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Update | SK

Wow- what a year! With the school year ending, we find ourselves reminiscing about the incredible journey we shared with our curious, passionate, open-minded group of SK learners. It has certainly been a year of growth, discovery, and transformation!

To conclude the year, we wrapped up our “Sharing the Planet” unit, which investigated the central idea, “living things are all connected and have needs to support growth.” We enjoyed watching the growth of young red-tailed hawks from egg to near-fledglings via live cam and witnessed the butterfly life cycle first-hand, right in our classroom! From tiny caterpillars to delicate chrysalises, and finally, the emergence of vibrant butterflies, we observed as this incredible process unfolded before our eyes. We recently said goodbye to our beautiful butterflies by releasing them in our Learning Garden with our buddies in 5C.

Watching the growth of these amazing creatures served as a powerful metaphor for the growth we witnessed in our SKs over the course of the year. They grew as readers, writers, and mathematicians. They blossomed into strong communicators and effective collaborators. They became knowledgeable in new areas and shone as they shared their learning with others. We're so proud of everything they accomplished over the course of the year and of how much they have grown. 

We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support and collaboration during your child's SK journey. Your involvement, understanding and participation have played a vital role in creating a nurturing and enriching educational experience for these students. Your engagement in school events and activities, your participation as guest teachers and Mystery Readers, and your willingness to collaborate fostered a strong sense of community for our SK family. Thank you! 

We hope you have a wonderful summer! Please stop by and say hello to us in the fall!

Anna Crawford and Pina Porto

Update | Primary French

Can you believe it? In just a few more days, our SK students will be heading off to Year 1! The year has flown by, and in the few weeks since my last update, we have been busy exploring rhyming words in French. We had lots of fun playing with sounds and building listening and speaking skills along the way.

To wrap up the year, we are working with La chenille qui fait des trous (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) by Eric Carle. Through this colourful story, students are learning the days of the week, reviewing colours and numbers, and getting ready to take part in a group reading.

Our SK learners are more than ready for the next step. I am already looking forward to seeing them again in September for continued work with the language and growing confidence in French! Bon été, Messieurs les SK.

As the school year draws to a close, our Year 1 French classroom has been buzzing with the voices of 20 students speaking together as they reviewed foundational vocabulary and learned new words through gestures. 

Students also continued to strengthen their ability to answer simple questions, both orally and in writing. 

The repeating pattern in the story of The Three Little Pigs created a supportive environment for all learners to deepen their understanding of the narrative and build their communication skills.

Bon travail, les 1C! Bonnes vacances et à septembre

The charismatic little cat named Napoléon certainly had the power to motivate 2C students to practise story retelling and learn lots of new vocabulary. As we reach the end of the academic year, I am pleased to recognize the students’ growing understanding of language concepts such as answering closed and open-ended questions, and turning positive sentences into negatives.

We look forward to continuing to build on their language skills in the year ahead. Well done, Year 2 students! Bonnes vacances, et à septembre pour de nouvelles aventures!

Year 3 students embarked on a cultural journey through the stories Bonjour Marc and Bienvenue à Timmins, immersing themselves in the life of a francophone family. They developed important reading strategies to better understand new texts.

Students worked diligently on replacing the subject of a sentence with a pronoun and learned how to transform positive sentences into negatives, expanding their language skills. We also focused on answering questions with correct syntax, spelling, and punctuation.

Meanwhile, the adventures of Rémi, the hero of the audiovisual part of our program, continued to capture their attention. This rocambolesque story never failed to motivate students to anticipate and describe the unfolding events, encouraging both creativity and language growth.

We look forward to welcoming them back next year for more exciting French language and cultural explorations. Well done, Year 3 students! Et à l’année prochaine!

As we reach the end of the school year, it is time to celebrate the progress and accomplishments of our Year 4 students. In our play, Un frère pénible, students improved their reading comprehension while expanding their vocabulary. They practiced answering both closed and open-ended questions, orally and in writing. They also practiced re-telling the story using key vocabulary in full sentences. 

Through our reader, Le voleur, students developed reading strategies that helped them explore new texts independently. With our video study of Rémi sans famille, they engaged with authentic French, improving their understanding of spoken language and communication skills.

Bravo, Year 4!  Enjoy your summer break — Year 5 is waiting to take you on even more exciting language adventures!

Guillaume Dupre

Update | Middle Design

Our students continue to hone their design skills as the Year 6s explore coding with mBots and the Year 7s fabricate with empathy. Year 6 students are investigating the guiding question, “How can we design procedures to allow robots to evaluate and adapt to their environment?” by programming their own robot to act as a self-driving car. 

Students began the unit by researching the benefits of autonomous vehicles in both personal and business contexts. They identified key components and sensors that make such vehicles autonomous, and they have become comfortable coding some basic functions on their own mBot robots, including the execution of several on-road challenges. Students have just recently coded their robot to accurately execute the final driver’s test (including parallel parking and navigating a busy parking lot!) 

“Empathizing with the perspective of clients results in better products and happier consumers” is the Statement of Inquiry our Year 7 students are exploring in our current unit. The central theme of this unit for the students is to capture their client’s perspective in a hand-crafted analogue clock. 

This process included interviewing a client and getting feedback on their initial design ideas. The variety of designs is remarkable, each reflecting a unique and special individual for whom the clock is being designed. The Hixon Lab is alive with the sounds of fabrication, including scroll saws, drills, the laser cutter, oscillating sanders and hand saws. The options for finishing the clocks include staining, painting, heat-pressing and/or vinyl-cutting images designed by the students. Their clients will see themselves reflected in a unique, hand-crafted analogue clock in the near future. We plan to have the final products on display at our Year 7 graduation in June as we celebrate a very important moment in time. 

Ms. Sarah Barclay

Learning Leader, Middle Design

Update | Middle Arts

“I can’t believe I made this!”  This is what I hear from the Year 6 and 7 students who are immersed in the arts. Both Unit 4 units were developed to link with their music projects because this provides a rich source of inspiration to create works of art!

Year 6s enjoying Unit 4: Capturing Contrast

Statement of Inquiry: Artists use specific techniques to capture their perspective and make deeper connections to the world around us. 

Students learned how to use a range of pencils to capture the metallic surfaces on their musical instruments and transfer their observational drawing skills and techniques used in Unit 1: Dynamic Drawing. Using a range of pencils to show other reflections in the instrument and leaving the lightest reflections of light the white of the paper. 

It was magical to hear them say, “That really does look 3D!”. “I can’t believe that I can see myself in my trombone.” They all tried their best to concentrate on making the darkest tones black because this is what makes the lights shine, creating the illusion of the reflective surfaces of the instrument. The joy of slowing down and noticing the form and materials of their instrument will make their history of their instrument project all them more impactful.

We are all enjoying being in our beautiful MYP art studio, having fun making art together. 

It is an honor to teach your child art,

Nancy Preston 

Middle years Visual Arts Specialist 

Paul McGarr 

Middle years Music Specialist

Update | Mathematics 

Curriculum: Students in Years 6 and 7 have completed their final unit assessments. Students are to be commended for their growth as mathematicians. This year, they improved in their ability to persevere through challenging tasks, to justify their solutions, to investigate and generalize patterns, to engage in meaningful discourse and to demonstrate both conceptual understanding and procedural fluency. It is wonderful to have students seek challenges, get excited about contests, collaborate with upper school students, watch their teachers engage in mathematical tasks, and get excited by the wonder of mathematics. 

Math contests at the Prep:

This year, students in Years 4 to 7 had the opportunity to engage in several math contests:

Canadian National Math League: Years 4 to 7 (330 students)

Beaver Computing Challenge: Year 5 to 7 (137 students)

AMC8 Math Contest: Year 6/7 (107 students)

Gauss Contest: Year 6/7 (84 Students)

Students are encouraged to continue to seek opportunities to engage in mathematical challenges. 

As always, we thank you for your continued support in supporting your child’s engagement in their mathematics education. Please reach out to Riyaz Ismail if you have any questions.

End of year laptop drop off

Students who are not returning to UCC in September will need to drop off their laptop and power supply at the Prep School Help Desk on June 11. 

On Tuesday, June 10, students who are returning next year will return their current laptops and receive a new MacBook Air. Both the current laptop and its Apple power supply must be returned in excellent condition, as these will be returned to the leasing company. Please ensure your child remembers to bring their power supply with them on Tuesday, June 10. Students may be charged for any missing power supplies.

We would like to remind you that AppleCare+ ends on June 10. We are asking that parents/guardians look at the student's laptop, and if there is any visible damage, please have the device brought to the Prep School Help Desk as soon as possible.

Ms. Barclay has already met with each Year 6 and 7 class to thoroughly explain the exchange process and guide students in preparing their devices. During these sessions, students have been organizing their local files and utilizing Google Drive to back up all content from their desktop and documents folders.

To further support this transition, students will soon have access to comprehensive support materials on the Laptop Exchange 2025 Brightspace course. This resource will include step-by-step instructions on how to back up their content and provide access to the mandatory acceptable use video.

All students are required to watch a short video in Brightspace that reiterates key aspects of our acceptable use policy. They must agree to the terms outlined in the video before they can receive their new laptop. If your child does not complete this video by June 10th, they will not be able to receive their new device on the exchange day.

Year 6 and 7 students will continue to use the black “always-on” laptop bags they have been using throughout this year. Year 7 students may continue to use the black case or choose to carry their laptops in their backpacks once they transition to the Upper School in September.

All Year 6 and 7 students will be taking their laptops home over the summer and are expected to bring them to school in excellent condition in September. They continue to have restricted administrative rights on their laptops and will only be able to install approved software through the school's software manager. 

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the upcoming laptop exchange, please do not hesitate to contact Ryan Archer 

Prep uniform purchasing

DGN-Kilters will be conveniently stationed on campus with their Mobile Sales Van, located just outside the William P. Wilder Arena on Tuesday, June 10, from 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Prep families can easily purchase uniforms and colour house clothing, and facilitate exchanges or returns. This is a great opportunity to beat the back-to-school rush and care for your uniform needs before summer break.  

Patti Cawker-Chiang 

Blues Shop Manager

Update from PPO

Pizza Party 

A reminder that the PPO has organized pizza and juice boxes for all classes on Tuesday June 10. We are also sending along gifts to our teaching staff on behalf of the Prep parents to say thank you for an incredible year. 

Clothing Labels

Summer is coming up which means it's time to start labeling your kids’ things for camp! If you're looking for labels, please support our PPO fundraiser here. 

Search for “Upper Canada College Prep Parents Organization” and a portion of the sale goes back to the PPO.  Thanks and happy labeling!

Thank you! 

A huge thank you from the PPO to all of the parents who have volunteered their time and energy as well as to everyone who donated to our initiatives this year. From Used Uniform Sales, Festive Marketplace auction, PPO merch sales and more, we are able to support the Prep school with a commitment to cover the costs of the basement refresh (timing TBD) as well as support other smaller items on the Prep Wish list.  

We are grateful to have a robust and involved parent community here at the Prep. Thank you!

Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops

Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart is taking place at the Prep this week!  In partnership with the Heart & Stroke Foundation, the Community Service Leaders and the Phys Ed. Department are excited to launch this event for the second year in a row. 

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 then clicking on Donate to the School.  

2) If you are not interested in a tax receipt, please send cash or coins to be collected by the Homeform Teacher. 

SK–Y4 students will be participating tomorrow during their PE class. A friendly reminder to send your child to school in their colour house. 

Thank you for supporting our participation in Jump Rope for Heart.

Riley Carter and The Community Service Leaders