NEWSLETTER NO. 18
MON. 10 DEC. 2018
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 10 Dec. - day 6: G5 students will begin a Science Design Thinking project focusing on sustainable energy in the MakerSpace, classrooms and science labs. Students can bring in cardboard, recycled 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 design thinking projects.
Tues. 11 Dec. - day 7:
Wed. 12 Dec. - day 8: G5 Students Eco Walking Tour of five sustainable energy sites around the new campus, from 10:30am-12:30pm, conducted by Dave Perrau, Director of Project Operations and Brad Knowles, Director of Facilities, Katie Milton, ISKL Transition Coordinator and Fabian Jong and Izyan from the Facilities Dept.
Thurs. 13 Dec. - day 1: Christmas Around the World (CAW) from 8:00am-2:00pm in the ES Theater. It’s also ‘Red and Green’ dress up day. 5DH students will be attending CAW from 11:40am-12:20pm. Eight 5DH student volunteers - 4 girls and 4 boys - will also help teachers supervise students from PR-G2 at CAW at various time slots during the day.
Fri. 14 Dec. - day 2: Red Hats Free Dress Day - cancelled - moved to CAW Day on Thurs. 12 Dec.
2018 CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD ARRANGEMENTS
We are very pleased to announce that the PTA-sponsored ‘Christmas Around the World’ (CAW) will be conducted in the ES Community Room on Thurs. 13 Dec. Twelve stations from various regions/countries from around the world will be set up, plus, it’s also red & green free, free dress-up day! (The free dress day on Fri. 14 Dec. has been moved to coincide with CAW on Thurs. 13 Dec.) Students may come to school dressed in red and/or green or Christmas styled clothes. G5 students are scheduled to attend the CAW stations from 11:40am- 12:20pm. The class will be split into 2 groups. There will be a 5DH class photo with Santa at the start of the 11:50-12:00 block.
G5 STUDENTS ECO WALKING TOUR
In conjunction with Brad Knowles - Director of Facilities, Dave Perrau, Director of Project Operations, Katie Milton, ISKL Transition Coordinator and Fabian Jong and Izyan from the Facilities Dept, G5 students and teachers will be participating in an ‘Eco Walking Tour’ of five sustainable energy locations around the new campus on Wed. 12 Dec. from 10:30am-12:30pm. As I said, we will visit 5 locations in rotation with one of the above people leading at each location - see below, so each of our 5 classes would start at a location, spend 15 min. there and then move to the next location. We will have a 5 min. transition between locations. All of the 5 school locations feature technologies designed to conserve energy.
1. Eco Garden - Composting and zero waste plan - with Izyan
2. Grey Water system and condensate recovery system in the carpark - with Fabian
3. Chiller plant room on the way to the FM training room for Energy Management - with Brad
4. Rainwater retention tank and syphonics system - with Dave
5. Chilled slabs and the room lighting (natural and sensors) - with Katie
I’ve informed the students about the walk and they’re already very excited! Of course, the proposed ‘Eco Walking Tour’ complements the students learning about sustainable energy in their current science unit.
SEMESTER BREAK READING LISTS
Our librarian - Suji DeHart has prepared the reading lists below. Please note that quite a few titles are in the ES library book collection. Here are the links:
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 21 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 information book clubs were suspended, while the students continued to synthesize their online research on one form of sustainable energy to complete the writing of an information essay on a Google doc. 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 3: The Coordinate Plane. They reviewed the unit and then completed the end-of-unit written summative assessment. Last Wed. the students began Unit 4: Place Value and Decimal Operations. They completed the tuning-in activity titled, Decimal Designs and Lesson 1: Decimal Place Value.
Science:
Last week, the students continued our science unit titled, ‘Sustainable Energy’. Even though the unit will continue until the end of the semester, the students completed the written summative assessment because the students’ learning results are required by me so I can complete their end-of-semester report cards. This coming week, the students will begin their ‘Design Thinking Challenge’, where they will work in small groups and use recycled materials in the MakerSpace, classroom and science labs to design a prototype of an invention to combat climate change.
Info. Lit:
Last Tues. afternoon, our Info Lit Teacher - Steve Katz - took the students for a lesson titled, ‘Hour of Code’ where they tried a variety of activities on the website that required them to apply their computer coding skills. Here is the website they worked on www.code.org
The students are also able to continue practicing their computer coding skills for home learning since it’s one of the choices on the home learning choice board under ‘Skill Builders’.
COUNSELING LESSONS
Since there was no day 7 last week, the students did not have their usual Counseling Lesson with Stephanie Stone. Stephanie’s next counseling lesson will be on the next day 7 - Tues. 11 Dec. at the usual time: 8:30-9:00am.
UPCOMING DEC. 2018 & JAN. & FEB. 2019 CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
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 - day 1: First day of semester 2
Mon. 21 Jan: Thaipusam holiday - no school
Wed. 23 Jan: ES Parent Workshop: Learning in the ES, 8:15-9:45am in the ES Community Room.
Fri. 25 Jan: Red Hats Free Dress Day - suggested donation RM5
Sat. 26 Jan: Community Recycling Program in the Cell Phone Car Park from 9:30-11:30am
Mon. 4,Tues. 5, and Wed. 6 Feb: Chinese New Year holiday - no school.
Until next week,
Best regards,
David
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