Weekly update of the 18th -22nd February.

                                                 
Dear Parents,


thank you to each and every Mom, Dad and Grandparent that came to read or tell a story in their mother tongue. The students thoroughly enjoyed having you in the class. You added much value to the celebration of Book Week. View the link to see yourselves in action

We had an extremely busy and fun week, see some activities below: View Book Week photo's
Grade 7 learners came to read to Grade 2's.



Grade 2 students went to read with Grade 1 students.



Ms. Avril was our mystery reader in the library.



WIS Reading River.



Author Helni Itenge shared some of her stories with us.

We read the book Stuart Little goes to the library. this book helped students to understand the concept of cause and effect , which is one of our key concepts
for the unit. The aim is for students to undeunderstand the concept of cause and effect, once they understand the concept it will be easier to not only
answer comprehension activities but also to apply their understanding to other subjects and disciplines of life.

Students gave and made real-life connections to cause and effect during class talks.
Refer to our inquiry cycle (the outside wall) for examples.

On our second visit to the Chemistry, Science lab Math was integrated as students learned a lot about measurement. Students learned about different types of pippetes and burrets and a new term meniscus. They used units of measurements in context and could make connections to everyday measurement on mass and volume.

We continue to look at the Learner Agency as students have indicated more interest in learning Multiplication and Division. Here is a Brainpop video they can watch. They have log in details at the back of their homework diary books. Some may be wondering what Learner Agency is, read below,

Grade 2D has voted for the African Fish Eagle for the school mascot. Students are creating a presentation as a motivation for their choice for next Friday's assembly. They are sharpening their Research, communication and ICT skills by learning to listen, observe and take down notes while putting together their presentation on my story app.

Important notices

• Students will be writing MAP tests during the week of 25th February 2019.
• Grade 2 write Reading and Math. Students have been told and are aware.
• We will do a few practice sessions to prepare them closer to the dates.

School fundraising announcements

Dear Parents,

A message from grade 8:

There will be ice lollies, ice-cream cones and soda floats for sale on Wednesday, 20 Feb'19 at second break.

On Friday we will have baked goodies and Portuguese savoury tarts for sale.

Can you please announce this to your classes.

Thanks!

Spray- a- thon

Friday, 22 February @ Second Break (Primary Second Break for Primary,
 Secondary Second Break for Secondary)Primary - in front of the PTA Community Centre
 (the PTA has kindly agreed to organise some members to help with the spraying)
Secondary - at the Chess tables (the Senior Student Council has kindly agreed to help with the spraying, 
if anyone else can help, please let me know).

• N$20 per rainbow head
• N$ 5 per stencil
• N$ 5 for any other spraying 

• All funds donated will go to the Cancer Association of Namibia
•  which is one of the charities we have been supporting for a long time now.

Reading booklets

Dear Parents,

Here are some booklets, comprehensions, and worksheets based on the booklets for students to complete. All students have moved to new reading levels and will benefit from some practice. Students are aware of their levels (colours)

Reading levels

Orange       Comprehension  Worksheet
Grey           Comprehension  Worksheet
Green         Comprehension  Worksheet
Brown        Comprehension  Worksheet
Purple        Comprehension  Worksheet
Dark pink  Comprehension   Worksheet
Lemon       Worksheet

Please sign up here for reading a story or telling a folks tale in your mother tongue for book week 18th- 22nd February.

Weekly Update 11th -15th February 2019

Dear Parents,


This week was full of events, our mini scientists have been doing what scientists do: asking questions, coming up with a hypothesis, researching, drawing pictures, using apparatus, exploring, observing. Lots of experiments were done individually as well as in groups by using the scientific method. The scientific method is an organized way to ask questions and solve problems.





 Grade 2 students were fortunate enough to be invited to Grade 1's mini science fair about light, heat, and sound.




Grade 2 students were fortunate enough to visit two science classes in action this week. They made authentic connections by being in a real laboratory with lots of apparatus to the unit. students were able to ask meaning full questions and refer to the scientific method.

In Ms. Corrine's class, students were testing the theory that food gives us energy. Therefore they experimented on how much energy different food types respectively have.




In Ms. Urter's class students looked into using different instruments that are used to measure liquids. We will return to Ms. Urter's class next week for a continuation of making measurements with many different measuring tools next week.




Have a pleasant weekend.

Homework & Sign up sheet for book week.

Dear Parents,

Friendly reminder that PE lessons are on the following days, Tuesdays and Friday. All students should wear the correct PE attire, takkies, hat, house t-shirts, and most importantly have a water bottle.

Homework for the 11th - 22nd of February 2019.

Sign up sheet for book week 18th - 22nd February.


POP UP EXHIBITION FOR GRADE 2

The element of Colour to enrich our well-being

PLEASE visit our colourful GRADE 2 POP-UP EXHIBITION 

in the ART ROOM WITH YOUR CHILD.

WHEN:  FRIDAY 15TH February 

TIME: drop off time 7.00AM-8.00AM (before Assembly)

VENUE:  PRIMARY ART DEPARTMENT (PAD) Room 41.

See you there asking your child lots of questions:  how, what where, why??

Weekly update 4th-8th February

Dear Parents,

Today marks the 100th school day, students celebrated by making crowns and playing some board games.



UOI:
Students started this week by setting learning goals for themselves. They choose between 1, 2 or 3 Approaches to Learning skills (ATL) to work on this week, By the end of the week students reflected on their goals. They had discussions on how well they think they meet their goal/s for the week.

(ATL)

1. Communication skills
2. Social skills
3. Research skills
4. Self-management skills
5. Thinking skills




For the inquiry cycle, we focus on going further in our unit. Students have been doing some independent experiments, during these experiments we have discussed what the mixtures (control and variables) look like, smell like and how it changes. This brought us to deeper conversations about states of matter. They were introduced to what scientists do, one of which is to use the scientific method.

Here is a link to the scientific method song

Students have selected a science question to research on in their respective groups, they have started researching in class with child-friendly websites that have been provided to them. Students have chosen experiments to do related to their research. Next week students will present their experiments by using the scientific method. Students will need to collect all apparatus, materials needed for their experiments over the weekend so that they will be ready for Monday.




Have a lovely weekend.

Weekly update 28th - 1 February 2019

Dear parents,

This week found students being creative, they did fractions with their shoes.

Some students questions:

1. What fraction of the shoes have shoelaces?
2. What fraction of the shoes are a size one?
3. What fraction of the shoes are white?
4. What fraction of the shoes are sandals?



Students making their thinking visual during problem-solving in math.

  Students have been tested for new reading levels. They will start bringing home new levels from next week. You might find these questions helpful when helping your child to decode words during reading:

1. Did that make sense?
2. Does it sound right?
3. Does it look right?
4. What sound/letter does it start with?
5. Look at the picture.
6. Think of another word that might fit that makes sense?
7. Take a closer look at the word?
8. Does the word remind you of a word you know?
9. Does the word have a smaller word inside that you know?

Our focus this week for PSPE was Feelings, we read a wonderful book about feelings. The book is about Ishi a rock, this rock gives students tips that on how to be happy. Ishi says when something feels impossible, I sleep and rest, and try again the next day!
Students will find their own Ishi (rock or pebble) decorate it then passed it on to a friend to share their happiness.

We also watched a video and discussed some random acts of kindness? Students are encouraged to do something kind and record it in the reflection book.



UOI:

This week in the inquiry cycle we focus on finding and sorting out more about our unit.
Student agency is part of the new enhanced PYP, this means we focus on what students want to learn an inquiry into, where they choose to drive the inquiry. Students have been made a part of our planning. This week student constructed their own central idea to the unit.
Made connections to the Key concepts, form- what it looks like, smell like, this is states of matter.
Causation- How it changes, why it changes?

We have been working on good questioning, sorting and aking meaningful questions, questions that will lead to deeper thinking and inquiry.
Students questions were sorted into categories such as closed questions, open-ended questions, questions that are easily found on google, questions that take a long journey to find the answers. Students enjoyed this activity as they discovered that most of their questions asked were closed, require a simple yes or no answer, or were easily found on the internet.