Weekly News: 22nd —26th September

Thank you to all the parents who are now reading the Newsletter on the blog. We have been receiving good comments from parents on the blog. I am sure you are happy to see so much information and activities for your children available. It can make their research and homework much more interesting and a lot easier. If you have any ideas or feedback to improve your child’s class blog, please pass on your suggestions to your child’s class teacher and don´t forget you can leave comments on the blog at the bottom of each article.

Reflections 15th—19th September
It was a busy week involving lots of discussions and activities as we investigated political leaders and political systems. We continued our investigation of several famous leaders in history, discussing what they are best known for and what impact their actions had on society. At the end of last week class 6G gave a presentation at the weekly assembly at which the students dressed up and told us about some of the more famous political and public leaders. During the week 6G role played the political and economic events of an imaginary country “Graceland” and 6B role played a democratic government with political debates.

Weekly News: 22nd—26th September
Unit of Inquiry: This week we will continue with the role plays in the classroom with debates and discussions changing according to changes in political events. We will continue to look at different political systems, including the Kibbutzim of Israel. We will also continue our discussion of famous political speeches and look at the qualities that made the speeches so effective.

Mathematics
Students will continue to focus on basic number concepts, particularly place value concepts (up to millions) and addition strategies and problem solving. Following some pre-testing last week, we will be starting begin our maths groups this week with the assistance of Mr. Costello and Ms Costa Pereira. In the Data Handling strand the children will continue to apply their thinking skills to analyse political surveys.

English
Students will continue to work this week on persuasive text types. We will look closely at texts from famous speeches in history and the persuasive nature of the language to incite large groups of people into action. In our reading groups this week, we will continue to practise basic comprehension and grammar skills in reading and interpreting texts, particularly when it comes to identifying key words in questions and scanning texts for key words and clues.

What can I do to help?
· Make sure your child is doing the required homework each night. Remember the recommended amount of homework is 40 minutes plus leisure reading. Children need to do the nightly Maths, Spelling and UOI work. All work should be neatly presented.
Remember, children do need time to rest and play.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:
· September 23 and 25 – Let’s Discuss Our Class parent meeting. Meetings start at 3pm.
· September 24 – Introduction to the PYP for new parents.
· September 27 – PTA Welcome BBQ (time to be advised)

With thanks,
David Barrett, David Gocentas and Ms Isabel Costa Pereira