Newsletter 10 May 2013
Dear Parents,
I have been putting of writing this newsletter because it is the last one of the school year! In less than three weeks your children will have graduated from K1! It is a very sentimental time for me as I have thoroughly enjoyed having all of your children in my class! Okay, onto business!
Our unit has been going really well and I don't think the children realize how much they are inquiring even though they are fully engaged in the process! All of the children have chosen one form of storytelling through which they want to tell a story which they have created. Some children are working individually, some are working collaboratively, I left this up to them. Majority of the children have chosen to explore dance as a form of storytelling, others have chosen puppets, and one group is exploring acting. So we have a class of performing artists! The children have rehearsed and performed several times thinking critically about how they could improve on their respective performances by altering body movements, facial expressions or the tone of their voice. We have yet to have our final performances! I am sure they will be great!
In Literacy, the children have been making authentic links to the unit of inquiry. They have learned how to organize a story into a beginning, middle and end by using a hamburger as a graphic organizer (you may have seen this in my most recent post). The children have demonstrated their understanding of this structure by taking it and using it even in their play time when they are role-playing together and collaborating to create imaginary stories. Key questions are asked such as "What will happen next?", "What should the problem be?" and of course, "How should we fix the problem?" Our final project together as a class will be to create a digital book together to leave behind for the new K1s coming in next year. Through the making of this book they will learn about instructional texts as this will be a book entitled "How to be a K1 Kid". They will also be able to reflect on their experiences in K1 together as a class and collaborate on something that makes them feel really grown up because they get to teach younger kids something they are already masters at!
In Math, the children have continued to reinforce number work and are now working on creating number stories through drawing. Majority of the children are able to create addition number stories and I am impressed by the creativity of some of the stories they are creating. It must be the influence of the unit going through all curriculum areas!
Again, I have loved having all of your children in my class and such wonderful families too! I will for certain be a teary-eyed, blubbering mess on the last day of school! Thank you for all the support you have given me through the entire school year. I wish everyone a wonderful journey onto K2!
Best wishes,
Miss Pana
I have been putting of writing this newsletter because it is the last one of the school year! In less than three weeks your children will have graduated from K1! It is a very sentimental time for me as I have thoroughly enjoyed having all of your children in my class! Okay, onto business!
Our unit has been going really well and I don't think the children realize how much they are inquiring even though they are fully engaged in the process! All of the children have chosen one form of storytelling through which they want to tell a story which they have created. Some children are working individually, some are working collaboratively, I left this up to them. Majority of the children have chosen to explore dance as a form of storytelling, others have chosen puppets, and one group is exploring acting. So we have a class of performing artists! The children have rehearsed and performed several times thinking critically about how they could improve on their respective performances by altering body movements, facial expressions or the tone of their voice. We have yet to have our final performances! I am sure they will be great!
In Literacy, the children have been making authentic links to the unit of inquiry. They have learned how to organize a story into a beginning, middle and end by using a hamburger as a graphic organizer (you may have seen this in my most recent post). The children have demonstrated their understanding of this structure by taking it and using it even in their play time when they are role-playing together and collaborating to create imaginary stories. Key questions are asked such as "What will happen next?", "What should the problem be?" and of course, "How should we fix the problem?" Our final project together as a class will be to create a digital book together to leave behind for the new K1s coming in next year. Through the making of this book they will learn about instructional texts as this will be a book entitled "How to be a K1 Kid". They will also be able to reflect on their experiences in K1 together as a class and collaborate on something that makes them feel really grown up because they get to teach younger kids something they are already masters at!
In Math, the children have continued to reinforce number work and are now working on creating number stories through drawing. Majority of the children are able to create addition number stories and I am impressed by the creativity of some of the stories they are creating. It must be the influence of the unit going through all curriculum areas!
Again, I have loved having all of your children in my class and such wonderful families too! I will for certain be a teary-eyed, blubbering mess on the last day of school! Thank you for all the support you have given me through the entire school year. I wish everyone a wonderful journey onto K2!
Best wishes,
Miss Pana
Newsletter 9 April 2013
Dear Parents,
Welcome back! I hope that you have all had a rest filled spring break. The children are most definitely well rested and full of energy!
Right before the holiday, our unit of inquiry on water concluded. I must say that it has been the most successful unit so far because not only were the children taking action on their learning outside of school, but they were doing it in school as well! As you may have seen on the blog, the children decided to present their learning by turning the classroom in to a science museum. Over the last few weeks of school, everyone worked together to create the different parts of this museum and our classroom has never been more colorful and interesting! We have now begun our final unit of the school year under the transdisciplinary theme How We Express Ourselves. The children have not been told the central idea yet so please do not reveal it at home!
Central Idea: People have different ways of sharing stories
Lines of Inquiry:
We will be taking a trip to the theater on the 19th to watch Goldilocks and the Three Bears as a part of this unit. The best part about this unit is that creativity really becomes free flowing and I always look forward to the very interesting characters and tales that the children come up with!
In Literacy we will have a strong link to our unit of inquiry because of the obvious connection! The children will explore traditional tales, stories from different countries and also non-fiction stories. They will learn to write their own stories from scratch with a clear beginning, middle and end. If you would like to come in to share a traditional story from your country you are welcome to! You may present it in any way (puppets, song and dance???) and I am certain the children will love it! Please let me know if you'd like to arrange to come and tell a story to the children.
Finally in Math, the children are now beginning a study on patterns. We have looked at different ways we can make patters using both objects as well as our bodies. We will be looking at dance patterns, sound patterns, patterns in our environment and so on. We are also continuing our number work solidifying numbers up to 15 and also continuing to add two groups of numbers up to 20.
Looking forward to a great last two months of the school year!
Regards,
Miss Pana
Welcome back! I hope that you have all had a rest filled spring break. The children are most definitely well rested and full of energy!
Right before the holiday, our unit of inquiry on water concluded. I must say that it has been the most successful unit so far because not only were the children taking action on their learning outside of school, but they were doing it in school as well! As you may have seen on the blog, the children decided to present their learning by turning the classroom in to a science museum. Over the last few weeks of school, everyone worked together to create the different parts of this museum and our classroom has never been more colorful and interesting! We have now begun our final unit of the school year under the transdisciplinary theme How We Express Ourselves. The children have not been told the central idea yet so please do not reveal it at home!
Central Idea: People have different ways of sharing stories
Lines of Inquiry:
- Different ways of telling stories
- How stories influence us
- The difference between real and imaginary
We will be taking a trip to the theater on the 19th to watch Goldilocks and the Three Bears as a part of this unit. The best part about this unit is that creativity really becomes free flowing and I always look forward to the very interesting characters and tales that the children come up with!
In Literacy we will have a strong link to our unit of inquiry because of the obvious connection! The children will explore traditional tales, stories from different countries and also non-fiction stories. They will learn to write their own stories from scratch with a clear beginning, middle and end. If you would like to come in to share a traditional story from your country you are welcome to! You may present it in any way (puppets, song and dance???) and I am certain the children will love it! Please let me know if you'd like to arrange to come and tell a story to the children.
Finally in Math, the children are now beginning a study on patterns. We have looked at different ways we can make patters using both objects as well as our bodies. We will be looking at dance patterns, sound patterns, patterns in our environment and so on. We are also continuing our number work solidifying numbers up to 15 and also continuing to add two groups of numbers up to 20.
Looking forward to a great last two months of the school year!
Regards,
Miss Pana
Newsletter 8 March 2013
Dear Parents,
Our unit has developed so much over the past month and the children have really taken a lot of initiative to guide the inquiry on their own. We experimented with ways to clean/filter water and discovered that the best material to use was a coffee filter. It really caught all that dirt and let the water pass through! Currently the children are tackling the question: "How do plants grow with water?" Many of us believed that plants needed lots of water in order to grow, however, after our initial try, no one's seeds grew, they all just got very mushy and smelly! So we have all replanted and changed the conditions that the seeds are in. Hopefully it will work this time! We have also started sorting out the information we have learned through the unit and are currently looking at ways that we can present our learning.
In Literacy, the children have just finished writing information books. We looked at an example of a simple information book and learned many strategies the author used that we tried out. Here are some of the strategies we learned:
Finally, in Math, the children have continued working on various ways to combine two groups of objects using a variety of materials. We have also started learning about estimation and will discuss further what clues we can look for to help us make a closer estimate. The children have been working on the concept of "one more than" or "the number after" with numbers up to 20 now and as seen on the blog, the dice are one way in which we are practicing this skill. To support this concept, some children are enjoying looking for the number that comes before, or one less, as well.
Just a little over a week until Spring Break, time really does fly when you are having fun!
Best,
Miss Pana
Our unit has developed so much over the past month and the children have really taken a lot of initiative to guide the inquiry on their own. We experimented with ways to clean/filter water and discovered that the best material to use was a coffee filter. It really caught all that dirt and let the water pass through! Currently the children are tackling the question: "How do plants grow with water?" Many of us believed that plants needed lots of water in order to grow, however, after our initial try, no one's seeds grew, they all just got very mushy and smelly! So we have all replanted and changed the conditions that the seeds are in. Hopefully it will work this time! We have also started sorting out the information we have learned through the unit and are currently looking at ways that we can present our learning.
In Literacy, the children have just finished writing information books. We looked at an example of a simple information book and learned many strategies the author used that we tried out. Here are some of the strategies we learned:
- Tell the reader just one idea on each page
- Think of a second example for the same idea
- Ask a question and then give the answer
Finally, in Math, the children have continued working on various ways to combine two groups of objects using a variety of materials. We have also started learning about estimation and will discuss further what clues we can look for to help us make a closer estimate. The children have been working on the concept of "one more than" or "the number after" with numbers up to 20 now and as seen on the blog, the dice are one way in which we are practicing this skill. To support this concept, some children are enjoying looking for the number that comes before, or one less, as well.
Just a little over a week until Spring Break, time really does fly when you are having fun!
Best,
Miss Pana
Newsletter 7 February 2013
Dear Parents,
We are now back to the full swing of things and our inquiry is really beginning to take shape. We recently took a trip to Marina Barrage and one of the most important things we learned was that one of the ways Singapore gets water is from the rain! We took a look at some rain water and saw how dirty it was. We also read a book called "The Drop Goes Plop" and learned a bit more about the water cycle. The children are beginning to make connections however, this has led to further questions such as:
"How do we clean the rain water before it comes to our house?"
"How does the sun bring the water up into the clouds?"
"What makes the water fall back down again as rain?"
We have chosen to do some experiments to try and understand some of these things. Our first ones involves crossing our fingers for a sunny day and then observing a cup of water through the day.
In Literacy we have been reviewing a lot of what we have been learning in K1 because it is Book Week! We are all looking forward to sharing the things we have learned and know how to do with our parents on Literacy Night (February 7th, Thursday from 6-7:30pm). One of the skills that the children have been working on is using their senses to help make their writing more interesting. Whenever the children do their weekend reflections, they now must choose one of the five senses to add more detail to their work. This is also an exercise in the Trait of Word Choice. For instance, instead of simply saying "I went to a restaurant." he or she may say "I went to a restaurant and I ate yummy chicken!" The children are also using more of their phonetic knowledge to sound out their writing.
In Math, we have continued working on numbers up to 20 and trying to understand the concept of having one group of ten that symbolizes the digit 1 in front of these numbers. We have continued to work with the children on correct number formation and we are now beginning to work on basic addition by asking the children to combine two groups of objects and count how many there are 'all together'. We have even started exploring the symbols = and +. Our explorations with shape continue and we are soon going to be discussing the difference between 2D and 3D objects as well as learning the difference between a 'side' and a 'face'.
I look forward to seeing you all during Literacy Night and I can't wait to find out what storybook characters your children come dressed as on Friday!
Regards,
Miss Pana
We are now back to the full swing of things and our inquiry is really beginning to take shape. We recently took a trip to Marina Barrage and one of the most important things we learned was that one of the ways Singapore gets water is from the rain! We took a look at some rain water and saw how dirty it was. We also read a book called "The Drop Goes Plop" and learned a bit more about the water cycle. The children are beginning to make connections however, this has led to further questions such as:
"How do we clean the rain water before it comes to our house?"
"How does the sun bring the water up into the clouds?"
"What makes the water fall back down again as rain?"
We have chosen to do some experiments to try and understand some of these things. Our first ones involves crossing our fingers for a sunny day and then observing a cup of water through the day.
In Literacy we have been reviewing a lot of what we have been learning in K1 because it is Book Week! We are all looking forward to sharing the things we have learned and know how to do with our parents on Literacy Night (February 7th, Thursday from 6-7:30pm). One of the skills that the children have been working on is using their senses to help make their writing more interesting. Whenever the children do their weekend reflections, they now must choose one of the five senses to add more detail to their work. This is also an exercise in the Trait of Word Choice. For instance, instead of simply saying "I went to a restaurant." he or she may say "I went to a restaurant and I ate yummy chicken!" The children are also using more of their phonetic knowledge to sound out their writing.
In Math, we have continued working on numbers up to 20 and trying to understand the concept of having one group of ten that symbolizes the digit 1 in front of these numbers. We have continued to work with the children on correct number formation and we are now beginning to work on basic addition by asking the children to combine two groups of objects and count how many there are 'all together'. We have even started exploring the symbols = and +. Our explorations with shape continue and we are soon going to be discussing the difference between 2D and 3D objects as well as learning the difference between a 'side' and a 'face'.
I look forward to seeing you all during Literacy Night and I can't wait to find out what storybook characters your children come dressed as on Friday!
Regards,
Miss Pana
Newsletter 6 January 2013
Dear Parents,
Happy New Year! We have started the first two days of school with a lot of energy and already so much learning is happening! We welcome our new classmates Clara and Jacob who have very happily settled into K1PA.
As we start the new semester, we are also beginning a new Unit of Inquiry that focuses on the Transdisciplinary Theme: Sharing the Planet.
Central Idea: Water is important to all living things.
Lines of Inquiry:
In Math we continue the study of numbers and will begin to do more with 'teen' numbers. We have also started exploring shapes by playing with blocks and line painting. The children will focus on using language to describe attributes of 2D shapes first and then move on to the similarities and differences between 2D and 3D shapes. To start off our shape exploration we are looking at different types of lines as 2D shapes are made up of lines. This work is to get the children building vocabulary such as 'straight', 'curvy', 'bumpy', 'pointy', 'wavy', 'wiggly', 'sharp' etc. All these words can potentially be used in their description of shape attributes. As seen on the blog, the children have also started playing the game 'Guess My Rule'. Watch the video to get a better picture of what the children are doing and learning in this game.
Finally, in Literacy, the children have started work on the letter 'h' and have come up with may words that begin with this sound! We are also beginning to think about a new Trait of Writing, namely, Word Choice. To start this off, the children have been working on this objective: "Readers can read like storytellers." To be a storyteller, the children are learning that we have to do more than just label and name things that they see in the pictures but they need to add words to make the story more interesting to listen to. Together we read the book "Hungry Monster" but all the words were covered up so that we would use our own words. Using the pictures we told the story together and changed simple sentences like "The monster ate the letter box" to "The monster ate the letter box with his very, very, VERY big mouth in one gulp!" (This sentence was actually created by one of the students for one of the pages in this book). We are also learning to try out words for the 'right fit'. When we were reading the book, the children started to come up with lots of different possible words to describe the monster, we decided it was best to say the sentence out loud and try it out with each word to see which we thought sounded best. For instance, we tried out the words 'big', 'fat' and 'giant' in this sentence, "The monster got really __________." By saying it out loud the children learned they could hear the sentence and choose which they liked best.
Again welcome back and let's get started with the fun!
Regards,
Miss Pana
Happy New Year! We have started the first two days of school with a lot of energy and already so much learning is happening! We welcome our new classmates Clara and Jacob who have very happily settled into K1PA.
As we start the new semester, we are also beginning a new Unit of Inquiry that focuses on the Transdisciplinary Theme: Sharing the Planet.
Central Idea: Water is important to all living things.
Lines of Inquiry:
- Properties of water
- How living things use water
- Importance of water to us
In Math we continue the study of numbers and will begin to do more with 'teen' numbers. We have also started exploring shapes by playing with blocks and line painting. The children will focus on using language to describe attributes of 2D shapes first and then move on to the similarities and differences between 2D and 3D shapes. To start off our shape exploration we are looking at different types of lines as 2D shapes are made up of lines. This work is to get the children building vocabulary such as 'straight', 'curvy', 'bumpy', 'pointy', 'wavy', 'wiggly', 'sharp' etc. All these words can potentially be used in their description of shape attributes. As seen on the blog, the children have also started playing the game 'Guess My Rule'. Watch the video to get a better picture of what the children are doing and learning in this game.
Finally, in Literacy, the children have started work on the letter 'h' and have come up with may words that begin with this sound! We are also beginning to think about a new Trait of Writing, namely, Word Choice. To start this off, the children have been working on this objective: "Readers can read like storytellers." To be a storyteller, the children are learning that we have to do more than just label and name things that they see in the pictures but they need to add words to make the story more interesting to listen to. Together we read the book "Hungry Monster" but all the words were covered up so that we would use our own words. Using the pictures we told the story together and changed simple sentences like "The monster ate the letter box" to "The monster ate the letter box with his very, very, VERY big mouth in one gulp!" (This sentence was actually created by one of the students for one of the pages in this book). We are also learning to try out words for the 'right fit'. When we were reading the book, the children started to come up with lots of different possible words to describe the monster, we decided it was best to say the sentence out loud and try it out with each word to see which we thought sounded best. For instance, we tried out the words 'big', 'fat' and 'giant' in this sentence, "The monster got really __________." By saying it out loud the children learned they could hear the sentence and choose which they liked best.
Again welcome back and let's get started with the fun!
Regards,
Miss Pana
Newsletter 5 December 2012
Dear Parents,
Congratulations to a very successful first semester! The children have really grown and blossomed but most importantly we've all had a lot of fun together!
Before continuing with how we've wrapped up the semester, I would like to give a huge thanks to the parents of this class for all the support you have given me over the first semester! We have had a wonderful end of year party and December Concert, all of which would not be possible without you all. So thank you all!
Our Unit of Inquiry has wrapped up and we have learned quite a bit about movement and how various animals and objects move. During this Unit the children especially learned about the different ways they could take charge of their own inquiries and were able to take initiative when thinking about how we could 'find out' information to answer our questions. For instance, many of the children now ask me to look on the computer to find out an answer to a question they may be pondering about. Over the next two Units we really hope to get the children even more active in their own learning and really take control of the direction our Units may go.
In Literacy the children have reviewed some of their reading strategies such as using connecting words to connect the pages and pretending to be a character in the book. The children have also started recognizing high frequency words that we have learned together in class such as, 'I' and 'to'. They have also learned how to recount a story by using the same connecting words we use in reading workshop: 'first', 'next', 'then', 'after', 'finally', 'last'. Some of the children came up with their own like 'in the beginning' or 'suddenly'.
In Math we have reviewed the different types of data handling that we have learned about and the children most especially enjoyed sorting things into venn diagrams. The children have solidified number concepts by playing games such as what number is missing in a number line, ordering themselves (with number cards) from smallest to biggest or biggest to smallest, and 'The boat is sinking!' We have begun learning how to combine two groups to find out how many there are 'all together' by playing games such as Finger Battle! How this game works is the children are paired up and they each can show one hand with as many fingers as they choose. The first child to shout out how many fingers there are all together gets the point.
Have a wonderful holiday everyone and I will see you back in the new year!
Miss Pana
Congratulations to a very successful first semester! The children have really grown and blossomed but most importantly we've all had a lot of fun together!
Before continuing with how we've wrapped up the semester, I would like to give a huge thanks to the parents of this class for all the support you have given me over the first semester! We have had a wonderful end of year party and December Concert, all of which would not be possible without you all. So thank you all!
Our Unit of Inquiry has wrapped up and we have learned quite a bit about movement and how various animals and objects move. During this Unit the children especially learned about the different ways they could take charge of their own inquiries and were able to take initiative when thinking about how we could 'find out' information to answer our questions. For instance, many of the children now ask me to look on the computer to find out an answer to a question they may be pondering about. Over the next two Units we really hope to get the children even more active in their own learning and really take control of the direction our Units may go.
In Literacy the children have reviewed some of their reading strategies such as using connecting words to connect the pages and pretending to be a character in the book. The children have also started recognizing high frequency words that we have learned together in class such as, 'I' and 'to'. They have also learned how to recount a story by using the same connecting words we use in reading workshop: 'first', 'next', 'then', 'after', 'finally', 'last'. Some of the children came up with their own like 'in the beginning' or 'suddenly'.
In Math we have reviewed the different types of data handling that we have learned about and the children most especially enjoyed sorting things into venn diagrams. The children have solidified number concepts by playing games such as what number is missing in a number line, ordering themselves (with number cards) from smallest to biggest or biggest to smallest, and 'The boat is sinking!' We have begun learning how to combine two groups to find out how many there are 'all together' by playing games such as Finger Battle! How this game works is the children are paired up and they each can show one hand with as many fingers as they choose. The first child to shout out how many fingers there are all together gets the point.
Have a wonderful holiday everyone and I will see you back in the new year!
Miss Pana
Newsletter 4 November 2012
Dear Parents,
The children have been working very hard and have made some great connections in the various areas of their learning!
Our Unit has been making good progress and the children have talked about many different types of movement. They have noticed movement in themselves, animals, vehicles and even trees! We have looked more carefully at the reasons why we need different types of movement and the children have learned that each part of our body that moves has a function or even several functions! The children also talked about how movement helps us move from one point to the next. Our class has been studying many different types of animal movements alongside our own and we have compared how we move to other animals such as crocodiles and snails.
In Math we have been working on solidifying number formation up to ten. The children have gotten very good at identifying numbers, counting and looking at numbers that come before and after. Now we just need to work on writing them! They have continued to learn about different forms of data handling and over the next few weeks we will look at how to use venn diagrams.
For Literacy we have continued learning various letters, this week we are focusing on the letter 'c'. If you haven't noticed I have stopped emailing about what the letter of the week is to all of you! I have done so purposely because I am seeing that the children are taking action on their own learning and as long as I tell them what the letter of the week is, they are independently going home and finding objects that begin with the letter. I am very proud to see them all taking this sort of initiative! The children have also started using the letter sounds that they know to write their weekend reflections.
It has been a great second half of the semester, just a little more now till the Christmas holidays!
Miss Pana
The children have been working very hard and have made some great connections in the various areas of their learning!
Our Unit has been making good progress and the children have talked about many different types of movement. They have noticed movement in themselves, animals, vehicles and even trees! We have looked more carefully at the reasons why we need different types of movement and the children have learned that each part of our body that moves has a function or even several functions! The children also talked about how movement helps us move from one point to the next. Our class has been studying many different types of animal movements alongside our own and we have compared how we move to other animals such as crocodiles and snails.
In Math we have been working on solidifying number formation up to ten. The children have gotten very good at identifying numbers, counting and looking at numbers that come before and after. Now we just need to work on writing them! They have continued to learn about different forms of data handling and over the next few weeks we will look at how to use venn diagrams.
For Literacy we have continued learning various letters, this week we are focusing on the letter 'c'. If you haven't noticed I have stopped emailing about what the letter of the week is to all of you! I have done so purposely because I am seeing that the children are taking action on their own learning and as long as I tell them what the letter of the week is, they are independently going home and finding objects that begin with the letter. I am very proud to see them all taking this sort of initiative! The children have also started using the letter sounds that they know to write their weekend reflections.
It has been a great second half of the semester, just a little more now till the Christmas holidays!
Miss Pana
Newsletter 3 October 2012
Dear Parents,
Welcome back! We hope you all had a wonderful mid-semester break! The children have come back well rested and ready for some more learning!
Our first Unit on Who We Are has now come to an end. The children all successfully conducted interviews with people they were wondering about in school and have recorded their learning. This past week we have begun tuning into our next unit on How the World Works.
Our Central Idea is:
Energy creates movement
and our Lines of Inquiry are:
• How people and things move.
• Why we need different forms of movement
• Parts of people and things that help them to move
To introduce our Unit, we played a game called "Guess My Rule" where the children had to guess what they thought the new Unit might be about. Anything guesses related to our unit got drawn into a circle on the board and anything not connected to the Unit was placed outside of the circle. After we collected enough 'clues' we tried to make a connection to everything inside the circle. The children realized that everything in the circle could move! We then took a walk to Orchard Boulevard to observe as many things as we could that move. From this we will begin to sort these moving things and see where the children's interests lie and what they are wondering about. If you happen to know someone or have resources that may be useful in our Unit do let me know. For example, I have a friend who is a marine biologist. If the children begin to wonder about sea animals we can ask him to come in as our 'expert' and interview him. Many people could be useful during this unit depending on where the children take it!
In Math, as always, we have continued to focus on numbers up to 10 in a variety of ways. We are beginning to focus on identifying numbers that are bigger than and smaller than a number. We will also learn about numbers that come before and after a number. The children are starting to explore various forms of data handling such as pictographs and tallies. We are connecting this to our Literacy and Unit of Inquiry.
Finally, in Literacy, the children have really been enjoying each letter of the week. They have been much more independent in identifying words beginning with these sounds as well as finding the letters in text. This week and next we are working on the letter 't' and following that will be the letter 'g'. We are moving onto the Trait of 'Organization' in our writing. The children will learn to summarize a story into beginning, middle and end. They are also going to focus on writing reflections, mostly on their weekends.
We are looking forward to an exciting second half of the semester!
Miss Pana
Welcome back! We hope you all had a wonderful mid-semester break! The children have come back well rested and ready for some more learning!
Our first Unit on Who We Are has now come to an end. The children all successfully conducted interviews with people they were wondering about in school and have recorded their learning. This past week we have begun tuning into our next unit on How the World Works.
Our Central Idea is:
Energy creates movement
and our Lines of Inquiry are:
• How people and things move.
• Why we need different forms of movement
• Parts of people and things that help them to move
To introduce our Unit, we played a game called "Guess My Rule" where the children had to guess what they thought the new Unit might be about. Anything guesses related to our unit got drawn into a circle on the board and anything not connected to the Unit was placed outside of the circle. After we collected enough 'clues' we tried to make a connection to everything inside the circle. The children realized that everything in the circle could move! We then took a walk to Orchard Boulevard to observe as many things as we could that move. From this we will begin to sort these moving things and see where the children's interests lie and what they are wondering about. If you happen to know someone or have resources that may be useful in our Unit do let me know. For example, I have a friend who is a marine biologist. If the children begin to wonder about sea animals we can ask him to come in as our 'expert' and interview him. Many people could be useful during this unit depending on where the children take it!
In Math, as always, we have continued to focus on numbers up to 10 in a variety of ways. We are beginning to focus on identifying numbers that are bigger than and smaller than a number. We will also learn about numbers that come before and after a number. The children are starting to explore various forms of data handling such as pictographs and tallies. We are connecting this to our Literacy and Unit of Inquiry.
Finally, in Literacy, the children have really been enjoying each letter of the week. They have been much more independent in identifying words beginning with these sounds as well as finding the letters in text. This week and next we are working on the letter 't' and following that will be the letter 'g'. We are moving onto the Trait of 'Organization' in our writing. The children will learn to summarize a story into beginning, middle and end. They are also going to focus on writing reflections, mostly on their weekends.
We are looking forward to an exciting second half of the semester!
Miss Pana
Newsletter 2 September 2012
Dear Parents,
We have been making good progress in our Unit of Inquiry! To tune into the Unit, we have talked about the people around us and what makes some of them special or important. We also took a walk around school to identify people around us that we didn't know so well. From these people each child has chosen one they would like to learn more about. To prepare for the "Finding Out" stage of the Inquiry Cycle, each child has prepared questions they want to ask these individuals. Over the next few weeks we will go and interview the people they have chosen and then work toward how they would like to present the information they have gathered to the rest of the class.
In Literacy, we have now covered two letters, the letter 'b' and 'm'. The children have explored these letters in a variety of ways such as, baking banana bread and making moon crafts. We also have done a lot of sorting activities with objects and pictures according to letter sounds. The children have also gone on letter sound hunts in different types of texts. Over this month we will be looking at 'r' and 's'.
The children have been working on making predictions in a text both in whole class, small group and individual reading. They have discussed details of pictures that could give clues to what might happen next and have also talked about adjusting predictions after new information is found.
Finally, in Math, we have continued to solidify numbers to ten. We have worked on many tasks to help with number formation such as finger painting and chalk and whiteboard drawing. They have also been doing a lot of counting and working on 1-1 correspondence. In the coming weeks, the children will begin to explore different types of non-standard measurement starting with length and height using different body parts and a unit of measure.
Just as a reminder, Friday the 14th of September will be our Elementary School Sports Day. Please have your children wearing a T-shirt in the color for their house. The lists of houses will be emailed to you shortly. The children will come to school as normal and will go to the stadium on buses with their class. Parents must meet the children at the stadium and pick them up at 11:45 when everything finishes. There is no school bus service on this day.
As always, thank you for your support!
Miss Pana
We have been making good progress in our Unit of Inquiry! To tune into the Unit, we have talked about the people around us and what makes some of them special or important. We also took a walk around school to identify people around us that we didn't know so well. From these people each child has chosen one they would like to learn more about. To prepare for the "Finding Out" stage of the Inquiry Cycle, each child has prepared questions they want to ask these individuals. Over the next few weeks we will go and interview the people they have chosen and then work toward how they would like to present the information they have gathered to the rest of the class.
In Literacy, we have now covered two letters, the letter 'b' and 'm'. The children have explored these letters in a variety of ways such as, baking banana bread and making moon crafts. We also have done a lot of sorting activities with objects and pictures according to letter sounds. The children have also gone on letter sound hunts in different types of texts. Over this month we will be looking at 'r' and 's'.
The children have been working on making predictions in a text both in whole class, small group and individual reading. They have discussed details of pictures that could give clues to what might happen next and have also talked about adjusting predictions after new information is found.
Finally, in Math, we have continued to solidify numbers to ten. We have worked on many tasks to help with number formation such as finger painting and chalk and whiteboard drawing. They have also been doing a lot of counting and working on 1-1 correspondence. In the coming weeks, the children will begin to explore different types of non-standard measurement starting with length and height using different body parts and a unit of measure.
Just as a reminder, Friday the 14th of September will be our Elementary School Sports Day. Please have your children wearing a T-shirt in the color for their house. The lists of houses will be emailed to you shortly. The children will come to school as normal and will go to the stadium on buses with their class. Parents must meet the children at the stadium and pick them up at 11:45 when everything finishes. There is no school bus service on this day.
As always, thank you for your support!
Miss Pana
Newsletter 1 August 2012
Dear Parents,
Welcome to the start of a wonderful year in K1! The children have settled in well to the class and we have started some spectacular learning! We are growing closer as a class community and
There are 4 Units of Inquiry which we cover in K1. Here is an introduction to the first unit:
Transdisciplinary Theme: Who We Are
Our Central idea is “Who we are is shaped by the people around us.” Our children will learn about who they are both as individuals as well as part a larger world, specifically related to their friends and family. We may call upon your support to share information about the family and friends outside of school within the unit. We culminate our unit with United Nations Day, which is a unique celebration of the multiculturalism ISS stands for. We look forward to your active participation for this celebration! The following are the lines of inquiry that will guide us through this unit.
Lines of Inquiry:
In Math we have introduced the various materials in which we we will use often such as unifix and multilink cubes, various types of counters and pattern blocks. The children talked about the different ways they could manipulate these materials and discovered new ways of using them from their peers. We have also developed the daily calendar and attendance routine which helps to teach a variety of number and pattern concepts. Over the next few weeks we aim to work on number recognition and formation to 10.
Thank you for your continued support!
Miss Pana
Welcome to the start of a wonderful year in K1! The children have settled in well to the class and we have started some spectacular learning! We are growing closer as a class community and
There are 4 Units of Inquiry which we cover in K1. Here is an introduction to the first unit:
Transdisciplinary Theme: Who We Are
Our Central idea is “Who we are is shaped by the people around us.” Our children will learn about who they are both as individuals as well as part a larger world, specifically related to their friends and family. We may call upon your support to share information about the family and friends outside of school within the unit. We culminate our unit with United Nations Day, which is a unique celebration of the multiculturalism ISS stands for. We look forward to your active participation for this celebration! The following are the lines of inquiry that will guide us through this unit.
Lines of Inquiry:
- Ourselves as a part of a bigger world
- The role of family and friends
- How friends are made and kept
In Math we have introduced the various materials in which we we will use often such as unifix and multilink cubes, various types of counters and pattern blocks. The children talked about the different ways they could manipulate these materials and discovered new ways of using them from their peers. We have also developed the daily calendar and attendance routine which helps to teach a variety of number and pattern concepts. Over the next few weeks we aim to work on number recognition and formation to 10.
Thank you for your continued support!
Miss Pana