1. SEPTEMBER 3 2010
W E E K LY U P D A T E
GRADE 5A @ CDNIS
Young Poets and Budding Communications
Technology Experts
Dear Parents,
The excitement of the first week has certainly continued to include this one. Students
jumped into Literacy by reflecting on what they have already learnt about poetry and what
they feel their strengths are in this area. We’ve collaboratively written a list poem as a way
of summarizing those reflections. You will find it here, as part of this post. Related to
Literacy, students met their Prep A reading buddies for the first time, getting to know each
other through books and discussions. Meeting our Prep A buddies will be a weekly
occurrence and it will build the leadership and communication skills of the Grade 5A
students. I’ve included some photos in this post.
We’ve initiated our Numeracy this week through plenty of “tuning in” activities around
number and place value. I’ve also conducted several pre-assessments that will better
inform my teaching and assessment strategies over the next few weeks.
Our unit of inquiry is well underway. You can witness evidence of that by clicking on “How
we express ourselves” under the Programme Overview tab. The unit update is there as
well as the summative assessment. This will be sent home on Monday for you to read and
discuss with your child; please can you sign this document and return it on Tuesday. The
summative assessment and update will remain posted for your reference. Please take the
time to have a look at it and ask both myself and your child should you require clarification
or if you have some questions.
Please take note of important upcoming events such as Curriculum Night and the half-day
professional day. These are posted on the “Calendar” link; in addition, they are found in the
school calendar that was sent home with your child last week. More information related to
Curriculum Night will be sent to you closer to the date.
Please note: Can you please purchase a set of earphones for your child? They don’t have be
anything too expensive (i.e. any type of mp3 headphone will suffice - they are quite cheap
and can be purchased at any electronics store). As different children are involved with
different activities on the computers, it can be distracting for some. Students are asked to
keep headphones in their desks should they need to watch a video, listen to a broadcast or
search for music.
Kind Regards
DJ MacPherson
donaldmacpherson@cdnis.edu.hk
http://sites.cdnis.edu.hk/teachers/donaldmacpherson//