Canadian Citizenship Ceremony Held at St. Rita Elementary School

What an amazing experience and opportunity this was for our school.  On Thursday, April 29^th seventy-five new Canadians and their family members came to our school to take part of their final journey in becoming Canadian Citizens.  Our teachers and staff did an amazing job in preparing the students for this celebration and our school looked amazing with all of the beautiful artwork displayed in the front foyer, the entrance into the gym and the gym itself. 

On Tuesday, April, 27^th, Citizenship Judge Way, the judge who presided over the Citizenship Ceremony, came in to talk to all of our students about the significance of this ceremony and what it means to be Canadian.  With the work of our teachers and the presentation from the judge our students were well prepared in their understanding of what this ceremony was about.

There were a number of special guests in attendance who addressed the new Canadians and our students:

• A representative from the office of The Honourable Diane Ablonczy, MP Calgary Nose Hill,  Government of Canada
• The Honourable Lindsay Blackett, MLA Calgary North West, Government of  Alberta
• Mr. Gordon Lowe, Alderman Ward 2, City of Calgary
• Mr. Serafino Scarpino, Calgary Catholic School District Trustee for Wards 1, 2 & Cochrane and Vice Chair

A very special part of the ceremony was when the new Canadians made their ‘Oath of Citizenship’, all of our students and staff had the opportunity to reaffirm our citizenship and we each received an individualized certificate. 

This was a great learning opportunity for our students and understanding how blessed we are to live in such a wonderful country.  They did a great job at being wonderful ambassadors of our school.  We are all so proud of them!

Best of Disney:  Spring Concert

On May 19^th we held our Spring Concert for our parents and family members.  We had close to 300 family members in the audience that evening.  The theme for the performance was Best of Disney.  Our students performed a number of favorite theme songs from Disney.  The program for the evening consisted of the following performances:

 Kindergarten students sang “Heigh Ho” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Grade 1 performed “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins

• Grade 2 sang “It’s a Small World”  Theme from Disney
• Grade 3 sang “Mickey Mouse” from Mickey Mouse Club
• Grade 4 performed “The Bare Necessities” from The Jungle Book
• Grade 5 sang “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid
• Grade 6 students performed “When You Wish Upon A Star”  using hand chimes, glockenspiel, alto and base xylophones and alto met allophone, they also performed the finale:  “When you Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio
• Our School Choir sang “A Whole New World”  from Aladdin

The stage, costumes, and props came together to make for a great performance.  The singing and musical talents of our students made the evening very magical for all.  We are so proud of all of the performances of our students.  The evening made for special memories for all our students, staff and family members.

I would also like to thank our staff for all of their hard work in preparing the students for this concert.   Especially, Mrs. Wuerth and Mrs. MacDonald our music teachers, Miss Jasinski for her dance choreography and set design and Mrs. Salina for her help in building the set.  We would also like to thank the many parents who volunteered their time to help with set design and costumes, as well as, Mrs. Lis who donated her time to accompany the students’ performances on the piano.