Math Investigations Important Dates

Arrays, Factors, and Multiples Sept 27th Booster Club Mtg.

Sept 30th ES Parent/Teach Conf
In our first unit of study, our class focused on the
Oct 1st ES Parent/Teach Conf
operation of multiplication. Students understand that
Oct 7th Parent Workshop
multiplication involves equal groups. They needed to
recognize arrays as a model for multiplication and be able Oct 25th October Break
to relate skip counting to creating equal groups. Students - 29th
were expected to know the multiplication combinations
with products to 50 and find the factors of numbers to
50. Students did this by: Things to Remember
1. Understanding and working with an array model Please make sure your child has a:
of multiplication • Water bottle
2.Reasoning about numbers and their factors • Hat
3. Having fluency with multiplication combinations to
• Markers
12 x 12
Vocabulary Learned:
dimensions, arrays, product, factor, multiple, prime
numbers, square numbers, composite numbers

Science
Our science program, FOSS, is a hands-on, inquiry-based
program that will fully engage students with investigation,
experimentation and exploration of electricity and
magnetism. Understanding that magnetism and electricity
are two aspects of the same force is important, but difficult
for students. In our first investigations, students worked
only with the force of magnetism. Students learned:
1. Magnetism can be induced only in iron or steel
2.Two magnets attract or repel when they interact
3.The magnetic force causes magnetic interactions
4.A force is a push or a pull
5.Magnetic force acts through space and most materials
6.Magnetic force of attraction between two magnets
decreases with distance
 Reading and Writing Workshops
Our official launch of the Readers’ and Writers’ Workshops this year has got off to a tremendous start!
The students in Ms. Hamlin’s class just don’t want to put down their books and are loving the opportunities
to write to their heart’s content. Our goal this year, for both reading and writing, is for students to
become independent learners. By learning the skills, strategies, behaviors and routines of accomplished
readers and writers, we hope that students at ISB will gain essential skills and stamina, which can be
carried on into later life.

Students have been choosing a ‘just right’ book. To grow as a reader, it is essential that children read
books at their own level. A ‘just right’ book should feel very comfortable for a reader. They should be
able to read it quickly, understand it fully and gain enjoyment from it. Please support our work in school
by asking your child which books and authors they like and how they know that a book is ‘just right’ for
them.

In Writer’s Workshop, students have been working on their first personal narrative piece. We have been
discussing Strategies for Generating Personal Narrative Writing. Students have learned how to generate
ideas by thinking of a person or place that is special to them and by thinking about something that they
are really good at and describing it in detail. Also, students have learned how to “zoom in” so you tell only
the most important parts of the story. We have taken many of our “watermelon” stories and turned them
into “seed” stories. Ask you child what we mean by this!  Students are getting ready to publish their
first personal narrative.

A Little About Me
Greetings from the Hoosier State (USA)! My name is Jamie
Hamlin and I am originally from Jasper, Indiana. I spoke to many of you
at B.T.S.N. about growing up in a small town where we used to catch
fireflies in the hot humid summer evenings.
Besides being a teacher, another professional interest of mine is
learning about other people’s cultures. My first teaching job was on the
Navajo Indian Reservation (USA). My classroom was 100% Navajo. Not
only did I enjoy teaching 5th grade for two years on the reservation, but
I had the opportunity to observe and participate in many traditional
ceremonies. After leaving the Reservation, I moved to Denver, Colorado
to teach for a couple of years in a primarily Hispanic school district.
Once again, my love of teaching and culture were intertwined. My love
of culture, children, and education took me back to Indiana to work on
my Master’s of Counseling. While finishing up my Master’s degree, I had
the opportunity to be an Associate Instructor at Indiana University for
the Cultural Immersion Projects. I taught student teachers who would
eventually end up doing their fieldwork either on the Navajo Indian
Reservation or abroad in one of the 12 countries where my university
had student-teaching programs. Once I finished up my Counseling
program, I left the United States to teach in a private school in
Guatemala City. Prior to coming to Bangkok, I was working as an
Instructional Coach on the Navajo Indian Reservation at a K-5 boarding
school.
I have appreciated all of the educational and cultural
Contact Me experiences I have had the opportunity participate in over the years. I
C jamieh@isb.ac.th know working at ISB and living in Thailand will provide the same well-
rounded experience.

Check out our class blog

http://inside.isb.ac.th/jhamlin/