NTSIS PYP Preschool Newsletter (26th August – 30rd August 2019)
Transdisciplinary Theme: Who we are
We are at the halfway mark of the first unit. Students and teachers are engaged in meaningful inquiries by gathering, sorting out information and make connections for the actions to come. Parents play an important part in supporting our community of learning. Learning never cease in NTSIS!
What a busy week…
Nursery:
Central idea:
Getting to know about myself
Line of inquiry 1: Our body functions
Line of inquiry 2: Our abilities
Children learned and identified the names of their facial features. The toy, “Mr Potato” was introduced to help enhanced the children’s awareness about their facial features.
They also actively participated in various activities using their hands such as finger painting, touching different kinds of texture using their hands, drawing and painting their hands, and singing songs with hand actions.
We are going to…
The children will continue to explore their facial features. This week’s focus is on the functions of the various facial features. This is to let the students have a better understanding about what their eyes, or nose, or ears, or mouth can do.
What a busy week…
Kindergarten 1:
Central idea:
Senses help us experience the world
Line of inquiry 1: The senses
Line of inquiry 2: Functions of senses
We started the week by inquiring whether sloths and koala bears have ears and listening skills. We learned that Koala bears have better hearing than sloths which have tiny ears. However, sloths have great eyesight and good sense of smell to help defend themselves. We continued to inquire into sounds and hearing using our ears by playing 2 games: identifying different farm sounds and ‘In or Out’ the hot pot. For Language, we practised vowels e i o u, wrote our name and handwriting practice c, o and a. For Maths, we practised counting aloud 1 ~ 30, number writing 1 ~ 3 and worksheet 1 ~ 10.
We are going to…
This week, we will be inquiring into sight and experiencing how depth perception help our eyes to work properly.
What a busy week…
Kindergarten 2:
Central idea:
Everyone is different
Line of inquiry 1: Physical characteristics
Line of inquiry 2: Personal characteristics
In UOI, K2 shared their ideas about what they would like to learn more about. They all gave interesting ideas, such as Emma, TC and Cat’s “I want to make a school bag” Alan and David, saying, “I want to learn more about germs!”
We used or library time to practice silent reading. It also gave me a chance to read in smaller groups and one on one with each child. Here they are on Friday afternoon, using the library as a means to explore the things they said they wanted to learn more about.
We also began an eye colour chart and pracriced counting by 2’s. We discussed vowel sounds and when to use’ is’ and ‘are.’ We sang a song about opposites and played a body part guessing game.
We are going to…
This week in reading we will continue with the Oxford Learning Tree beginner level 1B series. In writing we will continue reviewing the proper stroke order for letters A-Z. For both reading and writing we will have stations for different levels. In speaking we will talk practice a dialogue about food. In math, we will finish our eye colour, chart and continue with hair length, hands and toes. We will add and subtract by 5’s to count the number of hands and toes altogether!
This week, we feature specialist subject: P.E.
Nursery:
Students participated in a very fun and challenging obstacle course! They reviewed the name of body parts as they developed a variety of locomotor and transfer weight skills. It was an excellent opportunity to collaborate with Ms. Goh and thus extend learning beyond classroom.
Kindergarten 1:
In line with the central idea, students engaged in a variety of activities that develop locomotor skills and listening skills. They were able to develop independence, personal responsibility, and approached new situations with perseverance. We also emphasized the importance of following procedures while in PE class.
Kindergarten 2:
This week, K2 played a variety of tag games! Students were able to practice running and agility skills. We also emphasized the importance of following safety procedures while in PE class. At the end of class, students reflected upon their experiences, similarities and differences.
Events:
Coffee Time with Parents (4th September 2019)
We took a look at the events that we will be celebrating at the PYP. The next celebration will be for the National Day of China. We also had a short discussion on Language & Assessment policies. This Coffee time saw the launch of the series of PYP Basics. This week, we looked at what a central idea is. Since inquiry does not stop in school, we are committed to support parents in understanding the IB philosophy. We hope to have parent collaborations in our curriculum planning in the future.
Celebrating Mid-Autumn at assembly (6th September 2019)
Parents joined us to introduce how the Mid-autumn festival is celebrated in their countries. They even taught us how to make festive goodies of China, Japan and Korea. While the activity time was short, we had a blast! Thank you, parents!
