March 8, 2010

New Netbooks in Grade 7/8 classroom

The Grade 7 and 8 students at Our Lady of Lourdes were really exicited last month, when they recieved their mini laptops for use in the classrooms also known as Netbooks. In the short time that they have been using them, their teachers have noticed a higher level of student engagement and willingness to participate and to complete work. The French Immersion students find the laptops quite effective with the acquisition of the second language, especially in content area. The teachers state that students are actually excited to do work and undoubtedly, we will notice a higher level of achievement in several areas, since they now have "the world" at their finger tips.

February 22, 2010

Life at Our Lady of Lourdes

Frosty Days at OLOL

On Friday, February 12, the students and staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School participated in activities in conjunction with Manitouwadge Frosty Days. Students had several options for outdoor activities, these included ice fishing, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snow shoeing and sliding.

The younger students from JK to Grade 2 regrouped in the gym for some indoor "Mini-Olympics"; the games included Olympic Bean Bag Toss, Olympic Skating/Skiing and Snowball fight, Olympic Torch relay race, and Olympic Bobsled race. After the games, the students gathered in the lunch room for an Olympic snack; each student decorated and then enjoyed savouring an Olympic ring shaped home baked cookie. To complete the afternoon, the students returned to their classrooms for an Olympic craf; each student prepared an Olympic Medal, and proudly wore it home!

Heartfelt thanks to Mme Foucault-Clark who organized and coordinated the events for the afternoon! Many thanks to the staff members who assisted her in planning the activities. Parents who came out and participated were also very much appriciated. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

We got a fish!

New to ice fishing, Desiree, Tricia and Melodie were the first to catch the "Big One". During the Ice Fishing event, which is one of Frosty Days activities put on by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, the girls reeled in a modest one pound Pike. All on their own the first timers set it, hooked it, and pulled it up, exclaiming "We caught a fish!" Conservation Officer Marcel DeMars and Eric (a student from OLOL) were there to supervise the feat and to ensure that everything was done properly, helping in the end to unhook the fish. The whole group was very excited and enthusiastic about this catch; everyone dropped what they were doing - even their hot dogs - and ran to see the fish. Congratulating the girls everyone had regained hope that perhaps there was actually fish to be caught in Manitouwadge Lake.

Life at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School

Family Literacy Day at Our Lady of Lourdes

February 11th, 2010

Family Literacy Day was celebrated in a grand way at Our Lady of Lourdes School! Miss Dzijacky and Miss Gorges organized a super afternoon, inspired by the theme: Singing Towards Literacy! Attired in their favorite pyjamas, the students, regrouped in their families, and had the opportunity to visit five centers: Karaoke, Song Writting, Drama, Story Time and Head band. The Afternoon ended with a nutritious snack. Many thanks to our wonderful and dedicated new teachers who prepared such an awesome day!

 Science & Literacy Together

For the past two years Our Lady of Lourdes School has dedicated all morning classes for Literacy, Science and Numeracy learning in single grade classrooms, for example all grade one students are taught these subject areas by one teacher, all grade two's by another etc.

This past week the Grade three class was engaged in activities based on a blending of Science (Magnetism) with Literacy (Reading, Writing, Listening and Oral Language). We have been studying the properties of magnets and then applying the learning to various activities based on our reading and writing. The following photos illustrate the great time we had building a Magnetic Race Track, and making Electrostatic Slime. Other activities based on the book Felicity Discovers Electricity involved ballons and the properties of attracting and replling (as in magnetism).

We can write prodedural text first, then after as well as write experiments. We have learned the importance of sequencing ideas and steps in a procedure. We have also learned that listening to others' opinions and ideas can be very beneficial and that talk can clarify our thinking and understanding.

We hope our photos show you how much fun learning can be.