Sunday, May 27, 2018

Grade 4 Newsletter May 27th - 31st



Grade 4 Weekly Newsletter
May 27th - May 31st

Dear Parents,

Parents, please inform your classroom teacher if your child will be fasting so we can make any necessary arrangements to make sure they are comfortable. It is helpful to know if they fast for the whole or part of the day at school, food and water?

Curriculum

Reading:

Students are reading expository nonfiction. In this unit readers use their knowledge of the structure of the text from prior years to evaluate and analyze the text and glean the big ideas and supportive details from the text.

It is important for readers to distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text and to compare and contrast first and secondhand accounts of the same event. These comparisons help the reader understand the different perspectives that are possible around a topic or event.

When reading a cluster of related texts, a nonfiction reader pulls together information from related parts of many texts in order to move within and across any type of nonfiction text.

The lessons for this week are:

Lesson 1: Research Project

Lesson 2: Research Project

Lesson 3: Research Project

Lesson 4: Research Project

Lesson 5: Reading Celebration



Essential Question

When reading nonfiction, how do I hold onto important and interesting information?


Writing:


Students are working on an independent writing project with a focus on revision. They will select a seed idea they came up with throughout the year and work to create a story.

The lessons for this week are:

Lesson 1: Independent Writing Project

Lesson 2: Independent Writing Project

Lesson 3: Independent Writing Project

Lesson 4: Reflection

Lesson 5: Writing Celebration

Essential Question

Using what I know about the genre of my choice, how can I write with passion and craft so that my reader becomes absorbed in my writing?

Mathematics

The lessons for this week are:

Lesson 1: Remediation and Enrichment/Math Games

Lesson 2: Remediation and Enrichment/Math Games

Lesson 3: Remediation and Enrichment/Math Games

Lesson 4: Remediation and Enrichment/Math Games

Lesson 5: Remediation and Enrichment/Math Games

Here is the LINK to the Growth Mindset video (Jo Boaler). We suggest you watch it with your child and discuss what might create a positive math classroom at school. How can you build a positive math relationship with your child? What type of dialogue will you use? You might like the following sentence starters to help you!






Science: The Circle of Life

In this unit we will take a look at heredity and the traits that we have inherited. We will be using scientific methods to observe, collect, record, and analyze data. We will also discuss and compare the life cycle of plants, insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds and animals - from birth to adult. Students will explain that every organism requires a set of instructions that specify their traits.


Essential Questions:

o Why do we look the way we do?

o Do all living things have the same life cycle? Why?


Lesson Focus this week: Ask questions on Life Cycles

Read Aloud: Life Cycles

  • Students will look at investigative questions regarding life cycles with their partners. 
  • Student partners will discuss these questions which will lead them to their investigation.
  • Students will discuss areas of interest for research of different life cycles. We will look at how comparing and contrasting can help us in our research.


Guidance News


Guidance Update - Flipping Your Lid! - A Tool for Managing Stress



The end of the school year is a busy and exciting time! It’s also a time that invites strong emotions and stress. End of year celebrations, final project deadlines, saying goodbye to those moving on, transitions to new school divisions or even to new schools, are only some of the events during this time that can lend themselves to complete meltdowns. It’s important to be mindful of this and prepared so we can use these times as opportunities to teach our children how to cope effectively during times of stress.

During Guidance we are teaching the students about their brains and how the brain functions when we are experiencing stress. The students were introduced to the following lesson, “Brain in the Palm of Your Hand - Flipping Your Lid and Finding it Again- ”. The concept of “Flipping Your Lid,” is very visual. We use the “flipped lid” signal to help the children acknowledge their feelings and the need to calm down when they are starting to feel stressed or angry.

We are providing you with the lesson (see link above) so you can use the same signal and the same language at home with your family! The following video is also very helpful for understanding the concept of a “flipped lid”.

Why Do We Lose Control of Our Emotions?


Important Information

Parents, please inform your classroom teacher if your child will be fasting so we can make any necessary arrangements to make sure they are comfortable. It is helpful to know if they fast for the whole or part of the day at school, food and water?

Skyward online payment for food services open

Elementary Parents,

We are pleased to announce our Skyward online hot lunch payment system will be open for Kindergarten-Grade 5 students from Sunday, May 13. Parents can pay into your family account for the hot lunch commencing via the CAC cashier’s office in our welcome center. For this week only (May 13 - May 17), the cashier's hours will be before 10:00 am and after 2:00 pm. Minimum payment of 500 LE per student is required.

This new system will give parents and students a more convenient way for their elementary child’s hot lunch.

Making payment is straightforward and offers you the freedom to pay CAC’s cashier in our welcome centre whenever you are on campus or send the money via your child and the class/grade aide will pay on your behalf and send the receipt to you. Your Skyward secure online food service tab is part of your Skyward account and the link can be found on your parent dashboard. This system will support if you have more than one child in our division as each child has a personalized bracelet which will register who, when and cost of each hot lunch purchased. Parents can view this on their Skyward account. Please see this link for a quick tutorial.

If a student orders hot lunch and the family account does not have funds, the meal will be given to the student and the parent will receive an automated email informing them. Also, when the amount drops to 300 LE the email will request the replenishment of the student’s account balance. At the end of the year, if the family account is overdrawn and you have a debit balance, the report card will be held until cleared. If there is a surplus it will be rolled over the following year for returning students, grade five and departing students will be notified by elementary school office and the refund can be collected from the cashier’s office.

From the student side their class/grade aide will hand out the bracelets to students having hot lunch and collect them after lunch. The food vendor will scan the bracelet and return to the student.





38 LE meal card & 45 LE Combo meal/ juice cards are acceptable in lieu of cash for your child’s meal until May 31 which is our last day for hot lunches. Please hand them to the cashier and receive a payment receipt.

Who do I see if I have a problem?


If you have feedback, questions regarding the Skyward online payment system please contact our technology office, Mr. Fadi Duweni, email: felduweini@cacegypt.org, Ph: 2755-5495


If you have feedback, questions regarding the payment please contact CAC’s cashier Reda Ibrahim, email: ribrahim@cacegypt.org, Ph: 2755-551


If you have feedback, questions regarding the use of the bracelet or general please contact Mrs. Jackson-Jin, email: jjackson@cacegypt.org, elementary office: 2755-5222


Parent questions so far?

What if my child uses their bracelet to buy a friend’s lunch? Your child will only be permitted to scan for their own lunch and the bracelet.

What if I don’t want my child to buy juice with lunch? We can add it as an alert for the vendor on the system, but please understand that it comes by practice and vendor may miss this sometimes initially.

I would like to thank our lunch committee chair, Sandrine Kachour and development chair Jackie Goodall Riley, for their support in trialling the system and giving us feedback. As we know with any new systems their may be glitches, so we would appreciate your feedback.

Best regards,

Julie Jackson-Jin

Elementary Principal





ES Yearbook 2017-2018 Pre-Sales


To our cashier, Mr. Reda in the Welcome Center.

May 13th till May 31st for L.E. 580 ($33)

After May 31st, price increases to L.E. 650 ($37)
Please note that for this week only (May 13 - May 17), the cashier will only be available before 10:00 am and after 2:00 pm.

21st Century Libraries for Parents: CAC Overdrive and ebook collections


Join us on May 23 at the MHS to access the CAC ebook collections. We have lots of options, and of all of them, Overdrive is our prize collection. Overdrive is an app that allows you to read ebooks and listen to audiobooks offline, and choose from hundreds of titles in our digital collection.

We will offer this session twice, at 8:15 am and at 2 pm. Both times will be at the MHS library.

Please download the Overdrive app before the workshop. It is available for free at all the app stores. You will need your CAC single sign on to access the CAC digital collection.


End of year dates for the ES library


May 29 Summer check out starts

ES Dismissal

Important message to ES parents,

We had two students who left campus without parental permission with a nanny. We have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again and ask for your cooperation in following our handbook guidelines for all Elementary students PreK to Grade 5. Our handbook states, that any change in the usual pattern of dismissal for your child at the end of the school day should be verified by a note or email from the parent or guardian to the classroom teacher. We have added that we need to receive this information before 12 p.m. which will give us the time to make sure all necessary personnel is informed before 2:30 p.m. each day. We appreciate CAC’s security as they have increased vigilance in making sure our students go home safely and with the person/s permitted. Ms. Samah will continue to be at the dismissal gate from 3:00 and Ms. Nadia from 4:00 for our after school activity dismissal time.

How to give permission?
Write to the classroom teacher informing the dismissal plan change.
Name the person you are giving permission to and the date/s.
In the case of a change in driver or nanny, full names and photos are needed.

What will happen if no permission has been given?

If we do not have a written record of a change in dismissal, security will not let the student leave campus. The student will be sent to the office. To avoid disappointment, please make sure to arrange the change in dismissal plans ahead of time.

Our student's safety is a school/home priority and we thank you for your understanding, support and welcome your feedback.

Drama Class Performance

Grades 3 - 5 have been hard at work, writing their own scripts. They have asked me to invite you to their final class performances. Please note, Drama class performances are not a typical performance, as it is a part of their classwork. They are very proud of their work, as am I.

Please find the schedule below:


5K - 8:15 - 9 on May 27th

3W - 9:15 - 10 on May 27th



5O - 8:15 - 9 on May 28th

3D - 9:15 -10 on May 28th

4F - 2:15 - 3 on May 28th



3H - 8:15 - 9 on May 30th

5J - 10 - 10:40 on May 30th

4M - 2:15 - 3 on May 30th



5G - 10 - 10:40 on May 31st

4D - 11:15 - 12 on May 31st

3C - 1 - 1:45 on May 31st



Thank you for your continued support,

Ms. Dolly




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