Lower-Primary - Ms Julieta

Enthusiastic readers!

This week we went to the Public Library for the first time. The students were so enthusiastic about choosing books to take back to school. We now have two boxes of library books in our room and the students are loving reading and looking at them. I thought it would be fun to set ourselves the goal of trying to read all the picture books before the Christmas break. When I told the class that I will read one book everyday after lunch they cheered with joy! I love their enthusiasm! They are all so motivated to improve their own reading skills and they all really enjoy listening to a story!

Here we are at the Library with the upper Primay class.

And back at school enjoying the books...

As part of our reading rotation the students can also practice reading a book out loud for the Pre-primary classes. First they practice reading to our class, before reading to Miss Inbal or Miss Mia's class. They are all queueing up and eager to have a turn. Here are Chinmay and Diya reading to our class before they read to the youngest ISG pupils!

Following on from our work in maths about symmetry we did a challenging art activity! The pupils had to cut a picture of their face along the line of symmetry and then try and draw the other side! They did a first attempt just in pencil and their second attempt in pencil and then coloured it in. Come and have a look at them on the wall by the stairs!

Have a good weekend everyone!

What does Resilience mean?

 

To introduce the Personal goal resilience we talked about the character Nemo, who all the children were familiar with. Nemo is a very resilient character. Even though he has a damaged flipper and sometimes finds it difficult to swim as fast as the other fish, he does not get upset and he tries really hard. Even when things go wrong, Nemo keeps on trying and trying and gets there in the end!

We then read this fantastic book by Miss Maija's favourite author - Anthony Browne.

It is a story about two boys called Sam and Jeremy. Jeremy is always showing off about new things he has and does not share anything with Sam. Sam does not let it upset him and he chooses to ignore Jeremy's rude comments. At the end of the story he even helps Jeremy when he falls in the water. After we read the story we discussed how Sam reacted to Jeremy's behaviour and whether he showed resilience.

Talk more about resilience at home together with your child!

It has been a short week this week but we have also been working on 2D shapes and lines of symmetry in maths.

Thank-you to all parents for purchasing an ISG t-shirt. Here are the students ready for sport lesson on Thursday afternoon looking very flash in their matching t-shirts!

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

IPC - Entry point

On Monday, together with the Upper Primary class, we visited the amazing concert building in Brugge and the Sound Factory. First of all we visited the chamber music room. Our guide explained to us the architect's inspiration for the design and the acoustics of the room. The children loved how the rows of seats went up in a spiral around the room! We also looked closely at the windows and the two layers of double glazing which succesfully blocked out all the city noise on the outside.

A simple experiment with sugar on plastic wrap allowed the children to see how sound waves can cause things to move.

Next we went into the main concert hall and again discussed the acoustics of the room and which surfaces absorb or reflect sound.

After all this talk about sound waves and acoustics the children were happy to start making some noise of their own! The children loved exploring the different sounds on the Omni.

And also on the Kilo Ohm which allowed you to make different sounds depending on how high or how tight you touched the poles.

Lastly, the students had a go composing some of their own music using Garageband!

The visit was a great way to kick off our new unit about Sound and Light!

 

 

 

Look and listen

 

Following on from what we just learnt about the human body, our new unit of work focuses on 'Sound and Light'

This unit of work is part of the International Primary Curriculum and sets out clearly what children will learn - the learning goals - in three different areas.

1. Learning goals for the subjects of the curriculum.

2. Personal development - the characteristics which will help children become more responsible, independent learners.

3. International understanding - which will help children develop both a sense of the independence of their own country and culture and the interdependence between countries and cultures.

During this unit we will be focusing on Science, Technology, Music and International

In Science, we’ll be finding out:

  • Where sound and light come from
  • What sounds we can make with objects
  • What happens when sounds enter our ears
  • How animals use their sense of sight and sound
  • How we can change sounds

 

In Technology, we’ll be finding out:

  • How to design and make a drum

 

In Music, we’ll be finding out:

  • How to play a drum rhythm

 

In International, we’ll be finding out:

  • How languages are made up of different sounds

 

As the unit progresses, please discuss with your child the work they have done and let them teach you! Identify different sounds and lights in your home and talk about what makes them happen. Discuss how we can make sound using our body, e.g. by whistling, clapping, singing etc., and how we can create tunes with musical instruments. If you have any books at home that relate in any way to our topic, please feel free to bring them to school!

Don't forget that to kick off this unit our Entry point is visiting the Sound Factory in Brugge on Monday 3rd November! We will be leaving school at 9.00am. Please make sure your child wears appropriate clothing for the weather and brings a snack and cold lunch.

I hope you have enjoyed the lovely Autumn weather during the half-term break, and see you soon!

Halloween and Exit point!

Our first Halloween craft activity was making lanterns. It was a lot of fun ripping and pasting tissue paper to a glass jar, then cutting out and sticking on a scary face!

The children were very pleased with the final result.

As part of our Human body IPC unit we were learning about healthy eating and the food pyramid. What better way to encourage healthy eating than to make a yummy pumpkin and curry soup for Halloween! First we read the recipe together, then we set to work together with the Upper Primary class. The children found out that it isn't easy cutting up onion and pumpkin into small pieces!

We served the pumpkin soup to all the parents who come to our Exit point on Friday afternoon. Of course, we thought we better try it first though!

Friday morning we gathered together with the other classes at ISG. We showed each other our costumes and sang a few Halloween songs!

On Friday afternoon we finished off our Human body IPC unit by inviting the parents in for our Exit point. We had all our work out on display and the children practiced talking to their parents about what they had learnt. And of course we all had some delicious pumpkin soup!

Have a great autumn break everyone and we'll see you back at school on November 3rd. Don't forget that the first day back we will be off to Brugge to visit the Sound Factory as part of our Entry Point of our new IPC unit called Look and Listen!

 

 

Inside the human body

 

After working on the external body parts we have now moved inside the human body! After the children had finished cutting out and pasting together their human skeleton into their books we labelled all the main bones.

We also sang and did a little dance to this song!

 

The Year 2's have also been doing a mini-research project on the brain! Together we read a challenging text with facts about the brain. We discussed the meaning of any new and difficult words and then highlighted the key words in each paragraph. We then used these keywords to create a mind-map of facts about the brain.

As part of our knowledge harvest at the start of our unit Chinmay said that he wanted to learn more about the brain, so that is what we did!

In maths this week we have been focusing on the months and seasons in the year and the days in the week. We have been reading and ordering the months and after the students stuck them in their book we created a colour coded key showing the four seasons. The students were also very excited to colour in their birthday month with their favourite colours!

 

The week ended off with some choosing time on Friday afternoon which the students love! Some students learnt how to play a new strategic boardgame called Labyrinth, Nanda and Diya made a puzzle together, others played with the lego, Duplo or on the ipads.

Here is Shubhan, who joined our class on Monday! Welcome Shubhan!

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Lots of learning in Lower Primary!

 

In the lower primary class we have nearly finished revising all our single letter sounds. The students have been practicing correct letter formation in their handwriting and writing books. Here the students are learning how to listen carefully to the sounds in words then writing them down on their little whiteboards.

For maths this week we have been learning how to measure things! We have been using non-standard units to measure things, like crayons and paper-clips.

The Year 2's have also been using rulers to measure things in centimetres and metres.

Using a piece of string exactly 1 metre long, students had to find things in the classroom that were smaller, longer or exactly one metre long. They had to draw or write their findings in a Venn diagram on the whiteboard. This was not only a valuable maths activity, but also a great co-operative activity (Co-operation is our Personal goal for October!). At first students simply worked next to each other, but after a class discussion about co-operating they tried working with each other, sharing the resources.

For IPC we also practiced using a Venn diagram to compare the external body features of a human and a crocodile!

As part of our reading rotation on Tuesdays and Thursdays, students can choose to practice reading a book out loud for the pre-primary classes. This week Isadora and Shawn read to the younger students at ISG. They loved it! Here is Shawn reading to Miss Inbal's lower pre-primary class.

What a busy week of learning in the lower Primary class. Have a great weekend everyone!

Entry point and knowledge harvest!

 

On Monday we had our Entry point for our Super human IPC unit. Together with the upper primary class we explored the human body exhibit at the children's museum 'de Wereld van Kina'. The models of the body showing the skeleton and internal body parts got us thinking about what we would like to learn!

 

The following day back at school we did our Knowledge harvest. On our large outline of the human body, children labelled the external body parts that they already knew. Then I asked them what they would like to learn! It looks like we will have to do some research together about the brain! A few children would like to learn more about the eyes as well. The students in the upper primary class are currently researching about how the eye works, so we look forward to them sharing their findings with us!

Later in the week the children labelled a human body in their books and we identified some more specific external body parts that the children did not know - earlobe, thigh, calf, wrist, ankle, hip, armpit, forehead...

 

We then took the new words we learnt and turned it into a song! Maybe we will share it with you next week!

 

Finally, the week ended with the teachers being so spoilt by all of the parents at ISG. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for the amazing breakfast and lunch that you prepared for us. What an amazing feast we had. Thank-you also for the flowers, the chocolates and the beautiful cards made by the children. I love working with all the children in the primary class, they are a fantastic group of students - so happy and so eager to learn! Thank-you again for the effort you put into Teacher Appreciation day today!

Have a great weekend!

Super Humans!

 

Our first IPC unit is a science based unit called Super Humans. The theme for this unit - the human body - is a fascinating and complex topic for children. I am sure we will learn a lot and have fun!

The big idea

Your body is a bundle of bones, muscles, senses and nerves all connected together to make you a human. But how do these parts of the body work with the brain? Let's find out!

In science, we'll be finding out:

  • What the main external parts of the body are called
  • What the five human senses are
  • How we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch
  • How the brain connects to other body parts
  • How to eat healthily and get enough exercise
  • How and why we use medicines
  • Why body hygiene is important

In Technology, we'll be finding out:

  • How to plan and prepare a healthy meal

To kick off our unit we will visit the human body exhibition at the Children's museum - De wereld van kina - on Monday 29th October. De Wereld van Kina is in walking distance to the school, by the St Pieter's abbey. The aim of the Entry point is to trigger children's interest in our new topic. Following our visit we will do our Knowledge Harvest where we will see what children already know about the human body, and also what they would like to find out!

If you have any books or material at home that would support this unit, please feel free to bring them into class!

I am sure it will be a fun unit!

NB:  After completely losing my voice last week, I am on the road to recovery. I look forward to being back in class next week!

 

 

Primary colours in Lower Primary!

 

At the start of the week we completed our Piet Mondrian inspired artwork. We learnt about the five primary colours, then used them to paint the squares and rectangles we created on our paper using masking tape.

The final step was to use a ruler and black marker to rule lines around the shapes. This was quite tricky and for some students it was their first experience using a ruler.

The end result looks fantastic! Come and have a look at them in the classroom!

We also started our reading rotation in the classroom this week. It is great to see the students so excited about learning how to read. Thank-you to everyone for returning the homework reading books the following day so that other students can read them!

In maths this week we focused on ordering numbers up to 100, place value and addition involving 'teen' numbers. Some days the students practice in their workbooks and other days we do more practical activities using equipment.

Here you can see the children each with a number and working co-operatively to stand in order from smallest to largest.

Here some students are using place value blocks to write and read numbers up to 1000.

What a busy week of learning in Lower Primary! Have a great weekend everyone!