MON. 20 AUG. 2018
Dear Parents,
The first four days of the new school went very well last week. I’m enjoying the experience of working with the students. They are a very enthusiastic, inclusive and collaborative group. There are 21 students in the class: 8 girls and 13 boys. I have a strong feeling it’s going to be a successful year for the class and for each individual student. Thanks in advance for your interest and support.
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK
Mon. 20 Aug. - day 6:
Tues. 21 Aug. - day 7:
Wed. 22 Aug: Hari Raya Haji holiday - no school
Thurs. 23 Aug. - day 8:
Fri. 24 Aug. - day 1: First Red Hats’ Free Dress Day. Students can bring a RM5 donation. This money will be tallied, totalled and donated to a local community support organization which works closely with Grade 5. We will send Red Hats to grade level common areas from 7:30-7:50am with baskets/boxes to collect donations.
G5 students will be presented with their new red hats by our ES Principal - Julie Olson - from 1:30-2:00pm in the G5 common area.
You have until 10:00pm to log onto PowerSchool and sign up your child for their semester 1 after school activities (ASAs).
Sat. 25 Aug: Faculty Inservice Day
WELCOME NEW STUDENTS & FAMILIES
I’d like to welcome 5 new students and their families to 5DH and the ISKL ES :
Chloe Galvin from Australia, Ziqi Du from China, Emily Kang from South Korea, Adam Kruit from Egypt and The Netherlands, and James Field from Canada.
OUR PTA ROOM PARENT
Please let me know via email if you would like to ‘throw your hat in the ring’, as the 5DH Room Parent for this school year.
STUDENT OPTIONS FOR RECESS
At the moment, the students have access to an outdoor space on level 3 - playground A, which is on the same level as the G5 area and the cafeteria. Playgrounds B and C - also on level 3 - are still under construction and eventually will have an Astroturf surface so the students can play soccer, basketball and other ball games. The students can also use the G5 common area for board games, reading, drawing, paper construction etc. Students are supervised at all times in these playground spaces. Later this week, G5 students will also be able to go to the library for lunch recess on odd-numbered days. Our school nurse is keeping a close eye on the air quality and when necessary, the students will not use playground A if the air quality is deemed not suitable for outdoor play.
BASELINE COMMON ASSESSMENTS
Last week the students completed the Math Baseline Common Assessment. This week the students will complete a reading and a writing assessment and new students will be tested to find their current reading level. All of these assessments are designed to help me to get to know your child as a learner.
STUDENT SUPPLIES & CLASSROOM MATERIALS
Some students still need to bring to school a packet of thin assorted color felt markers (Sharpie is one brand name you can buy at local bookstores, but other brands are ok too), a pencil case, a cushion and some students also need to bring a refillable water bottle and hat. Remember to clearly label your child’s materials, including their school and PE uniforms, with their name and class.
LOST & FOUND
Each school year thousands of items of students’ belongings find their way to our ES lost and found area. Please take the time to label each of your child’s belongings with their name and class in a permanent marker. When student belongings are labeled in this way, they are almost always returned to the child.
TECH. ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY (AUP)
All students have returned their ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ (AUP) forms. Thanks for returning the form so quickly.
GETTING TO KNOW THE STUDENTS SHEET
Many thanks to the parents who have already completed and returned the ‘Getting to Know Your Child’ Student Background Questionnaire sent home last Tues. If you haven’t yet done so, please try to complete and return it by this Fri. The information you provide will help me fast track getting to know your child.
STUDENT EMAIL ROLLOUT
All G5 students now have access to their school Panther Apps email addresses. Our new students have also set up their student blogs with the help of Steve Katz, our Info. Lit. teacher, will be speaking to the students shortly about appropriate use of email. Initially, G5 students will only be able to send email to and receive email from other Panther Apps users. If students can use their Panther Apps email appropriately, they will get access to sending external emails later in the year.
SPECIALIST TEACHER CLASSES
Specialist teacher classes began last Wed. 15 Aug. - day 3 of our 8-day rotating schedule. The students have PE with Mr Tim Pettus, Ms Amy Simpson, Ms Jenn Collins and Ms Gail Smith. They have Art with Ms Amy Moretti, Band with Ms Kim Endel, Informational Literacy (Info. Lit.) with Mr Steve Katz, Spanish with Ms Miriam Alvarado or Mr Jorge Arismendi and Mandarin with Mr Li Yan or Ms Ivy Qian.
PE UNIFORMS
A reminder that G5 students should wear their PE uniform to school from Mon. 20 Aug. and whatever day they have PE thereafter. Depending on their World Language assignment, students will be going to PE on odd days or even days of the schedule from 9:05-9:50am on the daily schedule. Students have recorded their PE and World Language days in their home learning planner to help them remember their individual days and their teacher’s names. Students should also bring their school uniform polo shirt and school shorts (or skorts for girls) to change into after their PE class. Packing a small towel is also a good idea. Students are also required to take their hats and water bottles to PE lessons.
PARENT-TEACHER COMMUNICATION & PANTHER APPS
As you know, you can contact me via my ISKL Panther Apps account at dherbert@iskl.edu.my
Please keep me informed on your child’s absences and copy messages to our school nurse Bethanie Christensen at bchristensen@iskl.edu.my Please also notify me of any changes to your child’s transport arrangements (copy me on any emails to the ES Bus Office - esbusing@iskl.edu.my - and of course I welcome feedback on my newsletters. The ISKL Administration and Tech. Dept. request that parents use their ISKL parent Panther Apps email accounts as your primary email address for all school communication. If parents prefer to use another address then we encourage those parents to forward their Panther Apps mail to it. For ease and efficiency of communication we would like to standardize Panther Apps as ISKL's primary parent communication vehicle.
SEMESTER ONE AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES PROGRAM SIGN UP ON POWERSCHOOL
All parents have been sent details on how to sign your child(ren) up for the first semester After School Activities (ASA) Program. From Mon. 13 Aug. until Fri. 24 Aug. at 10:00pm, you can log onto PowerSchool and sign up your child for their activities. If you don’t have access to the internet at the moment, then please email/call/see Jessie Leong in the Melawati Office for help with the sign-up process. You will receive your child’s ASA confirmations on Wed. 29 Aug. and the ASA Program commences on Mon. 3 Sept.
CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts – writing, spelling, reading, speaking and listening:
We started the school year last Tues. morning with a lot of discussion and questions on class and school routines, class expectations and labeling and sorting the students’ school materials & supplies. The students were also involved in a “Getting To Know You Circle’, where they introduced themselves to each other: name, home country/countries, family, holiday highlight and any questions. I also began reading our first class read-aloud titled, ‘Home of the Brave’ by Katherine Applegate. The students also visited the library last Wed. for their first book check out session. The students will visit the library every day 3 from 1:00-1:30 for a library lesson and each day 7 at the same time for book checkout. Each afternoon last week 1:00 - 2:00pm, all G5 students were involved in our Red Hats leadership training and team building program in the G5 common area. The program will continue each day this coming week at the same time. All G5 students will be presented with their red hats at the final Red Hats training session later this week on Fri. 24 Aug.
Math:
Last week for math, the students played games of the strategy dice game, ‘Yahtzee’ in groups of 3-4. The students also completed their math baseline common assessments. They also completed a baseline math concepts test, which tests their knowledge and retention of concepts and skills from 4th grade. All G5 students will be tested so that we can get a clear picture of each child’s strengths and areas for improvement at the beginning of the school year. This week, the students will begin our first math unit: ‘Place Value and Whole Number Operations’.
WHAT KIND OF SMART ARE YOU?
Amy Schneider, our G5 LR (Learning Resource) Teacher, conducted a lesson titled, ‘What kind of smart are you?’ last Thurs. morning, where the students delved into the theory of multiple intelligences, by Howard Gardner, a renowned researcher from Harvard University in the USA. Students identified if they felt they were word smart, music smart, nature smart, humor smart, people smart, picture smart, body smart, tech. smart and number smart. They also identified a couple of ‘smarts’ they wished they were.
COMPASS POINTS
Andrea Bongazone, our G5 EAL support teacher, conducted a lesson titled ‘Compass Points’ last Wed. The students had the opportunity to write any questions they have on post-it notes, which will be answered in the next few days North (What do you Need to know?), East (What Excites you about this year?), South (What Suggestions do you have for our class, grade level, this year etc) and West (What Worries you at the moment?).
INFO. LIT.
Steve Katz, our Information Literacy (Info. Lit.) teacher, also conducted an intro. lesson on laptop care and the AUP (Acceptable Use (of Tech.) Policy) last Tues. from 9:00 - 9:30am. Shortly, the students will be introduced to the computer keyboarding program - www.typing.com, which they will practice on at school over the next few weeks to improve their keyboarding technique, accuracy and speed. The students may also practice their keyboarding skills at home using this website.
AUG. SEPT. & OCT. CLASS, GRADE LEVEL & SCHOOL HAPPENINGS
Tues. 28 Aug: G3-5 ES Open House, 6:30-8:30pm. Details TBA
Wed. 29 Aug: - You will receive your child’s ASA confirmations
PR-G2 Open House, 6:30-8:30pm. Details TBA
Fri. 31 Aug: Merdeka Day holiday - no school
Mon. 3 Sept: semester 1 ASAs Program commences.
Fri. 7 Sept: Melati Wijsen’s presentation to G5 students - Mon. 6 Sept. 1:00-1:45 in the G5 common area
Mon. 10 Sept: King’s Birthday holiday - no school
Tues. 11 Sept: Awal Muharram holiday - no school
Mon. 17 Sept: Malaysia Day holiday - no school
Thurs. 4 & Fri. 5 Oct: ES Parent Conferences
Thurs. 11 Oct: First 6 presenters will present at our Social Change Maker’s Conference - SCMC. Final 6 presenters will present on Thurs. 4 April 2019
Mon. 22 Oct: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students
Tues. 23, Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct: G5 Melaka overnight trip - details TBA
Until next week,
Best regards,
David
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