13
August 2013
Dear
Grade Three, Four and Five Families,
I
would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the 2013-2014 school
year. I am happy to be part of the ISB community again this year and I am
looking forward to working with you and your children during the upcoming
months.
I
look forward to meeting you all during “Meet and Greet” week from 21-23 August
2013 but also during our first Community Brunch and Open House on 24 August
2013. In the meantime, I have included a short biography for your reference. I
am originally from a small community on the west coast of Canada, and attended
the University of Victoria. I graduated
with a 5 year Bachelor of Education degree, a double major in Elementary
Education and Science. I am in my fourteenth
year of teaching (my eleventh within the IBPYP) and have taught children from
Preschool to Grade 8. I taught in
Canada, Germany, China and Indonesia (Papua) before arriving at ISB.
During
the first weeks of school I will be assessing your children in the areas of
reading, writing and mathematics. This will enable me to ensure the most
effective instruction for your child. We will also be developing essential
agreements in class for behavioural and work habit expectations. I will be
sending home our first unit of inquiry newsletter next week, outlining the
order and central ideas of this year’s units of inquiry. We are continuing to
work on the class schedule, but this will be forwarded to you as soon as it is
confirmed.
At
ISB, we are a well-established school and have been authorized in the
International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) since 2002. The IBPYP is a transdisciplinary curriculum
that engages students in relevant and challenging learning experiences. I am excited by the enormous benefits to
children participating in this programme.
Transdisciplinary (meaning to include a variety of subject areas such as
social studies, science, language, mathematics, etc) units of inquiry will be
the basis for the majority of our programme.
This will run parallel with the teaching of fundamental
skills/strategies in language and mathematics.
Again
this year I will be taking on the role of PYP Coordinator in addition to being
your child’s classroom teacher. This role is primarily in support of the teaching
staff at ISB, but I am also responsible for parent education about the Primary
Years Programme. Please look for more information in the general school
newsletter, but please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions
regarding this programme.
Below
is some general information about different aspects of the Grade 3/4/5
classroom this year.
Ibu
Hasanah
We
are extremely fortunate to have Ibu Hasanah Sarkaya working in our classroom
with the Grade 3/4/5 students again this year. Ibu Hasanah will be working with
all children in our class in a variety of individual, small and large group
settings. It is important to note that Ibu Hasanah will be responsible for our
class in the event that I am absent. She will also be travelling to the various
specialist classes if needed to be further support those teachers as well. If I
am unavailable, please do not hesitate to contact Ibu Hasanah directly.
The
Exhibition
The
PYP Exhibition is a directive from the International Baccalaureate Organization
(the IB) in which all PYP schools must participate. We will begin the
Exhibition process at the beginning of the year, but the public Exhibition will
be in May/June (date to be determined). Please look for more information on
what we will be doing for the Exhibition and how you can support your child
towards the end of August.
Units
of Inquiry
The
Grade 3/4/5 students will be inquiring into 5 different units of inquiry as
well as the Exhibition this year. We will be reviewing the 6 allocated units of
inquiry later this week, working with the students and teacher to develop the
order of units as well as the theme for the Exhibition. This is an important
component of the Grade 3/4/5 programme, as it provides an opportunity for
student empowerment and responsibility for the educational programme they will
be participating in this year.
Homework
The
students will begin bringing home more formalized homework during Week 2. All
homework assignments will be related to what they are currently studying in
class. It is important to develop a standardized place for students to work on
their homework at this age. This will be especially important with their work
on the Exhibition as this is a long-term project, and they may need to have a
place where they can leave resources for a lengthy period of time. It is
expected all homework will be completed on a daily basis and returned to school
for teacher assessment the next day. If you child has difficulty with the
homework task assigned, please have them stop and indicate difficulty in an
email to me or a written note in their homework folder.
Electronics
Students
are welcome to bring their laptop/tablet computers to school to support their
learning. These types of electronic devices are appropriate for certain
components of our programme (as determined by the classroom teacher), but paper
and pencil skills will be used for others. If you would like your child to
bring a mobile phone to school, they will need to drop them off in the main
office prior to the start of the school day. Students are not permitted to
bring MP3 players, etc to school as they interfere with important socialization
opportunities before, during and after school. Please note that if your child
brings anything of value to school, ISB is not responsible for it loss or
damage.
Supplies
The
school provides all books, pencils, markers, etc the children need. Each child
needs to bring a plastic drinking bottle labelled with their name to school
each day. It is important that this bottle be filled with water, not juice, in
case of spillage. Children will have opportunities to refill their water bottles
from a central source at school as well.
Please
ensure your child has a hat as well as it is often very bright and sunny during
PE and other outdoor activities.
Birthdays
We
enjoy celebrating your child’s birthday.
I have found that a shared treat is a good way for the whole class to
participate. If your child is having a
private party, invitations should be given outside of school so that feelings
do not get hurt if someone has not been invited. If you are inviting all
students in our class, students are welcome to hand out the invitations at
school.
I
believe home and school communication is essential to your child’s learning, so
please do not hesitate to come in and see me or write me an email
(trish@isbogor.org) if you have any questions or concerns. Please look for more
information coming from the office about “Meet and Greet” week from 21-23
August, 2013. There are a variety of dates and times available.
Kindest
regards,
Trish Phyall
Gr. 3/4/5 Teacher & PYP Coordinator
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