Dear parents of 5 KP,

Many children want to help the earthquake victims in China.

5KP has decided to focus our participation on a simple, but effective fund-raising initiative that they will lead.

Over the next 2 weeks please send any loose change or spare money you have with your child to school. The change will be collected by 5KP and used to facilitate donations. (Dr. Larkin has sent many community e mails regarding how money collected by the school will be used.)

It is a very straightforward manner in which these donations are being raised. The focus is on collection and not the process of raising money. (There is a time when fund raising processes are important. Now the need is for speedy action.) Children are asked to contribute what they can, when they can. The jar our class is using makes it easy for the children to see the funds growing. Finally, having the grade 5 students in charge gives them a chance to lead our elementary for the final time before they head on to middle school.

I discussed this with the children yesterday. They understand they are only to contribute what you (their parents) feel is appropriate.

Thank you so much to all the parents who have already donated so generously. 5KP collected over 3100 rmb today.

Thank you for your support.

Congratulations to proud new dad Mr Howitt and his wife Mrs Howitt (K) who gave birth to Benjamin Jon Nykolas Crowe Howitt who weighed in at 3.26kg (7.2lbs) and is 51cm long. It has been a busy year for new arrivals on the 5th grade team with 60% of us adding to our families. It is hard to believe that little Blake Hossack is now nearly 4 months old and Mimi Power has been with us for three months on Monday. We wish the Howitt’s all the success in the world as a new family and hope they don’t have too many sleepless nights…yeah right!!!

Hello Students and Parents,

it was the night before Spring Fling and all through the house…not a creature was stirring not even a mouse!

I hope you all remember to bring water, snacks, towels and spare clothing so that you can get through the day as comfortably and enjoyably as possible. I am really excited about the coming activities and hope you enjoy the more reflective activity I have created for you in project area 5… Have a look here to see if you can work out what this activity might be about.

Spring Fling Desert Island Activity

Thanks to Mr Utecht for coming into class today and introducing us to some interesting ways to utilize Google Earth. I think the students have all made progress today understanding what it means to migrate as you will discover if you read any of the blogs I have seen posted so far such as Andy, Jessica, Elaine, Chloe and our sole male so far Kai.

News of the week

Transition Ceremony Information

Have a great day 5KP. You are doing really well. Enjoy the last 4 weeks!

I was impressed with the results of the unit 10 math test on Algebra concepts and skills. More than half the class earned above the 90th percentile with many others not far behind. Well done 5KP. I don’t want people to be discouraged when they don’t earn 100% and I would like everyone to aim really high in our new unit on Volume that we started today. It is only a very short unit with 7 lessons so it should be possible for the students to do well retaining information for that amount of time before they are tested in about two weeks from now.

We spent nearly 90 minutes on math this morning introducing the new unit and using math manipulatives such as geometrical shapes to get an idea of what the unit would contain. I would like the students to be revising over their math work everyday during the unit to give them the best chance possible to achieve their own level of success.

I have also been researching some sites that may be of use to them. The students already utilize sites such as brainpop.com and superkids.com to aid their study but here are a few more that have specific information relating to volume. Students I would like you to check out some of these over the long weekend so that you can continue learning over the break

Skillswise factsheet

Volume of Rectangular Solids

Despite the unusual name of this site, it is perhaps the most relevant for the early stages of the chapter.

The following sites may also prove useful if only for reference purposes. A reminder that some of these sites may be a little too detailed for some students and in that case the Everyday Math reference book is still the best resource available as it is very specific to the unit we are studying, the last thing I want is for students to feel more overwhelmed by new information but for those of you that ask for extension work, these sites and the links they go to may be of assistance.

Surface Area Formulas 

more of these   and still some more

Just remember, it is up to you students to take charge of your own learning, success and failure in preparation for the new responsibilities you will soon take on in middle school

P.S. please don’t forget to return your yellow elective forms if you are attending the Pudong Campus next year.

Hello Students

As we discussed in class today, it is important in life to have a social conscience and many of us go about in helping others less fortunate than us in a variety of ways. If you are sitting at a computer right now, you are more fortunate than the majority of the world who not only don’t have access to technology but also many of the things we take for granted such as comfortable housing and electricity. Right now, before you do the tech task we spoke of, take a couple of minutes to look around the room you are in and see if there is anything you can spare for our ‘Spring Cleaning Yard Sale’ such as clothing, toys, books or household items. Have you put them in your school bag or near your front door for the morning? Well have you? Come on, do it now or you will forget…Good job, I am sure we all have something in our house we no longer need but that could be valuable to someone else. Now you may continue with the task at hand…

Today I received an e mail from a colleague who has friends who used to work here and their daughter Imogen (first grade) has made a small video. The aim of her video is to try and win a competition which will send a Tanzanian friend and his family to Australia Zoo for the trip of a lifetime. I think that is a noble cause and I am impressed with the ability of their daughter to do this so I am hoping some of you will be able to support this child in her worthy goal and vote for her video to win.

Here is a letter from the family…

Hi

I am writing to let you know that Imogen has posted a video to a video competition and we would love for you to see.

We have been working with Imogen on her “social consciousness”. She is at an age now where she can understand that we don’t all have equal opportunities, so by creating the video, she is trying to win a trip to Australia Zoo for her Tanzanian friend whose family can hardly afford a bus ticket, let alone an adventure of a life time.

We think that Imogen’s video is one of the best but….

Please, we need your votes. (It is possible to vote every day).

We also need you to help us by rating our video as a “5” because winners will be chosen in July from videos with the most votes and highest ratings.

Please, also feel free to pass this along to anyone who might support Imogen in her quest!

http://freetrip.australiazoo.com.au/

This is what Imogen helped to write for her school friends:

GRADE ONE WILDLIFE WARRIOR

NEEDS YOUR VOTE!

I am Imogen and I am in Grade One.

My Tanzanian friend Godwin and I made a video called “TANZANIAN DREAMS COME TRUE” so that Godwin and his family might win a trip to Australia to visit the Australia Zoo (home of the Crocodile Hunter).

Our video is the only one from Tanzania and we think it has a good message. The winners are chosen from those with the most votes, so we need your vote. Please visit:  http://freetrip.australiazoo.com.au/

to watch our video and PLEASE vote every day.

Thanks,

Imogen

So 5KP go to the site, register by giving your log in name and details and you will receive an e mail with your password. Then once you log in you can click onto Imogen’s video ‘Tanzanian Dreams Come True’  Make sure you rate it a 5, vote for it and enjoy the show…

Hello Parents and Students

Please check out the newsletter and pay special attention to the change in dates for next week’s transition meeting.

5kp-news-april-16-08.doc

Hi Students

While I am sweating it out this morning coaching badminton on the courts of Suzhou Singapore International School you will be spending the morning with Mrs Erickson.

From 8 am – 9am I would like you to spend all your time on the scholastic news site.  You can read anything you like on there, I especially direct you to the kids section but I don’t want you playing any games yet…NO games, hear me? Then at 9 am and not a minute before you may take a look at this section and have a bit more fun if you like.

Some of our budding writers in the class might like to have a look at this fun with fiction section where you can have your own story published…imagine that all you young writers, I say “Go for it!”

At 9.30 am I want everyone to navigate away from these pages and onto their blog where you will do exactly what I have done here and post about scholastic news and what you found out. Keep the previous posts open so that you can link to them easily. Please discuss at least three of the things you learned about today and make sure you link. Remember that in school this quarter we will be looking at poetry, healthy, puberty and fantasy stories among other things so keep your eyes open for relevant articles.

Wish me luck and bye for now!

Hi 5th grade. Don’t forget to take home your social studies exercise book each day so you can be completing your food diary for this week. In class we are studying the importance of eating and living in a healthy way.

If you want to challenge yourself Mr Hossack put me onto this fun site that will also test your brain power. See what Ben thinks about it on his blog.

Congratulations to Chloe and Jessica who have been making a great effort with their blogging lately.  See Jessica’s if you want to keep up with the exciting social lives of 5KP!

Good luck studying for the math test for tomorrow, don’t forget any money for scholastic books and also Grease forms if you are going to come along this weekend.

Wow, that was quick! Well done to Elaine Jiang who was the first student to accurately find the name ‘Lydia’ hidden in the posts and yes Ben and Jun were also in there too. I hope you also learned something along the way about all the old and new wonders of the world. Congratulations also to Lisa, Min Ji and Parker who also commented on my blog last night with the answers. You guys are really on the ball!