NTSIS PYP Primary Newsletter (2nd December – 6th December 2019)
Transdisciplinary Theme: How we express ourselves
Christmas is fast approaching and lessons had heightened in the festive mood. Teachers and students have expressed themselves in good spirits. We hope to see you at our Christmas assembly where we will be caroling and hot chocolate will be served.
What a busy week…
Grade 1:
Central idea:
Sound can help us understand the world and express ourselves
Lines of inquiry:
1. Sources of sounds
2. Expressing ourselves through sounds
3. Responding to sounds
Christmas is just around the corner and G1 happily got into a festive spirit this week! The children put on their Santa hats and excitedly decorated their Christmas tree and created Christmas decorations for the classroom.
For UOI, we found ourselves taking a “Listening Walk” to explore the different sources of sounds in and around the school. In the Music room, we tried different musical instruments to find out which ones have high and low pitches and which ones have loud and soft sounds. We even practiced our Christmas carols using the maracas and bells. We heard the sounds of birds, rustling leaves, tree branches, as well as planes, construction work, boots walking, various cars and trucks in our outdoor walk. At the school gym, we heard students talking, playing, dribbling balls, and shoes running. We even managed a quick peek at the boiler rooms to explore loud and unpleasant sounds. Additionally, we made paper cup and string telephones and tested them along the hallways.
Language Arts and Math centered on activities about the digraph “th” and skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s.
What a busy week!
Grade 2:
Central idea:
Imagination is a powerful tool
Lines of inquiry:
1. How we show and enjoy our imagination
2. Our imagination helps us to explore new possibilities
3. Ways in which we can share our imagination
We have continued with, Line of Inquiry 1: how we show and enjoy imagination. We have done so in a variety of ways. Watching the movie, “Treasure Planet,” allowed the learners to see someone else’s imagination in effect through a movie. It also allowed them to vocalise what they are thinking and can imagine, making connections with the real world and their lives. Connections were also made by some learners of other books they have read and similarities that they have noticed in this story.
The imagination was also used in Math and English, as the learners looked at a blank piece of paper and tried to imagine the snowflake that will immerge once they have finished cutting it out. The completed snowflakes have also been a welcome addition to the class as they have helped decorate the class for Christmas.
In Math, we have continued to work on time. Mastering the language; o’clock, pm, am, past, to, quarter past, quarter to, half past, hour, minute, morning, afternoon, evening, lunch time, dinner time and breakfast. This week we have also worked on counting forwards and backwards using time. The learners also played the game, “Wolf, wolf, what time is it,” taking their understanding of time outside and playing a game.
Kayla received the achievement award for Unit 2 spelling, as she was the only one to get all her words correct every week during Unit 2. Well done Kayla.
Grade 3/4:
Central idea:
Stories are created and expressed in a variety of ways
Lines of inquiry:
1. Story structure and elements
2. The purpose of stories
3. Different versions of the same story
To wrap up unit 2, we were engaged in different types of conversations related to the travel industry-buying a flight ticket, booking a hotel etc. Students created a travel agency using desks and posters, then they practiced their communication skills during role-play activities.
We have started our 3rd unit where students will be learning about structures, elements and the purpose of stories. We did some research on narrative writing and this week, we will be analysing its purpose and structure.
In Math lessons, students learned about multiplication strategies and did some calculations on multiplication tables of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. They also explored number patterns in the multiplication tables.
In language inquiry, we focused on the use of prepositions in a sentence. Our week ended with math, language and spelling short assessments.
What a busy week!
Grade 5/6:
Central idea:
We express and solve problems differently based on different points of view.
Lines of inquiry:
1. People identifying problems
2. Conflict resolution skills
3. People expressing conflict through the arts
Students continued to learn about the six-step problem-solving process. We have looked at Step 2 – analyse the problem; Step 3 – generate potential solutions; Step 4 – select and plan the solutions; Step 5 – implement the solution; and lastly, Step 6 – evaluate the solution. This process is a valuable tool to solve difficult and complex issues. We also learned to solve word problems using ratios and bar models. We read about another explorer, Sir Stamford Raffles, who is the founder of modern Singapore. He also loved to explore the world of tropical plants and animals and made several discoveries during his life. We studied a poem on punctuation marks. We looked closely at the parts and their functions in the circulatory system. We studied about how the circulatory system transport substances around the body and how the different organ systems work together with the circulatory system.
This week, we feature specialist subject: Music
We have busy rehearsing for the winter performance. Look how we have been! It is going to be a great show!
