity of participating on a team which does not demand any exceptional type of scholastic or athletic excellence but rather looks for students who display a positive attitude. Elementary schools from all four school boards are involved in the Victory Program and are divided into three team categories: Sophomore, (JK to Grade 2); Junior Varsity, (Grades 3 to 5); Varsity, (Grades 6 to 8).

The students on the Victory Teams are selected from
staff nominations in each school with one student being chosen each
week. Team members receive Victory Team T-shirts with the opportunity to participate in three major events, and will be awarded gold medals at the end of the year.

Special congratulations goes out to St. Anne School, whose students took home top prize in the Victory Team Puzzle Championship!

Teachers, principals, curriculum coordinators, members of Special
Education Advisory Groups, superintendents, directors, and almost anyone related to the field of education were treated to a highly informative seminar on “Adult Learners” and “How They Learn” at a breakfast seminar hosted by the Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury and SMTAB recently. Pat Hatt, a world renowned educator with a Masters in Language and Learning Problems and a Canadian Specialist in the areas of adult literacy had a room packed with educators captivated with her high energy and dynamic presentation style.

According to Hatt, almost 10 percent of the Canadian population has a
learning disability, with the same percentage translated into schools
and students. “A child sitting in a classroom may not know what is
wrong with them when it comes to processing information,” stated Hatt.
“They do know, however, that for one reason or another they are
different from the other students.” Individuals with Learning
Disabilities, both as children and as adults experience problems with
processing information. A Learning Disability can also affect the way
in which a person takes in, remembers, understands and expresses
information. What is surprising to many people is that people with
learning disabilities are intelligent and have the ability to learn in
spite of difficulties in processing information. However, given the
appropriate coping strategies and accommodations these individuals can
be extremely successful.

The Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury (LDAS) in conjunction
with the Sudbury Manitoulin Training and Adjustment Board (SMTAB)
invited Mrs. Hatt to share her knowledge on literacy and support groups for individuals with learning disabilities in number of public
presentations. Session one took place at Cambrian College on November 23 with students, parents and teachers involved with “Breaking Down the Barriers.” This informative and educational session included the topics of balancing accommodations while maintaining skills, integrity, the need for acceptance and disclosure by students with LD and their parents, and the critical value of schools, teachers, parents and student partnerships. Session two: “Our Community, Breaking Down Barriers” was held on November 24 for employment service deliverers, teachers and counsellors of adults and focused on the various types of learning disabilities.

For more information on Learning Disabilities, please contact the
Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury at ph. 522-0100 or by
e-mail at info@ldasudbury.ca or website at www.ldasudbury.ca

Sudbury Catholic District School Board students joined forces with the
National Geographic Society and the City of Greater Sudbury in helping
to promote geographic literacy and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)during GIS Day held at Tom Davies Square recently. During this unique half-day presentation students were able to interact with City of Greater Sudbury staff to discover the impact that geography has on our everyday lives. GIS demonstrations included “real time” computer
generated mapping, open exhibits, games, and a question and answer
session which focused on the integration of computer software, data and solutions that are used by hundreds of thousands of people in
government, education, and business. GIS Day is part of the National
Geographic Society’s exciting new initiative, Geography Action! 2004
which is a year long initiative encompassing key educational
achievements to help promote the understanding of geography in schools
around the world.