Weekly Newsletter Grade 5
Dates: October 15-19, 2018
Curriculum Information for the Week:
Literacy:
Students are continuing with book club groups using discussions to help them stretch their thinking about the book and develop themes. We are encouraging students to think about what they are learning about real life from their books. These ideas that are generated from their book club books will be used in their literary essays, which we will continue to learn about next week.
Math:
Adding and Subtracting Fractions continues this week as we move into operations with unlike denominators. Students will develop conceptual understanding using manipulatives and models to show their thinking.
Unit of Study:
We will continue our learning on Types of Government, and will begin our preparation for Melaka trip by looking into the history of the area.
For more information and ways to support your child please visit the Parent Learning Connection page.
Important Reminders/Information:(also see GLC updates)
This Week:
Tues Oct 16, PTA Meeting, 9:30-11:30, MPR 3, click HERE to RSVP (helpful for planning purposes)
Wed Oct 17, HOS Coffee, 9:30-11:00, MPR3 Click Google Reply Form to RSVP click HERE for letter
Friday Oct 19 RED HAT Free Dress Days for RM 5 Donation to charity
Upcoming Events :
New Event: Fri Oct 26, 6:30-8:00, 1st Annual PTA Family Trunk or Treat, click HERE to sign up and see flyer below for more details.
ES Halloween Dress UP Day, Wed Oct 31, School Policy: NO weapons, NO masks, NO scary costumes
New Event: Bake Sale for International Fest click HERE for details
Sat Nov 10, ISKL Annual International Festival, 4:00 pm - 8:00, see flyer below
Tues Nov 13, Deepavali Cultural Celebration Tour, Temple of Fine Arts. More details coming soon.
ES Dress Up Days: plan your days in advance click HERE for dates and details
Grade 5 Specific:
Tues 23 - Wed 24. Oct - Melaka Trip - 5DH, 5KC
Wed 24 - Thurs 25. Oct Melaka Trip - 5CB, 5CC and 5JV
Highlight from Last Week:
The kiddos have a great Social Change Makers Conference on Thursday last week listening to passionate social change makers in our society. We look forward to our students’ future contribution as new change makers, and we are also excited welcome more speakers in early April 2019.
Our KL Children’s Hospital visits started yesterday with our students. There are more opportunities for your child to partake in this great community service. If you haven’t yet signed up, do so >>HERE<<
Monday, 15 October 2018
Sunday, 14 October 2018
Newsletter no. 10 Mon. 15 Oct. 2018
NEWSLETTER NO. 10
MON. 15 OCT. 2018
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 15 Oct. - day 1:
Tues. 16 Oct. - day 2: Final Melaka trip parent information letter will be sent home with your child.
Wed. 17 Oct. - day 3:
Thurs. 18 Oct. - day 4:
Fri. 19 Oct. - day 5: Next Red Hats Free Dress Day. Students can bring a RM5 donation.
Mon. 22 Oct: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students
Tues. 23, Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct. days 6, 7 & 8: G5 Melaka overnight trip:
5DH & 5KC will go on Tues. 23 & Wed. 24 Oct.
5CB, 5CC & 5JV will go on Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct.
G5 MELAKA TRIP PARENT PRESENTATION MEETING THANKS
Thank you to the many parents who were able to attend our Melaka trip presentation last Thurs. morning in MPR4. I hope you have a clearer picture of our trip plans, learning goals and student expectations. Special thanks to our G5 GLC - John Beattie - for booking MPR4 and organizing the furniture. We are in the final stages of our plans for the trip. A hard copy of the final letter to parents containing trip details will be sent home with your child on Tues. 16 Oct. It will also contain a student packing list and trip itinerary, so please look out for it. If you lose this letter, don’t worry. I’ll upload a copy on the 5DH Class Blog under ‘Class Documents’
MELAKA FIELD TRIP PLANS
A reminder that 5DH & 5KC students, teachers and parent chaperones will be traveling to Melaka on buses next Tues. 23 Oct, leaving school around 8:00am and returning to school on Wed. 24 Oct. at approx. 4:30pm. We appreciate the help of our parent chaperones to supervise the students in Melaka. A reminder the students will also need to pack their swimsuits, towels etc. because we’ll be swimming at The Malacca Club pool from 6:30-7:00pm on Tues. 23 Oct. Regarding packing, please ensure your child packs the following into their backpack NOT their bigger bag: Snack & lunch on the first day, drink bottle, hat, sunscreen and a small hand towel, RM50, camera (optional), book to read, pack of cards. The reason we are asking for the above items to be packed in your child’s backpack is because it will be difficult and time consuming to get access to their bigger bags until we arrive in Melaka because they will be stored in the baggage compartment of the bus. All other items on the packing list should be packed in your child’s bigger bag. When your child arrives at school on Tues. morning, whether by their usual bus or car, they should drop their bigger bag in the car rider’s lounge at the ES entrance foyer and bring their smaller backpack upstairs to the classroom. Teachers need to do student attendance before we leave. If your child takes regular medication, please remind him/her to hand the medication to me for dispensing when they arrive in the classroom on Tues. 23 Oct. Thanks in advance for your help and support in getting your child prepared for our Melaka trip.
G5 SOCIAL CHANGE MAKER’S CONFERENCE (SCMC) THANKS
Thanks to the many parents who were able to attend whole or part of our SCMC last Thurs. 11 Oct. The students were very interested in learning about our presenters and the important work they are doing on social issues in the local community. We hope you also found the event interesting and engaging.
FIRST KL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CANCER WARD VISIT
On Sun. 14 Oct. Karen Callahan and myself took 14 G5 students on our first visit to the hospital for 2018-2019. Avae, Emily, Sukriti, Chloe and Zhee Loc represented 5DH. The girls did a great job of being flexible, responsible, independent, creative, welcoming and most of all having some fun with some very sick kids. Our next G5 hospital visit will be on Sun. 4 Nov. G5 students have responded remarkably well to signing up for the various semester 1 dates. As a result, all dates are full. In early Nov. I will be working on our semester 2 dates. When finalized, I’ll let you and the students know when they can sign up for some more dates.
CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week, the students continued reading their latest realistic fiction books in their book clubs, using thinkmarks to guide discussion and sequence brain frames to record the important events happening in their books. During Writing Workshop lessons, the students continued working on their writing unit 1: Literary Essay (opinion). They continued writing the essay on a Google doc. The students have chosen a book to focus on, made a claim about a theme (author’s message) in the book and they’re working on backing up their claim using reasons and evidence. The essay will be five paragraphs with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. 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 began a new read aloud titled, ‘Refugee’ by Alan Gratz. The students also continued daily typing practice from 7:55 - 8:10am using the www.typing.com program.
Math:
Last week, the students continued their current math unit, titled, Unit 2: Adding & Subtracting Fractions. They completed these lessons:
Lesson 1: Equivalent Fractions
Lesson 2: Using Equivalent Fraction to Add
Social Studies:
Last week, to prepare the students for our Melaka trip, I continued introducing them to the various waves of leaders and governments that came to power in Melaka by reading aloud ‘A Children’s History of Malaysia’ by Tunku Halim, which introduced Parameswara, the first Sultan of Melaka in 1400. Parameswara originally came from Palembang in Sumatra, Indonesia. This week, the students will also learn about the voyages of Admiral Zheng Ha (Cheng Ho) from China to Melaka in 1409 and the arrival of the Portuguese more than a century later in 1511. The students will also learn about the arrival of the Dutch, the British and the Japanese and they will place events and dates on an electronic timeline from the readwritethink.com website.
UPCOMING OCT. & NOV. CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Wed. 31 Oct: ES Halloween Dress-up Day
Mon. 5 Nov: No ES ASAs due to the Deepavali holiday the next day
Tues. 6 Nov: Deepavali holiday - no school
Fri. 9 Nov: ES International Fest Flag Parade, from 8:15-9:00am. Details TBA.
Sat. 10 Nov: International Fest at the ISKL Ampang Hilir Campus from 3:00-7:30pm. Details TBA
Wed. 14 Nov: Parent Workshop: ‘Learning in the ES’ from 8:15-9:45am. Details TBA.
Tues. 20 Nov: Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday holiday - no school
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
Until next week,
Best regards,
David
MON. 15 OCT. 2018
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 15 Oct. - day 1:
Tues. 16 Oct. - day 2: Final Melaka trip parent information letter will be sent home with your child.
Wed. 17 Oct. - day 3:
Thurs. 18 Oct. - day 4:
Fri. 19 Oct. - day 5: Next Red Hats Free Dress Day. Students can bring a RM5 donation.
Mon. 22 Oct: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students
Tues. 23, Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct. days 6, 7 & 8: G5 Melaka overnight trip:
5DH & 5KC will go on Tues. 23 & Wed. 24 Oct.
5CB, 5CC & 5JV will go on Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct.
G5 MELAKA TRIP PARENT PRESENTATION MEETING THANKS
Thank you to the many parents who were able to attend our Melaka trip presentation last Thurs. morning in MPR4. I hope you have a clearer picture of our trip plans, learning goals and student expectations. Special thanks to our G5 GLC - John Beattie - for booking MPR4 and organizing the furniture. We are in the final stages of our plans for the trip. A hard copy of the final letter to parents containing trip details will be sent home with your child on Tues. 16 Oct. It will also contain a student packing list and trip itinerary, so please look out for it. If you lose this letter, don’t worry. I’ll upload a copy on the 5DH Class Blog under ‘Class Documents’
MELAKA FIELD TRIP PLANS
A reminder that 5DH & 5KC students, teachers and parent chaperones will be traveling to Melaka on buses next Tues. 23 Oct, leaving school around 8:00am and returning to school on Wed. 24 Oct. at approx. 4:30pm. We appreciate the help of our parent chaperones to supervise the students in Melaka. A reminder the students will also need to pack their swimsuits, towels etc. because we’ll be swimming at The Malacca Club pool from 6:30-7:00pm on Tues. 23 Oct. Regarding packing, please ensure your child packs the following into their backpack NOT their bigger bag: Snack & lunch on the first day, drink bottle, hat, sunscreen and a small hand towel, RM50, camera (optional), book to read, pack of cards. The reason we are asking for the above items to be packed in your child’s backpack is because it will be difficult and time consuming to get access to their bigger bags until we arrive in Melaka because they will be stored in the baggage compartment of the bus. All other items on the packing list should be packed in your child’s bigger bag. When your child arrives at school on Tues. morning, whether by their usual bus or car, they should drop their bigger bag in the car rider’s lounge at the ES entrance foyer and bring their smaller backpack upstairs to the classroom. Teachers need to do student attendance before we leave. If your child takes regular medication, please remind him/her to hand the medication to me for dispensing when they arrive in the classroom on Tues. 23 Oct. Thanks in advance for your help and support in getting your child prepared for our Melaka trip.
G5 SOCIAL CHANGE MAKER’S CONFERENCE (SCMC) THANKS
Thanks to the many parents who were able to attend whole or part of our SCMC last Thurs. 11 Oct. The students were very interested in learning about our presenters and the important work they are doing on social issues in the local community. We hope you also found the event interesting and engaging.
FIRST KL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CANCER WARD VISIT
On Sun. 14 Oct. Karen Callahan and myself took 14 G5 students on our first visit to the hospital for 2018-2019. Avae, Emily, Sukriti, Chloe and Zhee Loc represented 5DH. The girls did a great job of being flexible, responsible, independent, creative, welcoming and most of all having some fun with some very sick kids. Our next G5 hospital visit will be on Sun. 4 Nov. G5 students have responded remarkably well to signing up for the various semester 1 dates. As a result, all dates are full. In early Nov. I will be working on our semester 2 dates. When finalized, I’ll let you and the students know when they can sign up for some more dates.
CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week, the students continued reading their latest realistic fiction books in their book clubs, using thinkmarks to guide discussion and sequence brain frames to record the important events happening in their books. During Writing Workshop lessons, the students continued working on their writing unit 1: Literary Essay (opinion). They continued writing the essay on a Google doc. The students have chosen a book to focus on, made a claim about a theme (author’s message) in the book and they’re working on backing up their claim using reasons and evidence. The essay will be five paragraphs with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. 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 began a new read aloud titled, ‘Refugee’ by Alan Gratz. The students also continued daily typing practice from 7:55 - 8:10am using the www.typing.com program.
Math:
Last week, the students continued their current math unit, titled, Unit 2: Adding & Subtracting Fractions. They completed these lessons:
Lesson 1: Equivalent Fractions
Lesson 2: Using Equivalent Fraction to Add
Social Studies:
Last week, to prepare the students for our Melaka trip, I continued introducing them to the various waves of leaders and governments that came to power in Melaka by reading aloud ‘A Children’s History of Malaysia’ by Tunku Halim, which introduced Parameswara, the first Sultan of Melaka in 1400. Parameswara originally came from Palembang in Sumatra, Indonesia. This week, the students will also learn about the voyages of Admiral Zheng Ha (Cheng Ho) from China to Melaka in 1409 and the arrival of the Portuguese more than a century later in 1511. The students will also learn about the arrival of the Dutch, the British and the Japanese and they will place events and dates on an electronic timeline from the readwritethink.com website.
UPCOMING OCT. & NOV. CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Wed. 31 Oct: ES Halloween Dress-up Day
Mon. 5 Nov: No ES ASAs due to the Deepavali holiday the next day
Tues. 6 Nov: Deepavali holiday - no school
Fri. 9 Nov: ES International Fest Flag Parade, from 8:15-9:00am. Details TBA.
Sat. 10 Nov: International Fest at the ISKL Ampang Hilir Campus from 3:00-7:30pm. Details TBA
Wed. 14 Nov: Parent Workshop: ‘Learning in the ES’ from 8:15-9:45am. Details TBA.
Tues. 20 Nov: Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday holiday - no school
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
Until next week,
Best regards,
David
Monday, 8 October 2018
G5 Weekly Newsletter
Weekly Newsletter Grade 5
Dates: October 8-12, 2018
Dear Parents,
Curriculum Information for the Week:
Literacy:
The students will continue read independently using their book club discussions to go more deeply into one book or story to write their literary essay. They will continue to discuss connections, predictions, characters, setting and most importantly THEMES (life lessons). You can support your child by making sure that your child is reading for 30 minutes a day (365 days a year!) at home on a just right book (graphic novels/comics count!).
During writing, the students will continue to work on making a claim (opinion) about a theme(s) of a short story or novel and provide evidence from the story to support their claim.
Math:
We continue on with your understanding of fractions. Ordering, identifying and comparing fractions is just the beginning! Having a conceptual understanding is demonstrated through modelling, either with diagrams or through the use of manipulatives. This will help to secure the students’ understanding before we begin adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators.
Unit of Study:
The students will be participating in the Social Change Makers Conference on Tues. Oct. 9 and Thurs. Oct. 11:
Presenter on Tues. Oct. 9:
Dr. Teh Kok Hoi - works at the KL Children’s Hospital as a Paediatrician.
Presenters on Thurs. October 11:
Janine Williams - volunteers at the CWO (Chin Women's Organization)
Suan Tan - works for WWF Malaysia
Naima Ismail - Community Health Educator at HEI (Health Equity Initiatives)
Siti Kasim - lawyer who volunteers as a legal advocate for Malaysian indigenous people - the Orang Asli
Munirah Hamid - set up and organizes volunteers at the The Pertiwi Soup Kitchen
Ana Popovich - volunteer ‘Trash Hero’ and ISKL MS student
For more information and ways to support your child please visit the Parent Learning Connection page.
Important Reminders/Information:(also see GLC updates)
G5 Melaka Trip Parent Information meeting and Q & A on Thursday, October 11 from 9:15-9:45 am in MPR4. Parents are invited to attend.
G5 Social Change Makers Conference will be on Thursday, October 11 from 10:30am-12:30 pm - see above. Parents are invited to attend.
Band Master Class continues:
Day 1-Flute
Day 2-Clarinet
Day 3-Saxophone
Day 4-Trumpet
Day 5-Trombone
Day 6-Baritone and Tuba
Day 7-Percussion
Highlight from Last Week:
Thank you so very much for attending the conferences either Thursday or Friday. It is so very important that children take the time to reflect on their learning and set attainable goals. Your support is invaluable!
Sunday, 7 October 2018
Newsletter no. 9 Mon. 8 Oct. 2018
NEWSLETTER NO. 9
MON. 8 OCT. 2018
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 8 Oct. - day 4:
Tues. 9 Oct. - day 5:
Dr. Teh Kok Hoi presentation from 2:00-2:45pm in the G5 common area. Dr. Teh is the head paediatrician at KL Children’s Hospital Cancer Ward. He was not able to attend the SCMC on Thurs. 11 Oct. so we were able to book him earlier. Before Dr. Teh’s presentation at 2:00pm, I will share a slideshow with all G5 students from 1:30-2:00pm about our Sunday morning hospital visits, also in the G5 common area. Students will be able to sign up for Sunday hospital visits shortly. More information will be sent home to you shortly.
Wed. 10 Oct. - day 6:
Thurs. 11 Oct. - day 7:
G5 Melaka Trip Parent Information Meeting & Slideshow and Q & A in MPR4, from 9:15-9:45am. **Please note the change in venue - the meeting will take place in MPR4 - not the ES Community Rooms as previously advertised.**
Our first 6 presenters will present at our Social Change Maker’s Conference - SCMC, from 10:30am to 12:30pm in the G5 classrooms and common area. Parents are invited to attend. Our final 6 presenters will present on Thurs. 4 April 2019.
Fri. 11 Oct. - day 7:
TEMPORARY GUARDIANSHIP
From the ES Admin:
Parents, please remember - if both parents are traveling and leaving their child/ren in someone else’s care, you must complete a Long or Short Term Guardianship Form and deliver it to the ES main office prior to departing.
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS ASSESSMENT (ISA) INFORMATION
G5 students completed their ISA tests last Mon. 1 & Tues. 2 Oct. The makeup day for students who were absent on the testing days was last Wed. 3 Oct. Since the test booklets have to be sent to ACER in Melbourne Australia, your child’s results will not be available until early in 2018. When we receive the students’ results they will be shared with you.
HOME LEARNING WORK SHARE & THREE-WAY CONFERENCES THANKS
A big thank you to students and parents for conducting a work share last Mon. or Tues. at home in preparation for our three-way conferences. I hope seeing your child’s work samples, learning reflections, assessments and goals before our conference ensured that you had an accurate picture of your child’s strengths and areas of challenge. At the conference, we took a more detailed look at the contents of the pink manila folder and looked at your child’s goals, to see if they are the most appropriate goals at this point in time. We also made some adjustments to the goals or created more appropriate/immediate goals as required. I also hope you had time to look at your child’s electronic work samples on their Google Drive. Some of you took home your child’s pink manila folder after the conference so your child could share the contents with a parent who was not able to be at the work share early last week. Please return the pink folder and contents to me this week so your child can keep adding work samples, learning reflections etc. to it. The pink folder and contents will be used again next March for our student-led conferences and sent home at the end of the school year.
G5 SOCIAL CHANGE MAKER’S CONFERENCE (SCMC) DETAILS
One of the highlights of our previous school years in G5 has been the SCMC. I’m very excited to announce this year that we have received a generous grant once again from the ISKL Inspiration Fund to conduct the conference. We conduct the conference to coincide with our first two social studies units: ‘Red Hats: Leadership’ and ‘Government’ and also to prepare the students for our second semester social studies unit titled: Social Change. Our presenters expose the students to ordinary people doing extraordinary things to help others in the local community of Kuala Lumpur. We have 7 confirmed presenters for part 1 of the conference. The conference will be held in the G5 classrooms and common area from 10:30am-12:30pm, this coming Thurs. 11 Oct, although our first presenter - Dr. Teh - will present this Tues. 9 Oct. from 2:00-2:40pm. Our list of presenters is below. Please note that parents of G5 students are invited to attend the presentations. Students will rotate around the presenters in groups of approx. 15-16 students. They will spend 15 min. With each presenter. Each group will get to experience all the presenters.
Tuesday 9 October from 2:00-2:45pm:
Dr. Teh Kok Hoi - works at the KL Children’s Hospital as a paediatrician - tehkokhoi@gmail.com in G5 common area
Thursday 11 October from 10:30am-12:30pm:
Janine Williams - volunteers at the CWO (Chin Women's Organization) School - cjmcnamara55@gmail.com - in 5DH
Suan Tan - works for WWF Malaysia - stan@wwf.org.my - in 5KC
Naima Ismail - HEI (Health Equity Initiatives), -'Somali Women's Association' Malaysia - Naimapublichealth@outlook.com - in 5CC
Siti Kasim - volunteers as a legal advocate for Malaysian indigenous people - the Orang Asli - sitikasim@gmail.com - in 5JV
Munirah Hamid - set up and volunteers at the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen - pertiwisoupkitchen@gmail.com - in G5 common area
Ana Popovich - volunteers in ‘Trash Heroes’ - a group of ISKL High School students who do neighborhood street clean-ups - apopovich24@iskl.edu.my - in 5CB
Schedule for Thursday:
10:30 - 10:45 (Session 1)
10:50 - 11:05 (Session 2)
11:10 - 11:25 (Session 3)
11:30 - 11:45 (Session 4)
11:50 - 12:05 (Session 5)
12:10 - 12:25 (Session 6)
12:35-1:25 Presenters have lunch in the faculty lounge
12:35-1:00 Students go to lunch recess
1:00-1:25 Students have lunch in the cafeteria
1:30-2:00 Thank you presentation in the G5 common area
CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week, the students continued reading and discussing their realistic fiction books in their book club groups and using thinkmarks to guide discussion. They also continued creating their own sequence brain frames to record the important events happening in their books. At the start of this coming week, the book club groups will be rearranged and new books started. Writing workshop was suspended this week because the students shifted their focus to preparing for their three-way conferences. They completed various learning reflection checklists and worked on four learning goals. The students did, however, continue 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. Students were also involved in daily read-to-self sessions, where they worked on building their reading stamina. I also continued reading our read-aloud titled, ‘Home of the Brave’ by Katherine Applegate.
Math:
Last week, the students began the next math unit, titled, Unit 2: Adding & Subtracting Fractions. The students completed a tuning-in to the unit slideshow and ‘Fraction Museum’, where they built fraction exhibits (models) with labels from various classroom manipulative materials. Included in their fraction exhibits was a mystery exhibit, where students conducted a gallery walk and they had to work out the fraction being displayed as the mystery exhibit.
Social Studies:
Last week, the students continued their second unit, titled, ‘Government’. They continued to look at three types of government in detail: monarchy, dictatorship and democracy. This week, to prepare the students for our Melaka trip, using a slideshow and Melawati Library online resources such as Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book online, the students will be introduced to the various waves of leaders and governments that came to power in Melaka and why Melaka was so important, historically. As a read aloud, I will begin reading ‘A Children’s History of Malaysia’ by Tunku Halim, which introduced Parameswara, the first ruler of Melaka in 1400. Parameswara originally came from Palembang in Sumatra, Indonesia. The students will also learn about the voyages of Admiral Zheng Ha (Cheng Ho) from China to Melaka in 1409 and the arrival of the Portuguese more than a century later in 1511. The students will also learn about the arrival of the Dutch, the British and the Japanese and they will place events and dates on an electronic timeline from the readwritethink.com website.
UPCOMING OCT. & NOV. CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Tues. 16 Oct: Final Melaka trip parent information letter will be sent home with your child.
Fri. 19 Oct: Next Red Hats Free Dress Day. Students can bring a RM5 donation.
Mon. 22 Oct: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students
Tues. 23, Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct: G5 Melaka overnight trip:
5DH & 5KC will go on Tues. 23 & Wed. 24 Oct.
5CB, 5CC & 5JV will go on Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct.
Wed. 31 Oct: ES Halloween Dress-up Day
Mon. 5 Nov: No ES ASAs due to the Deepavali holiday the next day
Tues. 6 Nov: Deepavali holiday - no school
Fri. 9 Nov: ES International Fest Flag Parade, from 8:15-9:00am. Details TBA.
Sat. 10 Nov: International Fest at the ISKL Ampang Hilir Campus from 3:00-7:30pm. Details TBA
Wed. 14 Nov: Parent Workshop: ‘Learning in the ES’ from 8:15-9:45am. Details TBA.
Tues. 20 Nov: Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday holiday - no school
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
Until next week,
Best regards,
David
MON. 8 OCT. 2018
REMINDERS FOR THIS WEEK & EARLY NEXT WEEK:
Mon. 8 Oct. - day 4:
Tues. 9 Oct. - day 5:
Dr. Teh Kok Hoi presentation from 2:00-2:45pm in the G5 common area. Dr. Teh is the head paediatrician at KL Children’s Hospital Cancer Ward. He was not able to attend the SCMC on Thurs. 11 Oct. so we were able to book him earlier. Before Dr. Teh’s presentation at 2:00pm, I will share a slideshow with all G5 students from 1:30-2:00pm about our Sunday morning hospital visits, also in the G5 common area. Students will be able to sign up for Sunday hospital visits shortly. More information will be sent home to you shortly.
Wed. 10 Oct. - day 6:
Thurs. 11 Oct. - day 7:
G5 Melaka Trip Parent Information Meeting & Slideshow and Q & A in MPR4, from 9:15-9:45am. **Please note the change in venue - the meeting will take place in MPR4 - not the ES Community Rooms as previously advertised.**
Our first 6 presenters will present at our Social Change Maker’s Conference - SCMC, from 10:30am to 12:30pm in the G5 classrooms and common area. Parents are invited to attend. Our final 6 presenters will present on Thurs. 4 April 2019.
Fri. 11 Oct. - day 7:
TEMPORARY GUARDIANSHIP
From the ES Admin:
Parents, please remember - if both parents are traveling and leaving their child/ren in someone else’s care, you must complete a Long or Short Term Guardianship Form and deliver it to the ES main office prior to departing.
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS ASSESSMENT (ISA) INFORMATION
G5 students completed their ISA tests last Mon. 1 & Tues. 2 Oct. The makeup day for students who were absent on the testing days was last Wed. 3 Oct. Since the test booklets have to be sent to ACER in Melbourne Australia, your child’s results will not be available until early in 2018. When we receive the students’ results they will be shared with you.
HOME LEARNING WORK SHARE & THREE-WAY CONFERENCES THANKS
A big thank you to students and parents for conducting a work share last Mon. or Tues. at home in preparation for our three-way conferences. I hope seeing your child’s work samples, learning reflections, assessments and goals before our conference ensured that you had an accurate picture of your child’s strengths and areas of challenge. At the conference, we took a more detailed look at the contents of the pink manila folder and looked at your child’s goals, to see if they are the most appropriate goals at this point in time. We also made some adjustments to the goals or created more appropriate/immediate goals as required. I also hope you had time to look at your child’s electronic work samples on their Google Drive. Some of you took home your child’s pink manila folder after the conference so your child could share the contents with a parent who was not able to be at the work share early last week. Please return the pink folder and contents to me this week so your child can keep adding work samples, learning reflections etc. to it. The pink folder and contents will be used again next March for our student-led conferences and sent home at the end of the school year.
G5 SOCIAL CHANGE MAKER’S CONFERENCE (SCMC) DETAILS
One of the highlights of our previous school years in G5 has been the SCMC. I’m very excited to announce this year that we have received a generous grant once again from the ISKL Inspiration Fund to conduct the conference. We conduct the conference to coincide with our first two social studies units: ‘Red Hats: Leadership’ and ‘Government’ and also to prepare the students for our second semester social studies unit titled: Social Change. Our presenters expose the students to ordinary people doing extraordinary things to help others in the local community of Kuala Lumpur. We have 7 confirmed presenters for part 1 of the conference. The conference will be held in the G5 classrooms and common area from 10:30am-12:30pm, this coming Thurs. 11 Oct, although our first presenter - Dr. Teh - will present this Tues. 9 Oct. from 2:00-2:40pm. Our list of presenters is below. Please note that parents of G5 students are invited to attend the presentations. Students will rotate around the presenters in groups of approx. 15-16 students. They will spend 15 min. With each presenter. Each group will get to experience all the presenters.
Tuesday 9 October from 2:00-2:45pm:
Dr. Teh Kok Hoi - works at the KL Children’s Hospital as a paediatrician - tehkokhoi@gmail.com in G5 common area
Thursday 11 October from 10:30am-12:30pm:
Janine Williams - volunteers at the CWO (Chin Women's Organization) School - cjmcnamara55@gmail.com - in 5DH
Suan Tan - works for WWF Malaysia - stan@wwf.org.my - in 5KC
Naima Ismail - HEI (Health Equity Initiatives), -'Somali Women's Association' Malaysia - Naimapublichealth@outlook.com - in 5CC
Siti Kasim - volunteers as a legal advocate for Malaysian indigenous people - the Orang Asli - sitikasim@gmail.com - in 5JV
Munirah Hamid - set up and volunteers at the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen - pertiwisoupkitchen@gmail.com - in G5 common area
Ana Popovich - volunteers in ‘Trash Heroes’ - a group of ISKL High School students who do neighborhood street clean-ups - apopovich24@iskl.edu.my - in 5CB
Schedule for Thursday:
10:30 - 10:45 (Session 1)
10:50 - 11:05 (Session 2)
11:10 - 11:25 (Session 3)
11:30 - 11:45 (Session 4)
11:50 - 12:05 (Session 5)
12:10 - 12:25 (Session 6)
12:35-1:25 Presenters have lunch in the faculty lounge
12:35-1:00 Students go to lunch recess
1:00-1:25 Students have lunch in the cafeteria
1:30-2:00 Thank you presentation in the G5 common area
CLASS WORK LAST WEEK
Language Arts: Reading, writing, speaking & listening:
Last week, the students continued reading and discussing their realistic fiction books in their book club groups and using thinkmarks to guide discussion. They also continued creating their own sequence brain frames to record the important events happening in their books. At the start of this coming week, the book club groups will be rearranged and new books started. Writing workshop was suspended this week because the students shifted their focus to preparing for their three-way conferences. They completed various learning reflection checklists and worked on four learning goals. The students did, however, continue 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. Students were also involved in daily read-to-self sessions, where they worked on building their reading stamina. I also continued reading our read-aloud titled, ‘Home of the Brave’ by Katherine Applegate.
Math:
Last week, the students began the next math unit, titled, Unit 2: Adding & Subtracting Fractions. The students completed a tuning-in to the unit slideshow and ‘Fraction Museum’, where they built fraction exhibits (models) with labels from various classroom manipulative materials. Included in their fraction exhibits was a mystery exhibit, where students conducted a gallery walk and they had to work out the fraction being displayed as the mystery exhibit.
Social Studies:
Last week, the students continued their second unit, titled, ‘Government’. They continued to look at three types of government in detail: monarchy, dictatorship and democracy. This week, to prepare the students for our Melaka trip, using a slideshow and Melawati Library online resources such as Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book online, the students will be introduced to the various waves of leaders and governments that came to power in Melaka and why Melaka was so important, historically. As a read aloud, I will begin reading ‘A Children’s History of Malaysia’ by Tunku Halim, which introduced Parameswara, the first ruler of Melaka in 1400. Parameswara originally came from Palembang in Sumatra, Indonesia. The students will also learn about the voyages of Admiral Zheng Ha (Cheng Ho) from China to Melaka in 1409 and the arrival of the Portuguese more than a century later in 1511. The students will also learn about the arrival of the Dutch, the British and the Japanese and they will place events and dates on an electronic timeline from the readwritethink.com website.
UPCOMING OCT. & NOV. CLASS & SCHOOL EVENTS
Tues. 16 Oct: Final Melaka trip parent information letter will be sent home with your child.
Fri. 19 Oct: Next Red Hats Free Dress Day. Students can bring a RM5 donation.
Mon. 22 Oct: Faculty Inservice Day - no school for students
Tues. 23, Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct: G5 Melaka overnight trip:
5DH & 5KC will go on Tues. 23 & Wed. 24 Oct.
5CB, 5CC & 5JV will go on Wed. 24 & Thurs. 25 Oct.
Wed. 31 Oct: ES Halloween Dress-up Day
Mon. 5 Nov: No ES ASAs due to the Deepavali holiday the next day
Tues. 6 Nov: Deepavali holiday - no school
Fri. 9 Nov: ES International Fest Flag Parade, from 8:15-9:00am. Details TBA.
Sat. 10 Nov: International Fest at the ISKL Ampang Hilir Campus from 3:00-7:30pm. Details TBA
Wed. 14 Nov: Parent Workshop: ‘Learning in the ES’ from 8:15-9:45am. Details TBA.
Tues. 20 Nov: Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday holiday - no school
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
Until next week,
Best regards,
David
Monday, 1 October 2018
G5 Weekly Newsletter
Weekly Newsletter Grade 5
Dates: October 1st-5th, 2018
Dear Parents,
Curriculum Information for the Week:
G5 Three-way Conferences:
This week students will continue to reflect on their learning, set goals and will prepare to talk with their parents during conferences about their plan. Parents, please plan to bring your child to conferences on Thursday or Friday so, they can share some work samples from 5th grade so far. Your child and their teacher will be sharing about their learning and goals.
Literacy:
The students will continue read independently using their book club discussions to go more deeply into one book or story to write their literary essay. They will continue to discuss connections, predictions, characters, setting and most importantly THEMES (life lessons). You can support your child by making sure that your child is reading for 30 minutes a day (365 days a year!) at home on a just right book (graphic novels/comics count!).
During writing, the students will continue to work on making a claim (opinion) about a theme(s) of a short story or novel and provide evidence from the story to support their claim.
Math:
We will begin a new fraction unit this week! Students will begin by showing what they know about ordering fractions, identifying fractions and comparing. Later students will begin to model different types of fractions as well as adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators.
Unit of Study:
The students will be introduced to various forms of government: monarchy, democracy dictatorship etc. and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these government systems. This work helps us to explore the essential question: How does government affect people’s lives?
For more information and ways to support your child please visit the Parent Learning Connection page.
Important Reminders/Information: (also see GLC updates)
Monday, October 1st and Tuesday, October 2nd -ISA testing.
Tuesday, October 2-Parent Band Workshop
Thursday, October 4 and Friday, October 5-Three-way Conferences in G5
Thursday, October 11 from 9:15-9: 45 am in the ES Community Room-G5 Melaka Trip Parent Information meeting and Q & A. Parents are invited to attend.
Thursday, October 11 from 10:30am-12: 30 pm-G5 Social Change Makers Conference will be on. A list of presenters will be available shortly. Parents are invited to attend.
**Please complete, sign and return the Melaka parent permission, medical information and emergency contact form by Wednesday, October 3.
Band Master Class continues:
Day 1-Flute
Day 2-Clarinet
Day 3-Saxophone
Day 4-Trumpet
Day 5-Trombone
Day 6-Baritone and Tuba
Day 7-Percussion
Highlight from Last Week:
The new playgrounds B & C have opened! Much more space to run around and wonderful places to just sit and socialize.
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