Early Release Thursday

This is a reminder that Thursday the elementary school students are dismissed at 11:00.

FYI

As most of you probably realized by now, home extension activities and 'just-right' books were not sent home this week due to the winter break. Enjoy your travels!

Basketball Tournament

Beginning tomorrow AISD is hosting the SAISA girls' basketball tournament. Our class has 'adopted' a team and will cheer them on during their morning game. We have been assigned to the TAISM Eagles and their colors are red, blue and white. We would like to encourage the children to wear these colors tomorrow if possible. Please do not go out and purchase anything special or worry about this too much. Anything is fine!

Imagination Station!

Our Unit of Inquiry on imagination has been full of creative thinking. Last week all kindergarten students were divided into three groups and had the opportunity of going to three sessions focusing on different means of creative expression. In KG-ML the focus was art and the kindergarteners used their creative minds to paint. KG-T focused on cooking as students created images out of food. 

   

         

In our classroom, KG-M, we used our imaginations to express ourselves through music. We worked as teams to create lyrics to accompany the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Here are the three songs we came up with: 

Nighttime, nighttime at the school,

There's some apple juice in the pool. 

Slowly the bugs creep on in, 

And they think that they have fins. 

So they try to climb inside, 

Drink the juice and run and hide! 

But the bugs turn to elephants, 

And then to their homes they went. 

Once there was a friendly witch, 

And she had a little twitch. 

She loved rainbows very much, 

That rainbow colors turned everything she touched. 

A tiger walked in front of her, 

And her twitch turned him to rainbow color. 

Now he loved the rainbows too, 

So off to rainbow land they flew. 

Once there were some magical friends, 

And they walked around a bend. 

Then they saw a beautiful sea, 

With alligators drinking tea. 

The alligators saw the kids, 

And on their teapots went the lids. 

So to the kids they could swim, 

And have dinner by eating them. 

But the kids turned into water, 

And escaped the gators forever.

 

UN Day

Last week we celebrated UN Day at school. It was an exciting and festive day for all. Please check out the photos below:

South Asian Club Fair

Dear Elementary Parents,

The South Asian Club is holding a fair for the entire AISD Community. There will be lots of yummy food sold like dosa, fuchka, cotton candy, and tehari (a Bangladeshi rice dish). 

There will also be live dance performances, arts and crafts sold and a bouncy castle for the kids to enjoy! 

Please come and join us with your entire family in all the fun festivities!

Date: Wednesday, November 27th

Time: 6-8pm

Place: AISD Tennis Courts (rooftop)

Entrance Ticket: 50tk, (food at additional cost, 50-100 tk)

We hope to see you there! Thanks for your support!

UN Day Reminders

Reminder:  Tomorrow (Wednesday) AISD will celebrate UN Day. The Parade of Nations will begin at 8:30, followed by performances. Please keep in mind the following:

• National dress is encouraged but not required.
• Parents are welcome to attend the parade and program, and they should go to the big field, not walk with the country during the parade. 
• Parents should use the field gate to enter and exit. Please do not come to the classroom before or after the parade as the school and classrooms are very busy. Note that you are welcome to take photos on the field.
• Parents and families can watch the assembly through live streaming. They can go to the website and click on the top right corner where it says "Live". 

Nurturing Your Child's Imagination

Please click on this link to see some suggestions from Scholastic on how you can encourage and strengthen your child's creativity and imagination.

Learning About the Brain

We spent time in class studying the brain and how it works to get a better understanding of what we do when we think. After taking apart and reassembling two model brains we shared our wonderings and spent time exploring the different parts of the brain and what they do. 

We learned that just like an egg yolk, our brain has some special fluid around it that protects it from hitting our skull when we move. We know that our brain is very important and that we need to protect it by being safe and wearing helmets while riding bikes and doing other sports.

Throughout our study on the brain we conferred many sources, including a website called "Wondermind". This site has many games that encourage brain strengthening, as well as kid-friendly videos that discuss the parts of the brain. To find the videos, you have to first click on a game as if you are going to play, and then you will see a video button in the lower left corner. We only watched part of one in class, so I encourage you to watch more with your child at home! Click here to go to the website.

We have now entered into our next Unit of Inquiry, which focuses on imagination. We will really strengthen our brains during this Unit by challenging ourselves to thing outside the box. Last week your child brought home a puppet theater of The Little Red Hen. Before taking it home each child practiced retelling the story and then used the iPad to record himself. We will use these recordings to critique our expression and encourage us to develop in the area of performing arts.

In math we have looked more closely at numbers in general, and spent time carefully examining numbers 11 through 19. Through a series of games and activities in which we built the numbers, we have develop a basic understanding of place value. We will continue this exploration of numbers as we also add in a study of geometric shapes.

Playing "Flying Saucers"

Numbers

We interact and play with numbers daily in our classroom, but recently we started focusing on 'teen' numbers. Before beginning this focus we shared our thoughts/knowledge about numbers in general. The children were asked to share what they already know about numbers. This is the conversation that evolved with no teacher input. By recording the conversation we can then begin looking at our understanding more deeply and resolve misunderstandings.

Nora: Numbers don't go from right to left, they go from left to right.

Iris: Numbers don't go from 10 to 1, they go from 1 to 10.

Imram: You can count beans to figure out how many there are.

Sahan: You start at the top when writing numbers.

Aly: There is an order to numbers.

Mikail: You can't start counting at 19, you have to start at 1.

Nora: You can count like 2,4,6,8 and even higher than that by skipping some numbers.

Iris: You can count backward but you normally count forwards.

Shanza: You can count from 13 down to 1.

Aiden: You can count from 100 to 0.

Aylin: You can count from 1 to 9.

Cadyn: You can count backwards but not every time because if you just know the number you can just call it out.

Aly: You can count so much up to when the numbers stop. I don't when when numbers stop.

Aiden: Numbers never stop. Somebody told me that but I don't know why.

Sahan: You can even start counting at 100 and go to 1000.

Iris: You can start counting at any number and keep on going and going as many numbers as you know.

Nora: I know numbers never stop because there's always a higher number.

Imran: You can count beginning at 1 instead of 0. Numbers can be a bit hard at some times.

Sandeep: You can count up to 20.

Shanza: We would take one whole day to count all the numbers.

Iris: You can put numbers together to make a new number.

Reminders/Updates

Reminders/Updates:

• Please spray your child with mosquito repellant in the morning before he/she comes to school as many mosquitoes are visiting our classroom daily.
• The Performing Arts room has continued to have AC problems. Please send a jacket/sweatshirt that your child can keep in the classroom and wear on the appropriate days.
• Individual Photos: Thursday, November 21
• PTA Book Fair: November 25 - 27. Our class will attend on Tuesday, Nov. 26 @ 8:00. You are welcome to come accompany your child in 'shopping'.
• UN Day is approaching. Please see the note below for more information:
  
  There are two events that the whole school gets together to celebrate at AISD. One is UN Day(October 24 but will be celebrated Nov. 27 instead), the second is Earth Day (April 22). The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the UN Charter had been ratified by a majority of the original 51 Member States. The day is now celebrated each year around the world as United Nations Day.
  "The purpose of the United Nations is to bring all nations of the world together to work for peace and development, based on the principles of justice, human dignity and the well-being of all people. It affords the opportunity for countries to balance global interdependence and national interests when addressing international problems" (UN website). We celebrate this day in honour of our vision statement and the principles behind the foundation which the UN is built upon.
  On UN Day (Nov 27), we will have an all school assembly with a parade of nations from 8:30 to 9:35 in the field. As this is a school wide event we try to include as many dance, drama, pictorial presentations and keep the speeches to a bare minimum to engage all students. 
  On UN Day (Nov 27), we will have an all school assembly with a parade of nations from 8:30 to 9:35 in the field. As this is a school wide event we try to include as many dance, drama, pictorial presentations and keep the speeches to a bare minimum to engage all students. 
  A gentle reminder to all parents to get an appropriate costume (national dress or clothing representing your country's flag) ready for the event as the your student will take part in the this whole school event.

• Please also see this note from Sara Eldon, a high school student, about Dharmarajika:
  
  Dharmarajika orphanage is providing education for hundredths of  young children ages 4-17. I, a senior at AISD, am trying to assist Dharmarajika in their pursuit and am currently helping them collect school supplies for the children. I am sure you are already making an effort to donate any old or extra school supplies but If your classroom or perhaps your students have any old or extra school supplies (such as rulers, erasers, pencils, sharpeners, notebooks or even school bags) I was wondering if you would help us by being so kind as to drop it off at a box outside the high school office or let me know and I will come and collect it. It would be very much appreciated at Dharmarajika. Thank you!

Field Trip Reflections

Sorry for not posting this earlier. Here are some reflections made right after our field trip to the AEEA:

Nora – I learned that plants need medicine so bugs don’t eat the plants.

Cadyn – I learned that the money tree grows on top of the other tree.

Imran – I was a risk-taker and tried new pizza and I learned I like it!

Aly – When the gardener showed us the seed we learned that it came from somewhere else.

Aiden – I found  a seed and the gardener told me it came from the pool side, which was kind of far. It got there on someone’s swimsuit and then it dropped out there.

Cadyn – The gardener said that maybe some kids playing near the swimming pool dropped seeds on the other side of the club.

Sahan – The gardeners used strings to tie the plant and make it into a doorway.

Iris – I learned new names of flowers.

Ashman - I learned that when the plants can’t stand on their own, the gardeners can help by tying them to a stick.

Aylin – I saw interesting flowers.

Sandeep – I found a root from a tree.

Aiden – I found a root from a piece of grass.

Mikail – I found leaves on a stem.

Cadyn – I saw vines.

Sahan – I saw a bird sitting on a plant and watching it to eat it.

Aylin – I saw birds eating the plant.

Cadyn – I saw the men planting plants and tying strings to the plants to help them grow straight up.

Aylin – I saw people eating leaves when they were eating.

Aiden – I saw the ladder. It was made from wood!

Iris – I saw a broom made from a plant.

Shanza – I didn’t know that the mango trees grew best in the summer. I thought they grew in the winter.

Sandeep – The flowers were straight.

Visible Thinking Information

UPDATE: Our Performing Arts teacher, Ms. Betty Chang, has informed me that her classroom is very cold due to problems with the AC controllers. Therefore, please send your child with a sweater or jacket he can wear on days we have P.A. 

______________________________________________

A little over a week ago we had the wonderful opportunity of welcoming Laura Manni and Aquil-li Ruiz Comellas to our school to provide training on visible thinking. Please see the PDF screen shot below that they shared to highlight what was discussed in the parent session.

I recommend watching this video from the World Forum in 2011. It is quite long so you may want to watch it in bits. This is also shared in the PDF above.

Upcoming Events:

• November 13, 7:55 - 8:30:  Parent information session on technology and digital citizenship
• November 18 @ 4:00 pm:  PTA meeting
• Thursday, November 21:  Individual student photos
• November 25 - 27:  PTA book fair
• November 27:  UN Day celebration

*See more information on the above in last week's Shamachar.

What Incredible Progress!

Thank you for attending student-involved conferences and for your ongoing support and partnership in your child's development. It was very enjoyable meeting with you all and discussing the great progress your children are making. I very much appreciate your sharing and the encouragement you showed your children when they shared their work.

Last week was full of interesting and exciting learning experiences. One of the memorable ones for the students was our field trip to the AEEA. Mr. Jondon, a gardener, spoke with us about the plants at the club and his work in nurturing them. He then took us on a tour around the grounds and showed us some interesting plants that many of us had never noticed before.

  

In the classroom we used pumpkins to study not only our Unit of Inquiry but our math unit on measurement as well. We examined our pumpkins like scientists and looked closely to draw realistic pictures of them. We realized that not all pumpkins are orange, big and round. We measured the pumpkins in various ways (looking at height, circumference and weight), and then opened them up and scooped out all the seeds. Many of us were hesitant to touch the gooey inside, but we were risk-takers and got our hands messy! 

   

 

After separating the seeds from the goo and then roasting them, we used the seeds for a counting lesson. We counted our individual pile of seeds and found the corresponding number from the hundreds chart to match our piles. Next we had to use our thinking and communication skills to organize ourselves in order from the person with the least amount of seeds to the person with the most without any teacher assistance. This is what we came up with:  

We then viewed the picture of ourselves and noticed that Imran and Sandeep needed to trade places. We also needed to add in Ashman and Cadyn. Through discussion we came up with this:

After reviewing another photo of ourselves we determined two of us still needed to move. We moved around and on the third try we got it correct!:

Since our exploration with pumpkins was near Halloween, of course we were excited to turn our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. Thanks to Ms. Hagar for her help!

Bloomball Mall

Please see this note from the 5th graders. We will attend the 'Bloomball Mall' tomorrow morning (Monday) before our field trip. If you would like your child to be able to purchase anything please send money in a labeled envelope.

Bloomball mall is an open- market concept for grade 5's small businesses. The Bloomball mall is Monday November 4th 8:30-10:30.

Students will be selling baked goods, books, original handmade items and more at reasonable prices between 20-150tk. If you could please encourage your students to bring small notes this would be very helpful to our students in making change! Students do not need to bring more than 500 taka. 

Thanks for your help in making this Bloomball mall a success! All proceeds go to the bearers fund :)

Thanks again,

Grade 5 team

Reminder: Parent Meeting

Reminder: Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the visible thinking parent session from 8:00 to 9:30 am in the community hall. I hope some of you are able to attend! Please see this document by Ron Ritchhart for some things you can do when interacting with your child/children to encourage growth.

Learner Profile Traits and Attitudes

The Primary Years Program (PYP) focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. Not only are students taught and encouraged to think and question, but they are also taught to focus on attributes that make them well-rounded citizens. Therefore, we regularly discuss and use common language called the learner profile traits and attitudes. See a list of these 20 terms here.

During this Unit of Inquiry we have examined appreciation and what this word means. We watched the following short animated film and discussed in which ways both the girl and the old man showed appreciation. This led to a discussion on how we appreciate the world in which we live. We even realized that plants provide us more than just objects; they also provide happiness and a sense of peace.

Upcoming Parent Session

Dear Parents,

Next week our school has the wonderful opportunity of welcoming presenters Laura Manni and Aquili Ruiz to work with all early years teachers (PreK and kindergarten) on "visible thinking" in the classroom. I realize you most likely do not know what I am referring to with "visible thinking", so please check out this site for more information. We do a lot of this in our classroom and it really encourages deeper thinking and connections between the various disciplines and our lives. We are also very fortunate that the presenters are offering a parent presentation. Please see this note from our curriculum coordinator, Gareth Jacobson:

'You are invited to a special information session on Wednesday, October 30th. (8.00 to 9.30) in the Community Hall. The focus of the session will be how to support your child along the road to becoming a life long learner. During the session you will hear about how to cultivate growth mindsets in children and practical ways you can help your child develop self esteem and the habits of mind for successful learning." 

I highly recommend that you attend if at all possible. This session will be beneficial in helping you learn techniques to continue helping your child grow as a learner. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Kind regards,

Kacey

Watch Us In Action!

Bean Sprouting Experiment from Kacey on Vimeo.

trim.oBqluF from Kacey on Vimeo.


Following this 'narrative pantomime' students shared what they felt throughout the experience:

I felt warm from the sun. – Sahan

I felt achy from my branches being so heavy. – Nora

When the kids picked my apples I felt lighter. – Ashman

When the wind blew I was super strong because I was a tiki tree and my roots were keeping me strong. –

Mikail

When the wind was blowing I was moving (swaying) but I did not fall over because my roots kept me in one place like a statue. – Imran

I felt my apples getting redder because it was so sunny. – Aiden

I felt my roots growing down into the ground. – Aiden

My roots grew out to the side and down to keep me stable. – Nora

I felt big because the rain and sun helped me grow. – Sandeep

I felt myself getting stronger and growing. – Cadyn

I felt tight when I was the little seed in the ground because my hard skin was there. - Aly

I felt like I was sleeping when I was just a seed in the ground in the winter.  – Shanza

I felt cold when I was the seed because the snow was falling.– Aylin

I felt safe when I was a seed because I was underground and it made me warm and safe. – Iris

And We're Back!

We're already back into the swing of things after the break. I hope you and your family had a lovely time and got to relax if you were able to have a vacation that matched the school holiday! My husband, son and I went to Malaysia and enjoyed the beautiful ocean. It is nice to be back with the children and hear all about the connections to our curriculum that they made over the break!

On Sunday we planted seeds that we will nurture and hopefully help grow into large bean plants. We will check on them every day and see if we need to give them water and/or more sunlight.

We are continuing with our math focus of measurement and will tie this into our Unit of Inquiry as our plants begin to grow and we see what measurement tells us about how our plants are doing. We've done many activities that help us understand how to accurately measure using various tools. 

Reminders:

• Halloween Carnival: This Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Please check the Shamachar note  regarding ticket sales as tickets will not be sold at the door.
  
• Swimming: Our last swimming session for this quarter is tomorrow (Wednesday). Please make sure your child brings his gear.
  
• Home Extension Activities: Please make sure to check your child's backpack every Monday for her packet and help her to return it on Sunday. I have created a page called "Home Extension" at the top of the blog with this week's activities. Please check here if you loose the paper with instructions.

We Are Authors!

We spend time daily during writer's workshop discussing authors and the process they go through when writing books. Our current focus is on "how-to" books that teach others how to accomplish something. Today two of our teammates published their very first books! As authors we write for the purpose of sharing with others, so authors Iris and Shanza shared their books with the class:

How to Make a Rainbow by Iris Whittingham

How to Do Swimming by Shanza Chowdhury

Reading Strategies Page

Check out the page above called "Reading Strategies"!

How-To Books

In writer's workshop we have been learning all about informational, "how-to" books, which tie in nicely with our Unit of Inquiry. We have learned that sometimes authors want to teach others how to do something. They organize their writing in a special way with steps and easy-to-follow text with accompanying pictures. We are trying out this genre of writing ourselves as we write our own "how-to" books on topics of which we are 'masters'.

We explored the idea of a 'process' by remembering how we made cinnamon toast to connect our senses Unit of Inquiry with our plant Unit. Thinking through the steps of this activity and writing them down was a great way to solidify our learning.

Last week and this week we have explored our new Unit focused on plants. We have examined plants closely and recorded our findings like scientists. Today we did an experiment in class that encouraged us to observe and predict. We will observe again tomorrow and post our findings, and then when we return from break we will practice being botanists as we grow our own plants!

Seeds, fruits and vegetables needed!!

We want to do some scientific observations in our classroom and need your help at home! Please help your child find several different kinds of fruit or vegetables s/he can bring into class. We will use these to dissect and examine. In addition, we are looking for all sorts of seeds. Please do not go out and purchase these seeds; rather, encourage your child to look around and find them in the natural environment (food, outside...)

We would like to use these items beginning Wednesday, so if you can help your child collect them before then it would be much appreciated. Thank you for your ongoing support!

A New Unit of Inquiry

Last week we finished our Unit of Inquiry on the senses. To wrap things up we went on a "sense-ational journey" around the school, keeping track of the various ways we use our senses as we move throughout the day. We recorded data like scientists and used it in the classroom to lead a discussion about how important our senses are. We concluded by popping and eating popcorn, realizing that in doing so we were using all of our five senses!

We have now started a new Unit that focuses on plants. The central idea of this Unit is:

By providing us with many things we need, plants help sustain life on earth.

We will explore this idea more deeply through the following lines of inquiry:

• The properties of plants
• What plants provide for us and other living things
• Learning to care for and nurture plants

At this point in the Unit we are sharing our current knowledge and are beginning to share our "wonders". We will work as scientist to prove and disprove statements throughout the next several weeks and will learn how our math focuses of patterns and measurement can provide lots of important information to help us appropriately nurture plants.

The Language of Plants

Patterns All Around!

As part of our study on patterns I have asked each child to search around his house for patterns to share with our class. Please encourage your child to find 3 or 4 objects with patterns and bring them into the classroom. We will display these on our "Pattern Board". Of course the items will be returned when finished; please simply put a piece of masking tape on each item labeled with your child's name. Thanks in advance for extending our learning at home!

We Love Our Animal Friends!

Our class is full of readers and writers! We have had such a great time meeting our "animal friends" and using them to help us; they continue to encourage us as we develop our skills. Many students are realizing that often our "friends" say more than one thing, which has led to some great discussions about the English language. We will learn more about this throughout the year through a program called Structured Word Inquiry.

Writer's Workshop has been a big hit as we tell about 'small moments' from our own lives through our pictures and words. We are being such risk-takers as we try our best to write the sounds we hear in order to add text. We have even begun learning simple words that we see regularly in print (sight words) and are inserting those in our writing. Praise your child for the great work he/she is doing!

Cadyn and Mikail as authors.

Iris illustrating her story.

Sandeep and Sahan sharing their stories.

Shanza sharing her writing with Ashman.

Last week we also began something very important: our growth portfolios! This year we will be using the iPads as a means of capturing our learning -- providing an opportunity for the students to have ownership over their work. We will continually reflect on our work and the progress we've made throughout our time in kindergarten.

Imran and Sandeep working on their portfolios. 

Aly helping Aylin with her e-portfolio.

Pattern Walk

KG-M went on a hunt last week in search of patterns. We found so many and realized that patterns are all around us! The students used iPads to take photos and document their learning.

Check out all the patterns we found!: