St. David Catholic Elementary School

St. Charles Cards on Annual Mission to Fill Sudbury Food Bank Shelves

This week, students at St. Charles began visits to feeder schools to get students amped up and motivated about this year’s food drive.
The goal is to raise 60, 000 cans for the Sudbury Food Bank, along with support from its feeder schools – St. David’s, Holy Trinity, Pius XII, St. John and St. Paul schools. 
The food drive began almost thirty years ago with the student council at the time initiating the drive.  Founder, Jim Szilva continues to help the school each year with the annual mission.  The school is also supported by Kiss 105.3 and Q host Melanie Dahl on the airways.
In the past, donations from St.Charles College each fall have made for the largest single donation in Sudbury Food Bank history.
The drive wraps up on October 27th when final results will be tabulated and unveiled at the assembly.

"Why Yes, it's HAT DAY at St. David School!"

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This is a great time for schools and families to create awareness about pediatric cancers.
St. David Catholic Elementary School started its year off right with a fun-filled HAT DAY at the end of the first week of school. The students and staff wore crazy hats and ball caps during the school day to emotionally and financially support a former student battling synovial sarcoma cancer. Students donated funds for the privilege of wearing their hats during the school day. The school raised almost $400.00 to help provide support for the family. The school would like to publicly thank everyone who participated in this event!
Dylan Fay, a former St. David student, now a St. Charles College grade 8 student, was diagnosed this summer with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. His family spent most of the summer at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. This fall, Dylan will be going back and forth from Sick Kids to the Sudbury Cancer Center for treatment. During the month of September, St. David School will continue to support the Fay family through pray and fundraising efforts. “It is important that we support our school families in every way possible. We are asking for donations to support Dylan’s family during this time, but more importantly we are praying for his full recovery. We know every little bit counts and want to provide as much support as possible — in any form they need.” stated Lindsay Michel, kindergarten teacher at St. David School.

St. David School "Planting for the Future"

Together with St. David students and staff, Local Ojibwe artist and educator, Will Morin conducted a planting ceremony at the school to support the students transition to the new school site. Fifty two planters were filled with sweetgrass seeds. The newly planted seedlings will be cared for over the summer by Mr. Morin and his family and in the fall will be transplanted at the new St. David School site.
As part of the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury, Mr. Morin was selected as a Project Impact recipient. This project included involving students in the regreening of a native species plant, sweetgrass. Sweetgrass is also a First Nation traditional medicine.
As part of the ceremony, the outgoing students in grade 6, 7 and 8 were honoured by the school community. Mr. Morin stated, “We all plant seeds to prepare for the future. It is only together that we can nurture their growth and ensure their success”.

St. David School Proudly Supports Student Well Being Through Tae Kwon Do Lessons

St. David Catholic Elementary School continues to offer grades 3 – 5 students Tae Kwon Do lessons every Monday for an hour at lunch. The program focus remains the 5 tenets that Tae Kwon Do practitioners live their lives by:
Courtesy
Integrity
Perseverance
Self Control
Indomitable Spirit
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s CCAC Health Nurse, Roland Dutrisac, uses Tae Kwon Do as an effective strategy to encourage students to live healthy lives through physical activity as well as learn such important skills as: focus, concentration, discipline, self control and perseverance. The Tae Kwon Do program also stresses the importance of confidence and how to deal with conflict in a proactive manner.
Next year, the school will move from its original location on Jean Street to a brand new home at 459 Frood Road. The program has seen such success that it will continue to be offered at the new location. The school hopes all returning students and new registrants will continue to take advantage of this inter disciplinary opportunity. The school would also like to take this time to thank Mr. Roland Dutrisac for his wonderful contribution to the St. David School community!

Indigenous Celebration Held

The Diocesan Centre is planning an inclusive day of celebration based on indigenous culture, and would love a big turn out at this event. All students, staff, families and friends are welcome and encouraged to attend! It looks to be a great day planned!
INDIGENOUS CELEBRATION
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Fielding Park
5:30 am. Sunrise Ceremony ~
8:00 am. Pancake Breakfast ~
9:00 am. Teaching Carousel – Stations will be set up to be rotated through – 6 stations with 20 minute presentations at each~
a) Children drumming station~
b) Craft – decade of the rosary with four/six colour beads + leather OR~leather bookmark
c) 7 Grandfather teachings
d) Legends – Elders telling the stories~
e) Medicines and Wheel
f) Sacred Elements (fire keeper, tobacco, stones, feather, pipe, drums, smudge, animals) ~
11:00 am. Healing Circle – prayers, scripture (trilingual), blessing~
1:30 pm. Feast – “pot luck”
3:00 pm Travelling Song/Blessing~
For more information and access to resources, please consult:
http://arise-ssm.weebly.com

St. David School Hosts Wellness Day… Taking Care of YOU!

On April 24, St. David Catholic School hosted a “Wellness Day” focusing on supporting students to lead healthy, well-balanced lives. The morning kicked off with motivational student-created videos, acknowledgement of community partners and introductions to the day’s wellness workshops. The grade 4-8 student participants were divided into groups and attended two out of six sessions of their choosing. All students participants were given the opportunity to choose which sessions they wanted to attend.
The day consisted of various healthy habit-forming activities and coping strategy workshops which included yoga, outdoor education team building, “What’s your Spark”, tae kwon do, dance, and healthy cooking options. The school hosted presenters from a number of community agencies within the city including the Sudbury District Health Unit, Better Beginnings-Better Futures, Killarney Outdoor Education Centre and several wonderful student teachers from Laurentian University.
Katie-Ann McLean, grade 8 student at St. David School, described the day as “an opportunity to learn how to relax your mind, body and spirit” .
St. David Catholic School accessed a community grant from Breakfast Club of Canada to host this special day. “For over twenty years, Breakfast Club of Canada has been nourishing children’s potential by making sure as many of them as possible have access to a healthy morning meal before school, in an environment that allows their self esteem to grow and flourish”. Thank you Breakfast Club of Canada, and Better Beginnings-Better Futures for all that you do for St. David Catholic Elementary School, and so many other schools.

St. David Catholic School and the Grade 12 Marymount Leadership Class Encourages The Love of Reading in Kindergarten Students

The Full Day Kindergarten class at St. David Catholic Elementary School recently partnered with the grade 12 Leadership Class at Marymount Academy to begin a new reading initiative to support reading achievement for FDK students. The classes first met at the local MacKenzie Street library and now visit each others classrooms twice a month to read together. “I super duper love to read with my buddy, its fun and we get to have name tags that are the same” said Lexus Dumas, FDK student. The initiative will continue until June when the classes will get together for a reading party to celebrate their partnership and reading success.
 

Shrove Tuesday Celebrated at St. David Catholic School

St. David Catholic school celebrated Shrove Tuesday, more commonly known as Pancake Tuesday, by making pancakes for all staff and students. The school staff gathered at 7 am in the school kitchen and started the task of making pancakes for all 250 students and their teachers. In the Catholic faith, Shrove Tuesday is the day preceding Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. The penitential season of Lent is a period of 40 days ending with the celebration of Easter. Eating pancakes the day before Lent started as a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk and sugar.
The students enjoyed their pancake breakfasts with their teachers. “They were yummy” commented grade 2 student Fred Ranger after finishing his meal. “I really liked the blueberry topping on my pancakes. I think the fruit was my favourite part” stated Tate Armstrong, grade 1 student. The students also learned the term “Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday”, again referring to the tradition of eating foods rich in fats and sugars on Shove Tuesday. “This is a wonderful tradition at St. David School. We have been making pancakes for the students and staff for as long as I can remember on Shrove Tuesday. It is a wonderful time to come together as a community of faith and enjoy good food and good company. It makes for a great start to the day”, stated Nancy Costanzi, the school’s resource teacher.

Christmas for Kids Campaign in full swing at St. Charles College

Each year, the students at St. Charles College join forces with the students in their homeroom to help put gifts under the Christmas tree in a home somewhere in Sudbury. 
Deacon Steve Callaghan organizes the campaign with the administrators working in the eight feeder schools – St. Bernadette, St. Andrew, St. John, Pius, St. Paul, St. Mark, St. David and St. Raphael.  Deacon Steve says “The administrators at each of these schools know which family is in dire need of support and what life is like for them.”
After students are selected, the child writes a letter to Santa and each homeroom “adopts” one of the children.  Money is then raised during the month in the mission envelope.  All money is then given to a designated student on December 11th so that the shopping can be done. 
Deacon Steve Callaghan then brings the wrapped gifts to the school principal on December 17th and 18th and the principal contacts the family for pick-up.  He says, “When the principal and the secretary see us hauling in present after present – they are overwhelmed and often cry because of the generosity of our children.”

Cardinal Can Total Crushed Once Again  

St. Charles College and its feeder schools have collected more than 115 thousand cans to stock Sudbury Food Bank shelves during the winter months.  This exceeds the goal to collect 60 thousand cans that the student council set at the beginning of the week. 
Together with St. Raphael, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. Bernadette, St. John, St. David and Pius, the Cards went door-to-door all over the city in pursuit of cans or cash. 
The schools also teamed up with Q92 and Kiss FM to promote what has become the largest single donation to the Sudbury Food Bank in its history.
SCC Principal Patty Mardero says, “I congratulate every Card and future who went door-to-door these last few weeks so that people in this city can eat.”

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