Catholic Schools Week

Students celebrating 100 Day during Catholic Schools Week

 

Catholic schools are unique communities with different personal and cultural values than the corresponding communities found in public schools. To celebrate the uniqueness of our schools, Catholic Schools Week has become an annual event that builds an appreciation of the educational achievements and spiritual benefits of attending a Catholic school. It acknowledges the many teachers and students who work in these schools, and celebrates the opportunities that Catholic Schools have to offer.

 

Catholic Schools Week for 2015 ran from Monday, February 9 to Friday, February 13 with the theme “Faith, Knowledge and Service”.

 

 

The Catholic Schools Week celebrations began with every student in the school colouring a copy of the Catholic Schools Week logo. These were then posted in the hallway outside each classroom. In addition, each grade assembled a few large jigsaw puzzle pieces that fit together with pieces from other grades to form a large cross. The cross was then assembled and taped to the gym wall.

 

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Another scheduled Catholic Schools Week activity was a set of 10 differentteam-based games organized by the grade 8 class to take place on Wednesday, February 11th. Some of these activities, inspired by last year’s 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, were to take place outdoors in the school playground. Unfortunately, the weather was too cold on that day (the windchill was around -30), so the IHMS Winter Olympics were postponed a week to Friday, February 20. The weather was again too cold on February 20, so the Winter Olympics were postponed a second time to an unspecified later date when the weather improved. Well, the weather did get better very quickly, and within the space of a few days the outdoor temperature went from freezing cold to above zero temperatures and sudden melting. Since most of the snow melted from the school playground, the IHMS Winter Olympics were cancelled.

 

 

Thursday was “100 Day” – the 100th day of the current school year. Because 100 is a large number for smaller kids, “100 Day” was only celebrated by the grade 1-3 students. To do this, the downstairs teachers devised various activities to give their students a more concrete idea of how big 100 really is.

 

Grade 1 – 3 students wearing their 100 Day hats

 

Thursday was not only the 100th day of school, it was also a NUT day where students were encouraged to come to school dressed up for Valentine’s day.  Even though February 14th wasn’t until Saturday, IHMS decided to celebrate Valentine’s day a few days in advance. Students came to school dressed in red, white, pink or with valentines all over their clothes!

 

Students dressed up in red and white on Valentines’s Day

 

 

A lot of students also exchanged Valentine’s day cards on Thursday, especially in the younger grades. Since IHMS is trying to promote healthier eating in the school, passing out candies or chocolates was prohibited.

 

Friday, February 13th, the last day of Catholic Schools Week, was an inservice day for the teachers at St. Mary’s Academy. While IHMS teachers (and teachers from other Catholic schools) were busy attending the inservice, students had a day off from school. Since the following Monday was a holiday – Louis Riel Day – it was a long 4 day weekend for the students and a great way to finish off a fun and exciting week!