Monthly Archives: June 2017

Signing Off…

Dear 5R Families,

First of all, thank you for supporting our class throughout this year. The notes the students delivered to me yesterday were lovely. Touching, personal and very meaningful. The whole day’s events had a touch of that actually. I’d like to offer a special thanks to Mandy and Katy for stepping up to class parent responsibilities and being so solidly on point all year. For photos of yesterday’s event, please follow this link.

Your child’s report went live on Wednesday. They’ve also brought home considerable amounts of work from thoughout the year. Enjoy going through this record of their process and learning with them.They have notebook after notebook filled with their thoughts, ideas and processes.

Thank you for entrusting your children to our care this year.
Thank you for continually supporting them in their work, both at school and home.
Thank you for being so respectful, supportive, open and approachable.
Thank you most of all for raising such lovely, fun, creative individuals.

Some families have asked about options to continue academic learning over the summer. Here are a couple ideas. If you’re looking to motivate writing, please click here for a great list of writing prompts. If you’re looking to continue Math explorations, this would provide a great review of many concepts from 5th grade, with daily activities, dos and don’ts and some possible stories to share. Additionally, your child’s Aleks account is still open, and will be until August.

I wish you all a fantastic summer. For those who are moving on from Switzerland, I wish you the very best. If you or your child feels inclined to send me an update at some point down the road, I’d be thrilled to hear where your adventures have taken you. For those heading to the Middle School, we’ll be in the same neighbourhood, but we often don’t cross paths. I’d love an update!

Again, thank you.

Signing off…

Jamie

The Final Cook Out! – June 14

Yesterday we were chatting in 5R about how to end the year with our buddy class, Ms McCaughan’s second graders, and to celebrate our year together. One suggestion that got a lot of enthusiasm, was returning to our beginning of the year event, and having another sausage campfire lunch!

Having discussed the idea with Ms McCaughan, here’s the plan…

Next Wednesday, June 14, we will not be having our normal lunch routine. At 11:30 we will meet our buddy class, and head out into the woods behind the school to a campfire site together. We will build a fire, cook our sausage lunch, share some desserts and other foods, and enjoy a couple hours in the woods together. We will return to class for 1:30.

Here’s what we need from you…

FOOD

If your child gets pre-paid hot lunch from the cafeteria every day, the ZIS cafeteria staff have agreed to pack a few sausages and some bread rolls for them instead of the usual menu.
Otherwise, please send a sausage or two from home (a good idea if your child has particular dietary requirements, they can be veggie, kosher etc.), they can be refrigerated from Thursday morning at school. Please send only as much as your child will eat.

If there is a problem with this please let me know as soon as possible and we will problem-solve together.

Additional foods, like marshmallows, other desserts, easy vegetables (like baby tomatoes, vegetable sticks etc.), bread rolls, potato chips, mustard, ketchup etc., as well as paper plates and utensils, would be welcome in small amounts, to share. The students suggested a sign-up sheet for this. There is no requirement that anyone bring additional foods, I’m sure we will have enough. If you would like, you can sign up here.

One last food note… Please don’t send anything other than sausages/hot dogs to cook over the fire. We won’t be able to do steak or chicken legs this time! 🙂

WEATHER

At the moment the weather looks good for next week. This may change however. If on Tuesday evening the forecast looks really wet for Wednesday, we will have to cancel the event. Please keep a look out for a blog post on Tuesday evening if we are cancelling. If we are not cancelling, there will be no update.

What Else?

Of course, we will be in the woods for a few hours. Please ensure your child has appropriate clothing for this. Mosquito repellant may be smart, and clothes/shoes that can get dirty would be good. As always, please ensure your child has a water bottle with them to take into the woods. A good-sized snack is a good idea as well.

KEY POINTS in this post:

Plan for your child’s food for next Wednesday (either cafeteria if that is their norm, or packed sausages)
Sign up for additional contributions if desired
Keep an eye out for a possible rain cancellation post on Tuesday evening
Water bottle, bug repellant and a snack on Wednesday

Thanks for your support! It’s going to be a great celebration!

Middle School Visit – Weds June 7

Dear 5R Families,

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting our 5R students in all of their preparations for the Middle School transition. I appreciate your helping them keep organized with their homework, signing their reading logs and more. They’ve been having a really great experience with our mock Middle School!

Next Wednesday, June 7, we will be spending the morning at the Middle School so that students can meet some teachers and get a sense of that campus.

We will be getting an earlier than usual start to the day, so you have two choices of how you may like to get your child to school that day. Please see this post from the G5 blog for details. Let me know if you will be taking advantage of dropping off your child directly at the MS campus by 8:30. Otherwise I will presume that I will see them at Wadenswil by 8:00, so we can leave promptly!

Additionally, looking forward, we are cruising towards our G5 Celebration! Please review this post for the details of that day. And remember it’s a day for students to dress sharp, with an early dismissal!