daw.com - February 21

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 - Tara
Tuesday - Sabrina
Wednesday - Zehra
Thursday - Trey
Friday - Simon

Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.

Good News Daily
Science News for Kids
Time for Kids

I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Chinese New Year holiday. It was a bit cold here in Hong Kong but there was lots to do and lots of spirit in the people. The weather hardly registered as we all went about some great CNY celebrations.

I will be away from Tuesday until Friday this week as I attend a technology conference in Mumbai, India. There is a sub me during this time. I will be looking at a school that not only went one to one computers but opted for tablet computers. These are the computers with a touch screen for all sorts of interesting studies. I own one and will share it with the students upon my return so they can see what it can do.

This week students will continue with our look at the Civil War and finish up the year 1862. There are some interesting events with the people we have been watching and studying in this time era and these will be looked at in detail. Students will continue to write in their journal/portfolios as well as put in the first maps and diagrams.

In math this week we continue with Unit 8 which is Fractions and Ratios. We will look at adding and subtracting mixed numbers and also ordering fractions. Also, a start to multiplyiong fractions with an area model which is kind of neat. It really explains why multiplying fractions comes out with a smaller number.

Homework will resume as normal this week so please help in getting your child back into this routine. Monday folders will also come home with our last week of school work in them and the assessment for their non-fiction presentation. Students did very well on this and I was quite pleased.

Not too much happening in the special events area this week. Pictures are from our last week of school before the Chinese New Year holiday.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Harold Daw

daw.com - February 7, 2010

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 - Claire
Tuesday - Christina
Wednesday - Lucas
Thursday - Michael
Friday - day 2, no current event

Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.

Good News Daily
Science News for Kids
Time for Kids
I was very proud of the class last week during Stanford Testing. They all worked to best of their abilities and I am sure this will pay off in the end. You can expect to get the results in about 8 weeks.

We have just about completed the two major events from 1861 in our unit on Civil War and will move to 1862 about mid-week. Journals/portfolios now have some things in them and there are many more going in this week. Both sides marched very well during our two days of practice - something I am sure they will remember for a long time to come.

In our reading this week we will start reading both non-fiction and fiction books related to the Civil War. In the span of the next month I am hoping and planning on students completing two of these while in class. Our focus is still on learning to monitor our comprehension, look for cause and effect and also be able to summarize when completed. There are lessons on this coming up, and we will have some blog entries during this time.

We have completed our non-fiction presentations and I was amazed. It was simply outstanding to see all the different topics and methods of presenting. Some of the pictures in today's blog post are from from these presentations. I really tried to show students that in doing a presentation it is how you present not only the topic, but yourself that is important. Also, what graphics you want to help your presentation, should be bold and easy to see. Most of them accomplished this with style and panache.

We will complete our math unit this week and move on to the next one titled Coordinates, Area, Volume and Capacity. I have attached the family letter to the email I have sent home reminding you about this blog post.

Wednesday is Track and Field day at Aberdeen if the weather holds out. Students who are not on the lunch program need to bring their own lunch for this day and it should be portable as we need to carry everything to Aberdeen where we will have lunch. I would also suggest snacks, water, warm clothes and even a hat for this day. It is a free dress day for the students but as I have reminded them often, it is always easier to take off extra clothes if you get too hot than not have clothes to add if you get too cold.

Friday is our annual Chinese New Year assembly hosted by the Chinese department and the PFO. Not sure what all is planned, but I know it will be entertaining and worthwhile as it has been every year. The year of the Tiger is almost upon us and with it some interesting dramatics I am sure. Students may want to dress Chinese for this day.

Homework returns to normal this week and I have already sent it home on Friday. I would like to remind everyone that students should be reading each night for 20-30 minutes as well. This is something that is really important and not always followed.

Math Olympiad is Tuesday and this is the fourth test. The final, fifth test will be next month.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Harold Daw

daw.com - January 31

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 - Christoffer
Tuesday - Halle
Wednesday - Max
Thursday - Faven
Friday - Stephen

Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.

Good News Daily
Science News for Kids
Time for Kids

This week is Stanford 10 week with all testing happening the first two hours of each morning. On top of this, grade 5 students also write the OLSAT test on Tuesday. All students in the school write the same tests at the same time and on the same day. There is no make-up time so it is important that students stay healthy and are in attendance every day next week.

There is no way to study for these tests as it is a general knowledge test that is normed across students of equal age. It is also important that you understand that these tests are not included on any grading done in the classroom. You will receive the results of the tests in about 8 weeks from the end of the sessions next Friday.

Students need to get a good sleep the night before and should eat a healthy and complete breakfast before coming to school. I would also like to ask that we take a good look at daily snack since I have noticed an increase in snacks like dried soups which are generally filled with sodium and MSG neither of which is too healthy. Please try to keep on top of this as it has long term positive effects.

This week also sees our schedule changed significantly. Art class and two PE classes have been canceled. There will only be three days of math and we will also complete our non-fiction projects and present this during this week. Chinese is one of the few classes that has not been affected and will still happen on Tues, Wed, and Thur. as per our regular schedule.

Last but not least, there will be no homework this coming week but I am asking that students stick with their reading for 20-30 minutes each night.

For our Civil War unit this week we will spend some time with all the other grade 5 classes learning how to march and drill as the soldiers did in boot camp during the start of the Civil War. Sometimes it is really neat to see what they look like as a large group - there are 207 student in total in grade 5.

I have asked each student to bring 12 lycee packets so we can make some Chinese Lanters for the new year festivities. I would like these here at school by Thursday please. If you find you have extras I can usually use them since a few will get lost between home and school. Thanks in advance for this.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Harold Daw