PE during Ramadan

 Please note the following message from the ES Admin: 

While we prefer that students who are fasting do not participate in PE, if you prefer that your child participates in PE classes while they are fasting, please send a signed note to your child’s teacher. Please ensure the note explicitly states that you are aware that your child is not eating or drinking, but that you would like to them to continue to participate in PE activities. Your child’s classroom teacher will pass the note to their PE teacher.  Thanks so much for your support. 

News to Note

• Please mark your calendars for our End-of-Year Party on Sunday, June 19, from 12:15-1:30 in our classroom. The theme will be "3LN Has Talent" and an opportunity for our cuties to showcase their unique gifts and abilities. So, start preparing, students! Singing, acting, dancing, paper plane flying, impersonations, story-telling, fashion, drawing, comedy, horse-riding, tennis? What can you do well?! 

• If you have a talent that is not easily performed in the classroom, please pre-record it and send it to me as a file or on a flash drive by June 18, so I can have it ready without any glitches. 
• Please be cognizant of the time and keep talents to less than 4-5 min. max. 
• Children may do an individual talent, as well as a partner/group one; however, please limit it to two maximum due to time constraints. 
• Also, if there are any who do not wish to participate, that's no problem. We want to make your party as fun and stress-free as possible. :) 

• Library books and textbooks: The time has come for us to return all of our beloved borrowed books back to their homes. This includes both library books and the Everyday Math Student Reference Book. Most of these SRB's have been kept in the classroom, however, please note that these books must be returned in order for students to end the year with a clear account and receive their report cards. Please send the book in with your child as soon as you are finished with it, if you happen to have yours at home. Thank you in advance!

• As we starting to have more indoor recesses these days, we are starting to enjoy a fantastic series called Wild Arabia by BBC. We started watching the first one a few weeks ago, since we studied so much about the Bedouin this year (as well as animal adaptations, climate, weather, and dependent relationships in ecosystems), and the class was mesmerized. Here are the episodes if you'd like to view them at home: 
• Episode 1: Sand, Wind, and Stars 
• Episode 2: Jewel of Arabia
• Episode 3: Shifting Sands 

Academic News: 

• Reading and Writing: We have just finished our Reading for Research and Persuasive writing. Overall, the class did a very good job and I'm pleased with the amount of time, effort, and accuracy that has been put in these two last literacy units. For the last two weeks, students will be reading fiction books, doing Reader's Theater, and preparing for debates (using their newly gained persuasive writing skills).

• Math: Unit 10 is now complete, so we will be working through our last unit, which is Unit 9, Multiplication and Division. Students will continue to have homework throughout the next two weeks, just to keep a sense of normalcy. 

• Science: Our unit on Extreme Weather has now concluded and we will move into doing some hands-on engineering activities in our remaining time.

I think that's it. Thanks so much for all of your wonderful support. With only about 2 weeks left, I'm really starting to feel sad about saying good-bye to "my" precious children! 

PS. This is a pretty funny article, which describes how a few of you may be feeling right about now. I was thinking one of us teachers should write one from our perspective. :) 

Student Council News

The year is quickly coming to an end; however, we still have two important agenda items to share with you: 

1. We will have our final dress down day on Thursday, June 23. This will be a White T-Shirt Day. This day was created to make everybody feel like a somebody by writing kind messages to each other at the end of the year. On this day, students should wear (or bring) a white t-shirt and have friends, teachers, and even our principal and assistant principal, sign their shirts. At the end of the day, you will have a reminder of the many friends you have made this year.

2. As you know, it is the holy month of Ramadan. There are many people in Dubai that cannot afford to have Iftar or Suhour. Student Council is hosting a food drive for Ramadan to collect the following food items: 

• rice
• chickpeas
• lentils
• pasta
• flour
• sugar packets
• bottles of cooking oil
• margarine
• tomato sauce
• dates

You are invited to please bring these items to your class and student council members will collect them. Thank you and Ramadan Kareem!

Thank you for your continued support, 

Dana Connors on behalf of Student Council