Week of April 15th, 2017 -18

Reminders for the Week

Mark your calendar for our annual Egypt Festival on Thursday, April 19. We will celebrate our host country, Egypt, through music, dancing, food and grade level activities connected to themes. To add to the spirit of the day we invite you to wear a galabeya or perhaps clothes that reflect Egypt.

Come sample a variety of Egyptian dishes. Freshly baked baladi bread (from our very own mud brick oven) will be on sale for ES students during their recess and for MS & HS. Our Egyptian Food Festival is free for all elementary students, parents, teachers, and staff. Students will have an activity related to their Egyptian Culture curriculum. Looking forward to a great cultural experience.

We need your help!

Parents are an important part of our Egypt Festival. We would love your help if you're available at either lunchtime or the bread selling booth. Please sign up to help us if you can.
Egypt Festival Parent letter 2018

The Arabic and Egyptian Culture Department

On Demand Writing Starts This Week

Sunday, April 15th - Narrative

Wednesday, April 18th - Informational

Sunday - April 22nd - Persuasive

End of year On Demand writing starts this week. Students are asked to show what they know about the writing of narrative, persuasive, and informational pieces. For persuasive and informational writing they will have the opportunity to plan a topic and vocabulary the evening before. Look for the On Demand topic and vocabulary papers that will go home the evening before, so students can prepare. 

Used Book Sale, May 8 to 10

We are getting ready for our annual used book sale, this year from May 8 to 10. We welcome donations of used books for all ages in saleable condition. This is a good time for departing families to dispose of books before packing. We will soon have a donation box at the front gate.

READING

This week, we are kicking off our last reading unit, Following Characters Across Series. As students start to read series books, they get to know the characters and will want to continue reading books to find out what will happen to their newfound friends. Students will start to identify patterns in books and series with characters, settings and plot lines.

Book Clubs will make a come back in this unit.  As members of a book club, students will agree upon a set amount of pages to read before each meeting. It is important that they not only complete the reading, but also that they do not read beyond the agreed upon amount. Book Club members will also come prepared to Book Club meetings with a talking point from their book to discuss. This should be something from the story that they had a strong reaction to and find important to share with the other members.

Because students will be reading a limited portion each week from their book club book, they will still be responsible for continuing their daily practice with a book of their choice. Therefore they will carry two reading books with them to read, the priority being their Book Club book to meet their weekly deadlines.

WRITING

This week we wrap up our non-fiction writing unit. We will finish up revising, editing and publishing our non-fiction books. As we do this we will remind ourselves that writer draw on everything they know to make their work the best it can be. By the end of the week each student should have their own original non-fiction book about a topic that they are interested in and already know a lot about.

Reminder - On Demand writing samples start this week. On Sunday 15th April Narrative, Wednesday 18th April Informational, and Sunday 22nd April Persuasive.

The day before the Informational and Persuasive On Demand a sheet will come home for students to prepare so notes on their chosen topic. No full sentences, just notes are allowed.

MATH

This week, students will explore attributes of two-dimensional figures and build on their background knowledge about shapes and their properties. They will investigate the attributes of polygons and quadrilaterals, and recognize the characteristics of different polygons in order to classify, describe, and compare them using mathematical vocabulary. Using their knowledge of the different features of shapes, mathematicians will draw polygons with specific attributes to solve problems. In class students will play a game in which they select a card at random that has attributes written on it and students must draw a shape that meets the criteria of these attributes. For example, a student may pick a card that reads “is a quadrilateral, has all equal sides, and at least one right angle” and can draw a square to meet the criteria of this card.

Also this week, students will use tetrominoes (think of flat, paper Tetris shapes that they can manipulate with their hands) to compose and decompose polygons using various combinations of the cut-out figures placed together. Through this engagement, our mathematicians will continue to reason about and justify how they know that their combination of tetrominoes meets the requirements of different polygons (e.g. four equal side lengths for a square).

Key vocabulary:

-polygon - plane figure with at least three straight sides and angles

-quadrilateral - a four-sided figure

-parallelogram -a four-sided figure with opposite sides parallel

-right angle - an angle of 90 degrees, the intersection of two perpendicular straight lines

SCIENCE

This week we start our final Science unit, Habitats. We will kick if off with an investigation looking at a variety of pictures that show interdependence between different living creatures. Students will look at the connection between the images to come up with a theory that living things depend on each other to survive.

With that theory in their minds they will then unscramble the essential questions for the unit; 'How do plants and animals interact with and within their environment?'

During this unit, students will be grouped together, come up with a specific inquiry question, observe an environment to find the answer to their question, and record and report back their findings.

Students will use the skills and knowledge gained from previous science units to create their own method of recording, revising, and displaying their information.

Talent Show Updates:

Our ES Talent Show date has been moved to April 30th. We are supporting our wonderful PTO with this change of date. Thank you all for your flexibility.

Please find below important dates and information regarding this year’s ES Talent Show:

April 15th and 16th Acts will perform for the ES Talent Show team. They will come during their lunch/recess time to the Drama Room. Any Act that is not performance-ready will not participate in this year’s Talent Show.

Sunday, April 29th is the mandatory rehearsal in the CAC Theatre from 3:15 - 5:15. All students must have a way to go home; the late bus service is not available. Students will be dismissed from the CAC Theatre at 5:15.

All Choir students will attend the Choir rehearsal on Sunday, April 29th, then come directly to the CAC Theatre for the remainder of the rehearsal.

The Talent Show will be for ALL ACTS beginning at 5:30 - 7:30 on April 30th. The Show will end by 8pm. ALL ACTS must come to the Theatre at 5pm, performance ready.

ES Talent Show

April 30th, 2018

Tickets - 30LE per seat

Performances: 5:30-6:15

Intermission: 6:15-6:30

Performances: 6:30-7:15

Show ends 7:30pm.

Thank you for your continued support. Please contact Ms. Dolly for any further clarifications or questions.

ES Talent Show Team