Tuning in to our new unit

What a fun-filled week we've had!
We wrapped up our last unit by presenting our projects, began looking into our new unit about forces and motion, went on our field trip to Higashi Clean Center and had two birthday celebrations (three, if you count Mrs. J's baby!)🎂

In Language, studied about homophones and homonyms. Ask your child if they can give you some examples of them.

In Math, we are continuing to study about arrays, skip counting and looking at fractions.

Here are the students sharing about their projects they made last week -

For our new unit about forces and motion, we took a walk around school to see where we can find out about gravity, friction, push and pull. Here we are in action -

On Thursday, we enjoyed our field trip to Higashi Clean Center. Can your child explain the steps in how garbage is incinerated and recyclable materials separated at the Center? Here are some photos of our trip - Higashi Clean Center photo album.

On Monday, February 11 the Grade 1 and 2 classes will have a flea market open to everyone from DESK. In order to prepare for this as part of our recycling unit, we would encourage the grade 1 students to bring in things from home which you no longer need but is clean and in usuable condtion. We can accept toys, books, clothes, household items, CDs, DVDs, games and such.
Your child can bring the things to sell from Feb. 4 -8. 
Any items which are not sold will be given to a donation organization, Shaplaneer.
The Grade 1 and 2 students will participate in helping sell things at the flea market during recess times and after school.
Parents can come shop at the flea market after school as well. 

Parents should've receive an email regarding new clubs starting this term. Sign up is done via an online link shared in the email. Please contact Mr. Brabant for more information.

Report cards will be sent home on Friday afternoon (today) via email with a pdf attachment of the report. This is a different format as done in the past.

Have an enjoyable weekend!
Ms. Ramani

Project Week

The students have been so insightful into their learning about how to keep the Earth eco-friendly! Last week, we looked at the trash we collected throughout the week and discovered how much excess materials we are throwing out, especially plastic. Yes, plastic is good for keeping food fresh for longer time but not very good for the environment. This week, we used the materials collected plus more to create something that would be useful for people. Here are the photos of the students in action -

We also looked at letter writing this week in Language. Perhaps your child even gave you a letter he/she wrote in class 💖. We will continue more on letter writing in the coming weeks.  In Math, we looked into arrays, what they are and where we see them around us. We also looked at what the multiples of 2, 5, 10 are.

We will be going on our unit field trip to Higashi Clean Center on Thursday, January 31st from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. There is no cost for this field trip, and we will be back in school for lunch time.

From February 4 - 8, we will be having Three-Way Conferences. I have sent out the link where you can choose what time you would like to come in with your child after school to discuss their progress.

We have many clubs offered for the next term. Please sign up using this link -
 New Term Club

And finally, Scholastic Book Club Orders have been sent home today. Please purchase the books online as done previously.

Have a lovely weekend!
Sincerely,
Ms. Ramani

Another busy week!

Dear Parents,

We had another busy week of school after Winter break.

We have been studying how people's actions affect the Earth, the students are learning about recycling and conserving resources. The students have been carefully collecting their trash this week and putting it in their bags. We've seen how trash is cluttering the Earth and causing harm to the environment, people and animals. 
We discussed the book, "The Lorax", by Dr. Seuss and the students wrote how they would help the Earth. 

On Friday, the students investigated the types of trash they were disposing throughout the week - plastic, metal, wood, paper, styrofoam and other. They counted each type and graphed the results. I wonder why we use so much plastic...?

We went to visit the pre-schoolers who were sharing their Shape Fair. The first graders enjoyed asking questions and seeing how much the little ones knew. 

Please take care as many students are coming down with the cold or flu. Make sure to dress warmly, drink plenty of fluids, wash your hands and get proper sleep at night.

Have a lovely weekend!
Kind Regards,
Ms. Ramani

Christmas Market Schedule on Friday

Dear Parents,

Christmas Market is on Friday. You are all invited to watch the performances and to buy goodies hand made by your children. The Market aims to raise funds for a certain charity. Please support this project.

Below is the schedule on that day.

8:30 - 10:00AM -  usual routines. 

10:00 - Recommended Snack Time

In the MPR:

10:20AM -                          Greeting by Alex (and Kate)

10:25 - 10:30 -                   Baton Twirling 

10:30 -10:40 -                    Early Years 

10:40 - 10:45 -                   Grade 1 

10:45 - 10:50 -                   Grade 5/6

10:50 - 10:55 -                   Whole School Song

10:55 - 11:00 -                    Introduction of cause and opening of the market. 

11:00 - 12:00 - Christmas Market 

12:10 -                               Gather back in MPR / Visit from Santa

12:30 ~                               Return to homerooms for final goodbyes. Children Grade 1 and under MUST be 

                                           picked up by a parent or guardian at the classroom. 

See you all on FRIDAY!!! :)

Mrs J

REMINDERS

Dear Parents,

We are on the last school week for the year 2018. This will be a tremendously busy week for everyone especially for the kids.

Please be reminded of the following:

1. School lunch order should be paid by Wednesday, 12 December 2018.

2. On Thursday, Mrs Akiko (Junsu Yu's Mom) will help us bake cookies for the Christmas Market.

3. A Holiday homework will be given for the kids. The homework will include 3 reading comprehension texts, 1 Writing and 1 Math. This will be given on Thursday, 13 December 2018.

4. I will be on leave from January 2019 to end of March, 2019. Ms Ramani will be in charge of the class. She has been with us for a couple of days and has familiarised herself with the kids, the routine and the lessons. Please feel free to talk to her and ask her anything under the sun.

See you on the Christmas Market!!!

Regards,

Mrs J

What does LIMITED RESOURCES mean?

This is what we want our students to understand prior to starting the new unit. To make them grasp the concept of LIMITED RESOURCES, the students were asked to choose 5 materials they will need to come up with a Christmassy artwork. It was fun to observe them as they were choosing the materials and also as they were making them. Let us see what will they bring in to the reflection part of the activity. :)

I See, I Think, I Wonder

As part of tuning into the new unit, the Grade 1 students were given a challenging task - they went around the school and looked at the garbage disposal system we have. They tok note of what they saw and observed in the I SEE column.  The follow up task will focus on wha they THINK and what they WONDER. :)