March 24th Ms. Aiesha Robinson’s “You were born to Rise” presentation. Harmony senior students were treated to an amazing presentation from Ms. Robinson. Her message about self-worth and caring for each other was truly impactful for our students.
Harmony Elementary participated in a Snack Drive
challenge with the other Chateauguay elementary schools from March 10-28. The goal was to collect the most snack foods for the Chateauguay Food Bank. Our community stepped up, like you do in everything else and ran away with the contest and were declared the Snack Drive Champions. The drive also
resulted in several rewards for the students.
100 = extra recess on March 20th. 200 = afternoon
activity. 300 = Pie in the face for Mr. Chan, Mr. Flannagan, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Kevin. In the end, 0ver 600 items were collected.
April 15,16 and 17th Visit from author Marie-Claude Audet as part of the Culture a l’ecole program. She spoke about multiple disabilities and perseverance.
April 17th St Patrick’s Day
April 17th Arts Fest at CVR was fantastic. The Harmony Choir did not disappoint and stole the show (unbiased opinion). Their rendition of Born This Way and This Is Me were the best in show. To be honest, all schools did a terrific job showing off all the hard work they have put in. Ms. Descombes conducted her last Arts Fest as she announced her retirement.
April 17th Ratirennenhaw:wi singers presentation organized by Mr. Ryan. The Harmony students had a fantastic opportunity to watch, participate and learn about other cultures as students and staff from Kateri school presented songs, stories and dances to us.
April 22-28 I love to read week welcomed many authors through the doors of Harmony. Canadian author Joanne Levy can a workshop with our cycle 2 and 3 students about resilience and writing. Kaylinda Lajoie, a Harmony alumni read her book that she published in grade 11. Chuck Halliday presented some of his books to the cycle 1 students. PPO members crafted many items with the preschool students. Dress up as characters from a book. A mystery reader everyday over the Intercom. Buddy reading programs, where senior students read to younger students. Mr. Chan even read some great little books with the students. The week also featured a used book sale to raise money for the Chateauguay Food Bank/La Banque De Nourriture De Chateauguay ($452).
April 23rd. Grade 1 students had an outing to Ile Ste Bernard to learn about nature and the creatures that live around us.
May 1st Grade 4 bowling outing.
May 1-2 Our Grade 6 students enjoyed the annual senior trip to Quebec City. The students experienced many learning and fun activities. No pictures were posted……I guess what happens in Quebec City stays in Quebec City.
May 6th K5 trip to the Children’s Museum in Laval. Our students had the opportunity to explore all sorts of careers through play.
May 7th Volunteer appreciation evening. Harmony had an opportunity to thank the many volunteers. The school would not be the same without all the time and effort that our parents and grandparents give. This is just a small token to show how much we appreciate all the you do for us.
May 7th Halo race!!! Harmony students participated in the Halo Race on Mt. Royal. The races were 1km (cycle 2) and 2km (cycle 3) in length. All our students ran their hearts out with several finishing on the podium. Jax Palumbo (1st), Kyrie Buckley (2nd), Neveah Beckford-John (2nd), Annabel Pochette (3rd), and 13 other student who finished top 10 in their respective races. Way to go Harmony.
May 8-9 Parlement trip. Selected students from our grade 5 and 6 classes were chosen to participate in a debate at the National Assembly. Over the course of 2 days, they visited parliament, visited with MNA, debated in the National Assembly, and took in some sight seeing. The debate was conducted with students from school all over Quebec. This was an amazing experience for all our students that was spearheaded by Mme. Marie-Claude and Mme. Hammond.
May 9th Grade 2 students enjoyed a day at the Science Center. They explored around the T-Rex exhibit as a complement to the dinosaur unit they spent the past week learning in class.
Harmony was lucky to have received over 200 trees from l’organisme Table forêt Laurentides and the 4H club . On May 20th, Mr. Ryan spent time with many of our students planting over 20 tress around the property. It is hoped that these trees will grow and mature to provide shade in our backyard. Many of the other trees were given out to the families of our grade 6 and kindergarten students.
May 26th Grade 5 trip to Camp
May 28th Color Run provided by the PPO. This Harmony tradition did not disappoint. Students ran obstacle courses while parent volunteers showered them with color powder. Everyone left with happy smiles.
June 3rd Cultural Day
June 6th Track and Field
On June 11th Dr. Elizabeth Roberts gave a presentation to the Harmony parents/guardians. This was a dinner and workshop evening. Spaghetti dinner was provided and then all were welcomed to listen to Dr. Roberts present on the topic of student anxiety. Over 80 people were able to take advantage of this free workshop. Dr. Roberts was also kind enough to allow Harmony to share her slides so that those who were unable to attend could still get the information. We hope to have her back for future workshops with staff and students.
June 13th Fun Day. Once again, the PPO was amazing in organizing a fun day for the Harmony students and Staff. Fun was had by all with the obstacle course, tug of war, 3 legged race, football, soccer, bouncy castle, wild animals and much more.
June 17-18 Talent Shows. SOOOOO MANY TALENTS at Harmony Elementary. Students were able to showcase their amazing skills for their classmates. The staff decided to surprise the school with our own dance rendition to the popular song APT.
GRADUATION
Harmony Elementary held it’s graduation ceremony on June 19th. Even though it was hot day, our grade 6 students looked their absolute best as they basked in a deserved spotlight. Mme. Marie-Claude and Ms. Della Valle truly prepared them well for their journey ahead. The event was excellently hosted by Ms. Donegani and Mme. Rachelle. We wish our graduates well as they venture onto the next phase of their education journey.
HOT DAYS IN JUNE
June was full of many hot days with temperatures well over the 30 degree mark. Out staff and students took advantage of the proximity to a splash park and spent many hours cooling off under the shade and in the water. This, however, was not enough to have a board wide schools closure on the last day of school, June 23rd. With temperatures over 40 degrees, it would have been unsafe for students to be working in the school. Although this was not the ideal ending to a school year, we are confident that students definitely enjoyed an extra day to the summer holidays.
Bid farewells:
Harmony said some goodbyes at the end of June. Ms. Descombes, the Harmony Music teacher since 1997, took her well earned retirement. Her impact on Harmony, it’s music program and the community are too numerous to count. Her lifetime of teaching to our community has created a generation of music lovers. The professional approach she took to every thing she did yielded amazing results. Our talent show, choir and exceptional performances at Art Fest are evidence of that. She will be sorely missed but we wish her all the best adventures in her retirement years.
This year also saw the departure of our PE teacher Mme. Rachelle. Although she only worked with us this year, as a Harmony alumnus, she will always have a place here. This year saw her building teams that competed in volleyball, Halo, and track and field. This is on top of all the intramural programs she ran like flag football, basketball, badminton, soccer, hockey and many more. We wish her the best as she starts her teaching tenure at MGS.
Ms. Yamari will be continuing her career next year at CPS. Although she only worked with Harmony this year, she has made her presence felt. She created a writing club that won contests and the staff and students will definitely miss her lively energy.