Pius XII Catholic Elementary School

Shadow Day at Pius XII

Brodie Dionne, a student at Pius XII from the Care and Development class was thrilled to have Isaac Oliveira, Grade 9 Bishop Alexander Carter Secondary School in his class on Nov. 6th for Shadow Day. Isaac shadowed his mom, Nancy Oliviera (Educational Assistant) for the day. Nancy states ‘I really do appreciate the opportunity to allow my son to shadow me at work. This allows me to share how interesting and exciting my day is working with these unique and special children”. During Shadow Day, Isaac was learning from Brodie how he communicates with his teacher, educational assistants and friends using his communication board. Isaac states “I loved working with the students and really enjoyed their great sense of humour. I had a great day at Pius XII and I hope to come back soon”.

That’s a Wrap at S.C.C. – 112 Thousand Cans to Fill Sudbury Food Bank Shelves

Once again, the food drive at St. Charles College was a smashing success.  Together with its feeder schools, 112 thousand cans were raised for the Sudbury Food Bank – smashing the goal of collecting 60 thousand cans in less than a week.
 
The food drive began more than twenty-five years ago, and its founder, former student Jim Szilva still takes part in the drive with his children at the school. 
 
The school also teams up with Q92 and KISS 105.3 as well as the students at St. Raphael, St. David, St. Bernadette, St. Andrew, St. Paul, St. John and Pius XII Catholic Elementary Schools.
 
Students collect a combination of canned foods and cash – the cash portion totalled 15 thousand dollars this year. 

Stacking Cans from the Ground Up at St. Charles College

St. Charles College students and soon-to-be Cards are on a mission from October 7 to October 11 to collect 60 thousand cans of non-perishable food to feed the hungry in our city.  The more than 950 students at the school, along with students at several of its feeder schools are helping tackle the huge feat. 

With a professional development day scheduled for Friday, October 11, it’s an even more daunting and onerous task to average 15 000 cans per day for the next four school days with a wrap-up aimed for Thursday, October 10th.

Last year, the students shattered their goal for 60 thousand cans by delivering a whopping 121 thousand cans to the Sudbury Food Bank – making it the largest single donation in the history of the Sudbury Food Bank.

The founder of the food drive at SCC, Jim Szilva told the students that the food drive starts at the ground and works its way up with feeder schools like St. Raphael, St. David, St. Bernadette, St. Andrew, St. Paul, St. John and Pius XII working with students in grades nine through to twelve in the high school to accomplish the mission.  Szilva started the drive when he attended St. Charles College more than twenty-five years ago. 

The school and Szilva are teamed up with local radio station Q92 and KISS 105.3 to “Stuff the Bus”.

Q92 host Melanie Dahl asked the students to remember the times their belly ached because they felt hungry.  “Most of you can ask your parents for food or head to the fridge.  But consider for a moment you could not do that.”

General public is invited to assist with the stuffing of the bus by visiting the city transit bus each morning between 7 and 9 a.m. at St. Charles College with monetary or canned food donations.  There are some added incentives this year – including the option to fill out a ballot to win a ticket to the Sudbury Kinsmen home. 

The bus will also be on location at Vrabs Independent Monday afternoon, Dumas Independent Tuesday afternoon and at the Metro on Lasalle Wednesday afternoon.

Good Will is “Blooming” at Pius XII

Usually at the end of the school year, classes are winding down, and students are getting ready for summer vacation. Not so in the grade 6 class at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School. For the last week, the class has been quite busy organizing and packing over 114 boxes set to be delivered to Genevra House.

For student Grace Tilbury, learning about inspiring people like Craig Keilburger over the past few months, sparked an idea that she really wanted to make a difference too. After some research, and knowing that she really wanted to focus on helping women and children, Tilbury asked her friend Abigail MacDonald if she would like to help her out with an idea that she had. The two girls decided on creating “Bloomability Boxes” to donate to Genevra House. The boxes would contain basic toiletry items that the women and children would need at the shelter as many of them arrive with absolutely nothing. The term “bloomability” was inspired from a book with the same name that Grace had read. One of the characters is learning English, and connects the word bloomability with the word possibility. Grace liked this idea as she thought that the boxes would give these women and children some new possibilities in life.

After approaching her teacher Wendy Morin, the girls the girls got the go-ahead and recruited the rest of the class to begin collecting items and money donations. A letter was drafted by the girls and sent home and items began to come in. Word spread with the other teachers and classes at the school, and pretty soon the entire school was on-board. As a result, the girls had enough items to put together over 114 boxes to donate.
“Our original goal for the class was to get enough items for 14 boxes,” explained Tilbury. “Many of our friends gave up their free class time and computer time to help us out with this project. We are completely overwhelmed by the generosity of our classmates, our teacher, the other students, staff, our families and the Pius XII community!”

Teacher Wendy Morin is extremely proud of her students saying, “These two girls have inspired an entire school. They have worked extremely hard on this project and I am very proud of their commitment and determination with this social justice initiative!”

Pius Celebrates Secretary Day

Pius students and staff never take for granted the hard work, dedication and commitment that Mrs. Barbe, the school secretary puts in every day. Mrs. Barbe had a surprise when she entered the gym filled with staff and students who wished her a Happy Secretary Day and presented her with gifts, hand made letter of thanks and flowers. “I like Mrs. Barbe, everyday she is happy and nice to everyone in the school” says Grade 1 student Shaylisah Dixon. Pius staff and students are proud that she is part of the Penguin team!

Hockey Blast at Pius XII

Pius XII Catholic Elementary School grade 4-8 students had a ‘blast’ recently when they partnered up with the Knights of Columbus Council #10888 to participate in a Hockey Blast Competition. Students from grades 4-8 were able to show off their stickwork and accuracy in the competition. Learning Strategies Teacher, Kathleen Donnelly says, “The Knights of Columbus Council #10888 have been actively involved in the school by volunteering their time for events such as the Freethrow Competition, Hockey Blast, Grill Cheese Day and Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) — it is awesome to have them volunteering in our school!”

Earth Day is Everyday at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School

Everyday is Earth Day at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School! Throughout the school year students, staff, parents and community partners have been involved in many ongoing environmental projects. Pius XII students continue to have garbage free lunch days, collecting old and used batteris, cellphones, ink cartridges, and juice pouches. This month, Pius XII students have begun planting Cosmos and Morning Glory flowers that will be donated to Minnow Lake Restoration group, who will then plant them in the surrounding Minnow Lake Area. The Grade 5 class is the school’s Dearness Conservation Lead Team and came up with the idea of reusing yogurt containers from Tasty Tuesdays as a mini-pot to plant the seeds and giving back the flowers to brighten up the community. A special thank you goes out to John Lindsey, Chair of Minnow Lake Community Action Network and President of the Minnow Lake Restoration Group and Dominique Viau for their generous donation of seeds.

Practice Pays Off at Pius XII

Nicholas Groulx is a student who is currently in the Care and Development classroom at Pius XII. He has multiple disabilities and one of them affects the way he walks. Everyday Nicholas comes to school on a wheelchair, and at school, he practices his walking skills by walking the halls with the assistance of a walker. Just this month, Nicholas has proved that the age old saying that “practice pays off” is indeed true. Pius XII staff and students awarded Nicholas for his huge accomplishment — he has progressed so well with his walking that he no longer needs the use of his wheelchair or his walker! Nicholas’ wheelchair has been donated to Motion Specialties, a home health care equipment supplier. The wheelchair will come in handy for another individual who will require the chair.

Photo:

Pius XII Care and Development student, Nicholas Groulx, stands proudly next to his wheelchair as he donates his wheelchair to Mindy Grant from Motion Specialties, a home health care equipment supporter.

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.

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