On May 5, Granite Ridge Education Centre held its annual talent show, GREC's Got Talent.

The auditorium was packed with parents and family waiting to see what the students had to offer this year, and they were not disappointed.

The room was abuzz when the pie auction started the evening. Auction numbers were raised to bid on cakes, pies and goodies donated by parents and students, with all proceeds going to the Grade 8 grad trip to Montreal. The top three cakes were auctioned off for $55 each.

The students were then introduced one at a time by emcees Tyee David and Leah Neumann. In the audience, you could pick out the parents as they sang along, followed the dance moves and focused intently on the stage, most likely after many evenings helping with practices.

Honey Wilson, who was one of the youngest performers at only six years old, bravely took the stage by herself and sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

Grade 12 student, Devon Scott, was one of the older students to show off his talent. He has been studying dance for nine years and left the audience awestruck with his stunning original dance routine.

Riley Merrigan covered George Jones' “He Stopped Loving Her Today” with a stage presence and voice of an old country soul. Riley told the audience about the importance of his guitar, which was custom-made by his uncle, who is now 88 years old.

The Young Choristers brought a calm beauty to the night, singing three First Nations songs, led by Lily Legacy-Zierer. First was Nissa, a song honouring Grandmother Moon, then a Cherokee Morning Song, and finally the Cedar Song.

The Vocal Ensemble showed a unique approach to rhythm and song, using their own and each other’s hands and bodies in perfect synchronization while singing the Pentatonix version of “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes.

The evening was full of amazing vocalists and dance numbers that had the audience cheering and clapping. The show ended with a lovely cover of The Beatles’ “Hey Jude”, performed by various staff and Lukas Reynolds on bass.

The support of GREC staff members Kelly Caravan, Julia Schall and Kathy Reynolds could be seen throughout the evening. Ms. Caravan took to the stage with many of the students and Ms. Schall helped them remember their cues and kept the evening running smoothly. Shaun Savoie helped out by running the auction and then taking on the soundboard, focusing on helping the students shine, and they all did.

The evening raised $1,100 and undoubtedly next year will not fail to live up to this year’s entertainment standards.

For two years now, Sharon Isbell and Alan Macdonald, both teachers at Loughborough Public School in Sydenham, have been working together with some help from the school and local community on greening and improving the school yard at LPS.

On April 23, 38 new shade trees, all heat and drought-resistant and pollinator-friendly varieties that include silver and sugar maples, lindens and locusts, were planted in the school yard.

Local business owners Daryl Silver of the Silverbrook Garden Centre and Mike Gossage of Sydenham Landscaping, along with school staff and members of the school's parent council assisted with the planting. The students, who helped select the trees, watered and mulched them.

Other recent changes to the playground area have included the construction of three raised beds and a three-chamber composter, which were built by local carpenters Peter Ramsay and Aaron Kerv. These new facilities will give students a chance to experience first hand much of the classroom curriculum they are covering, subjects like the science of photosynthesis, energy and matter cycles, ecosystems, plant biology and more. Macdonald and Isbell hope to see the beds become a kind of “edible landscape” at the school, and provide the students with an opportunity for experiential learning. “Right now the students, both older and younger are growing edible seedlings that they will plant in the beds, the idea being that when a student learns how to plant and grow salad ingredients, chances are they will be inclined eat more salad”, Isbell said.

Macdonald concurred, saying, “The best way to get students to care about environmental and food security issues is to engage them in the production of food.”

The two teachers have also applied for a grant from the Evergreen Brick Works, a community organization in Toronto that helps communities by offering grants for outdoor environmental projects. The grant will be for 30 large limestone rocks that will provide seating in what will become an outdoor classroom area on the playground. The teachers are also waiting to hear back about a $20,000 grant from Farms to Schools, which would help establish a school-based, student-grown salad bar program involving students from LPS and Sydenham High School. The food prep will be handled by students in the high school's new culinary arts program and some produce will also be sourced from area farms.

“These days it seems more and more important for children to develop a strong relationship with the land, to understand their food sources, with the idea being that if they care about it, they will protect it and in the future will become more a part of the solution instead of the problem”, Isbell said.

The 500 students at the school have also each planted a sunflower seed, which they will be transplanting to the playground in the next few weeks.

Last week, eight North Addington Education Centre students traveled to Waterloo, Ontario as part of Team Limestone, competing in the Ontario Technological Skills Competition (OTSC) against the top students in every school board in Ontario.

Kayden Snider, Bradley Kavanaugh-Sweeny, Bryce Runions and David Chen competed in the Elementary Team of Four- 2D Animation competition. This competition required students to story board, design and then animate a given scenario on the computer.

In the Secondary Division, Kameron Armstrong competed in Workplace Health and Safety including a written test, a presentation on welding safety and conducting spot inspections at the competition.

Natalie Reynolds competed in the Graphic Design Presentation competition, where she made a 15-minute presentation of her designs for the 2017 OTSC, Facebook Banner and T-shirt design.

Emma Fuller competed in the Graphic Design Studio Production competition, designing a brochure and packaging material for the St. Jacob's Farmers Market, and using three different design programs, two of which she learned for the competition.

Bree Gillingham competed in the Digital Photography competition bringing her best photograph, completing an editing test, shooting the many competitions at OTSC to tell a narrative and then editing these images for evaluation.

Overall Team Limestone did extremely well, wining Gold in Auto Collision Repair, Gold in Electrical Installation, Silver in Secondary 2D Animation, team of two, and Bronze in Culinary Arts.

Congratulations to all the students who competed in this year's Ontario Technological Skills Competition!

Students at the Granite Ridge Education Centre in Sharbot Lake have been staying late after school to have fun and get fit thanks to the Granite Ridge Fit Club.

The club, which is new at the school this year, was initiated by Grade 8 teacher Ms. Schall. She said the impetus to start the club was initially personal. “I have a tendency to put work ahead of my physical well-being. So as a New Year’s resolution back in January, I decided that a few days a week, before I start doing the end of the day classroom work, I would get a bit of cardio-vascular exercise and strength training in before sitting back down at my desk. The students noticed what I was doing and wanted to join in so I decided to start this after-school fitness club,” she said.

The club, which is open to students from Grades six through eight, is proving that getting fit can be a lot of fun. “It's great for me,” Schall said, “because the students are a huge motivator and they themselves have become unstoppable. If they could, they would probably be here every day working out.”

The group usually starts out with a 20-minute cardio-vascular work out. In the winter they ran laps of the school stairs but recently have taken to running outdoors. They then meet back in the school’s power fit room, which is equipped with numerous weights and bars, and the workout continues with the students choosing from a number of exercises that strengthen their arms, legs, shoulders, backs, core and more. They alternate weeks doing light, medium and heavy workouts and Fit Club member Liam brings the music.

The students’ flushed faces speak to their dedication and enthusiasm – clearly for them, getting fit need not be a chore. Many of them say they have noticed a big change in their fitness levels since January.

Ryleigh, who is a Grade 8 student said, “When I first started in January I could only squat the bar, which is 45 pounds, and now I can squat 100 pounds.” Desiree said that formerly she could run just 200 metres and thought she may have had asthma; however she is now running over two kilometres. Liam said, “What's the point of going home and watching TV when you can come and hang out with your friends and get fit at the same time?”

Grade 7 student Icen agreed.

Schall said there is a core group of between 7 to 10 students currently in the club, which runs three times a week, with one girls only session, one boys only session, and a third co-ed session. Schall said the students came up with the idea of getting special shirts made for members who have participated in at least 10 sessions. The shirts name the club and member and are emblazoned with the logo, “We do it for the six pack”, a mantra the group chanted while trying to hold a very long eight-minute plank pose.

“It's not just about the six pack”, Schall said. “It's more about becoming fit and stronger, and more confident and the biggest motivator for the students is seeing the progress they are making.”

Schall said the club is something she plans to keep up and said it is not only a great way for her and the students to bond but is also a great social and athletic opportunity for the students at the school.

Students interested in joining the club can speak to Ms. Schall.

A dinner and K-12 talent show will be held at Granite Ridge Education Centre on Thursday, May 5. The chicken dinner will start at 5:30pm and a vegetarian entrée is also available. There will be a pie/cake dessert auction at 6:30, and the talent show starts at 7pm. Dinner is $10 for adults, $5 for kids; five years & under free, and reservations must be made for the dinner. The talent show only is $3 and you can pay at the door. The show will feature musicians, vocalists, songwriters, storytellers, dancers and others. Proceeds from the event will support the grade 8 grad trip and the parent council. Call GREC at 613-279-2131 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to reserve for dinner or for more details.

It takes a great amount of courage to take a risk and put your skills to the test; especially in a board-wide competition.

On April 6, 23 North Addington students did just that and finished very strongly in seven, rigorous, skill-based competitions at St Lawrence College against students from Limestone District School Board and the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board.

Kaden Snider, Bradley Kavanaugh-Sweeney, Bryce Runions and David Chen, the first ever Elementary Team members at NAEC, won gold in 2D Computer Animation with a huge score of 83%.

Andrew Freeburn fired up his torch and made a very strong showing in the Welding competition.

In TV/Video Team of Two: Brianna Bolduc and Aidan Brough came in 4th; filming, producing and editing an awesome PSA about going outside your comfort zone to achieve great things.

Kameron Armstrong took home a gold medal for Workplace Health and Safety and helped out at the competition during the day.

In Graphic Design Studio Production: Shannon Delyea, Emma Fuller, Denver Lucas, Terri-Lynn Rosenblath, Brittany Delyea and Noah Thibideau created fantastic designs in set time period with complex requirements. Denver Lucas won the bronze medal for his designs and Emma Fuller won the gold for hers.

Bree Gillingham, Harley Brown, Brei Burleigh, Cassidy Wilson and Shae Flager competed in the Photography competition, completing a complicated Photoshop editing test, then photographing and editing images they took of the Skills Competition. They were also judged on two polished photographs they brought with them. Bree Gillingham won the gold medal for her photographs.

In the Graphic Design Presentation competition, Austin Cunningham impressed the judges with his confident presentation and Summer Andrew demonstrated her creative design skills. At the end of the extremely competitive event, Natalie Reynolds won the Gold medal for her outstanding poster and postcard designs.

All the NAEC Gold Medal winners have qualified for Team Limestone, to compete at the Provincial Skills Competition in Waterloo, May 2 – 4, 2016. Congratulations to all of the NAEC Skills Team!

Land O'Lakes Public School Grade 2/3 teacher, Danielle Harding, understands that one of the best ways to get students interested in ancient history is to present it in the form of a play, and as it often goes with youngsters, sometimes the more hysterical things get the better.

On April 7 and 8, Ms. Harding and her ϋber-talented cast and crew performed the D.M. Larson play, “The Hysterical History of the Trojan War” for students at the school as well as students from North Addington Education Centre, Granite Ridge Education Centre, and Clarendon Central Public School.

The play involves a large cast of characters, mostly Greek gods, whose interactions and relationships bring about the conflict known as the Trojan War. The play is the perfect vehicle for getting youngsters interested in ancient history, since it offers up lots of intricate sword fighting, a slew of Trojan guards and Spartan soldiers, numerous guffaws, and best of all, a number of anachronistic add-ins like cell phones, clever sound and lighting effects, songs, and one awe-inspiring foot stomp/rap tune, which fully engaged the audience much more than any straight history play could.

The plot and the action unfolded at a mighty clip. The audience was kept on the edge of their seats since they were asked by Athena, who directed the Spartan half of the audience, to cheer on the Spartans while Helen encouraged the other half to “Go, Troy!”

The moveable props in this production were also exceptional and included a chain-drawn stage door and a looming Trojan wall as the two main focuses on the stage. A spectacular ship sailed through the gym at one point and, yes, there was a Trojan horse too. The costumes were equally dazzling with the lead actors sporting wrap-up-the-leg sandals, leafy laurels and more.

Hats off to the entire cast and crew in bringing the play so aptly to life and enticing youngsters to learn about the ancient history of Rome and Greece, and all the gods and goddesses who wreaked so much havoc there.

Designing, sewing and donning “character capes” is a unique art project that is giving one class of grade six students at Perth Road Public School not only a chance to learn how to sew, but also an opportunity to better understand their own and their fellow students personal potentials.

On March 29 the students in Miss Grahams classroom split up into groups to resume the work they began a few weeks ago on their “character capes”. The project is one of the Issues Based Arts Projects made possible through a grant created through a partnership between the Limestone District School Board and the Ontario Arts Council. The idea of a group sewing project based on the theme of character capes was developed by PRPS teacher Kelly Graham and long time textile artist Elinor Rush.

For a number of weeks the students have been designing and sewing character capes as a way to develop their own personal characters while learning to respect the personalities and traits of their fellow students as they work together in teams. The character themes are based in native folklore, specifically the teachings of the seven grandfathers. The names of the capes include: honesty, love, wisdom, growth, self control, courage and respect. Each group has designed the lettering and imagery to fit their trait and the idea is that when a student in the class demonstrates a trait they will be acknowledged by donning that particular cape.

Prior to splitting up into their sewing groups, the students discussed the basic personality traits. Then, based on a test that each took, they were placed into groups where different personalities in the class could have a chance to work together as a team. The project has encouraged students not only to learn the hard skills of how to design and sew a wearable cape but also to better understand their own personal strengths and weaknesses while also learning to respect those of their fellow students. Miss Graham explained how the idea for the capes came about.

“The goal here was for the students to explore personal strengths and group dynamics and to create an object that could recognize their special achievements”, Graham said. “Earlier in the year I recognized a common dynamic in many classrooms where certain students tend to get a lot more air time than others and it concerned me. Through this project, the students have learned to listen to each other and to see that every student in the class has a special and important role to play. The result has been a more diverse, inclusive and respectful classroom community.'”

Textile artist Elinor Rush's role has been to help the students to learn the skills of designing and sewing fabric and she began by providing each group with a sewing kit and showing them the basics of sewing. Students also learned basic pattern drafting skills. The result has been seven colourful capes with images that include an owl (wisdom), a heart and a dove (love), a bluejay (honesty), a leafy tree (growth), a white and brown bear (courage), a wolf (respect) and a dog balancing a bone on its nose (self control).

“What has developed here is much more of a team community, one that is more inclusive and respectful compared to how it was before the project began', Graham said.

A number of students spoke to me about what they have learned both about themselves and their fellow classmates through the character capes project. Jaxon Stonness who worked on the self control cap,e said, “the whole point of the project was to learn how to work together as a team”. Nick Johnston who worked on the cape of wisdom said that he learned “how to value everyone in the group.” Miss Graham hopes that the students will take these special “character cape” traits out with them into the bigger world, along with a new and a better understanding of how every person, no matter their personality type, has something of value to offer.

Several members of the Grade 10 Art class visited The Glass House in Kingston on March 10. Students learned how to cut, grind, foil, solder and polish stained glass, in order to make a sun-catcher. The trip was subsidized by the Guild Fund, which is donated by the North Addington Guild to promote the Arts at NAEC.

NAEC’s “Speak Up” Grant Successful

North Addington Education Centre’s Safe Society applied for a “Speak Up” grant from the Ministry of Education, and were successful in securing a $2,500 grant. The application was spear-headed by Emma Fuller, with input from core Safe Society members Mackenzie Johnson, Selena Pelicos, Harley Brown, Devin Gagne-Baldacchin, Sierra Baldacchin, Tory Tryon, and Olivia Douglas. The funds will be used for various initiatives over the next two school years. Members plan to invite speakers, plan trips, and organize events to address issues of equality based on gender, ability and ethnic origins. The Safe Society is a group of students who believe that school should be welcoming and safe for all, and who are interested in social justice.

Beyond The Hurt at NAEC

The Red Cross ran a “Beyond the Hurt” workshop at NAEC on March 7 and 8. Beyond the Hurt is a bullying and harassment prevention program that builds capacity within schools to achieve and maintain a positive school climate. It empowers youth with the knowledge and leadership skills to take an active role in a safe and respectful school culture. Youth facilitators were Selena Pelicos, Brianna Bolduc, Alex Flagler, Camille Cote, Olivia Bence and Mackenzie Johnson. Staff advisors were Mr. Kerr and Ms. Harnden. This initiative was one of the projects taken on by the Safe Society at NAEC.

Day of Pink at NAEC

NAEC is planning to celebrate the International Day of Pink on April 13. The Safe Society is working on a small presentation for the assembly. Members of the community are invited to attend. Details will follow.

Members of the parent council at Prince Charles Public School in Verona, along with some of the school’s staff members, organized and hosted a direct sellers/craft show and sale at the school on March 26, which combined forces with vendors at the Frontenac Farmers Easter Market event. Proceeds from the parent council’s fundraiser will go towards purchasing new playground equipment for the school, at a cost of approximately $13,000. The event offered visitors a unique shopping experience, with a number of direct sellers and crafters offering up a wide variety of products. The farmers’ market vendors also donated their table rental fees to the playground fundraiser.

Alison Williams, secretary of the PCPS parent council, helped organize the event. She said, “There has been a great need for this kind of equipment at the school for a number of years now and we, the parent council, have already made a down payment on the equipment, which will be installed at the school sometime in April”. Williams said that while the school currently has playground equipment for kindergarten-aged school children and children in grades six and above, there is a great need for equipment for the intermediate students at the school. '”Currently there is no equipment outside specifically geared for children in grades 2 through 5.”

The new equipment to be purchased will include three large separate structures; two different types of rock climbing walls and a third structure that will have interactive equipment that focuses on developing this age group’s gross motor skills.