Weekly Newsletter #24

Friday, September 7th, 2007

Dear Parents,

On Monday, September 10th, at 1:00 pm, KISQ will hold a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting. All parents are invited to hear about changes to our curriculum, and to meet some of our new teachers. Please try to attend.

For next week, I would like to add a theme to our Show and Tell time. I would like all students to try and participate in order to practice speaking and answering questions in a group. Last week our theme was souvenirs, and this week I would like to try “Interesting Pictures.” Students can bring in any photo or picture they find interesting – be it printed from the internet or taken from a family vacation.

Now, to update about what we did this week and what we will do next week.

Reading

This week, we began to read a longer version of the book called “The Adventures of Frog and Toad.” We will spend one more week on this excellent book and we will complete some comprehension exercises as well. It seems students prefer the “Curious George” series however.

English with Mr. Bean

Last week we watched the Mr. Bean episode “In the Wild.” This week we watched “Missing Teddy.” I am happy to see that students enjoy and learn from this activity. The video and question sheets are available on the class website if you wish to review them.

Science

This week we learned about the “water cycle,” and we have now begun to move onto “natural disasters” and “weather.” Students will learn about hurricanes, tornados, tsunami etc. There are fun experiments that go along with this study.

Megaflash

We are on Unit 7, page 118. We are focusing on frequency, adverbs of frequency, and “how often” grammatical structures. Students are now applying more of their own words and ideas into the grammar they learn in class, which makes class more fun and interactive.

Poetry

This week, we learned how to use all the verbs, nouns, and adjectives we have spent so much time studying in order to write a “diamonte” poem. I was amazed at how well the students completed their assignments in class. They are now able to do creative writing that is abstract and expressive. I thought that perhaps the activity would be too difficult for them as the lesson is designed for 6th grade students, but every student in class did well beyond my expectations. These poems are on display in our classroom. We will continue to study poems in the future.

Now here is the spelling list for next week. Many deal with Science and the different events in weather. Others deal with Megaflash and frequency. Many are from Mr.Bean.


1. frequency
2. seldom
3. usually
4. often
5. drought
6. erosion
7. hurricane
8. typhoon
9. tsunami
10. veterinarian
11. thieves
12. groceries
13. searching
14. vanished
15. accident
16. stealing
17. dangerous
18. poetry
19. creative
20. syllables


Now here is this week’s Daily English, dealing with frequency, science, and giving reasons using “because”:

1. *Make a frequency sentence using always. Ex: We always go to church on Sundays.

________________________________________________________________________

2. *Make a frequency sentence using never. Ex: I never go to bed after 1:00 am.

________________________________________________________________________

3. *Make a frequency sentence using usually.

________________________________________________________________________

4. Drought happens when there isn’t enough rain. Soil dries up and plants can’t grow.
5. A hurricane is a very strong storm with wind and rain. They cause floods.
6. Wind and moving water cause erosion. The Grand Canyon is a good example.
7. A country I am interested in is ______________, because __________________.
8. I don’t enjoy _________________, because ______________________________.
9. I’m afraid of _________________, because ______________________________.
10. My favorite day of the week is ____________, because_____________________.


That is all for this week! Let’s try to make this semester even better than the last!

Regards,

Mr. Garrioch