Newsletter 16.12.16

Good Afternoon,

A few quick notes for you from the Chameleon class. 

Pupils have been completing their work this week, hitting deadlines and ensuring everything is ready for select presentations. On Monday I collected in the published copies of their realistic fiction writing. I am now spending time reading through these and grading them, once complete I will feed this back to the pupils.

On Wednesday, the Chameleons presented their humanities project, this was based around perspectives and particularly identifying how two different people can have different perspectives on the same thing. This is the first time I’ve been able to see the Chameleons present in front of the class, I was amazed at the preparation that some pupils put in. This was a wonderful build up towards the science presentation on Monday (19^th).

In Math pupils have started to work with a partner on a division based problem solving project. For the project, children are creating their own movie theatre and solving various problems based around this. It’s been very interesting to see the perseverance of some children as they are getting on to trickier problems.

We also had a much deserved class treat on Thursday afternoon and on Friday we took part in a wonderful Christmas concert. The pupils from the Chameleon class performed brilliantly and really blew me away with their singing. As well as this, those children who were drumming surprised me wonderfully.

Math Assessment Breakdown

1s – 7
2s – 10
3s – 1
4s – 3
5s – 1

Important Dates and Information:

-          Monday 19^th Science presentation

-          Wednesday 21^st, last day of school. No afternoon HORT.

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

English:

Now that pupils have finished their published copy they are continuing to write a winter story based around the same steps as they’ve done before. This has really let their creativity come out and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by pupils competence to follow the writers workshop steps.

Math:

As pupils have now completed all the required assessments and check-ins within math we will be continuing a math investigation focused on division.  

Art:

We will spend some time does Christmas crafts and on Wednesday morning we will practise our baking skills, creating winter cookies for the grade 4 class time afternoon.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mario Civico and the entire Chameleon team.

Newsletter 09.12.16

Good Afternoon,

A few quick notes for you from the Chameleon class. 

Pupils have worked hard on a number of projects this week ensuring they are completing them for the deadlines provided. The deadline for the completed published writing piece has been pushed to Monday 12^th. As well as this there completed humanities project is due on Wednesday 14^th, they will be presenting their findings to the class that afternoon.

Pupils have also worked hard to review the multiplication and division math work in preparation for the assessment, it is wonderful to see the level of effort that the Chameleon class has shown to ensure they fully understand the work required.

We also had an incredible field trip to the Goethehaus in Frankfurt on Friday. During our time at the Goethehaus we received an insightful tour focusing on the colour wheel, one of Goethe's incredible works, and a writing activity which allowed pupils to experience the day to day life of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Following our time at the Goethehaus, we explored the many wonders of Frankfurt Weinachtsmarkt. I want to say a huge thankyou to the parents who supported this trip as it wouldn’t have been possible without you as well as a thankyou to Frau Fojcik who organized this trip for the entire grade.

An important notice for next week, there will not be any sport lessons due to the Christmas Concert on Friday. 

The Chameleons have now completed the class target for behaviour, due to this on Thursday 15th, pupils will a treat afternoon. A letter will be sent out on Monday with more information about this. 

Important Dates and Information:

• Friday 16^th December, Phorms Christmas Concert
• Wednesday 14^th Humanities presentation due
• Monday 19th Science project due
• Thuesday 15th deadline to return photographs
• You are still able to buy tickets to the Christmas performance. Each ticket is 5€, siblings of children can attend for free

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

English:

I have received a number of completed published pieces already from pupils. It is clear, from the ones I have received, that children are now fully comfortable with the writers workshop model of assessment. Children know that the rubric contains a lot of guidance and they are able to review the rubric whilst they are completing that stage in the process. I am incredibly happy with what I have seen.

Start next week, pupils will begin to restart the writing process to create a short 1-2 pages winter story. Some pupils have already started this process and it’s amazing to the see the difference I in how they are now compared to the start of the year.

I have now started another round of ORT reading assessments; this is one of the slightly longer assessments and will see just how pupils are doing in terms of their reading ability. As well as this, in the coming week there will be a separate reading assessment that the class completes together, this will focus around the skills covered in readers workshop.

Math:

As pupils have now completed all the required assessments and check-ins within math we will be starting a math investigation this week. This will reinforce the division and multiplication work we have just completed by incorporating it into practical activities. This will end the unit nicely ensuring a solid end to the unit. 

Science:

Pupils will continue to research and inquire about their chosen topic. They will continue to work on their presentations, I will be expecting these to be presented during the last week of the school term.

Art:

We are post-poning our final art project until after the winter break to ensure all children are fully commited to its creation. 

German:

Liebe Eltern der Chamäleon-Klasse,

diese Woche haben die Schüler weiterhin an ihren Geschichten gearbeitet und begonnen, diese zu überarbeiten. Um eine Geschichte anschaulich und unterhaltsam zu gestalten, ist es nämlich wichtig auf eine treffende Wortwahl zu achten (Verben, Adjektive, Satzanfänge). Desweiteren sollten Gefühle einer Person ausführlich beschrieben werden. Zudem hatten wir heute einen tollen Tag im Goethehaus Frankfurt!

Ich wünsche Ihnen ein erholsames Wochenende!

Agnes Fojcik

We hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Best regards,

The entire chameleon team.

Newsletter 02.12.16

Good Afternoon,

A few quick notes for you from the Chameleon class. 

Who can believe that there are only two and a half weeks left of school before the winter break? It comes as no surprise, I’m sure, that the next few weeks will be filled with hard work and assessments, as well as an assortment of themed activities, to lighten the mood a little.

Almost all pupils have now started to publish their final edited story. On Tuesday I showed pupils the rubric for the finished edited piece, I will attach this to the newsletter email, I then proceeded to hand out copies on Thursday. The first section of the rubric relates to spelling and part of this calls for all ‘grade appropriate’ words to be spelled correctly, rather than leaving this as a vague and ambiguous term we have given out a list of words that we will consider as the ‘grade appropriate’ words for this assessment. Pupils should be using this word list as they are editing to ensure their spellings are accurate. I’ve been really pleased with the majority of writing that I have seen; the level it has improved since their first draft is remarkable. 

In math we continued with our division pathway, we broke down the tricky elements of  written divisions and simplified them. I taught two different methods which children could choose to use. Friday was the last day that I allowed children to work on this pathway, I’m aware that there are a couple of children who still haven’t finished; it would be helpful to them if they completed this at home. 

Next Friday we are going on a field trip to the Goethe Haus in Frankfurt, attached to the newsletter email you will find a letter with information regarding this trip. As well as that I have given copies of this letter out to children today. After we have finished in the Goethe Haus we will spend some time in the Christmas market, for this to be possible we require some additional help from parents, if there is anyone who would be able to assist us in this please contact myself by Wednesday.

Important Dates and Information:

-          Thursday 8^th December, Formal Math Assessment (Multiplication and Division)

-          Friday 9^th December, Field trip to the Goethe Haus.

-          Friday 16^th December, Phorms Christmas Concert

-          You are now able to buy tickets to the Christmas performance. Each ticket is 5€, siblings of children can attend for free.

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

English:

I have now completed the revision check-ins and we are already looking toward the Edit/Published check-in. I will start this as soon as I possibly can, which will be dependent on children’s writing. This check-in will be slightly different as I will be reading their published copy ahead of time and then discussing the grading choices I’ve made with them. They will still have a chance to discuss or argue their grades however this will be more limited this time round.

I am also starting another round of ORT reading assessments; this is one of the slightly longer assessments and will see exactly how pupils are doing in terms of their reading ability.

With everything going on next week I am prioritizing math over english, therefore there will be less english sessions this week.

Math:

On Thursday we will be completing the multiplication and division formal assessment.

Monday will be taken up by completing the check-in related to the division pathway they have just finished.

On Tuesday I will be giving the pupils a practise test in preparation for the formal assessment, then throughout Wednesday pupils will be able to work on the questions that they struggled with.

Science:

Pupils will continue to research and inquire about their chosen topic. They are now able to start working on their poster and presentation. During the presentation they should be informing the class and me on their topic; it should be an effective presentation that informs the class at an appropriate level.

German:

Liebe Eltern der Chamäleon-Klasse,

diese Woche haben die Schüler weiterhin an ihren Reizwortgeschichten gearbeitet. Wir haben anhand eines Bildes besprochen, dass man Gefühle besonders anschaulich darstellen kann, wenn man auch die Mimik und Gestik einer Person beschreibt.

Freundliche Grüße und einen schönen 2. Advent

Agnes Fojcik

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mario Civico and the entire Chameleon team.