Newsletter no. 14 Mon. 12 Nov. 2018

NEWSLETTER NO. 14
MON. 12 NOV. 2018

REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 12 Nov. - day 3:

Tues. 13 Nov. - day 4:

Wed. 14 Nov. - day 5: Parent Workshop: ‘Learning in the ES’ from 8:15-9:45am. See GLC message for details.

Thurs. 15 Nov. - day 6:

Fri. 16 Nov. - day 7:

Sun. 18 Nov: Next KL Children’s Hospital Visit from 9:30am-12:00pm

STUDENTS LEAVING ISKL AT THE END OF FIRST SEMESTER
If you know that you are leaving KL and moving elsewhere at the end of this semester, please let me know and also contact Uma Esvaran in the Admissions/Student Services Office. (Her Panther Apps email address is uesvaran@iskl.edu.my) The ES Administration is trying to get a handle on who will be leaving in December to help plan for second semester. Thanks for your attention to this.  As you know, the first semester ends on Friday 15 Dec. If you are planning to leave early on your end of semester break, please also let me know, so I know how many students will be at school for planning purposes.

CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week, the students continued our second reading unit titled: ‘Tackling Complexity: Summarizing & Synthesizing Nonfiction’, which focuses on text structures and how these structures help support the main ideas. In their book club groups, students read and discussed a variety of informational texts.  This unit is integrated with our second writing unit titled, ‘Informational Writing’ and our first science unit, titled ‘Sustainable Energy’, so students will also be using texts on this topic to improve their nonfiction reading. 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 continued reading our current read aloud titled, ‘Refugee’ by Alan Gratz. The students also continued daily typing practice from 7:50 - 8:10am using the www.typing.com program.

Math:
Last week, the students completed Unit 2: Adding & Subtracting Fractions. They also completed a fun activity titled ‘A Shape Riddle’, which required them to solve various addition and subtraction of fractions problems and then use their answers to solve a riddle. They also reviewed the unit before they completed the end-of-unit summative assessment. Finally, they played games of ‘Battleship’ with a partner, which was a tuning in to the next unit - Unit 3: The Coordinate Plane. Here are the Enduring Understandings, the Essential Questions, the Unit Questions, Knowledge and Skills for the unit:
Enduring Understandings:
Patterns follow rules
Patterns can be used to identify relationships between two quantities
Mathematical relationships represented by rules can also be represented by a graph of the rule
Essential Questions:
How does the coordinate system work?
How does the coordinate plane show a relationship between quantities?
Unit Questions:
How do I create numeric patterns using given rules?
What is a coordinate plane?
How do I graph ordered pairs on a coordinate plane?
Knowledge:
Numerical patterns
Coordinate plane
Ordered pairs
x/y- axis
Parallel/perpendicular lines
Quadrants
Skills:
Generate numerical patterns
Form ordered pairs from corresponding terms
Graph ordered pairs on a coordinate plane
Discuss the relationship of corresponding terms
Locate an ordered pair on a coordinate plane
Solve real world problems involving the coordinate plane

Science:
Last week, the students continued our first science unit titled, ‘Sustainable Energy’. The students also began working in partnerships in science lab. 3 on our ‘Electrical Circuits Explorations 1’, where they had to experiment with connecting various wires, a battery and a light bulb to make a circuit. They also returned to science lab. 3 for their second lesson where they had to add a ‘switch’ made from a small square of cardboard, 2 metal fasteners and a paperclip. This coming week, the students will return for their third lesson where they have to solve various electrical circuits puzzles. They are recording their learning in an ‘Electrical Circuits’ booklet. The students also began watching various Brainpop energy videos and taking notes using the two-column method. They also have to complete the video review quiz and also write a topic sentence on the content of the video. Last Friday, Andy Baker - Petroleum Engineer with Schlumberger - conducted a presentation on 'Fossil Fuels' in the G5 common area from 11:00-12:00.
   
COUNSELING LESSONS
The counseling lesson conducted last Mon. morning by Stephanie Stone, our G3-5 Student Counselor, was a joint effort with Steve Katz, our Info. Lit. teacher. Stephanie and Steve conducted a lesson titled, ‘Digital Citizenship’, which taught the students how to conduct themselves and keep themselves safe online. Stephanie’s next guidance lesson will be on the next day 7 - Fri. 16 Nov. at the usual time: 8:30-9:00am.

UPCOMING NOV. & DEC. CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Tues. 20 Nov: Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday holiday - no school

Wed. 21 Nov. - day 1: Mr. Hector Ingram will conduct a presentation on ‘Wind Energy and Biomass’ to all G5 students in the common area from 1:45-2:30pm.

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

Sun. 2 Dec: KL Children’s Hospital Visit from 9:30am-12:00pm

Sun. 9 Dec: KL Children’s Hospital Visit from 9:30am-12:00pm

Mon. 10 Dec: Grade 5 will begin a Science Design Thinking project focusing on sustainable energy in the Maker Space and science labs starting Dec. 10-21st. Students can bring in cardboard, recyclable materials or other odds and ends (buttons, toilet roll tubes, take out containers, egg cartons, old fabric - anything really) to use for their sustainable energy projects. 

Thurs. 13 Dec: Christmas Around the World from 8:00am-2:00pm in the ES Theater

Fri. 14 Dec: Red Hats Free Dress Day. Suggested donation - RM5.

Wed. 19 Dec: G3-5 Track ‘n’ Field Day from 8:15-11:00am. This event has been postponed until semester 2 as the field will not be ready by Dec.

Fri 21 Dec: Last day of semester 1. Students’ semester 1 report cards will be available online in PowerSchool from 2:45pm

Mon. 14 Jan. 2019: First day of semester 2

Until next week,

Best regards,         

David