PreK-K Newsletter    

 

PYP News! 

 Dear Parents,   We (the teachers) started the term with             a 2 day PYP professional development           workshop on Personal, Physical and         Social Education. You may have         noticed our lessons and assemblies are           much more active! We also had a PYP               parent workshop that was well attended           and very interactive. The elementary         school has a very important 3 day visit               from the IB in April. This is focussed on                 assessing and improving our school.         Teachers have been working on this           since February! I will be looking for             parent volunteers to help represent and           improve our school.  Mr Neil ­ PYP Coordinator

 Learning about the learner profile.  

 

Unit of Inquiry:  The PreK­K students enjoyed the Unit           of Inquiry ‘HOMES.’ It gave them an             opportunity to learn about different         family lives and culture. One of the             highlights of the unit was the ‘HOME             VISITS.’ The class had fun exploring           and learning about various homes         and cultures of their friends and           teachers. They learnt about the         different routines and activities most         families have in their respective         homes. They became familiar with         the learner profile and attitudes for           this unit, ‘Being open­minded,       knowledgeable, respectful and     

curiosity. ‘   The next unit is all about ‘LIGHT. The Central Idea is, ‘Knowing that light comes                             from different sources helps us to understand it as a resource.’ The Lines of                           Inquiry are:  ­ Different sources of light  ­What light can do and how we use it  ­ Light as a resource    The students will be exploring light           forms and will learn the different           sources of light. It is a fun and               Science­focused unit where the kids         can do experiments about lights,         shadows and reflection. For the         summative assessment they will be         working on a ‘LIGHT EXHIBIT’ where           students will explain and present the           different sources of light and how it is               used as a resource.  

Unit 2 and 3 

THE ARTS:  The students have been learning         different architecture from Gaudi and         Hundertwasser. They drew pictures of         homes inspired by their works. They           used Hundertwasser’s technique of       drawing curvy lines in designing homes.  For the next Unit of Inquiry the students               have started using LIGHT in creating           ART. They’ve discovered that       flashlights can be used in drawing.           They’ve explored 3 dimensional       drawing inspired by Pablo Picasso. 

 

PSPE: In PE the students continued to look at working together as a team. We supported the inquiry of homes by allowing the students to build their own style of home with PE equipment. The students are now looking at Physical Literacy and learning to throw and catch. 

 

 

MUSIC: Kinder have continued working on the all important fundamental of steady beat with a new game called Metre Tag, which the students find a lot of fun. We are working on extending our memory with Solfege echoing, listening and watching the body percussion carefully, and searching for patterns. Tideo is another fun movement activity the students have been practicing and involves focusing large body movements on steady beat. Enjoy your winter holidays! Mr. Grant 

 

VIETNAMESE:       

 

LANGUAGES: In Language class, the students continued their             learning about letter names, sounds and picture             words. Last quarter, the letters were: Hh, Pp, Rr,                 Vv and Ss. For written language, they have               started writing short phrases and sentences, using             descriptive text. They enjoyed joining in role­play             activities 

which improved their oral       communication skills. The students       performed in the Elementary Assembly         and showed their viewing and         presenting skills in performing a short           skit of ‘The Three Little Pigs.” 

 

Next quarter, the students will be learning             new words to enrich their vocabulary about             the Unit of Inquiry ‘LIGHT,’ They will be               exploring a new text type, ‘Explanation’           and will look into writing sentences to             

explain. They will continue to learn new letters, sounds and picture words. Sight                         words/High­Frequency words and CVC (consonant­vowel­consonant) words will             be introduced to help them read words that can be seen mostly in books and in                               posters around them.  

  

MATHS:  In Maths, the students inquired into           measurement. They used different       non­standard units to measure objects.         They continued learning about data         handling and sorting data into charts and             pictographs. They have started to learn           how to complete venn diagrams by           comparing their own homes from their           friends’ homes. The students joined in           

Math games, recognising numbers and worked on             counting skills using board games.  Next quarter, they will be exploring symmetry and will look                   into how objects around them are even and symmetrical.                 Another focus will be learning more about 2D and 3D                   shapes and incorporating shapes into drawings and             recognising shapes around them. Fractions will be             introduced and they will be familiar on how fractions are                   used in everyday situations. 

    

Unit 2 and 3 

The students have learnt types of           houses in Vietnam in different places           ­ in the city, on the sea and in the                   Northern & Southern mountain areas         of Vietnam. They practiced their cutting skills         and used straws to make cottages,           red paper to make brick houses and             ice­cream sticks to build wooden         houses. They enjoyed building their dream houses using lego and   blocks. They have learnt new words related to           homes. In unit 3, students will enrich             their vocabulary by learning new         words related to light sources (đèn           dầu, nến, diêm,...) and shadow by           using flashcards, introducing     different visual materials. They will         do a reflection on their worksheets,           posters and short presentation. 

International Day

 

Key Dates: 3rd December:  PTA meeting 8th­10th December (6.30):  Elementary School Production of the Velveteen Rabbit 9th December:  Elementary Reports home 11th December:   Early close at 11am 11th January 2016:  Back to school 

 

Miss Lisa’s comment:   A few weeks of thank yous. 

Thank you to Mr Adam, Mr Andy, Mr Long and Mr Dung for organising Sports Day, a lot of fun was had by all.  Thank you to the PTA for promoting Teacher’s day with our students and parents, we all felt really valued.  Thank you to the HIWC Committee for organising the fair and for involving our students. Thank you to all the teachers who have been working hard on their own blogs.  If you go to the Elementary Section on www.hisvietnam.com you wil see direct links to what is going on in your chilld’s class. 

 

Student Reflections: The focus of this unit is to become aware and exposed to family life and culture of different homes.  Through various activities and home visits the students learnt more about their friends’ homes.  Upon learning the culture of homes from other people they came up with their own ideas on how they want to build their dream homes and how they want the culture of their home to be. Below are some of the student’s reflections: Lorenzo­“I want to have a big house so I could invite people in.  I want my house to be clean because I can’t do my work when it’s dirty.  I love to do Movie Night with my family and eat together with them at the dining table.  This is the culture of my home.”   Thomas­ ““I want my house to have many windows.  I like lots of windows because I want to see the world outside.  Homes should have people, TV, toys, beds and food so people can live (and not die).  I want to invite lots of people to visit my house.  This is the culture of my home.”   Sophie­“I made a house with many toys.  I want my grandma to live with me, my mum and my dad.  At home the culture of my family is when my mum and dad are busy doing something I also make myself busy and do some writing and drawing.”    A Yeon­ “I made a big house because it is beautiful. I want my sister, mum and dad to live with me. I want to sleep, play and eat together with my family.  My home’s culture is we can’t watch TV because TV is not good.  On weekends, we all spend time playing tag together with my family.”  

 Hanoi International School enables all students to realise their full potential in a caring and positive learning environment. Through our broad and balanced international curriculum, we endeavour to develop responsible, globally conscious citizens. We strive to develop the whole child as a life­long learner with a strong sense of self worth. 

 

Unit 2 and 3