Week 2

TWIG5: This Week in Grade 5

Aug. 20 - Aug. 25

We have had an excellent first two days getting to know each other. It was great to see smiling faces on Thursday afternoon was the students went home for the weekend! We are expecting great things from the 2017-18 grade five students.

Building a strong community based on respect and trust is essential for a successful school year. Students have been engaging in a variety of activities that work toward this goal. We hope that conversations about being respectful are also happening at home to support what is being taught in class. 

Reminders:

Back to School Night will take place on Tuesday, August 22.  Please be sure that you take some time in advance to review the slideshow we have created (linked below), which includes curriculum information and examples as well as important information about the school.  We're looking forward to seeing you all and informing you of the grade 5 year ahead.

• Back to School Night - (BTSN) Tuesday, August 22 from 5-7pm. Please read the BTSN letter. 
• Please read the slide presentation prior to BTSN as we will only focus on a few of the slides during our presentation. 

• Parent Day - Sunday, August 27 (no school for ES students)

• Parents are encouraged to subscribe to the blog for weekly updates.

• Students should all have their library bags this week. Please ensure their name is on the bag.

• Students are encouraged to bring reusable water bottles to school each day.

• Students need to bring in their swimming bag & gear on PE days (please see the PE blog for details)

• ES Production auditions will be held on August 21st & 23rd, with Call-Backs on August 24th. The auditions run from 3:15-5:15 in the ES Hall. 

Guest Speaker

Organization: Help for Refugees

Speaker: Jordan Hattar will come and speak to the kids on the difference one person can make. He will include the importance of finding/following one's passion/fearlessly creating one's own path in life and of persistence and never giving up.

Jordan Hattar is a 25 year-old humanitarian and director of Help4Refugees.org. He has been speaking to students all over the world on the Syrian Crisis in a speaking tour around the world. Jordan Hattar Originally from Templeton, CA. Since he graduated from high school his efforts were dedicated towards living a life of service. Jordan's one message for the world: in order to make a positive difference in this world you don’t need a specific skill, just a heart. "Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure."

Date: August 28th - 29th

12:50 - 1:50 ES Hall

House Captains 

Red House - Rita 5O, Alaric 5J

Blue House - Youssef 5K, Lara 5O, 

Green House -  Maya 5J, Lane 5O

Yellow House - Mariam 5G, Mahmoud 5K

After School Activities

After School Activities (ASA)

SIGN UP Starts THIS Monday, August 21 - August 27

The Signup link will be located on the NEW ASA Website, available on your dashboard. Click on the labeled blue icon (see arrow). Sign up will be open for one week (including the weekend). Schedules will be sent to parents Tuesday, September 5 at the end of the day.

ASA begin from Sunday, September 10 - Thursday, November 9

Guidance News 

Dear CAC Families,

 Welcome to the new school year! I hope you had an enjoyable and restful summer with your families.

I am excited to be teaching the Grades 3-5 Guidance classes again this year. Guidance is a weekly, social and emotional class period that takes place within the regular classroom. The goal of the guidance program is to build your child’s self-esteem and social skills by giving him/her strategies for solving personal and social problems. Lessons during Guidance focus on community building, learning skills, empathy, friendship, emotion management and problem-solving.

We will begin with community building and learning skills. During these units students will be encouraged to:

• recognize and appreciate personal characteristics and contributions to the class and school community;

• discover the unique characteristics in others and how those differences enrich the class and school community;

• focus attention and learn specific ways to be good listener;

•  communicate assertively in order to get personal, academic and social needs met.

Please contact me if you have any suggestions or questions about the guidance curriculum. Be on the look out for Guidance updates in the classroom blogs.

Warm Regards,

Carey Harris

Guidance Counselor Gr. 3-5

charris@g-cacegypt.org  

Curriculum Corner

Reading: Students will be given their reading logs this week.  It is expected that students record both their home and school reading. This is an excellent tool to examine our reading habits and to really get to know ourselves as readers. We expect and encourage students to read for 25+ minutes a night. As we begin our Reader's Workshop mini-lessons students will be expected to write jot notes as they read. 

Writing: This week students will be writing three On Demand writing assessments (narrative, persuasive, and informational). Students are encouraged to prepare for this by doing a little research and preparing a 1-sided sheet of paper with notes (key words, 2 quotations, and an image or diagram). Students are not allowed to write any full sentences on their prep sheets.

Math: The first unit in math focuses on Place Value and reviews some of the work from grade 4. Students will be given a booklet this week that they will work from during this unit. Please help them remember to bring it to school each day as it contains both class and home activities.

Science: Our first unit in Science is Variables.  Students will be experimenting with a number of independent and dependent variables as they learn about the scientific process. This week, we will launch with unscrambling the essential questions, looking at habits of a good scientist and learning about the scientific process. 

Your partners in education,

Bonnie Greene  barmstronggreene@cacegypt.org
Caitlin Johnson  cjohnson@cacegypt.org
LeeAnn Kasal   lkasal@cacegypt.org
Jono O'Sullivan  josullivan@cacegypt.org