This is a reminder that the Prep is hosting a dance and social on Friday, Dec. 5, from 7 to 9 p.m. All Year 7 students are strongly encouraged to attend. The Prep also invites students from Havergal, BSS, Branksome Hall, St. Clement’s, St. Mildred’s, Crescent, Sterling Hall and Trafalgar Castle. Students must not invite guests.

To ensure students' safety and appropriate conduct, Year 7 form advisers and Upper School Stewards will be chaperoning the dance. Please arrange your child’s transportation to and from this event within this timeframe. The pickup time is critical.

While all Year 7 Prep students are invited, we must receive a completed permission form to generate our guest list and collect relevant information in case of an emergency. The permission form was emailed to Year 7 parents on Friday, Nov. 21. The permission form also includes what students should wear and some general guidelines that will be reviewed with students at school.

Sincerely,

Gareth Evans

Assistant Head of the Preparatory School: Middle Division

From emotions to technology, many different aspects of wellbeing have been addressed in Health and Life Skills classes over the past little while. Ask your child to tell you more about what they have been learning! 

The SKs have started their emotions unit and are building on that in HLS. They are practicing naming emotions and identifying clues such as body language and facial expressions that help us understand someone else's emotions.

In Years 1 and 2, students have been working on self-regulation skills. Year 1s are discussing how they can use these strategies to engage and learn in a positive way in class, while Year 2s have been focusing on identifying self-regulation strategies that work best for them.

Year 3 classes have continued to focus on community building while talking about how we treat others in our community and the impacts this can have.

Year 4 students are exploring concepts around healthy eating, including the link between eating well and caring for our wellbeing.

The Year 5 classes are focusing on problem-solving. Conflicts are going to happen; we want students to be able to choose helpful strategies that match the size of a problem, as well as consider how to prevent some of the everyday problems that occur at school.  

In Year 6, we are addressing how our actions impact others with a focus on skills for working together. Through a series of fun group activities and challenges, students have been working on communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills.   

The Year 7s Personal Safety and Injury Prevention unit addresses technology use. We've been discussing how the design of technology can impact behaviour and how cyberbullying and negative thinking traps can impact individuals. Students have set goals around their technology use that we will revisit over the term.  

Martha Boyce 

Prep Counsellor

Health and Life Skills Teacher and Coordinator

We hope this message finds your family well and easing into the holiday season.

It continues to be a busy and exciting time in Year 4! Basketball is underway, and our teams have been practicing with great enthusiasm as they prepare for the winter season.

We have officially launched our new unit on early societies. Over the past two weeks, students have been learning about timelines, artifacts, and the key features of civilizations. They have been exploring a variety of texts with curiosity and excitement to build their background knowledge. Students are now selecting the early society they would like to research. They'll use what they learn to produce a written piece and eventually create an artifact in the Brenda & Reid Chen Innovation Lab that represents an important aspect of their chosen society. We are so impressed by their thoughtful questions and engagement, and can’t wait to see their projects come to life.

We're also excited to share that Year 4 will be visiting the Royal Ontario Museum on Dec. 3 for a half-day field trip, which is connected to our current unit. Students will participate in a guided gallery and lab program exploring ancient civilizations and artifacts. We will return to campus in time for students to eat lunch at school.

In science, we are getting ready to begin our unit on matter, where students will investigate states of matter, physical and chemical changes, and some introductory periodic elements. They'll also participate in hands-on experiments to bring these concepts to life. Our geology learning connected to the Canada unit continues as students examine slow and fast changes to the Earth and begin discussing plate tectonics.

In language, we're approaching the end of our class novel study on wonder. Students will soon shift their focus to a paragraph writing activity connected to an ancient civilization. Independent reading continues to be a major focus in Year 4.

In math, we have just wrapped up Chapter 4 and will soon begin Chapter 5, where students will learn various algorithms for division. As we move into this unit and later into fractions, it will be particularly helpful for students to have a strong grasp of their multiplication facts.

We're so proud of the growth, enthusiasm and effort we are seeing in the boys each day.

Warmly,

Paige Colalillo and Brent Crawford

It’s hard to believe that the winter break is less than four weeks away! Please note that:

1. ASP will be closed on the last day of school, Thursday, Dec. 18. Please keep in mind that this is a half day for the Prep School.

2. The January list of club offerings will be released in next week’s Heads Up. Stay tuned!
   
   

Thank you,

Brent Crawford

After School Program Coordinator

This holiday season, the Prep community is proud to support Thorncliffe Park Public School, the largest elementary school in North America with 1,350 students from Grades 1–5. Approximately 95 per cent of students speak a first language other than English, and many are newcomers to Canada. For these families, adjusting to Canadian winters can be especially challenging.

Winter gear and grocery gift card drive

To help support Thorncliffe families during the colder months, we are collecting:

Winter gear 

New or gently used winter clothing for children in Grades 1–5, focusing on:

• Snowsuits, winter coats and snow pants

• Boots, hats, mittens and scarves

Clothing sizes: 5–12
Boot sizes: 10–6

Donation boxes for winter gear will be located in the Bitove Lounge.

Grocery and restaurant gift card drive

Gift cards help families purchase essential groceries and household items throughout the winter. Local stores most frequently used by Thorncliffe families include:

• Food Basics

• Iqbal Foods

• Dollarama

• Shoppers Drug Mart
  
  

A drop box for gift cards will be available at the UCC reception.

Every item and every gift card will directly support a child or family in our neighbouring community. Together, we can make a meaningful difference this holiday season.

Riley Carter

Community Engagement and Service Learning Coordinator

A friendly reminder our food drive for the Churches on the Hill (COTH) Food Drive is now running until Friday Dec. 12. 

The COTH Food Bank, located just around the corner from UCC, currently provides food parcels to 1,100–1,200 people each week, including support for 55 babies. The COTH team has shared a list of the items that would best support their current needs. Please see below for class-specific items.

Festive Marketplace is just around the corner on Friday, Dec. 12. 

There are many ways you can support Festive including volunteering. Find out more on our Festive website!

Donate auction items 

Year after year, the success of our auction comes from the generosity of our community.  We’re currently curating amazing items for the auction — and we need your help.

Do you have items or experiences you’d like to donate? We’re looking for things like chalet and cottage weekends, trips and excursions, sailboat charters, ski passes, golf rounds, tickets to sporting events and concerts, celebrity meet-and-greets, movie passes, airline tickets, fine wine and spirits, casual and fine dining, behind-the-scenes chef dinners, a visit to a film set.

If you’re ready to donate an item now, please donate here.  

Monetary donations

You can now donate money to the auction via the UCC donation page and receive a tax receipt for any donations of $20 or more.

At UCC Giving, once you’ve entered your gift amount, select “Other” in the "Designation" field, and then type “Festive Auction” in the "Other Gift Designation" field. Our Festive Auction Team will pool donated funds to buy popular auction items, like electronics. Donate money to the auction here. Thank you for donating to Festive!

Festive Marketplace is just two weeks away, and one of many highlights is our Festive Bake Sale. We’re looking for cookies, cupcakes, squares, brownies, loaves or anything else you’d like to contribute, including gluten-free baked goods. All items should be nut-free.

For those who don’t have time to bake, reach out to your local bakery. We’re grateful for any and all homemade and store-bought baked goods.

Please complete this form to let the Bake Sale Committee know what you’re planning to bring. 

For further information about the bake sale, including volunteering and drop off information, please see here.

Don’t miss the chance to win an incredible gingerbread UCC Clock Tower, or a pair of Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Tickets.

Get your tickets:

• Tuesday, Dec. 2 and Wednesday, Dec. 3, 3 - 4 p.m., at the Peacock Arch. Stop by for hot chocolate and treats while you’re there.

• Thursday, Dec. 11, Festival of Lights Concert, 7-8:30 p.m. in Laidlaw Hall.

• Friday, Dec. 12, all day, at the PPO table at Festive Marketplace.

Tickets are $5 each, or 3 for $10. Winners will be announced at Festive Marketplace on Friday, Dec. 12 at 4 p.m.

An annual favourite! Tickets are $5 each and every “snowball” is a winner with gift card prizes in the $5 to $50 range, as well as the grand prize of Apple Airpods. We are collecting gift cards for the Snowball Grab at the Prep Reception and the Upper School Reception. Please drop off gift cards in the collection boxes marked “Snowball Grab”. 

A special thank you to Jennifer MacGregor and Michelle Way of Chestnut Park Real Estate Brokerage, our key sponsors for this year's Snowball Grab. Thank you for your generous donation!