G5 Weekly Newsletter

Dates: February 25-March 1             

Dear Parents,

Curriculum Information for this Week:

Literacy: 

Grade 5 students are continuing to generate ideas for their fantasy stories. They will be taking all their great ideas and choosing the best one to write a story. They are including all the elements of a fantasy story including: themes, life lessons, quests, magical creatures, metaphorical and literary dragons. Here are some questions you can ask your son or daughter about their story: 

Who are your main characters? 

Describe the setting of your story. 

Is there a quest in your story? 

How is your story connected to real life problems? 

What is the life lesson? 

What are the struggles your character is facing?

What will come of the protagonist? How will s/he change?

Math: 

The students are beginning Unit 5 in Math - multiplying and dividing fractions - using a variety of manipulatives to show their thinking.

Science Unit of Study: Matter

The students explored the concept and explanation of sediments and how it applies to our food as salad dressing. They will be further exploring solubility in the coming week, to find and read information about how properties of the molecules in sugar and citric acid affect the properties that are observable in a substance. The students will then explore why liquids stay mixed or separate.

For more information and ways to support your child please visit the Parent Learning Connection page.

Important Reminders/Information: (also see GLC Updates)

Mon. 25 Feb. is Day 3

Mon. 25 Feb: Student Led Conference sign up in PowerSchool for parents who have one child in the ES

Thurs. 28 Feb: ‘Always Changing’ - G5 puberty presentations from 1:30-2:30pm 

Highlights last week:

Grand Opening: Last Thurs. 21 Feb. marked the Grand Opening of our new campus. The students were surprised with a mini concert featuring 'The Tangents' band and student dancers performing for us. #ISKLUnited 

Visiting Presenter: On Monday we had a photojournalist named Richard Sobol visiting us, sharing his story about his four-day trek to meet a silverback gorilla in Uganda. We enjoyed his story telling and sharing of his experiences with us. Thank you Ms Suji for organizing this event. 

CNY Assembly: It was great fun watching the Lion Dance in the gym. Thank you, Nalini and her organizing committee for planning the events and parents, for coming along to watch the amazing acrobatic moves of the lion. The hallway activities offered fun and delicious stalls for all to enjoy.

Newsletter no. 25 Mon. 25 Feb. 2019

NEWSLETTER NO. 25
MON. 25 FEB. 2019

Dear Parents,

REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 25 Feb. - day 3: All Semester 2 ASA fees are due.
PowerSchool will be open for Student-Led Conference sign up for families with one child in the ES.

Tues. 26 Feb. - day 4:

Wed 27 Feb. - day 5: Parenting workshop session with Jane Thompson.  Please click HERE for more information: Click the blue Sign Up for access within link.

Thurs. 28 Feb. - day 6: ES Scholastic Book Club orders due. Online ordering only - no cash. Make a credit card payment and your order will be delivered to school. See flyer in your child's backpack for details. click HERE to order online.

Fri. 1 Mar. - day 7:

Sat. 2 Mar: ‘ISKL Celebrates’ evening at the Four Season Hotel from 7:00pm

STUDENTS LEAVING SCHOOL EARLY
From the ES Admin: Gate Pass for students leaving school early is a safety issue:
Parents, please remember - if your child needs to leave prior to the end of the school day, you must have a pass from the ES Office to exit the campus. Teachers have been instructed to release students through the ES Office instead of directly from their classrooms.

SIGN-UP REMINDER FOR OUR MARCH STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES
How to Sign Up:
This year the ES conference sign up will be online via PowerSchool. Please see the user guide below to assist you in the process:
ES Parent Teacher Conference Parent User Guide

Timeline for Sign Up:
At the ES our practice is to schedule families with multiple siblings first in order to have them scheduled back to back and avoid overlapping.  In keeping with that practice PowerSchool will be open February 20, 2019 for families with multiple siblings and on February 25, 2019 for families with one child in the ES. 
Questions?
For rescheduling or conflicts please contact Sumathy Kandiah skandiah@iskl.edu.my.  For PowerSchool technical questions please contact slchan@iskl.edu.my.

G5-G6 TRANSITION TO THE MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENT MEETING IS APPROACHING
From the Middle School Admin:
We would like to invite you to their “Stepping into Middle School” information evening. On Monday, March 11, at 7:00 pm in the new Robert B. Gaw Theatre. We will be giving a one-hour presentation on the nuts and bolts of the Middle School. The focus of the evening is to give you the information and support that you will need to help us help your child transition smoothly to the Middle School. While the examples we will use will be ISKL Middle School specific, we believe the evening will be helpful to you and your child whether you will be transitioning to the Middle School at ISKL or to another city. Students are welcome to attend; however, please know that we will be visiting and speaking to them as a G5 cohort very soon and will be hosting them here in the Middle School later in May. We hope you can join us on Monday March 11 and we look forward to welcoming you to the Middle School.

ES BOOK WEEK HAS BEEN POSTPONED
ES Book Week has been moved to the week beginning Mon. 11 Mar. 2019.
ES Book sale will be on Wed. 6, Thurs. 7 and Fri. 8 Mar. so you and your child can browse and buy books before or after your student-led conference.
The ES Book Swap is still on Wed. 13 Mar. - more details TBA
The ES Book Character Dress-up Day will be on Fri. 15 Mar. - more details TBA

CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week for reading, the students continued their reading unit titled, ‘Fantasy Book Clubs’. The students continued working in their fantasy book clubs reading and discussing their current fantasy books. For writing, the students continued writing a short fantasy story and they 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 a series of short fantasy stories by Paul Jennings from his books, Unreal, Unbelievable, Uncanny and Quirky Tales.  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 4: Place Value and Decimal Operations. They completed the end-of-unit assessment early in the week. In the middle of last week, the students began working on Unit 5 titled: ‘Multiplying and Dividing Fractions’.
Lessons covered last week:
Tuning-in to the unit activity: Sharing Candy Bars
Lesson 1: Fractions as division

Science:
Last week, the students continued their Amplify Science unit titled, ‘Modeling Matter: The Chemistry of Food’. The students continued their simulation where they are in the role of food scientists who work for a fictitious company titled, ‘Good Food Production Inc’. We are conducting lessons in the science labs and classrooms. So far, the students have completed all the chapter 1 and 2 lessons. Last week, they also began the chapter 3 lessons:
Lesson 2.4: Models of Solubility was conducted in the classroom
Lesson 2.5: Making sense of Solubility - in the classroom
Lesson 3.1: Investigating Attraction - in science lab 3. 

COUNSELING LESSONS
Our G4&5 Counselor - Stephanie Stone - will conduct her next counseling lesson on Tues. Fri. 1 Mar. - the next day 7 - from 8:30-9:00am

UPCOMING FEB. & MAR. 2019 CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Thurs. 7 & Fri. 8 Mar: ES Parent-Teacher Conferences. G5 students will be doing Student-Led Conferences. Please refer to Julie Olson’s email message to all parents for details.

Mon. 11 - Fri. 15 Mar: ES Book Week

Wed 13 Mar: ES Book Swap! Check your book shelves at home with your child and make some choices for the book swap.  Further details TBA.

Fri. 15 Mar: ES Book Character Dress-up Day.

Sat. 16 Mar: Community Recycling Program in the Cell Phone Car Park from 9:30-11:30am

Mon. 18 Mar: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students

Thurs. 21 Mar: World Down Syndrome Day. Wear orange clothing.

Fri. 22 Mar: Fantasy reading and writing units end with a G5 ‘Fantasy Character Dress Up Day’ and sharing fantasy stories with G2 students. Details - TBA.

Sat. 23 - Sun. 31 Mar: Mid-semester break

Mon. 1 Apr: School resumes

Until next week,

Best regards,         

David

Newsletter no. 24 Mon. 18 Feb. 2019

NEWSLETTER NO. 24
MON. 18 FEB. 2019

Dear Parents,

REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 18 Feb. - day 6: 5DH students start the ES morning announcements. Each student will have two opportunities to do our morning announcements at 8:00am.
Math Unit 4: Place Value & Decimal Operations, ends with students completing the end-of-unit assessment.

Tues. 19 Feb. - day 7:

Wed. 20 Feb. - day 8: Faculty Appreciation Lunch from 11:00am-2:00pm.
PowerSchool will be open for Student-Led Conference sign up for families with multiple siblings.

Thurs. 21 Feb. - day 1: ISKL Ampang Hilir Campus Grand Opening. The ISKL Celebration event will take place on the grass Zurich field. ES students and teachers will attend from 2:00-2:30pm. See below for further details.

Fri. 22 Feb. - day 2: ES Chinese New Year (CNY) Cultural Day. Students can dress up in CNY clothes/colors. CNY Assembly in the ES gym from 10:50-11:20am, which will also include a Lion Dance. Parents are welcome to attend.

Sat. 23 Feb: Community Recycling Program in the Cell Phone Car Park from 9:30-11:30am

GRAND OPENING CEREMONY PLANS FOR THE ES
While there will be festivities and ceremonies throughout the day, the ES will only participate in the afternoon activities from 2:00-2:30pm on the Zurich grass field. Our G3 students will be the only ones who (because of their scheduled specials time) will perform in the morning in the Robert B. Gaw Theater. All faculty, staff and students will join the MS and HS divisions on the Zurich field at 2:00 pm for the ISKL Celebration. Students will be packed and ready for their usual dismissal time. Congratulations to 5DH student - Sukriti Gupta - who will be one of the MCs on the stage. I’m sure Sukriti will do a great job!

REMINDERS FOR OUR MARCH STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES
How to Sign Up:
This year the ES conference sign up will be online via PowerSchool. Please see the user guide below to assist you in the process:
ES Parent Teacher Conference Parent User Guide
Timeline for Sign Up:
At the ES our practice is to schedule families with multiple siblings first in order to have them scheduled back to back and avoid overlapping.  In keeping with that practice PowerSchool will be open February 20, 2019 for families with multiple siblings and on February 25, 2019 for families with one child.
Questions?
For rescheduling or conflicts - please contact Sumathy Kandiah skandiah@iskl.edu.my
For PowerSchool technical questions - please contact slchan@iskl.edu.my.

CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week for reading, the students continued their reading unit titled, ‘Fantasy Book Clubs’. The students continued working in their fantasy book clubs reading and discussing their current fantasy books. For writing, the students began writing a short fantasy story and they 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 completed reading a fantasy read aloud titled, ‘Rowan of Rin’ by Emily Rodda. I began reading a series of short fantasy stories titled, ‘Unreal’, by Paul Jennings.  The students also continued daily typing practice from 7:50 - 8:10am using the www.typing.com program.

Math:
Last week, the students continued Unit 4: Place Value and Decimal Operations. They completed the following lessons:
Lesson 17: Exploring Decimal Division
Lesson 18: Use What You Know to Divide Decimals
Review of unit
The students will complete the end-of-unit assessment early this week.
Beginning in the middle of this week, the students will begin our next math unit titled: ‘Multiplying and Dividing Fractions’. Here are the Enduring Understanding, Essential Questions and Unit Questions for this unit:
Enduring Understanding:
Fractions allow us to express quantities with greater precision.
Fractions extend the number system’s complexity and applicability in problem-solving.
The magnitude of numbers affects the outcome of operations on them.
Essential Questions:
How do operations with fractions relate to the real word?
How can you use what you know about whole number operations to solve problems with fractions?
Unit Questions:
What are ways you can use fractions to solve problem situations?
What are ways you can model multiplication and division of fractions?

Science:
Last week, the students continued their Amplify Science unit titled, ‘Modeling Matter: The Chemistry of Food’. The students continued their simulation where they are in the role of food scientists who work for a fictitious company titled, ‘Good Food Production Inc’. We are conducting lessons in the science labs and classrooms. The students completed the following lessons last week:
Lesson 2.1 ‘Investigating Flavor Ingredients’ was conducted in science lab. 3
Lesson 2.2 ‘Investigating Dissolving’ was conducted in the classroom
Lesson 2.3 ‘Reading About Dissolving’ was also conducted on the classroom.

COUNSELING LESSONS
Our G4&5 Counselor - Stephanie Stone - will conducted her next lesson on Tues. 19 Feb. - the next day 7 - from 8:30-9:00am

UPCOMING FEB. & MAR. 2019 CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Mon. 25 Feb: All Semester 2 ASA fees are due.
ES Book Week begins.
PowerSchool will be open for Student-Led Conference sign up for families with one child.

Wed 27 Feb: Parenting workshop session with Jane Thompson. See GLC email for details

Thurs. 28 Feb: ES Scholastic Book Club orders due. Online ordering only - no cash. Make a credit card payment and your order will be delivered to school. See flyer in your child's backpack for details.

Thurs. 7 & Fri. 8 Mar: ES Parent-Teacher Conferences. G5 students will be doing Student-Led Conferences. Please refer to Julie Olson’s email message to all parents for details.

Wed 13 Mar: ES Book Swap! Check your book shelves at home with your child and make some choices for the book swap.  Details to to be announced.
Parenting workshop session with Jane Thompson. See GLC email for details

Fri. 15 Mar: ES Red Hats Free Dress Day - suggested donation RM5.

Sat. 16 Mar: Community Recycling Program in the Cell Phone Car Park from 9:30-11:30am

Mon. 18 Mar: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students

Fri. 22 Mar: Fantasy reading and writing units end with a ‘Fantasy Character Dress Up Day’ and sharing fantasy stories with G2 students. Details - TBA.

Sat. 23 - Sun. 31 Mar: Mid-semester break

Mon. 1 Apr: School resumes

Until next week,

Best regards,         

David

G5 Weekly Newsletter, 11-15 Feb. 2019

Weekly Newsletter Grade 5
Dates: 11-15  Feb. 2019             

Dear Parents,

Curriculum Information for this Week:
Literacy:
This week the students will continue their reading unit on the fantasy genre. They will also continue working in their fantasy book clubs where they will discuss elements of fantasy, keep track of characters’ development and problems and identify internal and external character conflicts and themes that run through their fantasy books.
Questions which you can ask your fifth grader:
How can you relate to the character?
What character traits the character have and how do you know?
Can you compare the character or theme to another story you have read?
Students will continue to work on their fantasy writing. As we navigate the fantasy writing, a few key concepts we will focus on are how the setting impacts the story, power in the story as well as identifying a deeper social issues that the character has to navigate throughout the story.

Math:
The students will continue Unit 4: Place Value and Decimal Operations. Last week, the students reviewed multiplying decimals (whole number X decimal) using the area model and the standard algorithm for multiplication. This week they will continue to work on multiplying decimals and begin to practice and master division of decimals.
Check out these videos to help you understand how students show their thinking with models:

• Multiply a Decimal by a Whole Number Using Grids
• Multiply a Decimal by a Decimal Using an Area Model
• Divide a Decimal by a Whole Number Using Grids
• Divide a Decimal by a Whole Number Using Base Ten Blocks
• Divide a Whole Number by a Decimal Using Base Ten Blocks
• Divide a Whole Number by a Decimal Using Grids
• Divide a Decimal by a Decimal Using Grids
• Dividing Whole Numbers Using Partial Quotients 

Unit of Study: 
Students will continue their second science unit: Modeling Matter: The Chemistry of Food from the Amplify Science program. During the unit, the students are involved in a simulation, where they take on the role of food scientists working in a lab for a large food-production company: Good Food Production Inc. The students will continue to work in their classrooms and conduct hands-on experiments in the science labs, investigating the different properties of matter.
Lessons completed so far:
Lesson 1.1 Pre-assessment - classroom
Lesson 1.2: Introducing Food Science - science lab
Lesson 1.3: Made of Matter
1.4 Separating a Food Color Mixture
1.5  Exploring Chromatography
1.6 Nanovision Models (of molecules)
1.7 Break it down (making inferences in Science)
1.8 Evaluating Chromatography Models
1.9 Revising Chromatography Models

For more information and ways to support your child please visit the
Parent Learning Connection page.

Parents, please also check out the SERVICE CHANNEL, which is a forum for the ISKL community to share ideas and information about how we can contribute to our community and planet.

Important Reminders/Information: (also see GLC Updates)
Mon Feb 11: ES ASAs start, check your ISKL inbox for an email from Gail Smith
Thur Feb 14: Red Hat Free Dress Friday! Dress in Valentine's Colors! Suggested donation 5 RM to charity

Highlight from last week:
On Friday, February 8th we welcomed illustrator and co-author of the Babymouse and Squish series books - Matthew Holm. Fifth graders were excited about his new books coming out soon and inspired by the amount of time and dedication it takes to be an author and illustrator!

Newsletter no. 23 Mon. 11 Feb. 2019

NEWSLETTER NO. 23
MON. 11 FEB. 2019

Dear Parents,

REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 11 Feb. - day 1: Semester 2 ASAs to begin.

Tues. 12 Feb. - day 2: 

Wed. 13 Feb. - day 3:

Thur. 14 Feb. - day 4: Valentine’s Day & ES Red Hat’s Free Dress Day - suggested donation RM5. Students can wear red and white clothing.

Fri. 15 Feb. - day 5:

DISMISSAL PROCEDURES REMINDER
From the ES Admin:
Dismissal procedures reminder at 2:45pm. Team Assistants will take car riders to the gym. Parents, please collect car riders from the gym. Teachers will continue to take students to the buses.

CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week for reading, the students continued their reading unit titled, ‘Fantasy Book Clubs’. The students continued working in their fantasy book clubs reading and discussing their current fantasy books. For writing, 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 a fantasy read aloud titled, ‘Rowan of Rin’ by Emily Rodda. The students also continued daily typing practice from 7:50 - 8:10am using the www.typing.com program.

Math:
Last week, the students continued Unit 4: Place Value and Decimal Operations. They completed the following lessons: Checkpoint 3, which focused on multiplying decimals. This week the students will focus on dividing decimals.

Science:
Last week, the students continued their Amplify Science unit titled, ‘Modeling Matter: The Chemistry of Food’. The students continued their simulation where they are in the role of food scientists who work for a fictitious company titled, ‘Good Food Production Inc’. We are conducting lessons in the science labs and classrooms. The students completed the following lessons last week:
Lesson 1.9: Revising Chromatography Models
Lesson 1.10: Explaining How Chromatography Works (using scientific vocabulary)
The students have now completed chapter 1 lessons of their Amplify Science matter unit.
Starting on Mon. morning, the students will be back in science lab 3, investigating Chapter 2 lessons, which are titled, ‘Why do some salad dressings have sediments and other do not.
Lesson 2.1 is titled, ‘Investigating Flavor Ingredients’.

COUNSELING LESSONS
Our G4&5 Counselor - Stephanie Stone - conducted her regular lesson last Thurs. morning.  Stephanie’s next lesson will be on Tues. 19 Feb. - the next day 7, from 8:30-9:00am

UPCOMING FEB. & MAR. 2019 CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Tues. 19 Feb: 5DH students start the ES morning announcements. (This is an approximate date because it depends on when 5CB finish their turn on morning announcements.)
Place Value & Decimal Operations math unit ends.

Wed. 20 Feb: Faculty Appreciation Lunch. Details - TBA

Thurs. 21 Feb: ISKL Ampang Hilir Campus Grand Opening. More details - TBA.

Fri. 22 Feb: ES Chinese New Year Cultural Day. CNY Assembly in the Melawati Theatre from 11:00-11:40am. More details TBA

Sat. 23 Feb: Community Recycling Program in the Cell Phone Car Park from 9:30-11:30am

Mon. 25 Feb: All Semester 2 ASA fees are due. ES Book Week begins.

Thurs. 7 & Fri. 8 March: ES Parent-Teacher Conferences. G5 students will be doing Student-Led Conferences. Details - TBA

Fri. 15 Mar: ES Red Hats Free Dress Day - suggested donation RM5.

Sat. 16 Mar: Community Recycling Program in the Cell Phone Car Park from 9:30-11:30am

Mon. 18 Mar: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students

Fri. 22 Mar: Fantasy reading and writing units end with a ‘Fantasy Character Dress Up Day’ and sharing fantasy stories with G2 students. Details - TBA.

Sat. 23 - Sun. 31 Mar: Mid-semester break

Mon. 1 Apr: School resumes

Until next week,

Best regards,         

David