When do tomatoes taste absolutely out of this world? Ms. Visentin’s Gr. 2 students at Holy Cross Elementary School will soon find out. The children put their green thumbs to work by conducting a tomato seed experiment with two sets of tomato seeds. One package of seeds had been placed on a space station for a period of six weeks while the second package of seeds remained on Earth. The students had to predict which tray of plants had been exposed to outer space, prior to their germination. Every morning, the class leader collected data by counting the number of plant germinations and then watered them. Close observations were made by the children with the use of magnifying glasses to see if one set of seedlings appeared to grow differently than the other. The children will soon find out which were actually the “space seeds”. Our Grade 2 scientists will then bring the plants home to see if they produce “out of this world” tomatoes over the summer break.

In order to better understand the needs of living thing, students in SK/Grade 1 at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School have planted a variety of seeds and have been tracking their development through the life cycle. Students moved their plants to the garden in the Kindergarten yard where they will continue to track their development.

Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School Grade 5 students Anthony and Raul participated in the 6th Annual PEO Sudbury Mathletics Competition at Laurentian University.

This competition introduces the wonders of mathematics in day to day life of the students, creating a passion for the application of mathematics by solving scientific and engineering problems. The competition introduces different facets of mathematics, providing hands-on experience with solving real-world problems.

The students represented Holy Cross in the junior division (Grade 5 and 6) and competed against 13 other teams of students from across the City. The two boys worked as a team to answer 30 math questions, given only 2 minutes for each question. Through great teamwork and communication, Anthony and Raul successfully placed 8th out of the 13 teams. The boys enjoyed the challenge and are looking forward to competing again next year. Congratulations on a job well done boys!

Say “Hockey!” because that’s what Ms. Visentin’s Grade 2 students at Holy Cross all love. Many of the girls and boys in our class play hockey and they all know that winning and losing is all about “teamwork”, on and off the ice. Students enjoyed listening to and reading a collection of hockey books, especially Mike Leonetti’s hockey hero series which was based on Roch Carrier’s “The Hockey Sweater”, the first book which the students shared in class. It was a wonderful way to bring into our discussions The Leader In Me Habit #4 Think Win-Win, elements of a good story and a lot of Canadian history. While we started with the read aloud of “The Hockey Sweater” , the students celebrated our wrap up by watching the movie based on this very book.

Mrs. Lucciantonio’s Grade 4/5 class enjoyed a beautiful morning of snowshoeing at Kivi Park. The 3 km trail was challenging and fun. It was a great way to start the day. Thanks to volunteers Chantal and Joe for their help.

All Grade 1 and 2 students at Holy Cross enjoyed Winter Carnival activities at Robinson Park. Fun was had by all. The children enjoyed a morning of sliding, skating and snow soccer. They were treated to hot chocolate, provided by “Salute” and all the rinks were cleared, floated and cleared once again that very morning, at the early hours of 5:30 AM by one of our student’s grandfather. (Many thanks go out to Dawson’s grandparents for all their efforts to make this day so successful).