Pre K-K Newsletter October,

2016

PYP News!

Dear Parents, We have completed the first unit of inquiry and related learning. As your child comes home and talks to you about the learning happening at school, please, share these with your child’s teachers. All classes are now starting unit 2. Please, if you have any expertise to share with us, contact your child’s teacher, for we love to have parents comes in to share their expertise in class. Thank you. Ms. Vani PYP Coordinator/Grade 5 Teacher

THE ARTS During Art class, students learned how to draw figures based on Jyvia Soma Marshe's Artwork. The activities consisted in drawing members of their family using geometrical shapes like circles, squares and triangles. They experimented with Clay and Foam board media to create 3D artwork. Students explored Collage techniques to illustrate through a Self-Portrait project what job they want to do in the future. -Mr. Christophe

Music:

Unit: The central idea of our first unit was, “Families we belong to are different” under the transdisciplinary theme of Who We Are. We had a lot of fun exploring this unit of inquiry. Guest speakers came in to tell us about their families, we shared family photos, read stories about families, we compared our families, and we spent time together as a family at our family picnic. This unit taught us that we all have different families and this makes us special. We were then able to connect our unit to the learner profile of being caring. We also learned about two attitudes through this unit as well; cooperation and appreciation. For our next unit the Early Years will be learning about the idea that, “The relationships within communities enrich individuals.” under the transdisciplinary theme of Sharing the Planet. We will be learning about how we are all individually talented and when we bring those talents into our

communities we are able to work together and make something amazing. The Learner Profiles and Attitudes we will be exploring are open-minded and tolerance. For our summative assessment we will be working in groups to build something together with our community. We will be observed on how well we work together within our communities.

LANGUAGES:

English: In languages we are reading lots of stories connected to our unit of inquiry. Through turn and talk we share our ideas and opinions. Each week we have DEAR time (drop everything and read) when we get to take a look at different books that interest us. We are also exploring letters of the alphabet using the Jolly Phonics order of sounds. So far we have explored letters S, F, P, A, T, I, N, and M. We are able to read and write these letters. During centers we use a variety of learning experiences to help guide our learning of letters, sounds and words. Soon we will be learning site words is, it, an, and at and letters d, g,

Unit 1

After spending a few weeks becoming acquainted with the music class routines, Pre K - K are now working on increasing our singing repertoire. We have been exploring each new song through singing, playing accompanying games and playing instruments. These songs include Acka Backa, Do You Hear the Hammering, Wolf, Doggie Doggie and Cuckoo. Students have also been reflecting on how music from different countries can make them imagine many different things. -Mr. Grant

PSPE Students have been learning how to follow instruction and play together in small groups. Students learn to share and help each other. In swimming they have been learning fun games to develop water confidence. -Mr. Adam

and o in this next unit. Vietnamese: Native students: Students began to get acquaintance with the Vietnamese alphabet. In unit 1, students learned about a, ă, â with various tasks. They listened and responded to the Vietnamese stories and quizz. Then students sang Vietnamese songs relating to the Moon Festival celebration in school event. Non- native students : We learn about Gia Đình Tôi ( My Family) : Vocabulary: Ông, bà, bố, mẹ, anh trai, chị gái, em bé và tôi. PreK - K students made beautiful family pictures with ice-cream sticks, wiggly eyes and PVA glue. We practice hand skills with tracing book and have a lot of fun with mazes. We also reflect ourselves through games: Who is the fastest ? with images and family vocabulary.

MATHS: Our first unit focused on Data Handling. We looked at pictographs, bar graphs, tally charts, and venn diagrams. The students enjoyed comparing their families using a venn diagram and creating a life size graph in the classroom. The next unit focuses on sorting, organizing, and categorizing data. We will be working on sorting ourselves into communities. We will also be using math manipulatives to help guide our inquiry

into maths. Numbers will also be explored in this unit. Base ten blocks will be used to help us with identifying numbers and comparing them. Why do we have numbers? What do we use them for? Use these questions at home to help guide learning in the classroom.

Miss Lisa’s comment: Welcome to our first transdisciplinary newsletter. These newsletters will be issued throughout the year and will show planning and reflection of different units. Our new teachers have settled in quickly and all of our students have been led through their first unit of inquiry. I have loved getting to know the new students and families and wanted to say a big thank you to all the families that came to our recent Parent Teacher Conferences. Each teacher has a blog, which can be found on the school website, this will keep you up to date on current learning at HIS.

Miss Lisa Hughes

Unit 1

Key Dates: 10th - 14th October: Autumn Break 17th and 18th October: Non-Student Day PD for teachers 24th October: Grade 5 camp 25th October: Drama Workshop 10th November: Late start II 11th November: International Day/20th Birthday 21st November: Teachers Day 24th November: Sports Day 27th November: HIWC Bazaar 28th and 29th November: 3 Way Conferences 7th December: Report Cards issued 9th December: Last day of semester 1. Finish at 11am

Student Reflections “I like when I drew my family” - Tae Hun “I learned about different families” - Rinon “My favorite thing was going to the park with our families.” - Alessia “I learned families have different jobs”- Yago “We made our family in Art with Mr. Christophe.” -Bin “Families are the same and different and we used a venn diagram to sort them out.” - Lam Giang

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 life-long learner with a strong sense of self worth.

Unit 1