Monthly Archives: February 2017

3 Great Fantasies

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As we kick off our new writing unit, Fantasy Fiction, we’ve also begun reading a great fantasy novel, Found, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Today we were speaking about how useful it is, when discussing a new genre, to have common references. I suggested that it would be great if students had an opportunity to watch several popular fantasy-genre films, so we could have their characters and plots as common talking points. I suggested three films:

  1. The Princess Bride
  2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (aka Philosopher’s Stone)
  3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The trailers of all three films are included below. While it is not required that students watch the films, it would contribute significantly to our conversations throughout this unit. All three are sufficiently popular that they should be widely available (several students claimed to own all three!) through friends and various online services.

A Big Win for Teamwork

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Today marked the conclusion of the ZIS ES Dodgeball tournament. A few months ago, suddenly the class was abuzz with choosing teams, and who wanted to be involved. Over the months we watched two 5R teams play round after round. In many ways it brought our class together with two 5R teams rushing down to the gym at lunch to cheer each other on. Even class members who weren’t part of the tournament became part of the regular, powered-up cheering squad.

In today’s final game, the 5R Red Eagles went up against the other finalist and prevailed. What was most notable was that after their final win, both teams immediately began congratulating each other for their efforts. A big round of applause for team spirit, learning to win, learning to lose, learning to be gracious and learning to be supportive. Well done teams.

Enjoy the video of the final match below!

The Final Dodgeball round from ZIS Grade 5 Mr Raskin on Vimeo.

Welcome, Shares & Scarlet Fever

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Welcome back to school!

5R arrived back (mostly) well rested and ready to go this morning. It was lovely to hear of all the holiday adventures.

A quick reminder that this Thursday and Friday mornings we will be writing our annual G5 ISA assessments. There is no preparation required for this day. Just make sure that your child has slept well, had a healthy breakfast, has a healthy snack and their reading book and water bottle ready to go!

Before too much time has passed, I wanted to share images from the Genius Hour sharing event before the holidays. Thanks so much to those who were able to attend and support our process and progress. I’ve added images to the album linked here. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, one student in our class has come down with Scarlet Fever over the holiday. This is not terribly uncommon, and is related to Strep Throat. Please see the details on this document.

Class Coffee

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Hi 5R,

We will be hosting a Class Coffee from 9:00-10:30 on Friday, March 17 at Hotel Belvoir (www.hotel-belvoir.ch) Please come and enjoy good coffee and company, looking forward to seeing you there!

Kindly RSVP to thecoolfam@yahoo.com

Katy and Mandy

2 Community Celebrations – Essays & Genius Hour!

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Dear 5R Families,

Many, many thanks to all of you who joined us last Friday to share in celebrating the publication of our essays. For those who weren’t able to join, this week students will have the option of bringing their work home for a few days to share with family members who weren’t able to attend. Please enjoy sharing with them and return the publication packages promptly by this Thursday.

To see all the photos from the event, click here.

This Friday we would like to invite you for a second sharing session. This time, we’d like to share our Genius Hour inquiries. You’ll have a chance to learn about cooking, volcanos, gravity, ants and so much more! Genius Hour is an amazing opportunity to build skills for learning while harnessing the intrinsic motivation of student interests. For more on the power of intrinsic motivation, I highly recommend Dan Pink’s TED talk, embedded below.

This Friday, please join the fifth grade classes for our GENIUS HOUR FAIR, for the hour before the whole school assembly.

Where? Fifth grade classrooms

What? Genius Hour Fair

When? 1:30-2:30

Don’t miss it!