speech arts

Highlights of the 2016-17 School Year: The Wizard of Oz

Immaculate Conception’s March 8th production of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz was like no other! The cast was made up of incredibly talented intermediate students, including, Auntie Em, who was played by a Grade 4 student, The Witch of the North, who was played by a graceful Grade 7 girl, The Witch Of The West, played by a lively Grade 5 student, and and The Wonderful Wizard of OZ himself, played by a sage Grade 7 student. Dorothy Gale was played by a Grade 6 girl who wowed us with her likeness to the “real” Dorothy Gale! Finally, Dorothy’s friends, who accompanied her on her journey to Oz were played by a trio of fun-filled Grade 7s who kept us laughing every step of the Yellow Brick Road!

I think the best part of being in The  Wizard Of OZ was getting to know everyone, and making new friends – similar to the Scarecrow’s words to Dorothy. That brings me to the special memories shared by the cast members in our production:

“It was really fun working with people I had never worked with before,” said the Scarecrow.

“I loved getting into character,”  said one of the munchkins.

From others in the crew and cast:

“The sound effects were really cool.”

“My favourite part was getting dressed up in costumes.”

“My best memory was acting in front of people. It made me feel very special.”

“My favourite part was on the day of the performance…there was so much excitement in the pitch black waiting for the curtains to open.”

It was all very exciting, and we were sad that it ended so fast. It was hard work to get ready for The Wizard of Oz, but when work is fun, time flies, just like Dorothy’s journey Over the Rainbow.

Written by Dorothy Gale

Archbishop Carney Speech Arts Festival

There is a wonderful tradition of Speech Arts at ICS. During the month of February, each student chooses and prepares a poem to deliver in a class competition. Students may also choose to prepare a series of pre-selected bible readings, one of which is picked for recitation during the class competition. Several students from each class are chosen to compete in a school-wide Speech Arts competition in one of two categories: Poetry or Bible Reading. This is always a most entertaining day for us as we listen to the beautiful, humorous, and poignant delivery from our competitors.

Our students performed exceptionally well and we are proud of how many Gold Certificates they earned. We are very proud of you!

Speech Arts at our Little Blue School

UPDATE:  Congratulations to the ten students who represented ICS at the Archbishop Carney Speech Arts Festival in April. Gold and silver medals were achieved by all ten of our participants – we are so proud of you!

Originally posted April 15, 2015

On Friday, April 10th, we held our Speech Arts Competition to determine which students will be attending the Archbishop Carney Speech Arts Festival later this month at St. Joseph’s School. What a talented group of orators we have at ICS! There were two categories for the intermediate students: prepared Bible reading and poetry recitation. The poems ranged from the engaging verse of Shel Silverstein and Roald Dahl to the pensive and contemplative verse of Mary Oliver, Robert Frost, and Matthew Arnold. Bravo to all of our competitors! The decision was not arrived at easily; one Grade Four student and one Grade Five student will be advancing in this category. In addition, we have two students representing ICS in the prepared Bible reading category. Best of luck to you all!     

The primary students shared equally fun poems with the audience and also included some Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky gems. One student from Grade Two and one student from Grade Three will be advancing in this category. Theprepared Bible reading is always challenging, as our students must prepare three of the readings but do not know which one they will read on the day of the competition . . . congratulations to our Grade One and Grade Two winners! Finally, the primary students also take part in Prose Recitation and the selections this year were most challenging, ranging from Mercy Watson by Kate diCamillo to Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.  Kudos to our Grade Two and Grade Three students who have advanced to the Archbishop Carney Speech Arts Festival in this category. 

We wish all of our contestants the best of luck and we will be thinking of you on April 22nd!