Can you believe we have reached November already?!?! As they say, time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana! We hope you all had a restful break and are looking forward to the next seven weeks which promise to be as action-packed as ever.
At the start of the week, we really enjoyed looking back through our Portfolios and celebrating our learning and achievements from our "Magic Materials" Unit of Study...before shifting our focus to our new unit, “Where We Live Shapes How We Live.” The children are enjoying exploring the new learning experiences on offer in the Pod and in the classroom as we begin our tuning-in period. This inquiry will explore the types of homes people live in and different locations. The children will investigate the way different climates and cultures affect people’s perspectives and the way people live and how people’s lives are connected across the world in a range of ways.
At this early stage, the children are focusing on their own homes and have been sharing their photographs with each other (PLEASE email/send them in if you have not already done so). We have started to interview them about their homes and their lives, guiding them with the following questions:
*What kind of home do you live in?
*Who lives with you?
*What is your home made of?
*What is the weather like where you live?
*What do you need everyday to survive and be happy?
In Writing Workshop, our focus has shifted to “True Stories.” We have spent a lot of time storytelling in preparation for committing pencil to paper again next week. We have focused on retelling stories in a clear and cohesive way, thinking about the beginning, middle and end sections. Towards the end of the week, we began recording these ideas on “Story Spiders” and story maps. Next week, we will choose one of our ideas and explore ways of “zooming in” on one event in the story and stretching it out across the pages, adding dialogue, emotion and action to bring the story to life.
In Mathematics, we have been focusing on comparing objects by length and sorting objects into categories according to length. We used a tower of ten multilink cubes as a starting point and sorted a variety of objects according to whether they were shorter, longer or, even, the same length as the tower. We have recorded our findings using different media. Throughout the week, we have tried hard to accurately use the vocabulary associated with comparison and length (long, longer than, short, shorter than, the same, equal to etc).
Lastly, a big thank you to the volunteers who helped out with our inaugural cooking activity on Wednesday...you have set the bar very high! As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and, as you can see from the photos, there were only a few crumbs left at the end of the day.
At the start of the week, we really enjoyed looking back through our Portfolios and celebrating our learning and achievements from our "Magic Materials" Unit of Study...before shifting our focus to our new unit, “Where We Live Shapes How We Live.” The children are enjoying exploring the new learning experiences on offer in the Pod and in the classroom as we begin our tuning-in period. This inquiry will explore the types of homes people live in and different locations. The children will investigate the way different climates and cultures affect people’s perspectives and the way people live and how people’s lives are connected across the world in a range of ways.
At this early stage, the children are focusing on their own homes and have been sharing their photographs with each other (PLEASE email/send them in if you have not already done so). We have started to interview them about their homes and their lives, guiding them with the following questions:
*What kind of home do you live in?
*Who lives with you?
*What is your home made of?
*What is the weather like where you live?
*What do you need everyday to survive and be happy?
We are then inviting them to select an image of another (very different) home and asking them to imagine that this is where they live. We are then repeating the interviews, asking the same questions. The transcripts of these responses will begin to appear on the classroom wall over the coming days and any similarities and differences will be discussed and used as a catalyst for further inquiry.
On Thursday, we decided to recreate Singapore on our mat. Using classroom resources and recyclable materials, everyone worked together to create a mini-city right in the middle of K2BeM. We are not sure how long we are going to be able to leave our Singapore in situ but the plan is to add to this over the next few days.
In Reading Workshop, we have started to explore how “Readers Use Strategies To Work Out Words.” We have discovered that readers have super powers (!) that we can use to help us when we come across a tricky or unfamiliar word. These ‘strategies’ include reading on, rereading, sounding it out, pointing to each word as you read, recognising repeating patterns or refrains, Key Words (also known as Glue Words), asking your partner for help etc. Over the coming weeks, we will work through these strategies as we help the children populate their “boxes of tools” to support their reading development.
In Writing Workshop, our focus has shifted to “True Stories.” We have spent a lot of time storytelling in preparation for committing pencil to paper again next week. We have focused on retelling stories in a clear and cohesive way, thinking about the beginning, middle and end sections. Towards the end of the week, we began recording these ideas on “Story Spiders” and story maps. Next week, we will choose one of our ideas and explore ways of “zooming in” on one event in the story and stretching it out across the pages, adding dialogue, emotion and action to bring the story to life.
In Mathematics, we have been focusing on comparing objects by length and sorting objects into categories according to length. We used a tower of ten multilink cubes as a starting point and sorted a variety of objects according to whether they were shorter, longer or, even, the same length as the tower. We have recorded our findings using different media. Throughout the week, we have tried hard to accurately use the vocabulary associated with comparison and length (long, longer than, short, shorter than, the same, equal to etc).
Lastly, a big thank you to the volunteers who helped out with our inaugural cooking activity on Wednesday...you have set the bar very high! As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and, as you can see from the photos, there were only a few crumbs left at the end of the day.
...and, remember, K2BeM read ANYWHERE!
Have a great weekend
Have a great weekend
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