Newsletter no. 10 Mon. 15 Oct. 2018

NEWSLETTER NO. 10
MON. 15 OCT. 2018

REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 15 Oct. - day 1:

Tues. 16 Oct. - day 2: Final Melaka trip parent information letter will be sent home with your child.

Wed. 17 Oct. - day 3:

Thurs. 18 Oct. - day 4:

Fri. 19 Oct. - day 5: 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. days 6, 7 & 8: 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.

G5 MELAKA TRIP PARENT PRESENTATION MEETING THANKS
Thank you to the many parents who were able to attend our Melaka trip presentation last Thurs. morning in MPR4. I hope you have a clearer picture of our trip plans, learning goals and student expectations. Special thanks to our G5 GLC - John Beattie - for booking MPR4 and organizing the furniture. We are in the final stages of our plans for the trip. A hard copy of the final letter to parents containing trip details will be sent home with your child on Tues. 16 Oct. It will also contain a student packing list and trip itinerary, so please look out for it. If you lose this letter, don’t worry. I’ll upload a copy on the 5DH Class Blog under ‘Class Documents’

MELAKA FIELD TRIP PLANS
A reminder that 5DH & 5KC students, teachers and parent chaperones will be traveling to Melaka on buses next Tues. 23 Oct, leaving school around 8:00am and returning to school on Wed. 24 Oct. at approx. 4:30pm. We appreciate the help of our parent chaperones to supervise the students in Melaka. A reminder the students will also need to pack their swimsuits, towels etc. because we’ll be swimming at The Malacca Club pool from 6:30-7:00pm on Tues. 23 Oct. Regarding packing, please ensure your child packs the following into their backpack NOT their bigger bag: Snack & lunch on the first day, drink bottle, hat, sunscreen and a small hand towel, RM50, camera (optional), book to read, pack of cards. The reason we are asking for the above items to be packed in your child’s backpack is because it will be difficult and time consuming to get access to their bigger bags until we arrive in Melaka because they will be stored in the baggage compartment of the bus. All other items on the packing list should be packed in your child’s bigger bag. When your child arrives at school on Tues. morning, whether by their usual bus or car, they should drop their bigger bag in the car rider’s lounge at the ES entrance foyer and bring their smaller backpack upstairs to the classroom. Teachers need to do student attendance before we leave. If your child takes regular medication, please remind him/her to hand the medication to me for dispensing when they arrive in the classroom on Tues. 23 Oct. Thanks in advance for your help and support in getting your child prepared for our Melaka trip.

G5 SOCIAL CHANGE MAKER’S CONFERENCE (SCMC) THANKS
Thanks to the many parents who were able to attend whole or part of our SCMC last Thurs. 11 Oct. The students were very interested in learning about our presenters and the important work they are doing on social issues in the local community. We hope you also found the event interesting and engaging.

FIRST KL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CANCER WARD VISIT
On Sun. 14 Oct. Karen Callahan and myself took 14 G5 students on our first visit to the hospital for 2018-2019. Avae, Emily, Sukriti, Chloe and Zhee Loc represented 5DH. The girls did a great job of being flexible, responsible, independent, creative, welcoming and most of all having some fun with some very sick kids. Our next G5 hospital visit will be on Sun. 4 Nov. G5 students have responded remarkably well to signing up for the various semester 1 dates. As a result, all dates are full. In early Nov. I will be working on our semester 2 dates. When finalized, I’ll let you and the students know when they can sign up for some more dates.

CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week, the students continued reading their latest realistic fiction books in their book clubs, using thinkmarks to guide discussion and sequence brain frames to record the important events happening in their books. During Writing Workshop lessons, the students continued working on their writing unit 1: Literary Essay (opinion). They continued writing the essay on a Google doc. The students have chosen a book to focus on, made a claim about a theme (author’s message) in the book and they’re working on backing up their claim using reasons and evidence. The essay will be five paragraphs with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. 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. I also began a new read aloud titled, ‘Refugee’ by Alan Gratz. The students also continued daily typing practice from 7:55 - 8:10am using the www.typing.com program.

Math:
Last week, the students continued their current math unit, titled, Unit 2: Adding & Subtracting Fractions. They completed these lessons:
Lesson 1: Equivalent Fractions
Lesson 2: Using Equivalent Fraction to Add

Social Studies:
Last week, to prepare the students for our Melaka trip, I continued introducing them to the various waves of leaders and governments that came to power in Melaka by reading aloud ‘A Children’s History of Malaysia’ by Tunku Halim, which introduced Parameswara, the first Sultan of Melaka in 1400. Parameswara originally came from Palembang in Sumatra, Indonesia. This week, the students will also learn about the voyages of Admiral Zheng Ha (Cheng Ho) from China to Melaka in 1409 and the arrival of the Portuguese more than a century later in 1511. The students will also learn about the arrival of the Dutch, the British and the Japanese and they will place events and dates on an electronic timeline from the readwritethink.com website.

UPCOMING OCT. & NOV. CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
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