Spotlight on the London District Catholic School Board November 5th


April 25th 2008


Bridge Building has Never Tasted Better! Grade One students in Mary-Jo MacDougall's class were "treated" with a special Science lesson on Monday. Mrs. MacDougall and Mike Glazier, Science and Technology Curriculum Support Teacher, led the students through a series of short activities to learn about strong shapes and how they are used in building bridges. The Grade One students agreed that their favourite task was building truss structures using ju-jubes and toothpicks. Mrs. MacDougall's class is preparing to complete the "Who Wants to be a Bridge Builder" activity next week.

The Grade Three class at St. Francis (Princeton) hosted a very successful Grandparent Tea! We were busy baking and decorating this week to prepare for this event. The kids performed songs and presented a beauitful ribbon dance. This month, the class snuck in pictures of them with their grandparents and recorded their voices for a wonderful media slide show. The Grandparents were brought to tears.

Thursday April 17 was Silver Birch Express Voting Day at St. Francis Catholic School in Princeton. There were fifteen very excited students in the Library to cast their ballot at noon hour. A student was required to read at least five titles in the list of ten nominated titles to become an eligible voter. Congratulations to all participants in this excellent literacy program which is sponsored by the Ontario Library Association.

At Sacred Heart Catholic School, the generous and caring hearts of the community keep giving with "helping hands" and supports to the WellSpring organization of London and area. On April.17., Carla Rodgers, from WellSpring, spoke to the school about how WellSpring helps cancer patients and family members of cancer patients/victims get through the tough physical and emotional challenges that all so many people are encountering with cancer. WellSpring also offers many education programs that help promote awareness about living with cancer in one's life or a family's life. Mrs. Brennan and her Senior Kindergarten students were proud to be able to help with the school's financial assistance to WellSpring.

ANDREA BECK AND ELLIOT MOOSE VISITED ST. THOMAS MORE SCHOOL Canadian children’s book author, Andrea Beck, recently visited with the students of St. Thomas More School. Mrs. Beck is the author and illustrator of the Elliot Moose Series of books. Her Elliot Moose stories have also spun off into a successful television series. During this exciting special event, Mrs. Beck captured the imagination of students by reading some or her treasured stories. She also explained how she develops the ideas for her stories. Students were given a special treat by watching Mrs. Beck draw some of her beloved characters. A wonderful time was had by all who attended this special presentation!	Grade 1 students at St. Anthony French Immersion School cast their ballots for their favourite Canadian picture book as part of the Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading program. Grade One and Two students heard 10 books nominated for the Blue Spruce Award and chose their favourite. Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt received the most votes at the school. The overall winner will be announced in Toronto in May.

Students at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Delaware respond to presenter Mike Neuts as he delivers his anti-bullying message to the audience. Mike's son, Myles, died tragically ten years ago. Mike now devotes much of his time spreading Myles' message of peace to students, educators and concerned parents.	Ben Sinai, an intermediate student at St. Thomas More, listens intently to guest author Eric Walters at the recent Young Authors Conference. Several dozen students from both boards attended the fifth annual event sponsored by the PDK educators' fraternity.

Students at Holy Cross Elementary are all becoming Chess Masters. Lessons have started in the classroom and a Chess Club is happening at lunch hour.	Forty-five per cent of the students at St. Anthony French Immersion School went without TV or computers for a week as part of the "Pause to Play -- Turn Off the Screens" program. Some of the winners of an in-school draw show off their prizes for handing in their activity logs on time.

Mr Parkinson's grade 6/7 class and the students of St. Sebastian School raised $250.00 for Canadian's Assisting Southern Sudan to be spent on Malaria preventative netting and goats for returning refugess. Jane Roy, one of the directors of C.A.S.S. came to St. Sebastain School to accept the donation and to speak on development and peace efforts, is picutered with Mr Parkinson class.	The John Paul II community celebrated the Easter season with its annual Lenten Campaign. This year's campaign raised $5800, with the money raised being shared by The Mikilaaq Centre in Arviat, My Sister's Place in London and the John Paul II community. The campaign also saw a new fundraising champion crowned at JPII. Mr. Frank Delle Donne and the Student Council are the new fundraising champions after raising $3400. They defeated the previous champion, Mr. Dan Desjardins, who raised $1670. Way to go Jags!

Mrs. Rosebrugh's JK class at Our Lady of Lourdes display some of the nominated books in the Blue Spruce Award after voting for their favourite during their library period with Mrs. Zammit. The majority chose Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend by Melanie Watt -- a definite hit with all the primary classes at Lourdes. Students in the Junior and Intermediate divisions also cast their votes for Canada's best fiction and non-fiction for children on Wednesday. The Forest of Reading Program is run each year by librarians across our school board. Congratulations to the winners, and to the students who joined the program in January and committed their time to reading with a critical eye.