Sunday, April 22, 2018

April 22nd, 2018

Our Week:

We had an exciting week of learning in the PreK classroom as students focused their energy on "saving the earth" and preparing for our upcoming assembly.  We also enjoyed a celebration of our school's host country, Egypt, at Thursday's Egypt Festival.

When presented with the idea of helping in our neighborhood rather than just on CAC's campus, the students were enthusiastic and eager to continue their projects.  We suggested to them that they might need more durable materials to help their work last longer.  In their groups, they worked all week to plan and create long-lasting installations to help educate the community about the hazards of littering and to protect plants.  These have been the longest small group inquiry projects we have ever sustained, as the students have been working to deepen their understanding of these topics and solve problems for over two months.




Planning posters for the neighborhood.
Discussing new building materials: plastic, wood, metal.

Building models first.


Building the new plant houses.

Here are some more photos from our week together:







Next Week:

The students are very excited for their field trip to the midan next to school on Sunday where they can finally start to help "save the earth" by teaching the community not to throw trash on the ground and by protecting plants from trash.  We will also be sharing our learning at assembly on Tuesday- please don't miss it!  

We'll continue our learning about addition and subtraction stories and we look forward to another fun project adventure session with Mr. Greene.

Reminders:

ES Dismissal - from the Office
Important message to ES parents
We had two students who left campus without parental permission with a nanny. We have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again and ask for your cooperation in following our handbook guidelines for all Elementary students PreK to Grade 5. Our handbook states, that any change in the usual pattern of dismissal for your child at the end of the school day should be verified by a note or email from the parent or guardian to the classroom teacher. We have added that we need to receive this information before 12 p.m. which will give us the time to make sure all necessary personnel is informed before 2:30 p.m. each day. We appreciate CAC’s security as they have increased vigilance in making sure our students go home safely and with the person/s permitted. Ms. Samah will continue to be at the dismissal gate from 3:00 and Ms. Nadia from 4:00 for our after school activity dismissal time.


How to give permission?
  • Write to the classroom teacher informing the dismissal plan change.
  • Name the person you are giving permission to and the date/s.
  • In the case of a change in driver or nanny, full names and photos are needed.

What will happen if no permission has been given?
If we do not have a written record of a change in dismissal, security will not let the student leave campus. The student will be sent to the office. To avoid disappointment, please make sure to arrange the change in dismissal plans ahead of time.

Our student's safety is a school/home priority and we thank you for your understanding, support and welcome your feedback.


End of year dates for students from the library
May 8-10 Used book sale
May 15 Last day for check out
May 22 Last day for classes; All books are due
May 29 Summer check out starts

Used Book Sale, May 8 to 10
We are getting ready for our annual used book sale, this year from May 8 to 10. We welcome donations of used books for all ages in saleable condition. This is a good time for departing families to dispose of books before packing. We will soon have a donation box at the front gate.

Upcoming Events:

PreK Assembly!!
Please arrive to school early on Tuesday April 24th so that your child is on stage, ready to perform by 7:50 maximum! Assembly begins at 7:55 promptly.  We can't wait to show you all of our hard work.  See you there!

We will have no school on Wednesday, April 25th in observance of the Sinai Liberation Day holiday.

There will be no school next Tuesday, May 1st, in observance of Labor Day holiday.

Parents' Corner:

Click here to read about the 5 benefits of using positive parenting with preschoolers!







Sunday, April 15, 2018

April 15th, 2018

Our Week:

Even though it has been a very short school week, a lot of learning, investigating and exploring took place!

Coming back after the spring break, we started to explore a new unit together: "The Environment: Reducing and Reusing". More specifically, we started to investigate garbage and litter by opening up our garbage museum: The children carefully chose with some tweezers the trash they would like to keep in their own ziplock bags for observations and made predictions of what will happen with it over time. We will find out if, how and when it will change during the next week.





Following up we spent some time outside on the playground and could not believe how much garbage we could find on the ground in such a short time.
We will continue to investigate this and how it is impacting our environment. How does it affect animals, like turtles and penguins in the ocean, or plants all around? The students have started making some draft designs for signs of how we can encourage people to stop littering - inside and outside of campus.










We also continued to practice for our big assembly on the 24th of April and the children translate their knowledge into some acting and dancing. We are excited to share our learning with the whole school.

Here are some more photos from our week together:





Next Week:

Next week we will continue to learn more about how we can help the environment and our community.  The children will learn about the big difference they can make here in our neighborhood!  We will take a short walk to the Midan next to school on April 22nd, with many adult chaperones from school, to bring some plant houses and some "no litter" signs that the children will work on this week.  We will spend the upcoming week preparing our materials to help our community.

The children will walk over to the midan with 8-9 adults (1 adult to 2 children ratio), to see the condition that the plants and environment is in.  After this, we hope they will be motivated to help even more and we would love to invite you to volunteer for our next field trip as we help the Race to Clean Air group plant trees and plants in the midan as part of their ongoing initiative to beautify our neighborhood.

The children will also be working on subtraction stories in small group time, as well as learning about the letter S.

Reminders:

Please be sure to bring your child's library books and bag back to school every Sunday. Students are allowed to check out two new books so long as all previous library materials are returned, and they have a bag to bring them home him. As parents, you can help by reminding your child that library comes after the weekend, and encouraging them to pack up their library bag and bring it to the door so that it's ready to go in the morning. Thank you for supporting your child's responsibility and independence.


Upcoming Events:

The Race to Clean Air is Sunday, April 22nd after school!  Come help out a good cause that the PreK class is especially close to.

Our PreK Students will be performing at assembly on April 24th.  Please don't miss it!  Assembly begins at 7:55, and we ask that the performers arrive a bit early: 7:40 or 7:45 maximum.  Thanks!

 
EGYPT FESTIVAL 2018 

Dear Parents,

Mark your calendar for our annual Egypt Festival on Thursday, April 19, 2018. Parents are invited to join us as we celebrate our host country, Egypt through music, dancing, food and grade level activities connected to the Egyptian Culture themes.

To add to the spirit of the day we invite you to wear a galabeya or perhaps clothes that reflect  Egypt. You can purchase a galabeya on the 17th from 2:00 - 5:00 and on the 18th and 19th from 7:30-5:00 p.m. Our morning assembly will open the festivities for the day in the theatre and you are welcome to join us from 7:55 AM - 8:45 AM.

Our Egyptian lunch is for all elementary students, parents, teachers and staff and will be held during lunch/recess times between 11:00 - 11:30 for PreK,  12:00 - 12:30 for Kg, Grade 1 & 2, 12:30 - 1:00 for Grade 3,4 & 5 in the ES Hall. You will sample a variety of Egyptian dishes including freshly baked baladi bread (from our very own mud brick oven).

The bread will be on sale for PreK - 12 students during their recess. A loaf costs two pounds and last year our students loved the fresh bread for morning snack.

The school will be covering the cost of the lunch and all entertainment. Students have pre paid 40 LE for their grade-level activity at the beginning of the year.

Parents are an important part of our Egypt Festival. We would love you to come and enjoy the Hassaballa morning welcome, opening ceremony, learn crafts from our vendors, the Tanoura closing ceremony, and we would appreciate your support by volunteering at either lunchtime or bread selling. Please sign up to help us if you can.
Parent helpers

We are looking forward to you joining us to celebrate our host country, Egypt and thank you for your support.

Elementary Egyptian Culture/Arabic Team


Egypt Festival Schedule  
2017 -2018
Time/Day
Activity/Grade
Where
Who
April 17
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Ghalabaya
ES Lawn
CAC Community
April 18 7:30pm-5:00pm
Ghalabaya Sale

Vendors Sales - (Ceramics - Mashrabiya - Egyptian Toys)
ES Lawn
Classes during the day -

CAC Community - after school
April 19
7:30am - 5:00pm
Ghalabaya Sale


Vendors Sales - Ceramics - Mashrabiya - Egyptian Toys
Outside ES Cafeteria

     ES Lawn
CAC Community


Classes during the day - CAC Community - after school
7:00 - 7:50
Hassabala Musicians
Gate and ES Lawn
Everyone is welcome
7:55 - 8:45
Opening Egypt Culture Assembly
Theater
All elementary students, parents, teachers and staff
8:55 - 9:30
Population in Egypt
Nubian Craft  
Cafeteria
Grade 2 students
Parents welcome
8:55 - 9:30
I Live in Egypt
Palm Tree Scene
Cafeteria
KG students
Parents welcome

10:00-10:30
Look What Comes From Egypt
Grassman
Cafeteria
Pre K students
Parents welcome
10:00- 10:35
Myths & Beliefs
Mosaic Necklace
Cafeteria
Grade 4 students
Parents welcome
11:00 - 11:35
Arabic Calligraphy
Calligraphy project
Cafeteria
Grade 3 students
Parents welcome
11:00 - 11:35
Capital Cities
Fatimid Ceramics
Back of ES Building
Grade 5 students
Parents welcome
11:00 - 11:30
PreK, Egyptian Festival Lunch
ES Hall
Pre-K, Students, parents, teachers, aides
12:00 - 12:30
Gr Kg & Gr. 1 & 2
Egyptian Festival Lunch

Gr. 3/4/5 Outside Recess
ES Hall
Kg & Gr. 1 and Gr. 2 Students, parents, teachers,


12:30 - 1:00
Gr. 3/4/5  Egyptian Festival Lunch

Kg & Gr. 1 & 2 Outside Recess
ES Hall
Gr.3, 4 & Gr. 5 Students, parents, teachers, aides
12:55 - 1:30
Famous Buildings
Clay Pyramids
Back of ES Building
Grade 1 students
Parents welcome
2:25  - 3:00
Closing Ceremony  Tanoura  
Theater
Everyone is welcome

Used Book Sale
May 8 to 10

We are getting ready for our annual used book sale, this year from May 8 to 10. We welcome donations of used books for all ages in saleable condition. This is a good time for departing families to dispose of books before packing. We will soon have a donation box at the front gate.

Talent Show Updates

Our ES Talent Show date has been moved to April 30th. We are supporting our wonderful PTO with this change of date. Thank you all for your flexibility.

Please find below important dates and information regarding this year’s ES Talent Show:


April 15th and 16th Acts will perform for the ES Talent Show team. They will come during their lunch/recess time to the Drama Room. Any Act that is not performance-ready will not participate in this year’s Talent Show.

Sunday, April 29th is the mandatory rehearsal in the CAC Theatre from 3:15 - 5:15. All students must have a way to go home; the late bus service is not available. Students will be dismissed from the CAC Theatre at 5:15.

All Choir students will attend the Choir rehearsal on Sunday, April 29th, then come directly to the CAC Theatre for the remainder of the rehearsal.

The Talent Show will be for ALL ACTS beginning at 5:30 - 7:30 on April 30th. The Show will end by 8pm. ALL ACTS must come to the Theatre at 5pm, performance ready.

ES Talent Show
April 30th, 2018

Tickets - 30LE per seat

Performances: 5:30-6:15
Intermission: 6:15-6:30
Performances: 6:30-7:15
Show ends 7:30pm.

Thank you for your continued support. Please contact Ms. Dolly for any further clarifications or questions.

ES Talent Show Team


Parents' Corner:

When is the best time to talk to your child about challenging behaviors?  And how do you approach the topic?  Click here to read an interesting article about timing and methods of teaching children social and emotional skills.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

April 10th, 2018

Our Week:

Welcome back to school after our long break!  The children were busy and working hard in the week before April Break.  Some students were very interested in the idea of building structures to protect plants.  They worked hard to create plans and even took advice from an expert builder, Mr. Miller in the middle school, when we visited his workshop.  The students drew plans and then build models of their "plant houses" in the classroom and outside.  We'd love to build real houses out of bricks outside to keep some plants safe from the wind and sandstorms.







Our other small group continued to develop their interest in living things, specifically snails.  They demonstrated understanding of "what living things need to survive" by describing what snails would need to live and then building a habitat for snails.  They carefully observed their behavior over the course of the week. At the end of the week, they decided the snails should go outside to live during our vacation because they wouldn't be able to have food and water in the classroom during vacation. 





Here are some more photos from our week together:

Project adventure in P.E.


After discovering an insect in the classroom, student planned and built a home for it in a plant.

Handwriting group this week.



A video of the whole class having fun at Project Adventure stations.

Next Week:

The students will begin learning more about our environment and the importance of taking care of it as we begin our unit "The Environment: Reducing and Reusing." We will expand on our understanding of living things as we explore concepts of recycling, reducing our impact on the earth, and reusing materials.

We will continue our exploration of number stories, by discussing addition and subtraction stories in small groups.  The students will practice the letter A using a multisensory approach appropriate to their developmental level.

Circle Solutions:

During circles, we will re-focus on our sense of community after our long break from school.

Reminders:

Please be sure to send an email to tclifford@cacegypt.org with any change in dismissal routines before the school day begins.  If there are last-minute changes (during the school day), please call the ES office so that they can give the message to the classroom teachers, who are working with the students and may not see an email message during the day.  Anyone who will be picking up your child needs to have a photo ID on file and advance authorization from a parent/primary caregiver.  Thanks for supporting all children's safety at school.

Upcoming Events:

We have our next parent community meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) April 11th, at 5:00-5:30.  Bring a snack to share, and we look forward to talking more about our ongoing curriculum in the classroom as well as any topics you may have in mind!

Egypt Festival is coming up next Thursday, April 19th!  PreK will be involved in an assembly performance in the morning, singing a song.  You are welcome to join us for the PreK Egypt Culture activity as well as the delicious lunch.

Mark your calendar for our annual Egypt Festival on Thursday, April 19. We will celebrate our host country, Egypt through music, dancing, food and grade level activities connected to themes. To add to the spirit of the day we invite you to wear a galabeya or perhaps clothes that reflect Egypt.
Come sample a variety of Egyptian dishes. Freshly baked baladi bread (from our very own mud brick oven) will be on sale for ES students during their recess and for MS & HS. Our Egyptian Food Festival is free for all elementary students, parents, teachers, and staff. Students will have an activity related to their Egyptian Culture curriculum. Looking forward to a great cultural experience.
We need your help!
Parents are an important part of our Egypt Festival. We would love your help if you're available at either lunchtime or the bread selling booth. Please sign up to help us if you can.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16_jVvBArFxK1mnxzSOEMyk7FswaG7ly-57GqcUfU98U/edit?usp=sharing

Egypt Festival Parent Letter including schedule for the day.

The Arabic and Egyptian Culture Department

Parents' Corner:

Click here to read more about the importance of validating your child's feelings.