Learning adventures in MP1!

Welcome to Middle Primary 1’s first blog post!

I am very excited to share with you all the wonderful things that have been happening in MP1! 

It feels like it was yesterday when the children arrived on their first day of school, yet we have already done and learned so much! During our first IPC Unit called “Brainwave: Metacognition” the students in Middle Primary dove into the fascinating world of how the brain works, kicking off the Unit with a very engaging Escape Room as their Entry Point. However, in this case they didn’t have to “escape” but rather work together to unlock the treasure box of learning. The students demonstrated great enthusiasm as they created colour wheels, learned about primary and secondary colours, explored how to improve our learning by developing a growth mindset, and discovered strategies to regulate their emotions. 

To celebrate our Exit Point, we invited the Lower Primary students to our class and shared with them our knowledge and expertise on the subject. 

After that, we began our current IPC Unit titled “Chocolate”, and as you can imagine, it is being a huge hit! Through this delicious experience the students in Middle Primary are becoming more aware of the impact that chocolate has had on many people’s lives for hundreds of years, and how it continues to affect the world today. We visited the Botanical Garden where we saw a real cacao tree. By studying and consulting maps, the children were able to see how and where chocolate grows, and how this process affects farmers, children and families around the world. 

In addition to all of this, we visited the Oxfam shop, which was a truly rewarding experience as we learned about Fairtrade in class. Inspired by this, the students came up with a fantastic idea to support Fairtrade by making a donation to Oxfam. To raise the money, they made their own real chocolate bars (each with a special and unique ingredient, such as coconut, marshmallow or even gummy bears!), and even wrapped the bars in their own handmade designs!

Our adventure with the “Chocolate” Unit is not over yet, so stay tuned for more exciting updates in our next blog post! 

During our Literacy sessions, MP students have been improving as readers and writers while working on their Spelling, Grammar, Reading and Writing skills through the Jolly Phonics Curriculum. They are also becoming more independent and responsible learners with our Daily 5 routine. In case you’re wondering what Daily 5 is, it’s a literacy framework that encourages independence and creates highly engaged readers and writers, all while meeting each students’ needs.

In Numeracy, MP students have been working hard on progressing with their problem solving, numeral memory and their critical thinking, thanks to our Abacus program. During our Numeracy sessions, Year 3 and Year 4 work in separate classes to better address their specific levels, with Year 3 students following the Math Daily 3 framework with me in class. Each lesson begins with a fun group activity or game, and then we work in three small groups, allowing me to differentiate and meet each student’s individual needs and levels. 

I’m also thrilled to announce that we’re once again celebrating the different cultures and languages of my students. We recently kicked off our first “Home Language” session with Kei, who taught us so much about Japanese culture. I can’t wait to see who will be next!

For Fun Fridays we celebrated “Crazy Hair Day”! Our next Fun Friday will be in November. Can you guess what the theme will be?

As always, we take every opportunity to learn from our students, and Show and Tell is the perfect moment for that! Igor brought in two gorgeous paintings he made of cats and showed us a video of the whole process. Leon introduced us to a card game called “Cocotaki” and taught us how to play it. Siya surprised us with a lovely astronaut lamp, making us feel like we were exploring space! We can’t wait to keep learning and discovering new things with the rest of the Middle Primary students!

We’ve also had a lot of fun celebrating our friends’ birthdays! Our first birthday kid was Milica, followed by Antek, Sofia, and Eito! 

It has been a wonderful adventure so far, and I can’t wait to enjoy many more learning experiences with my amazing MP students! Have a lovely break and see you back in November!

Ms. Cristi

Middle Primary 1