Firstly, our K2BeM Kuma ambassadors (Griffin, Sebastian, Coco, Devangi and Finnley) have arrived safely in Cambodia. Right now, they are visiting the villages where our Kuma friends live after having spent the day together at the Kuma School. Hopefully, they will have lots of stories to share on their return. Our Island Foundations ambassadors (Sama and Toby) are boarding a ferry to Bintan as we speak. Fingers crossed they too will have lots to tell us when they get back. Good luck, guys! We are proud of you.
In the classroom, we have started to think about animal adaptations in more detail, focusing on camouflage. We researched different animals that use camouflage to help them survive. We discovered that some animals use it to avoid predators and, others, to hide from the prey they are trying to catch. We played a fantastic game to try and illustrate the power of camouflage. The children worked in groups to find as many newspaper animal cutouts as they could in a given time, the catch being that the newspaper animals were all hidden on a background of...newspapers! This made it very difficult to see them and the discussions following the game were very revealing.
Later, we started work on our own animal patterns. We zoomed in on the fur, scales or feathers of an animal of our choosing and recreated this on an A3 square in pencil. We were encouraged to focus on the detail. Then, we tried to imagine the texture of the animal skin and were invited to replicate this using different media, including paints, fabric and natural materials.
Next week, we will divide into interest groups and begin researching specific animal adaptations with the aim of creating a class non-fiction eBook using Book Creator on the iPads.
In Reading Workshop, our “Non-fiction” unit continues to compliment the ongoing “Animal Adaptations” inquiry. This week, we established Book Clubs based on interest groups...many of them involving animals! We then worked together, using what we now know about the features of non-fiction books, to identify and, later, share interesting facts we discovered. Some of these facts are now displayed on our "Did you know?" board. In Writing Workshop, we continued working on our own “All About Books.” Again, we tried to incorporate some of the non-fiction book features we now know to try and organise our thinking so that our books are not just a jumble of facts. In addition, we have been adding labels to our illustrations, diagrams, ‘zoom-ins’ and “Did You Know?” boxes.
In Mathematics, we have been exploring more complex growing patterns and creating our own using different media. These have including fish and trees that grow in a specific way every time they become a year older! We have also created simple t-charts to record the number of blocks or shapes used each time a particular pattern grows and have explored any number patterns we have noticed in these charts.
Thank you to everyone who came to support us on Wednesday at the Bedok Swimming Complex. We had so much fun displaying all the skills we have been practicing during our swimming lessons at school. A big thank you to the P.E. team for all their hard work in organising the morning for us. Of course, we also started swimming in P.E. this week, so it has been a very wet week for K2BeM!
On Wednesday, we also met up with our G3 buddies to take part in Coins for Change. This was a student-led initiative to raise funds for Bali Bridges. Over the course of the day, children were invited to add their coins to a giant flower mural on the floor. It looked fantastic and, at the end of the day, all the coins were donated to this wonderful GC. I am just glad we did not have to count them all!
Please do not forget that the SERVICE DIARIES are due back in school next Friday 6th June. It would be great if you could find the time to support your child with this over the coming days.
Lastly, we said farewell to Jaisimh this afternoon. He is moving with his family to the U.S. and I am sure you will join me in wishing them all lots of luck on their new adventure together. Jaisimh has promised he will keep in touch and will take a little bit of K2BeM with him!!
Have a great weekend
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