APRIL @ ROCS

Royal Oak School

April 30th, 2024

APRIL NEWSLETTER

Dear Royal Oak Families,

It’s hard to believe that we are coming into May and our last full month of the academic year. There are a lot of events happening in the next little while and it is ROCS’ hope that it will be a great end to this school year. We are in the midst of finalizing admissions and are getting great responses from the community with new families visiting and coming in for September. If families have not completed their re-enrollment and FAST bursary applications, please do so as soon as possible because we are seeing an influx of students for September, especially in the Primary and Primary Junior classes. Families are encouraged to reach out to me with any questions that they might have about admissions, re-enrollment or FAST applications.

Our Lower School and Middle School classes will start the Spring CAT5 testing in May. The Canadian Achievement Test is a continuation from last year’s total school assessment and will show the administration and the teachers what we will need to focus on in the coming year. This assessment is done online and will review Literacy and Mathematics. Please reach out to the homeroom teachers if you have any questions.

Class events this month:

Early Years had a visit from the Shaw Festival this past Thursday. The Primary Junior and Junior Middle classes will be visiting Brock University for the annual Niagara Children’s Water Festival. This is a great event that has children engage in hands-on curriculum-connected activities that educate students about the importance of our most valuable natural resource: water. The goal of the festival is to develop our future decision makers by empowering children to initiate behaviour change within their homes, schools and communities.

The Middle School participated in the Can-Film Fest where they watched the movie “Whinnie”, which highlighted the great story of the origins of Whinnie-the-Pooh and the bear’s connection to Canada. And finally, The Primary class made French-Canadian molasses candy as part of their unit about the provinces in Canada. Ms. Robin and her daughter Paris, helped to show the students how to properly pull the taffy to help mix it and then cut it to take it home.

Some important dates coming up that everyone should take note of are:

May 8th- Tennis Club begins at the NOTL Tennis Courts at Memorial Park. Pick-up will be at the tennis courts at 4pm for those students that have joined.
May11th- ROCS 3rd annual Community Bake Sale Fundraiser for Camp Wenonah and Week-Without-Walls. Please sign up at the link below in the article.
May 17th- Parent/Teacher Conferences and PD day. There will be a PD camp offered that day for those that need it. Emails will be sent out to families next week for sign up. There will be no other days offered for conferences and the sign up will be locked as of May 15th.
May 20th- Victoria Day Holiday- there will be no classes.
May 24th- Last day to pay for Camp Wenonah and Week-Without-Walls. More information will be provided next week about final costs.

Thank you all again for the continued support of ROCS

Laureen Dennis, Acting Head of School

Solar Eclipse Fun!

ROCS students were treated to a wonderful presentation from McMaster University Astrophysicist and educators who taught them about the Solar Eclipse that happened this past May 8th. Students asked some great questions as they learned about the science behind the eclipse and why it was such a special moment. ROCS was given enough solar eclipse glasses for every student and staff, plus some extra for family members. The ones that were left, ROCS donated to Eclipse Glasses USA, which is an AAS-approved supplier that collects donations of used, undamaged eclipse glasses. These glasses are inspected for safety and shipped to countries with upcoming eclipse events so school-aged children with limited resources can safely experience a solar eclipse.

Middle School experiences the

Can-Film Fest

This past month the middle school participated in National Canadian Film Day. This annual event began in 2014 and is a festival all across Canada. Schools across the nation tune in to celebrate the art of Canadian film and film making. This year our classes participated by watching A Bear Named Winnie which is the story behind the real live bear who inspired the beloved stories of Winnie the Pooh. Prior to the film we read Finding Winnie written by Lindsay Mattick to provide a little bit of background about the film we would be watching. Students were able to explore their choice of their own Family Tree, documenting a significant moment in their lives as a scrapbook or researching an endangered bear species. Students were surprised to find differences between the book and the film. Students were able to critically think about the inner workings of film making and the realities that directors face when bringing stories to life! Our students received a new found appreciation for film and the behind the scenes of Canadian film making in this fun and engaging event!

EARTH DAY

ROCS celebrated Earth Day with our annual community clean-up. On April 22, the whole school headed over to Simcoe Park with plastic gloves and garbage bags. It was a friendly competition between classes to see who could collect the most garbage, and the winner (in a close call) was the Junior Middle class! Ultimately though, the real winner was our beautiful, clean planet. Thank you ROCS students for making our community nice and clean!

Character Awards and Caribou Front Runners

April’s character trait was Determination. The Early Years class, along with Ms. McMackin taught ROCS students and teachers how to persevere and reach your highest potential through hardwork and determination. Here are our Character Award Winners for this month who are awarded a free dress down day.

Early Years: Nikola F. & Kaia L.

Primary: Merritt H. & Frankie A.C.

Primary Junior: Shanli R.

Junior Middle: Zara P.

Upper Middle: Lev P.S.

Every month, ROCS students from primary to upper middle take part in the Caribou International Math Challenge. The students use this opportunity to extend their abilities and to engage in thought-provoking and “out of the box” application questions that are geared towards their levels.

Our Caribou Math Challenge Class Leaders for April are:

Primary: Evan K & Scarlett H.

Primary Junior: Gabriel M.

Junior Middle: Max R. & Amelia W.

Upper Middle: Wes R.

Community Bake Sale Fundraiser for Camp Wenonah and Week Without Walls

On Saturday, May 11th, ROCS will hold its third annual Community Bake Sale fundraiser for our trips to camp and for Week Without Walls. This is a volunteer event for students and families who wish to use the money raised to pay a portion of their trip the week of June 4th to June 7th. Last year, ROCS raised over $2500 from this event. If you would like to volunteer your time, donate baked goods, drinks or raffle items, please contact laureendennis@royaloakschool.ca or you can sign up HERE for the event. Please reach out to Ms. Dennis if you have any questions.

Classroom Updates

EARLY YEARS

Happy April, everyone! I truly hope you’re enjoying spring as much as we are in Early Years! There has been a lot happening in our class since the last monthly update. In Literacy, we have started a weekly Writer's Workshop, where students are given a sentence starter which they need to copy and then complete the sentence. We've written about things like our favourite seasons, what the best thing to do at recess is, and what one goal they have is right now. We've also been doing a weekly Eric Carle reading and art activity, which you can see in one of the pictures below. In Math, we started the month learning about the different types of coins we have in Canadian money. Now, we're diving into 3D shapes! In Inquiry, we learned about the life cycles of plants and insects. The end of the month brought lessons about Earth Day and how we can take care of the planet. I’m so proud of all of the students and their hard work this past month. I can’t wait to see what fun we get up to over the last couple months of the school year.

PRIMARY

Spring has sprung in Primary!!! April has been a terrific and active month in our classroom. The beginning of the month was our egg colouring experiment. Rather than the traditional method of using water, vinegar and dye, the boys and girls coloured hard-boiled eggs with shaving cream and food colouring. The eggs were beautiful and the children had a blast burying their eggs in the coloured shaving cream. Another creative STEM project that we undertook was making tulips in celebration of the Tulip Festival in Ottawa. Primary is continuing their trek across Canada and learning about various festivals that are organized each year in our provinces. The students made tulip paintings using tubes, acrylic and watercolour paints.

In order to learn about Quebec, Primary celebrated maple syrup production by being active participants in making taffy. The students had to measure and pour the ingredients into the pots and watched as the mixture was heated to a temperature of 124 degrees Celisus. Once the mixture cooled, the students had to ‘pull and twist’ the taffy until it was ready to be cut into bite-sized pieces. This was an awesome experience for the children, who went home very sticky and carrying a bag of delicious taffy. We are now moving onto the Maritimes.

During our Inquiry Unit and Literacy, the boys and girls have also been learning about the Growth and Change of Animals. The students have learned about the different kinds of animals and showed off this knowledge by playing Kahoot! This is always a challenge for the students. Each student has also learned about the life cycle of butterflies, frogs, ladybugs and chickens during our small group reading activities. The Primary students have been busy and eager writers this month. They have had to write about the life cycle of a butterfly, an Eclipse memory piece, and ways to be kind to the Earth for Earth Day. Our math unit for part of April was measurement. The students learned how to use standard and non-standard units of measurement to measure objects around them. They also learned how to use centimetres and metres to measure objects, including themselves! All students love a good read-aloud and Primary students are no different. Having finished Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White last month, we were on the hunt for a new, engaging read-aloud. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl is the latest novel chosen to read to the boys and girls, who are enjoying getting to know James Henry Trotter and all his oversized friends. Another part of Primary is the time the students spend with specialty teachers in various subjects. This month the students have been busy designing and constructing kabuki masks in Drama, learning how to play pickleball in Phys-Ed, and designing structures in Visual Arts. As the month is coming to an end, the students are currently engaged in learning about multiplication and division in math, animal behaviour in Inquiry and creating recycling posters for the classroom bins for Earth Day.

PRIMARY JUNIOR

April brought a whirlwind of excitement to our Grade Primary/Junior classroom! Our explorers delved into the mysteries of the solar eclipse and learned about ecosystems and living systems, sparking curiosity and wonder. Meanwhile, fractions and decimals took center stage in mathematics as students sharpened their skills, preparing for the challenges of measurement. In literacy, our young writers unleashed their creativity, exploring different genres and crafting their own stories, while also expanding their reading skills. Art class was a hub of creativity, with students sculpting, painting, and delving into printmaking, showcasing their talents and imagination. And in health, fun activities taught students about personal hygiene and human development, laying the foundation for a healthy lifestyle. As we eagerly anticipate the adventures of May, let's continue fostering a supportive environment for our students' growth.

JUNIOR MIDDLE

Happy April! It is never a dull moment here at Royal Oak, as there are always so many amazing events and outings. This month, we enjoyed our Thursday local lunches, especially our trip to Sunset Grill. We were also star-struck when we learned about the Solar Eclipse from our guest speakers from McMaster University.

This month has been a buzz of activity as we wrap up all of our major units and assignments in class. This month we have begun to say farewell to our exploration of Katherine Patterson's novel "Bridge to Terabithia". We have been reading this novel since the beginning of January in connection to our Inquiry unit on Global Citizenship and government. To wrap up these units our class is taking part in the "United Imaginary Nations 2024 Summit". This summit meeting will comprise 3 debate days, where the students will use information about their own countries to debate how they would address real-world issues like Covid 19 and the Refugee Crisis. Students will act as representatives of their country as they will be debating these issues following the Parliamentary process.

Our Probability unit ended with a bang as our class had the pleasure of hosting the whole school in a Probability carnival! We had the school come into our class to join in on the games of chance that the students created. They had the opportunity to win tickets to cash in for some amazing prizes. Some popular games were "Ducky Throw" and "Spaceball". Our next unit is Patterning. In this unit, we have been exploring different growing and shrinking patterns. Next month, we will be working on creating patterning picture books to represent different numeric and geometric patterns.

The students are so excited about what next month brings. On Friday, May 3rd we will be heading to the Water Festival at Brock University with the Primary Junior Class. We will also be starting our final major unit on Ancient Civilizations. In this unit, the class will be exploring Ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome! Stay Tuned!

UPPER MIDDLE

As we near the end of the school year we have been very busy in our Upper Middle class! In Math we closed out our Financial Literacy unit with a balanced budget design project and worked through our data literacy where students learned about collecting and interpreting multivariable data. In this last week of April we have kicked off our measurement unit by exploring measurement in nature! In Language Arts this month our class has been focused on descriptive writing which has led into story writing! We are just finishing up our short stories with the help of peer editing and are getting ready to move into writing persuasive essays. In Inquiry we explored Natural Resources and Inequalities around the world. Students investigated global issues and designed infographics about them as well as exploring factors that influence economic growth and quality of life both locally and globally. We are now moving into understanding structures and mechanisms which students recently got to investigate how forces act on unconventional structures internally and externally. Stay tuned to see how students are able to design their own structure that follows an intended function and is inspired by nature!

Outside of the classroom our class learned all about the once in a lifetime experience that was the solar eclipse via a presentation lead by representatives from McMaster University. We celebrated Canada Film Day alongside the Junior Middle class where we learned about the Canadian film industry and film making and watched A Bear Named Winnie which tells the story of the bear who inspired the beloved Winnie the Pooh. To end April in celebration of Earth Day, our class received a visit from the Lorax to talk about the importance of preserving the earth and spent the afternoon at the park safely collecting garbage to help care for the earth and keep our local environment clean. We look forward to spending more time learning outdoors as the warm weather begins to come in throughout the month of May!