December 4

The SAN Script – The week of December 5 – 9

If one gives answer before hearing,
it is folly and shame.

– Proverbs 18:13

2016 Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar

This picture, taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, shows NGC 4696, the largest galaxy in the Centaurus Cluster. The new images taken with Hubble show the dusty filaments surrounding the center of this huge galaxy in greater detail than ever before. These filaments loop and curl inwards in an intriguing spiral shape, swirling around the supermassive black hole at such a distance that they are dragged into and eventually consumed by the black hole itself. #

This picture, taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, shows NGC 4696, the largest galaxy in the Centaurus Cluster. The new images taken with Hubble show the dusty filaments surrounding the center of this huge galaxy in greater detail than ever before. These filaments loop and curl inwards in an intriguing spiral shape, swirling around the supermassive black hole at such a distance that they are dragged into and eventually consumed by the black hole itself. #

St. Anthony This Week

Monday, December 5

Office Hours Rec Link Mondays 9:00 – 3:00PM

rec-link

Karen Morin (Behaviour consultant) to observe in grade 3 class

Starr Gymnastics

Monday, December 5th
9:00 to 10:00 – Group 1 (50 Kids)
Grade 3 Solymar (16 students)
10:30 to 11:30 – Group 2 (50 Kids)
Kindergarten (46 students)
46 Students

Tuesday, December 6

SAN- IPRC St.Elizabeth (Paul and Teresa) in the Learning Commons

Teresa at System Class Networking at CEC- PM only

Tiffany Drummont from Algonquin College in for visit

Lunch Lady in

Goodlife – Ms Troccoli – 12:50

Wednesday, December 7

Wastefree Wednesdays

Paul away – CLL

Rosary Visit Schedule

JK 8:30-8:50
SK 8:50-9:10
grade 1/2 12:15-12:40
grade 2/3 12:45-1:15
grade 3 9:15-9:45
grade 4/5 10:00-10:40
grade 5 10:40-11:15

Teresa to run EQAO Cognitive Lab with Grade 3 class- Maria/Kirsten to cover Teresa’s class

Goodlife Gymnastics – Grade 3 – 2:00 PM

Thursday, December 8

In-school collaborative team – 7:45

Advent Week 2 – 1:00 PM

Children Support School Meeting, Hub #3 at Prince of Peace – Paul away (PM)

Parent Council Meeting – 6:30 PM

Friday, December 9

Pizza Day

Paul away

Goodlife Fitness M Chartrand’s class – 2:20 PM

St. Anthony Super Stars – 3:00 PM

Poinsettias at Christmas

A Poinsettia flower

Poinsettia plants are native to Central America, especially an area of southern Mexico known as ‘Taxco del Alarcon’ where they flower during the winter. The ancient Aztecs called them ‘cuetlaxochitl’. The Aztecs had many uses for them including using the flowers (actually special types of leaves known as bracts rather than being flowers) to make a purple dye for clothes and cosmetics and the milky white sap was made into a medicine to treat fevers. (Today we call the sap latex!)

The poinsettia was made widely known because of a man called Joel Roberts Poinsett (that’s why we call them Poinsettia!). He was the first Ambassador from the USA to Mexico in 1825. Poinsett had some greenhouses on his plantations in South Carolina, and while visiting the Taco area in 1828, he became very interested in the plants. He immediately sent some of the plants back to South Carolina, where he began growing the plants and sending them to friends and botanical gardens.

One of the friends he sent plants to was John Barroom of Philadelphia, who gave the plant to his friend, Robert Buist, a plants-man from Pennsylvania. Robert Buist was probably the first person to have sold the poinsettias under their botanical, or latin name, name ‘Euphorbia pulcherrima’ (it means, ‘the most beautiful Euphorbia’). It is thought that they became known as Poinsettia in the mid 1830’s when people found out who had first brought them to America from Mexico.

There is an old Mexican legend about how Poinsettias and Christmas come together, it goes like this:

There was once a poor Mexican girl called Pepita who had no present to give the the baby Jesus at the Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked to the chapel, sadly, her cousin Pedro tried to cheer her up.
‘Pepita’, he said “I’m sure that even the smallest gift, given by someone who loves him will make Jesus Happy.”

Pepita didn’t know what she could give, so she picked a small handful of weeds from the roadside and made them into a a small bouquet. She felt embarrassed because she could only give this small present to Jesus. As she walked through the chapel to the altar, she remembered what Pedro had said. She began to feel better, knelt down and put the bouquet at the bottom of the nativity scene. Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into bright red flowers, and everyone who saw them were sure they had seen a miracle. From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the ‘Flores de Noche Buena’, or ‘Flowers of the Holy Night’.

The shape of the poinsettia flower and leaves are sometimes thought as a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem which led the Wise Men to Jesus. The red colored leaves symbolize the blood of Christ. The white leaves represent his purity.

The Poinsettia is also the national emblem of Madagascar.

To learn about caring for Poinsettia plants, visit the Poinsettia profile on the Royal Horticultural Society’s website.

February 21

The SAN Script – The week of February 22 – 26

 

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

 

cup

 

St. Anthony This Week

Monday, February 22

Sabina in all week

Shannon(Tonia), Natalie (OPEN), and Meg (Paolo) @ Math Inquiry

Tuesday, February 23

Paul away all day

Board-wide Jeans Day for Shepherds of Good Hope

Maria away – OPEN

Speech Language Student from Dalhousie U to work with Mrs. Rupnik’s class

Teresa at System Class networking At CEC – Kirsten in

Dorothy Stanyar, volunteer, in Mrs. Rupnik’s class PM only

Wednesday, February 24

Wastefree Wednesday Today

Paul at Board Office all day

Ski Day for Juniors

ski day

Susie in to assist with coverage for Denis, Sylvain and Nora

 

 

 

 

Thursday, February 25

Recycle Day at St. Anthony Catholic School- PLEASE recycle today – all material to be left inside  near the parking lot door

Meg away – OPEN

OECTA Unit General Meeting @ 4:30 p.m. at the Hellenic Centre.

Friday, February 26

Kindness Project with Lindsey Barr and Mrs. Rupnik’s classes

St. Anthony Super Stars award

Pizza Day!

open culture 1

link to Open Culture Blog for rest of this really interesting post

mars

If I could send a message back in time, I might send it to the wide-eyed and skyward-looking children of 1960s America, apologizing that we never did build those jetpacks, flying cars, and moon colonies, but also letting them know that at least we, the citizens of the 21st century, have developed such technologies as smartphones and a myriad of ways for snack foods to taste both sweet and salty at once.

nasa

I probably wouldn’t tell them how many of us long for the spirit of their own time, which American history has labeled “the Space Age” for good reason. It had its share of awfulness, starting with the apocalyptic tensions of the Cold War, but that competition between societies did spur mankind to voyage boldly and unhesitatingly out into the great beyond, at least for a while there.

April 30

The SAN Script – Thursday, April 30

You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.

a quote for today’s Maker Faire
A ‘Blue Marble’ image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite – Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed ‘Suomi NPP’ on January 24, 2012 to honour the late Verner E. Suomi.

A ‘Blue Marble’ image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite – Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed ‘Suomi NPP’ on January 24, 2012 to honour the late Verner E. Suomi.

for more amazing images please go to this link on Twisted Sifter

Today At St. Anthony 

The first (annual??) St. Anthony Maker Faire  10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Recycling Day – (black and blue bins open please)

Three Little Piggies – An Interactive iPad Story

from Free Technology for Teachers

Most of us are familiar with the story of the Three Little Pigs. Three Little Piggies is an interactive iPad version of the famous fairy tale. Three Little Piggies offers three ways to enjoy the story. You can have it read to you in auto-play mode, you can read it at your own pace, or you can read along with the narrator (your choice of male or female voice). In the read along mode each word is highlighted as it is read by the narrator.

The best part of Three Little Piggies is the interactive elements built into the story. Shake your iPad and the piggies move. You can also touch the piggies to make them move. But the most fun element is the option to blow into the microphone to play the role of the wolf blowing down a house.

Three Little Piggies is currently a free app, but it’s labeled as “free for a limited time” so grab it while it’s still free.

Applications for Education
I like ebooks and apps that have read along modes as well as read-alone modes. This makes the story accessible to students who are practicing reading on their own while also allowing for parents to read to their children when they disable the narrator.

Thanks to Meg Wilson for sharing this on Twitter. 

February 12

The SAN Script – Thursday, February 12

 

Photograph by NASA/Barry Wilmore In this incredible photo we see spirals of lights bursting from Earth. The photo was taken from the International Space Station by astronaut Barry Wilmore, the commander of Expedition 42 and one of six astronauts currently on board.

Photograph by NASA/Barry Wilmore In this incredible photo we see spirals of lights bursting from Earth. The photo was taken from the International Space Station by astronaut Barry Wilmore, the commander of Expedition 42 and one of six astronauts currently on board.

 

voice of the day

That is our vocation: to convert the enemy into a guest and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

prayer of the day

Forgive, O Lord, what we have been
Direct what we are,
And order what we shall be,
For thy mercy’s sake. Amen.

– 1000 World Prayers

St. Anthony Today

Krista away – Elizabeth in

Debra away Mary-Anne Benoit in

Colleen McDonald (FDK) visiting today

Term One report cards and IEPs going home today

9:20  Ash Wednesday songs practice in gym gr.1-6

Term 2 IEP meetings: Please see the conference for the schedule

Young Rembrandts – 3:15 PM

 

 

a good blog post for us featuring one of our own Nancy Kalil

Change Is Happening

I was recently sitting with the awesome Nancy Kawaja Kalil (make sure you follow her on Twitter because she is awesome) at a conference in Ontario, and she shared the following picture with me:

Screen Shot 2014-12-09 at 5.52.56 PM

What I loved about this picture, is that it is the opposite of the narrative we have heard from many schools that believe shutting down is crucial to learning, where this picture says the opposite.  My assumption is that this school doesn’t use technology all of the time, nor does it have zero problems with technology use in school.  I am sure that, like in any school, things are not perfect.  But this picture shows to me a shift in mindset of an organization more than anything, which ultimately leads to growth and the creation of new ideas.

I sat and listened to Lisa Jones this year, talk about taking three years off for a maternity leave, and come back to school and see significant changes.  Wanting to push her own growth as not only a teacher, and a learner, she really shifted her focus on student learning, as opposed to her teaching.  It was a great story because it reminded me that every teacher wants to be better for kids, but there is always a lot on their plate.  Support is necessary to growth.

But the one thing that really stuck out to me from what she shared was her perspective on how much has changed in three years from someone who was out of the system, who has now returned.  If you really think about even the last three years in education, have you not seen a major shift with many organizations?  It is really hard to be around the same people or in the same building every day, and not realize how much education has grown, but if we were to take a step back, would we realize that a major shift is happening?

Although I think it is imperative that we continue to push, I also think it is important that we see that many educators and schools are not only wanting a better way for their students, but are creating it.  This is especially important to remember and recognize at a time when many teachers are either going into break or finishing school (depending on where you live) and they, like the students, are exhausted.

All great learning organizations see the need for growth, and realize that, like learning, it is a messy and non-linear process.  But they also recognize and acknowledge steps made by individuals and the group as a whole, that they have made towards something better.  This builds confidence and competence along the way.

No organization in our world is exempt from dealing with the constant of change, but if we all take a step back, there are many areas where we are getting better.  I think it is important to stop and acknowledge that along the way.

Snapverter app for Read and Write

Lisa Langsford

 Many students and staff have switched from using products like Kurzweil and WordQ to Chrome’s Read&Write extension because it is available on any computer or Chromebook, for all students and staff in the Board. Now those clever folks at TextHelp have come up with a way for any images of text to be converted into PDF documents and then used by Read&Write. This means no more scanning, just use your phone or tablet, take a picture of text, make sure it is in the Snapverter folder in Google Drive and it will be converted to PDF. You can then open the file in Read&Write and it will read it for you with highlighting and all the features you would expect, very cool. Try it out!! But first watch this video to explain it all.
We are trialling this across the Board for now and looking for your feedback.
and finally….

Check out the Tiny Hamster Valentines Cards!: http://imgur.com/a/tWOou#0

December 19

The SAN Script Friday, December 19th

The Winners of the 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest

He was waiting on the bed, lost in thoughts, while his wife was preparing the bread to be blessed for the orthodox Eucharist. Location: village of sarbi, Maramure (Romania)

He was waiting on the bed, lost in thoughts, while his wife was preparing the bread to be blessed for the orthodox Eucharist. Location: village of sarbi, Maramure (Romania)

verse of the day

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined.

Isaiah 9:2

voice of the day

There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness may encounter. We sometimes lose sight of this force when there is suffering, too much pain. then suddenly the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.

Mother Teresa

prayer of the day

God, thank you for giving us light in the darkness. Do not let us lose sight of this mysterious power. As we have been given hope in the midst of our suffering, may we too offer hope and light to those who only see darkness. Amen.

St. Anthony Today

popcorn day – thanks to Geraldine and Bob!

Movie Day – Primary schedule below

PJ Day!!

Please remember to bring us your Tech tubs today

Happy Christmas everyone!! Safe travels.

Primary movie schedule

Thanks for helping out!
Please ensure your class is in the Learning Commons for our 9:00am movie!
Below is our schedule:
9:00-9:20 Teresa and Ryan
9:20-9:40 Paul and Sylvain
Please come to get your students at 9:40 for recess.
10:10-10:30  Maria and Meg
10:30-11:00 Geraldine and Sabina 

Please come to get your students at 11:00 for lunch.
Thanks again

Build of the Week: LEGO Rocket Garden

Build of the Week - LEGO Rocket Garden | RenovatedLearning.com

*Build of the Week is a regularly occurring segment on Renovated Learning where I share some of the awesome stuff my students have been making over the past week.* 

My school is a NASA Explorer school, so naturally my students were very excited about the Orion launch a few weeks ago.  This inspired a lot of great space themed LEGO builds, and it turned out to be enough to create our own little rocket garden.

Our rocket garden all together

Our rocket garden all together

The major build was a replica of the Orion rocket itself.  Which my students were quick to correct – Orion is the capsule, the main part of the body is the Delta IV heavy rocket.  The builder of the Delta IV clarified that she also created the launch pad, support system and Orion capsule.

 

download

note from the board

On Friday, December 19th, please ask teachers and staff to turn off computers and monitors, lights, printers, photocopiers and close blinds/curtains. Any equipment that doesn’t need to be on should be turned off. Please be aware that Head Caretakers will be busy implementing his/her energy conservation measures at the end of the day. Your cooperation and understanding is very much appreciated.