Pius XII Catholic Elementary School

Lights, Camera, Action at Pius XII

Upon arriving at the classroom, invited guests were greeted by a sign welcoming them to the Pius XII Catholic Elementary School Intermediate Lifeskills class movie premiere. Students had the screen ready, and chairs set up theatre style for the start of the movie.

Since October, the students, their teacher Ginny Cristo-Long, their Educational Assistant Lynn Dubois, and vice principal Tina Timpano have been working on this class project, which was the creation of a movie that reflected upon the essential question – “What does Jesus ask of us?”

The students began the project with the selection of an individual response to this question and then had to think of a picture that would then represent their answer. The next steps for the class included the introduction of technology programs including iphoto, garageband, and imovie on macbooks. “This project really allowed the students to expand not only intellectually, and verbally, but also socially and emotionally,” Cristo stated. “The students had to pick kids from other classes and grades and invite them to be a part of their picture for the movie – it was a great experience for them to socialize and work on problem-solving skills.”

Just before the movie began, the vice principal gave a brief introduction explaining the process by which they began the project, and also let the audience know what a special group of kids these students were. “To ask these kids to come up for a response to the essential question – What does Jesus ask of us – it was an absolutely easy task for them as they are daily role models to others of exactly what Jesus does ask of us.”

The movie itself was completely interactive for the audience as once the students had presented their ideas on video such as: keep the peace, share, tell the truth, forgive, be nice to nature, respect others, etc, they then went through all of these positive attributes and encouraged the audience to follow their lead and learn the sign for these words with sign language.

The presentation ended with a standing ovation from all of the invited guests and the students were then presented with special movie star awards for their outstanding efforts. It was a very emotional presentation as it was quite evident how proud the students were of themselves, and congratulated each other with high-fives, handshakes and hugs. Upon presentation of the awards, Cristo-Long let each of her students know that “it was an absolute honour to teach each and every one of (them) and every single student involved is a superstar!” Rossella Bagnato, Superintendent with the Sudbury Catholic District School Board was on hand for the movie screening and was visibly touched by the entire presentation. “This video was proof of the exceptional learning environment in this classroom,” Bagnato said. “We are never surprised by what our students and staff can accomplish, but we are always deeply moved. The staff is outstanding for providing students with the opportunity to flourish at their own unique rate.”

After the presentation of awards, the invited guests were treated to lunch with the students and staff. The group was then informed that this presentation was actually an advanced screening and will be officially presented to the entire school, parents and families during Catholic Education Week which runs from May 6-10, 2013.

National Flag Day at Pius XII

Pius XII Catholic Elementary School celebrate National Flag Day. Flag Day is marked annually February 15, ever since the flag first flew over Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 1965. As part of Spirit Week, the students and staff entered the school wearing red, white and maple leafs, representing the Canadian flag. Vice Principal, Tina Timpano says that ‘we just want people to take a moment and recognize the flag, a sign that gives us peace and unity and to be proud Canadians.” A special thank you to Private Scott Barbe, who brought a Canadian Flag to Pius school to be displayed at the main office.

100 Days Smarter at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School

The Care and Development and Kindergarten students, parade the hallways of Pius XII Catholic Elementary School and sing ‘We Made It’ as they celebrated 100 Days of School. While parading, Kindergarten student, Emma Lafontaine says ‘I can’t believe I’m 100 days smarter today’! During this day, the students focus on activities with the number 100 — math, reading and physical activity games.

Collected 2, 286 and still counting….

The Grade 5 ‘Dearness Conservation’ students at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School are collecting used batteries that the students have brought in as part of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board Environmental Policy, “Catholic education is to encourage students and staff to develop respect for the environment and become committed to the wise use of resources” as well as promote and foster “the concept of the stewardship of the earth.” Classroom teacher, Amanda Schiafone, states the importance of the program at the school. Schiafone says that ‘our school participates in many activities/events throughout the school year, such the ‘3 R’s’, energy conservation, litterless lunches and many more, however, I am very impressed with all the support from students and parents from our battery recycling collection’. To this date, the students at Pius have brought in 2,286 batteries! The students will continue collecting batteries until June 1st.

FULL DAY Kindergarten Information/Registration Night -TODAY – Tuesday, February 5, 2013

There will be an information/registration night TODAY – Tuesday, February 5, 2013 for all parents interested in registering their child(ren) at one of the Sudbury Catholic elementary schools for FULL DAY Kindergarten beginning September, 2013.
The information/registration night will start at 6:00 p.m. For more information about this event, please contact your local Catholic elementary school. For contact information about each school, go to http://www.scdsb.edu.on.ca/schools/schools.php, or contact the board office at (705)673-5620.

Pius XII Celebrates Family Literacy Day

Pius XII Catholic Elementary School celebrated Family Literacy Day, a national awareness initiative created by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999 and held annually on January 27th to raise awareness fo the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. The theme this year is ’15 Minutes of Fun’. Pius XII welcomed parents, aunts/uncles and grandparents to come and have ’15 Minutes of Fun’ with their child(ren).

“Nothing But Net” at SCDSB

Pius XII Catholic Elementary School is one of many of the Sudbury Catholic Schools who have partnered up with the Knights of Columbus for their annual ‘Free Throw Competition’. Since 1972, councils have sponsored the Knights of Columbus International Free Throw Championship for boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 14. Oscar Barowette, a Knights of Columbus member, feels that holding this competition is ‘a great way to get out into the public and introduce the Order to the community — while providing youths with a rewarding activity that yields a chance for local, state or provincial, and international recognition’. Good luck to all Pius Penguins, as well as all other Sudbury Catholic students who are moving on to the next level of competition.

“Bucket Filling” at Pius XII

Grade 6 student, Grace Tilbury reads the book “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” to Kindergarten students Gabriel Broughton and Ramsey Tolkacz. The message of the book is to be kind to people. In the story, you fill a bucket when you show love to someone, when you say or do somethink kind, or even when you give someone a smile. Every student at Pius XII had the story read to them. Pius is striving to become a school of ‘bucket fillers’ – loving and caring students who say or do nice things that make others feel special.

Taking the “Pinky Pledge” at Pius XII

Pius XII Catholic Elementary students participated recently in a ‘Pinky Pledge’ as part of their anti-bullying week events. Pius has linked up with Secret Deodorant with an anti-bullying campaign ‘Mean Stinks’. Girls made a pinky promise to be a ‘Drama Free School’. Students pledged that they will be kind, symbolized by wearing blue polish on their pinky fingers. Pius XII school has many activities and events lined up for 2 weeks to celebrate Bullying Prevention.

Pius XII Students and Wolves talk about Goals

Grade 4/5 students at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School welcomed Sudbury Wolves players Justin Sefton, Nathan Pancel and assistant coach John Young into their classroom. The students were very excited to have Wolves players in the class to talk about and reinforce the importance of setting goals, responsibility, team work and getting an education.

E-mail Copied to Clipboard