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Dear family and friends,
It has been a while since our last blog and we have so much to share!
The year 2's have been strengthening their grammar abilities through proof reading which is a difficult task but they are getting it. The chlidren have also been learning to use plurals, prefixes, contractions, prepositions and homophones, all of which is being incorporated into their writing skills. It is so lovely to see their skills develop!
Our focus in numeracy has been measurements, weight, capacities, fractions, doubling and halving. The year 2's clearly love numeracy and are becoming stronger at problem solving.
Our Exit Point for Active Planet was great fun, we set up different science stations where the children made volcanoes and erupted them, they made lava lamps and seismographs. After each experiment the children had to report their findings. What a fun way to consolidate their learning!!
After the Easter break we enjoyed a week of words. We focused on Alice in Wonderland, where we engaged in many different activiites and joined another school in a fun afternoon of games, which was completely organised by a secondary school in Ghent specifically for us. They also invited us to a Mad Hatter's Tea Party. It was a wonderful afternoon! During this week we also read to our Buddy Class (Lower Pre Primary), at certain moments of the day the children would be asked to drop everything and read (this they loved) and Ms. Maija would also come along sporadically and ring bell which meant the children also had to pick up their books.
'Live and let live' is our last IPC Project of the year and to get started with spent a day at Planckendael Zoo. Each child chose an animal that they had to research. The research included finding out about its habitat, animal group, likes and dislikes. We also enjoyed seeing so many other animals from different continents and observed giraffes, rhinos and penguins being fed. There was also lots of play time on the cool climbing frames.
Anais and Alex celebrated their birthdays and we enjoyed delicious cakes. Thank you for sharing with us!
Aayush has received The Headmaster Award this month for his general knowledge and his interest in learning, he has has matured a lot this year and we are very proud of him.
I hope all the mummy's enjoyed their Mother's Day gift!!!
With only seven weeks to go until the end of this academic year I am sure we will have plenty to share in our next blog.
Till then take care.
Ms.Rebecca
Dear parents,
First of all. we would like to give a very warm welcome to the new pupils in Year 2, Gabriela, Natalia and Joshua, who have settled into school life at ISG very well. It was lovely to see the other children taking them under their wings.
It has been a very busy time in our classroom with so much new learning going on.
The children have been getting so much out of our IPC unit ‘Active Planet’. They have been learning all about natural disasters and the disastrous effects they can have on society. In pairs the children researched and made posters on their chosen volcano, it was lovely to see them working so well together. Learning about Tectonic Plates can be tricky, so the children learnt a song and a dance about how the plates move and the different plate names. They shared their learning and performed their song & dance at assembly and they were brilliant! We also located the Ring of Fire and the Tectonic Plates on a world map and the children are now aware of the main areas of activity.
In groups the children made their own Earthquake Proof Buildings and they put them to the test through vigorous movements. It was interesting to see their different ways of thinking and how they have learnt the importance of secure buildings.
Ms. Maija shared with us her Earthquake experience in New Zealand and from this is we continued with learning about Earthquake survival kits and the children then wrote an Earthquake survival story.
In literacy the Year 2’s have been learning to proof read, expand sentences and use conjunctions to make their sentences more interesting. All of this learning is ensuring that they are strengthening their writing skills.
There has been a big focus on fractions, telling the time and multiplication the last weeks. In order to ensure the children’s understanding we took a hands on approach through art work, cutting pieces out and gluing onto plates, cutting up fruit into pieces and grouping them (and of course eating it!!) and through games.
The children have been learning to programme Bee-Bots, which are friendly robots which follow the children's commands. The children are developing an understanding of the mathematical concepts of coordinates, distance and location. The Bee-Bots have proven to be a huge success!
We have celebrated Leo’s, Gabriela’s and Natalia’s birthdays, a big thank you for the delicious treats.
And here we are ready to start our much needed spring break and be fresh again for more learning.
Enjoy the next days wherever you go and whatever you do.
Ms. Rebecca
Dear families,
This time of the year is always an extremely busy time with progress checking and preparations for Christmas. The children deserve a long break!
In literacy we have been working on adverbs and the children wrote a poem about their day using as many adverbs as possible. They have also been busy writing humorous Christmas stories, it is lovely to see how their imaginations are developing.
There have been many art tasks all related to Christmas: we made Christmas lights, prepared cards, drew Christmas settings and made some decorations for our classroom.
Our IPC Project ‘Fashion’ brought us on an excursion to ‘MIAT’, the Industrial Museum in Ghent. The children were brought back in time and saw many types of weaving machines and learnt how the machines were powered by wind and water. They also learnt about all the different types of fabrics which are used to make clothes, blankets, carpets etc.
For our Exit point the children designed an outfit in small groups and then had to make it with newspaper. They took measurements of their model, and cut and put together various types of outfits, from beach wear to evening clothes for boys. It was a fun and challenging task. A must repeat!
Year 1 shared their exit point with us. The children spoke about their home countries and shared delicious treats. It was lovely to learn more about the Year 1’s home countries.
The children have been learning how to play different board games and a big hit is draughts, hopefully after the holiday they will learn how to play chess!
Our annual ice-skating trip was great fun, the children loved being on the ice and they certainly have no fear. Well done to all the skaters!! And thank you so much to all the parents who came and supported us!
Sinterklass visited ISG and spoke to all the children and gave them a little gift. Always a special moment for the children!
Our school Christmas party was a great success, so many wonderful performances. All the children did us proud!!
Wishing you all safe travels and a wonderful festive holiday.
See you all in 2019!!!
Dear all,
Welcome back to our blog.
In numeracy and literacy we have been revising for our end of term assessments. But we have also been focusing on reading comprehension and our writing skills. They are making lovely progress in both areas.
Our Entry Point for our latest IPC unit ‘Fashion’ brought the children to the Cat walk. Some wore traditional clothing, others wore their favourite outfit and some children opted to share photos of clothing from their home countries. It was a fun moment of sharing our tastes in clothing. They children have been researching about clothing and accessories from prehistoric times to The Viking era, from Africa to New Zealand. In groups they made presentations on their findings. They all agree that there is a curious difference from one country to another when it comes to clothing be now or many years ago. The Year 2’s have been learning to draw clothing through sketching and this will lead to them making their own design. They have also been learning to weave hats or scarves and this is wonderful for their hand and eye co-ordination.
The children were delighted to participate in a music workshop where they were shown that some instruments, for example drums, can be made from recycled material. Through much rhythm the children played these instruments and it was brilliant.
I received a bunch of leaves as a gift from the children, so we decided to paint them in festive colours and we will decorate the library and our class with them.
In sport Year 2 have been learning to play volleyball and various games connected to volleyball. Ms. Ine has told me that the children are so well behaved during their sport lesson that they have been allowed free choice this week and they chose various tagging games.
The children are becoming confident swimmers and this term they have learnt the backstroke and how to tread water, this week they started to learn the breaststroke.
Movie night was a great success. The children really enjoyed the Japanese movie and all the delicious food.
Ying Ying has celebrated her birthday and we enjoyed lots of goodies. Thank you for the treats!!!
I would also like to thank you all for the warm and sincere birthday wishes. I feel so proud to be part of your lives!
Enjoy your weekend.
Hi all,
Lots of learning going on in Year 2!
We have delved into our maths programme where the children have been learning to use money, we set up a little shop in our classroom for them to really get the feeling of buying and selling. We have explored 2D shapes and their properties. The children have also been learning to measure in decimetres, centimetres and meters, they have been measuring each other, the length and width of our classroom and corridor, amongst other things! They now know which measurement is best for measuring big or small objects.
Part of our grammar focus has been on punctuation, which is always tricky for children, so we have been working hard on this through reading and writing, we have also been learning to use question words and proper nouns correctly.
Our IPC project ‘Chocolate’ continues to grasp the children. The last weeks we zoomed in on the science and the health benefits of chocolate and also dental hygiene. The children have been exploring the temperatures needed to melt chocolate and then how to harden it. This learning was merged with a workshop prepared by Zarah’s Mum, where the children learnt to make ‘Belgium Pralines’…..OH SO DELICIOUS! And a big thank you to Vera for taking the time to do this.
Our Exit Point was a trip to the Choco Museum in Bruges. We consolidated all that has been learnt the last weeks and the children enjoyed a workshop where they made lots of goodies!!!
We have celebrated Mirei’s birthday this month, a little party in the classroom is always a lovely way to end the day. Thank you for the treats!!
Anais received the Headmasters Award this Assembly for being so dedicated to her learning. Well done Anais!
Until our next Blog.
It has been a very busy start to the new academic year: getting to know each other, organising our classroom, getting used to the routines and settling down to work. The children seem to love their new class and feel at home!
We warmly welcome our new student Gaja, who has settled into school life at ISG with ease.
To get to know each other we enjoyed many icebreakers and lots of art activities. It was not long before each child was feeling happy in their new class.
We also enjoyed a trip to a park where we played various games and got to know the children from Upper, Middle and Lower Primary.
We have started our language programme with an emphasis on grammar, spelling and reading. Our Abacus maths programme started off with a revision and we are now moving forward with doubling and halving. Every week the children will complete a verbal and non-verbal reasoning test. These tests are designed to check their ability to understand and analyse visual information and solve problems using visual reasoning. The chlidren are already immersing themselves and enjoying it!
Our first IPC project ‘Chocolate’ started with a ‘fun and filling’ Entry Point. The children are learning all about the world map, where cocoa tress grow and the history of chocolate. It truly is a fascinating and delicious topic!
Dutch, music, swimming, sports and choir classes have had a successful start, and it was lovely to see our fabulous specialist teachers back at school.
I would like to say that I am personally delighted to be able to teach your child this year. It will be a great year of lots of learning and fun!
In many ways this year has flown by! Year 2 children, you have all worked so hard and it is truly lovely to see the results.
The last months we have focused a lot on writing and the children have written fabulous stories. They even got to share their stories through Lego, now that was fun!!
Our last IPC project, was the favourite for all the pupils, 'Temples, Tombs and Treasures'. We investigated life in Ancient Egypt, we researched and wrote about noble families and farming families. We learnt about the different Gods, pyramids and Ancient Egyptian writing and Hieroglyphs, but the most exciting part was making mummies! We went on an excursion to Bruges, where our learning was solidified through an exhibition on the secrets of Ancient Egypt. The children saw Mummies, tombs and many artifacts. It was truly a day to remember!
Another highlight of the year was our sports day where the children learnt how to kayak and wall climb! We also played baseball and enjoyed an outdoor lunch.
To end the year we spent a sunny afternoon at the Botancial gardens. We walked around enjoying the variety of plant species and then had a picnic, it was lovely to be surrounded by so much natural beauty! We made sure we had lots of fun the last weeks of school.
We also got to celebrate Sofiia's, Lauren's and Ulma's birthdays.....thank you for the delicious treats!!
This time of the year is always hard with so many goodbyes, but I would like to take this opportunity to wish those children leaving all the best, we will miss you!
Wishing you all a relaxing and joyful summer.
We have been very busy in Year 2 with a lot of fun learning going on.
For our Exit point of 'Feel the Force' Year 2 did a small oral revision of the forces that are combined when a volcanic eruption takes place. They got to draw their own maps of the “Ring of Fire” where most earthquakes and the biggest volcanoes exist. In the end, they had the opportunity to create their own volcanoes and make a volcanic eruption in the classroom using materials we all have at home! Such fun!
In our IPC project ‘Bake it’ Year 2 learned about gases, solids and liquids, and changes of state. We looked closely at yeast and through experiments found out how yeast breaths, which is called anaerobic respiration, as yeast breaths without oxygen. But if sugar is added to yeast in water, it will produce oxygen!! We learnt the story of bread and how in some countries it is the staple of a diet. We made our own bread, and the children learnt that there are many different types of bread and some of which are very tasty and healthy!!! Exit Point – lava lamps. The main idea was for the children to learn about the concept of density, in particular, the idea that things are more dense than a liquid sink and things that are less dense than a liquid float. This activity is interesting because gas is added to and taken away from big drops of water which changes their density and causes them to float or sink in oil. Year 2 loved making a lava lamp because of the colourful blobs that moved around the jar. Learning about chemistry can be so much fun!!
We looked at Primary Colours and the children made an art piece by Piet Mondrian. Ulma’s Father was so impressed by this that he offered to take Year 2 on a guided tour of MSK in Ghent. He explained clearly to the children about many important paintings and the difference of colours and textures in the different era’s. It was a truly fascinating excursion.
In numeracy Year 2 have been understanding place value in 2-digit numbers by creating 2-digit numbers, placing them on a number line and solving place value additions and subtractions. The children have been using doubles and number bonds to add three single-digit numbers. We have also been learning about money and adding bigger amounts of money using a decimal.
In literacy we have been focusing on reading comprehension, writing book reviews and starting to write short fairy tales. It is lovely to see such an improvement in the children’s understanding of books and becoming creative in their writing. Keep up the good work!!!
The International Festival was a huge success and Year’s 2 performance of ‘Footloose’ was excellent. I am very proud of their dedication to this wonderful event.
We made Easter egg baskets for another annual event, our Easter Egg Hunt, which was oh so much fun!!! And afterwards we enjoyed a little class party, where Myer's aunt shared a couple of books with us about Tennessee. Thank you for sharing with us!
Wishing you all a lovely holiday and see you soon.
After the Christmas holidays, it was of course time to start up a new IPC-unit, 'Feel the force'. Pupils in year 2 have spent the last few weeks learning about forces. The Entry Point was a fun tug-of-war game in a local playground. Primary pupils had a great afternoon! They pulled and they pulled! And sometimes they fell... Now they know a lot about friction, magnetism and gravity. They have looked closer at compasses. They have tried to understand how magnets work. They have tested to see if it is true that some poles on magnets attract each other and that some repel each other. They have earned more about natural forces, like volcanoes. They have experimented. They have discussed. They have read texts and they have written down important information. A lot of learning have taken place in the classroom and out on the playground.
Year 2 pupils have promised the organising committee to help out during the Battle of the Scientists. They will be the Show Group, performing a dance in front of all the visitors during this important event here at ISG. They are excited about this, and are happy about the fact that they already know a cool song and dance that they could perform! We are all looking forward to this day!
Pupils have shown that they are quite confident when it comes to writing a recount. They have for example written a recount about a visit to a local cafe, and together they came up with lots of good ideas of verbs in past tense and connecting words they could use to give their texts a nice flow.
During numeracy lessons this last week, Year 2 pupils have started taking a closer look at fractions. It is not alwasy easy to understand that two halves make a whole, but they have started to learn about halves, thirds and quarters. Important learning!
The walls in the classroom are filled with beautiful drawings of a winter sky. Pupils worked really hard on trying to make the scene look really winterlike.
Ulma got the Headmaster Award during Assembly. Both she and her whole class were proud and happy that day!
During the last week of school before the Mid-term holiday, Year 2 pupils visited their buddy class. Upper Pre-primary have been learning about 'Shopping' ahd had invited their friends to come and shop in their super market. It was fun to buy cookies!
The last day of school all pupils at ISG came dressed in costumes, ready to participate in the Carnival Party. They walked the red carpet and they danced. All pupils in Year 2 looked fantastic and they had a fun day together. Now they and all the other pupils here at ISG enjoy a well deserved week of holiday before it is time to come back to school again!
There has been so much learning going on in Year 2; during our project work the children have been learning about the importance of a healthy diet and exercise, and how some foods look like body parts and how they help those body parts too! We also focused on the heart, lungs and the skeleton. We visited the museum 'Wereld Van Kina' which houses a permanent exhibition on the Human Body, Year 2 were able to explore many organs of the body, but what they found most fascinating was the evolution of man.
In literacy our focus has been on descriptive writing and the children are starting to write stories. In numeracy we have been adding and subtracting with double numbers and the children have gained huge confidence while working with numbers.
Primary students enjoyed a morning on the ice, it was great fun!!! And a fantastic Christmas show, where all of ISG sang, danced and played musical instruments. Year 2's dance ' The boogie woogie choo-choo train' was learnt with a lot of sweat but no tears (thankfully), and their performance was excellent. We are so proud of you all. Great dancing!!!
We have celebrated Lilie's and Zahra's birthdays, lots of delicious treats.
Unfortunately we had to say 'au revoir' to Lilie and 'hasta luego' to Jaime, you both will be greatly missed and we wish you the very best in your new schools. Remember to stay in touch!!
Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday. And a very Happy New Year.
