The St. David Catholic Elementary School Christmas choir, led by community volunteer, Melody Henry recently visited Red Oak Villa, a seniors residence in the heart of Sudbury. The student choir sang Christmas carols and spread Christmas cheer throughout the complex. While sharing hot chocolate and Christmas cookies the students and seniors visited, told stories and enjoyed each others company. Natasha Folino, St. David School teacher said, ” it warms your heart to see the youth of our community be so gentle and caring with the residents at Red Oak Villa. This is what the season of Christmas is all about – giving of yourself and enjoying those people in your lives. This was the perfect pairing of the generations and a wonderful way to celebrate the season”.
The Christmas Spirit is Alive and Well at St. David Catholic School
Every year at St. David Catholic Elementary School, the staff and volunteers get together to plan an old fashion, traditional Christmas feast for the students. A Christmas meal including turkey with all the trimmings was served to all students at the school. Each classroom assumed a responsibility for the feast. The kindergarten students created the placemats, grade one students baked cupcakes for dessert, and the grade 4/5 class was responsible for serving the meal.
Special guests attended the event and actively participated in the seasonal celebration. Donations from community organizations made this special meal possible. Christmas carols were sung, gifts were received and the spirit of the season was evident everywhere in the school. According to the grade 1 student, Deacon Lucas, “our Christmas lunch was healthy food that tasted great. I liked all the Christmas music and really liked eating with my friends. Christmas is a fun and special time of year and I’m really happy we do special things to celebrate it”.
St. David Catholic School Celebrates the Season of Advent
St. David Catholic Elementary School celebrated the season of advent with a school wide teaching assembly that focused on hope, love, joy and peace. The grade 2/3 and 3 classes hosted the celebration and taught the school population about the importance of advent and the virtue of patience, especially during this busy time of year. The children and their teachers related “being patient for Jesus’ birth” to waiting for an important phone call, waiting for spring to come or waiting for babies to be born.
The assembly was focused on love and how we show love to one another in our everyday lives. The advent wreath was also explained by the students. It is a tradition that began hundreds of years ago in Germany. The wreath is in the shape of a circle covered in evergreen bows, representing eternal life with 4 candles representing hope, love, joy and peace and the four weeks of advent.
St. David "Rocs Their Mocs"
The staff and students at St. David Catholic School participated in the “Roc your Mocs” campaign, a fun way to celebrate their diversity and heritage. The “Roc you Mocs’ day started as a social movement in the United States, but has moved into Canada as a way to celebrate individual diversity and raise awareness for Indigenous peoples throughout the world. Cultural pride, comfortable footwear and a lot of fun were the themes of the day!
"Everyone is a Mathematician at St. David School!"
On November 18th, St. David Catholic Elementary School welcomed parents and family members into the school community to enjoy a morning of math games with their children. All family members started their sessions off with a coffee and a warm welcome from the school principal and vice principal, who explained the school’s math improvement goal and how each family could support their children at home become successful, confident students of mathematics. All family participants received a “math gift bag” to encourage the continuation of math games at home. Each bag not only included some basic math tools and activities, but also included the Ministry of Education parent handbook entitled, “Doing Mathematics with Your Child – a Parent Guide”.
Families enjoyed a variety of simple math games with their children as well as used the time in the school to help build community and model what a trusting school / home relationship looks like. Laughter could be heard throughout the building as well as student and parents’ growing confidence in mathematics. “It is important for our families to understand the math curriculum and the simple ways that they can support their child’s success at school. Our students set goals for themselves in literacy and mathematics and when we all work together to provide safe and accepting learning environments their goals are reachable. It is vital that all students see themselves as successful math learners and that families and school staff work as a team to support student confidence building and academic success” stated Megan Murphy, St. David Catholic School Vice Principal.
St. David Catholic School; Lest We Forget
St. David Catholic Elementary School staff and students remembered the brave men and women who have given their lives for freedom around the world. Deacon Roland Muzzatti led the school in a prayer service celebrating the precious gift of peace. Deacon Muzzatti spoke about everyone’s responsibility for ensuring peace exists in our everyday lives. He engaged in a school wide conversation about peace and real world, kid friendly ways students can promote peace in their everyday lives. The school prayed for those families personally affected by war and those who have family members currently serving in the military. The students learned that they all have the power to be peacemakers in their lives and that they can be role models and leaders in their community.
Louis Mailloux, St. David School Core French teacher stated that, “Today’s celebration was a powerful remembrance of how important it is for people to be reflective and take time to honour those who have died for our freedom. Students need direct instruction on our history as nation and the sacrifices that have been made by previous generations. Deacon Muzzatti spoke eloquently about the importance of peace in our world and the importance of prayer to our community”.
Cards Do It – Largest Single Donation to the Sudbury Food Bank for a Five Day Drive
The goal was to raise 60 thousand cans in five days. The result was astounding. Students and staff, along with the support of its feeder schools and the community raised 125, 452 cans to line the shelves of the food bank heading into the holiday season.
The breakdown is twenty thousand dollars in cash collected and 25, 000 cans. Students will spend the day assisting with the transport of the food to the food bank warehouse.
The St. Charles College food drive started thirty years ago and has been a yearly tradition with its feeder schools – St. David’s, Holy Trinity, Pius XII, St. John and St. Paul schools.
Principal Patty Mardero says “in thirty years this is the largest donation to date. The students really upped the ante for next year.”
Cards ‘can’ do it!
Members of the St. Charles College Student Council are selling tees in the main foyer of the school this week to support the Sudbury Food Bank. The t-shirts which are retailing for twenty dollars go to supporting the school’s annual food drive. That means the sale of one shirt equates to 100 cans to line the shelves at the food bank.
The blue shirts were designed by students in teacher Beverly Belanger’s leadership class. Student Jordan Sutton designed the image on the front of the shirt while Tyler Michaud came up with this year’s slogan: “Cards ‘can’ do it! 60, 000.”
The goal for this year’s food drive is to collect sixty thousand cans and they are doing it with the support of feeder schools – St. David’s, Holy Trinity, Pius XII, St. John and St. Paul schools.
The food drive is an annual tradition dating back to almost thirty years ago.
SCDSB Cheers on LU
Sudbury Catholic District School Board elementary students were invited to cheer on their local Laurentian University Voyageurs hockey team during one of their season games. Students from St. Francis, Holy Cross, St. David, Holy Trinity, and St. Benedict packed the arena as they cheered on the Voyageurs as they won a victory over Nipissing 3-2 in a shootout.
Celebrating and Giving Thanks at St. David
During the month of October, English Catholic schools in Sudbury celebrate the value of Faith. St. David Catholic Elementary School teaches that faith is an attitude that encourages people to involve and develop a relationship with God. The school staff and students marked this Thanksgiving season by gathering as a community and celebrating the Liturgy of the Word. Deacon Roland Muzzatti, from Christ the King Parish officiated the school wide service. Deacon Muzzatti stressed to the students the importance of giving thanks not only for our material possessions, but also for our freedoms, special gifts, talents and families.
Mrs. Melody Henry, a school volunteer and choir director lead the school in song during the service. “It was a beautiful celebration of our Faith. The students were extremely attentive and engaged in the conversation with Deacon Roland. It was especially meaningful when the students proudly shared what they were thankful for this Thanksgiving.” Teachers, Nancy Costanzi and Natasha Folino, with the help of student volunteers, organized the celebration with the intention of deeply discussing our gratitude for all good things in life and sharing the notion that hard things can happen, but through our resilience and belief in God we can overcome these obstacles with dignity and perseverance.