3.  Book Month: A committee of 11 faculty has been working to put together a fun new format for Book Month around the ideas of celebrating reading and encouraging all the children to read more diverse themes. This year it will center around a game called Reado, which is a reading version of Bingo, which will be explained to the children next week. We are also organizing activities such as decorate a door, MS/HS and ES reading Buddies, Surprise DEAR for 15 minutes each day, who's behind the book quiz?, Final Assembly Book Character dress-up, and more.

4.  Photographer: We have a new photographer this year, and the individual and class photographs will be taken from Feb 6-8. After the photos, your child will be given a sample and an order form from which to choose either individual photos or a selection. Should the process be successful, we may look into family portraits at a later date. Class photo days for smart clothes are: Monday: 3C, 3D, Pre 3, KG B, 5H, Pre 4N; Tuesday: 2H, 2K, Pre 4M, KG S, 5R; Wednesday: 1B, 4H, 1T, 4P.

5.  Marcel Zaragoza: Following his performance at school in front of 150 parents and guests at the PTO event on Saturday, Marcel enthralled Pre-K through Gr 6 students in various performances on Wednesday. We loved his stories, interactive songs and magic tricks, too:

6.  Soiree Litteraire: Places at tables are selling fast, so please sign-up for our PTO evening of food, music and literature. I must confess I will probably fail to read my book, but I'll certainly enjoy the food and music from Lunch Thief under the stars. This event takes place on March 3rd; dinner at host houses 7pm to 9pm with dessert and dancing from 9pm to 11:30pm at school. This is for parents only.

7.  3C Assembly: How can we apply our CORE Values to saving the rainforest? Mrs. Clark's class explained how in their entertaining assembly Friday morning:

8.  Rugby on Fridays: Mr. Te Huki informs me that there are spots available if you have a child who would like to play some rugby on Fridays. Please come along after school from 5pm. The coaching is excellent, and the kids have a lot of fun. 

9.  Pre-K 3 Field Trip: Ms. Marje's Pre-K 3 class took a long walk up to Route de Ouakam to look at cars and trucks and things that go. We also saw an enormous digger creating a large hole and inspected the engines of a couple of cars:

10.  Grade 5 Musical: Mr. Watters is working hard with the Grade 5 students on a musical called "The Cave of Mysteries". This will be performed in the music room for parents and family on Feb 15 (5H) and Feb. 16 (5R). 

11.  World Culture Month: This will be mainly focused from April 16 - 30, and will involve activities with local artisans, musical performances, and of course the final day with fashion show and the ever-popular booths of nations. Mr. Gaucher will be asking you for your support of the booths in the near future!

12. Birthday Lunch: These were my January birthday lunchers this week:

13.  MAP Testing: The second phase of MAP testing is scheduled to run Feb. 13-24 for Grades 2-8. 

Upcoming Events: 

Regards,

Ian Clark

Ian Clark Ed.D.

Elementary School Principal

International School of Dakar