IT STARTS in the Schools

JUNE 2009

UPCOMING EVENTS June 2 TCDSB North Region

Elementary Schools 416-518-6724 York University

Regional Track and Field Meet 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

June 2 TCDSB West Region

Elementary Schools 416-518-6724 Etobicoke Centennial Stadium

Regional Track and Field Meet 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

June 3 TCDSB South Region

Elementary Schools 416-518-6724 Varsity Stadium

Regional Track and Field Meet 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

June 3 TCDSB East Region Schools

416-222-8282 Ext. 2572 Location: Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School 40 Sewells Rd., Scarborough

Free Parenting Workshop “Raising Youth Together” Keynote Speaker: Dr. Karyn Gordon from “The Mom Show” 6:30 p.m. (dinner provided)

June 3 Bishop Marrocco/Thomas

Merton Catholic Secondary School 416-393-5545 1515 Bloor St. W., Toronto

“Just” Docs Video Festival ‘09 A Religion arts social justice commentary on today’s issues 1:30 p.m. in the auditorium Tickets: $2.00

June 3 - 15 St. Patrick Catholic

Secondary School S.W.E.A.T. and Co. Presented by Students With Exceptional Artistic Talent Present an unconventional “Little Art Show” 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

June 4 TCDSB East Region

Elementary Schools 416-518-6724 Pope John Paul II C.S.S. 685 Military Trail,

Regional Track and Field Meet 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Scarborough June 4 St. Gerard Majella Catholic

School 416-393-5346 35 Heavitree Dr., North York

Annual Walk-Run-a-Thon

June 5 St. Raymond Catholic School

416-393-5293 270 Barton Ave., Toronto

Third Annual Summerfest 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (rain or shine)

June 6 St. Joseph Catholic School

416-393-5209 176 Leslie St., Toronto

Annual Fun Fair 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

June 7 TCDSB Elementary &

Secondary 416-393-5528 Historic Fort York Bathurst and Lakeshore, Toronto

Community Fun Day Joint event organized by St. Mary’s C.S.S. and Toronto Police Service 14 Division Musical and dance acts, demonstrations by mounted, canine and motorcycle units Admission is free

June 8 St. Gerald Catholic School

416-393-5319 200 Old Sheppard Ave., North York

Community Fair 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

June 9 TCDSB Board-wide

Varsity Centre, University of Toronto 416-222-8282 Ext. 2498

Special Olympics Ontario School Track and Field Meet 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

June 9 TCDSB Teachers 416-222-8282 Ext. 2370 Native Canadian Center of Toronto 16 Spadina Rd., Toronto

“Realizing the Promise of Diversity” Symposium for Teachers 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Interactive sessions for reducators to learn more about supporting curriculum within traditional Aboriginal Culture. Plenary sessions including Metis fiddle music and Inuit throat singing and workshops for both elementary and secondary teachers

June 9 TCDSB Elementary Schools

416-222-8282 Ext. 2498 Varsity Stadium, Toronto

Track and Field City Finals 10:00 a.m.

June 10 TCDSB West Region

416-222-8282 Ext. 2572 Location: Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School 1515 Bloor St. W., Toronto

Free Parenting Workshop “Raising Youth Together” Keynote Speaker: Dr. Karyn Gordon from “The Mom Show” 6:30 p.m. (Dinner provided)

June 11 St. Catherine Catholic School

416-393-5316 30 Roanoke Rd., North York

Senior Kindergarten Graduation 11:30 a.m. in the gym

June 12 St. John Vianney Catholic

School 416-393-5392 105 Thistle Down Blvd. Etobicoke

Annual School Barbecue (Rain Date: June 19th) 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

June 13 St. Denis Catholic School

416-393-5310 Community Fun Fair 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

June 16 Msgr. John Corrigan

Catholic School 416-393-5399100 Royalcrest Road, Etobicoke

25th Anniversary Mass 7-8 p.m., Reception and Open House, 8-9 p.m.

June 16 James Culnan Catholic

School 416-393-5325 605 Willard Ave., York

Lip Synch Concert

June 17 St. Gerald Catholic School

416-393-5319 200 Old Sheppard Ave., North York

“Moving On to Grade 1” Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony

June 22 Blessed Sacrament

Catholic School 416-393-5226 24 Bedford Park Ave., Toronto

Senior Kindergarten Graduation

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS Spring Cleaning Ann Perron, TCDSB Director of Education, joined staff at the CEC for the City of Toronto “20-Minute Make-Over” Friday, April 24, 2009. Many TCDSB schools participated in this city-wide event. The first 75 volunteers received a white pine seed and spruce sapling, courtesy of the Science and Outdoor Education Departments.

Dante Alighieri Wins at Sears Drama Festival Dante Alighieri Academy has been chosen to represent the GTA in the finals for the Sears Ontario Drama Festival in Kingston. So far, the school has won the following: The Impressionist Wing Awards District Festival

1) Award of Excellence – Writing & Directing: Mia Yugo 2) B.J. Castleman New Play Award Nomination 3) Outstanding Original Production

Regional Festival, Hart House Theatre 4) Award of Excellence, Performance: Stephen Djan 5) Award of Merit, Performance: Tiago Abreu 6) Award of Merit, Stage Managing: Ashley Nicholson 7) John Glossop Adjudicator’s Award: Mia Yugo 8) Outstanding Original Production

Earth Day Extravaganza at St. John the Evangelist Catholic School

Director of Education Ann Perron, with student organizer.

Making A Difference In The Lives of Children in Third World Countries Students in Mr. Cinelli's grade 8 class at Christ the King School are making a difference in the lives of children in Third World Countries. This enthusiastic and energetic group of students give up their recesses and lunch hours to help support the work of Dr. Simone's Canadian Food For Children. Throughout the school year the students collect "Pennies for the Poor". Two cents helps feed a child for a full day. Once a month, they gather and deliver gently used clothing, toys and candles to Dr. Simone's warehouse. The class also writes out countless donation requests for Dr. Simone's Foundation. During the Lenten season, they fundraise through coin cans. All coins are rolled, counted and cashed by Mr. Cinelli's students and donated to Canadian Food for Children. This year they raised just over $1,300. Sports Leaders Graduate Congratulations to the students from Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton, Blessed Mother Teresa, Don Bosco, Father Henry Carr, James Cardinal McGuigan, Jean Vanier, Monsignor Percy Johnson, Pope John Paul II and St. Mary Catholic Secondary Schools for their successful completion of the Toronto Sport Leadership Program. Mayor David Miller and City of Toronto representatives, in partnership with Toronto Community Foundation, Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Greater Toronto United Way and the YMCA honoured the graduates of the Program at a special ceremony on April 30th.

Scarborough Parent Conference The Scarborough Parent Conference took place on April 25th. The annual event is a joint project between parents of the TCDSB & TDSB made possible by the Regional PRO (Parents Reaching Out) Grant from the Ontario Ministry of Education. Pictured from left to right: Nicholas Kovacs - Asset Development workshop leader at SPC, Teacher at Neil McNeil and

member of Neil McNeil Team that has won the Premier’s Team Award for Teaching Excellence; Ann Perron - Director of TCDSB and speaker/guest at Scarborough Parent Conference; Paul Crawford – Ward 12 Trustee and supporter/guest at Scarborough Parent Conference; Sylvia Menezes – Co-Chair Scarborough Parent Conference(TCDSB) and Provincial Parent Board Member, Ward 12 CPIC Rep and Chair, Neil McNeil CSAC; Michael Furdyk - Keynote Speaker at Scarborough Parent Conference and Co-founder and Director of Technology, TakingITGlobal; and Michael Fellin - Asset Development workshop leader at SPC, Vice Principal at Neil McNeil and lead member of Neil McNeil Team that has won the Premier’s Team Award for Teaching Excellence.

Youth and Philanthropy at Loretto College On April 27th, Loretto College hosted its final Youth and Philanthropy Initiative presentations for the 2008-2009 school year. Each group advocated on behalf of a grassroots charity. Grade 10 students Sara Marques, Karen Moreira, Janel Halenko and Vanessa Pontes have won a $5000 grant to give to their respective charity, Silent Voice. Silent Voice is a not-for-profit charitable organization that offers community and family-based support to deaf children and adults. It provides social-recreational programs for deaf children and their hearing brothers and sisters and teaches hearing family members the language of American Sign Language. Also, it offers special assistance and outreach services to disadvantaged deaf adults living in the community. This is a very deserving charity and the winning group did a lot of work preparing for this presentation and will now accompany Ms. Ferreira to the YPI gala event at the end of May at the Metro Convention Centre. Supervising teachers were Ms. D. Vautour, Ms. J. Ferreira, and Mr. M. Szepetyk.

Msgr. Fraser College Student at Passport to Prosperity Forum-2009 On Tuesday, April 28, Passport to Prosperity hosted 2009 Employer Forum, at Westin Harbour Castle in

Toronto. Present at the event were a number of distinguished guests including The Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Minister of Education, Dr. Peter Jensen, author and founder of one Canada’s premiere training companies Performance Coaching Inc.; Kirsten Parker, Director of Student Success/Learning to 18 – Implementation, Training and Evaluation Branch; Jean Courtney, Education Officer, at the Ministry of Education, responsible for Ontario Public Services (OPS) ‘Learn and Work’ Program; Provincial Partnership Council and many representatives of organizations. Also present was the Manager, Viviana Sothner-Cotic from Ministry of

Municipal Affairs and Housing—Building Development Branch, where Cesar had been placed for co-op. The goal of the forum was to give employers the inspiration and the information they need to start an experiential learning program that works for their business and for Ontario’s high school students. In 1999, The Government of Ontario launched the Passport to Prosperity campaign to support the development of the future workforce by encouraging employers to provide meaningful work experiences to high school students, such as co-op, job shadowing and mentoring. By providing students with meaningful work experience opportunities, employers are helping to create a skilled workforce for the future. 2009 celebrates Passport to Prosperity’s 10th anniversary. One of the key features of the event was a panel discussion involving three students from different cooperative education programs across Ontario. We had the privilege to have Cesar Diaz, a student from OPS ‘Learn and Work’ Program at Msgr. Fraser College in the Toronto Catholic District School Board involved in the panel. Throughout the event, Cesar was calm, collected and articulate. The Event was sponsored by Passport to Prosperity, “an organization led by the Provincial Partnership Council (PPC), a voluntary advisory board of senior leaders from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. The PPC works with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to recruit employers to provide high school students with work experience opportunities.” Submitted by: Z. Kheir, OPS ‘Learn & Work’ Program Facilitator St. Raphael Student Becomes Principal for A Day (One of the many prizes awarded to students as an incentive for the Heart and Stroke, Jump for Heart fundraiser) Written by Amanda Theriault, Grade 6 Student My day started off with helping the Grade 1’s and 2’s enter the school. Later on in the morning, I got to read them a story. After that I read some announcements over the P.A. When I read, I was really nervous, but I overcame my fear and in the end I realized that it was not as hard as I thought. Well that’s not all I did! I also went around visiting the classes, answering any questions they had for me, did paper work and delivered some of these papers to the classrooms. Then there was my afternoon! It went a little something like this… I got to eat lunch in the staff room with all the teachers. I made sure that everyone (students) stayed seated during lunch, and even got to go outside at recess to make sure everyone was playing safely. At last recess I was helping Mrs. Covello, our child and youth

worker, with some situations and we resolved them. After all this, I would have to say my favourite part of the day was being able to sit at the principal’s desk. Also, I really enjoyed drinking hot chocolate delivered by Mrs. Carino. I thank the all staff at St. Raphael School for letting me have this awesome opportunity.

James Culnan Celebrates Asian Heritage More than 300 people celebrated the Vietnamese Culture in celebration of the Asian Heritage Month on May 2, 2009 at James Culnan Catholic School. Parents/volunteers from the Vietnamese Community, who helped organized this event also attended the two parent forums about Discipline/Communication and School Safety. Guests and staff present were: Kirk Mark, Carla Marchetti, Lilian Ugrin, Fr. Joseph Tran, MPP Cheri DiNovo, Jody Huang, Jazmine Orprecio (presenter), Sr. Marguerite Uy (presenter) and Teresa Chung ( presenter).

St. Margaret School Hosts Book Launch On April 21st, 2009 St. Margaret school welcomed author Lori Sherritt-Fleming,a graduate of St. Paschal Baylon and Loretto Abbey Secondary School, and special guest authors Kari– Lynn Winters and Crystal Stranghan in helping to launch their new books entitled “aRHYHMetic” and “World of Stories”. Lori and Kari’s presentation captivated the students’ interest with their songs and puppetry from aRHYHMetic poetry. Students were spellbound with their poetry and math and enjoyed interacting as they listened and participated in math songs and rhymes. The book aRHYHMetic contains 48 interactive math fun and colourful illustrations, which keeps readers so involved that they don’t realize they are learning. World of Stories contains 18 stories by authors around the world celebrating holidays such as Earth Day or World Literacy Day. More information regarding these books is found on www.gumbootbooks.ca. Congratulations to Lori Sherrett– Fleming a student from our Toronto Catholic District School Board. You can read her published “Rot-Ten Dragon” poem and be swept away with in the exciting adventure with movement and thrills for children. Let her vivid language carry your imagination through action pack adventures of dragons, all the while reviewing counting by tens. Thank you for making math so much fun!

St. Martha Grandparents Open House As part of the education week celebrations, St. Martha Catholic School held its first annual grandparents day Open House. As part of the festivities grandparents and students were treated to performances from the school band and the school Choir. The children performed wonderfully as they had been busily practicing for several weeks. Thanks to the staff students and supportive CSAC for all of their efforts in celebrating the community’s youth together with our grandparents. Principal for the Morning at St. Josaphat Principal Lucy Dyczkowsky at St. Josaphat Catholic School, handed over the school key to Daniel Richniak in grade 2. He won the school contest to be "Principal For The Morning". The students of this tiny school raised money for the "Heart and Stroke Foundation" and to promote literacy. One of the prizes was to be principal and this grade 2 student was lucky enough to experience the job first hand. He had to make announcements throughout the day and answer some very difficult registration

questions. Daniel's day did not end there. He visited all classes during his "walk-about" and took pictures of events that were taking place in the school. He greeted visitors and dealt with yard duty issues. When the day was done, Daniel was asked what he thought about being a principal. His response was, "It's a very busy job!"

Don Bosco Answer Call to Help Habitat for Humanity By Helping to Build Homes in New Orleans A group of nine students and two teachers from Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana, May 12-17th to help build a home with Habitat for Humanity. Recognizing that New Orleans continues to rebuild itself after the devastating Hurricane Katrina and Rita in the past few years, these remarkable students put Christian faith into action, reaching out to the people of New Orleans who still need a home and offering to lend a hand. This trip was the culmination of a two-year effort to raise the funds needed, and the Don Bosco Habitat Team would like to thank all those people in the community who have contributed to the fundraising effort. Kelly Breen teacher at Don Bosco who along with Julie Boudreau another teacher at Bosco were instrumental in making this happen in the school community. Ashley Bromfield, Oriana Nanoa, Christina Furlano, Luke Evangelista, Mayfred Tuffour-Ampong, Shanice Peterkin, Gloria Anane, Andrew Rohoman and Sibyl Rozario, all senior students at Bosco represented the team from Toronto.

St. John Wins Again at TCSAA St. John Catholic School has successfully won the TCSAA Cross Country Championship for a record 7th consecutive year. The cross country meet consists of 12 separate age group races beginning at grade3 and ending at grade 8, with approximately 160 schools competing. St. John won team awards in 11 of the 12 races including 6 team championships and had four individual winners. They were Katy Catchpole, Bridget Hickey, Erin Kinninmont and Nathen Sevigny. The team scored a record point total of 2213 points winning the meet by over 1000 points.

Left: Erin Kinninmont 11 Year Old City Champion'

ESP Showcase Award Winners The following TCDSB students were award recipients at the Empowered Student Partnership Showcase: Msgr. Percy Johnson—Bell Artistic Expression Award; St. Patrick—Chief of Police Award; Loretto Abbey—Global Outreach Award; Michael Power/St. Joseph—Growth and Development Award; St. Mary’s, Loretto College and Our Lady of Victory—Jan Thor Police Partnership Award; Msgr. Percy Johnson, Senator O’Connor and St. Mary’s—Outstanding Display Award and St. Joseph’s College—S/Insp. James Sneep Leadership Award Team Toronto 2009: TCDSB Results from Canada Wide Science Fair Petro-Canada Peer Innovation Award and Silver Medal Intermediate: Stephanie Gaglione, St. Josephs Morrow Park Catholic Secondary School Sports Leadership Graduation The graduation ceremonies for the Toronto Sports Leadership Program were held at Toronto City Hall

on April 29th. On hand were dignitaries from various organizations, including Mayor David Miller, TCDSB Associate Director Angela Gauthier and TCDSB Coordinator of Health and Physical Education Anthony Petitti.

Education Minister Attends Parent Forum for Asian Heritage Month Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne joined the Filipino parents during the Asian Heritage Month cultural celebrations and parent forum about Discipline, Communication and Safety at Blessed John XXIII school on May 9, 2009. Her resounding message to the parents was about inclusive education, equity and parents' role in supporting their children to be successful in school. Also present to bring greetings to the community were MP Rob Oliphant, Councillor John Parker, Trustee Angela Kennedy, School Principal Pat Tari, Coordinator of Race Relations and Multiculturalism Kirk Mark, International Language Supervising Principal Anthony Tommasone, Community Relations Officer Jody Huang, Filipino Teacher Maria Regala and School CSAC Chair Lolita Perry.

HENRY CARR CAPTURES 10 MEDALS - 5 GOLDS, 2 SILVER, 3 BRONZE BREAKS 3 MEET RECORDS IN DAY 2 OF TDCAA TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS AT YORK UNIVERSITY Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School turned in yet another outstanding performance in Day 2 of the TDCAA Track & Field Championships held at York University on May 19th. Leading the way was Kadeem Douglas, 2 Gold Medals, Sr. Boys Long and High Jumps. He was named co-winner of Sr. Boys Most Outstanding Athlete of the Meet. Ajya Barfi, Gold Medal, Midget Girls’ 200 Metres. Midget Girls 4 x 100 Metres Relay Team: Melisssa Boadu, Stephanie Kinwani, Ashley Appiah, Akua Barfi: Gold Medal and new meet record. Junior Girls’ 4 x 100 Metres Relay Team: Anjelica Richards, Stephanie Aidoo, Chantel Banjamin-King, Eva Amo-Mensah: Gold Medal and new meet record. Junior Boys’ 4 x 100 Metres Relay Team: Jelanie Grant, Dwight Sylvester, Bayo-Oriola, Bryan Addo: Silver Medal (broke meet record.) Stephanie Aidoo: Silver Medal, Junior Girls’ 200 Metres. Eva Amo-Mensah, Bronze Medal, Junior Girls’ 200 Metres. Bryan Addo, Bronze Medal, Junior Boys’ 200 Metres. Open Girls’ 4 x 400 Metres Relay Team: Stephanie Kinwani, Stephanie Aidoo, Tiosha Gunnis, Eva Amo-Mensah: Bronze Medal Over the 2-day TDCAA championship event, the team from Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School won a total of 17 medals: 6 golds, 6 silver and 5 bronze. Twenty-one Henry Carr athletes went on to represent the TCDSB at the TDCAA at the METRO CHAMPIONSHIPS at the University of Toronto's Varsity Centre. Student Art Exhibit: “Echoes of the Holocaust:A Lesson To Be Learned” Neil McNeil High School students held an art, writing and media exhibition to commemorate the holocaust and raise awareness regarding the issue of genocide, particularly in Darfur. Mary Capin, teacher at the school, was inspired to arrange for the exhibit after receiving a scholarship last summer that took her to Israel to study the holocaust. The exhibit emphasized the common philosophy at the core of every religion by displaying different quotes from varied sacred texts (including the Bible, the Koran, The Torah, etc) interspersed with the artworks. The intent is

to emphasize the similarities between men rather than the differences.

History and Social Science Fair at Don Bosco Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School hosted its 2nd annual History and Social Science Fair in the school library, April 30. Building on last year's success, this year's Fair was expanded to include not only the work of Grade 10 History students, but Grade 11 students taking the Introduction to Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology course. In all, more 30 student groups presented their projects on various topics including the History of Rock and Roll, The Fight for Female Rights in Canada, The Group of Seven, D-Day, .....Mental Illness - the Stigma, Why Teens Join Gangs?, Cults, and How the concept of Beauty has changed over the years? Judging was carried out by numerous teachers with each group presenting their research to three different judges. The purpose of this major assignment was to allow students to conduct detailed research in a group setting on various topics, prepare display boards in a meaningful and insightful way, and gain experience in speaking with authority about their topic. Displays and presentations were graded and awards were given to the top 3 in each grade. Once again, this day was organized through the efforts of the History Department and in particular, Ms. Vanda Greto, staff history teacher. (Below L to R, Ms Vanda Greto staff history teacher and history fair organizer awarding certificates to Gersjana Jaupaj, and Veronica Acevedo-Delgado for their outstanding display, “Why teens join gangs?”

“IT STARTS IN THE SCHOOLS” is published monthly throughout the school year. Events, locations and times are subject to change. For more information, call 416-222-8282 Ext. 5314. This publication can be found on the Internet at www.tcdsb.org, see “news”. The Toronto Catholic District School Board educates more than 90,000 students from diverse cultures and language backgrounds in its 201 Catholic elementary and secondary schools and serves 474,876 Catholic school supporters across the City of Toronto.

Toronto Catholic Schools

Faith in Your Child

JUNE 2009 Toronto Catholic District School Board, 80 Sheppard Ave. E., North York, ON M2N 6E8

phone: 416-222-8282 website: www.tcdsb.org email: webmaster@tcdsb.org