Newsletter September 25th - 28th

Dear parents,

It was a great pleasure to see you at our annual event - Sports Day. I hope you enjoyed the games and activities. I would like to ask you to fill out the form and help us get better. Here is the link of the form: Sports Day Feedback Form.

UoI: Our focus was the hardships and problems that refugees and migrants can have in a host country. Students were very active and worked hard to find out more about the challenges that people might have in a different country. Later on, one of the students said that we could organize an fundraising during ICF. I was very happy when another student took an immediate action and donated his pocket money. This is a nice example of "action", which motivated the other students. Another group helped making donation box and decorated it. Another awesome "action" was that the students talked to their parents and asked them to donate as well. The next day, most of the students donated.
A nice example of "Think Globally, Act Locally".

Math: Students recalled how to divide numbers using long division method. The last day, they tried to re-invent decimal multiplication. The idea was to observe and find out how decimal multiplication was the same as normal multiplication.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Newsletter September 18 - 21st

Hello,

Third week of term 2 is over. Here are the things that students explored during Math, UoI and Art lessons.

UoI: 
We did continue to explore more about migration, migrants, immigrants and refugees. The main focus was on refugees. Students should know the definition of refuge, refugee and the difference from migrant. We read different articles about children who were forced to escape from their country due to war and danger. The long way towards safety and freedom is full of danger and challenges. It was very interesting how some kids were sensitive about this issue and could put themselves migrant's shoes.

Math:
We focused on 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication. Students who were comfortable with this topic had a chance to work on higher level multiplication, like 3-digit by 2-digit multiplication. To relate this exercise to real life, kids were asked to make up word problems about daily life. This makes this activity more interesting since students are thinking about the ideas they like.

Important Days

1) Sports Day - September 28th, Friday

Newsletter September 3rd - 14th

Dear parents,
This newsletter is a combined one for the first two weeks of Term 2. Please accept my apologies for not doing so on time. I will do my best to keep you updated periodically if not daily. Please continue visiting our blog and leave your comments.

UoI:
Our first theme is Where We Are in Place and Time. It is an inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the inter-connectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives. We will be focusing on migration of people and its risks, challenges and opportunities.
We tried to guess and check the meaning words of migration, to migrate, to emigrate, to immigrate and refuge. To raise students' interest in this area, we packed all our stuff and 'migrated' to 10th floor GYM on Tuesday. It was a nice and fruitful activity because everyone experienced the hardships and challenges of moving/migrating to another place.

Math:
We are working on decimals and decimal multiplication. Students are able to multiply/divide decimal numbers by a power of ten (10, 100, 1000) mentally and quickly. We learned that multiplying/dividing is the same thing as moving decimal point left or right according to number of zeros. Connecting this topic to our UoI, students calculated/estimated how many kilograms they can carry for some amount of time.

Art:
What is the best backpack? What features should it have to be useful for migrants?
These questions were the main focus during Art. Groups were asked to design/draw/model it.

Important days.
1. September 21, Friday - Puberty seminar
2. September 28th, Friday - Sports Day

Please let me know if you have any questions.