Dear Parents,
Each week there are students in charge of a current event. I have sent home a reminder with these students but I will also list them here.
Monday - Michael
Tuesday - Tara
Wednesday - Jonas
Thursday - holiday - no school
Friday - day 2, no current events
Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.
http://gimundo.com/news/
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/pages/search.asp?catid=7
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/wr/article/0,27972,1888376,00.html
What a fabulous week and finally a full five days. It was like Christmas morning all week long as the MacBook computers finally arrived on Tuesday. There still are some technical glitches to try and work through but over all the students have really risen to the challenge of this new resource. I will try to outline some of the events of the week.
We started off by learning what some of the possibilities of the MacBook are. Thanks to all the students for teaching me and each other as well. This was truly a collaborative affair. The school now has its own domain for Google Docs so I have changed over all students. If you have this bookmarked at home you will need to change the bookmark to:
docs.google.com/a/hkis.edu.hk
If you need help email me and let me know. From here we looked at how to share a document and work on it together. We did this with a presentation I had set up and it was a fun learning time for all in the class. Students have been using this sharing of documents to peer edit their writing documents. It has been a slick addition to the class. You can see examples on my video this week. We have also started to use Google Docs for our Cultural Encounters and this coming week will continue to add to our character sketches we are developing.
We added a second post to our Learning Blogs this time looking at the math we have done this year. I fed the students three questions they needed to answer on their blogs. This is really going to be a great record of each students learning. Please have a look at their posts when you have some time.
This coming week you will begin to see some of the students reading projects posted on thier reading blogs. I have taught them how to start with iMovie where they can video their own Book Talk. I will be moving to Podcasts this coming week and will expect one of each before camp. The students are really enjoying this.
I have emailed students a link to our Book Log. This happened two weeks ago and there are still a lot of students who have not been using it. As soon as students complete a book they must fill out the book log. The link is in their school email accounts.
This coming week will see us come to an end of our first writing and reading unit. The writing is almost published now and will be sent home with Monday folders when I have finished assessing it. We use the 6-Traits rubric to assess all writing in grade 5.
Colony day is just around the corner. Mark your calendars for Thursday Oct 8 at 11:30am. Students are encouraged to dress the part of the character they have been given for this simulation. We will also have a colony day lunch that day in which I will be asking the following;
Students with last names A-J please supply a main course dish for 15 people. (we do have a microwave).
Students with last names K-N please supply a dessert dish for 15 people.
Students with last names O-V please supply drinks for 12 people (tetra-paks or cans please).
I will have all the plates, napkins and cutlery for the luncheon. I will even have coffee and tea for the parents. We will sit down at lunch and have a real luncheon much in the way as the colonists did back in the late 1600's to early 1700's. Since students will be dressed in colony attire, they can continue with the role play through lunch. Parents are invited to attend and if I could have two parents to help me I would appreciate it. The time is 12:15-1:00. Just email me to let me know.
Four your information, the Grade 4 and 5 parent coffee is this Wednesday from 8-9:30 in the 4th Floor Cafeteria. Hope many of you can make it.
This week has a holiday in the middle of the week and unfortunately it is on a Thursday. Because of this, students may need to study for their Vocabulary test on Thursday night. They can also do it on Wednesday night if they know they will be busy on Thursday night. Just how things worked out this week. Please keep this in mind as you plan your week.
I would like to congratulate Michael and Lucas who were elected as the class's Student Council representative and alternate. I also wish to thank all the other students who ran. It was a job well done by all. I was quite impressed with the speeches and posters.
We also had our classroom executive elections. Thanks to Sabrina, Christos and Lucas for a job well done and congratulations to Halle (president), Michael (vice president) and Max (secretary). These positions will continue for about the next 5 weeks of school.
Some neat interviews and work in this weeks video. Have fun viewing it. Quite long - over 6 minutes in length.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Harold Daw
