NEWSLETTER NO. 8
MON. 1 OCT. 2018
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 1 Oct. (day 7) & Tues. 2 Oct. (day 8) : ISA testing days
Tues. 2 Oct. (day 8): Parent Band Workshop. Parents from 5CC, 5DH and 5KC are invited to attend from 8:40-9:00am in the ES Band Room.
Wed. 3 Oct. (day 1) is the ISA makeup testing day.
G5 students’ Melaka trip parent permission, emergency contact and medical information form should be completed and returned to class teachers.
Thurs. 4 Oct. (day 2) & Fri. 5 Oct. (day 3): ES Parent Conferences. G5 students will be doing three-way conferences so students will also need to come with parents to the conference.
MELAKA TRIP PARENT PERMISSION FORMS
Thanks to all parents for returning your child’s parent permission, medical information and emergency contact form. I’m pleased to inform you that all 5DH students will be going on the trip this year. Shortly, we will begin the process of organizing the students’ hotel room assignments.
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS ASSESSMENT (ISA) SCHEDULE
Here is the testing schedule for this Mon. and Tues:
Mon. 1 Oct. - day 7:
10:35-10:40: Orientation/students details
10:45-11:35: Math Literacy - Part 1
11:40-11:50: Break in classroom
11:55-12:30 Math Literacy - Part 2
12:35-1:25 Normal lunch break
1:35-2:15 Writing Task A (narrative/reflective)
Tues. 2 Oct. - day 8:
10:35-10:40: Orientation etc.
10:45-11:40 Reading
11:40-12:35 Normal program
12:35-1:25 Normal lunch break
1:35-2:10 Writing Task B (opinion)
PREPARATION FOR G5 THREE-WAY CONFERENCES ON THURS. 4 AND FRI. 5 OCT.
To prepare for their three-way conferences, I would like 5DH students and parents to review their electronic work on their Google drive and student blog. They will also organize and reflect on some ‘pencil and paper’ baseline assessments and work samples and set goals for the rest of this semester - all will be included in a pink manila folder which will go home with the students on Mon. afternoon. My goal is for the students to show you their work in their pink manila folder during a ‘Home Learning Work Share’ this coming Mon. 1 Oct. OR Tues. 2 Oct. just prior to our three-way conference on Thurs. 4 and Fri. 5 Oct. Seeing your child’s work samples before our conference should ensure that you have an accurate picture of your child’s strengths and areas of challenge. The students will also create 4 personal goals and share them with you. At the conference, we’ll take a more detailed look at some work samples and assessments and look at your child’s goals, to see if they are the most appropriate goals for your child at this point in time. When you have completed the work share with your child, please complete the ‘Compliments/Concerns/Questions’ sheet and place it back in the pink manila folder. Please remind your child to return the pink manila folder with ALL the contents to class on the morning of Wed. 3 Oct. The contents of your child’s pink manila folder will help guide our conference, so it’s really important that each student returns their pink manila folder to me on Wed. 3 Oct.
STUDENT GOAL SETTING
Late last week, the students had a number of lessons where they took a reflective look at their assessments and key pieces of work completed since the school year began in early Aug. and then they decided on their four most important goals for the rest of this semester. Each student has chosen one goal each in reading, writing and math, and one goal for their Melawati Way/behavior/attitude in class, or during specials, on the playground, on the bus, in the hallways, in the canteen, at after school activities etc. During these lessons, I explained that goal setting is an important life skill, one that all adults are required to do, even teachers, parents etc. I shared my teaching goal for this year with the students and I also encourage you to share your work goal or goals with your child, so they are able to see a real world connection/purpose to the process of goal setting. At the ‘Home Learning Work Share on Mon. 1 Oct. or Tues. 2 Oct, I hope your child will share their goals with you. Please discuss your child’s goal choices with him or her. In particular, focus your discussion on the importance and appropriateness of your child’s goal choices. Are your child’s goal choices realistic in terms of their own self-awareness and honesty and do their goals match your perceptions of their strengths and areas they need to work on. Students who were in our ES in G4 have experienced the goal setting process before. If your child is new to ISKL, this may be their first experience with setting his or her goals, so please be aware that he or she may not yet be able to select relevant and realistic goals. Please understand that honest personal reflection and accurate goal setting is just like any other learning experience, it’s a process, and it may take time before your child is able to create honest and appropriate goals for him or herself. Nevertheless, we’re giving it our best shot in fifth grade! Finally, you will notice there is space on the goal setting sheet for you and I to include our goals for your child, if their goals differ from ours. Thanks in advance for your support at home with this process.
GROWTH VERSUS FIXED MINDSET
Below are links to four interesting videos on ‘Growth Mindset’, which is very important in promoting your child’s learning. The students have seen and discussed the first video with me. Please use the language of growth mindset at home with your child so we are on common ground in supporting your child with the positive self-talk of the growth mindset.
ACCESSING ISKL ONLINE DOCUMENTS
We often receive requests for access to ISKL documents, sites, Seesaw, and other resources from non-ISKL email addresses. To best protect ISKL and student information, it is our policy to only grant access to ISKL email address holders. Please sign into Panther Apps using your ISKL email address to access these resources. If you would like support with email and Panther Apps, please contact Steve Katz in the ES Technology office.
CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week, the students continued reading and discussing their realistic fiction books in their book club groups, using thinkmarks to guide discussion. They also continued creating their own sequence brain frames to record the important events happening in their books. For writing, the students completed writing their opinion pieces, identifying themes, making a claim (opinion) and providing evidence to support their claim. 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 week, the students completed their first math unit titled, ‘Place Value and Whole Number Operations’. Lessons covered last week:
The students completed Lesson 12: Divide and Check 3, which also included an intro to the partial quotients division algorithm. They practiced dividing three and four digit numbers, initially by one digit divisors and then by two digit divisors.
They reviewed the unit.
They also completed the end of unit summative assessment.
Our next math unit, is titled: Unit 2: Adding & Subtracting Fractions. The students will begin the unit this week.
Social Studies:
Last week, the students continued their second unit, titled, ‘Government’. They continued to look at three types of government in detail: monarchy, dictatorship and democracy. They used the Brainpop website to watch an animated video on democracy and they also used World Book for Kids online to read and take notes on monarchy and dictatorship.
COUNSELING LESSONS
Counseling lessons with Stephanie Stone, our G3-5 Student Counselor, have started in G5. Stephanie took 5DH students for a lesson last Wed. morning from 8:00-8:30am. The lesson was on growth versus fixed mindset. Stephanie’s next lesson in 5DH will be this Mon. 1 Oct. from 8:30-9:00am and she will be back in class each day 7 at that time.
UPCOMING OCT. & NOV. CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Tues. 9 Oct: Dr. Teh Kok Hoi presentation from 2:00-2:45pm in the G5 common area. Dr. Teh is the head paediatrician at KL Children’s Hospital Cancer Ward. He was not able to attend the SCMC on Thurs. 11 Oct. so we were able to book him earlier. Before Dr. Teh’s presentation at 2:00pm, I will share a slideshow with all G5 students from 1:30-2:00pm about our Sunday morning hospital visits, also in the G5 common area.More information will be sent home to you shortly.
Thurs. 11 Oct: Our first 6 presenters will present at our Social Change Maker’s Conference - SCMC. Our final 6 presenters will present on Thurs. 4 April 2019
Tues. 16 Oct: Final Melaka trip parent information letter will be sent home with your child.
Fri. 19 Oct: Next Red Hats Free Dress Day. Students can bring a RM5 donation.
Mon. 22 Oct: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students
Tues. 23, Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct: G5 Melaka overnight trip:
5DH & 5KC will go on Tues. 23 & Wed. 24 Oct.
5CB, 5CC & 5JV will go on Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct.
Wed. 31 Oct: ES Halloween Dress-up Day
Mon. 5 Nov: No ES ASAs due to the Deepavali holiday the next day
Tues. 6 Nov: Deepavali holiday - no school
Fri. 9 Nov: ES International Fest Flag Parade, from 8:15-9:00am. Details TBA.
Sat. 10 Nov: International Fest at the ISKL Ampang Hilir Campus from 3:00-7:30pm. Details TBA
Wed. 14 Nov: Parent Workshop: ‘Learning in the ES’ from 8:15-9:45am. Details TBA.
Tues. 20 Nov: Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday holiday - no school
Fri. 23 Nov: Deepavali Cultural Day. Assembly from 10:50-11:30am
Fri. 30 Nov: Red Hats Free Dress Day. Suggested donation - RM5.
ES Semester 1 ASAs end
Until next week,
Best regards,
David
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