Yet another week has passed and has it ever gone fast. One of my students remarked that they could not believe it was already March. Time flies when you are having fun.
If you can help us with our Wellness week by offering an event please register here. It is a week where students will participate in activities they do not regularly get to do. I would like to see each student take the time to collect at least one pledge. It works in very well with our Impact unit, which starts after the spring break. Thank-you in advance for this.
March 20 will see the first Read-A-Thon happen at ISB. Students will collect pledges during the week and then do the reading on Friday. More about this as it comes closer. Just want to get you all thinking about it.
There are a lot of interesting and fun things happening next week so please read this carefully. If you have any questions please let me know.
Next week is ES Spirit Week. The ES STUCO has been busy preparing events and ideas
for each day. Monday will be Blue and White day. Students are to wear as much blue and white as possible. These are the school colors and will really show school spirit. Tuesday will be games day – we will do this as part of our opening of the school day. Wednesday is Twin Day. Groups of at least two students can dress up to look like each other. They may choose friends from other classrooms if they wish. Thursday is Culture Day. For this students can wear clothing that represents or identifies their nationality. This can be shirts with tourist spots in it, sports teams or national costumes. Lots of opportunity here. On Friday it will Pajama Day. Again, lots of opportunity to have some fun on this day.
for each day. Monday will be Blue and White day. Students are to wear as much blue and white as possible. These are the school colors and will really show school spirit. Tuesday will be games day – we will do this as part of our opening of the school day. Wednesday is Twin Day. Groups of at least two students can dress up to look like each other. They may choose friends from other classrooms if they wish. Thursday is Culture Day. For this students can wear clothing that represents or identifies their nationality. This can be shirts with tourist spots in it, sports teams or national costumes. Lots of opportunity here. On Friday it will Pajama Day. Again, lots of opportunity to have some fun on this day.
Monday we will have an assembly to kick of the entire week. Should be a lot of fun and both students and teachers will be involved. Friday students have a chance to see the Grade 2 circus performance. Once again this year, it promises to be quite a spectacle. There are always surprises and lots of color with this event.
Our current inquiry unit on the Human Body is in its final stages with students preparing for a presentation they will do the week of March 18-20. This will be the first time they have to present to the whole class and the class will be part of the assessment of each presentation. We have been busy researching and gathering stories for students to make a presentation. The assessment rubric, presentation ideas and a list of possible conditions to research is all on their portal which is available online at home as well. Some students may find they have to complete some research at home.
As part of the Human Body unit, students will see a movie called OSMOSIS JONES next Friday. There is a note taking assignment that is part of this.
We are in our second week of the second round of book clubs and students are really starting to get into this. It is important that as they read they make connections, work on vocabulary and draw questions they need answered. All these can be part of the book club discussions that happen every Wednesday and Friday. They have a special thinkmark for Book Clubs that they can keep their information on. At the end of each round of book clubs students have a set of reading blog entries to complete.
We will finish up math unit 7 next week with the final assessment on Monday or Tuesday. The next unit sees us return for the last time to fractions. This week we took a look at positive and negative integers and fir the first time in their life students got to see a physical representation of zero ($1 owed + $1 saved = $0). I think they really got the idea of what this is and how numbers on a number line, including negative ones, work. We also completed our ABC Quilts exemplar, which is a very hard one to do. This was one that we did as a class. Next week we will look at Frugal Freda’s Fruit Foray in which students must find out which fruit has the highest fraction of edible flesh. Involves measurement, fractions and some interesting calculations.
We are in the midst of our A Day at the Beach story having completed the first drafts. Next steps involve revisions, edits and a final draft. I anticipate that this will be completed by weeks end. It is interesting to see what students have written.
I will be away at BEIMUN next Wed thru Friday. This is an annual Model United Nations conference that attracts students from all over the world. This year they are coming from South Africa, Sweden, USA, Nigeria and many other countries. It goes without saying that the largest contingent is from China. The sub I have will be the same for all three days and I have already discussed with the class that my expectations are very high while I am away. I am sure they will rise to the occasion.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let me know. I will set up a meeting and we can discuss it. Have a great week,
Harold Daw
