Newsletter 27.01.2017

Good Afternoon,

A few quick notes for you from the Chameleon class. 

The persuasive letters are coming along exceptionally well, pupils have now started drafting their first letters. We are now fully submerged into the writing process again; pupils choose what stage they are working at and write independently during the bulk of the lesson. There are regular conferences from myself during these lessons which ensure I keep track of pupils writing and where they are struggling.

Pupils worked incredibly well on the length unit and we remarkably got the unit finished on Wednesday. It is clear from the check in quiz that a couple of pupils still need to put a little work into conversions between units of measure, however most pupils performed well. On Thursday to finish off the unit we went into the forest and pupils worked in groups to measure a route between several different images which were pinned to trees.

Pupils continued putting their research together for their first interconnectedness of biomes presentations. Pupils have been using time in lessons to read through the documents that they printed during ICT and become experts on their biomes.

Next week, on Friday 3^rd, we will be issuing report cards to pupils. These will be given in sealed envelopes to be brought how for parents. Also, the student council has organized a film showing to take place in the afternoon from 2pm, They are asking for a small 2€ donation towards  their chosen charity. As well as that there will be baked goods being sold, pupils could also bring a little money for that if they wish. 

The up and coming bike training sessions are below, on these dates your child will come to school as normal and the school bus will take us to the training centre. Please ensure that your child brings their cycling helmet on these dates.

Important Dates

-          Bike training dates (update)

o   Monday 20^th February

o   Friday 24^th March

o   Thursday 27^th April

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

English:

Within writers workshop we will be continuing to improve our persuasive arguments with use of connectives and a final closing statement.

We will also be officially starting our next readers workshop unit which is look at non-fiction texts. We will dive into the difficulty that can come from non-fiction texts and be able to identify the information we need to remember and the information that we can set aside for the time being.

Math:

On Monday I will give pupils the new pathway which focuses on weight. This will be using similar skills to length unit in terms of converting units of measure, estimating measures and solving problems involving a unit of measure. I’m confident in pupil’s ability to understand this pathway well.

On Monday I would really like to complete a weighing activity however, the school unfortunately doesn’t have any simple scales. If you have any that you would be able to let the Chameleon class borrow on Monday I would be very grateful.

Science:

On Monday pupils will begin to present in their groups to the class, this will be about how their specific biome is affected by others along with how biomes have changed over time. Pupils are presenting this within groups and have had the week to prepare. Some children require images during their presentation and have asked if they can work on it at the weekend. If any child does find an image to show, feel free to email it to me and I can prepare it for them for Monday.

Deutsche:

Liebe Eltern der Chamäleon-Klasse,

in dieser Woche haben die Schüler weiterhin an ihren Leserollen gearbeitet. Zudem wurden die Lernwörter wiederholt. Für Abwechslung sorgte ein Leserätsel.

Im Anhang finden Sie zudem die Bewertungskriterien zur Buchvorstellung.

Am Donnerstag, den 2. Februar, findet das nächste Lernwörterdiktat statt.

Ich wünsche Ihnen ein erholsames Wochenende,

Agnes Fojcik

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mario Civico and the entire Chameleon team.

Newsletter 20.01.17

Good Afternoon,

A few quick notes for you from the Chameleon class. 

The second week back has flown by, children have been engaged heavily in work this week and I’m amazed at the speed that children are getting through their work in all subjects. It’s brilliant to see such enthusiasm in class. 

Within English we have been working hard to kick start our writers workshop theme of persuasive writing. Pupils have been generating some fantastic reasons and supporting statements for their arguments, as well as this we have been looking at other examples of persuasive writing to help get inspiration. Pupils will continue with their persuasive pieces next week, looking at developing a counter argument. 

We completed our time unit this week and the children sat the check-in quiz, this will be coming home with pupils tonight. We then jumped straight into our next unit of length, some pupils struggled a little at the start with this as it involves dealing with decimal notation, although, after further teaching all pupils feel comfortable with this pathway.

This week we continued and finished our initial learning about the 8 biomes. Pupils did an excellent job of presenting the information about each biome succinctly and this meant that all pupils got a good understanding of each particular biome. Pupils have now been split up into groups again, within this group they will be leading a small inquiry into one particular biome, researching how it has changed over the recent years, what is causing this and how it is having an affect or being affected by other biomes. Pupils have already started this research during the ICT session this week. 

Bike training has now been rescheduled and the dates for those sessions are below, on these dates your child will come to school as normal and the school bus will take us to the training centre. Please ensure that your child bring their cycling helmet on these dates. 

Important Dates

-          Bike training dates (update)

o   Monday 20^th February

o   Friday 24^th March

o   Thursday 27^th April

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

English:

We will be adding to our persuasive writing. Pupils will be using the skills they showed whilst completing their humanities perspective projects by putting themselves in the shoes of someone with a different argument to them, they will need to think about one argument that person might have against them and then develop a counter argument to that.

Math:

In the week to come pupils will continue to work on their length pathway, as part of this week we will spend a session in the forest close the school. In the forest will be a number of symbols and pupils will then be using their knowledge of length and distance to create a treasure hunt for their classmates.

Sport:

We have moved on from ball games in sport and have now begun to practise some parkour skills. This teaches children how to move around a space safely and quickly, overcoming obstacles and reaching their destination.

Deutsche:

Liebe Eltern der Chamäleon-Klasse,

in der vergangen Woche haben die Schüler mit der Vorbereitung ihrer Buchpräsentationen begonnen. Begleitend dazu wurde erläutert, welche Regeln bei der Erstellung einer Inhaltsangabe und einer Figurenbeschreibung beachtet werden müssen sowie wie man seine eigene Meinung über ein Buch formulieren kann.

Zudem wurden die Satzglieder Subjekt und Prädikat wiederholt, Leseverständnisübungen durchgeführt sowie neue Lernwörter eingeführt (s. Anhang).

Ich wünsche Ihnen ein erholsames Wochenende,

freundliche Grüße

Agnes Fojcik

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mario Civico and the entire Chameleon team.

Newsletter 13.01.17

Good Afternoon,

A few quick notes for you from the Chameleon class. 

Welcome back to the next term in the school year. We started back at school on Monday after a well deserved rest and were met with some fierce weather. As well as that pupils have got back into the routine of things remarkably quickly.

This week we’ve a started a number of new projects and topics across a range of subjects. Within Writer’s Workshop we began to look at writing non-fiction paragraphs, this will lead on to the new unit of persuasive writing. Children seemed excited when I explained this topic to them and I look forward to seeing how they become master manipulators!

Also, in Math pupils have started a unit on Time; all pupils have been brilliant at this topic so far. They have been following a pathway system similar to those done before.

We have also started a new topic of study in science; this is titled ‘The interconnectedness of Biomes’. For this topic well will be looking at and learning about 8 different biomes over two weeks. Once we have a good understanding of these we will begin an inquiry based around questions that pupils have selected themselves.

We were meant to have a bike training session this week; unfortunately due to weather this was postponed. This is planned to be rescheduled, as soon as I know anything I will pass this information on.

Below are the gradings recieved for the Realistic fiction Writing unit, completed before the break. Today pupils have been given their final grades for this unit. Please take a look through the assessment and return it signed within the next week. 

English Realistic Fiction Grade breakdown.

            1’s – 2

            2’s – 15 

            3’s – 5

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

English:

We will continue to look at non-fiction writing, during writer’s workshop. This will involve taking a look at some fantastic persuasive letters and beginning to understand the layout of persuasive writing. Pupils will then start to write their own persuasive pieces.

I have completed another round of ORT reading assessments and with this information have put pupils into groups of similar reading levels. These groups will begin to work with an adult at least once per week, completing guided reading objectives.

Math:

Coming into next week I expect many pupils to be finishing the time pathway, once they complete this they are given the time to plan out a trip around Europe using a Europe wide train timetable. I will then be giving pupils the Time check in at some point next week. 

Science:

In science next week we will be looking at another 4 biomes, these are: ocean, freshwater, wetland and grassland. Pupils will be doing a similar thing to this week, which was to be placed into groups then given notes on a particular biome, each group would then digest these notes and create a small presentation to give to the rest of the class that made the information easy to take in. 

Art:

We are now creating the final piece of art for the art project that pupils were working on before the break. Some pupils might need to bring in materials, they each know what they need.

Deutsche:

Liebe Eltern der Chamäleon-Klasse,

ich hoffe Sie hatten erholsame Feiertage und ich wünsche Ihnen einen guten Start in das neue Jahr!
Bereits in der ersten Schulwoche des neuen Jahres waren die Schüler sehr fleißig. Zuerst haben sie Neujahrsraketen gebastelt, auf die sie ihre Wünsche für das neue Jahr geschrieben haben. Die bunten Kunstwerke schmücken nun die Klassenzimmer. Desweiteren haben wir eine Lesespurgeschichte gelesen und die Schüler haben viel über Pflanzen und Tiere im Wald erfahren. Im 2. Halbjahr werden wir immer wieder Sachthemen im Deutschunterricht behandeln, damit der Fachwortschatz der Kinder gefördert wird. Zudem haben die Kinder in Kleingruppen ihre Bücher für die Buchpräsentation vorgestellt. Auch die letzten Lernwörter wurden in dieser Woche noch einmal wiederholt (s. Anhang, diese wurden bereits vor den Weihnachtsferien ausgeteilt).
In der nächsten Woche beginnen wir mit der Vorbereitung der Buchpräsentationen. Insgesamt beträgt die Vorbereitungszeit 3 Wochen. Die Schüler erhalten neben der Arbeit am Wochenplan während des Unterrichts ausreichend Zeit, um ihre Präsentation vorzubereiten und eine Leserolle zu erstellen. Natürlich spricht nichts dagegen, dass ihr Kind den Vortrag auch zuhause übt. Die inhaltliche Vorbereitung sowie die Gestaltung der Leserolle erfolgt aber im Unterricht. Die Präsentationen werden in der Woche vom 6.-10. Februar gehalten und benotet. Die Note ersetzt eine Klassenarbeit. Bis Montag, den 16.02., sollte jeder Schüler den ausgefüllten Steckbrief zu seinem Buch dabei haben.

Ich wünsche Ihnen ein schönes Wochenende,
herzliche Grüße
Agnes Fojcik

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mario Civico and the entire Chameleon team.