Prep School May 23, 2024
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Prep School Highlights
Prep School Highlights
Friday, May 24
👕 UCC Spirit Dress Day
Monday, May 27
Year 1 Norval program
Tuesday, May 28
PPO bake sale during morning recess
Wednesday, May 29
🕓 Student late start day
Primary spring concert, Weston Hall, 2–3 p.m.
Faculty/Staff Appreciation Lunch
Thursday, May 30
Year 6 & 7 Spring Concert, Weston Hall, 7–8 p.m.
May Birthday celebrations
Friday, May 31
👕 First Dress
Prep Generations Day
9–11 a.m.—Middle Division, Year 6 and Year 7
1–3 p.m. —Primary Division, SK to Year 5
THIS WEEK AT THE PREP
THIS WEEK AT THE PREP
Prep Leadership Team
Dear Prep Families,
We hope this message finds you well. We want to thank our parent volunteers for their incredible efforts and dedication to our school community over the last few weeks. Your support in hanging up student artwork, assisting with our New to Blue orientation sessions, offering insights into Year 7 Graduation, organizing the used uniform and bake sale, cheering on our student-athletes, co-ordinating our Prep Games Day Holi celebration, planning the Faculty and Staff appreciation lunch, and standing in the pouring rain to cheer on our Kraftcheck Bolt runners is much appreciated and does not go unnoticed.
We truly value and appreciate all you do for our school and our students. Your partnership is invaluable, and together we make a real difference in the lives of our students.
We look forward to seeing many of you at next week's Primary and/or Middle Spring Concert, the PPO Bake Sale, and Generations Day. Your presence and continued support mean a great deal to us.
Your partners in learning,
Julia Kinnear, David Girard and Gareth Evans
The Prep Leadership Team
Year 7 Niagara Trip | FAQ, packing list and waiver
Year 7 Niagara Trip | FAQ, packing list and waiver
Once again, we are excited to offer a year-end trip for our Year 7 students to the Niagara Region. The trip will be on June 5, 6 and 7. Please download, print, and return this completed waiver to your child’s Form Adviser.
Please review this document for a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the trip, including a suggested packing list.
As soon as we receive the finalized itinerary, we will email it to you. For now, this is the draft itinerary that was included in the permission form.
Year 8 math placement for 2024-25 school year
Year 8 math placement for 2024-25 school year
Dear Year 7 families,
As we approach the end of the year, we will make recommendations regarding your child’s placement in Year 8 mathematics (standard or enriched). We will follow similar processes to those in previous years. To aid in this process, we will have students complete a placement assessment which will serve as one of many data points. This test will take place during math class at the end of May. Students are not expected to or encouraged to prepare for the assessment and no sample/practice questions will be provided. It is important that students are placed in the appropriate math course to ensure they are engaged, challenged, and supported adequately. Students will be informed of their recommended math placement in June.
As always, we thank you for your continued support with your child’s engagement in their mathematics education. Please reach out to Riyaz Ismail if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Riyaz Ismail, Year 7 math team
Hoops and Jump Rope for Heart is back!
Hoops and Jump Rope for Heart is back!
Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart return to the Prep on Wednesday, June 5 and Friday, June 7! In partnership with the Heart & Stroke Foundation, the Community Service Leaders and the Phys Ed. Department have been hard at work organizing this event.
SK–Y6 Students are asked to make a donation to the Heart & Stroke Foundation. UCC's goal is to have 100% participation. $2–$10 donations are suggested.
HOW TO DONATE:
1) If you would like a tax receipt: families must donate online by using this link, and then clicking on Donate to the School.
2) If you are not interested in a tax receipt: please send cash to be collected by the Form Adviser or make an anonymous donation using this link.
For this event, our School Community will raise funds and awareness for the Heart & Stroke Foundation, be active, learn about healthy lifestyle choices, and have fun! Students will participate during their scheduled phys ed/games period. Students should wear their regular phys ed clothing and be prepared to be outdoors (hat, sunscreen, water bottle).
Please see the detailed schedule below for when your child will be participating:
6F and 6T will participate in Hoops for Heart on Wednesday, June 5 during their phys ed period.
6L and 6T will participate in Hoops for Heart on Friday, June 7 during their phys ed period.
Y5 will participate in Hoops for Heart on Wednesday, June 5 during their games period.
Y3 and Y4 will participate in Jump Rope for Heart on Friday, June 7 during their phys ed period.
SK, Y1, and Y2 will participate in Jump Rope for Heart on Friday, June 7 during their phys ed period.
Save the date | PPO spring bake sale
Save the date | PPO spring bake sale
The PPO Spring bake sale will take place during morning recess on Tuesday, May 28 in the Bitove Lounge. Parents, it’s time to get baking (or shopping)! We will be collecting homemade or store-bought baked goods (nut-free, please) during morning drop-off (7:45–8:30 a.m.) on the day of the sale. If you know what you are baking/purchasing, please tell us here.
Would you like to volunteer and spend a few hours helping out with the Bake Sale? Click here to sign up.
And don’t forget to send your child to school with some money ($2–$5) to buy a couple of treats.
Thank you for your help!
The Bake Sale Team
Year 3 update
Year 3 update
With less than a month left in our school year, the Year 3 classes are humming with activity. As we approach the end of Year 3, we are prioritizing self-regulation and kindness in our classrooms. Being supportive of each other and keeping problems in perspective are important lessons we discuss daily in class conversations. Whether solving a complex math task or solving a problem independently at recess, we celebrate their growing independence. You can help support this work by encouraging your child to be independent at home by packing their school materials and completing their homework. As they prepare for Year 4, these independent work habits will be important to a smooth transition to the new grade.
The Paris Olympics will begin this July. To celebrate the upcoming Olympics and continue to encourage independent reading, we are doing the Reading Olympics in Year 3. In the Homework folder, students received their Olympic Passport with 20 possible challenges. Some of these challenges require research online. We have posted the online links in Seesaw. The Olympic Passport is also available here. Please feel free to join your child and read together.
In language, we are finishing up our Book Clubs. Students have been independently exploring a selection of class books and discussing them with each other. They have been reading these books at home and school. We have focused on understanding how to connect to the stories we read and exploring the vocabulary within the different books. To finish our Book Clubs, students will present a book they completed. Students will prepare and practice this presentation as part of their homework. We have been looking at poetry and trying to write our poems during our writing time. They have been enjoying the poetry of American poet Ken Nesbitt. At home, it would be great to give your child words they could find rhymes for (for example, car, star, far, bar, jar).
In math, we are wrapping up the year with shorter units exploring a variety of skills. Currently, we are exploring time. Students work to convert different time units (for example, 125 minutes = 2 hours and 5 minutes). We’ve been using the clock to tell time, but at this age, it is expected students can independently read a clock. If your child is curious to know what time it is, please encourage them to try to read an analog clock! After our exploration of time, we will move into exploring patterning and coding. Our final unit of the year focuses on developing financial literacy. These days of cashless payments mean that it is trickier to understand how money works. If there are any opportunities when you are out shopping or having a meal together, point out the different prices and encourage your child to make estimates of the total cost (using whole numbers).
There are many “green thumbs” in Year 3 as students delve into learning about plants for our Inquiry unit. The classes have enjoyed various plant experiments that have allowed us to learn about parts of plants, seeds, and dispersal. Everyone loved building their seed dispersal machines, as seen in the photos. Students are also learning about Ontario native plants. Each child has chosen an Ontario plant used in traditional medicine. They are creating close-up sketches of these plants in art and will create a field guide in class. With Ms. Jojic, the students have been visiting the Prep Learning Garden (outside the Prep) to help plant and explore. If you have time before or after school, your child would likely love to tour you around the garden.
Please read your child's agenda as we move toward the year's end. We will be writing reminders about various events and things to bring in.
The summer countdown is on!
Christie Gordon, Kathryn O’Brien and Joyce Ma
Year 3 teachers
REGISTER | Generations Day
REGISTER | Generations Day
Guests are invited to visit the Prep School on Friday, May 31 for an opportunity to attend a special assembly, explore classrooms, check out fantastic student artwork and enjoy light refreshments in the Bitove Lounge.
9–11 a.m. Year 6 and 7 families
1–3 p.m. SK–Year 5 families
Register here by Thursday, May 23. Parents/guardians of Prep students are welcome to complete the registration form on behalf of their students’ guest(s) or forward the link to the guest(s) who will be accompanying the Prep student.
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