Good afternoon,
We hope you all enjoyed the school holiday week. It seemed evident from the smiles on their faces that the children were happy to be back in school and to see their friends and teachers once more.
Conferences: Many thanks to all families for making the time to attend a conference this week. It was wonderful to meet with you and to spend time learning more about the children from your important perspective, as well as to share our observations on their progress so far in school.
Book Fair: You will have seen the email sent home to all ABIS families about the upcoming book fair. KG1 students will visit the book fair together in small groups on Wednesday, 13th November. Today (Thursday) we sent home envelopes with each student. Your child’s envelope already has his or her name and class written on it. If you would like your child to have the opportunity to choose and purchase books at the book fair on Wednesday, please:
- put cash inside the envelope,
- seal it and
- be sure to hand the envelope to one of the class teachers on either Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
Many thanks.
Lunch: As the weather has started to cool down a little, this week we began to enjoy eating lunch outdoors. In KG1 we have a shaded space for eating by our own classroom, with small picnic-style tables.The children were excited about this move, and have been enjoying the new alfresco lunch venue as you can see in the photos below.
Literacy: As part of literacy lessons this week, we introduced the concept of informational (or nonfiction) books. During whole class read-aloud sessions we used nonfiction books to learn about owls and later, since the children remain very interested in the classic children’s story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by author Eric Carle, we also learned more about the life cycle of a caterpillar. The children learned that, unlike stories, which are make-believe, information books tell us real facts about a subject. As a focused learning-engagement, children were each invited to select a nonfiction book from a selection provided to explore together with the teacher. We were very impressed with the level of interest and the focus which the children showed. In fact, many asked to read more nonfiction texts over the week. As we shared the books, they asked questions and pointed out things that particularly interested them. If you have not already done so, you may like to consider adding nonfiction children’s books to your child’s book selection at home.
We wish you all a lovely weekend,
Kristina, Buthaina and Rahma
