Dear Oakwood Parent or Guardian Our students are con nuing to excel in their academic and extra-curricular ac vi es. It is my pleasure to

share with you some of the events that have happened here at Oakwood since last December.

Mr. Nosov

FromthePrincipal

February2015

2015-2016 Course Selection

Our Guidance counsellors visited classes from Feb. 6th

to the 13th to provide informa�on about course selec-

�on for next year.

Computer lab sessions to select courses will be from

March 2nd to March 6th. Students may also do this

from home.

Our Guidance Department is available to students and

their parents for consulta�on around student pathways

and success. Please feel free to set up an appointment.

Stand Tall!!

On February 5th, grade 9 students par�cipated in a school mental

wellness conference, Stand Tall, organized by Ms. Saum, Ms. Jones

and Ms. Uberoi. Students began the day with an inspira�onal speech

given by life coach, Kevin Wilson. Throughout the rest of the day

students rotated through 6 sessions; Youth in Control, Resiliency,

Nutri�on, Stereotypes, Mindfulness, and Stop the S�gma. Senior

students from Ms. Saum’s Leadership class and CAPUT made the day

possible by facilita�ng two sessions and ac�ng as group leaders

throughout the day. Overall, the day was a huge success. Thank you

to all of the grade nines for their outstanding par�cipa�on and to all

the staff and students who supported the event.

New Oakwood Website

Our new website is up and running!

h�p://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/oakwoodci/Home.aspx

There you will find a calendar, and links to many

important pages.

We have also compiled and posted on our website a list

of "Notable Former Students", which includes an

Ontario Premier, two Supreme Court jus�ces, three

Cabinet Ministers, three Juno Award winners, three

Rhodes Scholars, and twenty-three Members of the

Order of Canada.

We are especially grateful to Ms. Paterson, our School

Council co-chair, and Oakwood teacher Mr. Levy, for

their help with the new website.

Science & Technology News

Musical Instruments!

Grade 11 Physics students have designed and constructed working musical instruments. This STEM-oriented ac�vity combined

skills of crea�vity, engineering, mathema�cs and physics to produce instruments capable of playing a full octave. Thank you to

Mr. Locke in music for helping out Mr. Tsilfidis’ physics students.

Photosynthesis!

Grade 12 Biology students designed and tested inves�ga�ons studying the effects of light quality and carbon dioxide

concentra�on on the rate of photosynthesis in

aqua�c plants. Students experienced the

challenge of designing and carrying out

experimental protocols to test their hypotheses.

STEM Program (Science, Technology, Engineering

and Mathema�cs). Our 20 first-year STEM

students are ac�vely preparing for the University

of Waterloo Math contests which will be wriCen

on Feb. 24th. Students are aCending weekly

lunch�me tutorials with Mr. Fleisher.

Before the winter break the STEM students

organized themselves into groups and began

using the Lego Mindstorms kits to assemble an

instruc�onal bot. They are now going to learn

about using the various gears, sensors and

programming capabili�es. This is our lead-up to

the first ever "Bot BaCles" that will be taking

place in the spring. Our teams will design, build

and program their own bots which will compete

in the baCle ring. Best of luck to all.

Field Trip to U of T

Grade 11 physics students will be visi�ng U of T’s

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty for a

day of university life on Feb. 20th. They will be

receiving a special talk and par�cipa�ng in panel

discussions and workshops. The STEM students

will also be invited to aCend this field trip.

Chess Club

Oakwood Collegiate offers a fabulous Chess Club on Tuesdays at lunch in the Library.

All students are welcome to join!

Beginners and more advanced players learn to improve their games strategies and techniques, and prac�ce playing chess and

solving chess puzzles and diagrams such as rook checkmates, castling, and promo�ng a pawn. We will be compe�ng against other

schools in the near future. Thank you Ms. Bana for your leadership with the Oakwood Chess Club!

The Oakwood Moderns Department is going to

France!

While March Break 2016 is a long way off, we are preparing for our

trip to France and Barcelona. Stops on our adventure include Paris,

Provence, Nîmes, Carcassone and then off to sunny Barcelona!

This trip provides an amazing opportunity for students to experience

French culture, communicate using their learned French skills and

foster their independence as they travel.

We are all very excited about the trip and are making prepara�ons

even now, a year in advance. Students have been par�cipa�ng in

bake sales in their efforts to raise funds to offset the cost of such a

great adventure.

Recognizing Excellence at Oakwood

On Dec. 18th, we were delighted to award a cer�ficate to

all students on our Honour Roll. A box of "smar�es" was

also included. We also recognized every Oakwood

student with perfect aCendance. Our Honour Roll is

proudly displayed in the main office.

Congratula�ons also to our January 2015 Students of the

Month: Jacob D.; Michael M.; Julien TB.; Chris�na F.; Lisa

D.; Harley L.; Jansen Z.; Shaniya C.; Jenna T.S.; Gabby B.;

Asia J.; Jeorge O.; Clara Y.; Keowa W.; Natalie C.B.;

Farazana H.; Laura Mae B.; Alexander G.; Cohen D.;

Laurita P.; Fiona A.

Holiday Assembly

Students, parents and community members enjoyed an

evening of music, dance and drama�c performances at our

annual holiday assembly.

Visiting Choir

On Jan. 16, we were delighted that students from Oakwood University visited

Oakwood Collegiate on Jan. 16th.

Oakwood University is a private, historically black university located in Huntsville,

Alabama, and one of our proud alumni, George Ashley PhD, is the Ac�ng Vice

President of Academic Administra�on.

Their choir was in Toronto to perform at an event, and Prof. Ashley wanted to give something back to his old high school while he

was in town.

What an outstanding performance! As well, several students from this university--which is noted for the excep�onal number of

graduates it sends to medical school--answered ques�ons from our students about university life.

Right To Play

On February 19, Oakwood hosted 92 Right To Play Junior Leaders

from 9 Toronto schools for Right To Play’s Play Academy. The day

was spent learning about Right To Play’s mission and goals, and

playing and instruc�ng each other in specialized games designed to

teach social jus�ce

and children’s rights.

Oakwood’s Junior

Leaders are working

to organize Today

We Play, a na�onal

play day, in the

spring at Rawlinson

Community School.

Thank you Mr.

Bodden for your

leadership!

Oakwood Hockey

We traveled to

Peterborough in

January to play

in the St. Peters

Classic, where

over 50 teams

from all over

Ontario and

Quebec were

compe�ng. Our

team made it to

the semi-final of

this year’s Varsi-

ty Tier II hockey, but lost to a strong team from Harbord. For

two consecu�ve years we have reached the final four. Way

to go boys, and thank you to our outstanding coaches Mr.

Bodden, Mr. Book, Mr. Levy and Mr. Walters.

Curling Rocks @ Oakwood

Curling has been played in Canada since the

1700s, and is played on ice created of water

droplets sprayed on ice to form a pebbled

surface. The goal is to project a granite stone

(from the Bri�sh Isles) down the ice into the

centre of a circle.

Students from grades 9 to 12 joined the

Oakwood Curling Team in such numbers that

we were able to form two co-ed teams, both

comprised of beginners as well as experienced

curlers.

Training and prac�ces took place in November

and December, and Oakwood competes

against other TDSB teams. We prac�ce and

oNen compete at the High Park Club.

One of our players, Fiona A., owns her own

brush, which belonged to her grandfather, an

avid curler!

Good luck to our teams in the play offs, and at

the final on March 3rd.

Our Senior Boys basketball team (above) is heading to the

city finals! Way to go boys, and thank coach Miller for your

outstanding leadership. Our Junior Boys had a 17-5 season

and placed second in the south region under Mr. Abankwa’s

fabulous coaching!