Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times! – Psalm 106:3
Monthly Virtue: Justice
Practicing justice is being fair in everything you do. It is seeing with your own eyes and not judging something or someone by what other people tell you. Being just is standing up for your rights and the rights of other people. It is taking responsibility if you make a mistake and make amends. Justice means that every person's rights are protected.
Justice is the moral virtue that consists of the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbour. Justice toward God is called the “virtue of religion.” Justice toward other people disposes one to respect their rights and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. Those who practice justice are distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of their conduct toward their neighbours.
This theme of Justice ties in with the Catholic Graduate Expectation of a Responsible Citizen – one who gives witness to Catholic social teaching by promoting peace, justice and the sacredness of human life.
From the earliest days of Christianity, the Church has sought to build bridges between communities: Jesus Christ himself, fully God and fully human, is a bridge between the divine and the temporal. Though the connections between our schools and our parishes have been strained by enforced social distancing required during the COVID-19 pandemic, as case numbers fall and public health measures abate, schools are encouraged to seek opportunities to build bridges with their local parishes and clergy.
For example, kindergarten students from Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School visited Saint John the Baptist Parish Church in Longlac. Trustee and Catholic Women’s League member Mrs. Lillian McPherson and Father Gerard Legaspi acted as docents for a church tour, pointing out and explaining special parts and symbols therein.
They look forward to future visits and to the opportunity of attending Mass there as soon as possible!
Remote Learning Hosts Virtual Remembrance Day Service
Superior North Catholic District School Board Remote learning students had the opportunity to share with and present for their in-person peers at St. Joseph Catholic School during the Remote Learning Remembrance Day service.
Gr 4-8 Remote Learning students performed readings, led prayers and recited poetry, while the virtual space was decorated with remembrance-themed artwork by K-3 Remote Learning students. The entire St. Joseph Catholic School student body and staff joined the Remote Learning Google Classroom virtual meet to participate.
This unique opportunity was especially meaningful for the seven Remote Learning students from St. Joseph Catholic School. They were able to reconnect with their friends and teachers and demonstrate some of the learning, achievement, and growth they have accomplished while learning remotely.
The students at St. Edward Catholic School gathered in the gym on November 11th for a Remembrance day service. Thank you to Mrs. Binette and her grade 5 class for organizing such a beautiful and memorable service - Lest We Forget.
Ontario designated the week of November 21-27, 2021 as Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week to help promote safe schools and a positive learning environment.
The SNCDSB Mental Health and Well-being Team planned a week of activities to help engage our system in spreading some KINDNESS across the entire system!
To mark the start of Bullying Awareness and Prevention week #SNCDSB students and staff participated in Odd Socks Day!
During the week, students were encouraged to create and design a poster that will help bring awareness to bullying and put a stop to it.
Mr. Nardi and the Grade 7/8 class at St. Hilary Catholic School gathered donations and packed shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. In total, they were able to pack 51 shoe boxes to go to children in need. This was an opportunity for students to give back and appreciate the real meaning of Christmas.
Free Math Tutoring for Grade 6-8 students with an Ontario Certified Teacher!
This October and November, the Math Learning Leads and Technology Enabled Learning Teacher successfully registered all grade 6-8 students for TVO Mathify; a free tutoring website offered by the Ontario Ministry of Education that allows eligible students to access an Ontario Certified teacher between the hours of 9 am to 9 pm Monday to Friday.
“I like Mathify because the tutors explain anything I need help with. They give multiple strategies to get to the answers. The tutors I worked with were very nice and worked slow with me to understand" - Grade 8 student at Our Lady of Lourdes School
"I like Mathify because they give you more than one strategy for questions and they explain it in detail. The tutors give me time to understand." - Grade 7 student at Our Lady of Lourdes School
TVO Mathify is an incredible digital resource that can help students in mathematics both in the classroom and after school. Students have access to one-to-one support, at no cost! They can upload pictures of their math work directly to the website so that the tutor can guide them through the learning process and provide them with on the spot feedback. Additional features on the website include access to an interactive whiteboard with math tools and a problem bank for extra practice questions and lessons.
You might wonder, “Why is TVO Mathify so significant for our students?”. The Superior North Catholic Math Learning Leads, Lena Stahl and Karly Baker explain more: “ We recognize that parents and guardians have varying work schedules and varying comfort levels with mathematics. Sometimes this might prevent parents from fully supporting their child’s math homework routine. TVO Mathify removes those barriers by giving all students access to free tutoring. Students can use TVO Mathify on their board issued Chromebooks by logging on at a time that suits their schedule at home or during school hours if the teacher is busy with another student(s). Additionally, the TVO Mathify platform is safe and secure giving parents and guardians peace of mind while their child is boosting their confidence and understanding of key math concepts. It is a win-win for everyone involved.”
Please contact your child’s classroom teacher if you would like more information on how to access their free TVO Mathify Account.
Mrs. Wright's Grade 1/2 class at St. Hilary Catholic School in Red Rock has been working on list writing in their literacy program and have been talking about procedures. In order to apply their learning to real-life, they had the opportunity to develop a recipe for a tasty treat. They worked in groups to decide what they were going to make and wrote out their ingredient lists before heading to Saunders to purchase their groceries. When it was time to make their treats, as a group they wrote out the procedure and then got to cooking. They made trail mix, a yogurt parfait and an ice cream sundae.
Snowshoe Art at Our Lady of Fatima
A fresh snowfall of fluffy snow gave the grade ⅚ class at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Longlac an opportunity to integrate their classroom learning into the outdoors. The students had the opportunity to work with snowshoe artist Kim Asmussen and over three days completed three works of art using their snowshoes as their paintbrush and the blanket of snow as their canvas.
Other than great exercise, the students learned about procedural writing and integrated it into a Wevideo. Obviously, they looked at relationships of lines, circles and angles. What a great way to see that the intersection of two lines makes a point and how important measurement is when building something on a large scale.
The class, also learning about, alliterations (when two words beginning with the same letter are beside each other), created and named the three design shapes: "The Fatima Fan,” “Longlac Loops,” and "Tim's Triangles,” named after Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School Principal Mr. Tim Griffin.
Working together, the class completed each snowshoe art design, one with decreasing polygon size, one with parallel lines, and finally one using a hexagon as its center. The first one, “Tim’s Triangles”, which included putting their snowshoes, was completed in less than 30 minutes. The others were larger and required more time.
One site the pictures of their designs was posted on had over 14000 views and Facebook posts had viewers from across, not only Canada, but also viewers and outdoor educators from across the United States.
The Gr. 3/4 class at St. Martin Catholic School in Terrace Bay has been learning about dreamcatchers. The class has made many connections and even applied some math concepts such as patterning, angles, and polygons. Together, with great teamwork, they worked for many weeks to complete this project.
Dreamcatchers are hung to catch harmful thoughts or bad dreams. The Grade ¾ class hopes the dreamcatcher that they built and created is seen as a symbol of hope, catching harmful thoughts or negativity during these challenging times, and promoting positivity and joy.
The Lakehead University (LU) achievement program visited St. Edward Catholic School on November 26th. Our students were blessed as all students in grades 4 to 7 were invited to participate, not only the students enrolled in this great program!
The LU achievement team (Amanda and Lian) introduced the program for the very first time to our grade 4 students and then facilitated an engaging STEM challenge for the students. The grades 5 students are in the second year of the program and they also had the opportunity to engage in a cool STEM challenge. The grade 6 and 7 students put on their artist hats and engaged in a creative painting activity.
Thank you to Amanda and Lian for making this such an engaging day and for providing lunch for all students! What a great partnership to support our students in choosing their future pathway - "Achievement Through Education!" We can't wait to continue this journey in the New Year!
Treaties Recognition Week - November 1 to 5
This past November, students across SNCDSB learned about treaties and their responsibilities to honouring treaties. In class, students from K to 8 looked at treaty maps, made lego Wampum Belts and watched videos or read books about treaties. Grade 3 to 8 students had opportunities to listen to Randi Ray (Flying Post First Nation) and Marlo Beaucage (Red Rock First Nation) speak about local treaties and the importance they still have today. SNCDSB is located on unceded lands and 2 treaty areas - Robinson-Superior Treaty of 1850 and Treaty 9.
Do you know which Treaty your child’s school is located on? Like to learn more? Click Here
Mrs. Muir’s Ojibwe language classes at St. Hilary Catholic School participated in recognizing Treaties in Ontario. The grade 1/2 and 3/4 class learned the importance of the Wampum and later began to make their own using purple and white lego pieces.
The students were very excited to see the end result!
On Friday, November 19, 2021, the Superior North Catholic District School Board (SNCDSB) participated in the Indigenous Education Professional Development Day. Staff, Trustees, and Indigenous Education Advisory Committee (IEAC) members participated in their respective schools or virtually in Cultural Awareness and Appreciation sessions.
The session goals were to support an understanding of Indigenous education and history. It is meant to help our staff learn and then teach it in our classrooms. Our intention is to continue developing our cultural awareness and appreciation when engaging in Indigenous knowledge to inform our individual and collective next steps.
The day of learning was co-facilitated by Colleen Sheriff, SNCDSB Indigenous Education Lead and Paul Tsekouras, SNCDSB Superintendent of Education. They began with a smudge, opening prayer and song by Trustee Judy Wawia and Marilyn Netemegesic. Betty-Jane Mercier, Principal at St. Edward Catholic School, led the Land Acknowledgement. Trustee Judy Wawia, and Director of Education, Maria Vasanelli, shared opening messages with all participants.
The Honourable Murray Sinclair stated that "education is the key to reconciliation" with that being said, it is the reason we, as educators, are together during our Indigenous Education professional development day. It is the reason we are trying to learn about the history of Indigenous Peoples, European colonialism and treaties. It is the reason we are trying to include Indigenous language and culture in our classrooms. It is the reason we are trying to build relationships with our Indigenous partners. Education is the key to reconciliation.
Kirstine Baccar, Office/Business Manager from Superior Strategies, facilitated the full-day Cultural Awareness and Appreciation sessions.
The Superior North Catholic District School Board would like to thank those who assisted with the planning and facilitation of these sessions for their continued leadership and collaboration in supporting the success of our Indigenous Education Professional Development Day.
“Growing up I always was actively involved in the community… In Manitouwadge with it being such a small community and having so many things to do here, everything is just a step out your front door.” – Aaron Baker, Principal, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Manitouwadge
Credits:
Apple Wagon Films, #SNCDSB Schools