Sunday, October 8, 2017

Week of October 8-12



Grade 4 Weekly Newsletter
October 8-12
Curriculum
Reading:
This week students will be learning how to use their envisioning and predicting skills to help them read intensly. When envisioning, readers will be encouraged to make mental movies. In order to make a mental movie students will need to try to exprience the story as if it is real life. They will use what they know about what the places in the book look like and feel like. They will also think about the character’s personality and motivation. How does that affect the way the character acts in the story? Students will use what they have learned from reading intensely and envisioning to make predictions. They will stop and predict what direction they think the story and the characters will take now.


Lesson 5: Envisionment: Seeing and Hearing inside the Text
Lesson 6: Using Partners and Learning Progressions to Lift the Level of Your Work
Lesson 7: Reading to Develop Defensible Ideas about Characters
Essential Questions
  • How do story events affect characters?
  • How and why do readers track how their characters change over time?
  • How do readers share and grow ideas with others?
  • Writing:
    As we delve deeper into our persuasive unit of writing this week, students will learn how take their free writing entries and convert them into thesis statements. Thesis statements declare the writer’s opinion and hve three clear reasons to support the statement. Students will box their thesis statement and bullet their reasons. They will evaluate their thesis statements to make sure that their reasons match with their opinions. Below are some non-examples that we will work with students to avoid.
    This week’s lessons:
    Lesson 5: Mining Our Writing
    Lesson 6: Boxes and Bullets: Framing Essays
    Lesson 7: Return to Boot Camp
    Lesson 8: Composing and Sorting Mini-Stories
    Lesson 9: Creating Parallelism in Lists

    Essential Questions
    • How can I use my ideas to develop an essay which is well-organized and persuasive?
    How can I become more independent?
Mathematics:
Unit Conversions and Problem Solving with Metric Measurement
We are completing Module 2 in Math. This module is where students convert within the metric system (mass, weight, volume, length). They will also solve two step addition and subtraction word problems involving measurement.


End of Module Assessment (Yes! A very short module!)
Monday October 9th, 2017
Essential Questions:
  • How does measurement data presented in tables illustrate units by size?
  • Why is it important to understand relative size?
  • What strategies help to efficiently and accurately solve word problems?
The lessons are as follows for this week:
Lesson 1: Use addition and subtraction to solve multi-step word problems involving length, mass, and capacity.
Lesson 2: End of Module Assessment
Lesson 3: Reflect on Assessment
Lesson 4 & 5: Remedial Math lessons/Math challenge.
Topic B: Metric Unit Conversions


Here is the LINK to the Growth Mindset video we began to watch at Back To School Night. 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?
Science:
We are on our last week of our Inquiry Project. Students are well along on their projects, and will be finishing them up by Thursday for our celebration.
This has been an inquiry project with the questions coming from the students own thinking and learning. Our process has been that students should think about what project they want to do, make a plan on how to proceed, decide on which supplies to use, make the project, and present the project to class. We are using Glogster as our presentation tool.
*This is a student project. Parents may advise their children, but the students are to make the projects. Students will do all of the work (magnetic and electrical) at school. However, a student may do ‘non-magnetic or electrical’ work at home. ie. they may build their house at home, or a miniature stadium. But the lights and magnetic portions of their project need to be done at school.
Important Notice: We will present our projects to our parents and classmates this Thursday, October 12th from 2:00-3:00. We hope you will get the opportunity to come and see our projects!
Rotation Schedule
Time
4D
4M
4F
2:05-2:25
Own Class Presentation
Own Class Presentation
Own Class Presentation
2:25-2:35
1
2
3
2:35-2:45
3
1
2
2:45-2:55
2
3
1
Essential Questions:
  • What is magnetism?
  • What is electricity?
  • What do scientists do when working in a lab?
  • How are magnetism and electricity related?
Guidance:
Listening with Attention
In Guidance students will focus on Listening with Attention.  
Listening with attention is different from merely hearing a person speak. It  is a skill that takes energy and practice. Students will spend time listening to their classmates, without interrupting. They will practice the following listening skills:

1.     focusing attention on the speaker (facing the speaker, focusing thoughts       AND blocking out distractions in the environment)
2.      not interrupting
3.     asking clarifying questions
4.     summarizing what the speaker has said

Grade 4 Homework:
Daily homework tasks will be written into student planners each day. Tasks may include reading for 20-30 minutes per night, writing for 10 minutes per night along with additional mathematics work. Homework may differ according to teachers and students. Any mathematics homework that students find challenging please advise their homeroom teacher so they can progress accordingly. Homework is not meant to be impossible, challenging for students to grow their brains, but not impossible!
Upcoming Events
  • Sunday, Oct 8: ES Family Picnic 12:10-12:50. ·      
  • Tuesday, Oct 10: DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) assembly. Parents welcome, bring a book.
  • Wednesday, Oct 11: MAP meeting for Grade 3-5 parents, ES 1st Floor Common Room (1:15 - 1:45 PM).
  • Wednesday, Oct 11: Presentation by Christy Curran: Promoting Writing With Your Child, ES 1st Floor Common Room (2:00 - 3:00 PM). Bring a pen.
  • Thursday, Oct 12: Grade 4 Magnetism and Electricity Fair (2:00 - 3:00 PM). It will be held in the Grade 4 classrooms.
  • Tuesday, Oct 17: 3C assembly. Parents welcome.
  • Tuesday, Oct 17:   Global Math Week Parent Workshop 8:30-9:30 AM.
  • Thursday, Oct 26:  Halloween Parade at 2:30 PM. Parents are welcome.
  • Friday, Oct 27:  Halloween Carnival from 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM.
News
Counseling Corner
Interesting Article:
Aha! Parenting.com is a great resource that shares information and parenting articles spanning pregnancy to teenagers. I am including a recent article about growth mindset.  Growth Mindset is an idea based on the extensive research of Stanford University psychologist,  Carol S. Dweck,
Ph.D..  Put simply, it is the idea that people are not born with a fixed intelligence. It is the idea that our brains act similar to a muscle that grows stronger with use.  Take a look and let us know what you think.
Core Value
The Core Value for October is Responsibility.  Your children will be hearing about and practicing responsibility in the classroom, out at recess and during their guidance lessons.  The ES Core Value Poster defines responsibility as “being reliable”. You can help support your child’s’ understanding of what responsibility means to you by having conversations about responsibility. Ask questions and share.
Example questions/conversation starters:
1.  How do you show responsibility for yourself when you are at school?
2.  I showed responsibility at work/home today by….

Carey Harris                                  Dana Purpura
Guidance Counselor                        School Counselor
charris@g-cacegypt.org                 dpurpura@g-cacegypt.org


From the ES Library
DEAR Assembly next Tuesday!
Next Tuesday morning, October 10 at 7:55 am,  join us on the elementary lawn to Drop Everything And Read! Bring a book (and probably a hat or sunglasses because it will be sunny), and join the elementary students for some sustained silent reading. Please make sure your child/ren packs a book so they can get right to it when we start our reading. We hope you will join us. Modeling reading with your children is a great way to highlight the importance and joy of reading.

Parents, join us to model reading for your child/ren. Families that value reading have stronger, more eager readers. Show your enjoyment of reading by sitting down with us next Tuesday. Bring a book, a magazine, a newspaper, or pick from some of the books we’ll have available. We hope you can join us for an enjoyable 20 minutes of reading pleasure.

21st Century Libraries for Parent series: Digital Citizenship, October 25
Our new Information Services Director, Santha Kumar, has a strong vision for digital citizenship for CAC. Join us on October 25, 8:30 am in the MHS library, for a talk on digital citizenship and how parents can help their children grow up safely and knowledgeably in today’s online world.
Library notices.

The ES library sends out two types of notices.
-WEEKLY notices: Parents of ES students receive weekly notices from our library catalog system with a list of materials that are checked out to the child. These go out the day before the child’s library checkout session to help families pack the books for school the following day.
-OVERDUE  notices: Once a month, the library system sends out overdue notices to all about library materials that are overdue. If you feel that there is an error in the notice, please be sure to contact us. We do not charge overdue fines, but we do access a replacement fee if a book is lost or irreparably damaged. That fine needs to be paid at the CAC cashier in the Welcome Center, and a copy of the paid invoice must be returned to the ES library for us to remove a book from the child’s account.

Thank you for your help in returning library materials on time so that others can enjoy them.

MAP Parent Session
 Dear Parents,
                 
Due to unavoidable circumstances, the MAP Parent session scheduled for Wednesday, October 11 @ 1:15 must be rescheduled.  A new date and time will be communicated soon.

If you have specific questions, please email David Chadwell, Director of Teaching and Learning (dchadwell@cacegypt.org) or your child's teacher. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
David Chadwell
Announcements
Promoting Writing With Your Child
Christy Curran, a literacy consultant with extensive experience as a classroom teacher and coach, is returning to CAC. She will be leading a Coaching Institute with CAC teachers and coaches from other international schools in the region, teaching model lessons in classrooms, and running workshops for teachers and parents. We hope you can join us Wednesday, 11 October, 2:00 to 3:00 PM in the 1st Floor Common Room for a presentation on Promoting Writing With Your Child. We are excited to have her back! Christy has worked at the internationally renowned Teachers College Reading and Writing Project as a staff developer.

After School Activities (Session One: Sept. 10 - Nov. 9).
You can now check pictures and videos of activities. Please click here
These are available on the ASA website link on your dashboard.

Global Math Week
From the 15th to 19th October the CAC elementary school will be celebrating Global Math Week, the world’s biggest community mathematics event. The aim of the event is to unite one million students around the globe in a shared experience of joyful uplifting mathematics. During this week at CAC there will be a number of different mathematical activities going on for students and families to enjoy. These include:
  • During their math class that week, students will participate in the Global Math Week focus activity - Exploding Dots!
  • A Math Trail will be set up around the elementary school grounds. Students and families can complete the tasks during recess or after school and submit their responses each day. At the end of the week a display will showcase the most creative solutions.
  • A Problem of the Day will be posed to challenge our most dedicated mathematicians. Parents are allowed (and encouraged) to help!
  • A Parent Workshop will provide an opportunity for parents to share in the joy and fun of Exploding Dots alongside their children, and will share some tips for keeping the math fun going at home.
The ultimate goal of Global Math Week is to change the way the world sees math. We want to help our students appreciate math as joyful, relevant, meaningful and creative. Join us in celebrating the wonder of math!

Global Math Week Parent Workshop
Tuesday October 17th, 8:30 - 9:30 AM
Challenge Series (CCS) - Grade 2 - 5 Students
This year, the ES is offering a new lunchtime sports program called the Cairo Challenge Series. The CCS is a series of 5 events throughout the year for Grade 2-5 students. The five events are: 40m sprint (October), Cross Country race (December), Badminton (grade 3-5 in January), Long Jump (March) and 25m swim (May). All events are designed to recognize participation as well as excellence.
The first event is the 40m sprint, occurring the week of October 8. The first and second rounds will be done by grade with top finishers in each heat progressing to subsequent rounds.
October 9 - Grade 2
October 10 - Grade 3
October 11 - Grade 4
October 12 - Grade 5
October 16 - Semi-finals for Grade 2-5
October 17 - Finals for Grade 2-5
We hope that we have 100% participation! No sign up is necessary, students should just come to the track and we will be marking who is there at this time. On the day of your child’s races, please pack a lunch for them as there will be limited time to get hot lunch on these days. There will be an area for students to eat when they are not racing.

We are very excited to get this program started. If you have any questions, there is additional information on our website or you can email Matt Lautenbach @ mlautenbach@caceygpt.org.

Age Group and Tuesday Swim School
Reminder to make sure that you have paid the fees to the school cashier. Swimmers will be held out of practice until payment has been received. The payment sheet can be found here if needed.

Time Trials - On October 20, the first meet of the year, Time Trials will start with 1:00 pm warm ups. The Sunday/Wednesday ES group warms up from 1:00 pm-1:20 pm, the Monday/Thursday ES group from 1:20 pm - 1:40 pm and the MS/HS group from 1:40 pm - 2:00 pm. The meet will start at 2:15 pm and should take 2-3 hours. All swimmers will compete in group appropriate events to get some practice in before our Invitational November 10 & 11. Please contact Coach Matt at mlautenbach@cacegypt.org with any questions.

Swim-a-thon cancelled this season - We are going to move the swim-a-thon to the Spring Age Group season. When we set the date, we didn’t know about how many interruptions to the Monday/Thursday practice schedule we would have this season. We felt that it was better to move it to the Spring when days get longer and warmer as the season goes on rather than having another change to the Monday/Thursday practice schedule. Additionally, the MS/HS swimmers are on Prime Trips and WWW this week so moving it to the Spring will allow all swimmers to take part. Thank you for your understanding.

PTO News
Halloween Carnival
The Halloween Carnival will be on October 27th, from 2:00 - 6:00 PM!
The PTO gladly accepts all donations of cash, candy and baked goods (bake sales from 3:00 - 4:00 PM on Tuesday afternoons) for this event.

P.E. Uniforms Ready
Good news! The new stock of PE uniforms will be available for sale at the Spirit Store starting Thursday, October 5th.

Store hours are 7:45 - 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM and 2:30 - 4:00 PM.  Elementary parents who pre-ordered sizes will have a separate area to collect their orders.

Important: We will hold pre-ordered sizes for two weeks only, until Thursday, October 19th. After the deadline, we will return the reserved sizes with the rest of the stocks for sale.
Shirts: $10.90 or 193 EGP
Shorts: $7.45 or 132 EGP

Tortoise Club
Visit your Tortoise
Would you like to spend some time with your Tortoise? Now you can by adding your name to the list. Please add the time that suits you in this google sheet: click here You can also, send your questions, comments and information in this link:Tortoise Club Information Sharing  Those will be will be reviewed by Mr. Said and the club members and will be published in the Tortoise Club webpage. Link to the:Tortoise Club Page





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