I hope you will join me in thanking Katja Parisot for stepping forward as our Class Parent Representative. As you know, this can be a big responsibility and amazingly helpful to the teacher and students. She will be helping to keep us organized and on track for activities and I'm sure she will be calling on some of you for assistance. Please welcome her into this difficult task.
Calling all potential leaders! Do you have what it takes? Teachers will be conducting in-class elections over the next week or so to find one representative from each class to act as the ‘voice’ of our elementary student body. We are looking for people who embody the IB Learner Profile Attributes and are willing to commit to weekly meetings on Sundays after school. This is a big responsibility and a fantastic opportunity. Just remember, if you don’t get a position on Student Council, don’t worry as there are a number of other important roles that may be of interest, such as MUN, Eco-Schools and Assemblies. Good luck to all of you and I look forward to working with the successful candidates! “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others” – Albert Schweitzer September 24, 2016
Dear Parents, This week your child has received their passcodes for the IXL and Spelling City websites. Ms. Wheeldon has taught us the new operations of IXL. It would be great to go on the Spelling City, RAZ Kids and IXL websites once in a while so that they can improve and learn new skills at home. If you don’t know your child’s passcode, please look in their diary or ask Mrs. Wheeldon. Camille Parisot 4KW Secretary September 17, 2016
Dear Parents, During the first two weeks of school 4KW we have been tuning in to our new unit of inquiry “Who We Are.” We studied sand mandalas from Nepal and each of us created a slice of a large paper mandala. As part of the new unit, we also studied some believes and values that we have. We used those to come up with some essential agreements that we agreed to follow throughout the year. We did some math problem solving by solving Magic Squares. We have begun taking some MAP tests over the week to show our skills and show what we need to learn. We will finish MAP testing this week. In addition, we signed up for the class jobs that we were interested in so that we can help keep the classroom running smoothly with Mrs.Wheeldon and Ms.Reyna. School starts again on Sunday, September 18 on Day 6 this week. See you there! Camille, 4KW Secretary What will Home Learning Consist of?Home learning will be starting after Eid. It will consist of:
These are the expectations for reading at home: Why so much reading? Making reading a focus of home learning aligns with the GWA Home Learning Policy. This policy is based on research that is summarized HERE and in the infographic below. I want my child to practice Maths. Will there be Maths homework? We will not be giving or providing feedback on Maths homework. However, if you would like to have your child practice Maths skills at home, IXL is an option that we have made available. The Grade 4 homepage has IXL tasks you can choose to do based on what we are studying over a period of a few weeks. Again, we will not be assigning it formally of providing feedback. Math is much more valuable and comes alive to children when you discuss how you use Maths in your everyday life. Also, making Maths fun and interactive (a.k.a. less worksheet based) will foster a positive attitude towards the subject. Tips and activities on how you can do this can be found in the Home Learning section of the Grade 4 homepage. Also, when learning is shared on the Weebly, we try to include a home extension or questions you can discuss with your child at home about what we have done in school. These posts can be a jumping off point to help you extend your discussion beyond "How was school?", "It was fine." How will you know they are reading?The Home Reading Log will be sent home. Every two weeks, students will bring their logs to school to set new reading goals. At home, they will track their progress towards those goals. Every Week 2 Thursday, students will bring their logs to school. They will reflect on whether or not they met their reading goals and set new ones for the next 2 week cycle. I will also be looking at their logs and using the information I see there to ask them questions about their reading during reading conferences. What about the other 10 minutes? How can I have a productive and helpful chat with my students about their reading?T This chat can happen before, during (if you are reading together) or after the reading is finished. Also, it does not need to be 10 straight minutes....you could do a 5 minute chat before and 5 minutes after reading. You could talk about:
Also, there are some bookmarks HERE that we will be using in class. You could use them to help guide your reading chats! HAPPY READING!Dear parents, I wanted you to be aware of the following information regarding our swimming program at GWA. The link to the new swimming Weebly – www.gwaswimming.weebly.com I have included an introductory newsletter attached to this email – it outlines the expectations and introduces the new scheme of work for our swimming program this year. Grade 3 to Grade 5: · Students should arrive at the pool changing rooms at the allotted start time of the swimming lesson. Since 4KW swimming period starts right at 8:00 am, it is important that students arrive to the gym on time (7:45 am) so attendance can be taken and students can be ready to start the lesson on time. · One member of the swimming team will be available to assist students to get ready for their swimming lesson. However, if your student would like to wear their swimming kit under their PE uniform in the morning before swimming, that may assist them in preparing for class on time. · A letter will be sent home regarding kit, to ensure that is correctly labelled. Please could you ensure that this has been done. · The official start time of the swimming lesson will be 10 minutes after the allotted time in the timetable. In out case, 8:10 am. Students should be on poolside and ready (with their towels) at this time. · These swimming lessons will be approximately 45 minutes long. Apologies for the information overload – if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. Your cooperation and assistance are greatly appreciated Best Wishes, Lottie Lucas Aquatics Director Email: [email protected] Some people have been asking about the Gems Music Academy. I do not have much information but here is a screen shot of the Music Weebly page. I have included a link to that page as well.http://gwa-news.weebly.com/elementary-news/gems-music-academy
Back-to-School Night will take place on Wednesday, September 7. Here is the basic information you should be aware of:
* Music, IT, Art, Library, EAL, SEN and Counselling will be found in the Learning Commons * Arabic and Islamic will be in their classrooms * Coffee, tea and water will be in the 1st floor open area (see attached map below)
Thanks, Kristi
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