Newsletter no. 27 Mon. 11 Mar. 2019

NEWSLETTER NO. 27
MON. 11 MAR. 2019

Dear Parents,

REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 11 Mar. - day 5: ES Book Week starts

Tues. 12 Mar. - day 6: G6 Course Selection Form Assembly with Janelle Maxson, the G6 Counselor, from 1:30-2:30pm in the G5 common area.

Wed 13 Mar. - day 7: G6 Peer Helpers will visit G5 classrooms for a Q&A about G6 and the Middle School from 10:30-11:15am.
ES Book Swap.

Thurs. 14 Mar.  - day 8:

Fri. 15 Mar. - day 1: ES Book Character Dress-up Day. Students can dress up as their favorite book character.

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

G6 COURSE SELECTION FORM
As mentioned above, Janelle Maxson will present the various G6 course options to the students on Tues. 12 Mar. at 1:30pm and they will receive a course selection form to take home for you to read, complete and sign. Please read the form with your child, choose and record course options and return the form to school by Tues. 19 Mar. Even if you think your family may be moving elsewhere at the end of the school year, please return the form just in case plans change.   

STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES (SLCs) THANKS
It was great to see you all again at our SLCs last Thursday & Friday! Congratulations to the students for their hard work and effort, both in preparing for and conducting their SLC. It was inspiring to be an active listener/observer during the multiple conferences and to witness how confident and mature the students were in sharing/discussing their work samples and learning goals. Thanks also to you for all the time and effort you contributed as parents to make our SLCs a success. I hope you learned just as much, or hopefully even more from your child’s SLC than from a traditional parent-teacher conference. My goal for the remainder of this school year is to help each student work on their learning goals and prepare for G6.

CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week our fantasy book clubs were put on hold due to the students needing to prepare for their SLCs. However, at various times they were able to continue with some writing. They 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 used their math lesson time to prep for their SLCs.

Science:
Last week, the students used their science time to prep for their SLCs. 

COUNSELING LESSONS
Our G4&5 Counselor - Stephanie Stone - will conduct her next counseling lesson on Wed. 13 Mar. - the next day 7 - from 8:30-9:00am

UPCOMING MAR. APR. & MAY 2019 CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Mon. 18 Mar: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students

Tues. 19 Mar. - day 2: Begin Fantasy writing unit post-assessment. Begin ‘Social Change’ social studies unit.

Wed. 20 Mar. - day 3: Complete Fantasy writing unit post-assessment.

Thurs. 21 Mar. - day 4: World Down Syndrome Awareness Day.

Fri. 22 Mar. - day 5: Fantasy reading and writing units end with a G5 ‘Fantasy Character Dress Up Day’ and sharing fantasy stories with G2 students.

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

Mon. 1 Apr: School resumes.
Inclusive Schools Week begins.

Mon. 22 Apr: ES Earth Week begins.

Tues. 30 Apr: G5 'Night of the Notables Presentation' to parents in the Melawati Theatre from 7:00-8:00pm. More details TBA.

Wed. 1 May: Labour Day public holiday - no school.

Until next week,

Best regards,         

David