May 4, 2026

Sundridge Centennial Public School (SCPS) students ran the show for this year’s Earth Day activities.

SCPS student parliament organized, scheduled and implemented a group activity day for the entire school, which included custom-designed bento boxes for every student.

Student parliament representatives Inuli and Sarah said students raised funds for three years to supply 130 bento boxes as a way to encourage environmentally-friendly litterless lunches.

“We hope this will reduce the amount of plastic and cardboard in the school,” Inuli said. “We're encouraging students to bring littlerless lunches to today and in the future. The boxes also have the school logo on them.”

“The fundraisers included our start of the year barbecue, Freezie Fridays and Cookie Fridays,” Sarah said.

Students organized curriculum-based outdoor activities to celebrate Earth Day, and the school was divided into groups or ‘packs’ which rotated around the school yard to each activity station. The packs are multi-grade student groups from kindergarten to Grade 8.  Grade 7/8 students and parliament members prepared, organized and ran each activity in collaboration with an educator, while Grades 5-7 students who weren’t running an activity led the packs from station to station.

SCPS Principal Jill Cooper explained how each activity station connected to school curriculum.

“The scavenger hunt is focused on literacy, oral language, and communication;

sidewalk chalk drawing focuses on using various media to create visual arts,” Cooper said. “Boat Floating is a STEM activity, focused on the science of buoyancy and how technology improves floatation, such as adding wax crayon the paper helps the boat to repel water and float longer.”

Grade 6 student Bodhi said, "We put a big layer of crayon on our boat outside and it fit 102 toy blocks and kept floating. The wax keeps the paper from absorbing the water."

In a STEM-based activity, students designed their own wands at the bubble wand station and evaluated the bubbles they created. Grade 5 student Frejya said, "I liked creating the bubble wands. I made a heart shape but it didn't blow heart-shaped bubbles. They were round. When I go home, I'm going to Google why they are always round bubbles."

Seed planting focused on the science curriculum, specifically, living things and ecosystems. It was the activity that students felt most connected to the Earth Day theme.

Grade 5 student and activity leader Layla said, "We talked about Earth Day in this activity, read ‘The Lorax’ and ‘The Plants We Eat.’ Then we plant our seeds, so kids know how important it is to take care of the Earth."

Principal Cooper said that student feedback from the event was positive, and students have shown an increased level of awareness about reducing, reusing and recycling to minimize waste. Student Parliament is excited to see students make environmentally conscious decisions to further reduce the school’s environmental footprint.

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Near North District School Board students had their building skills and imagination put to the test by the North Bay Society of Architects (NBSA) for this year’s Climate Change Challenge. The challenge set out by NBSA was to create a shelter for their “3 little Northern Ontario pigs” to withstand one of three climate change impacts.  Students at Northern, Almaguin Highlands, West Ferris and F.J. McElligott Secondary Schools, as well as Sunset Park, Vincent Massey and Mattawa Public elementary schools all participated. The students’ task was to research, plan, design, prepare drawings, create a written narrative and construct a shelter to withstand fire, water or wind. Groups were given kits containing biodegradable construction materials and an assigned climate change impact. Students were also expected to collect recycled cardboard from home to add to the projects.

Marcus Wheeler of Bertrand Wheeler Architects said, “We're here to introduce the kids to the concepts of architecture and construction and building through a program using the analogy of the three little pigs to talk about the elements of the atmosphere, such as fire, wind and water.

“For years, we've been trying to promote architecture, and some of the other professional sciences like engineering and software design,” Wheeler said. “We felt the profession was underrepresented in schools, and we would love to see more people interested in architecture as a path forward.”

Sunset Park students Spencer and Carter created a structure to resist flood.

“Well, first, we've added a slanted roof so that if the water comes down, it'll just slide right off,” Carter said.  “We've also added some overhang on the bottom, so that it'll float easier, and we've also added some covered paper towel to help it float,” Spencer added. “I think it's really cool.”

Sunset Park Public School Grade 5-6 teacher Zacharie St. Louis said, “The kids are really engaged. They're using all their skills to figure out how to make this work. And they're using recyclable materials from home and some from the school.”

“I'm hoping that they can consolidate some of their skills that they've been learning in science and math,” St. Louis said. “Hopefully that peaks an interest for some future architects as well.”

NBSA is holding Climate Change Challenge events for other area school boards and will announce the winners soon.

Monday, April 27, 2026

Mattawa’s F.J. McElligott Secondary School is gearing up for another season of growth in its unique learning environment, FJ’s Blooming Greenhouse.

Since 2014, the greenhouse has been producing annual plants and budding green thumbs thanks in large part to the efforts of dedicated educators and community members.

The greenhouse itself, which technically sits on Town of Mattawa property, was donated to the school by resident and council member Laura Ross on the condition that its use be tied to academics.

Retired teacher Martha Goodfellow has been instrumental to the operation of the greenhouse and its links to curriculum. It’s a role that Goodfellow continues to this day out of her love for gardening and working with youth.

Teacher Frank Salesio says initially students in science courses did much of the planting but more recently participation alternates yearly with a green industries class and a health and nutrition class. After the planting is done and after the last frost, the class tied to the greenhouse will plant the town planters, as well as some flower beds around the Mattawa community.

“During the planting phase, students prepare trays, mix soil, pot up seedlings, tag pots and plant vegetable seed carts,” Salesio says. “In the green industries class, we do units on horticulture and agriculture hands-on style. In health and nutrition there are units on eating patterns and trends and nutrition and health.”

Green industries student Elizabeth says, “It’s a very fun experience, and one that I don’t think a lot of high school students get. I’m very appreciative to have this experience. It’s just fun to learn about plants and get my hands dirty.”

Many different classes play roles in the operation and upkeep of the greenhouse, Salesio explains. “Co-op students have greenhouse placements from March until the end of the semester. Once all of the planting is done, their tasks focus on watering and maintaining the plants until they are all sold. As the season winds down, they help to clean up the greenhouse and do inventory in preparation for the next year.

“Construction classes will be called upon to help build and fix structure when needed, they will also build things like planters and trellises to sell to the public. The cooking classes use some of the herbs that we grow in the greenhouse in their recipes. There is nothing better than fresh home-grown herbs,” Salesio says.

Greenhouse production seems to expand every year. Goodfellow says this year F.J. McElligott students will plant 23,000 seedlings consisting of mostly bedding plants and some herbs and vegetables, 2,000 vegetable plants grown from seed, and create 200 hanging baskets and planters. The greenhouse employs an F.J. alumni post-secondary student each year to work full-time during the greenhouse season.

“We always open on the Friday before Mother's Day (May 8 this year) until mid-June or until we sell out,” Goodfellow said. “We are open 7 days a week, Monday to Friday 10 a.m. - 4p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. We also have a Facebook page, FJ's Blooming Greenhouse, feel free to join and follow.”