Select a link to jump to an article.

Dear Prep Families,

We wish a Happy Easter to the members of our community who celebrated this past long weekend and to those who will celebrate at a later date. We hope it has been a time of meaningful reflection and connection with family and friends.

The buzz of learning is palpable at the Prep this week. Some highlights in addition to those below include the PYP Exhibition, which is in full swing with our Year 5 students actively engaged in research into their chosen topics and participating in meetings with their mentors. There is a little more than a month to go before they share their final projects with the community! Our Year 7s participated in an exciting program about the history of lacrosse, connecting the much-loved sport with its Indigenous roots. Finally, during our Wednesday late start time, faculty across the College collaborated in professional learning communities with a focus on best practices in our assessment of and feedback to students. Looking ahead, we are eagerly anticipating a special community time on Monday morning when our student Eco-warriors and science department will facilitate SK–Year 7 learning about the eclipse. Many individual classes have already been engaged in their own inquiries into the topic in the lead up to the event.

Your partners in learning,

Julia Kinnear, David Girard and Gareth Evans

The Prep Leadership Team

Year 2 update

Hello Year 2 families, I hope this message finds you well. I'm excites to provide an update on our current unit of inquiry, Adaptations. Throughout this unit, our students will be delving into the fascinating concept of how animals adapt to their environments in order to survive. Adaptations manifest in various forms, encompassing both physical and behavioural adjustments. For instance, consider the turtle's instinct to retract its head and feet into its shell when facing predators—a behavioural adaptation complemented by the physical protection of its shell.

Moreover, our exploration of adaptation extends beyond the realm of the animal kingdom to encompass broader aspects of life. For instance, when engaging in recess activities, students encounter situations where they must adapt—whether it's adjusting to different game rules or modifying their expectations to successfully participate.

Our phonics journey continues through the Really Great Reading program, and I am delighted to witness the remarkable progress our students are making. To support this progress further, I have been sending home short reading samples for your child to practice reading aloud. Your positive feedback plays a crucial role in nurturing their confidence and enthusiasm for reading, so please continue to provide it!

The s  pelling quizzes are ongoing, with the next one scheduled for Friday, April 5. I encourage you to assist your child in preparing for this assessment by practicing the spelling words together. One effective method is to have them write out the words multiple times before conducting a practice quiz. I do my best to record the quiz scores in the agendas promptly, so please ensure your child brings theirs daily, as it aids our spelling program.

Transitioning from our previous unit on telling time, we have now embarked on the exciting journey of multiplication and division. Our focus initially lies in understanding the fundamentals of multiplication before gradually developing fluency in recalling multiplication facts. While automaticity is not the primary goal by the end of grade two, we aim for students to grasp the concept of multiplication, employ effective strategies for multiplying numbers, and attain fluency with simpler facts such as the 2s, 5s, and 10s. Supplementary exercises aligned with our classroom activities will be provided in the weekly homework assignments to reinforce learning.

Kindly notify me in advance if you intend to send treats or snacks into the classroom. Proper management ensures that these items are distributed equitably and acknowledged appropriately, fostering essential social skills among the children.

Furthermore, as we navigate through the muddy season, please ensure your child has a pair of outdoor shoes to maintain the cleanliness of our school environment and alleviate the workload of our dedicated cleaning staff.

In closing, thank you for your unwavering support in your child's educational journey.

Warm regards,

Ms. Crippin

Primary student-led conferences

In Primary, formal feedback of learning happens throughout the year in a variety of forms. In the form of report cards, parent-teacher conferences, three-way conferences, and student-led conferences, the partnership between home and school and the development of reflective learners is fostered.

The upcoming student-led conferences create an authentic purpose for organizational and communication skills and the structure builds students’ sense of responsibility and accountability in their learning. It also hones their understanding of what it means to meet learning goals.

We are excited to host in-person student-led conferences once again this year. Student-led conferences will be held all day on April 19, 2024. Students do not have a regular school day but do attend with their parents/guardians for their student-led conference which you can sign up for using pickAtime.

Parents and students can expect to be engaged in their student-led conference at school for approximately one hour. During this time students will facilitate a meeting with their parent(s)/guardian from start to finish using a “menu” of items featuring learning from the most recent term. 

Please note that pickAtime will open at 9 a.m. on April 8 and close at 4 p.m. on April 15. The time you select represents the start time for your 60-minute conference. Please be mindful of this if you are booking for siblings across divisions. For your convenience, here is a link to the pickAtime instructions.

David Girard
Assistant Head, Primary Division

Year 6 and Year 7 student-led conferences

Feedback is one of the most important tools to help students develop and grow. In addition, building strong connections among families, teachers, and students is integral to continued academic development. UCC’s Middle Division 15-minute student-led conferences with form advisers provide an opportunity for both holistic feedback and connection to take place. Details are as follows:

• Interviews for Year 6 and Year 7 students and their families will take place on Friday, April 19 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; interviews will take place in 15-minute intervals using Google Meet or in person. There are no classes for students on Friday, April 19.

• pickAtime will open at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 8 and will close at 4 p.m. on Monday, April 15.

• pickAtime sign up details for conferences are here.

• To encourage ownership over their learning and development of self-advocacy skills, students should be present for their conferences and participate in the dialogue. Students will use Flex time to prepare for their conference. Students should introduce their parents at the beginning of the conference.

• If attending virtually, please access the Google Meet link only at the time of your scheduled appointment. If attending in person, please wait outside your child’s form room until your scheduled appointment.

• If attending virtually, please use your own email address to connect. If necessary, you may use your child's UCC email address. Their email address appears on their contact card in Bluenet — for students in SK to Year 4, their password is ucc<studentaccountnumber> (e.g. ucc123456); students in Year 5 to 7 should know their password. 

• If attending virtually, you may initially be in a Google Meet ‘waiting room’ until the interview time begins and the faculty member admits you to the virtual meeting. Please keep conversations to the scheduled 15 minutes so that our faculty have time to meet with all of our Prep School families.

• There are no classes on Friday, April 19 during the student-led conferences, as students and teachers are fully involved in these meaningful conversations.

Thank you for your continued support.

Gareth Evans
Assistant Head, Middle Division

PYP Exhibition | Update 

Year 5 students hit the ground running after March Break. Their groups have decided team names, group agreements, created mind maps to determine each group member's line of inquiry and research has begun. 

So far students have written questions and sought the answers for questions connected to the concepts of :

FORM - What is it like?

FUNCTION - How does it work (or not work)?

CAUSATION - Why is it the way it is?

CHANGE - How has it changed?

Students have met their mentors to check in on their progress.

Students have also started to record regular learning log entries on SeeSaw. Please enjoy your student's learning log entry to see their progress. 

You may want to ask your child about their learning to date. Here are some conversation starters:

• How’s it going so far? (Chat about group name, agreements, progress, and who is inquiring into what.) 

• Tell me about your learning so far  (What’s the coolest thing? What’s the most surprising thing? What is it making you think about?)

• Who else cares about your issue? (Have you found any organizations working to solve the problem?)

We wish to thank Year 6 PYP Exhibition Experts who visited each Year 5 classroom to answer student questions and provide some “if I knew then, what I know now”, advice to Year 5 students. 

We are always interested in tapping into experts and resources in our community. If you are an expert or know an expert in any of the exhibition topics below, please let us know.

Students issues this year include: 

• Sustainability - sustainable cities, urban planning, renewable energy,

• Human Rights - children’s rights, gender equity, refugees, immigration

• Poverty - homelessness, hunger

• Health - infectious diseases, sports injuries health, mental health

• Our planet 

  • oil spills, car pollution/emissions, invasive species, plastic pollution

  • climate change - polar ice caps, overfishing, deforestation

  • habitat protection

  • impact on food chain

  • natural disasters - wild ires

  • Overfishing

  • Waste - landfills

• Innovation and Technology - technology addiction, cyber crime, media bias, hacking, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fake news

• Animals Rights - endangered species, animal endangerment, habitat loss

• Racism - systematic racism, racism in media, racism in sports, cultural diversity in employment, antisemitism.

We hope you are having rich Exhibition-related conversations at home.

Remember to mark May 10th on your calendar as we will share learning in the afternoon on this day. Details about timing and format will be forthcoming.

As always, should you have any questions about the PYP Exhibition, please contact your child’s Form Adviser or Dianne Jojic, the PYP Coordinator.

Dianne Jojic

PYP Coordinator

Gauss math contest

Years 6–7 students have received registration information and forms for the Gauss Year 7 math contest by email. The deadline for signing up is tomorrow, Friday, April 5, 2024. 

Middle design | Celebrating our automatons and Arduino projects

As we return from March Break, our Year 6 and Year 7 designers are wrapping up their second units. 

The Year 6 students have made remarkable progress with their automatons. Beginning with prototyping using cardboard, they seamlessly transitioned to constructing fully operational wooden automatons. Through the adept use of hand tools, power tools, and the laser cutter, they not only assembled but also carefully evaluated their creations. Encountering challenges along the way, the students demonstrated tremendous perseverance and adaptability in troubleshooting their engineering issues. Their critical thinking skills were put to the test as they set and assessed their own success criteria, culminating in the presentation of their automaton through a compelling documentary.

Throughout the progression of our current unit, our Year 7 students have demonstrated growing proficiency in both programming with mBlock and physically constructing with a breadboard, wires, and various sensors on the Arduino platform. Venturing into the realm of identifying real-world challenges, each student pinpointed a personal "problem" to tackle using an Arduino system. Employing the MYP Design Cycle, they researched several potential solutions, selected their optimal approach, and designed their solution while adhering to the design specifications outlined earlier in the unit. The iterative process of prototyping and evaluation not only refined their troubleshooting abilities but also strengthened their problem-solving skills, underscoring the inherent complexities that accompany the development of any physical computing solution. Please enjoy a few videos of their final projects below:

Hunter’s Beating Heart

Matthew’s Air Hockey Scoring System

Deva’s Solution for What to Wear

Elijah’s 10-second Timer

Alex’s Alarm System

As the year draws to a close, our Year 7 students are poised to embark on an exhilarating fabrication unit. Transitioning to the dynamic environment of the Hixon Design Lab, they will immerse themselves in the art of woodworking, mastering the utilization of hand tools, power tools, and finishing materials such as wood glue, paint, and varnish. Their culminating task? Designing and constructing a customized analogue clock tailored to the preferences of a client of their choosing. This promises to be a creative and hands-on conclusion to their design journey at the Prep.

Sarah Barclay

Middle Design Learning Leader

Physical education update

With the approach of spring (and the hope for beautiful weather) much of the physical education program moves outside for the rest of the year, with a few exceptions. Among a variety of opportunities outside, students will engage in various modified striking and fielding games (Years 3 to 6), some target games (Years 1–7) as well as some more traditional track and field units (Years 4 and 5).

One of the activities that will take place indoors is the Year 7 pickleball unit. Using our tennis bubble as a venue, this unit is based on the Sport Education model which aims to “help players develop as competent, literate, enthusiastic sports participants” (Daryl Siedentorp). Students will peer teach within teams, with more experienced players helping to develop their less experienced counterparts, and will engage in regular league play against opponents of similar ability. These games will also be officiated by students and will culminate in a playoff or finals day at the end of the unit. This is an engaging and inclusive format that has been piloted over the last couple of years and has now been expanded to the whole grade.

Mark Baxter

Physical Education Learning Leader

Library update

It’s hard to believe that March Break has come and gone! The library has been absolutely buzzing with our Year 5 students as they prepare for their PYP Exhibition project. Library classes have shifted focus to reviewing research techniques. We have been zoning in on how to really dig into our online catalog to find books on their topics. We have also been spending time going over the LibGuide dedicated to Exhibition as well as learning how to navigate searching in our library databases. This has been crucial for topics that are very recent and may not have as many books to pull information from. This time of year is always exciting in the library!

As we look forward to celebrating Canadian Children’s Book Week in the first week of May we have started to launch some of our challenges in preparation. Just after the break I introduced our Year 4 and Year 5 students with the (optional) BINGO card to inspire our students to read more diversely. Finding fiction titles that match the squares is a challenge and may even take a little research before finding the right titles. We want this to be an exercise in both reading for fun as well as strengthening our skills in locating books in the library or outside of the library! There will be tokens of recognition for those who can read the most squares on their BINGO card. 

Aside from these fun activities, library classes will be focussing on celebrating Canadian authors and books with author visits from Kenneth Oppel, Indigenous author David A. Robertson and Shane Peacock along with some other surprises! We are really looking forward to this week and having the entire school involved in the celebrations!

As a reminder, aside from the scheduled class time, the library hours are as follows:

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday — 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday and Friday — 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Students are now welcome to spend time in the library during morning recess to quietly read or borrow books. Library staff will be available and it’s a great time for getting help with the BINGO cards. After school, students in Years 5, 6 and 7 are welcome to use the library (work on projects, return and borrow books, read) after school without a parent present. All students in Year 4 and under must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Laptops/iPads are permitted to be in use during this time but we do not allow gaming. 

Mallory McKinney

Teacher Librarian

French week activities

Fana Sono: Drumming workshops from Ivory Coast

Immerse yourself in the rhythms and beats of the Ivory Coast with Fana Sono, an African drummer offering mesmerizing drumming workshops in French. Fana brings to life the music, dance, and culture of the Senoufo people, offering a unique glimpse into the rich heritage of the Ivory Coast.

Fana Sono will perform during the French Week Assembly. His performance, titled AKWAABA! Welcome to Africa!, incorporates the same percussion-style music that students will learn in the Year 5 workshop, along with captivating dance and cultural insights about the Senoufo people. It promises to be a fabulous and interactive addition to our event.

Dates and times:

Monday, April 15 (Day 4): 5B and 1/2 of 5H 

Thursday, April 18 (Day 7): 5F and 1/2 of 5H 

Don't miss out on these enriching opportunities to explore French language and culture through captivating performances! Stay tuned for more updates and mark your calendars for French Week from April 15–18. We’ll have lots more events that week for our Primary and Middle students. 

French assembly and Scattergories Championships

Join us on Thursday, April 18, during French Week, for a special French assembly featuring Year 6–7 students. Following the assembly, prepare for the NEW Scattergories Championships, an exciting showcase of linguistic prowess.

Peter Labancz

French Language Learning Leader

Year 7 | Second Hepatitis B/Menactra/HPV clinic

Dear Year 7 Parents,

This is a reminder on Monday, May 13, 2024, Toronto Public Health (TPH) will be holding the second Year 7 Hepatitis B/Menactra/HPV clinic at UCC in the Prep Dining hall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

The following vaccines will be given:

• Second dose of hepatitis B and human papillomavirus vaccines to Year 7 students

• Hepatitis B, meningococcal and human papillomavirus vaccines to Year 7 and 8 students who missed the first clinic.

Please remind your son about this clinic. Also please make sure your child eats breakfast the morning of the clinic and to wear short sleeves. If your child is unwell due to fever, and cannot receive their vaccinations, please notify the Prep Health Centre as soon as possible. Any missed vaccinations that happen on the clinic date, can be made up at a later date as Toronto Public Health provides “catch up clinics” throughout the city. 

A final reminder that the Meningitis (Men-C-ACYW-135 vaccine) vaccination or a valid exemption is required for students 12 years of age and older for school attendance. If your child has not received Menactra, or it has been over five years, Toronto Public Health does recommend a booster. Hepatitis B and HPV are optional.

Additional information and consent forms can be found here:

• School immunization consent form

• Hepatitis B, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and Meningococcal vaccine fact sheets

• Student and parent check sheet

• SIP facts and checklist

• Frequently Asked Questions

• Translation insert

Thank you all for your cooperation!

Gina Suva

Prep Health Centre ext. 4911

Solar eclipse message from form advisers

A reminder that we have an early dismissal on Monday, April 8. You should have received an email message from the school today with the plans for learning that morning. For those families who are interested, the email also provides an option to request a pair of solar viewing glasses (along with an information pamphlet on how to safely view the eclipse) which would be sent home with your child tomorrow by their form adviser.