Newsletter 04.11.16

Good Afternoon,

A few quick notes for you from the Chameleon class. 

The first week back after the two week break started with a rather spooky Monday. Halloween at Phorms was a huge success, the pupils dressed up in some truly incredible costumes and the whole school took the afternoon to celebrate with a variety of activities. In 4^th grade, each classroom was open and children could move between rooms as they wished.

Pupils have also jumped straight back into work, within Writers workshop I’ve started to conference with pupils regarding the first check in. This looks at the plan and draft of one of their stories. Pupils are coming to the meetings prepared and ready for the questions asked. Those who I have met with have told me that they understand the grading they’ve received and agree with it based on our conversation.

In Math, pupils were given and have completed a multiplication and division pathway. This looked at skills which they had already learnt in previous years. On Friday we also sat a short check-in quiz to recap their knowledge. This will come home on Monday for you to see.

Starting on Monday 14^th November and running to Thursday 24^th November I will be holding parent conferences. These are for us to meet and discuss your child’s development so far throughout the year; it is also an excellent opportunity for you to see the work your child is doing in class and to ask any questions. Below is a link to a Doodle Event, within this you are able to schedule a time for us to meet. 

http://doodle.com/poll/ngnd2e8rrqam36hk

Important Dates:

-          Monday 14^th November to Thursday 24^th November Parent Teacher Interviews being held.

-          22^nd November School Photographer

-          28^th – 29^th November the Usborne book fair will be taking place in the Library. More information regarding this to follow.

Here is an overview of the areas of study we will focus on throughout the first week back:

English:

I will be continuing to meet with people regarding the plan and draft of their realistic fiction story. Pupils will be bringing their rubrics home once we have met. Within lessons I will continue to instruct pupils how to improve and revise their stories, they will be using their writing partners to help push their work forward.

I will be starting another round of reading assessments with pupils, these are shorter than previous assessments but they will aid me in seeing the progression that has been made.  

Math:

Pupils will be getting their new pathway which is focused around multiplication; this involves multiplying with larger numbers and using a variety of formal written methods. As well as this we will be running intensive times tables workshops within the lessons to ensure all pupils are proficient with their multiplications.

Science:

In science on Monday pupils will be sitting a small check in quiz covering the areas that we studied last term. As well as that we will look at the weather and environment in a number of different countries from different continents. Pupils should be able to identify what type of climate certain countries have by the end of the session.

Humanities:

We will begin to look at perspectives in humanities, identifying that different people could see the same thing in different ways.

German:

Liebe Eltern der Chamäleon-Klasse,

diese Woche begann schaurig-schön mit Halloween. Passend dazu haben die Schüler eine Krimigeschichte gelesen und sind dabei einem frechen Jungen im Batman-Kostüm auf die Schliche gekommen. Außerdem haben die Schüler mit Hilfe eines Sachtexts den Ursprung von Halloween kennengelernt und erfahren, dass diese Tradition ursprünglich aus Irland stammt. Als Vorbereitung für das Aufsatztraining der kommenden Wochen haben wir Adjektive gesammelt, die gute sowie schlechte Eigenschaften einer Person beschreiben. Um treffende Wörter zu finden, wurden die Schüler an die Arbeit mit dem Synonym-Wörterbuch herangeführt. Zudem wurden die neuen Lernwörter geübt (s. Anhang).

Desweiteren wurde das 1. Lernwörterdiktat verbessert. Das Ergebnis des 1. Diktats fließt nicht in die Bewertung mit ein. Vielmehr diente dieses Diktat dazu, dass die Schüler an einen längeren Diktattext herangeführt werden und diese Prüfungsform kennenlernen. Die kommenden Lernwörterdiktate werden dann aber bewertet. Die genauen Bewertungskriterien teile ich Ihnen im nächsten Newsletter mit.

Ich wünsche Ihnen ein erholsames Wochenende!

Herzliche Grüße

Agnes Fojcik

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mario Civico and the entire Chameleon team.