MON. 3 SEPT. 2018
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK
Mon. 3 Sept. - day 6: Semester 1 ASAs start at 2:45pm
Tues. 4 Sept. - day 7: G5 students will complete their MAP Reading test from 10:30-11:30am
PTA Meeting/HOS new campus update/Volunteer Fair, 9:30-11:30am, MPR 2/3.
Also G5 Parent Coffee Meeting, from 1:00-2.30pm.
Wed. 5 Sept. - day 8: Counselor Coffee Chat, "Managing Transitions," at 8:15am. Counselor Coffee chats are offered by ISKL's Counselors several times during the school year on topics relevant and current to supporting children both at school and at home.
Thurs. 6 Sept. - day 1:
G5 students will complete their MAP Math test from 10:30-11:30am
Fri. 7 Sept. - day 2: Melati Wijsen’s presentation to G5 students from 1:30-2:15 in the G5 common area
Mon. 10 Sept: King’s Birthday holiday - no school
Tues. 11 Sept: Awal Muharram holiday - no school
G3-5 OPEN HOUSE THANKS
Thanks to parents who attended Open House last Tues. night. It was great to meet you or see you once again. Thanks for your support. I hope you found the evening informative and you enjoyed meeting the fifth grade team of teachers and exploring the 5DH classroom. The students really enjoyed receiving their notes from parents the next morning. It’s been a very busy start to the school year for all concerned and I understand if you were not able to make it on the night. If you were not able to make it or you would like to review our presentation, I have posted it on the 5DH Class Blog. Click on ‘Class Documents’ to find it: ‘G5 Open House 2018-2019’.
ROOM PARENT TEAM
I’d like to thank both Anne Marie Godin - James’ mum - and Sarah Galvin - Chloe’s mum - for stepping up to be our 5DH Room Parents this year.
Anne Marie’s email address is - agodin@iskl.edu.my
Sarah’s email address is - sgalvin@iskl.edu.my
CLASS WHATSAPP GROUP
A reminder to send your name and cell phone number to Sarah Galvin so she can create our 5DH class Whatsapp group. Once the group is created, parents can then start using it for a variety of reasons, including organizing play dates, sleepovers etc. which will be very important preparation for our overnight trip to Melaka in late Oct.
SEMESTER 1 G5 BAND AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY (ASA)
A reminder that all G5 students need to have their instruments each Monday afternoon from Mon. 3 Sept. for their G5 Band ASA from 2:45 - 3:45pm. Students will be allowed to take home their instruments for practice from Fri. 7 Sept.
MAP (MEASURES OF ACADEMIC PROGRESS) TESTS:
All G5 students will complete two computer-based standardized MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests on the class laptop computers, as part of our annual MAP student assessment program. All students will be tested on their reading and math concepts. Here are the dates and times for 5DH students so please mark your calendars:
Reading - Tues. 4 Sept. from 10:30-11:30am
Math - Thurs. 6 Sept. from 10:30-11:30pm
As occurred last year, the students will take MAP tests twice: in Aug. 2018 and towards the end of April/early May 2019. MAP test results will be available to teachers for instructional purposes. Results will be communicated to parents and will be made available to you electronically. The students do not need to prepare for their MAP tests. The tests measure each student’s accumulated conceptual development up to the point of taking each test. Please ensure your child has a good night’s sleep the night before the scheduled tests as well as a good breakfast. Don’t stress if your child is absent on one or more of the testing days due to illness. We have organized for G5 students to complete any missed tests on Wed. 12 Sept.
HOME LEARNING TAB ON 5DH CLASS BLOG
As was mentioned at Open House last Tues. night, we are rolling out the G5 Home Learning Choice Board from this Mon. Students and parents can check out the weekly home learning choice board by clicking on the ‘Home Learning’ link on the 5DH Class Blog.
KEYBOARDING PRACTICE AT HOME
This week, the students will begin using an online computer keyboarding program titled, ‘Typing’ - www.typing.com The beauty of this program is that the students can log on to the website at home and practice at their leisure. Each student has their Panther Apps login details glued in their homework planners, which is what they need to login to the typing.com website. In order for the students to become adept keyboarders in terms of their speed and accuracy, research shows that the students must memorize the ‘QWERTY’ keyboard, use the ‘home row’ typing technique and look at the screen, not the keys. To help the students with the above, their hands need to be covered when they’re typing. At school, the students will be using plastic keyboard covers. At home, the students could use a ‘tea towel’ or ‘hand towel’, which can be folded to cover their hands. If you’re not familiar with the term, a tea towel is a cotton cloth used to dry dishes. Please keep an eye on your child’s keyboarding technique and remind them to not ‘hunt and peck’ the keys with one or two fingers. Thanks in advance for your support with this request.
TRASH FREE LUNCHES & BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
As we mentioned at Open House last Tues. night, ‘Trash Free Birthdays’ is an ES-wide initiative that helps us to ‘take care of this place’ (an important part of the Melawati Way) and make our school practices more environmentally sustainable. Click on the link below to learn more.
Trash Free Fridays
The link contains ideas and suggestions on how you and your child can reduce the amount of packaging in your child’s snacks and lunches, which reduces the amount of trash going into local landfills and therefore protects the environment. Please have a chat with your child about product packaging and the reasons why a trash free lunch is best for the environment. We would also like to see all student’s birthday celebrations at school become trash free. Please think twice before bringing/sending along individually wrapped cupcakes, goody bags, boxed drinks etc. that typically have loads of packaging, as these items cannot be reused or recycled and end up in landfills. There are plenty of nutritious and trash free alternatives to consider when thinking about how to celebrate your child’s birthday at school. Thanks in advance for your consideration.
MELATI WIJSEN PRESENTATION
On this Fri. 7 Sept. we are excited to announce that Melati Wijsen will present to our G5 students in the G5 common area from 1:30-2:15. My wife - Julie James - our HS GAP Director - has been able to organize Melati and her mother to visit ISKL and present to our ISKL students. Melati and her sister Isabel attend the Green School in Bali. In 2015, when they were around 12 years old, the sisters decided to stand up for the environment and campaign against single use plastic bags in Bali. They initiated a program titled ‘ Bye Bye Plastic Bags’. They promoted the program on this TED Talk so please watch it to give yourself some background knowledge and to promote discussion with your child before Melati’s visit. The Wijsen sisters are role models for our students on their quest to become ‘socially responsible global citizens’, keywords in our ISKL Mission Statement.
CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last Mon. the students began working in their first book club groups. The idea is similar to adult book clubs. Each book club is composed of 5 students on similar reading levels and they all read and discuss the same book over a number of weeks, depending on the book. The students use ‘think marks’ which are symbols to record their thinking about characters, plot, setting, themes etc. in their reading/writing notebooks and they share their thinkmarks at regular intervals when their book club group meets to chat about characters, events, setting etc. On Wed. The students also continued their year-long ‘Free Choice Writing Project’ where they continued the process of writing and publishing their own realistic or fantasy story on their laptops using a Google doc. Students were also involved in daily read-to-self sessions, where they worked on building their reading stamina. I also continued reading our read-aloud titled, ‘Home of the Brave’ by Katherine Applegate.
Math:
Last Mon. the students continued their first math unit titled, ‘Place Value and Whole Number Operations’. Lessons covered last week:
The students completed Lesson 2: Powers of 10, Lesson 3: Estimating Products and
Lesson 4: Area Model & Standard Algorithm (method)
Social Studies:
Last week. the students continued their first social studies unit, titled ‘Red Hats: Leadership’, which is an 4 week unit for G5. The students discussed the ISKL Mission which focuses on students becoming ‘socially responsible global citizens’ and they began a reflection on what that statement means to them.
INFO. LIT:
Last Mon. Steve Katz worked with new 5DH students on setting up their student blogs.
COUNSELLING LESSONS
Counseling lessons with Stephanie Stone, our G3-5 Student Counselor, will begin during the next 8-day cycle which begins this Thurs. 6 Sept. Stephanie will teach 5DH students from 8:30-9:00am each day 7. Stephanie’s first lesson in 5DH will be on Wed. 19 Sept.
UPCOMING AUG. SEPT. & OCT. CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Fri. 14 Sept: Hari Raya Cultural Day & Merdeka Celebration. Students are encouraged to dress in traditional Malay dress. Look for reused outfits on Want Ads and clothing for sale locally.
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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