Category Archives: Language

The First Day of School!

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What a fantastic first day!

From the moment they entered the room today, the 5R students began to bring the classroom to life. A round of Welcome Back Bingo got everyone speaking with old and new friends, then we organized ourselves with our lockers.

After recess we ventured over to the new Makerspace Art Studio for our biweekly two-hour art session, and got to meet our two visual art teachers, Mr P and Dr A. After lunch I shared a letter I’d written to the class in June, and had been unable to send, and students all had a chance to reply. Finally, Frau George came to us for a first German session, and led a class with photo interpretation and poster-making, while she worked with students to assess their German levels.

After a quick end of the day game, students received their schedules and we went to the lockers to collect our belongings and head home. A very full, and very successful first day!

Please enjoy the below photos!

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Nanowrimo Novelists

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I am blown away.

When I first heard of the Nanowrimo project, I was interested…

Is it true? Students write a novel over November, then revise, edit and publish it through Amazon?

Wow. And then I watched it happen. From 5R 7 students invested many lunch breaks, and countless hours at home in drafting stories. Over the month of November I heard about word counts rising. Then quiet… Revising is hard work. Through the following months though, I was regularly asked “Can I bring my iPad home, I’m working on my Nanowrimo…”

And now, this. Or rather these. These remarkable accomplishments, all published and purchasable through Amazon. Have a look at the range of titles below, read the authors’ synopses and be impressed 🙂

Links to the individual titles:

Salam by Amelie Kaas 

The Wizarding World of Doom by Maximilian Casanova and Joshua Holzmann 

The Mysterious Jungle by Krish Raheja 

Fire (Elements) (Volume 1) by Leo A Leon 

Zombies (Spanish Edition) by David Velasco 

The ten dimensions the crabs layer (Volume 2) by Anthony Smelansky

The Plumps by Annika Franck 

For more on Nanowrimo, click here.

 

Happy Holidays

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Dear 5R Families,

As I unloaded all of your lovely and thoughtful gifts at home this evening (don’t worry, I got a drive! :), I reflected on how kind and generous you had all been.

This has truly been, as I said this morning, a wonderfully warm welcome to a fantastic community. My thanks go out to you, the parents, to your exceptionally warm, playful and supportive children and, for the organizational efforts today and throughout the year to Catharina and Kathryn. Thank you.

This afternoon we celebrated the publication of our personal narrative stories. These have been a remarkable process of collecting and developing ideas, drafting, revising and editing and each story has been a real journey of growth. We shared our stories, offered each other compliments and enjoyed some (deliciously alcohol-free) celebratory bubbly.

Enjoy the photos:

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These stories will come home, along with a recent math assessment, in January for you to share, comment upon and return.

In the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and a very happy new year.

See you in 2016!

 

Reports, Genius Hour, Holidays, Maths and more!

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Dear Parents,

What a busy first half of the year it has been! I have felt privileged to watch your children learn and grow over the past months and I greatly look forward to the new semester and to seeing them journey towards becoming sixth graders.

The last two weeks have seen us continue to work with decimals, write personal narratives and put together our PSA films on Digital Citizenship. Busy, fun times!

I wanted to share a few of thoughts with you before the break:

Reports: You will soon be able to access your child’s report card online. For those of you that were at ZIS last year, you will notice some changes in the reporting system. For Literacy and Math there are a greater number of indicators which aim to give you a more detailed picture of how your child is progressing. Students are placed on each indicator according to whether they are ‘exceeding’, ‘secure’, ‘developing’ or ‘beginning’ their skill or understanding in a certain area. Do be sure to read the explanation for each of these descriptors, included at the top of report card. I felt it worth noting that descriptors are given based on expectations for this point in the school year and that it is possible that your child may have a mix of descriptors within a subject area. As learners, we all have strengths and goal areas within a certain subject or discipline, so this is no cause for concern and helps me and your child to finely tune our work together for next semester.

Genius Hour: After the break, we’ll start our second round of Genius Hour projects, however if your child is already excited about starting his/her exploration of a particular subject then this is absolutely fine. I look forward to inviting you in to see our sharing at the end of this round and will let you know the date soon!

Holidays: Your child’s priority for the upcoming break is to rest, spend time with family and to play and have fun. However, I would like to give a little reminder that everyone should be reading, reading, reading! I’ll be asking students to share what they have read when they return from the break, so it would be worth keeping track please.

Maths: This week we are our math assessment on addition and subtraction of decimals and it will be sent home in the first week after the break. We are still waiting for several students to return the Volume assessment which they took home some time ago.

Finally, I want to thank you for all your support and to wish you a restful winter break surrounded by friends and family. May it be a happy and peaceful time.

Warm regards,
Jamie

Please enjoy the 5R PSA videos here:

Anthony updated from ZIS Grade 5 Mr Raskin on Vimeo.

Sabine group most updated from ZIS Grade 5 Mr Raskin on Vimeo.

PSA Balance: Haya, Patricia, Mathilda, David edting, thought-provoking from ZIS Grade 5 Mr Raskin on Vimeo.

Cider Bullies By Leo, Annika, Evelina and Ameli. Most Realistic and convincing PSA. from ZIS Grade 5 Mr Raskin on Vimeo.

online law by Joshua, Junwon, Emanuele, Maxamillian and Krish. best sound track and camara angles. from ZIS Grade 5 Mr Raskin on Vimeo.

Living Like A Writer

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This week our Writer’s Workshop has gotten off to a flying start. We’re three sessions in and students have been experimenting with ways to generate ideas for personal narrative writing, as well as ways to improve the quality of this writing. Additionally, we’ve been working to improve our stamina and volume in writing.

Students have begun the early steps of collaborating with a writing buddy, and have put some time into the design of their writing notebooks, turning them into objects of inspiration as explored in this presentation:

Now, our challenge is to begin really living as writers. This means “seeing potential for stories everywhere and giving yourself eyes to find them!”*

Students have been asked to notice details, whenever, wherever. To make note of interesting characters, settings, views, moments and more. To scribble them down on notes, napkins or whatever’s at hand, and to bring these beautiful bits in to school to add to their writer’s notebooks. These then can be used to add detail, depth and truth to their narratives. Please support your child in this. You can do this by calling attention to these things yourself, maybe even scribbling down some of your own! You may even want to start your own notebook 🙂 ! So much of quality writing is about bringing significance to small things.

This habit should begin now, and should last through the year. Students are so excited by this new direction in our writing. I’ve had students cheer that we have writing time, and another say that he’s “never before, in my life, written for pleasure.” Your support can extend this enthusiasm beyond the school day and deeper into your child’s life. Thanks for your help!

*Lucy Caulkins & Alexandra Marron, Narrative Craft, Heinemann, 2013.

Homework…? Writer’s Notebook & Math Assessment

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What a whirlwind first week back! 5R students have arrived back at school full of energy (literally bouncing in the door in one case this morning), and ready to take on new challenges.

This weekend students have a couple tasks to accomplish, and they’ll need parent support 🙂

WRITER’S NOTEBOOK

Your child has brought home their writer’s notebook today. This will be a powerful tool in supporting them to grow their skills and strategies as a writer, but first, we need to make it a piece of inspiration. In it, each child has begun a list of ideas for people, places, magazine clippings, events, photos, quotes, graphics and more that they would like to collect to design the covers. These will provide inspirations for writing, as well as make their notebook very personal and special to them. Please only send in items that are OK to cut and paste onto a notebook.

Thank you for your help in gathering these pictures. As you look through albums, magazines etc., you can discuss the subjects and the special thoughts or memories connected to them. This will help get the creative juices flowing and bring out some great writing ideas!

Please support your child to return their notebook with their images for designing on Monday, or Tuesday at the latest.

MATH ASSESSMENT

Today your child has brought home their first math assessment of the year, along with a reflection document they have used to better understand their work. These assessments are being sent home primarily to enrich your conversations with your child about their learning. Please take the time to look at them together with your child, and alongside their reflection. Then, sign the assessment and return it promptly to school. Please aim to return these on Monday. If you require more time, please let me know.

PRACTICING SHARING WRITING

Writing buddies are an essential element of Writer’s Workshop. Students have thought deeply about the desirable qualities of a writing buddy and today practiced sharing their writing with a “test buddy”. A few photos…

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