This week, the students completed the finishing touches to their research on changes in matter. Each group collected information on one type of change in matter and worked together to think about how they wanted to present that information. They had the choice of making a diagram, doing an experiment, doing a demonstration or using role play. We have been working on our presentation skills to ensure that the audience can hear and learn from them. We also talked about the process of completing a presentation, from the planning, practising, watching themselves back and reflecting to finally producing their 'published' presentation. Take a look at the presentations below. I'm sure you'll agree that the children did a great job and have developed their knowledge about matter. This week we also completed our Math unit on measuring. Finally, we put together all of our learning on instructional texts and the children produced a 'How To' book on something of their choice. Here is a quick preview of what they looked like. Join us on Wednesday at the 3 Way Conferences to have a closer look at the books!
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Another busy week has passed and we have been spending time thinking about measurement. The children thought about where measurement happens in their own lives and noticed that through cooking, buying fruit at the shop and when buying new shoes, measurement is all around us. We have enjoyed exploring length and weight this week and thinking about developing our accuracy when taking measurements. The children also enjoyed following instructions to make their own play dough. It illustrated the importance of writing clear and detailed instructions in order to be successful in what we are making. They also made connections to matter, thinking about changes in state when mixing liquids together with solids.
Welcome back! After a week's holiday, it was great to see the children return with such enthusiasm and excitement. Although it was a short week, we achieved a lot! In Math we continued to think about collecting and organising data. The children collected data and recorded it in a variety of ways, including tally charts, bar graphs and venn diagrams. They even explored presenting their findings in the form of a bar graph using Google Sheets. Have a look at your chid's digital portfolio to see it. Take a look below at photos showing the children collecting their data. During our Unit of Inquiry, we have been beginning to think about changes in state. The children were excited to work with their Grade 6 buddies to carry out an experiment to find out what happens to water when you heat it. They explored the temperature at different times and recorded their observations. For example, they observed the change from the water being still, to bubbling and then producing water vapour. It was a great learning experience and really helped the children to make sense of the different concepts that had been discussed in class.
Wow! What a first term we have had! We have learnt so much already and we still have 3/4 of the school year to go! This week the children took part in their first presentation in Grade 2. They had worked together to find the meaning of some key words from our Unit of Inquiry and then, after some planning time, presented their information to the class. The children then gave each other feedback to help them to know what they did really well and how they could improve it next time. Take a look at their presentations below. A great first attempt, I'm sure you'll agree! We concluded this week with our International Day. The day started with celebrating all of the different countries that are represented in our school and then ended with a wonderful food buffet. In between, the children took part in a number of different activities and enjoyed performances from around the world. Here are a few highlights from the day. I hope you have a wonderful holiday, get lots of rest and I look forward to seeing you back at school on Thursday the 27th of October!
We have had a busy week delving into our new Unit of Inquiry. Students watched a rap about matter and made a list of words that they did not know yet. The words were then divided up and students worked in groups to find out the definition, characteristics, examples and non examples to help them to understand key vocabulary to aid their exploration of matter throughout the unit. Next week they will be presenting their research to the class and teaching their word to the other children in the role of an 'expert'. Understanding the vocabulary further has helped the students to make connections to their ideas and has led to more and more questions about matter, which we will explore as the unit progresses. We have been busy in Literacy this week, exploring and identifying features of instructions. To think carefully about the organisation of instructions, and how important sequencing is, the children had the opportunity to follow a set of instructions to make a snowflake. It was interesting to see some children follow the instructions exactly, and others try to skip some steps to finish quickly. When they evaluated their snowflake at the end, the children agreed that the ones who had followed the instructions carefully looked better than the ones that had skipped a few steps. We also explored some new ways to practise our 'Expand Vocabulary' words. The children receive new word sorts every 2 weeks, which focus on particular spelling patterns. On the other week, the children collect a range of words to help to expand their vocabulary. They take 2 words from their word sort, 2 words from their reading, 2 words that they have had trouble with in their writing and 2 words from their Unit of Inquiry. Throughout the week, we practise spelling them and applying them to our writing in a range of different activities. One activity this week was finger painting. We also had a visit from our Grade 6 buddies who worked with us on one of our strategies for reading - asking questions. The older children modelled how to ask questions, which 2.1 then practised during Read to Someone later on in the week.
This week, we introduced the new Unit of Inquiry from the theme How the World Works. Our Central Idea is 'changes in matter affect our environment' so we started with a tuning in activity to get the children to think about the features of different objects and materials. The children had great fun exploring corn flour, ice cubes, glue and jelly cubes and recorded what they saw, smelled, touched, thought and then what they wondered. From this activity, the children generated a number of wonderings that we will explore throughout this unit. Here are an example of some of the questions the children came up with.
In Math this week, we have been concluding our work on addition and subtraction. After exploring and practising different strategies, the students took the role as teachers and demonstrated how to answer the questions using their favourite strategy. We also had a visit from an author this week. Blair Reeve came to share his new book with the children and talked about how he had been inspired by Dr Seuss books. The children enjoyed learning about different rhythms and rhyming patterns.
This week in Math we have been practising the different strategies that we can use to add numbers together. This allowed the children to transfer their understanding of place value to other mathematical situations. One key aspect of Math is that the children understand number and how different operations work. The videos below give the children opportunity to not only solve addition problems using written methods, but encourage the children to explain how they are reaching their answer. Doing this, really shows how well the students are understanding what they are doing and what it means. This week we also recognised the International Day of Peace. The children took part in a number of activities where they thought about what peace means to them and to make wishes for peace. We also took part in some mindfulness activities, an extension of what we have been doing in class for 10 minutes after lunch each day to refocus the children and to calm them, ready to learn again after having a busy lunchtime. Here are a few photos from the day. In our work in Literacy and Unit of Inquiry, we explored email in more detail this week. The children were excited to send emails to me, telling me about what they have learned about communication and how it builds relationships. They have also experimented with emailing each other as an additional way to communicate using non verbal communication. We talked about the 4 Be's in Technology and the importance of being safe, honest, responsible and respectful while using the internet. We also talked about the importance of being open and admitting any mistakes that they may make as they develop their understanding of using the internet. They understood that if they had any problems or clicked on something that they think isn't appropriate, they could tell a teacher or an adult at home who will help them to learn from these mistakes. Take a look at the 4 Be's with using technology.
The day started off a little rainy today and we were worried that Sports Day might have to be cancelled! However, the sky dried up in time for us to head to Clementi Stadium for an action packed morning. The children were excited to arrive and meet with other children from their House before beginning their activities. They showed great commitment and enthusiasm throughout the morning and showed their excellent sportsmanship by supporting and encouraging their teams. Take a look at some of the highlights from the day. Earlier this week, we were lucky to have Zoe's mum, Marsha, and Johnny's mum, Deirdre visit our classes to talk about different cultural communication and challenges they have experienced. The children were interested to learn about different ways to greet people, pay for things and hail a taxi, amongst other things. This led to interesting conversations about the difficulty of understanding people who speak other languages and whether we are able to communicate with them in other ways. Thank you so much to Marsha and Deirdre for helping us out! It was a great learning experience! At the end of last week, the children in Grade 2 met their Grade 6 buddies. These are children from Grade 6 who will work with the Grade 2 children on different projects to encourage companionship and teamwork whilst also strengthening connections with the Middle School. The Grade 6 children will also support some research and action projects that the children will undertake throughout the year, sharing their knowledge and expertise in these areas. For the first meeting though, the children read together and played some getting to know each other games. Have a look below at the children reading and creating their own secret handshakes.
We had a great time at our field trip at the Botanic Gardens on Monday. The children took part in a number of communication activities where they had to use different types of verbal and non verbal communication to work as a team. They also had the opportunity to build relationships by working with children from different classes and mixing with new people. When we reflected on the field trip, many of the students recognised the importance of different methods of communication to help them to make friends and to work well as a team. Back in class we have been exploring different kinds of relationships and identified different people who we have relationships with in our lives. The children looked through books to find examples of different relationships and shared these with the class, explaining how communication helped to build each of the relationships. In Math we explored different addition strategies. The children shared their own methods to work out addition problems and we then refined some of those techniques, particularly looking at how numbers move from the units column to the tens column, or from the tens column to the hundreds column once numbers exceed 9 or 90.
This week the children really showed how well they have settled into Grade 2. They are showing a greater responsibility for their learning and being reflective, thinking about what they have done well and how they can improve their work. This is happening across all curriculum areas and it has been great to see the children think about their learning in this way. In writing, the children have begun to edit their work more successfully and think about the vocabulary they are using to make their writing engaging. Johnny said that "I am improving my writing. Last year I wasn't good at full stops and my writing was big." Grace said "I think my writing is neater and better." Shuyi said "I want to improve using the past tense and I got better at using capital letters and full stops." Griff said "I don't say 'said' all the time now." This week we also had the opportunity to visit the Design Centre. The children loved the whole process from planning, reviewing, building, reflecting and redesigning. It was great to see team work and to see them taking risks to make something and then change their ideas. In Math, we spent time solidifying our understanding of place value by exploring 3 digit numbers and using different methods such as diagrams and using number charts to demonstrate our understanding. Take a look at the children enjoying a number hunt to develop their understanding of partitioning. Luckily the haze stayed away this week and we were able to take part in the Fun Run. The children had a great time and got lots of points for their Houses. Mr Nathan will announce the overall winners next week once he has had time to count up all the points.
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AuthorGrade 2.1 are a class of 7 and 8 year old students who attend ISS International School in Singapore. We learn together and play together and enjoy sharing our discoveries with you. Click to set custom HTML
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