Students Visit Seniors’ Centre
On Tuesday January 12, 2010 some of the A.G.B.U. Zaroukian School students visited the Leisure World Seniors’ Centre for the Armenian Christmas celebration, along with our parish priest Rev. Father Zareh Arch. Zargarian.
Father Zargarian blessed the water and salt and gave communion to the elderly, while the students sang with their angel voices and wished the elderly good health and prosperity.
It was a great experience for the students to watch the grandmothers and grandfathers in their surroundings, away from home.
A.G.B.U. Zaroukian School Walkathon
On Sunday September 27, 2009 the A.G.B.U. Zaroukian School organized its first annual Walk-a-thon. The 2.5 kilometer walk from the A.G.B.U. School to the Scarborough Civic Centre and back included friends, families, faculty, and students of all ages. The energetic bunch had fun while making a valuable contribution to the school. Principal Lucy Hopyan greeted the participants at the finish line with snacks and refreshments. Overall it was a very successful event raising $4,500. Thank you for all the support and the dedication, looking forward to seeing you again next year!
EQAO School Report October 2009
AGBU Zaroukian School – EQAO School Report
It is with great pleasure that I provide you with our school’s report on the Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, in the Primary Division which includes Grades 1-3 and Junior Division which includes Grades 4-6 for the 2008-2009 school year. The EQAO assessments are conducted annually and are directly linked to The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8 and measure how well students can demonstrate their knowledge and skills in reading, writing and mathematics.
Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) test results – grade 3’s last year:
Reading : 80% compared to the provincial 61%
Writing: 80% compared to the provincial 68%
Math: 100% compared to the provincial 70%
Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) test results – grade 6’s last year:
Reading (including comprehension): 100% compared to the provincial 69%
Writing: 100% compared to the provincial 67%
Math: 67% compared to the provincial 63%
The students’ work is evaluated according to four levels of achievement, with Level 3 representing achievement at the provincial standard. Our overall students’ results reflect Level 3 & 4, with the exception of mathematics in grade 6 which is a result of a few Level 1 scores within the pool; skewing the results. With the bulk of our students performing at Levels 3 & 4, it is evident that our students are demonstrating the required knowledge and skills as expected by provincial standards and at times exceeding these expectations. Results from previous years also indicate similar high scores in the achievement of our students in comparison to the provincial scores (data related to the grade 3 or 6 results from previous years are available if you are interested).
We are providing you with this information, firstly to share how proud we are of our students’ performances on these provincial tests and secondly to assure you of our high standards of education which meet and exceed provincial standards. With the high scores achieved by our students, it is yet another indication of how closely we follow curriculum, how our students compare to the province and how we continue to raise the bar for our students to prepare them for their future educational pathways. We are proud of the balanced program, wide range of subjects, skills and learning experiences we offer in a caring, nurturing and engaging manner.
We wouldn’t be able to do this without your help and support. With this letter, we would like to congratulate you and thank you for believing in our school and our philosophy, and for helping us support your children so that they get the very best educational experience that they deserve. Thank you also to all of our teachers for your consistent and genuine dedication and hard work. We need to continue to work together and support one another to ensure that our students continue to achieve their highest potential.
Well done Zaroukian School Staff, Students and Parents… we are proud of you!
Sincerely,
Ms. Lucy Hopyan (Principal)
Walkathon
Dear all:
The AGBU Zaroukian School is organizing a walkathon on Sunday September 27th, at 1:30 p.m.
This special fundraising walk will start from the AGBU Centre at 930 Progress Avenue . We will stop at the Scarborough Civic Centre and return to the AGBU Centre.
Proceeds from this walkathon will benefit our School.
Below is a pledge form for your consideration.
Please let us know if you would like to support our school and join the walkathon on September 27th
Thank you.
Click here to download the sponsor page!
Armenian Independence Day – Dillon Maillet
September 19th was Armenian Independence Day. We all ate cake, sang songs, and saw the Grade 6s pull up the flags.
The singing sounded spectacular! I felt so many vibrations. The sight was fantastic and everyone sang in a lovely way. Everyone should be proud of themselves. Good job everyone!
I think everyone wants to be in Grade 6 so that they could pull the flags on Independence Day. I want to do it too, but I have to grow up more. I am almost there.
We of course sang the National Anthem. I love the National Anthem. We have a tradition of singing it all the time. It’s not just a tradition, it’s to thank God. Everyone was in the choir. Good job!
Lastly that cake we ate was so good. It was chocolate-y, yummy, sprinkle-y goodness. I got two slices of it. It was fantastic.
We had fun celebrating Armenian Independence Day.
Armenian Independence Day – Larine Torikian
On Friday, September 19 we had the Armenian Independence Day. We sang songs, said poems and said prayers. At the end we also had cake. It was delicious.
Outside in front of the school we sang O Canada, the Armenian anthem and the school anthem. While we were singing the Grade 6 boys raised the Armenian, Canadian and school flags. It looked great. After, they lit the candles and put them at the big monument.
After we sang all of the songs, we prayed because it is tradition. We prayed in Armenian. Then the outside activities were done.
Inside, we sang two songs in Armenian. I didn’t really have a favourite song. I sang softly, although there were many people singing loudly.
Armenian Independence Day was a lot of fun!
Armenian Independence Day – Remy Guirguis
Armenian Independence Day was on September 19th. It was really nice.
We started out by going outside. When we got outside, the teachers told us to never forget the Armenian language. The three Grade 6 boys pulled the Armenian, school and Canadian flags up the flag poles. It was so hot outside that day!
When we were back inside the lobby, the Grade 4 boys said poems about Armenian Independence Day and so did the Grade 5s.
I hope that you enjoyed the day too!
The Best Hantess Ever – Lori Kazandjian
The hantess was so much fun! Everyone in the school came. We all sang songs and performed funny plays. We did the hantess on the Armenian Community Centre Stage. It was on Wednesday, October 15, 2008. We celebrated Ovaness Toumanian.
The Grade 5s and 6s performed a really funny play called A Drop of Honey. It was about a shepherd who had a dog and they wanted honey. The storekeeper gave him honey but some fell on the floor. A fly came and landed on the honey. The storekeeper’s cat jumped on the fly and killed it. Then the dog killed the cat, the storekeeper killed the dog, the shepherd killed the storekeeper and the villagers came and killed the shepherd. They all died just because of the drop of honey! Aren was the storekeeper, the shepherd was played by Araz, Nicole was the cat, Larine was the dog, Elizabeth was the fly and the rest were villagers.
The stage was beautiful. There were lots of colours. For instance there were blue, green, orange and red lights. The food was rice, hummus, salad, meat and other delicious food. Miss Datev drew lots of beautiful pictures such as girls and boys dancing. The tables were decorated with white covers and had very nice centre pieces. The stage was covered with streamers and lots of books by Ovaness Toumanian.
Lots of family members came. The parents were happy that their children participated in plays. The costumes were dresses, skirts, shirts, vests, pants, shoes and ribbons.
The Hantess was successful and all of the parents were satisfied.
An Important Hantess – Lori Karamanlian
The students of A.G.B.U. had a night to remember. Everyone was overjoyed for this hantess. It was to celebrate the 120th anniversary of a famous writer, Ovaness Toumanian. It was performed at the A.G.B.U. center, on October 15th. There was singing, dancing, music, plays and it was very entertaining.
There were many songs sung, all in Armenian. “It didn’t take long for us to learn the songs,” states Nicole, Grade 6. The plays were performed nicely, and were all written by Toumanian. “I want to do our play again!” says Larine Grade 5. It was the first hantess of the year so everyone was excited.
This performance has historic value. It was to show respect to Ovannes Toumanian, who was a famous Armenian children’s author. It was his birthday, but also October 15th is the day Armenians became free as a culture. “We believe that we keep our culture as long as we live!” exclaims Digin Gadar.
All the students of the A.G.B.U. Zaroukian school prepared this hantess. All of the parents came to see their children perform. “It was very entertaining” say a couple of parents. “We worked really hard for this,” says the principal, Madame Hopyan.
This hantess went really well. For the next hantess, everyone will be coming with high expectations.
The Shrieky Creepy Halloween Party – Shant Cholakian
It was 2:10 p.m. on October 31, 2008 when the A.G.B.U. Zaroukian School began to celebrate Halloween. The students were very pleased about the party. “The Halloween party was fun,” says Aaron in Grade 4.
All the students dressed up as different things. For instance, there were witches, wizards, magicians, zombies, and ghosts. Many people dressed up as characters from Star Wars. “Some people dressed up as Darth Vader,” says Aaron.
We had a parade in all the classes. Even the nurseries! They had a fashion show in the lobby. We also had parties in our classes. “There were snacks and pop,” says Remy Grade 4.
Everyone had a great time.