What an amazing week for the 5E Eagles! I was very proud of the Eagles all week long, and went home happy each and every day, because I witnessed some serious effort and hard work throughout the school week.

One major highlight was on Friday afternoon we helped lead the Grade 1 Team Building day by working hard as team leaders and activity leaders. Everyone showed their best qualities and really impressed me (and my mom). What a great way to end an awesome week

I would like to thank all the people who donated school packs for the relief effort in the Philippines.

Next Week at a Glance

- Thursday, November 26th Dress Down Day + 3-way conferences 3:00 – 5:00

- Friday, November 27th 3-way conferences – NO CLASSES ALL DAY

Enjoy the weekend

Ms. Cahusac

Tags: dates, Reminders, Weekly Update

Attached here you will find the Parent User Guide Nov2009 on how to access the Online Scheduling System for 3-way Learning Reviews on November 26 and 27. As you are required to schedule your child’s Learning Review online, please review the attachment as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please contact Jean Lo at jeanlo@cdnis.edu.hk or 2240 6312. Please note that since 3-way Learning Reviews are only 15 minutes long, parents and children should arrive to the Learning Review with goals for improvement in mind. If you were not able to attend our parent training sessions on assessment and reporting, there are several parent resources on assessment and reporting available in the CDNIS Library for you to borrow. Please feel free to access these resources at your own leisure: – Powerpoint presentation from the Assessment and Reporting workshop – DVDs of the Assessment and Reporting workshop – excerpts from the Lower School Assessment and Reporting policy – copies of all communications with parents that have been sent home to date regarding assessment and reporting Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Tags: Assessment, learning review, Reporting, update

Dear Parents,

Today, Prep to Grade 6 students will have brought home their portfolios, including Learning Updates, for the first time. The portfolio is a collection of student work that your child will share with you and is intended to be descriptive of your child’s learning journey.

We request that you seek to gain a better understanding of your child’s learning style, areas of strength and areas for growth as you review the portfolio and talk with your child. However, before you engage in a discussion with your child about the portfolio and Learning Update, we suggest the following:

- Please read the introductory letter at the front of the portfolio and view the guiding questions, which you can use during your discussion
- Take some mental/actual notes of your child’s responses. His/her answers will be good indicators of areas in which s/he needs to improve.
- Aim to develop a list of possible goals for your child as an outcome of your discussion. These will be further discussed at the upcoming Learning Review.
- View the informative podcast created by teachers, which is found on the CISPA website at http://www.cispa.hk/projects/ltt_assessment.html

Learning Reviews will be held on the afternoon of Thursday, November 26 and during the day on Friday, November 27. Scheduling information will be sent next week.
Enjoy this learning dialogue with your child as it has the potential to be a very powerful experience for all.

Yours truly,
Dean Croy
Principal (Acting), Lower School

Tags: Assessment, learning review, learning update, Reporting

The teachers and staff of CDNIS are excited about the new developments and focus of the assessment & reporting policies in Lower School. Through these transitions, it is important to us that we are not only supporting the students and teachers, but also supporting parents and families. The Lower School Assessment & Reporting Committee has produced a quick “Parent’s Guide to the Learning Review Process” which includes some helpful hints and information about what to expect over the next few weeks. Please take a moment to watch it.

Tags: Assessment, learning updates, Reporting

What a wild and wonderful week we’ve had on the 8th floor! We spend the better part of the week using our knowledge and experience form our field trip to the Hong Kong Science Museum building exhibits about changes in the states of matter. These Exhibits were then put on display today to the rest of the grade five student body in our classroom Museums of Change. Ask your child about their project, how in connects to the unit of inquiry and in what ways they understand the central idea of the unit of inquiry.

Updates

Rememberance Day Celebrations – Poppies for Lower School Students in Preparatory-Grade 6 on November 11
Your child will have the opportunity to wear a poppy at the November 11 Remembrance Day Assembly by providing a $2 donation to a veteran’s association. Funds will be collected and poppies distributed to your child prior to the assembly. Please remember to send the coin with your child next Wednesday. Children love the opportunity to participate on this special day by giving to a special cause and wearing a poppy.

If you are able, please join us for your child’s Remembrance Day Assembly in the LLAC on Wednesday, November 11:
Prep-Grade 2 9:40-10:20
Grades 3-6 12:30-1:10

PCF Dumpsite and Cemetery School, Tondo, Manila, Philippines – CDNIS Fundraiser flyer

This is a reminder for all G5-6 students that swimming will begin next week (Nov. 10 and continue to Dec.11). Both PE periods a week will be devoted to swimming. Students must come prepared with proper swim attire (suits, goggles and towel). Uniform attendance will be taken as usual.

Thanks
Marc Steiner

Tags: rememberance day, riminders, swimming, Updates, Weekly Update

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Immunisation forms MUST BE returned by tomorrow, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6th. The immunisation team is coming to the School tomorrow (Friday) afternoon to check the records prior to coming in on November 13th to administer the injections. Therefore we need all forms in by tomorrow morning.

If you are consenting to the immunisation, please send in your child’s original immunisation record. If your child is not getting the immunisation, there is no need to send in the record. Also, please let me know if you are available to help out on the morning of the immunisations. Please email me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Karla Handcock
School Nurse
Canadian International School
karlahandcock@cdnis.edu.hk
direct line: 2240-6329

Tags: immunizations, nurse

I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing holiday with lots of time for fun too! Halloween was a very fun day for us just before leaving on our holidays, congratulations to all the participants who made it fun by dressing up and showing school spirit. It’s great to be back at school now, jumping feet first into our Museum Exhibit Projects. Be sure to ask your child what their exhibit will be about…

Updates

It is important that parents are aware of the Learning Language and the Achievement Descriptors rubric which teachers will be using for the upcoming learning review and portfolio review.

The Achievement Descriptors clearly explain the criteria your child’s progress is being measured against. Our ongoing developments in assessment and reporting clearly outline that knowledge, skills and understandings are all key components to your child’s learning.

As Susie Heinrich-Jabal clearly stated at our parent session, we want students to be approaching expectations when we begin a unit because we want them to have something to learn; this is expected. Furthermore, meeting expectations is a high level of competency and it is our goal to have students meeting grade level expectations. Students who demonstrate knowledge, skills, and understandings in a specific area of strength beyond grade level expectations are exceeding expectations.

Our new Learning Update (Nov) and Progress Reports (Feb and June) will report on a variety of knowledge, skills and understandings using the attached descriptors.
- LINDA PARNSALU

Lower School Vice Principal (Acting)
Email: lindaparnsalu@cdnis.edu.hk

Reminders

- Season 2 sports try outs begin this week. Please check the t-wolves website for further details.

- The CISPA Family Fun Fair is this Sunday, November 8th starting at 11am

Tags: Reminders, update, Weekly Update

Congratulations to the Blog Stars of the Week who demonstrated excellence in their recent posts about How We Use Digital Technology to Express Ourselves and about Climate Change for the Blog Action Day ‘09. There have been many improvements lately and your blog skills are really shinning though. Congratulations and keep up the awesome work. Also, remember to share your skills with others and continue to teach your classmates how to be Better Bloggers

Tags: Blog Stars, congratulations

This was another busy week on the 8th floor! Eagles jumped right into our new unit of inquiry with discussions, science experiments, procedural writing and research about museum exhibits for our summative task.

Next Week at a Glance

- Monday, October 19th is an early dismissal day. Students will be dismissed at 11:00am

- Tuesday, October 20th 5E class photos will be taken at 11:00am

- Wednesday, October 21st is our field trip to the Hong Kong museum of Science

- Friday, October 23rd is our CDNIS Halloween Celebration

Enjoy the weekend

Ms. Cahusac

Tags: class photo, early dismissal, Field Trip, halloween, museum, Weekly Update

Hi everyone,

Here is a link to Mr. Shaw’s website. Please bookmark it for your future reference. You will notice that it is also now listed under Grade 5 Classes at CDNIS on the far right side bar (half way down) →

Mr. Shaw has placed resources and music that the students can practice with for
the Winter Performance in various sections. As well, he will be updating it regularly
with photos, videos and helpful music resources.

Thanks for your support.

Tags: Mr. Shaw, music, website

Consultant Susie Heinrich-Jabal, recently led two very successful parent workshops to encourage a deeper understanding of Lower School assessment and reporting practices. Attached is her PowerPoint and Achievement Descriptors, which you may find useful in answering some of your questions regarding our assessment and reporting procedures and the reasoning to support implementation at the elementary level.

Parent Session Slideshow

Achievement Descriptors Rubric

Tags: Assessment, attachments, parent session, Reporting

In 5E we are studying surveys right now and I’ve made up my own online survey to find out what our class really thinks about digital technology. A few questions about blogging caught my attention and I thought I’d share them with you. Here’s what I’ve learned:

Interesting to note that blogging doesn’t seem to have any connection at all to practicing writing skills. It seems to be all working according to my master plan….. mmmwwwawww hahahaha!

- Eagle Eye

Tags: math, Student Bloggers, surveys

The week that felt like a month! I heard more than a few times this week…..

Monday I had to go to an appointment for the afternoon and I left the Eagle Nest in the hands of a supply teacher for the second time this year. I am thrilled to report that the feedback was all positive! The teacher even left a note for me stating that the class was excellent. Well done Eagles!

Tuesday we played our first soccer intramurals match at lunch recess and won! I appointed Eagle 15 as our captain for the week and he did a fantastic job, being very fair and considerate of all Eagles who wanted to play. And there were a lot of us. I cheered from the sidelines with other Eagles and 9 players brought us to a victory.

Wednesday was a hard day, and at the same time, a glorious celebration of Mr. CDNIS and our beautiful school community.

Thursday some Grade 5 students began the day with Painting a Glove for Habitat for Humanity. Thanks for participating in a good cause! In class, we began our new Unit of Inquiry. One of our first activities was to practice good procedural writing. Be sure to check out the silliness which ensued with our Peanut Butter Sandwich activity in the post below this one. Also, please see the UOI page tab above for an overview of the Unit, including the enduring understandings and ideas of ways that the unit can be reinforced at home. This unit will be short but very sweet – with many opportunities for hands-on activities, experiments, creations and all-around-fun science learning.

Friday we continued working on our survey graphs and watched Bill Nye introduce us to the world of matter. We won our third intramural soccer match, thanks to excellent team work and cooperation. I am so proud of how we came together as a class and supported each other, even if we were just watching from the sidelines. In the evening we enjoyed some fine Grade 5 art (and free cookies, juice and sandwiches) in the LLAC loby with parents and loved ones. It was a great chance to meet new family members, talk, mingle and simply enjoy our Grade 5 community together. What a nice way to wrap up a difficult week.

Reminders:

Monday, October 12th is the second (and last) parent information session about new developments in our Reporting & Assessment procedures. Sixth floor cafeteria 8:00-9:30 * I am on the Reporting & Assessment committee this year and, specifically, I will be working on supporting parents through all the changes and developments this year. Please feel free to contact me with your questions and concerns regarding this.

Updates:

I have recently created an Eagle Nest Flickr account to showcase our class photos. We have been taking great photos in class and on field trips, and we all know how much I LOVE taking photos, so we need a place to show people. This blog has turned out to be fairly incompatible with photo album sharing, so I’ve made online albums with Flickr. You can check them out by clicking here !

- Eagle Eye

Tags: class activities, intramurals, reminder, UOI, update, Weekly Update

Today in class we had quite a few laughs as we made peanut butter sandwiches. Why so funny? you may ask. Well first I asked the students to write down instructions to making a peanut butter sandwich – easy enough, right? Then I asked for a few student volunteers who identified themselves as not easily embarrassed. As I read their instructions out loud (I followed them word for word in attempt to make myself something edible) I enacted what was instructed. Guess what? It took 3 tries before I created something that could actually be eaten.

At one point, following the directions written I was actually rubbing the entire loaf of wrapped bread and the closed jar of peanut butter together. In another moment I was attempting to spread the lid of the peanut butter onto a slice of bread with a knife! Needless to say there was a lot of giggles and even some outrageous laughter (I think Eagle 15 & 16 are actually crying in the photos!).

Next, the students tried to follow each other’s instructions and created even more laughter. Luckily for everyone, in the end we all enjoyed a peanut butter sandwich just in time for recess.

Eagle 11 & Eagle 2

Tags: instructions, laughter, peanut butter sandwiches

Dear CDNIS Community,

The past few days have been very difficult for the CDNIS community. Staff, teachers, students, and parents have been moving through the grieving process while trying to continue as Alan would have wished.

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, October 7 at 3:00pm. Our intention is to gather as a community to celebrate Alan’s life and to provide an opportunity for his many friends to come together to express their love and respect for Alan. The service will reflect Alan – full of spirit, colour and, of course, music. As this is a celebration of Alan’s life, we ask that parents and friends wear pink, his favourite colour.

To allow students to attend the service with their parents, school will be dismissed at 11:00am on Wednesday, October 7.

We would like to ask for your kind cooperation to refrain from taking video or pictures during the memorial service. A professional photographer and a videographer have been hired to record the service. A DVD will be made available at a later date.

Memorial Service
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Time: 3:00 pm
Venue: AsiaWorld-Summit, Hall 2, AsiaWorld-Expo
Ground Floor, Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau, Hong Kong
Dress Code: Please wear something pink, Alan’s favourite colour. For CDNIS students, please wear school uniform.

Airport Express: Those who are attending the memorial service are entitled to buy round-trip Airport Express tickets between Hong Kong Station and AsiaWorld-Expo Station at just HK$48 with an Octopus Card. Ticket counters are located at Hong Kong Station – L2 Trains to Airport and AsiaWorld-Expo (next to the existing Airport Express Shuttle Bus Counter)

In respect for Alan’s dedication to sustainability, we would ask those not taking the Airport Express to consider car pooling.

Yours sincerely,
Dave McMaster
Head of School

Tags: Alan Dick, Dave McMaster, Memorial Service

Ms. Cahusac loves reading blogs written by students, teachers and other interesting people from around the world. Today she compiled a fun list called Our Global Community and added it to the right side bar of our blog. She also sent the following message to each blog:

Hello classroom bloggers!We are a Grade 5 class from Hong Kong and we’re called the 5E Eagles. We’ve just created a links section on our Grade 5 class blog called “Our Global Community”

We’re writing you today because we like your blog(s) and so we’ve added you to our Global Community list. We’ve either found you through Twitter, The EduBlog Challenge or because you’re already a contact of Ms. Cahusac.

Come and check us out or look at some of the other classes which are listed.

Ms. Cahusac also recommends that Eagles should check into these various class blogs to see what they’re up to. There are so many things to discover like new widgets, fun add-ons, cool school projects and ideas for exciting posts. Hopefully this will ignite a few new penpal relationships between Eagles and students all over the world while compelling us and encouraging us on our journey to becoming global citizens and learners.

Photo Credit: http://www.globaldimension.org.uk

Tags: Class Blogs, Global Citizens, Penpals, Student Bloggers

The Lower School will be holding a parent information session: Understanding Lower School Assessment and Reporting Practices. Guest assessment consultant, Susie Heinrich-Jabal, will be addressing the difference between traditional and authentic assessment, and how moving towards the latter is encouraging the development of students to immerse in their own learning as life long learners. There will be two repeated sessions: Thursday evening, October 8, 2009 from 6:30pm-8:00pm in the 6th floor cafeteria and again on Monday morning, October 12 from 8:00am-9:30am in the 6th floor cafeteria. If you are interested in attending one of the two repeated sessions, please RSVP by Monday October 5, 2009 to Lower School Coordinator,

Linda Parnsalu: lindaparnsalu@cdnis.edu.hk

Tags: Assessment, Parent Information, Reporting

As you know, students of Grade 5 participated in an exciting field trip to the central Art Jamming studio this week. The purpose of this trip was to use the cumulative classroom experiences of the current unit of inquiry to celebrate our individual expression with a masterpiece of art. This is where we rooted our inspiration and our motivation, but this only part of the picture. Our current unit also emphasizes how we express ourselves to an audience and so we had a bigger plan in mind as we prepared our masterpieces at Art Jamming. Now we are requesting your participation to help us complete the elements of this unit and thus further our learning journey together.

See the Grade 5 Portrait Exhibit invitation below for all details and necessary information.

In order to help us properly prepare and plan for this event, please RSVP to me by email at your soonest convienince.

Tags: Art, Exhibit, Field Trip, Invitation

For many of our students and their parents, Alan Dick personified the Canadian International School. As a passionate and dynamic educator, and a proud Canadian, he created an incredible legacy through his contribution to the development of our school and our community.

He did so not from behind closed doors, but with tremendous personal warmth and charisma. Each and every day, he greeted students at the entrance, addressing everyone by name. Every afternoon, he sent them home the same way.

At assemblies his Smile Factor was infectious, as Alan led the children in singing songs ranging from O Canada to the Hokey Pokey. He taught children what it is to be a global citizen, and what it was to be a Canadian.

He also taught them to love school by making it a loving place. He was a great hugger, and loved to visit the children in class, where he disrupted many a lesson. In some respects, he was the biggest of kids, with his Funny Bunny, Winnie the Pooh staff badge, silly ties, and extraordinary Hallowe’en costumes. His playful approach won the children’s hearts and so, their minds.

He himself was a dedicated life-long learner – the book “The Learning Leader” is still on his desk. He is survived by a sister, a brother and his parents.

He was an extraordinary character, larger than life and a life lived large, and he will be sorely missed as an educator and a friend.

You are loved and missed.

Forever in our hearts and dreams.

Tags: Memorial, Mr. Dick

Eagle Eye just spent a gloriously sunny Saturday afternoon with some very good reading! What could she possibly be reading that is so exciting? The 5E Eagles’ blogs – that’s what!

I know that I have said this before, but I just can’t get over how AWESOME all the blogs are. The Eagles are a fine bunch of writers and they are becoming fantastic bloggers so quickly! I am amazed and impressed with every Eagle’s work.

I decided to award Stars of the Week to Eagles who have shown commitment to their personal best, exceeded my expectations and demonstrated consistent hard work with their blogs lately. There will be MANY more opportunities to get a Blog Star in the future, so keep up the hard work everyone.

This week’s Blog Star Winners are:

Tags: Awards, Blog Stars, Student Bloggers

Today was a FUNDAY in the Eagle Nest (last Friday of the month)! Wow, September is almost over already! Next week will be a short week with the National Holiday on Thursday and a school Holiday on Friday. Wednesday, September 30th the eagles will be getting creative as a celebration of the end of our Unit of Inquiry at ART JAMMING! I can’t wait. Please see the Class Work tab above for further classroom and curriculum updates from this week.

The 5E Eagles were thrilled on Tuesday to get their sleek and snazzy new orange MacBook gem covers. Although some students were skeptical about the colour at first, it turned out that everyone was dazzled by the glowing neon effect they have once we slid them on. Eagle Eye thinks they’re looking really fantastic too!

Tags: News, Parents, Weekly Update

Teen Success with Jaime Simpson presents Connecting with My Pre-Teen on Wednesday, October 14th, 09 in the CDNIS library at 7:00 p.m. Unlock the potential in you to develop a great relationship with the teen in your life. Session is free. Please sign up with Lower School Guidance Counsellor Leslie Stitt at LeslieStitt@cdnis.edu.hk

If you enjoy the presentation and would like a further workshop, Jamie will also offer a course putting theory into practice. Offered at the CDNIS LLAC for 4 sessions, taught by Jaime from Teen Success on Wednesdays, November 4, 11, 18 and 25th from 12:00 to 2:00. A testimonal from a parent noted “the results are wonderful and the added bonus has been the positive effects the course has had on all relationships. I was a little sceptical at first…not any more.” What you get: 8 hours of practical learning, parent and coach text book, exercises and practices and e-mail support from coach. Course investment is HK $1300 per person.

LESLIE STITT

Tags: Guidance, Mrs. Stitt

Recently EduBlogs kicked off their 2009 Student Blog Challenge. Students from the Eagle Nest were encouraged to enter their own blogs in this contest if they were interested. Each week there will be new challenges for the participants to complete. So far the 5E Eagles are the only participants entered from Hong Kong. You can see the names of the students who have entered the contest on this participant list.

If you have any questions or concerns. please don’t hesitate to ask your child or myself about this activity. Happy blogging!

Tags: Class Blogs, EduBlog Challenge, Student Bloggers

Homework Club started on Sept. 1st 2009. It runs every Tuesday & Thursday after school between 3pm and 4pm. Come to Ms. Johnstone’s room 804. Bring any homework or projects that you need to work on. You can come once or twice a week or just dropin when you need some extra help.

- Mrs. Johnstone

Tags: Guidance, Learning Support, Mrs. Johnstone

It was an unusual week for 5E, with Typhoon Koppu on Tuesday and our first supply teacher in for a full day on Wednesday while Ms. Cahusac attended a Learning & Teaching Technology workshop. Much to Ms. Cahusac’s delight, the supply teacher had nothing but positive comments to make about her day in the Eagle Nest with the 5E Eagles. It definitely put us all in a good mood for the rest of the week, as we continued to build our classroom community bonds and work towards being a supportive and trustworthy group of people.

We have been working hard at getting our blogs started and we’ve invested quite a bit of hard work into making them great. Please check them out and leave comments for us if you have some. You can find the Eagle’s individual blogs on the right hand side of this webpage under Blog Roll.

Updates

1. A permission form went home today for our upcoming field trip to Art Jam. Please complete and return these by Tuesday, September 22nd.

2. Some information was also sent home regarding an upcoming Habitat for Humanity ‘decorate a glove’ fund raiser.

Tags: News, Parents, Weekly Update