Grades 2-12 students across the province were invited to participate in the 2nd annual Skills Ontario’s Junk Drawer Races! In this program, students had fun while exploring various challenges to build their skills and explore different pathways for their future.
This past week the winners of the Regional round of the competition were announced on Skills Ontario’s YouTube Channel.
We are excited to report our results in the following competitions:
Grade 4/5 Cardboard Car Races
St. James placed 1st & 3rd
Grade 6/7Paper Glider Competition
Bishop Alexander Carter placed 1st & 3rd as well as St. Paul’s 2nd
Grade 8 Paper Hydraulic Crane Challenge
Bishop Alexander Carter placed 1st & 2nd
These teams will be competing in the Provincial Championship round and will have until March 3rd to review their existing blueprints, potentially modify their designs to meet the provincial challenge and construction requirements while explaining their modifications and submit their new submissions. Provincial Submissions will be evaluated by industry volunteers, and the top three teams will be awarded prizes by Skills Ontario. Winning teams will be notified by March 27th. We wish our students the best of luck and thank Skills Ontario, industry partners, the Government of Ontario and Bombardier for giving our students a unique experiential learning opportunity.
See what students experience at the Level Up! Skilled Trades Career Fair. Talk to experts about the skilled trades as a rewarding career path for your child.
You’re invited to the Level Up Open House:
November 14, 2022 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Steelworkers Hall 66 Brady Street
Sudbury Catholic Schools was proud to host a professional administration day for education staff devoted to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) on October 24, 2022. The Board partnered with several local organizations to create engaging and innovative learning sessions.
Sessions included:
Cambrian College STEM tour: Educators had the opportunity to learn more about various STEM-based programming at Cambrian College, and how they can support showcasing STEM in the community. This day included a walking tour of the trades/ technology departments on campus, examples of hands-on learning activities and a workshop with Larissa Hoffman, VP of Edge Factor, who will provide an overview of their updated online platform and how Edge Factor can promote STEM careers to students.
Game Design Program at Cambrian College: Educators explored Game Design at Cambrian College with Professor, Program Director, and CBC Radio Tech Talk Host Aaron Langille. Participants got a glimpse of designing and developing commercial-quality game applications for a broad range of industries such as entertainment, health, education, construction, marketing, and mining.
Science North: Participants completed several activities including: SHSM workshops, turtle crossing Demo, Planetarium show and a bit coding workshop.
Connections Between Land and Art: Jessica Somers, an Indigenous Artist, guided participants through a land-based teaching about the Birch Tree and medicines. Participants were also guided through a painting workshop as they learned about the power of the spirit bear.
Outdoor learning at St. David School: Participants learned on the land as they were guided through an outdoor professional development session. Educators spent the day learning outside, connecting with nature, and exploring the various benefits that land based teaching can offer.
STEM Activities with Logics Academy: Educators had the opportunity to learn about robotics and Dash and how to integrate it into their classrooms!
Skills Ontario- Walking Robots Challenge: Katie Cameron, program facilitator for Skills Ontario introduced teachers to Skills Ontario and their variety of programs and services. In addition, teachers learned about the Junk Drawer Races competition. This program promotes sustainability of re-using common items found at home or in a classroom.
Let’s Talk Science : Teachers heard valuable information from Lindsay Shaw. Lindsay is the Program Development Manager for the Professional Learning team at Let’s Talk Science. In her role, she manages the development of the Learning Pathways program. She introduced teachers to Live STEM broadcasts, learning pathways and live events.
STEM Storytime: Primary teachers met Ryan Kahue. Ryan is a Program Support Coordinator for the Youth and Volunteer Experience team at Let’s Talk Science. His program of focus is STEM Storytime. STEM Storytime is a weekly series offered on Tuesdays at 1pm! Each week a Let’s Talk Science Outreach student along with Ryan will read a storybook followed by a hands-on activity.
STEM Club: Junior teachers met Nick Butt. Nick Butt is an Outreach Coordinator with Let’s Talk Science. He is manager, developer, and host of STEM Club. Each week, Let’s Talk Science, features a different hands-on activity using minimal, easy-to-find materials. Students will also have the chance to learn from and ask questions to inspire STEM role models.
We would like to thank all partners who helped create hands-on sessions and provided our educational staff with learning opportunities that can be recreated in our classrooms!
The Sudbury Regional Science Fair, which took place virtually during March 21st – April 3rd, 2022, is a meaningful learning experience where Sudbury’s four School Boards, can provide opportunities to students from Grades 7-12 to show case their knowledge in different areas of science. Sudbury Catholic District School Board was grateful to participate once again in the Regional Science Fair and allow our students to enjoy hands-on learning experiences by extending their discovery in biology, chemistry, technology, and other areas.
This year approximately 15 projects represented the Board in the Regional Science Fair. The number of project topics was diverse again this year, with exciting subjects ranging from “Theoretical Gravity Control”, “Hacking an Air-Gapped Computer”, Creating a “Self-Hitting Hammer,” and more. We want to thank our judges and educators for guiding our students and continually finding new opportunities for hands-on learning and growth.
MMA Student, Kate Bouchard – 2022 Best In Fair Winner!
Following the Fair, Sudbury Catholic Schools, students, and families were invited to attend a virtual celebration organized by the Sudbury Regional Science Fair on April 10th, 2022. This virtual celebration highlighted the winners of divisional awards, special awards and celebrated students’ achievements. At this celebration, we are pleased to announce that Sudbury Catholic students collected ten awards, including Best of Fair which was presented to Kate Bouchard, a student from Marymount Academy for her project, “Go With The Flow“. We are also thrilled to announce that in addition to Kate’s amazing project , 4 other projects submitted by SCDSB Students have also been selected to advance to the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) taking place on May 16th, 2022, in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The students and projects that will advance to the Canada Wide Science Fair include the following:
“Each year, our students present unique and creative science fair projects. This year was certainly no exception,” said Joanne Bénard, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. “We are very excited to see the number of participants continue to grow, and we are proud of our students who represented us incredibly well again. We thank our judges and our educators for guiding students and continually finding new opportunities for hands-on learning and growth. We wish the students who are moving on to the 2022 Canada-Wide Science Fair the best of luck!”
“Science Fair was so much fun, and I think it’s because I was passionate about my topic.” Says Best in Fair Winner and CWSF participant, Kate Bouchard. “I chose something that I was interested in and genuinely wanted to learn more about. It helped me be more engaged, and because I was interested in what I was learning, I felt like I could explain it better and put forth more effort in making it better. I am really looking forward to be a part of the CWSF in May!”
Some of MMA’s Regional Science Fair students stop and smile with their regional science fair medals! (Middle left Best in Fair Winner – Kate Bouchard)
Dylan Nelson, a Grade 8 student from St. Benedict, will also be attending the Canada Wide Science Fair with his unique project where he created a Self-Hitting Hammer. This idea was inspired by his passion for building things and from wanting to help his grandmother.
“I was trying to think of something inventive to do. I wanted to create something new, and I realized that I like building things, so I wanted to make a new type of hammer that would allow someone who cannot hammer a nail with a normal hammer still perform that task. My experience was fun because I spent time with grandpa, who helped me construct it, and I was able to make my project about making something that would help my grandma.”
Pictured is St. Benedict Student and Regional Science Fair Honouree Dylan accepting his award from the SCDSB Director of Education, Joanne Bénard and Principal of St. Benedict, Laura Kuzenko.
Overall, we are pleased to celebrate the contributions and participation of all our schools and students in this meaningful learning opportunity. We would like to end our post by congratulating all students, educators, and schools on their participation and effort in making the 2022 Science Fair a success! The ten project winners included projects from Marymount Academy, projects from St. Benedict and one project from St. Charles College.
Please visit the following link below to view all the wonderful projects brought forward by Sudbury Catholic Students this year.
In honour of Computer Science Education Week (Dec 6-12), each day, we will put a special spotlight on 1 amazing staff member whose expertise within the fascinating world of IT and computer science deserve to be celebrated!
Learn more about Computer Science Education Week by checking out the #csedweek website.
Skills Ontario has officially opened registration for its July virtual workshops so students can explore skilled trades and tech-related workshops, demonstrations, virtual tours and presentations that pique their interest.
Sessions will run from July 5 to 30 and there is no fee to participate. Another session is set to run in August, with sign-up opening June 21. The virtual workshops are being held in place of summer camps.
Virtual workshops are open to all ages however are typically suited to Grades 7, 8 and 9. Each event’s individual registration page provides details regarding difficulty level and required skills and some sessions include a free hands-on kit that will be shipped to registered participants.
On Tuesday evening, families participated in an Hour of Code while participating in a dance party and learning about coding all at the same time! This session was designed for families to learn the basics of coding without even using a device.
Students learned that events are a useful way to control when an action happens and can be used to make multiple things act in sync. In programming, events can be used to respond to a user controlling it (like pressing buttons or clicking the mouse) and that events can make programs more interesting and interactive.
Following, our teachers taught various dance moves such as the “Star, Dab, High Clap and This & That”. Then, families were asked to create their own unique dance algorithm and to share their finished products in order to have a chance to win a family prize pack.
According to Stephen Hawking, “Whether you want to uncover the secret of the universe, or you want to pursue a career in the 21st century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn.”
Our Kindergarten to Grade 12 Experiential Learning Robotic kits are designed to introduce students to stem concepts and teach even our youngest children to code! Various classrooms teachers have signed out our robotic kits and our students are having fun learning!
Check out Mrs. Denomme’s Grade 6 class at St. James Catholic School who participated in a Bot Battle. They built and programmed LEGO EV3 robots and then participate in a one-on-one battle outside the classroom that was Zoomed into the classroom, where everyone could safely watch. Congratulations to the tournament champion, Chelsea.
We want to hear from all of our classes on how they are using the Experiential Learning Robotic Kits and engaging students so please send us photos and stories!
Are you excited for summer? We are! We are happy to announce the SCDSB 2020 Summer Camp expanded online program. Please click the link and fill in a survey for each of your children you would like to take part in the opportunity. You will need to commit to be part of the program for 3 weeks: two hours a day. July 6-24th, 9am to 11am.
Our expanded online learning includes K-8 online classes, K-8 ELL classes (for our newcomers) and Indigenous Learning.
Sign up quickly to secure your spot as spaces are limited: SIGN UP HERE!
Sign up by June 12th as we will start notifying people they are part of our awesome summer program! (be sure to leave your email so we can connect with you!)
In response to the CONVID-19 virus, Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health advised all 72 Ontario School Boards to close their schools from March 14 – April 5, 2020 to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff. While our schools are closed, we are committed to keep you informed.
Learn at Home Portal
The Ministry of Education has launched a new online platform to
help students continue learning while schools are closed. While these materials
do not replace what students have been learning at school, during this unusual
time, these at-home activities offer quick and easy access to resources for students
from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
Elementary
resources are designed to help young students learn at home with interactive
activities that encourage participation through entertaining and stimulating
digital content. High school content was designed with a focus on STEM courses
and ensure core competencies and skills are reinforced.
Learn at Home Portal
Supporting Student Mental Health
We know this is an uncertain time for our province and our country. Students may experience a range of emotions during the COVID-19 situation. Please see the following resource from School Mental Health Ontario designed to provide mental health support and tools for students:
School Mental Health Ontario
Other Resources
Ministry of Education Letter to Parents
Sudbury Public Health
Government of Canada
On behalf of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, we thank you for your partnership and cooperation as we do our part to practice social distancing and flatten the curve. We will continue to keep you updated on our website and on our social media pages.
