A recent visit to Science North proved to be a real “eye-opener” for students within the English E.L.K. program at St. Anne School in Hanmer. During the fall, the young children within the Sudbury Catholic System began a learning inquiry into the life cycle of plants with a garden harvest. With the arrival of spring right around the corner, the students are continuing to expand their knowledge of plant life through new growth. Before the children actually plant their own seeds, they participated in a session at Science North that discussed how plants grow, their needs and care, common plants around us, and how plants take root in the wild. Their classroom teacher, Cheryl MacRury, knew that her students had a good foundation before planting, but stated, “The children had a lot of fun. The best part of the session was watching them as they learned a lot about how plants reseed and grow in the wilderness. They didn’t know the important roles that people, animals, and insects play in a plant’s life, but they do now.” An inquiry task that involved magnifying glasses and a bag filled with seeds, berries, burrs, and felt allowed the children to put on their thinking caps and have a hands on experience with how pollination occurs. What will the final result be following their Science North visit? Hopefully a new generation of plant growers. It is never too soon to start cultivating a green thumb!
St. Anne Students “Go Green” For St. Patrick’s Day
The students at St. Anne School enjoy celebrating special days and holidays just like all other children do. This even includes holidays that take place while they are not at school. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17th while students across Ontario are away on their March Break. Just before they left for their holiday, some students in the French Immersion E.L.K.P. classroom within the Sudbury Catholic Board showed their true spirit by dressing up to demonstrate their “love for the Irish”. Anthony Bertrand, Gavin Potvin, and Jacob Carosi had a lot to tell about the costumes they were wearing. “My mom helped me get dressed for St. Patrick’s Day,” said Jacob. “My mom even helped me put on tattoos for leprechauns,” stated Gavin. “I wanted to wear a beard for St. Patrick’s Day, but it is pretty itchy,” was Anthony’s comment. The wearing of the green by some of St. Anne’s youngest students had the entire school body seeing “wee little leprechauns” throughout the day. Way to go Angels!
St. Anne Student “Welds Her Own Heart”
Recently, intermediate students from St. Anne Catholic School in Hanmer, participated in a”Tech Day” at Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School. The St. Anne Angel’s are invited annually to participate in this high school experience as a way of making the transition to high school that much easier. Throughout the day, students were exposed to various programs such as Welding, Wood Working, High Skills major program in computer technologies and AutoCad. The students at St.Anne Catholic School embraced the day, actively participating and asking questions about the programs, routines, and student life. The staff and students at BAC were more than happy to address all of their questions and concerns. The day proved to be an exciting one for all involved!
St. Anne Student Celebrates Pancake Day With A Homemade Flair
Ava Collette is a student within the English E.L.K.P. classroom at St. Anne School in Hanmer. She celebrated Pancake Tuesday with her classmates and other classrooms throughout the school as a day of celebration before the start of Lent and Ash Wednesday. The pancakes Ava and her Kindergarten friends ate were perhaps a bit more special than most. That is because they were covered in syrup Ava’s father had made from tapping the maple trees at their home. Ava, a student within the Sudbury Catholic Board, told her class “My daddy made the syrup from the trees in our backyard”. Her friends and teacher couldn’t wait to try the homemade syrup and after tasting it on top of their pancakes, everyone agreed. “It was yummy”! The syrup was so good, there wasn’t one drop left. Ava and her dad certainly knew how to put the “topping” on this year’s pancake breakfast!
St. Anne Student Celebrates Valentine’s Day with “Smiles From The Heart”
A day filled with excitement and the anticipation of receiving cards from your classmates who like you is a big deal to Noah Legault. Noah is a student in the English E.L.K.P. classroom at St. Anne School in Hanmer. Noah transferred to the Valley school within the Sudbury Catholic System just before Christmas. Making new friends can be hard. He told his teacher, “I like my friends”. From the looks of the smile on his face as he opens his Valentine cards, Noah has had no problem working his way into the hearts of his classmates. His special messages tell him that his friends “like him too”! Noah has not only joined the St. Anne Angels, but he has joined the list of someone who can be and who is a very, very special Valentine!
It All Adds Up To The 100th Day Of School At St. Anne
The students of St. Anne School in Hanmer have been celebrating their 100th day of school in a number of different ways. Teachers within both the Primary and Junior sections decided to have their students rotate from classroom to classroom to allow the children to participate in all kinds of activities that added up to 100. The primary wing had games such as stringing 100 fruit loops, sticking 100 stickers to a crown, racing to pick up 100 pennies, and repeating ten exercises ten times. The junior wing recognized all numbers to 100 as they played Bingo, rolled dice and counted on a 100 chart, played an auction game on the Smartboard with money up to $100.00, and tried to create 100 movements to different styles of music. Both the students and their teachers within the Sudbury Catholic System agreed that there are more than 100 reasons why the number 100 can be pretty exciting!
Primary Students Try To Defy Gravity At St. Anne School
Walking and being able to stand tall are activities the students at St. Anne School participate in everyday. A recent outing to Centennial Arena made doing so just a bit harder for some of the primary students within the Sudbury Catholic Board.
Armed with their skates, helmets, and a lot of padding from their winter snowsuits, classes from the Hanmer school took to the ice with their classmates and family members. During the next hour, some children practiced the basics of trying to stand and move on skates while a few more daring students moved from one end of the rink to the other. Who knew that trying to move on skates could be so tricky? All in all, the students enjoyed the physical activity and the pride that comes from knowing they were mastering the art of defying gravity. “Do we have to leave?” Those were the words that even the youngest children were asking. Their teacher’s responses, “We’ll be back!”
St. Anne Catholic School Student Headed to Provincials for Cadets
On January 28th and 29th, Daniel Caton, a grade 8 student from St. Anne Catholic School in Hanmer, participated in a regional biathlon competition for the Royal Canadian Cadets. The competition took place in Sault Ste. Marie, with approximately 190 participants from Northern Ontario. The two day event invited many spectators and had both individual and relay events.
Caton’s relay team finished second overall and advanced to the provincial championship which will be help in Sault Ste. Marie on February 18th and 19th. Daniel held the best record for targets hit on his own team, hitting 8 out of 10 targets. “I was really excited and proud of my team. All of the training was well worth it. I think we have a good chance to place in the provincial championship,” said Caton. Daniel also participated in an individual event, where he placed 22nd overall.
Daniel is a part of the Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron of the Sudbury Armouries. He has been involved with the Cadets for approximately two years, and has enjoyed the experience thus far. He is also an honour roll student in teacher Jody O’Daiskey’s class at St. Anne School, part of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. “I am very happy for Daniel and his accomplishments. He has worked hard training for this event. It was wonderful to see him beaming with pride when he shared his accomplishments with our classroom,” O’Daiskey said.
St. Anne Students Believe in Motto “Respect For All”
The pupils at St. Anne School in Hanmer pride themselves on demonstrating Catholic virtues. Since September, the students within the Sudbury Catholic Board have worked very hard to practice those virtues of respect, faith, justice, patience, and responsibility. Recently, a presentation from Camp Quality helped to re-enforce all these virtues and more.
Camp Quality is an organization run by volunteers who provide children with cancer the opportunity to experience the joys of camp life during the summer. The camp location in Northern Ontario can be found on the west arm of Lake Nipissing near Monetville. During the school year, the camp sends volunteers and life size puppets into schools to work with students from all grade divisions. Some of the puppets are recovering from leukemia or cancerous tumours. They explain to other puppet friends their feelings and concerns as they return or get ready to return to school. The performances are free for elementary schools and help children to understand the importance of caring for and offering support to one another, especially when a child has a major illness such as cancer.
The St. Anne students enjoyed the presentation immensely. Many of the students themselves have family members who have experienced cancer. The Camp Quality volunteers not only helped re-enforce those virtues already learned, but helped prepare the children for future virtues such as compassion, courage, kindness, and helpfulness. When asked about the presentation itself, the students from all divisions got the message loud and clear. “We may not always look the same on the outside, but we are still the same person on the inside.” Way to go Angels!
St. Anne Angels Become Gators for the Day
Five students from St. Anne Catholic School in Hanmer had an opportunity to see their future, and wear a Bishop Alexander Carter Secondary School Gator jersey at a recent feeder school event. BAC invited grade 8 students from St. Anne School to watch a spirit building hockey game at Centennial Arena, where their boys and girls hockey teams played againstt one another. It was an exciting and close game,finishing with a score of 3 – 2 for the boys hockey team.