On May 3, and May 5, a chainsaw safety course took place at North Addington Education Center. It was certification training, organized for students in the construction program and students in the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program. Three students from North Addington were joined by instructors, Mike Mol and Gord Darling, along with 11 students from QECVI in Kingston. They spent two days learning about chainsaw safety, and received a certificate for passing this specific course. Students who obtain seven special certificates graduate with the designation of SHSM (Specialist High Skills Major). During the first day the group spent their time learning about the different regulations and the multiple safety aspects. The second day was a little more hands-on, as the group’s mission was to fell a tree, and cut it up after it was on the ground.

"At last year’s chainsaw safety course, I had a lot of fun learning about chainsaw safety, and I enjoyed my time with the other students taking the course. If I could take the course again, I would," said Mandy Pringle, a student from North Addington, and a participant of last year’s chainsaw course.

The students and faculty of North Addington are very pleased to congratulate Teegan Wise, Dylan Kehoe, and Collin Armstrong, as they were the three students who participated in the chainsaw safety course, and successfully received their certificates, certified by the Ontario Forestry Safe Workplace Association.

The planting crew rests after planting a crabapple tree-back row,l-r Mrs. Walker and Corrie-Lyn Shields, front row, l-r- Julie White, Sarah Watkins and Tori Klatt-(missing are garden friends Emily and Janet Brooks). Photo courtesy of Jayne Walker

Students at Clarendon Central Public School in Plevna expanded their school garden last week and on April 28 planted three new fruit trees- one plum, one crabapple and one serviceberry tree.

The garden project, now in its second year at CCPS, was spearheaded by teacher Jayne Walker, who last year received a $2000 grant from the Limestone Learning Foundation to start a school garden. The garden is comprised of five raised beds that feature native perennials and annuals, flowering plants and bulbs plus and now three new fruit trees.

The garden supports various types of curriculum offered at the school, especially science, and offers students a first-hand opportunity to learn how plants grow and develop and how to classify plants and seeds.

Jayne Walker explained, “The curriculum is no longer abstract for students and the garden allows students to get out of the classroom and learn by interacting with all of their senses.”

Walker has always been interested in gardening with children for years and she foresees the project continuing to grow and evolve over time. “The sky’s the limit as to what we can do with the garden in the future.”

This month, the Hinchinbrooke School of Rock celebrated the arrival of new musical and video equipment, thanks to a generous grant from the Limestone Learning Foundation.

The Hinchinbrooke School of Rock has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the winter of 2005. What started as a casual lunch hour gathering of four intermediate students has blossomed into a structured extra-curricular music program which meets two days a week and involves almost 20 students. This would not have been possible without the assistance of the Limestone Learning Foundation, which over the years has provided the School of Rock program with over $5000 to purchase musical instruments, as well as recording and video equipment.

Students in the School of Rock are taught how to play one (or more!) instruments while learning rock music - from ACDC and Deep Purple, to The Troggs and Bob Dylan. Students have even begun to write and record their own music. Watch for details about our upcoming end-of-the-year show in late May, as well as a CD of original music.

Hinchinbrooke Public School would like to send a HUGE thank-you to the Limestone School of Music. Thank-you for bringing music to the North!

Sydenham’s Golden Eagles squad take second place at the Nationals. Photo courtesy of Miranda Roy

After placing first in their division in mid-February the Sydenham Golden Eagles competitive co-ed cheerleading team placed second at the Nationals, which were held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga this past weekend. The team competed against seven teams in the intermediate division from all over Canada. 

The Eagles put on a tremendous performance, finishing just 2 points (out of 800) behind the first-place winners, Eden High School from Hamilton. Seeing that of the 26-member team only one is an actual gymnast, they chose to focus on technical difficulty. Head coach Jenn Mizerovsky said, “We took a big chance and focused on big precision stunts like pyramids and tosses and it ended up paying off.”

In the preliminary round, worth 40% of their score, the Eagles finished in second place with a score of 280.5, just 1.5 points behind the first-place team. They incurred a small deduction in an otherwise clean performance.

In the second round, worth 60% of their final score, they scored 287.7, just 0.7 points behind the leading team.

The team’s second-place finish was even more remarkable given that they lost seven members leading up to the competition, and were forced to make a number of last-minute changes to their routine just weeks before the event.

Jenn Mizerovsky said, “We were feeling pretty nervous going in and though we were still shooting for a top spot we all knew that it could either turn out very well or really badly.”

Grade 10 student and team member Katrina Roy spoke to me by phone after the win and said, “We’re all so proud. We practiced so hard for this and it all came together in the end.”

The team also took the award for most creative use of music, beating out the 150 teams that participated.

The coach credited the team for their drive and determination and said, “They did an outstanding job, and with so little time to prepare they performed with confidence and precision and also managed to keep smiling the entire way through.”

Cast of Land O'Lakes prodution of  The Little Mermaid

"The Little Mermaid” made waves and a big splash last Wednesday evening as Land O’ Lakes Public School presented its annual spring musical.

Based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, the classic enchanted the audience with the magical story of how a mermaid (portrayed with charm and wonder by Cassy Lowery) overcomes all obstacles and rises to the surface of the sea to marry her Prince Charming, (played with skill by Cody Matson).

Strong supporting actors who added a good measure of comic relief included Jessica Desroches as Clem-Clam, Claire Willis as Georgina, Krysti Squibb as Clara, and Bailey Paddick as Borgy. As for the evil side, the Sea Witch (Jen Wisteard) and her two pet sharks, (Ophelia and Mikaela Cooper), produced a suitable aura of fear and creepiness.

The musical lived up to its genre with nine solos, including a moving “Part of That World” by Emma Brash, and a hilarious “Les Poissons” by Jacob Brash. Cassidy Savic

wowed the audience with an upbeat version of “Kiss the girl”. Mrs. McCullough did a fine job as music mentor for the singers.

The choreography, by teacher Ms. Kim Fournier and student Sadie Clarke, added to the spirit and joy of the production. Sadie Clarke led the sailors in a lively jig for the sea shanty, “The Crab”. “Under the Sea” featured the entire cast in a rollicking tribute to the undersea world.

Kindergarten teacher Ms. Jen Meulenaar coordinated costumes and props, and kept the stage crew (headed by Michaela Van Ness and David Scott) hopping. Tristen and Chase Veley with Adam Power did a fine job with lights and sound. Jade Walker and Alexandra Gillingham, along with parent volunteers Renée Richard and Erin Cooper, went all out with make-up and hair styles.

With scenery flats by Mr. Hull’s Gr. 7/8 class, murals by Ms. Kirkby’s Gr. 3/4 and papier mâché fish by Mr. G.’s SK/1, “The Little Mermaid” was a truly collaborative effort. A special aspect to this collective spirit came when two former LOLPS drama students, Nicole Domen and Krista Nieckar, along with classmate Rebecca Combe, designed and helped make the seven spectacular mermaid costumes. A very special thanks to Mr. Geoffrey Murray and his “Anything Fabric Fashion program” at Sharbot Lake High School, and fabricator Cindi Scott, for making this teamwork happen.

Land O’ Lakes Public School would like to give special thanks to North Frontenac Little Theatre for the use of their lights and costumes, and Liz Steele-Drew and Sharbot Lake High School for their partnership.

Dan Richard and Tessa bring Environmental Education to students at Land O’ Lakes P

Students at Land O’Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove were treated to a special presentation on April 29 by Dan Richard and his feathered friend Tessa.

Dan, who recently graduated from the environmental technology program at Loyalist College, is now partnering with them and bringing his environmental/raptor presentation to various local schools.

Dan returned to school hoping to pursue a career in environmental education for children and now is doing just that through the college’s environmental education programs. The aim of the programs is to help students of all ages understand and appreciate the environment and natural resources in the hopes that they will develop lifelong environmental connections and concerns.

Dan explained, “I’m hoping to show kids how they can impact the world and their future in a positive way.”

Dan’s presentation began in the classroom, where he covered a number of topics including basic ecology, current environmental issues and concerns, conservation, recycling, and other related topics. Throughout he presented the students with the cold hard facts: such as that Canadians on the average each use 600 litres of water per day when in fact just 1-2 litres per day of water are necessary.

He spoke of how in the last 60 years 10% of the of the world's tropical rain forests, which contain 50% of all living species on the earth, have been cut down at the alarming rate of 200,000 acres per day.

He spoke of the environmental impact of DDT on nesting birds and the pollution caused by burning garbage in barrels. 

Students had a chance to mull over these facts and figures and later discussions ensued about the difference between our wants and needs and how students can make practical changes in their daily lives.

Dan saved the most impressive part of his presentation for the last. He invited the students outside to meet Tessa, an immature female Harris hawk with whom Dan has been practicing falconry since September.

He spoke about birds of prey in general and predator/prey relationships in the natural world. In order to demonstrate Tessa’s keen ability to snatch prey from the wild, he invited a student to run across a field with a stuffed animal tied to a line. In full flight Tessa was able to grab the toy in the blink of an eye.

Dan, who is a passionate and licensed falconer, was encouraged by his professor at Loyalist to incorporate falconry into his presentation and the staff at Loyalist were so impressed with this presentation that they partnered with him to bring the presentation to local schools.

Barry Harding, who teaches grade 7 and 8 students at LOLPS, was thrilled with the presentation and spoke about how it ties in perfectly to the curriculum he is currently teaching in his class - namely ecology, ecosystems and the diversity of living things. 

Dan hopes that he and Tessa are “helping to reconnect kids with the wonders of nature and make them see how all species are interconnected”. In closing he added,  “I’m hoping to touch the kids in some way and encourage them to realize that small changes can make a very big difference.”

Anyone interested in bringing Dan and Tessa to their school can contact Dan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 613-335-4475

In the month of April, on the 22nd day, a very special thing is celebrated every year, Earth Day. Earth Day is a day to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It's celebrated in multiple countries each year and everyone participates in the appreciation of our planet.

On the morning of Thursday April 22, 2010 Grades 9-12 at North Addington Education Center participated in a scavenger hunt, organized by the Environmental Science teacher, Ms. Melissa Randle and a few of the students.

"I'm really impressed with the Musical Theater class, the Grade 10 Gym class, and the Fashion class for sorting their scavenger hunt items. The event was definitely a success; not only was it fun, the school is even looking cleaner," says Ms. Randle.

Later that day, secondary students were shown a brief video about recycling, made by the high school's very own Environmental Science class. Afterward, students celebrated Earth Day by spending part of their afternoon outside, with blue gloves and garbage bags picking up any garbage and recycling they saw around the school yard, the football field, the track, the front lawn, and even across the street around the library and the museum.

"It's great to see everyone working together for such a great cause, I'm very proud of our students," stated Mrs. Salmond.  

Overall, the participants in the school clean up did a wonderful job, had fun and did their part for the planet.

Shelby Vickery explored using tap water as a form of electricity at Sydenham High School’s Earth Day Carousel.

On April 22 as part of their focus on Earth Day, students at Sydenham High School participated in the Earth Day Carousel, a display of student projects whose focus was the environment.

Included in close to 40 displays were a number of projects that focused on environmental awareness and various practical strategies and solutions to reduce our carbon footprint.

Kieran Doyle, Jen Pople and Rachel Givens did a garbage audit of Sydenham High School, in which they examined 18 bags of school garbage that were collected on April 8.

Their findings were an eye opener- of those 18 bags only two were actually garbage. Four could have been recycled as paper; another four could have been recycled in blue boxes and the last four could have been composted. After crunching the numbers the group found that 89% of the garbage collected could have been recycled.

Doyle said about the project, “It was a messy job but it was well worth it since the statistics showed us that yearly SHS produces 37,000 pounds of garbage. We learned that if students made more of an effort to recycle, that number could be reduced by 27,000 pounds." Doyle hopes the results of the study will go a long way in raising student awareness and that after seeing the numbers, students will be motivated to take those 20 extra steps to the recycle bin.

Shelby Vickery, in her project titled “Tap Water: A Form of Electricity”, demonstrated how household tap water can be used to conduct electricity. Her display demonstrated how an electrical current produced from 6 glasses of house tap water is enough to produce 3 to 6 volts of electricity - enough to power a calculator and according to her, other household items like lamps. Shelby explained, “The technology could be used in emergency situations and for other household items that don’t require too much electricity.”

Tyler Hill, Adam Wilson, Brianna Jeffreys and Chris Lafontaine made a pop can solar heater that can be used as a home heater and another group explored the environmental impact of oil spills.

Most of the projects developed from Erik Rutherford’s grade 12 class on Human Environmental Resource Management. The day’s events also included a school-wide clean up of the Sydenham community, a BBQ, karaoke and a concert by Rock Bottom at the football field.

The day’s aim was three-fold: to explore various issues and alternative green options, and to raise students’ awareness of environmental issues while making a practical contribution to cleaning up the school and community.

Sydenham High School’s Assistant Vice Principal Kelly Roantree was pleased with the day’s event, and as acting chair of the school’s eco-team, is hoping to see the school take on more green initiatives in the near future in the hopes of earning gold status eco certification for this year. Last year the school received a bronze medal. 

Ainsley Jeffrey, Leah Gurr, Anne Archer, Katelyn Doreen and Katie McNichols

Students at Loughborough Public School were getting in one of their last regular rehearsals for Band Bash, the upcoming annual concert for 300 students in Limestone District School Board schools.

The concert is the culmination of the Partnership in Music Program that runs in various LDSB schools for students in grades 6, 7 and 8 and this year close to 300 students are involved.

The program brings professional musicians from the community into local schools, where they offer one hour of instruction per week to students in various band instruments, including flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet drums, lower brass horns and trombones.

The program came into existence roughly 15 years ago, when a number of elementary schools were forced to drop their music programs as a result of budget cuts.

Professional musician Anne Archer is an instructor in the program and teaches flute to students at Sharbot Lake High School and Loughborough PS. On April 27 her grade 7 flute class was putting some finishing touches to a number of pieces that they will be performing at Band Bash. After a run through of “O’ Canada”, the students worked on “Pirates of the Caribbean”, the Simpsons’ theme song, “Stratford March” and “Shalom”, a piece that the group along with Anne will be performing solo at the concert.

For the students the concert is an opportunity to hear how their efforts will come together in a professional venue.

Anne described the pleasure she takes in teaching these students. “It’s a real pleasure to get together with a small group of students, and because the students have elected to do this they are a real pleasure and a joy to teach.”

The concert takes place May 5 at the Grand Hall at Queen’s University in Kingston. A final rehearsal will take place from 3-5pm and the performance will take place from 5:30-6pm. Award-winning composer and director of the Kingston Orchestra, John Palmer, will be conducting.

The guest ensemble performing at the concert will be the La Salle Community Band under the direction of Chris Alfano and they will be playing selections from the musical “Oklahoma”.

Sharbot Lake students with Erica Kresin and Dave Gervais at the annual 30 Hour Famine event at Sharbot Lake high school

On April 16 & 17, 88 students at Sharbot Lake High School completed the 15th annual 30-Hour Famine, a two-day, overnight fundraiser for World Vision Canada, and together raised $4700 for Haitian relief.

Back in March Alexis O’Neill of World Vision came to the school to speak about the 30-Hour Famine fundraiser’s focus on Haitian relief this year and it did not take long before 65 students at the school signed up to participate. 

The students spent 30 hours at the school on Friday and Saturday and did not eat solid food for the duration of the event in order to better empathize with those in the world who unfortunately go hungry on a daily basis.

The famine, sponsored by a number of area businesses and individuals from Sharbot Lake, Ompah, Plevna, Harrowsmith, Perth, and Kingston, included various activities to keep participants active and busy. A Friday night dance was held in the cafeteria and the famine ended with a celebratory lunch on Saturday.

The school event evolved 15 years ago from a social science project in Mr. Giller’s geography class when five students from Arden decided that they would participate in the 30-Hour Famine. The event caught on and has continued every year since.Dave Gervais, a retired science teacher from the school, helped organize this year’s event. He explained that it is an important way for students to recognize that huge numbers of people across the world do not enjoy the luxury of eating the way that we do. When I spoke to him during the event at the school he explained,  “I think the event is something that the school should be really proud of, especially the fact that it encourages the students to develop a social conscience.”

Sharbot Lake science teacher Erica Kresin reiterated the importance of “giving the students a chance to experience the empathy and see what it feels like to go hungry.”For Grade 12 student Tracey Myers it was her third and final year as a participant in the famine and she alone raised $785 for the cause. “I knew it would be my last year participating so I thought I should make it my best so I gave it my all.”

To date the event has raised over $100,000 for World Vision since the school has been participating in the event.