See what students experience at the Level Up! Skilled Trades Career Fair. Talk to experts about the skilled trades as a rewarding career path for your child.
You’re invited to the Level Up Open House:
November 14, 2022 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Steelworkers Hall 66 Brady Street
Sudbury Catholic Schools was proud to host a professional administration day for education staff devoted to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) on October 24, 2022. The Board partnered with several local organizations to create engaging and innovative learning sessions.
Sessions included:
Cambrian College STEM tour: Educators had the opportunity to learn more about various STEM-based programming at Cambrian College, and how they can support showcasing STEM in the community. This day included a walking tour of the trades/ technology departments on campus, examples of hands-on learning activities and a workshop with Larissa Hoffman, VP of Edge Factor, who will provide an overview of their updated online platform and how Edge Factor can promote STEM careers to students.
Game Design Program at Cambrian College: Educators explored Game Design at Cambrian College with Professor, Program Director, and CBC Radio Tech Talk Host Aaron Langille. Participants got a glimpse of designing and developing commercial-quality game applications for a broad range of industries such as entertainment, health, education, construction, marketing, and mining.
Science North: Participants completed several activities including: SHSM workshops, turtle crossing Demo, Planetarium show and a bit coding workshop.
Connections Between Land and Art: Jessica Somers, an Indigenous Artist, guided participants through a land-based teaching about the Birch Tree and medicines. Participants were also guided through a painting workshop as they learned about the power of the spirit bear.
Outdoor learning at St. David School: Participants learned on the land as they were guided through an outdoor professional development session. Educators spent the day learning outside, connecting with nature, and exploring the various benefits that land based teaching can offer.
STEM Activities with Logics Academy: Educators had the opportunity to learn about robotics and Dash and how to integrate it into their classrooms!
Skills Ontario- Walking Robots Challenge: Katie Cameron, program facilitator for Skills Ontario introduced teachers to Skills Ontario and their variety of programs and services. In addition, teachers learned about the Junk Drawer Races competition. This program promotes sustainability of re-using common items found at home or in a classroom.
Let’s Talk Science : Teachers heard valuable information from Lindsay Shaw. Lindsay is the Program Development Manager for the Professional Learning team at Let’s Talk Science. In her role, she manages the development of the Learning Pathways program. She introduced teachers to Live STEM broadcasts, learning pathways and live events.
STEM Storytime: Primary teachers met Ryan Kahue. Ryan is a Program Support Coordinator for the Youth and Volunteer Experience team at Let’s Talk Science. His program of focus is STEM Storytime. STEM Storytime is a weekly series offered on Tuesdays at 1pm! Each week a Let’s Talk Science Outreach student along with Ryan will read a storybook followed by a hands-on activity.
STEM Club: Junior teachers met Nick Butt. Nick Butt is an Outreach Coordinator with Let’s Talk Science. He is manager, developer, and host of STEM Club. Each week, Let’s Talk Science, features a different hands-on activity using minimal, easy-to-find materials. Students will also have the chance to learn from and ask questions to inspire STEM role models.
We would like to thank all partners who helped create hands-on sessions and provided our educational staff with learning opportunities that can be recreated in our classrooms!
The Sudbury Regional Science Fair, which took place virtually during March 21st – April 3rd, 2022, is a meaningful learning experience where Sudbury’s four School Boards, can provide opportunities to students from Grades 7-12 to show case their knowledge in different areas of science. Sudbury Catholic District School Board was grateful to participate once again in the Regional Science Fair and allow our students to enjoy hands-on learning experiences by extending their discovery in biology, chemistry, technology, and other areas.
This year approximately 15 projects represented the Board in the Regional Science Fair. The number of project topics was diverse again this year, with exciting subjects ranging from “Theoretical Gravity Control”, “Hacking an Air-Gapped Computer”, Creating a “Self-Hitting Hammer,” and more. We want to thank our judges and educators for guiding our students and continually finding new opportunities for hands-on learning and growth.
MMA Student, Kate Bouchard – 2022 Best In Fair Winner!
Following the Fair, Sudbury Catholic Schools, students, and families were invited to attend a virtual celebration organized by the Sudbury Regional Science Fair on April 10th, 2022. This virtual celebration highlighted the winners of divisional awards, special awards and celebrated students’ achievements. At this celebration, we are pleased to announce that Sudbury Catholic students collected ten awards, including Best of Fair which was presented to Kate Bouchard, a student from Marymount Academy for her project, “Go With The Flow“. We are also thrilled to announce that in addition to Kate’s amazing project , 4 other projects submitted by SCDSB Students have also been selected to advance to the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) taking place on May 16th, 2022, in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The students and projects that will advance to the Canada Wide Science Fair include the following:
“Each year, our students present unique and creative science fair projects. This year was certainly no exception,” said Joanne Bénard, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. “We are very excited to see the number of participants continue to grow, and we are proud of our students who represented us incredibly well again. We thank our judges and our educators for guiding students and continually finding new opportunities for hands-on learning and growth. We wish the students who are moving on to the 2022 Canada-Wide Science Fair the best of luck!”
“Science Fair was so much fun, and I think it’s because I was passionate about my topic.” Says Best in Fair Winner and CWSF participant, Kate Bouchard. “I chose something that I was interested in and genuinely wanted to learn more about. It helped me be more engaged, and because I was interested in what I was learning, I felt like I could explain it better and put forth more effort in making it better. I am really looking forward to be a part of the CWSF in May!”
Some of MMA’s Regional Science Fair students stop and smile with their regional science fair medals! (Middle left Best in Fair Winner – Kate Bouchard)
Dylan Nelson, a Grade 8 student from St. Benedict, will also be attending the Canada Wide Science Fair with his unique project where he created a Self-Hitting Hammer. This idea was inspired by his passion for building things and from wanting to help his grandmother.
“I was trying to think of something inventive to do. I wanted to create something new, and I realized that I like building things, so I wanted to make a new type of hammer that would allow someone who cannot hammer a nail with a normal hammer still perform that task. My experience was fun because I spent time with grandpa, who helped me construct it, and I was able to make my project about making something that would help my grandma.”
Pictured is St. Benedict Student and Regional Science Fair Honouree Dylan accepting his award from the SCDSB Director of Education, Joanne Bénard and Principal of St. Benedict, Laura Kuzenko.
Overall, we are pleased to celebrate the contributions and participation of all our schools and students in this meaningful learning opportunity. We would like to end our post by congratulating all students, educators, and schools on their participation and effort in making the 2022 Science Fair a success! The ten project winners included projects from Marymount Academy, projects from St. Benedict and one project from St. Charles College.
Please visit the following link below to view all the wonderful projects brought forward by Sudbury Catholic Students this year.
Last week, a call out was made to all grades 2-6 at St Anne students to see if they were interested in participating in the first-ever Skills Ontario’s Junk Drawer Races! Over 100 students attended the first planning meeting. Due to the overwhelming response, the school has organized their own tournament with local winners advancing to the regional competition.
Each challenge nicely aligns with the grade specific science curriculum expectations. This is an excellent opportunity to integrate the curriculum while giving our students fun and engaging hands-on learning experiences.
There is still time to register your class, the deadline is:
November 16th at 4:00pm.
We are hoping to have representation from each of our schools and will provide a small budget for the extras that might be required for our students to participate. In addition, Dan and myself will be available to present the challenges with the specific details to individual classes or to a group of classes via Zoom.
Skills Ontario has officially opened registration for its July virtual workshops so students can explore skilled trades and tech-related workshops, demonstrations, virtual tours and presentations that pique their interest.
Sessions will run from July 5 to 30 and there is no fee to participate. Another session is set to run in August, with sign-up opening June 21. The virtual workshops are being held in place of summer camps.
Virtual workshops are open to all ages however are typically suited to Grades 7, 8 and 9. Each event’s individual registration page provides details regarding difficulty level and required skills and some sessions include a free hands-on kit that will be shipped to registered participants.
13 projects from Sudbury Catholic Schools will advance to the Virtual 2021 Regional Science Fair. The Sudbury Catholic District School Board held a board wide virtual science fair where projects were judged and scored. Project topics included ‘What foods produce the most biogas”, “The Best Acoustical Set-Up” and “Sturdy Guard – Creating a More Secure Skate Guard.”
The top three Board Science Fair projects are as follows:
• Third Place: Mary Leigh (Marymount Academy) – The Best Acoustical Set-Up • Second Place: Malachi Slack (Remote Learning School) – Dans Quelle Mesure les Désinfectants Fonctionnent-ils? • First Place/Best in Fair: Cameron O’Daiskey (St. Anne School) – Snuffed Out
“Each year, our students present unique and creative science fair projects, and this year was certainly no exception. Though this year’s science fair looked a bit different, students were able to participate by showcasing their projects, experiments and visual evidence in an online forum,” said Joanne Bénard, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. “We thank our judges as well as our educators for guiding students and continually finding new opportunities for hands-on learning and growth. We wish participating students good luck in the Virtual 2021 Regional Science Fair!”
Please visit the following link to view all of the Sudbury Catholic science fair projects: LINK. Judging for the Virtual 2021 Regional Science Fair will take place throughout April and the official awards ceremony will be held on April 18, 2021.
First Place/Best in Fair: Cameron O’Daiskey (St. Anne School) – Snuffed Out
Second Place: Malachi Slack (Remote Learning School) – Dans Quelle Mesure les Désinfectants Fonctionnent-ils?
Third Place: Mary Leigh (Marymount Academy) – The Best Acoustical Set-Up
On Tuesday evening, families participated in an Hour of Code while participating in a dance party and learning about coding all at the same time! This session was designed for families to learn the basics of coding without even using a device.
Students learned that events are a useful way to control when an action happens and can be used to make multiple things act in sync. In programming, events can be used to respond to a user controlling it (like pressing buttons or clicking the mouse) and that events can make programs more interesting and interactive.
Following, our teachers taught various dance moves such as the “Star, Dab, High Clap and This & That”. Then, families were asked to create their own unique dance algorithm and to share their finished products in order to have a chance to win a family prize pack.
Are you excited for summer? We are! We are happy to announce the SCDSB 2020 Summer Camp expanded online program. Please click the link and fill in a survey for each of your children you would like to take part in the opportunity. You will need to commit to be part of the program for 3 weeks: two hours a day. July 6-24th, 9am to 11am.
Our expanded online learning includes K-8 online classes, K-8 ELL classes (for our newcomers) and Indigenous Learning.
Sign up quickly to secure your spot as spaces are limited: SIGN UP HERE!
Sign up by June 12th as we will start notifying people they are part of our awesome summer program! (be sure to leave your email so we can connect with you!)
Our Board Wide Science Fair was held on March 4, 2020 at St. Charles College. Students from Grade 7-12 participated in the event where they went through a formal event and judging process.
22 projects were selected to go on to the Regional Science Fair to be held on April 4, 2020!
Third Place: Joe Gouchie and Sam Oduwale, St. Charles College with the project Printing Speed of Grade 8 Males.
Second Place: Ella Caissie and Ava Collette, St. Anne School with the project H.A.W. Pipe.
First Place and Best in Fair: Julia Parenteau and Hailey MacDonald, St. Anne School with the project Les effets croissance sur des plantes avec differents liquides.
In addition, the following projects were honoured:
Most Creative : Wyatt Rolling from St. John School, with the project Fish On! Best Presentation: Tyson Kirk and Aiden Anger from St. Charles College with the project Super Mario Upgrade.
Wyatt Rolling, St. John School won most creative project for his project Fish on!Tyson Kirk and Aiden Anger from St. Charles College won best presentation for their project Super Mario Upgrade!
Students at Sudbury Catholic Schools completed another year of summer learning this month! 60 students from Kindergarten to Grade 3 completed the three-week Summer Learning Program at St. David School from July 8 – July 26, 2019.
Students participated in a literacy and numeracy program, which supported students in improving their skills at their own pace. The program also featured various activities centered around Indigenous culture. The program was led by both classroom teachers and camp counsellors, providing a full educational team to participating students. Through the online tool and app Lexia, teachers and counsellors were able to provide a visual experience for both the literacy and numeracy components, and students are able to continue to access their account from home throughout the summer.
As in past years, each morning began with a physical activity which helped to energize students and build confidence so that they were ready to learn. This year, the group participated in Zumba sessions provided by Zumba Vibe.
The Board is thrilled with student participation in this year’s Summer Learning Program.
“The work and effort that goes into making the summer learning program a success each year is truly inspiring,” said Joanne Bénard, Director of Education at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. “With the right tools, support and amazing staff, participating students were able to improve their skills and enjoy the experience along the way!”
The Summer Learning Program is a Ministry funded program which aims to promote literacy and numeracy learning for students during the summer months in fun and engaging ways.