Catholic Schools Week

 

Grade 1 student Alina M. posing during a Catholic Schools Week activity

 

Catholic schools are communities – small families in their own right, but also members of the larger community of home, church, city. and nation.  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 2014 ran from Monday, February 10 to Friday, February 14 with the theme “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.”

 

The Catholic Schools Week celebrations began on Tuesday afternoon when the students of IHMS assembled in the gym from 2:15 until dismissal. There were two purposes for this assembly – one was to arrange the students into teams (20 teams of 9 students), and the other was to have each of the groups create a “team flag”. These teams were created for the next day’s activities.

 

Students in the gym on Tuesday afternoon to make their team “flag”

 

On Wednesday afternoon, the 20 teams participated in a series of  Winter Olympic inspired activities organized by the grade 8 class. Half of these activities took place outdoors and the other half took place in the school gym. The grade 7 students were team captains and the grade 8 students, who were not a part of any team, supervised and kept track of the different events. Since the Manitoba Milk Producers donated all the prizes for the event, a lot of the games had a milk theme to them.

 

The 20 teams (with their team flags) assembled in the gym

 

Outdoor activities:

• Ice Fishing
• Ice Cube Relay
• Curling
• Sled Race
• Shot Put

Students participating in some of the outdoor activities

 

 

Indoor activities:

• Across Ice Floe
• Snowman Toss
• Milk Carton Toss
• Hot Chocolate
• Hockey Shootout

 

Students participating in some of the indoor activities

 

Thursday was “100 Day” – the 100th day of school for this year. This may not be important news to most people, but for the grade 1 to 3 students, 100 a big number! So the downstairs teachers devised various activities to give their students a more concrete idea of how big 100 really is.

 

Students wearing their “100 Day” hats

 

Thursday was not only the 100th day of school – it was also a pajama wear NUT day where students were encouraged to come to school dressed in their pajamas!

 

Students dressed up in their pajamas for Thursday’s NUT Day

 

In addition, there was a Sock Hop in the afternoon for the grade 7 and 8 students.  This was followed by an early dismissal at 2:00.

 

The junior-high students had a “Sock Hop” on Thursday afternoon

 

Since the next day (Friday) was Valentine’s Day, a lot of students 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 14th, the last day of Catholic Schools Week, was an inservice day for the teachers at St. Paul’s High School on Grant Avenue. The inservice took place in the school’s brand new, multi-million dollar Paul Albrechtsen Multiplex Richardson Gym. 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!