UST Sports Day
Saturday, April 20
Congratulations
Electric Eels!
Golden Week Break
UST students have school on
Monday, April 29th and Tuesday, April 30th
next week.
Please note that if your child is absent on these days due to traveling, his/her absences will be marked as unexcused. Thank you!
UST's Golden Week Break is
Wednesday, May 1 - Monday, May 6.
We will return back to school on Tuesday, May 7th.
Stomach Bug Email (sent from the office):
Dear Parents,
It looks like some kind of stomach bug has been spreading at UST since yesterday. We had a couple of cases of vomiting yesterday and had more today. None of the sick children have reported any clear diagnosis, however if you have taken your child to the doctor and received any diagnosis of a viral infection, please let the Office know ASAP.
If your children are complaining of a stomach ache or nausea, please keep them home. If your children have had the case of nausea and vomiting, please do not bring them back to school until they have been well and vomit-free for more than 24 hours.
At our end we are making sure children are washing their hand more frequently. We also will be disinfecting buses, bathrooms and classroom surfaces daily until this bug is eradicated. Please make sure to take precautions at home and have the bus rider wear masks during the commute.
We wish all the sick children fast recovery.
Best regards,
UST Office
www.united-school.jp
G1-G6 UST Assembly
Thursday, April 25th
Squad of
the Month
April
Congratulations
Stingrays!
Recess
Birthday Celebration
Science Fair - Details
Friday, May 31
*Last week your child brought home a letter about our Science Fair and the experiment he/she chose for the Science Fair. Science Fair homework started this week and will take the place of weekly Word Work homework. There will be 6 tasks to complete before the Science Fair event. Each week I will send one task home for students to complete and tasks will be due the following Monday.
At this time, your child should have all assignments in RED completed:
Task 1 - Due Monday, April 22nd
Choose an experiment
Buy the materials
Task 2 - Due Monday, April 29th
What is your question?
What do you think will happen?
Why did you choose this experiment?
Task 3 - Due Tuesday, May 7th (after Golden Week)
List of materials
Procedure
Task 4 - Due Monday, May 13th
End Results
What happened?
What did you learn?
Were there any problems?
Was your hypothesis correct?
Task 5 - Due Monday, May 20th
Poster Presentation (at least 6 photos and captions)
Task 6 - Week of May 27th
Monday --> Thursday Show and Tell Presentations (practice at school)
*Science Fair is on Friday, May 31st
Reading
Nonfiction Readers Learn about the World
Our class has been reading lots and lots of nonfiction books! This week students practiced building their reading vocabulary by not only knowing HOW to read a work, but also knowing what the word MEANS. While reading, students are using their Reading strategies to read tricky words, but they may not know what a word means. We practiced using the glossary at the back of nonfiction books to help us learn the meaning of new words. Our class also learned how to use a dictionary.
Reading Phrase:
"I can read the word AND I understand what it means!"
We also reviewed connections we can make to better understand what we are reading.
Connections
text-to-self
text-to-text
text-to-world
We learned that nonfiction readers understand topics more deeply by making connections to other books they have read and the world around them.
Writing
Expository Writing *How-to paragraph
This week week students worked on publishing their how-to paragraphs. During the publishing step of the writing process, students are:
- making a neat copy of their writing
- copying their corrected sentences from their draft in paragraph form
- indenting their first sentence
- writing a title
- adding a drawing
- reflecting on their writing
Spelling
Math
Subtraction Facts to 40
This week we focused on subtraction. Students practiced counting back, subtraction without regrouping, and subtraction with regrouping.
Please take a moment to look at the subtraction strategies students are learning and help your child practice these strategies at home. Thank you!
Plants
Every morning this week students arrived to school and observed their "little lawns" in the classroom. As part of their morning work, students are drawing their observations on their Science observation calendar.
We also started growing wheat plants without soil. We used the seed-in-a-straw method and will observe how the seeds change and grow during the next few weeks. Each student has two straws and each straw has been labeled with student magic numbers.
Big Ideas:
- Wheat and other cereals that we eat come from seeds called grains.
- Seeds are alive and grow into new plants.
- Seeds need water to begin growth.
- Plants have different structures that function in growth and survival.
- Plant roots taken in water and nutrients and leaves make food from sunlight.
Science Vocabulary
wheat
grains
roots
Have a wonderful weekend!
- Ms. Allison