Yet another week has sped by and we are really into a lot of learning. First off is next week's current events;
Tuesday - Michael
Wednesday - Annabel
Thursday - Robinson
Friday - Poppy
Wednesday - Annabel
Thursday - Robinson
Friday - Poppy
Our current unit of science has all the students exploring the safety of parachutes. We started by looking at what makes a parachute work and then came up with list of questions that would help us learn more about the safety of parachutes. Students then created an investigation based on one of the questions. They are in the process of completing these and then we will compare the results from the various groups.
Our writing of fiction stories has entered the final stages with most students almost completed their first drafts. Now they will share it with each other as the revise the story then it will be for editing and completion of the final draft. I want to remind everyone that writing is a very long term piece of learning. It takes most students years of learning and practice to become efficient and effective writers. Because of this, sharing becomes a very large part of the learning since it offers a larger audience of learning that just the student and teacher.
We will complete our math unit this coming week with the final assessment sometime towards the middle of the week. I want to spend some time reviewing first and then looking at problem solving. Our next unit is on addition and subtraction of fractions.
Next Friday is the school's annual book fair. These are vendors from here in Beijing that come to sell the books they have that are of interest to both our students and families. If you think your student might like to purchase a book, send some money with them and I will take them to the book fair to look around. There is no requirement to do this.
I want to take the students into the cooking lab for some real life fractions cooking but need some parents to help me please. The two dates I am looking at are Dec 1 and 9th and it will be sometime between 11:00 and 12:30. If you do not mind supervising this with me, please let me know. In the past students have really enjoyed this.
We are coming up to our grade 5 Performing Arts presentation on November 29th. It will be in the theatre starting at about 8:30 am. If you can make it, I am sure the support will be greatly appreciated by the students.
Next week is our Week of Kindness in the Elementary School. This is an important week as I feel that learning to be kind and learning about kindness is important for this age group. I am sure you will hear more about this as the week continues.
I will return to weekly Monday folders this week after my absence this past week. Look for the assessment rubrics for the exploration unit as well as the past two weeks of work the students have completed. Just a reminder that you are asked to sign this so that I know you have seen what I am sending home. The folder and signature paper comes back to school, the work stays at home.
Here is the video of the students involved with the Jedi Jugglers three weeks ago;
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Harold Daw
