EY3 Class Blog

Dear Parents,

This week we have continued to invite children to share their artifacts with the class. The children are speaking confidently while constructing understanding of their personal and family histories. We still have a few children who have yet to bring in their artifacts, so please support your child in selecting an object to present this week.

 

 

Children have also continued to explore gathering data by conducting surveys. We love seeing each child articulate a unique question that interests them, and circulating independently to collect answers.

 

 

Centre time is a great opportunity for child-directed inquiry, and we are observing so much learning happening as they play, interact, investigate, invent, question, and create. Popular pass-times lately include painting, math games, tic-tac-toe, gardening, and playing doctor. The children are also helping to build our learning environment as they make signs and labels for the classroom (such as our class job boards, schedules, and name plates), giving them a sense of ownership of the space and providing opportunities to write with authentic purpose.

 

 

Next week we will delve further into our Family Histories unit, looking at the concept of “place” by inquiring into where our families come from and where we have been. Teachers have also been spending time assessing literacy and numeracy skills to inform our teaching going forward, which will continue next week as well.

Resources for Next Week’s Remote Learning:

 

Important Dates:

• Dec. 6th  –  In remembrance of HM King Bhumibol’s Birthday – NO SCHOOL
• Dec. 17th  –  Last day of Term 1  
• Dec. 20th  – Jan. 7th – December Break – NO SCHOOL
• Jan. 10th  –  First day of Term 2 

Dear Parents,

The children had lots of fun at school this week! Many students brought their artifacts to school, and took pride in sharing them with their classmates. If your Group 1 or 2 child’s artifact is not yet at school, please send it with them when they are on campus next week. The artifact should be an object that reminds them of their personal history, or connects to a memory of when they were younger. You can share your stories about when our big kids were babies as well – the children love hearing about when they were little, and this will give them more to talk about when they share with the class.

 

 

 

The children are helping to make the classroom space their own. This week they created self portraits, which will be on display outside the classroom,  and made artistic name plates using the “loose parts” technique, which we will use to label their storage bins.

 

 

 

We have been learning about data handling, skills that the children are now applying to learn more about our community. They are generating their own survey questions, setting up tally charts, and gathering data from their classmates and teachers. We now know a lot about favourite pets, ice cream flavours, and career aspirations!

 

 

 

This week, the EY3 students brought home their first library books of the year. In compliance with the KIS “bubbles”, we are not able to visit the library for now, however our librarian Ms Earth has been helpful in organizing a work-around. A trolley full of books is delivered to our classroom on Mondays (for group 1) and Thursdays (for group 2). The children can select two books from there, which Ms. Earth picks up for check-out, and then brings back to us the following day for taking home. This means that Group 1 will bring home library books on Tuesday, to be returned the following Monday, while Group 2 will bring home library books on Friday, to be returned the following Thursday. Please be aware that the library books are not (in general) at the children’s independent reading level. They are often wonderful for read-alouds and bedtime stories to be enjoyed with an adult. Such experiences help your child to develop comprehension skills and nurture a love of literature, so do not underestimate the value of story time!

 

 

 

We also celebrated Loy Krathong at school this week, with Thai dress days for both groups, and paper Krathong making with the Thai department. We hope some of you were able to celebrate with your families as well!

 

 

Coming Up Next Week

Next week we will continue to share artifacts connected to our personal histories. We will also continue with community-building engagements, such as conducting surveys, adding to our physical learning environment, and inquiring into the in-person applications of our essential agreements. Children will also begin the ongoing process of selecting work for their portfolios, a valuable exercise in reflection for learning.

Resources to prepare for next week’s remote learning:

 

Support and Resources for Parents

Please remember to check out Ms. Alex’s fantastic PYP Counsellor blog, which is updated regularly. Topics include remote learning, transitioning back to school, and the importance of play for learning and development. You can access Ms. Alex’s blog here, and subscribe by entering your email address in the box in the upper right hand corner.

 

Important Dates:

• Dec. 6th  –  In remembrance of HM King Bhumibol’s Birthday – NO SCHOOL
• Dec. 17th  –  Last day of Term 1  
• Dec. 20th  – Jan. 7th – December Break – NO SCHOOL
• Jan. 10th  –  First day of Term 2 

*We have noticed that several children are bringing their Home Learning Packages to and from school each day that they are on campus. Please be advised that Home Learning Packages can stay at home, as we have all necessary supplies at school already.

Dear Parents,

We had a great first week of hybrid learning and it was wonderful to see the children in person again.

Our on-campus days were spent familiarizing ourselves with the new classroom environment and routines, exploring the EY3 learning centres, and making the space our own by painting name tags for the cubbies and class jobs board. We worked with numbers on the calendar at Circle Time, applied our knowledge about data handling as we began to conduct class surveys, and enjoyed stories and songs together. It was lovely to see new students making friends, and we were impressed at how confident the children were at navigating a new setting. Remote learning engagements provided opportunities to introduce, explore, and review the learning outcomes addressed at school, as well as inviting children to undertake some independent work.

Group 1 Slideshow:

 

Group 2 Slideshow:

 

Coming Up Next Week in EY3

Next week, the children will be invited to create self-portraits, with the goal of developing observation skills and turning our classroom into a community space. Self-portraits created periodically throughout the school year will become a useful tool for reflection, as we look at how we change and grow over time and develop the skills of symbolic expression. We will also go further with data handling, as the children conduct their own surveys to get to know their classmates. Artifact sharing will be an exciting focus next week as well, as part of our second Unit of Inquiry.

Artifacts of Personal and Family Histories: Building home/school Connections

For our current inquiry into family histories, children are invited to bring an artifact to school, following up on the sharing they did last week on SeeSaw. The idea is that artifacts can provide a connection to memories and family stories, and therefore we are asking children to bring an object that reminds them of when they were little. The object might be connected to a memory of their own, or a story a parent has told them about when they were younger. Some children may have already chosen these objects and shared them on SeeSaw, while others might be making the initial choice now. Please support your child in choosing an artifact, and have a conversation with them about it’s meaning so that they will be prepared to talk about it with their classmates. We would like to put these on display in the classroom as conversation pieces for the duration of the unit, so please do not send items that you are not willing to part with for a few weeks. (We will of course be careful with your keepsakes, and ensure that they all make it home to you again when the unit is finished.)

 

Once again, we’d like to thank all of you for your support and patience as we acclimatize ourselves to yet another new learning situation. Our parent community has helped to make it a smooth transition, and we were so pleased to welcome back a group of happy learners who took all the changes in stride.

 

Resources to Prepare for Next Week’s Remote Classes:

 

Support and Resources for Parents

Our PYP Counsellor, Ms. Alex, has a helpful and informative blog that we encourage all parents to visit. Topics include remote learning, transitioning back to school, and most recently a post about this importance of play. You can access Ms. Alex’s blog here, and subscribe by entering your email address in the box in the upper right hand corner.

 

Important Dates:

• Dec. 6th  –  In remembrance of HM King Bhumibol’s Birthday – NO SCHOOL
• Dec. 17th  –  Last day of Term 1  
• Dec. 20th  – Jan. 7th – December Break – NO SCHOOL
• Jan. 10th  –  First day of Term 2 

Dear EY3 Families,

Thank you for yet another week of support with remote learning. We truly could not do it without you. This week we have been busily getting ready to welcome many of the children back to the KIS campus for two days a week. We have been revisiting the Essential Agreement we created with the children, thinking about how we will demonstrate the same principles in person as well as online, and continuing to inquire into the learner profiles. Our inquiry into Community Relationships is providing a useful framework helping the children adapt to our ever-changing circumstances, which give us an authentic context to apply our learning.

Next week, our hybrid learning model will begin. As you are aware by now, students assigned to Group 1 will be on campus Mondays and Tuesdays, Group 2 will be on campus Thursdays and Fridays, and Group 3 will continue with remote learning the whole week. All students will be remote on Wednesdays, which will provide an opportunity for deep cleaning at school as well as a chance for homeroom groups to re-connect with those they are not seeing in person.

For on-campus days, EY3 classes begin at 8:10. Students will not be permitted to play on the playground before school as they have in the past, and therefore we request that they not arrive early unless it is absolutely necessary. Children with older siblings (who have earlier start times) can be dropped off earlier and will be supervised in the classroom, however no one will be allowed on campus before 7:30 am. Dismissal time for EY3 will be at 2:40pm. If you have children in different grades, please choose the drop-off and pick-up time for ONE grade, so that you can pick up your children at the same time. (It is not permitted to come at the drop off time for one grade, and pick up time of a different grade.) EY3 students will enter through our own private back entrance through our terrace, where teachers will greet the children and escort them into the classroom and help them find their cubbies in the atrium. Our outdoor learning areas (the EY3 garden and terrace) are accessible to parents, while the indoor areas are not. We look forward to welcoming you indoors when it is safe to do so, and hope it will be soon!

If you have not done so already, please take a look at the Early Years Hybrid Learning Guidelines, where you will find more important details.

Welcome Back (Early Years EY1-EY3) 30_10_21

When your child is not on campus, remote learning will continue via Zoom and Seesaw. Seesaw activities can be completed at any time throughout the week, regardless of when they are assigned. Specialist classes will continue to be delivered remotely, on days when your child is at home. The exceptions are Thai and TAL, which the children will attend both at home and at school.

We understand that there is a lot of information to digest, so please do not hesitate to email us anytime, or come to our Help Desk (on Zoom) with any questions. Help Desk will take place at 12:00 PM on Mondays, and at 10:30am on Tuesdays through Fridays. You should be receiving schedules and group lists by email, so please do check and let us know if you have not received them.

Important Dates

• Nov. 8th  –  Primary School Hybrid Model Begins
• Dec. 6th  –  In remembrance of HM King Bhumibol’s Birthday – NO SCHOOL
• Dec. 17th  –  Last day of Term 1  
• Dec. 20th  – Jan. 7th – December Break – NO SCHOOL
• Jan. 10th  –  First day of Term 2  

In Literacy, the students used their communication skills in the form of speech and drawings as they created journal entries about their long weekend and retold the events making connections to question words such as Who?, What?, When?, Where? Why?, and How? Some are beginning to add labels and other text to their weekend recounts.

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Students listened to the story, David Goes to School, looking at how the main character’s choices and actions affected the people around him. Students used their thinking and communication skills to share their understanding of what their responsibilities are as a student in the KIS school community.

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For our Unit of Inquiry, EY3 students responded to the Kelso’s Choices story, The Houseboat, in which Lily the frog was learning to become a problem-solver and helping others to learn too. Students continued to make connections to the characters in the story, their own experiences, and shared their understanding of how we can solve problems without hurting other people’s feelings.

 

* * * * *

In Numeracy students continued exploring activities involving data handling. They sorted a collection of objects to create concrete graphs, and used information from images to create pictographs.

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Here are some pics from our Halloween Morning Meetings and Friday FunZOOMs…

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Coming up next week…
Literacy – We will continue sharing our weekend recounts (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?) as well as exploring the Key Concept: CAUSATION.

Numeracy – We will practice data management skills through creating tally charts and organising data using Venn diagrams.

UofI – We will revisit the Learner Profile as well as discussing what our Essential Agreement will look like when we return to school.

* * * * *

Important Dates

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Welcome back. We hope you all had an enjoyable October Break.

In Literacy, the students once again used their communication skills as they created journal entries about their October Break and retold the events making connections to question words such as Who?, What?, When?, Where? Why?, and How?

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Students also responded to the Kelso’s Choices story,  The Benson Blues, in which one of the characters is having a difficult time solving a small problem on her own. Students continued to make connections to the characters in the story, their own experiences, and shared their understanding of what we can do when we try Kelso’s Choices and it doesn’t work.

 

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Students listened to the story, Sneezy the Snowman, used their fine motor skills to illustrate images from the story, and used their communication skills to share their understanding of cause and effect by identifying what happened in the story that caused the snowman to melt.

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For our Unit of Inquiry, EY3 students continued exploring the differences between big problems and small problems and about solving small problems using Kelso’s Choices.
The video below, Putting Kelso Into Play, shows examples of both big small problems, as well as possible ways that these problems can be solved.

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Community Helper Guest Speaker 
EY3 students also generated questions for our guest speaker, Dr. Paweena, and interviewed her during our whole-class ZOOM on Wednesday morning.
A big THANK YOU to Dr. Paweena (Phoenix’s mother) for spending this time with us.

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In Numeracy students explored activities involving data handling. They sorted a collection of objects into groups according to different attributes as well as began reading pictographs.

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Here are a few pics from our Friday FunZOOMs…

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Coming up next week…
Literacy – We will continue sharing our weekend recounts (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?) as well as responding to stories connected to Kelso’s Choices.

Numeracy – We will practice data management skills through creating concrete graphs and pictographs.

UofI – We will talk about the responsibilities we have as students/classmates in connection to our school community and our upcoming return to school.

From Ms. Alex
Please visit the Counselor’s Blog for helpful information from Ms. Alex on how to talk to your child about school.

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Important Dates
Chulalongkorn Day –  Mon. 25th Oct. (NO SCHOOL)
Halloween Activities – Fri. 29th Oct.
In remembrance of HM King Bhumibol’s Birthday  –  Mon. 6th Dec. (NO SCHOOL)
Last day of Term 1  –  Fri. 17th Dec.
December Break –  Mon. 20th Dec. – Fri. 7th Jan. (NO SCHOOL)

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 Special Announcement from Mr. Paul – Head of School (Oct. 20, 2021)

 

Thank you for another great week of learning in EY3!

For our Unit of Inquiry, EY3 students continued exploring the differences between big problems and small problems and about solving small problems using Kelso’s Choices.
The video below, Kelso Beyond the Classroom, shows some more examples of  small problems, as well as possible ways that these problems could be solved.

EY3 students also used their communication and research skills to interview someone in their community about their roles and responsibilities.

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In Literacy, the students once again used their communication skills as they created journal entries about their weekends and retold the events making connections to question words such as Who?, What?, When?, Where? Why?, and How?

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They also responded to two Kelso’s Choices stories:
A Visitor and The Fly Boys. Students continued to make connections to the characters in the story, their own experiences, and shared their understanding of how problems were (or could be) solved.

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In a Literacy/Numeracy activity, students listened to the story, Tally O’Malley, used their fine motor skills to illustrate images from the story, and used their communication skills to talk about what objects the characters were tallying in the story and what colours they were.

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In Numeracy students explored activities involving data handling. They practiced making tally marks as well as sorted a collection of objects into different groups according to their attributes.

Students also participated in group decision making by voting for their favourite FunZOOM activities.

Here are a few pics from our Friday FunZOOMs…

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Coming up after the October Break…
Literacy – We will continue sharing our holiday recounts (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?) as well as responding to stories connected to Kelso’s Choices.

Math – We will practice data management skills such as making tally marks and pictographs as well as sorting objects according to their attributes.

UofI – We will generate questions to ask a guest speaker (someone in our community) about their responsibilities and the choices they make in their daily lives.

Reserving books from the PYP library (for pick-up)

If you visit the library website, click Primary Library and you’ll see a  photo box titled “Remote Learning Book Request”. Here, you will be able to fill in a Google Form to reserve library books.

– Please place your order weekly by every Monday and Tuesday at 2:00PM.
– Wait to receive a confirmation email from Ms. Earth on Wednesday.
– Books may be picked up on Thursday and Friday between 7:30AM – 4:30PM, books will be placed on the tables in the Secondary School parking lot.

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Important Dates
October Break –  Mon. Oct. 11th – Fri. Oct. 15th (NO SCHOOL)
Chulalongkorn Day –  Mon. 25th Oct. (NO SCHOOL)
In remembrance of HM King Bhumibol’s Birthday  –  Mon. 6th Dec. (NO SCHOOL)
Last day of Term 1  –  Fri. 17th Dec.
December Break –  Mon. 20th Dec. – Fri. 7th Jan. (NO SCHOOL)

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     See you all on October 18th!

Thank you for another wonderful week of learning in EY3!

For our Unit of Inquiry, EY3 students began learning the difference between big problems and small problems and about solving small problems using Kelso’s Choices.

Big problems are situations that cause us to be afraid, injured, or in danger. For big problems, it is necessary to seek help from an adult. However, if there is a small problem (i.e. a situation that makes us feel upset, bothered, annoyed, etc.), we can try to solve the problem on our own by trying two of Kelso’s Choices.
The video below, Kelso In Action, shows examples of each.

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In Literacy, the students utilised their communication skills as they created journal entries about their weekends and retold the events making connections to question words such as Who?, What?, When?, Where? Why?, and How?

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They also responded to the story This Is Our House by Michael Rosen: a simple and poignant tale of the power of sharing, and began to make connections to the characters in the story and to their own experiences.

In Numeracy students continued exploring Numicon through activities involving building the numbers 5 and 10 using combinations of different numbers, as well as filling in the number 20 using multiple pieces of the same number.

Students showed their understanding of the Numicon shapes and corresponding numbers. They also used their thinking skills to build a number of their choice.

Here are a few pics from our Friday FunZOOMs…

* * * * *

Coming up next week…
Literacy – We will continue to practice sharing our weekend recounts as well as responding to stories connected to Kelso’s Choices.

Math – We will delve into skills connected to data management such as using tally marks and bar graphs as well as sorting objects according to their attributes.

UOI – We will continue learning about choices and will look into generating questions to ask someone in our community about their responsibilities.

Reserving books from the PYP library (for pick-up)

If you visit the library website, click Primary Library and you’ll see a  photo box titled “Remote Learning Book Request”. Here, you will be able to fill in a Google Form to reserve library books.

– Please place your order weekly by every Monday and Tuesday at 2:00PM.
– Wait to receive a confirmation email from Ms. Earth on Wednesday.
– Books may be picked up on Thursday and Friday between 7:30AM – 4:30PM, books will be placed on the tables in the Secondary School parking lot.

From Ms. Alex
Please visit the Counselor’s Blog for helpful information from Ms. Alex on how to talk to your child about school.

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Important Dates
October Break –  Mon. Oct. 11th – Fri. Oct. 15th (NO SCHOOL)
Chulalongkorn Day –  Mon. 25th Oct. (NO SCHOOL)
In remembrance of HM King Bhumibol’s Birthday  –  Mon. 6th Dec. (NO SCHOOL)
Last day of Term 1  –  Fri. 17th Dec.
December Break –  Mon. 20th Dec. – Fri. 7th Jan. (NO SCHOOL)

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     See you all on Monday!