Firstly, the results are in for the K2Athlon. Together, K2 covered 555 laps of the course! Each lap was a 30m swim, 120m run and a 90m cycle. So, in total, K2 covered 16.65km in the water, 66.6km on foot and 49.95km on the bikes - for a grand total of 133.2km. Not sure if we reached Cambodia but what a fantastic effort!
Monday's trip to Happy Lodge was a wonderful start to the week. The children seemed to really enjoy themselves and are excited about returning to visit the residents more regularly when they are in Grade One. Of course, the experience was very different for everybody and we talked a lot about what to do if your resident did not speak English, was reluctant or did not want to join in the craft activity or, even, did not seem particularly happy to see you. We discussed how it often takes time to build up relationships and that this was, after all, only our first meeting. On the other hand, some children came back with gifts from their residents!!
In the classroom this week, we started tuning-in to our sixth and final Unit of Study for the year, “Animal Adaptations.” In this unit, the children will explore animals from around the world and investigate the features that allow them to adapt to life in specific regions and survive in their environment. We unpacked the idea of adaptation and what the word ‘adapt’ actually means. After adding our ‘wonders’ to the Wonderwall, we started by thinking about ourselves and how we adapt to changes in our environment or circumstances, such as when it is raining or when we moved from K1 to K2. We then began to shift our thinking to how animals physical features and behaviour have adapted over time to cope with similar changes. In pairs, the children explored non-fiction animal books and created lists of recognisable physical features. We discussed any similarities and differences we discovered and tried to group the animals accordingly.
We selected two animals that we feel we already know a lot about and were invited to draw them as accurately as possible, again focusing on their physical characteristics. Then, we were interviewed about the different animals and the following questions were put to us:
How are the two animals similar?
How are they different?
How do their body parts help them to survive in their habitat?
From here, we will introduce the idea of camouflage and how and why animals use it.
In Reading Workshop, we started our “Non-fiction” unit. This ties in perfectly with “Animal Adaptations” as the children will be able to transfer a number of their reading skills as they research animals. This week, the children explored a wide range of non-fiction texts and identified features of information books, such as a Contents Page, glossaries, diagrams and photographs, labels, an Index and so on. Over the coming weeks, we will explore how to use these features to access information from non-fiction texts in an efficient manner.
In Writing Workshop, we also started a new unit, namely “All About Books.” Again, this unit allows for meaningful links across the curriculum. Following their “on-demand piece” which we complete at the start of every unit, the children started creating their very own books. At this stage, we discussed ways to select topics to write about, planning ideas across the pages to make sure we are really “experts” before committing pencil to paper. Over the coming weeks, we will look at how we can sort everything we know about a specific topic into sections of a book so that they are not just a jumble of facts. We will also look at some of the craft moves real authors use in information books and see if we can adopt some of them in our own pieces.
In Mathematics, the children are greatly enjoying our “Patterns” unit. Following “pattern hunts” in and around the classroom, the children have been creating their own repeating patterns using a variety of media, including oral, rhythm, number and shape patterns. From here, the children moved onto growing patterns and, again, explored this idea through a variety of media, focusing on shapes.
We ended the week with a visit to the wonderful Grade 5 Exhibition. The "big kids" did a fantastic job explaining the journey of their exhibition to the children and then sharing their work. Suffice to say, the K2 children were very impressed! Congratulations to everyone involved.
Miss Imogen has now uploaded the Arts Festival video. It can be accessed directly by clicking on the 'Music' tab link at the top of this page. Finally, do not forget that we start swimming in P.E. next week. It all kicks off with the Infant Aquatics Day next Wednesday 28th May from 9.00-9.50am at Bedok Swimming Complex. Please come along and enjoy it with us. I am not sure if we will still have swimming that afternoon but, either way, they will already have their swimmers with them.
Please do not forget to encourage your child to complete some/all of their Service Diary and, remember, raising awareness is more important than raising funds...although every little bit helps.
Have a great weekend.
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