In Math this week, we have been securing our understanding of place value through a range of activities. One activity that proved particularly popular was 'Find Your Friend'. The children were given cards with different ways of representing 3-digit numbers (pictures, expanded form, digits) and had to find their 'friend' who had a card that said the same number but represented in a different way. It was a great way to practise their verbal communication and demonstrate their mathematical understanding. We also tried to complete the activity using non-verbal communication, using some of the non-verbal methods that we have been thinking about over the last few weeks. The children all demonstrated excellent teamwork, mathematical understanding and application of different methods of communication! On Friday, the haze kept away long enough for us to enjoy the annual Sports Day. The students took part in a range of events aiming to get as many points as possible for their House team. I was very impressed by the sportsmanship shown by the children who cheered everyone on and encouraged each other to try their best. It was Somerset who came away as the champions of Sports Day, however each and every child can be proud of their effort and determination!
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On Wednesday we were lucky enough to explore various methods of communication by interviewing a teacher who teaches in sign language in America. The students composed lots of interesting questions, thinking about writing deep questions that would require more than a one word answer. Here are a few of the questions -
By carrying out the interview, the students used a number of methods of verbal and non verbal communication -
The activity really highlighted the importance of communication and how we have a large choice of ways to communicate when one method is unavailable to us. Thursday 17th September sees the first event organised by the PTA. It would be wonderful to see lots of you there! For more details, see the flyer below.
This week the students had a reminder of how to use Mathletics; an online Math programme that is in line with the teaching and learning of Mathematics that takes place at ISS. Login details were sent home this week and I have seen that many children have been quick to login at home and practise their Math skills. Excitingly, we have 3 children who have already received their first Mathletics certificate. Well done to Amrit, Jan and Aditya! What a great start! It would be wonderful to see some gold certificates by the end of Grade 2!
It has been interesting to see how many different countries have visited our blog so far. This is an excellent example of a way to communicate with our friends and family all around the world. Keep telling people to come and visit our page. I wonder how many countries will have visited us by the end of the year? Don't forget, you can communicate with us too by leaving a comment. We would love to hear your thoughts! This week we have been digging a little deeper into what communication actually is. The children looked at our Central Idea - Communication Builds Relationships - and identified the words that they already knew, the words that they did not know and the words that they felt were important. They then wrote an explanation of what they thought each word meant. After sharing our ideas as a class, the children came to an agreed conclusion that - communication - talking builds - makes relationships - friends This is a great starting point for our inquiry into communication and also for developing new friendships and dealing with different social situations. It has also got us wondering about communication between people who speak different languages and how useful non verbal communication is. Something else that we have focused on this week is retelling stories. This is a great way for children to show their understanding of what they have read and this can be done in many different ways such as verbal retelling, drawing pictures and writing a recount. Below you can watch one group of children retelling the story of the Little Red Hen with words and actions. We hope you enjoy! Finally, to finish the week, the children took part in a fun run. This was an exciting way to introduce the different Houses that the children are members of. The children came to school wearing their House colours - Somerset, Orchard, Raffles and Newton. They also wore a bandana with their house colour and name on it. The children can keep this bandana and bring it to school whenever we have House events, such as sports day. Here are some photos of the children in action. This week we have been thinking about how important it is to be able to talk to each other in order to work as part of a group. The children were given the challenge of working together in a team to build a house out of lollypop sticks but they were given one very important rule - no talking! This is what the children thought about this activity - "We couldn't share our ideas but we could act out what we wanted to say. But sometimes people didn't understand our actions!" Said Sam. Noura said, "it was hard." "It was tricky because we couldn't ask for help from our friends." Said Toko. Here is how the houses made in silence turned out - We then repeated the activity, but this time the children could talk to each other. Immediately there was a buzz of excitement and exchanges of ideas as they enthusiastically began to build their new houses. This is what they thought about doing the activity this way - "We could solve the problems with our friends." Miria said. "We all talked about our plan first so we knew what to do." Said Jan. This is how the houses turned out when the children could talk to each other - The children felt that it was much easier to build and work in a team when they could talk to each other. It was great to listen to them talking about what they were going to do and saying things like 'I can show you" and "I'll help you with that part."
Communication really is an integral part of our lives! We have had a fantastic start to the school year! Grade 2.2 has taken part in a number of activities allowing them to get to know each other better and to feel happy and secure in their classroom environment. Being caring and principled are two attributes from the IB Learner Profile and I have been impressed and delighted with how the children have demonstrated these through the level of kindness, respect and consideration that they have shown each other.
After such a great week I am excited about the learning journey that we will have together in Grade 2.2. The children should be very proud of their hard work and positive attitudes this week as I am very proud of each and every member of the class. Take a look at some of the things we have been up to this week - Welcome to the start of the school year. I am looking forward to all of the exciting learning opportunities that we have ahead of us!
I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Gemma Cass (known to the children as Ms Cass) and I am originally from England. I have been teaching for 8 years and have had experience teaching children from 3 years old all the way up to adults. Most recently I have been teaching in an international school in Bali, Indonesia, where I was teaching Grade 2 so I have lots of experience with teaching 7 and 8 year olds. I am very excited to be here in Singapore and part of the ISS team. But most importantly, I am very excited about getting to know the children and providing meaningful learning opportunities. Please check back here regularly to see what we have been up to throughout the week and to find information such as timetables and homework. Please feel free to contact me if you have anything you would like to talk about regarding your child and I will be happy to meet with you at a mutually convenient time. Here's to a wonderful year ahead! Ms Cass |
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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