• There will be no regular classes on that day.
• Each child will have a passport. As they visit the different classes/stations, they will check off or stamp this passport. In the homeroom class, you’ll hear about their progress in literacy, unit, mathematics, and on their learning path goals. You’ll also visit single subject classes (PE, music and German. Art will be shared in the classroom).
• This is a student-led conference, rather than a traditional parent/teacher conference. Your child will lead the conference and teachers will not be involved in giving feedback.
• Follow this link to open our class’s sign-up sheet.  Sign up for a slot either in block 1 (8:30-10:00 AM), block 2 (10:30 AM-12:00 PM), or block 3 (1:00-2:30 PM). On the conference day, your child will begin in either our classroom or in the single subject classrooms. The students and I will work out their starting points together.
• Please attend during the block for which you sign up. We want to keep the number of families in at one time to a manageable number.

Here is the link to sign up (the same as that embedded above).

Dear 5R Families,

On Wednesday your child will be bringing home their orange assessment folder to share three recent assessments with you. These include their Fractions Assessment, Energy Report and Energy Transformation Diagram. Details regarding all of these are on a printed letter in the folder. It is also available online here. The folder is to be returned to school by Friday, February 9, please.

In the folder there is also a page of “homework” for you and your child. It is on the reverse of the letter described and linked above. While sharing the contents of the folder, please take some time to complete the short reflection together, describing several things your child should be proud of, and one target you would like to see them work towards. There is also a space for them to share their own points of pride and set a learning target.

Please enjoy sharing these with your child over the next couple of nights, and please return them to ZIS on Friday, February 9. If you need more time to share, please let me know.

A big thanks to all the families who’ve sent in books to contribute to this year’s Book and Bake Sale fundraiser. Our class will visit the sale on Tuesday, January 23. As mentioned previously, your child may bring CHF5 of which 4 is allowed for books and 1 for a baked good.

Thanks for your support!

Dear parents

On Jan 23 or Jan 24 yoor kids will go with the teacher to the book and bake sale. They get to spend CHF5 of which 4 is allowed for books and 1 for a baked good.

To be able to have a good selection of books we need them in large numbers. We are looking for donation of all level children books. It is important that they are in good condition and that they are just children’s books. This year we have 1 week less to collect the books, so only 1 ½ week left. Last date you can donate books is on the 22nd of Jan.

You can win a popcorn party for your class, if your class collects the most books in the Grade. So please, if you hand in books, make sure that the class and the number of books donated is clearly written on the bag!

The books can be left outside the staffroom (on the Cafeteria level) this year.

Please also consider spending some time with the children during the sale or donating baked goods for the sale.

If you would like to spend an hour or more selling the books to our students, please register here ( Sales Volunteer Book and Bake Sale )

If you would like to donate baked goods, please don’t hesitate to sign up here ( Donation of Baked Goods )

Thank you in advance for your donations. We are looking forward to a wide range of books again this year.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Femke Groen at groenfemke@gmail.com

The 5th Grade Winter Party will take place on Thursday, December 14th starting at 1:30 pm.  If you haven’t already, you will soon be contacted by your room parents about how your family can help contribute for snacks for the big event!

Additionally, this year we will be incorporating a small community service project into the Winter Party.  We are asking the 5th grade students to bring in non-perishable food items and toiletries for the Swiss Red Cross‘s 2xChristmas program – which offers a holiday distribution here in Switzerland as well as in countries in Eastern Europe.  This Swiss Red Cross has been distributing these items for 21 years.  In the 2016/2017 campaign, more than 66,000 parcels and CHF 200,000 were donated.

The students will view the following video that provides some insight into the program so that they can understand how their donations will help those in need.  This video is in German, but you can add Close-Captioning and Auto-Translate to English.

When deciding what to send in with your child for the community service project, please remember that foodstuffs must have a shelf-life of at least 6 months.  Toiletries such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, cotton wool, soap and shampoo are also very welcome.

Please make sure your students bring in their items on the day of the Winter Party!

Thanks for your assistance in making this a great 5th grade year for our children!

–5th Grade Room Parents

Dear Parents,

It’s the most wonderful time of the year-for our darling children! On the 6th of December, our children at the lower school will by visited by Samichlaus and his sidekick Schmutzli.

So we need your help to fill the Samichlaus bags for the “nice” children at the lower school on Tuesday the 5th of December.

Please sign up here:  www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E044CA8AC2AA5FD0-samichlaus2

if you are able to spare an hour or two and come help.

Due to this activity being about Samichlaus, may we please request you to not bring any younger children/babies to the bag filling. We don’t want to ruin the surprise for all the children who do believe in Santa. Thank you for keeping this event special for all of our children.

Thank you.

The Lower School PA Reps,

Liz, Polly and Ritu

In the lead up to the end of term, 5R was inspired by the gorgeous advent calendar created by Rebecca and Lisa, our class parents, to create our own calendar. This one, instead of containing treats, would contain instead kindness challenges.

The class started by watching this video:

Then students brainstormed “kindness challenges” we could take on as a class, for each day. We collected these in a form, and voted on them.

Finally, the ideas with the most votes were added to this calendar. We’ll open one door per day to read that day’s challenge. The next day, we’ll share some stories of the previous day’s challenge.