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). To read this month’s newsletter, click here: Parent Partner Newsletter – Easter 2015
Holy Cross Cubs Run for the Cure
This year was another great year for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure and none of it would have been possible without all of the teams who ran. 127,000 participants and volunteers came together on Run day and through the support of generous donors raised over $25 million for innovative breast cancer research, health education, and advocacy initiatives throughout Canada.
The Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School community put a team in again this year, and they collected $2374.00 towards this very worthy cause. Only a few of the members of the Holy Cross Cubs who came out for the run are pictured here. It was a great turn out for such a dreary day. Congratulations on helping to make a difference. Go Cubs Go!
Sowing the Seeds of Friendship
Students from the grade 4/5 class at Holy Cross along with the the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) class at St.Benedict’s got together recently and did some planting. Together they sowed some seeds and established some friendships in the process!
Second Annual Cubs and Bears Junior Co-ed Soccer Tournament Results
On June 15, 2014, Holy Cross Catholic Elementary and St. Benedict Catholic Secondary Schools hosted the second annual Cubs and Bears Junior Co-ed soccer tournament. Participating were 15 teams from 3 different schools boards – the English and French Catholic boards as well as the French Public.
The top 4 teams are as follows: 1st place Jean-Paul 2 2nd place Holy Cross 6
3rd plac St. John 4th place Holy Cross 5
Congratulations to all the teams, students and coaches for a job well done!
Thank you to all the volunteers and staff that co-ordinated the tournament, and helped to make it such a success!
Sudbury Catholic Elementary Band to Perform at Bell Park
Grade 7 and 8 students from four local Catholic Schools have been busy preparing for a hectic spring concert series. The 56 member Sudbury Catholic Elementary Band will perform Sunday night at the Grace Hartman amphitheatre to kick off the City of Sudbury’s 17th Annual Bell Park Concert Series.
In the coming weeks, the group will also travel to each of their home schools (St. Anne, St. Benedict, St. Raphael and Piux XII) to put on concerts for elementary school students and teachers. The last leg of their tour will take them to Mother St. Bride School in North Bay for a joint concert with the host school’s band. Afterwards, the band members will tour lake Nipissing aboard the Chief Commanda II.
The Sudbury Catholic Band had a very successful school year, taking home Gold and Silver awards at local festivals, and performing numerous concerts, including a surprise performance for the board’s retiring director, Catherine McCullough.
Sunday night’s concert begins at 7 pm and everyone is welcome. In the event of rain, the concert will be re-located to the CNIB building at 303 York Street.
First-time Author Visits St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School
On Monday April 28, St. Benedict students from Grade 7 and 8 as well the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) class were treated to a visit from Joanne Levy, the author of Small medium at large. This book is the author’s first published novel, and it was one of the titles included in this year’s list for the Red Maple Reading Program that was run at St. Benedict. Prior to her visit, several of the classes were able to read the novel in class in preparation for her visit.
In her presentation, Joanne Levy gave a brief introduction of herself and then outlined the journey from writing a book to having it published. The presentation included several interesting facts from her own experiences with writing. In the question period that followed, students eagerly posed a variety of questions about the writing process, the inspiration for this novel, and her previous unsuccessful novels. Following the presentation, Joanne visited each elementary class, and the ASD class, to distribute signed bookmarks to all the students and staff.
In the afternoon, Joanne visited Holy Cross and gave two presentations to the Grade 5 and 6 students. Although Small medium at large is written for an older audience, the Holy Cross students were interested to ask how the book came into being and what inspired her. However, the most popular topic for questions was her pets.
Young Poets Read at Chapters
On Tuesday, May 6th, the Grades 3 to 6 French Immersion classes from Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School brought their poetic flair out into the community. Gathering along with friends and family at Chapters, the young poets took to the microphone and read excerpts from their poetry anthologies. They also spent time in small groups, sharing their poems and talking about their writing, and explored the many wonderful books available to read in the store. Parents, grandparents, friends and families all enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate these young poets. Teachers Mme Sarmatiuk, Mme Toivonen and Mme Blais-Callaway were humbled by the energy and enthusiasm that the students brought to this writing experience, and look forward to reading more wonderful work from their students in the future.
Holy Cross Students Connecting with Ryan Hreljac
On Tuesday, November 19th, the students in teacher Shanna Whalen’s Grade 2/3 class, Eva Scola’s class at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School, engaged in a Skype session with Ryan Hreljac, the founder of Ryan’s Well. The students are part of the School Challenge that is organized by the foundation. Their goal is to raise money to help build a well, as well as latrines, for Haiti. After watching the Ryan’s Well documentary, and learning about Ryan’s amazing dedication toward bringing clean water to Africa, the students were very excited to have the chance to talk to Ryan through Skype. They had the opportunity to ask Ryan whatever questions they wanted during the half hour session. One student, Mia Maurice, asked if she could ask Santa for money for the well. It was clear by his expression and response, that he was touched by this selfless act. Ryan was very supportive of the students, and encouraged them to choose a cause that they are passionate about, and try to make a difference. He does not consider himself to be a hero, but we do, and we are looking forward help create justice as well.
A photo taken of Ryan shortly after our Skype session.
A ‘Different” Movember at Holy Cross
During the month of November, several of Holy Cross teacher Tania Fay’s grade 2 students asked why they were seeing so many men with moustaches, and what the term Movember meant. Fay thought this would be a great learning opportunity for her students to discuss the importance of community initiatives. As the school often has different fundraisers throughout the year, several for cancer organizations, the class talked about how important it is to makes those in their own community happy by always trying to be supportive however they can. This discussion led to their own Movember initiative. Fay asked students in the grade three class to help the grade two students write stories about how they all suddenly grew moustaches. On Thursday, November 28, the two classes got together and shared their stories with each other – all while touting their own Movember ‘staches. “It was a great teaching opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” explained Fay. “Our students are so observant of the world around them – and when they began noticing many moustaches sprouting on their dads’ faces, we were able to turn that into a fun discussion, a peer-to peer learning moment and a great way to show them the important of giving back and supporting one’s own community!”
Peace Rainbow at Holy Cross
Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School students created a Peace Rainbow during Bullying Prevention Week. At Holy Cross School, they focused on the positive and proactive strategies that students can use to prevent and to resolve conflict. For the Peasce Rainbow, students were asked to use their five senses to describe what Peace means to them. Then, each student was asked to indicate, either by drawing or writing, what Peace feels like to them on a coloured dove. Each dove corresponds to a colour of the rainbow and to one of the senses. The Peace Rainbow is displayed in the main foyer so that parents and visitors can easily see what peace means to students at Holy Cross School.