MON. 4 MAR. 2019
Dear Parents,
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 4 Mar. - day 8:
Tues. 5 Mar. - day 1:
Wed. 6 Mar. - day 2:
Thurs. 7 Mar. - day 3 & Fri. 8 Mar. - day 4: ES Parent-Teacher Conferences. G2-5 students will be doing Student-Led Conferences. All parents have booked their child’s SLC in PowerSchool.
Mon. 11 - Fri. 15 Mar: ES Book Week
STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES SLCS - WHAT TO EXPECT IN 5DH
Why SLCs?
Students develop students’ ownership of their learning
Students build independence
Students take pride in their success
Students identify areas for improvement
Students share knowledge and skills learned
What will be the format for the SLCs?
Students will lead their conferences and rotate with their parents through 4 conference stations within their classroom.
The 4 stations will be: Language Arts: Reading & Writing, Math, Science and Learning Behaviors, Work Habits etc.
2-4 students and their parents will rotate around the 4 stations within a 45 min. time slot.
Some teacher time with parents can be provided, if needed.
After 45 minutes, when the 4 classroom-based rotations are complete, students and parents are expected to visit with 1-2 specialist teachers, who will be located in their usual rooms.
Students will share work samples, progress, learning goals, next steps etc.
EAL/LR support teachers will join the SLCs to support students.
A separate time can be scheduled for lengthy conversations, if needed.
Mon. 11 Mar. is the start of Book Week and the ever popular BOOK SWAP will be on Wed. 13 Mar. This is a wonderful time for students to bring in books that they no longer want to read and trade them for “new” book(s). Last Fri. the students were asked to start bringing in books for the Book Swap. Students can bring their books to the library or classroom and receive coupons. Leftover books will be donated to refugee schools. So it is a WIN, WIN, WIN!!!
The way that the swap will work is as follows:
1. Up until Tues. 12 Mar. students may bring books to the library or their classroom. For each book donated, students will be given one coupon. Teachers and library staff will write students’ names on each coupon that they have in case these coupons become lost.
2. On the day of the Book Swap - Wed. 13 Mar. - students will bring their coupon(s) to the library. Grades 3-5 students can come during lunch recess or teachers can send them in small groups. Grades PR-2 will sign up for a time slot by class.
A few rules for the Book Swap:
1. Students are asked to bring in books IN ENGLISH ONLY that are appropriate for their OWN age level. Books should be in GOOD CONDITION!!
2. Students may bring as many books as they would like to the swap, but we will give only a maximum of 10 coupons per child.
3. We are asking that students do not bring in workbooks, consumable books like coloring books, books not written in English and religious books.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to email either Suji DeHart or Ms. Jit. Thank you for your enthusiastic support of this fun event -ES Library Staff: Suji, Punitha and Jit.
MARCH BOOK MADNESS (MBM) 2019
A few weeks ago G5 teachers and our librarian - Suji Dehart - introduced the students to an online ‘tournament of books’ titled “March Book Madness’. The format is similar to the NCAA’s (National Collegiate Athletic Association in the USA) March Madness Basketball Tournament, which is held each March in the USA. The difference of course is that the March Book Madness tournament involved books, not college basketball. Click here for details. The students will be reading/voting on the MG (Middle Grades) Novel Bracket. They will vote online on the first round of books on Wed. 6 Mar. Some students may have read some of the books in the draw. They don’t have to read all of the books to vote. They can also watch the book trailers before they vote - available on youtube - especially if they don’t have time to read the book. As you will see from the MBM website, the tournament is not all about the competition - it’s all about promoting enjoyment of excellent literature. Many fantastic books made the cut for the 2019 MBM. Please encourage and ask your child about the books they have already read and intend to read. Voting on the MBM website starts on Wed. 6 Mar. in the US, which will be Thurs. 7 Mar. in Malaysia.
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. They also continued writing a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ fantasy story using Google slides. 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 began working on Unit 5 titled: ‘Multiplying and Dividing Fractions’.
Lessons covered last week:
Lesson 1: Fractions as division
Lesson 2: Interpreting remainders 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 3.2: Science You Can’t See
Lesson 3.3: Modeling Mixtures
Lesson 3.4: Investigating Emulsifiers
COUNSELING LESSONS
Our G4&5 Counselor - Stephanie Stone conducted her usual counseling lesson on Fri. 1 Mar. Her next lesson will be on Wed. 13 Mar. - the next day 7 - from 8:30-9:00am
UPCOMING MAR. & APR. 2019 CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
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. See above item for details.
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
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
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