Royal Oak School
September 30, 2024
SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER
Dear Royal Oak Families,
A month has flown by here at Royal Oak, and it has been a most beautiful start.
Within a few short days of returning to the classroom, there was a quiet buzz across the school - of children working, engaged deeply in tasks and of settled comfort. We know this feeling here at ROCS but to find it so early is a testament to the readiness of your children to return to the work of school, and to the incredible preparations of our teachers who have helped children transition so beautifully to a new year and for many, to new classrooms.
September has also been BUSY, and we thank you, parents, for your support in so many initiatives and traditions of the first month of school that have already taken place- Curriculum Night, Terry Fox Run, Clubs and even today, our first field trip to the Landscape of Nations Monument at Queenston Heights. On this day we wear orange, and we come together to honour the memory of the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Recognizing this tragic history and its lasting impacts is a vital step in the journey towards reconciliation. We encourage parents to explore the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action, which have been thoughtfully adapted into child-friendly language by the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. These can serve as a meaningful foundation for discussions with your children about the importance of reconciliation.
Our first assembly was on Friday, and like every month, we celebrated a character trait that helps our students develop into people of integrity who treat others with respect and kindness and work hard towards their goals. In honour of Terry Fox, our trait of the month was “determination”, and in October, we will celebrate gratitude . Naming these character traits, teaching them explicitly in our classrooms, and celebrating children who live them each day at the school is one aspect of social emotional learning that we value and prioritize at ROCS. As we head into the month of Thanksgiving, we will continue to bring alive gratitude and hope you find ways as a family to stop, take some deep breaths, and appreciate all the beauty that fall and harvest brings to us.
Have a wonderful October, and please read ahead for details about our first PD day on October 11 and initiatives happening in the month ahead
Warmest Regards,
Julia Murray, Head of School
FUNDRAISING AT ROCS |
ROYAL OAK'S ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
Royal Oak’s biggest fundraiser of the year is just around the corner and we hope to see you all there!
On October 9, our Golf Day will take place at the Niagara on the Lake Golf Course and promises to be an afternoon of fun, socializing and important fundraising. Whether you would like to golf as a single, bring a team or simply join us with your family for cocktail hour and dinner, there are many ways to be involved. Royal Oak staff have free aftercare provided at the school and will walk any children over to the course for 5pm on October 9. If you haven’t already, please use the sign up sheet linked below: ROCS Golf Day Sign Up
Fundraising Initiatives, cont!
This year, ROCS was honoured with being asked to participate in a fundraiser at the NOTL Polo Tournament. ROCS staff and students were the only booth to sell soft drinks and water to raise money for our many ROCS events throughout the year.
TERRY FOX WALK/RUN FOR ROCS
Since 2017, Royal Oak Community School, NOTL, has participated in their own Terry Fox Run to raise money for Cancer research and the Terry Fox Foundation. Every year, staff, students and our family community come together at Memorial Park to run, walk and challenge themselves to raise money for this very worthy cause. This year our small, but mighty school raised a respectable amount for the Terry Fox Foundation through fundraising donations from friends and family members. The students participated in a multi-school meet and greet with Fred Fox, Terry's brother, in the Spring and a kick off assembly at the beginning of September to jumpstart our fundraising efforts. Middle School students were able to rally the rest of the students through a group presentation about Terry Fox and his legacy at the beginning of our run last Friday, September 20th and we ended our run with a well deserved popsicle and play in the park. You can still donate on our fundraising page: https://schools.terryfox.ca/70833
CLASSROOM UPDATES
EARLY YEARS
September in Early Years has been very busy with a lot of learning, exploring, and playing happening! The kids have all quickly picked up on routines and expectations and are doing extremely well! We started the year off with important topics like getting to know each other, building a classroom community, and reminding ourselves of the importance of sharing and working together. We've also learned a lot about our different families, and have also touched on Indigenous culture and history. In Literacy, we’ve been learning about our special names and have started focusing Letters of the Week with the UFLI program, as well as utilizing our daily Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program. In Math, we’ve been learning all about different numbers from 0-20, including number recognition, learning how to write them, and skip counting by 2, 5, and 10, both forwards and backwards. The kids are all loving their different specialty subjects and teachers. It is so lovely seeing them come in everyday excited to hear what they are going to learn about and what fun things we will be doing as a class! I cannot wait to see what this school year will bring us!
PRIMARY
Welcome back to Primary! We have had an amazing beginning to the 2024-2025 school year. The Primary Classroom is filled with seven new friends and four returning friends. Our first week together was filled with lots of hands-on activities, picture books, and getting-to-know- you activities. The girls and boys had a messy, first day of school as they were actively engaged in making playdough. They worked with a partner and ended the day with very dirty hands. As well, the students had a blast decorating their “Primary Crew” rainbow shirts, counting one million jelly beans in How Many Jellybeans? by Andrea Menotti, and creating a piece of art with jelly beans. September is a month of learning classroom rules, routines, and structure. It's also a time to learn about our new and not so new friends. We have learned about our friends through our daily Morning Meetings. The structure with the Primary Classroom is quite new this year, with students engaged in many small group discussions, learning and hand-ons activities. This approach is being used in math, literacy and inquiry, and the students are loving this teaching experience. This sense of independence is a wonderful foundation for students to become life-long learners. Literacy is focusing on beginning and expanding sentence writing in Journals, reading short not-fiction texts, and direct phonics instruction through the UFLI Program. Math has focused on counting patterns to 100 and beyond and learning the strategies and techniques for successful Number Talks. During Inquiry, students are learning about Changing Families and Community Traditions. One new aspect of Inquiry is the introduction of our Wonder Journal. During Morning Meeting Messages, I present to the students information about a question about the world (ie, Why don’t penguins fly?). In their Wonderful Journal, students are asked to draw a picture and write about what they found interesting during these discussions. Each day, the students enter the classroom and look at the Wonder Wall for the new photograph added as a sneak peek of what the message will be about. Finally, one more thing that has been added to the Primary Program is our daily yoga time. Students look forward to this activity, and it helps calm the mind to help with learning. What a fantastic first month of school!!! Looking forward to October!!
MORE PRIMARY PICS, THANKS FOR MAKING SUCH SPECIAL MEMORIES MS. ROBIN!
PRIMARY JUNIOR
We’ve had a wonderful beginning to the school year in the Primary and Junior divisions! Students are settling into routines, following classroom rules, and applying for various classroom jobs. We’re also tracking our behavior with our “Bunbun Chart,” which helps keep us motivated and accountable.
In Math, we’ve been exploring Number Sense by working with place value, rounding numbers, and solving real-life word problems. Students have been using base ten blocks, number lines, counters, pictures, and different forms like expanded, written, and standard to represent numbers in many ways. This hands-on approach is helping build a solid foundation in math concepts.
In Language, we’ve been practicing different reading strategies such as reading to self, reading to a partner, and writing responses to what we’ve read. We’ve also been working on letter writing. While our letter to Duke the dog didn’t convince him to go home with any of the students, he has promised to visit us every day for tummy rubs and cuddles!
For Inquiry, we’ve been learning about plants, focusing on acorns and how they grow into oak trees. We’ve discussed the life cycle of plants and what they need to grow, including the process of photosynthesis. The students are excited to continue exploring how plants impact our environment.
In Art, we’ve been discussing the history and experiences of Indigenous Peoples, focusing on the impact of colonization and residential schools. We are contributing to the "Project of Hearts" mural that we started last year, as a way to show our respect and understanding, and to ensure we continue working towards reconciliation and awareness in our community.
Overall, September has been an amazing month of learning and growth. Thank you for your continued support as we move forward with an exciting year ahead!
JUNIOR MIDDLE
Happy September! We have been having such a great time in Junior Middle this month. It has been a pleasure getting to know each student through games, discussions, and art!
In Math, we have been working on improving our math skills through various challenges that require us to think outside the box. We also have been working on the question of "how do we compare things?" In this unit, we explore place value and compare numbers through games and problem-solving tasks. Next, we will move on to comparing decimals, fractions, and units of measurement!
In inquiry, we have been putting our Arts skills to the test! We have been using our artistic and dramatic skills to bring the topic of Rocks and Minerals to life! Our creative and critical-thinking minds have allowed us to explore the importance and creation of rocks through dramatic role-play. The class has acted out how the use of rocks has changed from prehistoric to modern times. They have explored why rocks are needed for things like paint, with outdoor nature painting using only things we have found outside. Finally, we have explored the creation and classification of rocks. We have done this by collecting and examining rocks as well as acting out the rock cycle. It has been amazing watching the class use their problem-solving skills to figure out how they can show what they know in a way beyond pencil and paper.
I cannot believe that it has only been one month of school! I am looking forward to seeing what October will bring!
UPPER MIDDLE
Welcome back Royal Oak!
It is the end of September already and the Upper Middle class hit the ground running. After the first week of getting to know each other, We dove into our first unit of measurement where students had the opportunity to explore the school and practice measuring objects and calculating area, perimeter and surface area of objects they encounter every day! Stay tuned for our coding ozobot activity coming up soon! We have spent the month of September exploring space and the vast unknowns waiting to be discovered. Currently students are participating in a NASA art project that is challenging them to think about what the ocean on Neptune's moon Europa might look like in preparation for the Europa Clipper to set off to explore next month. In Language Arts we are nearing the end of our Schooled novel study in which we have explored different elements of language as a writer such as identifying character traits, plot and theme and as a reader in the form of making connections. As we move into October we will be beginning our spelling word study program.
Outside of the classroom we have had the honour of being selected to replace the Canadian flags on the graves of local veterans alongside veterans from the Niagara-on-the-Lake Legion in preparation for Remembrance Day. Students learned about the historical importance of the area our school resides in and learned about some of the names they saw in the cemetery. Our class also was tasked with organizing this year's Terry Fox Run. Students successfully created unique and engaging stations that were set up throughout the length of the run to teach the rest of the school about Terry Fox and his journey. In honour of Truth and Reconciliation Day our class dressed in Orange to honour children who attended Residential Schools in Canada and we traveled to the Landscape of Nations to learn about Indigenous history and culture.
There are so many exciting things in store for October. Stay tuned for the great work coming up!
LANDSCAPE OF NATIONS TRC FIELD TRIP |
Today marks an important day of observance in Canada and ROCS students spent it learning at the Landscape of Nations monument at Queenston Heights. Annually, ROCS students visit this valuable site on Truth and Reconciliation day to learn about the Indigenous contributions to our local area and to respect the past and present stories of this community. The Landscape of Nations is a living memorial dedicated to the contributions and sacrifices made by Six Nations and Native Allies on Queenston Heights and equally important, throughout the War of 1812. As part of our Inquiry/Outdoor education philosophy, ROCS students were given the chance to compare and contrast the lives of Indigenous peoples and the tragic history of residential schools, which remain a black spot in Canada’s past. We must not forget and learn from this so that future generations of Indigenous and Canadian citizens reflect on how important cultural relevance is.
Upper Middle Students Participate in Flag raising ceremonies with The Royal Canadian Legion
As part of the Upper Middle Inquiry Curriculum, ROCS students were honoured to be asked to help the NOTL chapter of the Royal Canadian Legion replace Canada Flags on the graves of veterans in the cemeteries in NOTL. They learned about the veterans during a lesson, where each student was asked to learn more about one soldier whose name was mentioned as a veteran and who is interned in the cemetery. The students then learned about the Polish burial ground that is located off Byron St. and that the town of NOLT was used as a training ground for soldiers during WWI.
COMMUNITY FRIDAYS
Starting on October 25, Students in Primary to Upper Middle (Ms. Robin’s Class, Ms. Tobin’s Class, Ms. N’s and Ms. Castelli’s) will be spending one Friday each Month out in the community to engage with our partners and explore learning opportunities in Niagara on the Lake. We will participate in programming at the NOTL Library for the afternoon, including using the Maker Space and exploring literature and stories with the NOTL librarians. Students will walk with their classroom teachers to Memorial Park for Lunch at the Gazebo, and continue on from there walking to the library at 14 Anderson Lane. Pick up will be at 3:30pm at the Community Centre and any students in aftercare will return via walking to Royal Oak for their afterschool programming. The next “Community Friday” will take place on November 22. |
PARENT REP-CLASS BREAKFASTS
We can think of no better way to celebrate the start of a new year than to come together in our class communities for some coffee, breakfast and community time in our beautiful courtyard. Class Breakfasts are new this year and with the help of our new Parent Class Representatives, Class Reps will be the point people for class social events, volunteering if needed, and answering any questions about school events in general.
Thank you to the following parents for your engagement and leadership:
Early Years- Syreeta Larkan
Primary- Brianne Hawley
Primary Junior- Kendra Finlay
Junior Middle-Lindsay Tulloch
Upper Middle- We are still looking for a wonderful Upper Middle parent to help as the class parent. Please reach out to Ms. Castelli if you can help.
The Lower School Class breakfast took place on September 24, and was a wonderful opportunity to get to know other families in the Lower School and share some healthy food in our beautiful courtyard.
FALL CLUBS SESSION
Another great session of clubs is starting the week of October 10th, from 3:40 to 4:30pm. We have many different clubs offered for all grade levels from academic and social, to creative and athletic based that students will find interesting, including:
Homework Club begins Wednesday, October 4th. This club is drop in, which means, come as needed! Please email Ms. Robin (Primary/Junior Homework Club) and Ms. Dennis (Middle School Homework Club) if your child will be joining that week. Homework Club runs both Wednesday and Thursday this year from 3:40 to 4:30pm and students must bring their homework or school work that they need to finish. If students come and they do not have any homework to do, they will be asked to go to the Aftercare program instead. |
COFFEE CAFE |
Again this year, we will be continuing with our ROCS Coffee Cafe Fridays. Every Friday morning from 8:15am to about 8:45am, we will be selling coffee and baked goods at the main entrance in the front garden. The Middle School students will be in charge of this event and it will begin on Friday, October 18th. Come out and enjoy a morning treat while helping us fundraise for our year end activities.
Cold and Flu Season Reminders
Sure as the first day of school, cold and flu season is also upon us. Bugs and viruses have hit us even sooner than expected and before most flu and covid boosters have become available, which means we need our whole community’s help in keeping our students and staff safe. A good rule of thumb is if your child requires advil or tylenol for headaches or symptoms- they should be kept home to rest and recover quickly!
School policy regarding illness includes that no child should be sent to school visibly sick, including:
Fever
Persistent cough or sneezing
nausea/vomiting
For more detailed information on our illness protocol, please see our Parent Handbook, but be advised, parents will be called to pick up any children showing visible signs of illness or cold/flu.
LOOKING FOR HANDY PARENT VOLUNTEERS!
The Royal Oak students have expressed a wish for Gaga ball every recess of the week, and we are extending a call for handy volunteers to build a portable Gagaball court for our students! The school will pay for all resources, and are hoping for a design like this one below:
Please reach out to Julia if you feel you may have the skills and time to help make recess at Royal Oak even more fun:) !
ROYAL OAK PD CAMPS, NOVEMBER BREAK AND WINTER BREAK DAY CAMP
Royal Oak will be offering PD camps, as well as November Break, Winter Break and March Break camps this year. This is dependent on enrollment for the day and will only run if there are 6 or more children. If you are interested in having your child in our Royal Oak Camps, please see our website Here or email camps@royaloakschool.ca . The camps will be $50 per day and include fun academic, creative and sports related activities based on our inquiry and outdoor education philosophy.
Again this year we will provide PD camps for the public and catholic board PD days. Please see the flyer below and let your friends and family know that we are open for camp on those days for children ages 4 to 12.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, October 3- Alumni/Upper Middle School Pizza Night, 4:30 pm
Wednesday, October 9th - ROCS Golf Tournament Fundraiser
Friday, October 11th - PD day for students, PD Camp available, all staff at school in Professional Dev.
Monday, October 14th - Thanksgiving Holiday - No School
Monday, October 16th- Primary field trip to the the Great Pumpkin Patch
Friday, October 25th- NOTL library visit- Pick-up at the NOTL Community Centre
Thursday, October 31st- Halloween Dress up and Community Trick or Eat
ROCS COMMUNITY PARTNER SHOUT OUT |
Royal Oak Community School is lucky to have wonderful partnerships with a variety of community businesses. From our Local Lunch vendors, to community businesses like the Exchange Brewery that lend us their events tent, we rely on the generosity of local businesses to help with the running of our school. Earlier this month, Lakehouse, Decor & More was so nice to donate sensory items, keychains, tactile tools and classroom supplies to our school. The Lakehouse Decor & More is located in Port Colborne and does charity work with the local community support group Port Cares. We would like to say a big thank you to them for the donations and if you are in Port Colborne, please visit.
A LOOK AHEAD AT ROCS |
HAPPY FALL ROCS!!!
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