Grade 3 Class Blog

Last week, we set the Grade Threes a challenge to find some specific rooms in the Secondary School Buildings and venture into rooms that they had never been to. They had to locate the treasure and observe many things on their route. This really helped the student’s tune-in to the process that Explorers go through and the skills they need.

This week we have been thinking how the early explorers recorded their observations in diaries and ships logs. We have practiced using past-tense agreements and different synonyms.

In Math, we have explored TIME – and  have started to think about longer durations such as centuries, decades and eras…and how the years in A.D. count up chronologically on timelines

We have started to build a giant Grade 3 Timeline of significant Explorers and expeditions…which we will add to as this unit develops.

IMPORTANT DATES:
Friday 17th January 10am – UGS Sports day. Wear House-TShirt

Saturday 18th Jan 9am – 3pm – Musical Theatre Club Rehearsal in Auditorium. Bring 150 Baht cash towards Pizza Lunch.

Monday 27th Jan – Chinese New Year – Assembly & activities.

Friday 31st Jan 12.15 – Go for Gold MTC Musucal performance Show

Welcome back. We hope you all had a lovely, relaxing holiday – spending family time together. Once again many thanks for the kindness shown at the end of last term.

This Week we are reflecting on moving forward into a new Decade…and an Olympic Leap Year….

Maths: we have been looking at Calendar and time problems – as we start to use historical language past, present, chronology, century, era.

English Language: a word study into the meaning of Exploration, Discovery, Voyage, expedition.(our central Idea)

Also, we are recounting about some of our holiday visits and travels, recently undertaken. Did they explore anywhere new?

Unit of Inquiry: Tuning-in to the motives of why people Explore and the qualities or skills needed to be an effective explorer?

On Wednesday, students will get to explore new areas of the secondary campus to try and find find secret rooms and collect some new resources along the way.

Upcoming dates: 

Friday 17th January – House Sports day (athletics) 10am

(wear sun block, House-T Shirt and Hat)

Saturday 18th January – 9am – 3.30pm Musical Theatre Club Rehearsal

Thursday 23rd January – Go for Gold MTC Performance 12.30

Well done Grade 3, presenting an interesting assembly on Friday. The Body mimes were particular enjoyed!

We are now on the festive calendar – with lots going-on around School.

UOI

Our priority this week is for children to complete their summative assessment explanation report in best on a Natural Hazard. 

Language: We are focusing on sharing our learning. Editing, Proof-reading and Publishing.

Maths: we have now progressed on to describing the properties of 3D shapes in terms of Number of faces and edges.

Important Reminders / Dates:

Fun Pool Session – Friday 6th December (please remember swim  kit)

Charity Kindness – remember to bring in your gifts for the Orphanages.

Thursday 5th – day off for Father’s day.

Tuesday 10th December 10am – Celebration of Learning Assembly (If your child will receive a certificate – you will receive an email from SEA on Friday afternoon)

Wednesday 11th December 12.30 – G3 Pizza Party (can bring party clothes to change into)

Many thanks for all the donations towards PAWS cat welfare charity on Friday’s non-uniform day.

Did you feel the earth move?!!! Thursday’s earthquake in Laos was felt by some of us – perfect timing for our Natural Hazards study in this unit!

The Christmas tree is up in the PYP atrium and the KIS Cares project is encouraging us to show kindness and donate  school supplies and Thai books to orphanages (with the ethos that giving is better than receiving and consuming).

UOI

After conducting experiments to inquire about the Rock Cycle (sedimenting, squashing, heating and cooling with candy), Grade 3 had a guest expert, Mr Tarun (Niska’s Dad 3A) to answer their questions on gemology.

Tarun showed the children how gems are formed from heating and pressure within the Earth’s crust. He also explained the difference in hardness and toughness between the different gems. The children got to handle some real gem samples to see how they are cut and polished from the original mined rock.

After sorting and classifying rock samples, some children used a digital microscope on rock samples, whilst others did some fantastic observation drawings using magnifying glasses.

Math

We applied our knowledge of straight lines to understand perpendicular lines (at right angle to each other) and parallel lines. We tried to find real-life applications around the KIS grounds and took photos of examples.

Language

We continued to practice skimming and scanning for key information and note-taking. We also continued using cause / effect conjunctions. This week we will be applying this to their own chosen study for the summative assessment explanation.

Upcoming dates / Events

This Friday 29th, 8am in the auditorium – G3 leading the PYP assembly.

Grade 3 Learners enjoyed the hands-on Science exhibits at the Science Museum last Thursday which sparked off lots of interest and curiosity (see pics). Some children got to be volunteers in the Science Show, where we learnt about energy transfer through collisions (a good link to Converse plate boundaries).

Great to see lots of Grade 3 being well-balanced and involved in sports fixtures this week – basketball, athletics and swimming. Good-Luck.

Our Student Council Reps have fed-back about their charity work to support Paws (This is a nice link with Organisations unit).

UOI

This week we will become geologists and discover all about the rock-cycle, discovering how rocks are created and changed. If children have any rock samples  at home – feel free to send them in for us to look under the microscope (No diamonds please!!!)

Language

We will write our own cause and effect explanations using specific conjunctions. We continued to enjoy the Global Read Aloud on Stella Diaz. Can your son / daughter teach you any spanish words yet?!!

Math

All shapes start with intersecting lines….thatś what we shall be inquiring into!!! 

Dates to Remember:

Friday 22nd November – Non-Uniform Day fundraising (bring in Bht20)

Friday 29th November – G3 Assembly 8am in the auditorium

Thank you so much to all who were able to attend the coffee meeting last week for the Grade 3 Residential Trip in February. Apologies for the delay in getting the video posted, please now find below the presentation video shown at the beginning of the meeting for your reference. Simply click the link below: 

Video

We are so looking forward to the trip and hope that all students are able to attend. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The Children all enjoyed making the Loy Kratong offerings today and watching the dances/games at lunch time. Well done to the G3 Students who were in the winning dance team last Wednesday – it was great to see your final performance.

UOI

This week we will continue to inquire into the 3 types of plate boundaries. We are hoping that the children make the connection that Volcanoes often occur near plate boundaries as this is where the crust is thin or has cracks/weaknesses. We will also learn about why we get high fold mountains and deep ocean trenches at plate boundaries.

We hope the children will enjoy discovering what it means to be scientific on our Wednesday Field trip.

We have continued to work on improving the quality of labelled diagrams / cross sections.

Language

We will continue to explore Explanation texts – starting to write cause and effect sentences using specific conjunctions.

Math

We continue with multiplying and dividing by 10,100 and 1000, to help us convert units of length measurement from one form to another. Eg metres to cm

Dates to Remember:

Wednesday 13th November 8am – G3 Parents Coffee Meeting about Residential: AP Room

Thursday 14th November – G3 Trip to Science Museum

Friday 29th November – G3 Assembly 8am in the auditorium

จดหมายวันลอยกระทง-PYP-Thai 19-20

Last week we participated in a range of cultural festivals to expand our international-mindedness. Firstly, Diwali – the Hindu/Sikh festival of light and Indian culture. Then Halloween / Day of the Dead (North American & Latin America). What wonderful costumes and fun activities. Many thanks for all your support.

UOI

As part of, How the World Works we are inquiring into how “The earth continually changes due to natural forces and affects communities”.

We are building on last weeks viscosity science experiments (pictured) by exploring properties of the mantle (magma), specifically how the heat rises to form convection currents. 

We will link this to the theory of continental drift – how the crust is split into moving plates that float / move on the magma, and have separated over time. The children will explore where the plate boundaries are and understand that there are 3 types of boundaries. We are hoping that the children make the connection that Volcanoes often occur near plate boundaries as this is where the crust is thin or has cracks/weaknesses.

Language

We will continue to explore Explanation texts – using features such as glossaries, labelled cross-sections and diagrams to help us understand the cause and effect of different processes.

Children will use the writers bingo to practise writing for different purposes and build-up their resilience.

Math

We are front loading skills with multiplying and dividing by 10,100 and 1000, ready to help us convert units of length measurement from one form to another. Eg metres to cm

Dates to Remember:

Parent / Teacher Conferences: Please try to be on time and turn your mobile cell phones off. We look forward to discussing your child’s progress and areas of development in the AP Room.

3A – Monday 4th November

3B – Tuesday 5th November

3C – Wednesday 6th November

Wednesday 6th Nov – So You Think You Can Dance Competition

Monday 11th November – Loy Kratong (Thai Lantern) Festival – SEE LETTER (above)

Thursday 14th November – G3 Trip to Science Museum

G3 Parents Coffee Morning on the Residential briefing – To be confirmed shortly.

UOI

We have launched into our new unit theme, How the World Works and have unpacked our new central idea which is, “The earth continually changes due to natural forceswhich affects communities”.

We have started by inquiring into the structure of our earth, particularly the characteristics of different layers. The photos below some of our tuning-in stations just before half term where we used augmented reality, model-making and even egg boiling to help us understand the proportion of depths.

Grade 3 are very excited as this unit is quite science based and so on Wednesday we will undertake an experiment to investigate the viscosity of different liquids. We will consider how we can make it a fair test and make connections with the molten magma / lava flow.

We are encouraging your child to follow the news about Natural Hazzards and Disasters as they happen, and share with the rest of the class.

Language

This unit lends itself to Explanation texts – using features such as glosarries, labelled cross-sections and diagrams to help us understand the cause and effect of different processes.

Math

We are linking the depth of each Earth layer to consider appropriate units of length measurement – kilometres. Children will then be enjoying lots of estimating (using cm and metres) and practical measuring of real-life objects to improve their accuracy.

Dates to Remember:

Wednesday 30th October – Diwali celebrations.

Special assembly 8am and breaktime activities.

Friday 1st November – Halloween / Day of the Dead.

8am Assembly and costume Parade.Visit to Grade 5 for games/activities.

Parent / Teacher Conferences: Most Parents have now signed a time-slot. Please try to be on time and turn your mobile cell phones off. We look forward to discussing your child’s progress and areas of development.

3A – Monday 4th November

3B – Tuesday 5th November

3C – Wednesday 6th November