Happy Holidays!

In the week leading up to the holidays, we were rather busy with celebrations in 4B. We celebrated Ye Won's time at MKIS and had a going-away party for her. We all wish her well, as she moves back to Korea. She will certainly be missed in 4B, and at MKIS!

We met up with our buddies and decorated cookies as we read holiday books. All students enjoyed this time with their buddies, and had a lot of fun decorating and eating cookies!

Finally, a great big THANK YOU goes out to all of the parents who helped make our class party on Friday the 20th a huge success. We had a delicious lunch spread, cookies to decorate, a traditional Italian cake, a musical performance by Liam on the violin, photos of the kids at the orphanage receiving their school supply gifts from our class, and gifts from Santa for everyone to unwrap. It was a great way to wrap up the first half of the school year, and send everyone off on a great holiday. Thank you to everyone who helped make our week run smoothly. It would not have been possible without all of your help!

You can see class party pictures here. There are also many other pictures added to our collection. Please visit the photos page to see more pictures of students over the past few weeks!

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As the holiday celebrations start to wind down, and you find yourself with a few weeks worth of vacation left, you might be wondering what your child can do to fill their time! Some suggestions are listed below, for your reference.

Current Event presentation: The new planner for this was handed out before the holidays. Students can be working on their next current event presentation over the holiday and present when they get back. Their term 2 presentation is due by the middle of March, but it might be ideal to get this finished earlier than later!

Book Report: Students also have a book report due by the middle of March. They may want to work on this project over the break as well (a 3 paragraph report- a summary, a favorite part and why, and their overall opinion and why) accompanied by some sort of visual. In the first round of presentations, we had poems, posters, movie trailers, games, mini books, and many other creative ideas. I look forward to seeing what the students come up with this round!

Read to Feed Reading: Students were presented with the opportunity to read for a cause over the holidays. They have the form to collect sponsors and record their reading each day. Money and forms for this is due the week we get back from the holiday. Any donations are helpful, as it all goes towards helping a family get started for the future. Find out more about the program Read to Feed through the following link. *A recommended amount of reading is around 20-30 minutes a day.

IXL:  Students may want to stay sharp with their math skills. An easy way to continue to practice skills we have already covered is through the use of IXL. Students can work on any skills from the sections A-H and K-M.

Reading Reflections: As students are likely spending time reading over the break, they may also want to take some time to "stop and jot" or record their thoughts or questions on post-it notes. They may also want to work on some reading reflections, which can be done in their Reader's Notebook, or online, in their Google Drive.

Message regarding new Chromebooks:

In January, the ES will have new Chromebooks and/or iPads in the classrooms.  In order to maximize their usefulness we would like each student to bring headphones to school starting in January.  These headphones will stay at school and be used by your child for listening activities tied to the curriculum. For your convenience the school store will have earbuds and over the ear headphones available when school starts back in January.  Of course, if you already own a set of headphones feel free to send those in. 

Library: The MKIS library will be open from 8-12 Monday through Friday during the break. The exceptions are public holidays: Dec.25, Jan.1, Jan.2, Jan.14, and for Thaipusam. During the holidays, either Ms. Santha or Ms.Maria will be working in the library.

Safe travels over the break, and best wishes to you all as you ring in the New Year!

The holidays are very near!!

The students of Grade 3 and 4 should be very pleased with their performances at the music concert this past week. They did a great job, showing off their dancing skills, as well as their singing and musical talent. I am sure that you are all very proud of them as well!

  

This past week, students have been working on learning how to code computer games. This "Hour of Code" is being promoted by Computer Science Education Week. See the attached link for more information. http://csedweek.org/  

Parents are reminded about the class Christmas party this Friday, Dec. 20th. Everyone is invited to join us at 12:20 for some holiday celebrations! 

There are several messages to be shared, from many areas of the school community. Please read through the notes below so that you do not miss anything that is coming up! 

Fun Fair 2014: 
         Dear Parents,

It’s time to get together and start preparing for the biggest, most popular community event at M’KIS - Fun Fair 2014! Trang and I would like to invite all parents who are keen to get involved, in ways small or big, this coming Tuesday, December 17, from 8:30-9:30am in the Activities Room (one floor below the Theatre, in the Language Wing).

We will be showing pictures of the past years’ events, and talking through the various opportunities for parent involvement:

- Planning / Committee Chairs

- Food Vendors

- Entertainment (M’KIS Idols, Student Dance Group etc)

- Silent Auction

- Logistics

- Communication

- Signage

- Retail Vendors

- Student Charity Groups (we pay various groups in return for students coming to run many of the games on the day)

- Outsourced Games

- Ticket & Token Sales

- Finance

- Used Books Sale

- Sponsorships

- Dodgeball Game

Our aim is to put together a sizeable team for volunteers before year end, so work can commence end Jan once we’re all back from the holidays. There’s also great binder and thumb drive packed with useful information for each of the sub-committees to work with so that no-one will need to reinvent the wheel, though parents are always most welcome to make improvements and contribute their own ideas.

The more people get involved, the better - please share with your friends at M’KIS and come to find out how you can be involved in creating a really fun event for your kids and our community to enjoy.

Hope to see you there!

Love and Logic Parenting Classes Beginning in January!

       MKIS Counselors Kalei Brumsickle and Ellen Thomas will be facilitating Love & Logic parenting classes beginning in January 2014. Love and Logic helps parents raise responsible kids by offering specific strategies, tool & techniques, and the actual words to say.  The basic premise is that all children make mistakes, and as parents it is important to allow our children to make mistakes and learn from them while they are young and the stakes are low.  The class teaches parents to “lock in our empathy, love and understanding” prior to telling the kids what the consequences will be, so that the child sees the parent as the “good guy”, and their poor decision as the “bad guy”. When done on a regular basis, kids develop an internal voice that says, “I wonder how much pain I’m going to cause myself with my next decision?”  Kids who develop this internal voice become more capable of making good choices and standing up to peer pressure. The method uses humor, hope, and empathy to build up the adult/child relationship, emphasizes respect and dignity for both children and adults, provides real limits in a loving way, and teaches consequences and healthy decision making.

       The Love and Logic parenting classes will begin on Tuesday, January 28th.  The first five classes are targeted for parents with newborn children through the age of 6, and the second seven classes are targeted for parents with children ages 7 through teen.  However, many parents attend all 12 classes regardless of their children’s age.  The birth to age six class will be held each Tuesday beginning January 28th from 8:45 am – 10:45 am.  (Specific dates for the first five sessions are January 28^th, February 4th, 12^th (this is actually a Wed. due to a scheduling conflict on Tues.), 18th and 25^th).  The second Love and Logic class for parents with children ages 7 through teen will be seven sessions beginning on Wednesday March 4th from 8:45 – 10:45 am.  (Specific dates for these sessions are March 4^th, 11^th, 18^th, 25^th and April 8^th, 15^th and 22^nd). The cost is 50 rm for one session or rm 80 for both, which includes the workbook(s). To sign up, please see Ms. Guna in the elementary office.  Hope to see you there!


Reading Comprehension Workshop for PARENTS:
MKIS is delighted to announce an upcoming parent workshop on Reading Comprehension Strategies by Susan Zimmermann on February 7th from 1:00-3:00. If you would like to attend, please email Ms. Karen Wong at karenwong@mkis.edu.my and provide her with your name, and your child's grade level. For more information please see the Link.


Library over the holidays:
Just to let you know, the library will be open open 8-12 Mon-Fri during the break. If you are around, stop in to get some books to read over the holiday.


Track and Field Event:

The PE Department is busy planning a track and field event for your children and needs your help!

Dear Parents,

The Elementary Track and Field Carnival for Grades 2 – 5 will be taking place on

Thursday, January 30th 2013

10am – 12 noon for Grades 2 and 3

1pm – 3pm for Grades 4 and 5

This is planned as a fun event to build on our wonderful school spirit and to help identify athletes for our elementary track and field team.

Each class has been allocated a team color and the children are encouraged to come to school on Friday indicating their team color by way of tee shirts, hats or hair ribbons. 

TEAM COLORS ARE:

RED	BLUE	YELLOW	GREEN
2 Rachel Silberstein	2 Elizabeth Keogh	2 Jennifer Newcome	2 Janelle Schmidt
3 Tim Gascoigne	3 Scott Carpenter	3 Pat Carrelli	3 Lynn Townley
4 Sue Arin	4 Lindsay Mountain	4 Michelle Miller	4 Chad Hauser
5 Mary Black	5 Jen Heal	5 Caitlin Early	5 Ryk Newcombe
	5 C. Gilbertson Purple

We need parent helpers for this event.  A sheet has been placed on each classroom door for parents to volunteer. YOU WILL ONLY BE REQUIRED TO HELP OUT AT YOUR CHILDS GRADE LEVEL CARNIVAL.

On Thursday your child will need to bring to school their hat, water bottle, the correct colored shirt,  sunscreen and bug spray or patch.

If you have any further queries please contact Mike Mitchell, Richard Hastings, or Andy Hill via email: m.mitchell@mkis.edu.my;  r.hastings@mkis.edu.my;  or a.hill@mkis.edu.my

Looking forward to seeing you at the carnival,

Yours Sincerely,

M.Mitchell, R Hastings,and A. Hill

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale... you do not want to miss it!!

Kuala Lumpur has an amazing book sale each year, just before Christmas, and it is starting today! If you are looking for great gifts or a book for your own reading (or a cook book, etc), this is a sale you do not want to miss... COUNTLESS titles are on sale, 75-95% off... Take a minute to browse the link below to get more information, but this is something you do not want to miss!!
Book Sale
If you do go, I recommend that you go in the morning, as it can get quite crowded...

Happy Shopping!

December has begun...

Well, it is officially December!

First of all, this message is a bit over due, but I would like to take a moment and welcome Ruhi and her family to our 4B class. She joined us a few weeks ago and has been fitting in quite nicely to our MKIS family. We are happy to have her here with us!

A big thank you goes out to Tanya for organizing the donations to the Myanmar Refugees, and also thank you to all of you who sent in donations. I know that these school supplies will make many children very happy!

Over the past few weeks, we have been quite busy in several areas. We have been familiarizing ourselves with our Google Drive, using shared Docs. and creating folders to organize our work.  We have also created a Google Map as a class. In the library, Mrs. Hritzuk showed us how to use the Ipads with to watch book trailers, by scanning QR codes. We have also been busy practicing for our upcoming Music concert!

Language Arts:
We have been reading the book, "The Tiger Rising," by Kate DiCamillo. We have been working on our inferencing skills while we read. Student have been developing their ability to "read between the lines." The next step is to ensure that they are doing this while students read their own books each evening or in class. Students have also been working on developing their word choice. We have been working in groups to improve our descriptions of characters and their actions as we read through the book "Crickwing" by Janell Cannon. 4B students have proven to quite creative, and have enjoyed using Google Docs. to collaborate and get their ideas down in writing. Take a look to see their creative writing... Group1   Group2   Group3   Group4

Students are reminded to be using post-it notes to jot down their thoughts as they read each night. Getting their ideas in writing will help them with developing their reflections each week. Students now have the option of writing their reflections online, using the template shared with them in their Google Drive.

Math: 
Along with continuing to work on their multiplication and division facts, students have been introduced to algebra. This has proven to be a challenging concept, but as long as students remember to follow the "Order of Operations," or BEDMAS, they have proven to be quite successful. Leading up to the holiday, we will continue to work on multiplication, (one-digit and two-digit problems) and also long division, which can be rather difficult. It is essential that students are trying their nightly homework, and reinforcing their understanding of these skills with IXL each night, as the concepts will only continue to get more and more difficult.

Science:
We have been doing research about various volcanoes around the world. Students compiled their research on a shared document in their drive. Once they had gathered the information on their chosen volcano, they transferred that information to a Google Map, which can be see by clicking on the following link. Please encourage your child to explain the process they had to follow to complete this assignment and to describe their volcano, as well as those that have been shared by their classmates. Some students even went one step further and added information about significant earthquakes. They should be very proud of their work on this assignment, and their steadily improving use and understanding of technology.


Other details:
Recently, I have noticed that many students have been lugging old papers back and forth in their homework folders. Please take a moment and help your child rid their homework folder of irrelevant papers. This should be done on a regular basis so that parents do not miss out on important papers that go home!

Also, I have added an "Important Dates" page to our blog. If you are unsure about what is coming up in the next few weeks or months, please take a look. Also, if you notice that I am missing something important, please let me know and I will add it to our blog so that everyone can be reminded!

**As an additional fundraiser for the MCF, a Festive Season lunch will be held on Friday Dec. 13th from 11am-2pm in the MPR at MKIS (near the pool). Food will be provided and carols will be performed by the Grade 4 and 5 students. Tickets are 55RM, and will be sold Dec. 6th, 9th and 10th in the breezeway before and after school.

November News

So many events on the go, and  so many details to keep track of!

Here is the scoop:
Parents are encouraged to check out Mrs. Hritzuk's blog as she has important messages from the library: http://mkis-esblog-nhritzuk.blogspot.com/ 

Also, a remind to students and parents to check out Mrs. Story's blog as she has very important information regarding the upcoming concert. She also has ALL of the music posted so students can be preparing at home, both with the music, and with performing in front of others!!!

On Friday, many important papers went home:
*SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) and ITBS testing results went home. If you have questions regarding this information, please let me know, or we can discuss it at the upcoming conferences.
*Time-slots for upcoming conferences were sent home as well. Thank you to those of you who have already gotten back to me regarding your times. If you need to change your allotted time, please let me know and we can work something out.

Other items to note:
*Report cards will be available to check online, on Monday, November 25th. Please be sure that you know how to log in to your Aspen account in order to check the reports. 

*We have started algebra in math. This can be a rather tricky subject. Students are encouraged to be reinforcing the lessons learned in school, at home each night. IXL is a great way to do this.  Also, we do have an IXL trial account for Language Arts, which will expire on November 27th, so students are again encouraged to try these skills out before the trial ends!

*In Science, we have been studying Earth and it's plates. I showed the students a neat website where they can track earthquakes over the past month. You may enjoy discussing this site at home with your child! Here is the link to Earthquake site.

*Thank you to Savitree for sharing some pictures form our field trip. If anyone else has pictures, you can send them in to me and I will add them to the album. Field Trip Pictures

Updates

Thank you to our volunteers for Friday's field trip to the Petrosains museum. Susan, Savitree, and Caroline did a great job keeping the students focused and moving through the museum. I think that everyone enjoyed the day, and hopefully learned a thing or two about Earth's layers!

A message from the Varsity Sports:
PACK THE PLACE!  Varsity Basketball is back and let's pack the gym tomorrow at 4pm to help our TIGERS defend the local championship.  It's the first game of the season versus rivals ISKL.  First 100 supporters will receive a popcorn coupon courtesy of the team, Connie's Kitchen, and the athletic department. GO TIGERS!

The Grade 3 & 4 Music Concert is coming up on December 10th. More information can be found on Mrs. Story's blog, or in the Link. 

In Class:
Language Arts:
Students have started presenting the book reports for Trimester 1. They look great so far, and I think that the students are benefiting from the opportunity to present to their classmates. These presentations also provide the students with a long list of suggested books to read. Last week, students took their SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) test, which is a reading test done online. Results will be going home this week.  Also, students are reminded to be constantly working on their Reading Reflections. Every other week, two reflections are due, along with 10 interesting vocabulary words. Students do have class time to work on this, but are reminded to work on them at home as well, in order to get them completed in time. 

Math: 
Students have been working hard on the multiplication facts. They have recently finished Chapter 4 and are now moving on to Chapter 5, which is an introduction to Algebra. This can be a difficult chapter, but with lots of practice at school and at home, I am sure that students will be successful. 

Science:
We are still covering Earth and changes in it's surface. We will be looking at earthquakes and volcanoes, how they are created and the impact that they can have on Earth's surface. This is a really fascinating unit for the students. 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween:
This Friday, November 1st, the Parent's Association will be putting on a Halloween event at MKIS for the students to go trick-or-treating through the hallways. All students are invited to come to school in the evening, wearing their Halloween costumes for a chance to show off their costumes and get some treats! In order to prepare for this special event, parents will be decorating the Grade 4 hallway on Friday afternoon. Savitree and Susan will be coming in around12 noon to start decorating, and they would love some help with this, if anyone else is available!  If you are not available to help with the set-up, you may want to consider helping with taking the decorations down, as that needs to be done on Friday evening, after the festivities. As of right now, it is only Savitree and her husband Dietmar, so again, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Field Trip:
As you are aware, we have a field trip coming up on November 8th. Currently, I have 2 mom's volunteering to help out on that day. It would be great if we had 2 more so that we could have small groups to move around the museum that day. Please email me to let me know that you are interested in helping out that day.

IXL for Language Arts:
I have signed the class up for a ONE MONTH FREE TRIAL of IXL for Language Arts. Their log-in is the same as usual for IXL. They just need to click on the Language Arts tab once they are logged in. They can try ANY of the skills. The opportunity to try the skills will be over on November 27th, as that is when our free month trial is over. It would be great if students are able to spend some time this month trying the various skills.

Book Reports:
Students were given information about upcoming book reports. The report should be done on a book that they have read and completed in Grade 4. They need to do 2 parts. Part 1 is 3 paragraphs about the book (a short summary, their favorite part and details about the character, and their overall opinion and rating on the book). Part 2 is a presentation to the class. Students should create some sort of visual for this part. They were given a page of ideas. The only need to do ONE visual project. It is advised that they practice their presentation at home before getting up in front of the class! They will be asked to complete 1 book report each term.

Greetings, and Welcome back.

I trust that everyone had a relaxing break. 4B Students seemed excited to be back to school. We eased our way back into routine today, but we should be back in full gear tomorrow. 

Today, we welcomed Julius Robberechts to 4B and MKIS. He was most recently living in Abu Dhabi but is excited to be joining us here at MKIS. He fit right in with us, and played basketball with some of the boys during recesses. Welcome, Julius and family to Mont Kiara!

A letter went home today regarding our upcoming class field trip. Please read over the form with your child. When you are ready, please sign it and return it with the 17RM needed for the day. Students will need to buy a lunch at the food court that day, as they cannot take bags into the museum, and there is not really a place to store their bags while they are inside. Students will be reminded to make healthy. reasonable choices for their lunch. I will take out the necessary money for the entrance fee and return the rest of the money to them, to buy their lunch. The reason we collect the money for lunch ahead of time is to make sure that everyone will actually have money with them on the day of the trip. We are also looking for 4 parent-volunteers. If you are interested and available, please email me and I can organize the groups for the day. You could likely ride on the bus, or meet us at the Petronas Towers-whichever is easiest for you on that day.  Thank you in advance!

Also, if you have not yet had a chance, please take some time to look at the 4B Photos page to see what we have been up to so far this year!
 
FYI: 
Project Cambodia is raising awareness and funds for street children in Cambodia this week.

Wednesday and Thursday: Project Cambodia will be collecting children's clothes, old school bags, pens and pencils.  Items brought in can be placed in the wooden boxes in the breezeway. Friday: Alternate Dress day. Students should bring RM5 and wear red and blue. (They can always bring in additional money for donations. 5RM is the minimum)

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ES Art: Parents are encouraged to view the Art Blog this month. Ms. Lucas has posted a new monthly entry.  

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One more event to mention... UN Day

UN Day:

 

Our Elementary School children will soon be celebrating United Nations Day! This is a great opportunity for the students to share their culture with their schoolmates. Parents are invited to join the event, as well.

Date: Oct 18, 2013 (Friday)

Time: 8:40am to 10:00am

Venue: School Gymnasium

Attire: Country colors or traditional outfits

Students may wear their traditional attire or country colors for the entire day.

Updates from around the school...

MCF Week is coming to an end on Friday. Student will be participating in a skip-a-thon Friday morning in the gym. They are reminded to wear appropriate shoes, and come dressed in yellow to show their support. Donations and their yellow pledge forms are due on Friday as well.

Salva Dut Visits:
Students have been excited about the assembly with Salva Dut, but they are also very much anticipating the classroom session to be held with him on Monday, October 14th. As excitement increases over Salva's classroom visits, it is important that we keep the focus on student learning. With that in mind we are implementing the following guidelines as a school wide approach:

• Unfortunately, parents are not allowed to come to classrooms during Salva's visit.  This is a time for students to work with Salva and show him how they have "answered his challenge" and since we only have 15 minutes to meet with him, we need to stick closely to the task at hand.

• Students can not ask for his autograph.  This is a time consuming request and does not advance student learning.  However, students will be receiving a memento from Salva's visit which they can have transformed into a book mark, or possibly taped to their water bottles.   

• Students can not bring cameras to take Salva's picture on Monday.  I will be taking pictures, and I will place them on our class blog for you all to see.

It is important that all of us follow these guidelines to ensure uniformity and perceived fairness from students and teachers. Thank you for making Salva's visit a meaningful learning experience, and understanding the need for this structure!

Important Aspen Update
Firstly, I would like to thank all of the families who visited their family portal and came to the Elementary School Office to update their information. In our efforts to ensure that we have accurate and up-to-date contact and health information on all our students you received an envelope on Friday, October 11^th. This will be distributed to the youngest and/or only children in each family and will contain a green record sheet of the information that we currently have on each of your child/children enrolled in grade KP to 12. Please verify or correct the a) Contact; b) Health; c) Nationality information. This is a second tier attempt to ensure accuracy as we are continuing to encounter difficulties when gathering and using information from our Student Information System (Aspen). We ask that you read over what we have, check Aspen to ensure the health information is correct and make any corrections directly on the form. These will be returned to the Home Room Teacher of your youngest/only child. If the information on these forms is accurate we ask that you still return the form with your signature to indicate this. We have provided an envelope to provide privacy for Health information.

This information is very important to us. It is challenging to keep it current as people often make changes to their hand phones, residence and e-mail address. Therefore we have now put into our practice at the school that this paper update will take place two times over the course of each academic year. Thank you for your cooperation in this.

October 16 is World Food Day!
It has always been an MKIS tradition to support this cause. We would like generous donations from you. These donations will benefit a few charity homes in Kuala Lumpur.
Please donate these food items:
1. Canned food (check their expiration date, please)
2. Milo/Horlicks/condensed milk
3. Instant noodles
4. Cereal
5. Biscuits/crackers
6. Rice
7. Grains
Collection of donated items will be from Wednesday, October 16 to Friday, October 18, 2013.
Please leave these donations at the main breezeway.

Special Guest Salva Dut

 Well, after all of our efforts in preparing for our guest, Mr. Salva Dut, we finally got to hear him speak! Students assembled in the auditorium this morning to hear Salva speak about his struggles growing up. He spoke with the students about the importance of goal-setting and encouraged them to set some of their own goals to help push them further in life. He also spoke with them about his program, Water for South Sudan, and how the organization brings clean water to communities around South Sudan. He shared pictures of the process and had students think about the difficulties that many people living in South Sudan face regarding water, and what having clean water can do for a community. We look forward to Monday, when he will be coming in to our classroom for 15 minutes to meet with the students in a more intimate setting. I am sure that the students will have many questions for him, and they are eager to share their thoughts with him as well.

Below are images of the  4th Grade bulletin boards which display efforts from the students as they prepared for Salva's visit.  Students met with each 4th Grade teacher to explore different areas about Salva Dut's story. All lessons were connected to what students have already been studying in class, and this, along with hearing Salva's story and meeting him, have made these lessons quite meaningful for the students.

4B students have been busy!

Math: We are still working on addition and subtraction skills. Most of the concepts and skills have been review, but are important to reinforce, as they are the basis for the more challenging math to come. Students should continue to practice these skills each night, in the homework packet, or on IXL until they master them. A medal will appear on the IXL website when they master each skill and they will earn a star on a chart posted in the class. Students are encouraged to focus on IXL questions related to the skills being practiced in class at the moment, as they program is meant to support the skills currently being learned. An “IXL to Math Text” correlation chart can be found under the “Homework” tab, in the section about math.
 
Language Arts: 4B Reader's and Writer's Workshop is progressing well. Students have been working hard to improve their reading comprehension through the use of specific reading strategies. They have been encouraged to slow down while reading, and to jot their thoughts down on post-it notes as they read. They have completed a “practice” reflection and handed this in for feedback before starting their reflections on a regular basis.  I have met with students to discuss their reading, and their reflections, and how they can write a strong reflection each week. At this point, I am looking for two paragraph reflections. One paragraph should include a short summary about the pages read, and the second paragraph should be a reflection to show the students’ thinking about the pages read, and their opinion. Students are encouraged to include specific details from the book in order to support their reflection. The opinion might be about what occurred in the story or about the author's writing style.

Social Studies: Students are finishing up a booklet about landforms to show understanding of various landforms introduced. Some examples are: archipelago, isthmus, gulf, glacier, peninsula, strait, sound, fjord, and delta. Students have also been working on creating a map of an imaginary island. For this map, they are applying skills they have learned about mapping, and they are also including various landforms throughout the map.

Book Orders went home on Friday, September 27th. The orders are due on Friday the 4^th, but they can be brought in earlier. Each book flyer is filled with popular children's books and books are often at a better price then you would find in the bookstores in Malaysia. It is a great opportunity to stock up on JRB's for Reader's Workshop.

Spirit Week This Week!
Monday: Pajama Day
Tuesday: Crazy Hat Day
Wednesday: Crazy Hair Day
Thursday: Dress as a Book Character Day
Friday: Tiger/Turtle Day

 

Last week in 4B:

Math: Students finished Chapter 2, which focused on money and rounding numbers. Students improved their understanding of money (dollars and cents) by practicing counting and spending play money in class. The Chapter 2 test was given on Friday and students should be proud of their success. Reminder- students are to make corrections at home, and have the test signed by a parent.

Language Arts: We have finished our class novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and students are working on a creating a booklet that highlights some major events throughout Edward's life. This booklet will showcase their understanding of the story, and the important events, and also their summarizing skills. Students have begun to write small moments about a special place in their lives this past week and will continue to work on these short stories this week. They also took a writing assessment on Tuesday and I will be using them to target areas for future writing lessons. Students too the SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory test) last week in the computer lab, which provided them with their reading lexile score. A reading lexile is one measurement of reading comprehension and students are encouraged to keep it in mind when choosing a  "Just Right Book."

Social Studies: We continued to focus on map reading skills, latitude and longitude, and hemispheres. Students have been putting together a world map that reflects their understanding of the elements of a map. This week, we will be looking at the various landforms around the world. 

Around the School:

This week, September 17th- 20th, is Habitat for Humanity week at MKIS. The following is  aletter for the H4H committee.

To Our M’KIS Community,

The M’KIS Chapter of Habitat for Humanity will have our annual fundraising week from September 17th to 20th to raise funds for our annual build in Kuching, Sarawak. We have many things for you and your family to enjoy during that week, including the following:

·         Your child received a lovely colouring book to decorate. We hope you enjoy reading about Sara and her family who, like millions of children around the world, don’t have a suitable home to live in. We hope this booklet helps families better understand how Habitat for Humanity helps families here in Malaysia and around the world.

·         Throughout the fundraising week, we will be counting class points. Every ringgit donated is worth one point. The class with the greatest number of points at the end of the week will win a pizza party, hosted by the H4H group!

We also have some fundraising activities for the older students and for the entire M’KIS community including Buy a Brick and t-shirt sales in the Breezeway in the mornings and afternoons all next week. Remember, every “brick” and every t-shirt will be recorded as points for your child’s classroom!

Don’t forget about Alternate Dress Day is on Friday, September 20th! Bring RM 5 (or more) to participate. Please show your support by wearing green or blue, or by wearing your H4H t-shirt.

Thank you for your support!

The M’KIS Habitat for Humanity Team

ITBS and other important information

A big thank you to all who helped with or attended the Swim Carnival last Friday. It was a great success and it couldn't have been accomplished without your support. It was fantastic to see all of the students having fun and cheering for their friends and classmates as they all swam their very best. Please stake a moment to look at our "Photos" page to see some of the shots captured at the carnival. Also, thank you for your generous "Free Dress Day" donations to support "Water for Sudan" and the GIN organization here at M'KIS.

I.T. with Ms. Best:In IT class, students have been reviewing their roles as digital citizens. They have been writing important rules to remember on an online, public wall. To view the comments students wrote about "Digital Citizenship," please visit our 4B wall on Padlet at  http://padlet.com/wall/jxynciihru

ITBS Testing:This week the class is taking the ITBS test. Fourth Grade will be administering it between recess and lunch each day. Please ensure that your child comes to school well-rested, and having eaten a healthy breakfast. Please see the school "Link" for more information about this and other important events happening around campus. Also, don't forget to check out the specialists' blogs for other important updates.

Language Arts:
In class, we have been reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo as our class read aloud. 

"Edward is a rabbit who was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who treated him with the utmost care and adored him completely. And then, one day, he was lost. Edward goes on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the top of a garbage heap to the fireside of a hobos' camp, from the bedside of an ailing child to the streets of Memphis. And along the way, we are shown a true miracle — that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again."

As we follow Edward on his journey, we have been discussing the many life-changing events he has experienced. We are practicing a variety of reading strategies and using sticky notes to show our thinking as we have been reading. Along with reading and discussing this book in class,  students are reminded to have a "Just Right Book" in class to read each day for Reader's Workshop.

We are also in the beginning stages of our Writer's Workshop, focusing on personal narratives. We discussed choosing a small moment to write about, while zooming in on exact details to retell a story.

Math: 
Students have been hard at working at reading and writing numbers through hundred millions and recently completed a chapter test. The test went home on Friday for students to review, correct and have signed by their parents. The Weekly Math Challenge has also been going well. While getting the problem correct is nice, showing good effort and  perseverance on a tough word problem is the real goal. Thanks for all of your efforts and support with this.

Social Studies: 

We have continued practicing map skills this week, focusing on using latitude and longitude. After some practice, students found their "home" on a map and recorded the coordinates.

Friday, August 30th will be a busy day!!!

ALTERNATE DRESS DAY: Friday, August 30 to support Water for South Sudan. To participate, students in Grades 2 - 5 involved in the Swim Carnival should wear their team colors and bring a least 5 RM. Students in grades KPA to Grade 1 should wear blue and bring at least 5 RM. It would be great if individual donations could exceed 5 RM (approximately $1.50 USD) to support this worthy cause. Salva Dut, the organizer of this campaign, will be visiting our campus for the first ever Kuala Lumpur Global Issues Conference to be held at M’KIS in October.  
 ***For more information on the organization and what it does, please take a moment to view the following videos:
Water for South Sudan video
Water Changes Everything video

SWIM CARNIVAL: August 30^th, 12:45pm – 2:45pm Grades 4 and 5.

Gear required: bathers/costume, hat, water bottle, flip flops, SUNSCREEN, towel.

We are the brilliant BLUE team, so please bring some BLUE clothes to school to show your support!! It should be a great day of swimming and cheering!

U11 BASKETBALL TRYOUTS (GRADE 4/5): Friday, Aug. 30th, will be the first day of U11 basketball tryouts for both boys and girls. The session will last from 3:20 to 4:30. The boys’ coach this year is Mr. Santiago Barranco and the girls’ coach is Ms. Lindsay Mountain, both faculty at MKIS. Practices are every Tuesday and Friday from August 30th until November 15th. Our final tournament is on November 16th. Please be sure that you can commit to the team for the entire season.*** REMINDER: If you are coming to try-outs, please bring running shoes or basketball sneakers and a change of clothes (or your PE shirt).