Photo: Courtesy Janet Revell.

In an effort to bring to life the world of provincial politics in Canada, Prince Charles Public School teacher Janet Revell and her grade 5/6 students invited local candidates to their classroom. This is the second year that Revell has brought the Student Vote program to the school in an effort to bring to life what otherwise might be a rather dry and abstract part of the grade five curriculum. On Monday and Tuesday, September 26 & 27, Green Party candidate Nancy Matte, Liberal candidate Bill MacDonald and NDP candidate Dave Parkhill each visited the school. They presented their platforms and took questions from the students. Based on what they heard, the students then chose to represent one of the candidates and took their platforms to other students in the school in preparation for the student vote.

Revell feels that that the best way to create an awareness of provincial politics in students is to get them involved. “The students were thrilled to meet the candidates and I had the sense that they viewed the candidates who came as celebrities. The enthusiasm the candidates showed really rubbed off on the students and definitely provided them with a deeper understanding of the issues and the entire voting process”, she said.

Her students asked a series of questions to each candidate, such as: Why did you go into politics? Will you be raising taxes? How will your party improve education, health care and help to promote a healthy environment? Two groups of students from the class, each representing one of the four candidates, then took what they learned and presented it to the other classrooms in the school. On October 4 the students then cast their votes in a mock poll, complete with two scrutineers, a poll officer and a deputy officer. The Student Vote program has gained a foothold in many local area schools and student polls also took at Land O' Lakes PS in Mountain Grove and at Sharbot Lake Public School.

Photo: Miriam Rutledge (right) and Angela Saxe.

Miriam Rutledge, a grade 12 student at Sydenham High School, is one of the top three finalists of 120 students who submitted stories for the “You Think You Can Write” contest, part of the upcoming Kingston WritersFest, which attracts authors of international renown.

Miriam's story titled “The Cellist” was written in the first person and tells the thoughts and observations of a cellist performing in a recital hall in front of a large audience. Like so many successful short stories, “The Cellist’ is based on Rutledge’s own real life experiences. An accomplished cello player, Miriam has been studying privately with Wolf Tormann, a celebrated cello player, teacher and professor of music at Queens University, for 10 years. She knows first hand in body, mind and soul exactly what a cello player undergoes during a recital. So it is no wonder that her story rings so true, as exemplified when the cellist observes from her view on stage “the occasional luminous face in the glow of a cell phone.” Or as in her second paragraph, when the cellist begins to play, and “Each note is like a pearl, perfectly shaped and shining. My bow flows over the strings like ocean waves over rocks on a calm day. I can feel my body moving with the melody and my soul lifting with each crescendo.”

As in all contests, certain stipulations had to met. No more than 750 words, the story also had to include five words: luminous, ocean, melody, dawn and inspire. Miriam felt confident that her subject could easily incorporate all five words and explained, “I already had the idea of writing something like what I did, so it wasn't that difficult for me to include the mandatory words.”

As far as her creative writing goes she says she enjoys it and is currently taking a senior level English course offered at SHS called "Writer’s Craft”. “I've always loved writing creatively. I've written a tragic romance and other things but they tend to be mostly related to school assignments.”As far as pursuing a writing career, Miriam says she hopes to get accepted into the COCA course offered at Queens, which combines computer science with the creative arts so that she can continue her music studies and study fine art as well.

The contest came to her attention thanks to Angela Saxe, a teacher/librarian at SHS and one of the two volunteer youth coordinators at the Kingston Writers’ Festival. Saxe, a writer herself, feels strongly about giving students more opportunities to write creatively. “Not only does the contest bring an awareness to students of the Kingston WritersFest, which in the last couple of years has been aiming some of its programming to youth and young writers, but the contest also gives students a chance to write creatively outside of the school curriculum, which is a good thing.”

The festival will be held from September 22 – 25, and now Miriam is just waiting for the judge’s final verdict, which will be announced on September 22 at the opening night at the Grand Theatre. For more information visit www.kingstonwritersfest.ca

Photo: New SLHS vice principal, Mr. David Russell

Students and staff at Sharbot Lake High School need no introduction to their newly appointed vice principal, Mr. David Russell. A long-time teacher at the school, Mr. Russell has taught many subjects during his seven-year stint there, including law, phys. ed., technology, social studies and media arts.

As a result of his experience, he brings to his new post an intimate knowledge of not only the school curriculum but also of the students and staff, which he says is a huge benefit. “I have a great rapport with both students and staff and have also over the years worked with numerous teachers who had a long history at the school, so I feel I have a real understanding of the school’s history and culture.”

Russell, who lives in Tamworth with his three children and his wife Wendy, who also teaches at SLHS, grew up in Scarborough and prior to beginning a second career as a teacher, worked as a technician and in management at Bell Canada for 12 years. In 1991 he graduated from McMaster University with a history degree and did his practical teacher training at Durham University in Durham, England.

Before joining the Limestone District School Board, Russell taught for eight years at Dunbarton High School in Pickering, a large school with close to 2000 students - 10 times the size of the student body at SLHS. “The nice thing about a smaller school like Sharbot Lake is that everyone knows everyone and every individual feels like an integral part of the bigger picture,” he said.

In the role of vice principal, Russell said he is looking forward to the challenge that comes with dealing with “something different everyday” as well as the opportunities that come with having a wider impact on a greater number of students and on the school as a whole. He mentioned a few goals he would like to achieve as vice principal: first, to provide a fun and positive atmosphere for both students and staff at the school; second, to ensure that all students pass their literacy tests; and third, to help students reach their highest academic potential.

Asked about possible drawbacks to coming to his post as an insider, he replied, “Managing the change in relationships might be an issue in that I am now in more of a disciplinary role with the students and in more of a critical role with the staff. But, that being said, so far that has not been a problem at all.” Instead Russell sees his history at the school as an overall advantage. He looks forward to working with Principal Heather Highet, with whom he says he shares a similar overall approach. “We see eye to eye on a number of things and tend to approach things with a similar outlook, which makes for a great working relationship.”

Russell looks comfortable in his new post and no doubt it must be equally comforting for students returning after the summer to recognize a well-known staff member who will now be assisting at the helm.

Photo: Bill Campbell presenting the bursary to Katelyn Ronfeld

The Friends of Bon Echo Park announced the winners of the 2011 Bursary Awards at their Annual General Meeting on September 3. The bursary award program has been in place for over 15 years and provides up to two $500 bursaries to winning students. The bursaries are open to graduating students of the North Addington Education Centre (NAEC) in Cloyne and to students working at the park.

NAEC graduate Katelyn Ronfeld has had a long-time relationship with Bon Echo and a wealth of experience in a volunteer capacity in the Northbrook-Cloyne area. Among her skills and strengths are her willingness to serve, her inter-personal relationships and organization. She has served the 1st Cloyne Girl Guide program for seven years. Annual campouts at Bon Echo with the Guides encouraged the girls to learn about the wildlife, plants and trees and how to preserve the natural habitat around them. As a member of the NAEC Eco Team she assisted in enforcing new recycling programs and energy audits and in providing every student with a re-usable water bottle, helping not just the community but the entire school to be ecologically friendly. At graduation she received the Lieutenant Governor General’s Community Volunteer Award. Katelyn has been accepted into the University of Ottawa Bachelor of Social Sciences program with a major in Sociology/Co-Op where she will focus on the interaction of young children within society, mentoring them as a role model.

Colin Sutherland has worked in the Natural Heritage Education program at Bon Echo for two summers. A native of Ottawa, Colin has camped at Bon Echo since he was six years old. Colin’s first year on the Bon Echo staff caused him to rethink his major, changing from Journalism to joint honours programs in Geography and Sociology. One project that he is interested in developing is interactive trail guides. The end result could be self-guided tours using a tablet computer. The Friends have expressed interest in this in the past and are keenly aware that it is a significant way to open up the park’s excellent trails to more people.

The Friends of Bon Echo also support other student programs related to the natural world. Each year they contribute $500 to the Ontario Parks Partners Bursary Program in recognition of summer park employees across Ontario who are outstanding in their service to park visitors. On September 23-25 the Friends will be sending two local high school students to the Youth Summit on Biodiversity and Sustainable Living sponsored by Ontario Nature.

A hot July night proved to be a less than ideal time for most people to attend a public meeting on the draft design of the new Kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Sharbot Lake, which at this point is planned for completion in just over two years.

Terry White from the Ventin group in Toronto presented the design to school administrators and school board officials and a few members of the public in the cafetorium of the existing Sharbot Lake High School on Tuesday evening.

The three-storey L-shaped design with a cafetorium and double gym located on the second and third floors is similar to one that was agreed to in June by a design committee that included members of parent councils as well as board employees.

Terry White, who has been designing schools for over two decades, said that he normally would put the gym and cafetorium on the ground floor, “but the layout of the site and the demands of this school made that unworkable in this case, so we settled on a second floor gym.”

The way the building is planned however, there will be direct access to the second floor from the exterior of the building at three locations, “so there will be a lot of access nonetheless,” White added.

The plan is for the school to be located in the parking lot, as far towards the north as possible before it hits the flood plain towards the existing playing field, which will remain.

The wood and auto shops will be located on the ground floor at the north end of the building, with the cafetorium and double gym above, stretching out past where there is currently a basketball court and into where there are now rocks and trees to the west.

Part of the plan is to excavate into that rock to fit the gym in, allowing direct access to the gym from behind the building as the landscape rises.

The rest of the building will extend to the south, towards where the existing school is now located.

The kindergarten rooms will be located on the ground floor, at the south end of the building, adjacent to the elementary playing field. The elementary classrooms will be located on the second floor and the high school classes on the third floor.

The administration office and the library will be located on the first floor, where the two parts of the L-shaped building meet. Across from the administration offices there will be a library and a computer lab, which will open up onto a courtyard behind the building.

The cladding of the building could include brick, concrete and perhaps wood, and there will be a number of full-length glass windows employed to bring natural lighting to the library, the entranceway, and other parts of the building.

Among the community-focussed features of the design are plans to orient the cafetorium to optimise theatrical performances by North Frontenac Little Theatre and the school drama department. Not only will there be seating for 200 – 225 people in the cafetorium, the wall to the gym will be removable, creating the option of a 600 plus seat theatre.

The temporary wall in the middle of the double gym can also be removed, creating a space that could potentially hold as many 1000 people.

Dianne Lake, who attended the meeting as a member of the public but pointed out she not only attended Sharbot Lake High School, but spend 28 years running the cafeteria, made the point that during the 1998 ice storm the school spent 22 days as an emergency shelter and relief centre.

“That extra capacity for a public space might become a huge community asset some day,” she said.

Terry White said that the final design should be ready for public viewing in the early fall, and he hopes the project can go to tender in late October. Preliminary construction could begin before freeze up.

Ann Goodfellow, the school board trustee for the region, pointed out that the Ministry of Education will require that a complete costing be done for every aspect of the project before they approve it.

“Maybe we can break ground next spring,” she said.

The municipal building permitting process will also need to be undertaken, and will likely include environmental assessments.

There were no representatives from the municipality at the public meeting.

The Harrowsmith Odd Fellow and Rebekah Lodges provided dinner for delegates on the United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth Tour on July 1 and July 8.

For over 65 years the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs have been sponsoring students for this tour. The 14-day tour includes a four-day stay in NY City where they visit the UN and attend workshops as well as visiting other historical sites of the city. The tour also includes visiting historical sites in the United States and Ontario. 

In this picture, taken at the Golden Links Hall in Harrowsmith where the dinner was served, are the delegates from several U S states, western Canadian provinces and Sweden. The menu was all you can eat spaghetti with all you can eat ice cream cups for dessert. The students were very pleased with this menu as they get a lot of meals at the fast food restaurants along the way.

 By Devin Gagne-Baldacchin, Grade 8

The students and staff of North Addington Education Centre have been busy bringing in non-perishable food items. The local food bank has been low on food and financial resources are limited, so the elementary students responded with a school-wide food drive during the last week of school.

In total, over 1300 items were brought in and $180.00 was raised. Classroom teachers used various incentives to encourage students to bring in items. The homeroom who brought in the most items (per student) was awarded with a ‘Make Your Own Sundae’ party. Ms. Buck’s class was the winner, bringing in a record-breaking 386 items (14 items per student). The response was so incredible that second and third place also received a sundae party (Mrs. Beeg and Mrs. Hackett’s classes). In addition, many teachers also matched the number of items brought in by students and/or offered to have an ice cream party for the class even if they did not have the most items.

A special thank you goes to Mrs. Hackett’s grade eight class. Taylor Salmond and Cayley Wilson went around to homerooms each morning, collecting, tallying, and unloading the food. Robyn Cornish was responsible for posters. The class helped box the items up, load them in the van, and unload them at the food bank. The class also used 1/3 of their graduating funds (over $100) to purchase non-perishable items. They played an enormous leadership role in the undertaking of this event.

Students were excited to participate and give back to the community. Angela Salmond, the principal, would like to thank the students, their families, and staff for their generosity: "We have shown what wonderful results can come about when we pull together. This is such a good opportunity for students and the fact that we have gathered so much is almost unbelievable".

This time of year is especially low for the food bank, as children are home for the summer. Those wishing to donate items can call 613-391-1408 (leave a message if no answer), and to receive help from the food bank, call Land O’ Lakes Community Services at 613-336-8934.

by Susan Ramsay, Early Literacy Specialist

Photo: A shipping container donated by Students Crossing borders, and its transformation into a play centre in Jamaica..

“He’s just playing.” Just playing? What looks like “just playing” to adults is how children engage in scientific discovery while digging in the garden; how they learn about time and velocity while playing tag or racing toy cars; and experiment with concepts such as gravity and volume while playing with water during bath time. Children learn social and communication skills while pretending to be super heroes and bus drivers. They learn to distinguish rhyme and the sounds of language necessary for learning how to read and write while singing playful songs like “Down by the Bay”.

Play is so foundational to children’s learning, that it is embraced by the Ministry of Education in their full-day learning programs. Early Learning for Every Child Today is the play-based teaching framework being implemented in childcare programs across the province. Play is no longer considered frivolous. Through play children have concrete, meaningful and fun ways of understanding their world.

The importance of play is catching on at home and abroad. From May 14-22, I, along with 14 other educators and students, will be traveling to Kingston, Jamaica to share our experiences of working with young children. In preparation for this trip through “Students Crossing Borders”, the Jamaican teachers were asked what they would like from their Canadian visitors. They requested a focus on how to teach using play-based curriculum. They also requested a family literacy event and support to create a parenting centre for families.

Education in Jamaica, as everywhere, is foundational to economic, political, and social health, but financial resources and educational materials in Jamaica are scarce. Students Crossing Borders began working with the Jamaican people in 1991 and have developed a relationship of mutual trust and respect.

In 2009, with fund-raised dollars, Students Crossing Borders filled a shipping container with early childhood furniture and building supplies and shipped it to Kingston, Jamaica. The shipping container was placed in a high needs area of the city. Windows, doors, and outdoor space were added to the shipping container, transforming it into a developmental play centre for young children. In an area of the world where poverty, AIDS, and orphaned children are prevalent, there is great need. There is also great opportunity for those with resources to help.

We care about our children. We care about them within our families, in our home communities, and in our world.

Anyone can be a part of supporting this international project by visiting the Student Crossing Borders website at www.studentscrossingborders.ca to learn more. Specific donations of medical and first aid supplies are needed and in short supply. Educational supplies, such as markers, paper, literacy and numeracy games for young children, new children’s and parenting books are also a priority for this trip. Financial donations will go to the establishment of a parenting centre in Jamaica. (Tax receipts are issued for donations of $50 or more.)

To donate or to find out more, please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Susan Ramsay is the Early Literacy Specialist for Hastings, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington. You can contact her at 613-354-6318 (ext 32)

Photo: NAEC's new young authors

Each year, radio station 98.9FM The Drive gets money to promote Canadian music. The station has decided to put the money into music programs across the Limestone board, and is donating $1000 each to 13 schools. North Addington Education Centre was lucky to be one of them and on April 4, Joe and Jenn-O of The Drive, presented the music department with a $1000 cheque. Beth Lindsay of the music department says the department is very grateful for the donation and plans on using it towards repairing many of the instruments so they will continue to have the resources to run a successful program at the school. Nick Smart, Mike Deshane and Daryn Bolland played two rock songs for their classmates and the DJs. The clip should be aired on Friday morning.

Photo: NAEC's new young authors

Students in Ms. Buck’s grade 5/6 class at the North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne were feeling quite proud this week, and with good reason. All 27 students were celebrating the arrival of their very own, newly bound, hard cover, one off copies of a non-fiction book, which each had authored by themselves.

The book project was the brain child of their teacher, Ms. Buck, who is a first year teacher at NAEC, and it was geared to cover the non-fiction section of the language curriculum. “I thought this project would definitely be a lot more fun than writing a test. My goal was to really engage all of the students, especially those who might otherwise be lukewarm about the thought of writing, researching and creating an original piece of writing.” By choosing their own topics, the students had a chance to be creative while learning how to research, write, design and lay out a work of their own making. The finished product gave them something tangible at the end, something indeed worthy of celebration.

Ms Buck provided the students with a check list of what they needed to include: a table of contents, a glossary, at least four sub headings, fact boxes, at least one photo per page and a biography.

The class worked on their books on and off for about two months and when they were completed, the individual pages were printed off before Ms. Buck sent them off to be bound in hard cover at Smiths Fall Book Binding. She was as surprised and delighted with the finished results as her students were. “The finished books are truly amazing.” The cost of $10 per book seems nothing compared to the pride each title has bestowed on its author, many of whom say they never thought they could have accomplished such a undertaking.

One proud author, Max, chose fruit as his subject because of his love of pie and he included in his book all kinds of exotic fruits, where and how they are grown and what they are used for.

Grade six student Emma's book titled “The World of Polar Bears” explores a subject that is near and dear to her heart. Other titles included “Blob Fish”, “A Walk with Brock Throughout Canada”, “Extreme Sports” and “In the Life of a Moose”.

With the new books in hand the students will now prepare presentations to the class and will also have a chance read their books to the younger students at the school.

Ms. Buck was pleased with the enthusiasm her students showed for the project and plans to repeat it again next year. “This is something that motivates the students and gives them a real sense of accomplishment.” Judging by their faces and their intent desire to speak about their new works, these first books might not be the last ones created by the students in this class.