The much anticipated Prep School MYP Project Week is running next week, from Tuesday, March 5 to Friday, March 8, 2024, and offers students in Year 6 and 7 the opportunity to participate in an interdisciplinary unit examining important global topics. Year 6 students are exploring the topic of the UN Sustainable Development Goal #13, Climate Action, and Year 7 students are examining the topic of the UN Sustainable Development Goal #1, No Poverty, through a series of speakers, guests and group activities.

Teachers and team leaders have prepared extensively for this dynamic learning experience, and have set students up for success by introducing key topics, terms and skills. Everyone is really excited about this unique educational and collaborative event.  

Please see two links below that lay out some more specific details about what students will be engaging in over the course of the week, including welcoming some impactful guest speakers and participating in some informative field trips:

• Year 6 Project Week schedule

• Year 7 Project Week schedule 

Next Friday, students will be sharing their culminative activities; consider asking your child to share their ideas with you on Thursday evening so you can hear how they are planning to take action! 

The regular school day timing will not change and drop-off and pick-up are not affected. Student attendance is very important during this immersive experience. Year 6 and Year 7 students are welcome to wear UCC spirit dress during Project Week, which is Tuesday to Friday.

Year 5 is the last year of the IB Primary Years Program (PYP) and, as such, Year 5 students engage in the PYP Exhibition. This is a collaborative, student-directed, research-based, action-oriented culminating learning experience in the final year of the PYP. Students lead their inquiry which is connected to a local or global issue that they care about. Students are forming groups will be participating in team building activities during their Norval trips to ready them for the project ahead.

We will celebrate the completion of the PYP Exhibition project with our community, including families, on Friday, May 10. Families, please mark your calendars. Details of Exhibition Day’s afternoon event will be forthcoming.

To learn more about the PYP Exhibition process, parents are invited to attend the following optional parent information session on Monday, March 4 from 6–7 p.m. will happen via Zoom. No RSVP is required. A recording of this meeting will be posted in a future Heads Up.

The PYP Exhibition project is a collaborative project, done mostly at school. It will run from March Break until Exhibition Day on May 10. Student attendance during this time is important for individual and group success.

Should you have any questions about the PYP Exhibition, please speak to your child’s form adviser or Dianne Jojic.

Dianne Jojic

PYP Coordinator

We wanted to take a moment to update you on the exciting happenings in our classroom as we approach the upcoming Norval trips and delve into some engaging academic projects.

We're thrilled about the upcoming Norval trips, and preparations are in full swing. Our students are eagerly looking forward to this outdoor experience, filled with maple syrup making, cookouts, gaga ball, night games and scavenger hunts. 

In the realm of mathematics, we are currently wrapping up unit five, where our focus has been on working with fractions. Students are adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with fractions. After the March Break, we are excited to dive into unit six, where we will be exploring the fascinating world of exponents and use large numbers in measurement. This unit also ties in both fractions and decimals while focusing on weight, length and volume. 

Our students have recently completed their energy projects as part of our unit, How the World Works. They used key concepts to guide their research and exploration, demonstrating their understanding of the intricate ways in which energy operates in our world. Their projects were impressive, showcasing their critical thinking and research skills. The students are also using their research to write persuasive pieces on their energy source. 

Our novel study, City of Ember, is wrapping up. The students were engaged in our weekly class discussions and the book seemed to be a hit. We’ve used this novel study to review the literature analysis with a focus on the author's craft and their intentional use of literary devices. Please remember there are sequels for this series, if your child would like to continue finding out more about Lina and Doon’s adventures. 

We are gearing up to start the Year 5 Exhibition, a significant project where students will be selecting their lines of inquiry. This project promises to be a wonderful opportunity for our students to showcase their skills, knowledge, and creativity. We'll keep you updated on their progress as we embark on this exciting journey. Save the date —May 10, 2024!

As we approach March Break, we want to wish everyone a fantastic and rejuvenating time. It's an excellent opportunity for students to relax, recharge, and come back ready for the exciting endeavours that await us in the Spring.

Lisa Brooks, Paul Faggion and Jennifer Harper
Form 5 Advisers

We are delighted to share that the SK students have successfully completed their unit on seasons. They created wonderful presentations showcasing their knowledge of each season, including the average temperature and typical weather patterns. The students were thrilled with their projects, and they can all be viewed on Seesaw. We have moved into our new unit, where the students are exploring farm animals through books, songs, and vocabulary games in French. The students have been actively memorizing farm animals and describing them based on their colours, size, number of legs, and other characteristics. They have shown great enthusiasm in learning about these animals. They will participate in various activities such as drawing 10 different animals in a booklet and engaging in a fun video production. In the video, they will identify each animal by making the correct animal sounds!

We are excited to share that through the study of the play La Poule Maboule, our Year 1 students have now become familiar with the elements of a story: the title, the characters, the setting, the problem, and the resolution. It is now time for the students to perform! Each student has been assigned a character from the play and they are beginning to learn their lines. Our goal is to capture the students collaborating in reading the play through a video recording. As part of this exciting journey, students will also continue to develop their communication skills and reinforce their vocabulary acquisition through various activities including story retelling, vocabulary games, songs, and drawings.

Year 2 students are making great progress in their study of the play Comment Y Aller? and eagerly anticipate the final twist that will unfold in the last scene. This unit has involved reading and listening comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, reading out loud practice and learning about Francophone culture and geography. Additionally, students have been developing their oral communication skills through collaborative work in small groups. It has been wonderful to see them actively engaging with each other and honing their abilities to effectively communicate their ideas. The unit will culminate with a focus on applying proper language conventions while writing complete answers to closed-ended questions or reorganising mixed-up words in sentences related to the story. By the time March break arrives, the students will be all set to embark on our next exciting unit!

Our Year 3 students are about to finish studying the story L'arbre Ungali. Throughout this unit, students have been working collaboratively to enhance their oral communication skills. In small groups, they have been practising retelling sequences of the story and asking and answering both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The students have been making great progress in gaining confidence and fluency when expressing themselves in French. The unit will culminate with a focus on applying proper language conventions while writing complete answers to closed-ended questions or reorganizing mixed-up words in sentences related to the story. The students will soon bid farewell to “la tortue, le guépard, le zèbre, l'antilope and the lion” as they transition to a new unit focusing on a Francophone family in Ontario.

Year 4 students are now well acquainted with Aïsha and her seemingly insensitive brother Raoul. They are curious to know how the relationship will develop between these two teenagers in the second scene of their story, Un Frère Pénible. They have been actively working on vocabulary acquisition and communication skills development by collaborating on oral presentations within small groups. Additionally, suspense continues to build with more chapters of our reader Le Voleur and with every new episode of Rémi, our audiovisual program. Through these various media, Year 4 students continue to develop their communication, reading, and writing skills.

Guillaume Dupre

French Teacher

Curriculum

Students in Year 6 are completing their unit on ratios and fractions and are in the process of completing their unit assessments. Year 7 students have been exploring statistics through conducting their own investigations and investigating ways to conduct surveys, represent and display their findings as well as making conclusions. 

Math contests update
AMC8 Math contest: 90 Year 6 and 7 students wrote the AMC8 Math contests in January. Students in Year 7 who achieved top 3 scores and students in Year 6 who achieved a score of over 15 points were recognized at a recent assembly. 

The spring session for ASP clubs will begin after the March Break. Program descriptions can be found here. Click here to sign up for the spring session clubs.

The self-nomination process for the 2024–25 Prep Parents' Organization (PPO) committee is now open!  We hope that you will consider bringing your skills, ideas and enthusiasm to the PPO team. All parents and guardians of UCC Prep students are eligible to self-nominate for a role on the PPO. If you are interested in volunteering, we are committed to finding you a role.

The self-nomination process is quick and easy. Simply click here and take a few minutes to select the roles you are interested in. A detailed description of what each role entails can be found here. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions that you may have about the various roles.

The nomination process will close on Friday, April 5, 2024, at 9 p.m. The Nomination Committee will be in touch with you later in April to confirm roles.