Year 6 Update WK 5
Wednesday 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th September – Year 6 Swimming : Please ensure that you child has all the necessary swimming gear at school each Wednesday….goggles, $5, flip flops, towel, swimming cap, swimming costume, deodorant – all inside a suitable swimming bag!
Friday 18th September – ESF Secondary Application on Gateway closes
Monday 21st September – International Day of Peace
Monday 21st & Tuesday 22nd September – ISA testing for Year 6…please avoid keeping your child off on these days
Tuesday 22nd September – Mid-autumn Festival Market Stall at school…children can bring some money to spend
Thursday 24th & Friday 25th September – Staff Training Days : school closed
Monday 28th September – Public holiday : school closed
Wednesday 30th September – Dress casual day : please bring money to support Community Chest
Thursday 1st October – Public holiday : school closed
Friday 2nd October – ESF Staff Training Day : school closed
Tuesday 6th October & Thursday 8th October : 3-Way Conferences (students need to attend) – you will be asked to sign up via The Gateway soon.
Monday 12th & Tuesday 13th October – School photos
Tuesday 13th October – Camp information evening at 7:00pm
Friday 16th October – last day before the half term holiday week
We would still like you to bear the following in mind……Stationery – Can you please help your child collect all the stationery that they need for the year and ask them regularly when they need replenishing? It makes it very difficult for your child when they can’t lay their hands on the things they need quickly.
Healthy Snacks – Can you please try and encourage your child and your helper to pack a healthy snack for school? We would really love to see a reduction in boxes of sweets brought in for snack, bags of crisps for lunch and big packets of biscuits that are shared among groups of friends. We do need to be careful about children sharing food due to allergies and medical alerts, so the children will be asked not to share food at school.
Deodorant – as the warmer weather is still upon us can we give a gentle reminder about each child wearing and re-applying deodorant at school. The classrooms get very smelly after the children being out in the playground during breaks and PE times.
All the teachers and EAs really appreciate your help and support in these matters.
Thanks again.
SECONDARY SCHOOL APPLICATIONS FOR OUR YEAR 6 CHILDREN
When you login to Gateway select Change Request from the Admin menu followed by Transfer Application for Year 7. You will see an online form with your residential address and data for your child. If you have any changes please update the information as necessary. If your address has changed you will also need to upload your proof of address document. Please then click on the Submit Request button to confirm a Year 7 place is required.
A letter confirming the Year 7 place will be posted directly by the secondary schools on 1st December 2015.
Our second swimming lesson, led by the students’ excellent swimming instructors, has taken place at Kowloon Tsai Swimming Pool. The children are placed in differentiated groups and this really helps them hone the skills needed to become more effective swimmers. Swimming lessons will end in October and so, with the water activities during November’s Year 6 Camp in mind, we encourage you to continue going to the pool or beach in the meantime to build upon the children’s increased water confidence.
This week we have continued our practical measuring rotations. Groups of 10-15 students at a time have been working, with the support of Miss Viola and Mrs J, on some hands-on tasks to practise their measuring skills. Any support you could provide at home would really help them develop these further. Activities such as cooking, reading a thermometer, reading weighing scales or discussing the distances driven on a car ride are simple, but highly beneficial.
Big congratulations to the following students for receiving this week’s Golden Book awards :
- 6F – Karsten Ho
- 6L – Aidan Chan
- 6H – Vivian To
- SLT – Aidan Chan
On Monday the students were introduced to the International Day of Peace by Miss Dewhurst in assembly. This special day will take place next Monday (21st September). Children are asked to wear colourful clothes on this day, so no uniforms please! We really encourage our Year 6 students to consider ways to apply the resolution strategies they have been inquiring into in class to their own lives, bringing about more peace for themselves and others.
Whilst looking ahead to next week, we kindly remind you that Year 6 students will be taking their International School’s Assessments (ISAs) from Monday. Therefore, if you could avoid making non-urgent appointments and taking your child out of school next week, it would be much appreciated.
In celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, some special Moon Festival activities will be taking place across the three Mandarin classes. There will also be a Mini Market stall in the school foyer where children can experience shopping for fruit and lanterns using Mandarin. Please remind your child to bring a small amount of money to school to buy fruit and lanterns at the Mini Market stall on Tuesday, 22nd September. (Banana – $5, small lantern – $8, big lantern – $15, apple – $5 and raisins – $5)
Also, please be reminded that Thursday 24th and Friday 25th of next week will be Continual Professional Development days for teachers so Beacon Hill will be closed to students. The training continues on Saturday for teachers and we will be excited to use the skills we learn in the classrooms come Monday morning!
The following week beginning Monday 28th September, will be a short week for the Beacon Hill School community. Monday 28th and Thursday 1st October are public holidays and Friday 2nd October is an ESF CPD day, so no school for students on that day. Wednesday 30th September will be Dress Casual Day for the HK Community Chest, as well as our last swimming lesson so students should make sure that their casual clothes are easy to change into and out of. During this week, the school will also undergo some renovations and repairs and we hope the children will enjoy the improvements that are made!
Year 6 Unit of Inquiry 1
Transdisciplinary Theme : Sharing the Planet
Central Idea : People’s responses to conflict may impact the quality of human life.
Lines of Inquiry – We will inquire into…
- causes of conflict
- conflict resolution and management
- consequences of resolution
Concepts : causation, perspective, responsibility
Learner Profile : principled, open-minded, communicator
Attitudes : co-operation, tolerance, empathy
This week we have continued to gather information on current conflicts as well as planning and beginning our Summative Task, which is to produce a Playground Monitor Booklet. We have also had continued practice of conflict resolution strategies that we can use in our own lives when either experiencing conflict or when mediating conflicts as a conflict monitor. (Students have the option of working on their booklets at home too if they like!) The booklets will then be printed at school and made into a Playground Monitor Handbooks. Over the coming weeks, each child will have the opportunity to apply what they have learnt in the classroom on the playground as Playground Monitors. There will also be an opportunity for the children to take action by volunteering as long-term Playground Monitors. Watch this space for details…!
Number Maths – Place Value 
Central Idea : The base 10 place value system extends infinitely in two directions.
The children have continuing their work looking at the base 10 system, including working with decimals and negative integers.
Strand Maths – Measurement
Central Idea : Conversion of units and measurements allows us to make sense of the world we live in.
We’ve all been carrying on with our Measurement activities in our Strand classes and all the children have now enjoyed working on the practical measuring tasks as mentioned above.
Buddy spelling tests are now up and running and will be held every Friday so Spelling Journals are an absolute necessity for Fridays. However, Spelling Journals need to be back in to school everyday to enable students to work on the spelling investigations in the back of the journal.
Spelling : Spelling Journal homework – 3 practice spelling tests to be conducted under the supervision of an adult at home, daily spelling practice and any additional journal tasks set by the class teacher.
Reading : Weekly reflections to be completed once a week. Children need to ensure they are reading at home each night for at least 20 mins and to write one weekly reflection about their reading in their diaries. Parents are not required to write a comment or to sign the book. However, continued interest and involvement in your child’s reading would be appreciated and will assist in their development.
Number Maths :
Due to the upcoming ISAs, CPD days and Public Holidays, this week’s maths homework is due back on on Tuesday 6th October. However, we do expect all Mathletics activities set by your teachers to be completed within this time as well.
- Mr Hoskins – Ordering decimals “Correct order of Play” (both sides) and Mathletics.
- Miss Fearn – positive and negative review work ‘Mount Everest’ and ‘Fly Me to the Moon’….don’t forget your Mathletics!!!
- Miss Fisher – Ordering decimals on “Correct Order of Play”
- Mrs Davis – Decimal number line and Mathletics!
UOI : please continue on your ‘Collaborative Conflict Journal’ at home on Google Docs……don’t let your team down! Deadline Wednesday 30th September.
Thought of the Week : Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world. (Malala Yousafzai)
