In Math this week we have been identifying, creating and extending patterns. After some consideration, the children thought that a pattern was 'something that repeats again and again and can be made with shapes, colours and numbers'. We began by thinking about and drawing all of the different patterns we could remember and shared these with each other. We then went on a pattern hunt around school and found patterns in the playground, on the floor, on the buildings and on the roof! Later, we created different patterns using a variety of resources and let our friends explore them to try to discover the rule. Finally, we concluded Math this week by continuing number sequences by counting in 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's. We even had to create our own number patterns containing certain numbers. Can you make a number pattern that has 6 and 12 in it? What is the rule? Can you make more than one pattern with these numbers in it? Solar EclipseThere was a buzz of excitement around ISS on Wednesday as we waited for the Solar Eclipse to take place. The students were keen to make connections to the work they had carried out during our unit on How the World Works about the earth, moon and sun. We watched the live feed and talked about the changes in shape and light during the eclipse. A really wonderful learning experience! Fun FairThe ISS Fun Fair takes place on Sunday 13th March from 12pm to 4pm. Thanks once again to those of you who have kindly volunteered in some way. If you are donating a cake, please add the price and ingredients to the sticky labels sent home on Friday and stick them onto the cake. Our stall will be next to the canteen in the covered areas. Please bring cakes to the stall by 12pm. There looks as though there will be lots of fun things to do there, I hope that you all have a wonderful day!
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We have had a busy week this week! On top of all the interesting learning about images and their meanings, we have been practising for our assembly which took place on Friday afternoon. The students worked really hard to read their lines and use wonderful expression and timing. They demonstrated excellent acting skills and incredible confidence to perform in front of so many people. I couldn't be prouder of all the children in Grade 2.2 and know that they are very proud of themselves too. Here is a clip of the children singing Don't Give Up, and a few photos of the children in action! This week we began our new unit on How We Express Ourselves, thinking about the Central Idea that Images Express Meaning. We started off by looking at common signs and symbols that we see around us. This sparked great interest with the children spotting these kinds of images everywhere they went! They began to make connections between signs used for safety and signs that tell us that we must or must not do something. Over the weekend, keep a look out for lots of different signs and symbols all around. Does everyone in your family know what they mean? Why do you think that is? Here are some signs we created ourselves. Can you work out what they mean? - ISS Fun FairThank you for such a good response to the bake sale for the Fun Fair on Sunday 13th March. If you would still like to help out by bringing in a cake or manning the stall for half an hour, don't forget to complete the sign up sheet here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/15TdRM7pNGUBpzBqYmK7_ZTaKHq6hL3H8vRjghOaBszU/edit We love ISS!Finally, I wanted to share a wonderful piece of persuasive writing completed by Jan. He shares his love of ISS and writes a very compelling argument for why children should go to school here! I'm so glad that he loves our school so much!
What an incredibly busy and productive week we have had this week! We had a successful trip to the National Museum of Singapore where the children showed enthusiasm to find out why so many cultures are found in Singapore. Once we had organised our thinking of the different cultures, we applied that to the structures we see around us and it was great to see so many of the children realise the connection between the cultures in Singapore and why we see so many different styles of structures here! The field trip really helped to pull together all of the learning throughout this Unit of Inquiry and showed the children's understanding of the Central Idea that Structures Reflect the Culture that Creates Them. This week we also tied together our understanding of features of different structures from around the world. The students have been working hard in groups to collect information, record it, organise it and then present it. In small groups the children had to choose their own method of recording information and then collaborated with the whole class to choose a good method of synthesising and presenting their information. They did a fantastic job and showed great inquiry, team work and problem solving skills. See the pictures below to see the process. We also spent time exploring shape this week. Using 2D shapes, we investigated tangrams and how to position them to create different shapes and pictures. This led to lots of interesting conversations including a conversation about commitment. The students really had to use their problem solving skills and once or twice I heard the statement "I'm going to give up." After talking about commitment to learning, the children decided that they were not going to give up and instead, work as a team to solve the problems. They felt a real sense of pride when they completed the tasks and agreed that they should stay committed to their learning!
I hope that you all had a good extended weekend and great Chinese New Year celebrations. Here are a few photos from our short week at school. Next week is Author Week where we will receive a visit from a real life author on Wednesday. Children are welcome to bring in books by their favourite author to share their opinions with the class. Please write your name on the book to ensure that it does not get lost.
We completed this week with a field trip to Bayfront, next to Marina Bay Sands, to observe the structures that we see around us in Singapore. The students noticed that there is a big contrast of older and newer buildings in the skyline and that these can be identified by certain features such as the colours used, the shape of the structures and the materials used to make the structures. This led to some interesting questions such as "why do they make buildings so tall now and they didn't in the past?" "Why are so many buildings made from glass now?" We will continue to explore structures in Singapore and to think about how different cultures have influenced their design. Gong Xi Fa CaiHappy New Year to those of you who celebrate and I hope that you enjoy the extended weekend. I look forward to seeing the children back at school again on Thursday 11th February dressed in either red or Chinese style clothes to enjoy the Lion Dance. Book Character ParadeOn Friday 12th February, students can come to school dressed as their favourite book character to celebrate the start of Author Week the following week. There will also be a Book Fair in the Library on Friday from 8am until 4.30pm. See the flyers below for more information.
This week we concluded our work on measuring by exploring weight and capacity. One important concept we have been thinking about is estimating and how we can make our estimations more accurate. After a lot of investigating, we found that our estimations were becoming more accurate by the end of the week. We also found that we are becoming more accurate data collectors and that there are many different units of measurement beyond those we have looked at in class. Many of the students were keen to take their measuring knowledge from class and transfer it to different measurement opportunities at home and around them. This week we also spent time inquiring into coding with Mr Gallagher. We applied our knowledge of measurement and shape to explore making different 2D shapes using the programme, 'Scratch'. It was incredible how quickly the children were able to transfer basic coding knowledge to create multi-step instructions for the character to follow. Finally, this week we were sad to say goodbye to Amrit. The students recognised his principled behaviour and nominated him for the Learner Profile Award. A lovely way to feel recognised on his last day. We wish Amrit the best of luck in his new school.
This week we have had great fun exploring structures from around the world. Thank you for sending in so many photos! The children enjoyed observing their features and recognising some of them as places they have been. Some were easily recognisable like the Singapore Flyer but others have proved more challenging. We will continue to look at them next week and see if the children's guesses about where they are from are correct. We will also begin to sort and organise the characteristics of the structures to see if we find any patterns emerging with regards to features of buildings and where they are from. Learner Profile NominationsMost weeks, a student from each class receives a certificate in assembly for demonstrating the attributes or attitudes of the Learner Profile. In Grade 2, we are encouraging the students to notice these attitudes and attributes in each other and this week introduced Learner Profile Nominations. Throughout the week, the children looked out for different actions and behaviour that they felt deserved recognition and nominated people for an award. The children took this very seriously and only nominated when they felt they really had seen someone doing these things. On Friday, we read out the nominations and one student received 2 nominations for the same attribute, thus showing he consistently was a Caring student. Well done to Sam who was nominated by Jan and Alex for being Caring!
The other nominations are as follows - - Lana was nominated by Nanami for being Caring - Jan was nominated by Irfan for being a Risk Taker - Ziyang was nominated by Miria for being a Risk Taker - Nanami was nominated by Sam for being Caring - Lana was nominated by Mei for being a Risk Taker - Jan was nominated by Amrit for being Open Minded Special mention must go to Jan and Lana for being nominated for showing two different Learner Profile attributes! What a great example you are setting to us all! Let's all keep up the good work! Welcome back! The students came back on Monday very refreshed and excited to be back at school. It is great to see such positive attitudes to learning, and students who enjoy school so much.
This week we began to explore the idea that 'structures reflect the culture that creates them.' We spent some time looking at different objects and determining whether or not they were structures. This lead to some interesting conversations and the children decided that our Central Idea could be explained as 'buildings and statues show the country or religion that made them.' The children have been asked to bring in some photos of buildings from around the world to see if we can identify where the buildings are located, from the way they look. Over the next few weeks we will explore why structures from different countries look the way they do and how a culture is reflected. In addition, we have been exploring measurement. The students examined non standard units of measurement to understand the importance of accuracy and having an agreed unit of measurement. The children later developed their accuracy when measuring in centimetres and metres. This will come in handy when designing a structure later on in the Unit of Inquiry. Here are some of the non standard units of measurement the children explored -
This week, we concluded our Unit of Inquiry on How the World Works and to demonstrate their understanding, the children researched and wrote a report to prove a common misconception was in fact false. Please take a look at their non-fiction books books below.
Miria, Toko, Lana, Christina and Aditya's Book
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AuthorGrade 2.2 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. School BlogsMr. Pinchbeck - Principal
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June 2016
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