See you all again soon!

Wow, where do I even begin? The year just zoomed by with a blink of an eye. The last week has been busy and productive, and has definitely stirred up a lot of emotions for every single kid and grown-up in 1JK. However, on the flip side, it is a great thing that we are feeling sad because it means that we have really created a strong bond as a class over the past year and it is a bit hard to part for two months for summer, and of course, even harder to say goodbye to those who are leaving TAISM.

I wanted to thank you all over you again for everything you've done for Ms. Zulfa and me. And most importantly, all the things you've been doing with your child at home - it is much much appreciated! Without your love and support, your child wouldn't have come this far. So congratulations!!

Those who are traveling this summer, have a safe and fun vacation. And for those who are leaving, please know that we will be thinking of you and we wish you all the best.

Congratulations on a successful year! Enjoy the summer! = )

Slideshow of the Week

Ice Cream and Pool Party - What a combo!

Our first graders celebrated the end of the year in sweet style. Thanks to the outstanding efforts of our room moms and generous parent contributors, we celebrated with ice cream sundaes of every variety.  The cafeteria was transformed into an ice cream parlor for this event and students were able to make their own outrageous sundae creations. We then continued to cool off with a splash in the pool. It was great fun. Thank you all for your efforts to make this happen.

Pool Party

Just a reminder that our end of year pool party is on Saturday June 9th at 2:00. Please send a swim suit, towel, pool shoes (crocs or flip flops) and goggles with your child to school on Saturday. We will start with an ice cream sundae in the cafeteria and then make our way to the pool at 2:45- 3:30pm. Thanks to our wonderful room moms- Rania, Rasmia, and Sara for organizing this event. Pick up will be back at the classrooms.Thank you! 

Slideshow of the Week

THANK YOU!

Parents, thank you so much for coming to our End-of-Year Portfolio Celebration this morning. It was wonderful seeing all of you, celebrating the achievements that your child has made this year. They have really worked hard and made great strides. Congratulations to all!

Once again, thank you all of you for the beautiful gifts. The silver bangle and necklace are exquisite. Ms. Zulfa also loves her glass serving platter and is looking forward to inviting guests to her house this summer. A big thank you for our room moms this year: Rasmia, Rania, and Sara. Without them, we wouldn't have this many successful events and extra learning opportunities for our children.

Counting down... just one more week to go! 

Elementary School Spring Concert

Well done, elementary students! What a treat it was yesterday to see and hear our students perform in the very new and special Bosch Center on the TAISM campus. I am sure you enjoyed it too. A special thank you to Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Drahos, our musical directors, and all the elementary school teachers who partook the event and making it so successful.

We are looking forward to seeing you all for our Grade One Portfolio Share on Wednesday, where we will catch you up on what we have been doing recently as well as look back at some of our work from this year. See you for a 9:30 start. The event will finish at 10:15 when the children go off to morning recess. We are looking forward to seeing you!

"Goodbye" is a sad word... Let's say, "See you later!"

As you may have already heard from your child, there are four children from 1JK leaving TAISM this summer. Pelle Molin and his family will be returning home to Sweden. Alexandra Gilreath and her family will be relocating in Jordan. Yaseen Shindy and his family will be returning home to Egypt. Connor Hemphill and his family will be returning back home to the United States. Even though it is always hard to say "goodbyes" to our friends and family, I am sure every single one of them has captured many happy moments and created mental movies in their minds. We wish the Molin's, the Gilreath's, the Shindy's and the Hemphills all the best in their new "destination", and hope that they will be settling quickly and comfortably in their new homes.

Thank you Sara (Pelle's mom), for putting together a little "memory book" for the families who are leaving. I am sure Pelle, Alex, Yaseen and Connor will have fun reading it. It is such a wonderful and meaningful gift. Thanks again, Sara.

I, myself, am also leaving TAISM in mid-June. I have spent 2 wonderful years here in Oman and I will forever treasure the memories I have here, especially at TAISM. I will be returning home in Canada first, and then off to New York City to begin my graduate studies in the fall. It has been my pleasure to be your child's teacher this year. I am lucky to have this group of children this year and I have enjoyed teaching them. You have no idea how much fun it has been for me to keep a class blog this year, documenting the many achievements, success, and celebrations we've had! With the help of technology, the world is actually getting smaller. I am sure all of us will be easily in-touch, with only be an email or Skype call away!

Sorry to stir up any emotions! We still have 2 more weeks to go! I look forward to all the upcoming celebrations next week. And I definitely look forward to seeing you at the ES Spring Concert, Portfolio Celebration, and 1st Grade Pool Party. See you around! = ) 

Spring Cleaning and Wrapping up the School Year

The count-down is on! Only 2 more weeks of school left! Even though it feels like mid-summer already in Oman, technically, it is still spring = ). In order to get ourselves and the classroom organized before the summer, we need your help.

Please look through your child's bookshelves or anywhere at home where your child keeps his/her reading materials, and look for any school's library books or classroom library books. Usually they have a barcode, or a TAISM stamp inside the cover. Have your child return any reading materials by next Wednesday, June 6th. 

Mrs. Catherine, our teacher-librarian also needs your help. She is currently re-collecting all library bags from students. If your child still has a library bag at home, send it with him/her to school some time this week. Mrs. Catherine has kindly offered to store them for the summer and will be distributing them back accordingly to your child's new classroom next year. If you are not returning TAISM in September, there is no need to return your library bag - it is yours to keep!

Due to classroom library inventory, your child will stop receiving guided reading materials and just-right level books to bring home after next week. In the meantime, please continue to support your child's reading by reading the books you have at home. Thank you!

Slideshow of the Week

More celebrations to follow! Save the dates!

First of all, I would like to express my most sincere thank you to all of you who participated in Teachers' Appreciation Week last week. It was a very special week for teachers. I felt very pampered from your thoughtful gifts and the delicious luncheon that many parents partook. THANK YOU!

Our ES music performance is also coming up on June 3rd. I am sure you will be hearing a lot of singing in the shower or bath in the upcoming weeks before the concert!

In your child's folder tonight you will find an invitation that your child has created in I.T. class to formally invite you to our end-of-year portfolio share on June 6th, from 9:30 - 10:15. The children have been working really hard this past year, and especially these past two weeks to put together this portfolio to share with you. They are really looking forward to that day.

Finally, our year-end pool party will take place on June 9th afternoon. Currently, our first grade room moms and parent volunteers are organizing and coming up with different snack options. Thank you so much for all your help!

Celebrate!!!

Our writers of nonfiction "how-to" (procedural) have finally published their books! Many of them published 2 books, some published 3! They are all very proud of their hard work. On Monday, all three first grade classes met in the ES foyer for a little celebration. We had a chance to read each others' books. Many of them gave great shout-outs to their fellow writers, complimenting their writer's craft.

"I really like your catchy beginning."
"You have great pictures and labels."
"I like how you got inspired by another how-to author and wrote your book in a different way."
"I like your closing - it's really fun!"

Please congratulate your child on their success. These books will be shared at our end-of-year portfolio celebration on June 6th.

Our writers are now moving on to our last writing unit of the year, which is another nonfiction unit on "all about" or informational books on space. As you know, we have begun our space unit and all of them have chosen a topic that they are interested in doing a little research. In the end, students will consolidate their findings and re-write it in their own words, add an introduction, fact boxes, and diagram. They have a choice of either publish their findings and make it into an all about book, a poster, or a model with a mini oral presentation. This past week, they have already gathered a lot of information in class. We will be getting ready to begin drafting next week. Ask your child what their research topic is and what they know already about it this weekend! 

How Big is the Sun?

We all know that the sun is ENORMOUS. But how big really is the sun in comparison to the earth? Our scientists did a little hands-on exploration last week to show the size of the sun and our earth respectively in relative ratio. We measured a piece of yarn that is about 50 inches long and we attached it onto a piece of sidewalk chalk. We then used this tool as a compass and drew a big circle. Finally we compared the big circle (the sun) with a small red chip (the earth) and realized that the sun is significantly larger than the earth. No wonder we, humans, and all other living things are able to survive on earth - without this great big sun, there would be no lives on earth!

HEE HAW HOOTENANNY, we made it!

Today all ES students (from EC to Grade 5) and teachers participated in the Hootenanny assembly. We had so much fun singing along, clapping and stomping to the rhythm and beat. Thank you Mr. Steve Ringo, our HS art teacher and a very talented banjo player for accompanying us today. Hee Haw!!! Job well done kids!

Slideshow of the Week

Revise, edit and publish!

Our "how-to" authors have been working so hard on revising and editing their books last week with their writing partners. We know how important revision and editing is, and we appreciate that our writing partners are there to help! Our writers came up with a checklist. These are the things they found important:
1. Have a "catchy" and interesting introduction
2. Add appropriate punctuation
3. Make sure each step make sense
4. Add more details if need be
5. Have finger space between words
6. Check spelling
7. Check and fix letters that are written backwards by mistake
8. Use capital letters and lower case in the right place
9. Check the ending - does it have a nice closure? 

After two days of thorough revising and editing with our writing partners, our authors have finally begun publishing today. These books will be shared with parents and families on June 6, 2012, our End-of-Year Portfolio Celebration. So stay tuned!

A new unit in science - SPACE

Last week, we launched our new science unit on Space. The students have been extremely excited about the unit. We did a KWL chart (K for what you know, W for what you want to know, and L for what you learned) and jotted down facts and questions they have about space. I was very much impressed by how much our first graders already know and the smart questions they have about space. Luckily, we got our fourth grade reading buddies to help us with the tricky words and understanding the challenging parts when reading nonfiction space books. This week, we have been focusing on our solar system. Ask your child about all 8 planets (plus Pluto- the dwarf planet) and see if he/she can tell you the order.

Tick tock tick tock... measurement unit is over, and onto the last unit!

We are now finished with the last topic of our measurement unit in math. Last week, our mathematicians   learned about time. They learned that time can be drawn in analogue format, or written in words or digitally. Today in your child's homework folder, you will find a math packet along with the unit 4 (Measuring and Comparing) assessment summary, and a unit 5 (Bigger Number) introduction letter. You will also find some extra math practice that you and your child can work on together at home. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your child's assessment summary or about unit 5, please do not hesitate to ask!

It's getting HOT!

It is definitely getting out out there! Please remind your child that it is important to come to school with a WATER BOTTLE and a HAT EVERYDAY for outdoor recess and other activities. Thank you!

Save the Date!

Parents please mark your calendars - Grade One Portfolio Share - June 6th at 9:30am. All parents are invited and we hope that everyone will be able to attend. This is a special opportunity for your child to share his/her learning and growth over the year. The children have worked very hard, reflecting and choosing pieces for their portfolio. They are very proud of their work! Hope to see you all there!

Slideshow of the Week

More measurement...

This week we continued our measurement unit in math by exploring weight, temperature and time. Our students have learned that in every type of measurement, whether it is length, capacity, weight, temperature, or time, there needs to be a standard unit of measurement, otherwise it would be hard to record and compare data. We learned that in temperature, there are two main types of units - Fahrenheit and Celsius. To explore the use of a thermometer in measuring temperature, we put three glasses of water in three different places: fridge, out in the sun, and in our classroom for 1 hour. We then measured the temperatures of the glasses of water, observing how the mercury (another special kind of liquid) rose and dropped for each respective glass. Our mathematicians then carefully read the thermometer and recorded the temperature in Celsius.

We also began to tell time by exploring with gear clocks and understanding how the minute hand and hour hand work. Next week, we will continue our study on telling time and measuring time. Try having your child tell time this week by the hour!

Alright... got some baking soda. Now what?

Our first grade scientists have made their second attempt in creating carbon dioxide. This time, we got the right ingredient - baking soda (not powder)! Again, we followed the procedure and observed intently of the chemical reaction as the baking soda was mixed with the vinegar. Instantly, the liquid (vinegar) changed its color, from transparent and flat to cloudy and bubbly, creating carbon dioxide. As the gas began to form more and more inside the bottle, the balloon got blown bigger and bigger by the second. Our scientists then recorded the steps that was followed and reflected on what they observed and learned from the experiment.

Then we explored the viscosity (thickness) of different liquids by playing Racing Drops. Students, working with their partners, were given four different liquids to compare and race... most found out that water had the lowest viscosity...making it the speediest racing drop, and hand soap had the highest viscosity, which took forever for the drop to reach to the end of the race. Our scientists really had fun in this experiment. This weekend, ask your child which two liquids came in the middle in the race and what properties different kinds of liquids have. Please continue exploring solids, liquids and gasses with your child at home. We wish we could continue our experiments in class but it is time to investigate the solar system starting next week. Enjoy the photos on our weekly slideshow!

Salem - Our Star of the Week

Last but not least, Salem, our final Star of the Week, has had his turn to present his beautiful poster! We very much enjoyed his presentation. From day one, we all know that Salem loves soccer, but didn't know that he loves race cars just as much until this week. He looked extremely cool in his race car on the racing track in Ferrari World. Thank you, Salem, for all the hard work you put in the poster.

Thank you to all the parents for supporting your child in this wonderful Star of the Week activity. Without your help, we wouldn't have had the chance to learn more about your child through the beautiful pictures you have captured. A big THANK YOU to all of you! Well done, First Graders!

Oops... grabbed the wrong ingredient!

As we are learning about the properties of matter and procedural writing, we thought it'd be fun to try out a "how-to" experiment that we learned from a video we watched in science class last week. In the video, it showed that we can actually create carbon dioxide without breathing out through our mouth or nose. That is, by mixing two different matter: baking soda (solid) with vinegar (a liquid). Together, these two types of matter create a chemical reaction that creates carbon dioxide. We tried the experiment by putting a small spoon of baking soda into a balloon, and a little bit of vinegar into a plastic bottle. We then wrap the opening of the bottle with opening of the balloon, and dumped out the baking soda, released it so that it mixed with the vinegar, creating the chemical reaction. We expected the balloon to be blown up by the carbon dioxide gas that was suppose to release inside the plastic bottle. But it didn't!! What happened? Ooops... Ms. Kwok grabbed the wrong ingredient. It was baking powder, not baking soda! Though a little disappointed, we learned that not all powder form of solids create gas when mixed with vinegar. We will try that again next week!!

Slideshow of the Week

Solids, Liquids, Gases

Last week, our students made orange-flavored popsicles as part of our nonfiction procedural writing unit. We learned that as writers of procedural books, it is important to write out the steps and instructions as clearly as possible so that our readers can really understand what we are trying to teach them. Through this popsicle-making activity, many of the kids reflected and noticed that this is a change in states of matter phenomenon. Liquid freezes into solid when it is below 0 degrees Celsius. And in some cases, when some solids, like our popsicles, are exposed to heat, they   melt and turn back into a liquid.

Our scientists will continue to study the properties of matter in the next week, and understanding how solids, liquids, and gases behave and change in different situations.

This Week in Math

This week we have continued to explore different types of measurement. As a whole class, we compared the capacity of different containers by scooping dry pasta. We first made an estimation, and then we measured the capacity by filling each container up with dry pasta and keeping count of how many cups it took. We then compared the containers' capacity by ordering them from least to most. The next day, we practiced measuring capacity again with water. Our mathematician found out that in order to give a fair comparison when measuring various containers or any object, it is crucial to stick with the same measuring tool/unit.

Then we compared the weights of different objects by using balances. Students took turns in their table groups. They confirmed their measurement by comparing their answers with others, and measure again for a accuracy. Next week we will continue to look at weight and then we will learn about temperature and time.

Slideshow of the Week

After School Activities (ASAs)

Starting Saturday, April 21st, the final session of ASAs will begin! A letter was sent home yesterday to confirm your child's ASA(s). If your child is doing Recreational Swim with Ms. Grace and Ms. Irish, please make sure you child comes to school with his/her swim gear every Monday. All the children are looking forward to the fun activities they will get to do next week!

Star of the Week- Shereef!

Thank you Shereef for sharing your star of the week poster. It was full with pictures taken all over the world! We were excited to see the pictures of your home country, Egypt. We were also fascinated by the different sports that you do - tennis, biking, swimming, boxing and karate. We especially liked the two pictures "Driving to Work" - that was really cute and smart!

This week in Reading and Writing Workshop

Last week we have launched our new unit on nonfiction reading and writing. We read aloud a variety of nonfiction books: How to Lose All Your Friends, Milk to Ice Cream, The Bubbly Drop, The Watcher, and Butterflies. Through careful noticing and thinking about the ideas and topics behind these books, we understood that there are four main types of nonfiction: all-about books (information books), how-to books (procedural books), narrative nonfiction, and biography. We have had many hot discussions this week when we were reading The Bubbly Drop (a narrative nonfiction story told by a made-up character/narrator, Bubble, about his water cycle adventure as a water droplet). After reading the story, some kids said that it is a realistic fiction, while some kids said it's a little bit of both, and some kids said it is a nonfiction text. Many of them had great reasons to back up their argument.

"It's realistic fiction because the water cycle is real, but in real life, water droplets don't talk -Bubble is a made-up character." - Mia

"It's a little bit of both fiction and nonfiction because there are facts about the water cycle and rainbow colors, but water droplets don't ever talk." - Adessa

"I think this is nonfiction because this is all about the water cycle. It's teaching you about evaporation, condensation, precipitation." - Yaseen

After a long debate, we came to a conclusion that this is a narrative nonfiction story, where a character/narrator tells a story of a topic that is fact-based. When asked why authors write narrative nonfiction, other than just all-about (information) books, a student said,

"The narrator and characters in the books make learning more fun!" - Danielle

In writing, we have begun drafting our "how-to" procedural books. Our writers have been envisioning and acting out the steps to help recount and write out the steps of their "how-tos". They have also been using transition words like, first, then, next, and then... finally to link the steps in order.

Today we did a class how-to book together. We learned how to make orange popsicles! We first gathered all of our materials/ingredients, and we followed the procedure in order. We had a fun time making and enjoying our popsicles. Ask your child this weekend how to make popsicles and see if he/she is able to recall the materials needed and retell the steps in order. Have fun trying it out at home!

Slideshow of the Week

Publishing Party!

Today all of the first grade classes came together to celebrate our published class poetry books. Over the last month, all of our writers have worked hard on writing and refining these poems. During this poetry unit, our writers learned that poets get inspirations from other poets. We read aloud many poems together and studied the tools and cool things poets use to make their poems interesting and fun to read. To name but a few, we studied poems by Shel Silverstein, Zoe Ryder White, Valerie Worth, Eloise Greenfield. Our poets then tried out some of these poetic tools such as similes, comparison, personification, onomatopoeia, line breaks and rhyme in their own poems. Lastly, our poets carefully selected two poems they liked best and have them published in our class poetry book. Today, we all came together to celebrate this great success! Aside from sharing their poems, they also led a great discussion about how and where they got their writing inspirations. It was a fantastic experience for all three classes to come together and celebrate each others' work and know each other better as readers and writers.

Tonight your child will bring home their own personal copy of the class poetry book. I hope you enjoy the poems as much as I do.

Congratulations, First Grade Poets!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone! It was so nice seeing the children yesterday back at school, looking well-rested, refreshed and energetic for the final trimester of the year. Many of them had wonderful Spring Break stories to share. I have always enjoyed listening to their traveling stories and learning more about the world from their perspective.

Yesterday, your child should have brought home an After School Activity (ASA) form. Please kindly return the slip with desired choices of activities as soon as possible as spots fill up quickly! The first day of ASAs is April 16. Your child should get a confirmation of the enrolled ASA(s) by next week.

Lastly, as the temperatures are rising higher and higher, please make sure that your child comes to school each day with a hat and a water bottle.  This is ESSENTIAL so that your child can continue to play outside. Thanks for your cooperation.

Happy Spring Break

I cannot believe how time flies. Spring Break is here!
Safe travels and have a fun and relaxing holiday. I will see you back on Monday, April 9th! (It will be a day 4).

P.S.: the new April specials calendar is posted. Please go to the left sidebar to view and print.

This week in literacy

Our class book of poems is HOT OFF THE PRESS! Mr. Sathish worked really hard last night and got all the books bound! Today, our students took a sneak peek at it. When we come back, all the 1st grade classes will have a little publishing party/celebration together. Our writers are really looking forward to the celebration.

As we wrapped up one unit, a new one begins. The last two days, we have been reading some nonfiction books during our Reading Workshop time. We talked about how there are different types of nonfiction. Some nonfiction books are "all about" books. Some nonfiction books are "how to"/procedural books. Some nonfiction books are biographies about a person's life. This month we will be focusing mainly on "how to/procedural" writing. Yesterday, our writers generated some ideas for their how-to books by thinking what they are good at doing. Some kids said they are good at swimming fast. Some kids said they are good at taking care of their dogs. Some kids said they are good at being quiet in class. I cannot wait to see how these how-to books are going to turn out. I am sure they will be informative and fun to read!

One cool thing that the kids got really excited about was when I read and showed them an article and a short clip about Jane Goodall. The kids quickly made the connections of the books we've read aloud in class, Me...Jane, and The Watcher, both biographical picture books about the renowned chimpanzee expert/primatologist, Jane Goodall. They were amazed by her undivided dedication and the number of years she's been committing to her research (now that she's 77 years old!).
Here's a short article and video clip about the work she's done and the new documentary/movie coming out soon.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/03/21/jane-goodall-current-interview.html

Pretty neat!

Yaseen - Star of the Week

Thank you, Yaseen, for presenting your poster this week. We really enjoyed looking at your pictures. Your summer house in Egypt looks amazing!  And your dog, Buddy, is extremely cute. We have heard so much about Buddy and we finally got to see a picture of him!

Explain Everything...

Today in I.T., our children explored a new app on iPads called Explain Everything with Mr. Hoffman. It was a cool app that allows you to save a photo (a map, a book, a diagram etc.) and crop, highlight, write or draw right on the photo, AND record your voice while you explain or give directions, read an excerpt from a book, or present a diagram. The kids tried out this app today by taking a photo of a page in a book, cropping the unneeded part, and recording their own reading. It was a good way to practice reading, explaining or presenting a project or diagram (i.e. "Star of the Week" poster. Too bad we didn't know about this earlier.) by hearing their own reading. But I am sure this app will come in handy again for future presentations. = )

Second Trimester Parent-Teacher Conferences

Thank you so much for attending to our 2nd trimester parent-teacher conference. I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me. I hope that our conference was able to provide you with some valuable insight into your child's progress in school. I really enjoyed talking with all of you, discussing your child's learning progress and social experiences at TAISM, and learning more from you about your child as you shared your insight and observations from home.

I look forward to our continued partnership throughout the remainder of the school year. = )

Magda - Star of the Week

Congratulations, Magda! You have done an amazing job with your star of the week presentation. We enjoyed reading your poster and looking at the pictures. We especially liked the way you included some information about your home country, Algeria, such as types of food, scenery, and country flag on the other side of the poster. That was really informative! Thank you for the hard work. Job well done!

How Big is a Foot?

Yesterday we read aloud a story, How Big is a Foot, by Rolf Myller. The story is about a king who wants to give his queen a new bed for her birthday. However, not one person in the kingdom knows the answer to a very important question: how big is a bed? because beds at the time had not yet been invented. The king decides to use his big feet as a unit of measurement and tells the carpenter that he should make the bed 6ft by 3 ft. However, trouble follows when the carpenter uses his small feet and the bed comes out much smaller. The king is furious and sends the carpenter to jail. Ask your child how the carpenter solves the problem.

Today in your child's folder, you will find a homework sheet along with their "paper foot". Please support your child this weekend with this little assignment. They will go around the house and measure any items of their choice (i.e. bed, TV, toy box, bookshelf etc.). First they have to make an estimation, and then do the actual measurement. Ask your child what an estimation is and what strategies they use to make a close estimation! Have fun!

The Importance of Water Cycle

This week our scientists have been learning about how the water cycle creates different types of weather and how the sun plays a significant role in the water cycle. The sun gives out heat energy that has the ability to evaporate water and its water vapor raise up in the air and forms clouds (condensation). When the clouds become too heavy because it is made up with millions and millions of water droplets, precipitation occurs and depending on the temperature, it would come down from the sky as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. This water cycle goes on and on and all living things depend on it.

We then did an experiment to learn how water changes through evaporation, condensation and precipitation. We filled 1/3 water in a glass jar, covered it tightly with a piece of saran wrap and secured it with an elastic band and left it outside on the window ledge for a day. We hypothesized what might happen to the jar, water, or saran wrap after leaving it out under the sun for a day. Here are some hypotheses:

"I think the inside of the glass jar will be wet." - Kasper
"I think there will be less water." - Mia
"I think some water will be evaporated." - Yaseen

After a day, we observed the changes that occurred to our water cycle, we made some important notes. Ask your child what was inside the jar, on the wrapper and the water level.

A friendly reminder... ASAs, half days, Report Cards, Parent-Teacher Conferences

Please note that trimester 2 ASAs (after school activities) have now finished. There will be no ASAs in the next weeks until further notice comes out. Stay tuned for new activities sign-up.

Next Sunday, March 18th is going to be a half day. Students will be dismissed at noon. Please remind your child to bring their library book that day. Ms. Catherine has kindly rearranged another time for our students to do a book swap in the morning.

Thank you to those of you who returned back your parent-teacher conference slip. If you haven't done so, or if you have a conflict, please return it as soon as possible or contact me to rearrange a time by next week. Report cards go home on Mar 24, and the conferences will be on Mar 25 (afternoon only), and Mar 26 (all-day). It will be another noon dismissal on Mar 25, and no school for kids on Mar 26. I look forward to meeting you then.

Mia, our Star of the Week

Thank you, Mia, for doing a great job presenting your poster. We were all very engaged in the pictures you posted, especially the one with you laying down with an elephant "stepping" on your back, giving you a back massage. That was really brave of you! We also loved your beautiful pet cat, Fifty. That's a really cute name. Lastly, we enjoyed some of the drawing and writing that you included in your poster. Job well done!

Our Book of Poems

As mentioned last week, our poets have been busily getting their poems revised and edited for publishing. This week, our writers have picked three poems of their choice from their collection, and continued to polish them by doing some more revising and editing work with their writing partners. Our poets were really into partner revise and edit. They were so ready to read their poems to their partners and eager to have them to help revise and edit. There were many positive and constructive feedback suggested. I was hearing things like:

"Wow I really like your poem, especially this part when you used onomatopoeia."
"I like your poem and how you got your inspiration from another poet."
"I am not sure what punctuation to use here. Can you help me?" 
"Your poem has a great beginning, but in the middle it began to sound like a story. How about you try using more action words or repeating pattern?"
"This is great. How about I help to to fix this word and spell it right?"

After many revising and editing sessions, our writers have finally begun publishing their poems today. All our poems will be published and bound in one class book (hopefully by the end of next week). Each child will be getting their own copy to keep so that they can continue to enjoy all poems written by their classmates.

Measurement

This week we have begun our new math unit on Measurement. We read aloud a couple stories related to measurement, including Inch by Inch, by Leo Lionni. We have learned that we can measure almost everything - how big or small something is, how tall or short a person is, how heavy or light an object is, or even how long or short a story or a song is. After reading Inch by Inch, we created our own inchworm, estimated and measured different objects around our classroom, such as the side of a table, the height of an easel, the length of a rug, and the depth of a bookcase. Many of us made really close estimations! We learned that measurements can be in non-standard, and standard format. Our inchworm is definitely a non-standard measurement! We had fun using our decorated inchworm in our first measuring activity.

Nila - Our Star of the Week

Congratulations, Nila! You did a wonderful job sharing your poster this week. Your poster had so many beautiful pictures of you and your loving family and we were all very impressed. We loved the organization of your poster - using small family pictures to create a border, and bigger pictures in the middle. We were all surprised that you have an older brother who is in college! We all thought you are the only child in the family. Thank you for sharing with us this week. Next week, we have Mia! = )

This Week in Reading and Writing

Our readers and writers have been working hard on their poetry unit the last couple of weeks. This week, we continued reading a wide range of poems and noting what poets do to make their writing more interesting and fun to read. As we read, we pay attention to the "cool things" that poets do in their poems and how these strategies (i.e. figure of speech, use of line breaks, onomatopoeia) help elicit their readers' reactions and feelings. For example, when poets use personification to compare and describe a non-living object, we as readers have to use our imagination and create movies in our minds. Another example that we found is that when poets use onomatopoeia (sounds) in their poems, we as readers feel that we are "in the moment" with the poet, and it makes the poem more lively.

As we are getting ready to revise and edit our own poems for publishing, our writers have been using these smart and cool strategies that we noticed in the poems we studied into their own writing. Many of them are refining their written poems, rereading them, and trying out different strategies. Some writers tried adding more actions to create a dynamic moment, and some tried using line breaks to slow things down or emphasize a certain feeling.

We also just finished reading aloud, Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech. It is a book of poems written by this character, Jack, timid boy who thinks poetry is only for girls and is always shy about sharing his poems. Gradually, as time passes, Jack gets more comfortable writing poems and begins to write poems about his dog, Sky. From Jack's poems, we understood that many poets- both kids or grown-ups get inspiration from others. Jack is particularly inspired by Walter Dean Myers. Jack's favorite poem written by Mr. Myers is Love that Boy, which later, inspires him to write a poem called Love that Dog, in memory of his beloved dog, Sky.  

Love that Dog 
By Jack 
(Inspired by Mr. Walter Dean Myers) 

Love that dog 
like a bird loves to fly 
I said I love that dog 
like a bird loves to fly 
Love to call him in the morning 
love to call him 
"Hey there, Sky!" 


We had fun reading aloud this poem together. Ask your child this weekend about the character, Jack, and what his poems are about.

This week in Math

As we wrapped up our 2D and 3D shapes unit last week, we are now moving on to a mini unit, Fractions. We read aloud a story, Give Me Half, by Stuart J. Murphy, and discussed what it means to distribute an equal share among a given number of people. We came up with a definition that a fraction is a part/share that is divided up equally from a whole.

We also explored fraction strips - experimenting different ways that a whole can be distributed equally- half, thirds, and quarters. We learned that a half can be written as 1/2; a third can be written as 1/3; and one fourth or one quarter can be written as 1/4. Our mathematicians came up with the following findings: 

"Two quarters equal to one half." 

"Two halves equal to one whole." 

"I'd rather have one half a a chocolate bar then one third." 

"Three quarters is bigger than one half." 

We are going to continue exploring fractions this coming week. At home this week, ask your child about fractions as you are preparing food, for example: sharing a cake, cutting a pizza into pieces, or dividing objects in groups, such as markers, or blocks. 

Shukaran!

I'd like to thank all of the teaching staff, room moms and parent volunteers to help make ES Discover Oman 2012 a great success! One gigantic thank you goes out to our D.O. coordinator, Ms. Tena Bos. For many years, Ms. Bos has been coordinating D.O. trips for TAISM. She's done a wonderful job making sure of our needs and safety, and transportation. Our children and ourselves (teachers and parents) have enjoyed a fantastic week of Discover Oman. On behalf of my first grade colleagues, the children, and myself, I'd like you to know how appreciative we are to having you with us and being a part of this meaningful learning experience. Together, you helped our trips go smoothly, safely, and enjoyable. A special thank you to our room moms, Rania, Sara Jansson and Rasmia for coordinating chaperones schedule and chaperoning. Another big thank you goes to Dalia, Marie, Ann-Christine, Birte, Sarah Goforth, Dominique, Torill, Lesley, Sudha Sha, Amina, Aditi and Kelly for coming with us, taking beautiful pictures and sharing them. We couldn't have done it without you.

Tina - our Star of the Week

Congratulations to Tina, our Star of the Week for doing a fantastic job presenting her poster. We enjoyed all the pictures she included, especially her ballet and hip-hop photo with her older brother, Amirou. It was a really cool picture. We also enjoyed your photos taken in Atlanta at the World of Coca Cola. Thank you for sharing, Tina!

Omani Tent Day and 100th Day at TAISM

TAISM's ES Discovery Oman Week has finally come to an end. Today was our last day of a busy week of D.O. Many children came to school this morning in traditional Omani outfits - girls in colorful dresses and matching headscarves, and boys in crisp white disdasha and kuma. Our children had a fun-filled morning at the Omani tent, experiencing Omani traditions and cultures - learning about its traditional attire, foods, dance and music. They had a great time trying out dates, sweets, "coffee", as well as getting some unique henna and face paint designs.

Coincidentally, it was also the 100th day of school. We have been counting the number of days in school since the first day - noting it on our calendar, 100's chart, place value chart, and 10-frames. Two weeks ago, as we reached the 90th day of school, we decided it'd be fun to "countdown" to 100th day. Today, just before Omani Tent event, all of the three first grade classes got together in the basketball court, doing 100 exercises. Knowing that 10 groups of 10 make 100, we did 10 sets of 10 different exercises - jumping jacks, hopping on one leg, should shrugs, touching our toes, circling our arms, etc. It was a great workout for all! 

Bausher Fort

Last but not least, today was our last trip of our Discover Oman week to Bausher Fort. It was an absolute adventure for all of us, including our parent volunteers, Kelly, Aditi and Rania, as well as our teacher chaperones, Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Luther. We were also extremely lucky to have Marcel's dad (from Mrs. Irish's class), Mr. Tremblay, a geologist, coming with us and talking to us about different types of rocks and the mountain formations in Oman. We observed and marveled the great architecture of the ancient fort. Despite its old and crumbly facade, we were still able to notice the fine details of the doorway and arches. After our trip, we wrote what we learned about Bausher Fort and did a sketch in I.T. class using the program, Pixie Draw. Tomorrow - Omani Tent Day! We are all looking forward to it.

Natural History Museum

What another great experience we had at the Natural History Museum! Our students put on their "scientist glasses" this morning and off they went to explore the two main exhibits of the museum - living things on land, and sea creatures. We were very lucky to have five parent chaperones, Amina, Sudha, Rania, Torill and Lesley, working with our students in small groups. Together, they traveled around the exhibits, looking at the different taxidermy of various land animals like oryx, Arabian tahr, fox, and leopard, as well as studying the sperm whale skeleton and dolphin bones. They also took a real close look at different types of shells, rocks, meteorites and coral. It was a fun day filled with great learning and discovery!

Shatti Beach Day

Wow, another amazing day! Our children, teachers, and assistants, along with 4 other parent volunteers, Marie, Rasmia, Rania, and Dalia went to Shatti for an afternoon of beach fun! We laid out our wadi mats, set down our beach bags - some headed straight to the sea, while some took out their sand toys and soccer balls. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and perfect. Though the water was a bit chilly, kids still dipped their feet in and enjoyed the splashing of the waves. Sand castles were build, and so were streams of rivers, lakes and islands on the beach. A special thank you to Ms. Grace, our swimming assistant/lifeguard who came with us to help ensure the safety our of children in the water.

Tomorrow we are off to the Natural History Museum! It will be another amazing day!

Discover Oman - Ghala Village and Hot Spring Hike

Thank you to our parent chaperones, Birte, Sarah, Dalia, Ann-Christine, and Dominique, who helped us out today at our hiking trip in Ghala. We had a wonderful adventure exploring the area. First, we felt the warm water that comes from the hot springs in the reservoir and falaj, and discussed how the spring water and falaj are useful and helpful to the villagers. After, we began our hike; trekking through a scenic and rocky trail all the way up to the top of the mountain. On our way up, we found rocks of different shapes, colors and sizes, thorny bushes and desert shrubs, small black beetles, and even bones! After a 20-minute hike up, we sat down and had our snack while we enjoyed the top view of Muscat city - overlooking areas of palm trees and white buildings. Back in class, our children took out the many "mental pictures" they had taking in their minds during our hike, and color-painted the images that were their favorites. Later, we used our paintings to help us with some written reflections to further capture the great time we had experienced.

Slideshow of the Week