daw.com - June 5

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 - day 2, no current events
Tuesday - Sabrina
Wednesday - Christos
Thursday - no current events
Friday - no school

Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.

Good News Daily
Science News for Kids
Time for Kids


It is time to say goodbye as this year is quickly becoming history. It has been a magnificent year in grade 5C1 this year made all the more memorable by the wonderful students who are in the class. I could not have asked for a more perfect class for my last year at HKIS. I have enjoyed all of them a great deal and watched as their learning reached new highs throughout the year.

We have to say goodbye to two students who are permanently leaving HKIS. Faven will move on to Germany and Christos to Singapore. They will both be fondly remembered and contact can continue through the emails. There are goodbye books for each of them as they prepare to move on to their new adventures.

This week's homework is optional. I will be sure to mark any that is turned in but it is not required. My gift to such a wonderful class. Reading is a must as students will have their last literature circle on Wednesday to complete the book they are reading. Tempreature logs and homework folders MUST still come to school each day, even if students opt out of the homework for the week.

Monday is the class luncheon and I am suppling Pizza, Soda and Ice Cream for the students. They should not need any lunch unless there is something there not to their liking to taste. Students will still need their regular snack for the day.

Tuesday is our annual Poetry Cafe and Awards Ceremony. This all starts in the classroom at 10:00 where your waiter will greet you and show you to your table. From the menu there will be coffee and tea as well as a myriad of scrumptious Poetic novelties. Please note that your waiter and poet will most likely not be your son or daughter. Since they are bringing their poetry books home, I feel it best that you hear from some of the other poets in the class. I have asked the students this day to wear black pants and a white uniform shirt if they have them. Makes the ambience even more authentic.

From here we will make our way to the Church of All nations where our Awards Assembly will be held. At the start of the assembly all students will be seated with their classes but after awards are handed out they are welcome to sit with their family should they so desire. There are some surprises as well so be sure not to miss this. This should take us to lunch so if you want to join your student for lunch in the Cafeteria, please feel free to do so.

This week will see students complete the last two projects - Hong Kong walkabout Photo Essays and the Car project for our Variables unit. I sent home the variables work booklet last Thursday and there is a short write-up about this towards the end of the booklet. In a short synopsis, students are designing and building a card as cheap as possible that will go as far as possible.

Monday students will complete unit 12 with the final assessment. I will get it marked and have it back to students by Monday I hope - Tuesday for sure.

Thursday is the last day of school for the grade 5 students and dismissal is at 11:30 in the morning. We will have a games morning that morning so if students want to bring some games to play until we head to the gym for the end of the year assembly, they are welcome to do so. report cards will go home with students on thursday.;

Throughout the week materials will come home until students have everything that is theirs. Look for it daily. It actually started last Friday with Clip Boards and Math Journals.

Yearbooks are expected on Monday. We are hoping to find a time to let students get signatures during the day and then yearbooks can go home on Monday. Presently this has not been confirmed.

It has been my honor to teach your students this year and I shall rmember them for many years to come. As you are all aware, I am moving on to Beijing next year so if you find yourself in that part of the world please look me up at International School Beijing.

Have a safe and wonderful summer holiday and to all my students, good luck in middle school.

Regards,

Harold Daw

daw.com - May 30

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 - Simon
Tuesday - Pablo
Wednesday - Kaori
Thursday - Maxwell
Friday - Norika



Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.

Good News Daily
Science News for Kids
Time for Kids

I want to give a big THANK-YOU to all the parents who volunteered for the Hong Kong walkabout last Tuesday. It was a great success due to the volunteering of your time. I offer this on behalf of all my students who also had a great time.

Here is a list of events coming up in the next two weeks. Some of these are strictly for your information, others may require your attendance.

May 31 - class variables Olympics - all projects due, blogs must be complete.
May 31 - Visit by astronaut
June 1 - Grade 5 Variables Olympics finals. One from each category from our class will compete.
June 2 - Human Growth and Development unit begins.
June 3 - Peer Helpers pizza lunch (just Christos and Claire)
June 3 - Music rehearsal for entire class - year end assembly song
June 3 - Lit Circle #3 - all reading up to required chapters need to be completed
June 4 - Grade 5 Fling at the Aberdeen Marina Club
June 7 - Class pizza lunch
June 8 - Poetry Cafe, Year End Awards Ceremony (I think this is also Yearbook Day)
June 9 - All final class materials will come home
June 9 - Final Lit Circle - book needs to be completed by this date.
June 10 - Half day - dismissal is at 11:30 - report cards are carried home

We are coming to the end of our first part for the Variables unit. Students should now have completed their project, written it up on their blog and be ready to compete on Monday. One student from each category will go on to represent 5C1 in the grade Olympics on Tuesday. Lots of fun.

We are fortunate to have an astronaut from the American Space program visit us for a talk on Monday. It will be interesting to hear his views on the program and his background in becoming an astronaut. These are usually highly intelligent and motivated people who have undergone an amazing training program to get to where they are.

We are in the midst of two projects at the moment, both of which I expect to culminate this week. The car construction project for our variables unit and the Hong Kong Walkabout photo essay project. Both promise to have some interesting outcomes. I will have these on display at our Poetry Cafe on the 8th of June.

I want to thank all of you for assisting me in getting all the students library materials back. I have been told by Mrs. Robinson that 5C1 is clear so that is one thing to cross of the end of year list. With the library undergoing major renovations this summer I am also sure it is a relief to Mrs. Robinson.

Wednesday is our Human Growth and Development unit. Students will be grouped by gender and shown two instructional videos on the material. They will write down questions they have on index cards anonymously and then in the afternoon, Dr. Kelsh will answer the boys questions and Yvonne our school nurse will answer the girls questions. It is a perfect time to introduce this unit as it is a yearly health unit in middle school.

This week students have assigned reading to do at home as part of their daily reading. I cannot offer them school time to read their Literature Circle books in time to have their meeting on Thursday afternoon. All students took home their books on Friday with the assigned chapters so they should know what to do.

On Monday you will receive and keep the Monday Folders - no need to return them anymore. From now on as I get work marked I will send it home in students homework folders to keep you up-to-date with your students progress and assessments.

As we head to the end of the year, please let me know if you need to meet with me and I will send out some times. If you are leaving early please let me know ASAP so I can have all the report cards and materials ready to go home on time. Thank-you to all who have already informed me.

Regards,

Harold Daw

daw.com - May 23

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 - Jonas
Wednesday - Zehra
Thursday - Trey
Friday - day 2, no current events

Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.

Good News Daily
Science News for Kids
Time for Kids

Hong Kong Walkabout Take 2 will happen this Tuesday and the weather looks much better for this day with only intermittent showers during the day. Looks like an umbrella will be a necessary tool for the day. Students will need either a lunch or lunch money for the day and also an Octopus card to help ferry them around town. The regular plans will be reviewed tomorrow with only one group making changes due to some changes in their group plans. Students have planned three rests during the day in which they will do some writing in preparation for their photographic essay. Students will also need to have digital cameras for the day. If they could be cleaned out of other pics it would make it easier to download when we get back to school. This is a highlight of the school year and one that I think students will really enjoy.

Library books are all due back on Monday. With the major renovations happening this summer in the library, they want to have all books and materials packed up by the end of the school year so they are asking for all books back now. I have a listing in my room that I will keep reminding students of. The first class to get all their materials back will get an ice-cream party compliments of the library staff - mmmmm - anf Hagen-Daz too. It should be noted that the library will be closed all summer due to renovations.

We will complete the forth memoir this week and get it published. Students have been keeping copies of these in their poetry and memoirs books they have created for our Poetry Cafe on June 8th before our awards ceremony. There is one more memoir to complete prior to the end of the year but this will not be completed until we finish the Hong Kong Photographic Essay.

By now students should be well along on their Variables Olympics project. They should have finished testing two variables, and this week will see these on their blog. Please remember that the instructions are located here (at the bottom of the page as a PDF file). If possible, blogs should include pictures as well a charts of their experiments. Instructions for the blogs are in each students Google Docs accounts. We will have the class competitions on Monday May 31 and the winners in each category will go on to the grade level Olympics the next day. I am looking forward to seeing their projects.

We will start the next science project in class this week. This time teams of students will have to design a car that meets certain requirements. The overall goal is to have the car go the farthest down a ramp. All materials will be supplied for them in school and will be materials like straws, pins, note cards, tape, and other office supplies. This is the final assessment for this unit and promises to be a in interesting event.

Our math unit is continuing and we are looking at what makes up a 'fair' game. This week students will play several games in an attempt to see if they are fair to all players and if not, why not. There will be a time this week I will ask if students can bring in games to play but at the moment I am not sure what days this will be. We also continue to look at probability and ratios.

I am more than two thirds complete the initial DRA testing. While this takes a long time it has confirmed what I have felt all along in showing the growth in your students reading this year. I will begin the few second tests I need to do later in the week.

We are also continuing on our last literature circle books. The students second book talk will be this Friday. It is interesting to listen to some of their discussions as they bounce ideas and concepts off each other and also listen to what others have to say. It also provides an opportunity for students to gain further insight they may have missed in their reading and provide it for others.

This is just a reminder that permission forms and cheques for the Grade 5 fling are due in by this Friday. Please be careful making out the cheque as it is not made out to HKIS but a parent who is a member of AMC that is inviting us. Thanks for your attention to this detail.

I want to thank Tara, Maxwell and Christina for their time as the class executive and welcome the last one for the year - Faven as President, Norika as VP and Alex as secretary. I hope that this opportunity for leadership has provided all students a glimpse into what it is like. I am very proud of all of them and the work they have done this year.

It is now time for students to start collecting all the digital work they want to keep. During the summer the O: drive will be re-formatted and all work erased. If there is something there that students want they should bring a thumb-drive to collect it and move it to a computer at home. Most of it will work on their lap-tops next year since it is simple word/excel/powerpoint files. All blogs, websites and Google Docs will remain as student property since it is their account and password that opens it up. Those moving on I will help to move the work should they want to keep it. All they need to do is let me know. Otherwise, their account is deleted over the summer.

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

Regards,

Harold Daw