Busy, busy.....

On Monday mornings we usually write a recount about what we did over the weekend. However, this Monday we decided to change that a bit and start on a plan to write our very own fable. We split the class in half and one group worked with Mr Jon and the other group worked with me. We discussed what a fable is and the elements that make it a fable. We know that fables are short, usually have animal characters, are fictional and have a moral that teaches us a lesson.

After we wrote a fable as a big group we were ready to make a story with a friend. We got a partner and began to make our own fable using the same layout as we had just done in a big group.

The children had great ideas and worked really well with their partners.

Watch this space for their published fables :-)

During reading time we have also spent a lot of time reading fables - 'The Lion and the Mouse', 'The Tortoise and the Hare', 'The Boy who cried Wolf', 'The Ant and the Grasshopper', 'The wind and the Sun plus many more. Each guided reading group spent time with just one fable. They read the same book for two weeks and really enjoyed figuring our what the moral of the story was and going deeper into the stories. The children also decided that they wanted to act out their fables. 

Take a look:

'The Lion and the Mouse'

'The Ant and the Grasshopper'

'The Tortoise and the Hare'

'Wind and the Sun'

Tuesdays the class have swimming and it is definitely a highlight for all the children. I went along on Tuesday to get a few pictures of the children showing off their swimming skills.

Mystery reader

A very big THANK YOU to Thilde Skaanning (Anton's Mum) for coming on Wednesday to read to us. Thilde was our second mystery reader and we really appreciated her taking the time to come and share a story with us.

We listened to a delightful fairytale - 'The steadfast tin solidier' written by Hans Christian Anderson. The fairytale tells of a boy who receives 25 tin soldiers for his birthday all made from one old tin spoon. One of the soldiers stands on a single leg, as there wasn't enough metal to finish him. The solider spies a paper ballerina who too stands on one leg. The Soldier falls in love. But a goblin warns the solider to look away from the ballerina, the soldier refuses and so he falls out of the window and has a number of adventures. Finally he ends up back in the boys bedroom with the ballerina once again. The story has a sad ending with both the tin solder and the paper ballerina falling into the fire where the solider melts into the shape of a heart.

If you would like to sign up to be a mystery reader in our class please follow the link:

Mystery Reader - Sign Up

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy any celebration you maybe having!

Gentle Reminder!

Just a gentle reminder that we have no school this Thursday 28th or Friday 29th. There are also no after school activities running on either of these days. Thursday is a national holiday in Cambodia and Friday, the teachers will be at school working hard on professional development.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Welcome back!

It was so nice to see all the happy, smiling children after a lovely weeks holiday. Everyone had so much to tell me about what they did over the holidays. So we spent out carpet time sharing our news with pairs and the whole class. Everyone was very happy to be back at school and so eager to write all about what they did over the holiday.

Please look at your child's individual page at the side to see what they wrote. Ask your child to read their piece of writing to you and ask them some questions related to their writing. They are all VERY proud of their accomplishments and so excited to have it posted on their page :-)

Our Week

This week we have been so busy! During our Maths centres we have had a lot going on. At one centre the children were making subtraction stories on an app called 'Show Me'

The other centres had the children busy doing addition and subtraction sums with number lines from 20, subtraction games, subtraction flash cards and puzzles. We have to be very careful and check the symbols +/- so that we can answer the questions correctly.

We had a great calendar question on Thursday - Who can jump the furthest in your class? We were really excited about finding our the answer to this question and went outside to see who it was! Some of us needed a very long run up ;- ) Ask your child who the winner was.

Here are some of us in action:



Our unit of inquiry into 'Interactions' is coming to an end and we have been working toward our central idea - 'Being aware of how we interact with people can help us to make good choices for ourselves and others'.

We have been doing activities where we have to interact and co-operate with each other:

We have also been using 'Gecko's Choice' to help us when we have a small problem. We know that when we have a problem or a conflict we can think about strategies to use to solve the problem or deal with the conflict before going to tell a teacher. Of course the children know that if it is a big problem they must tell a teacher or an adult who can help them.

Ms Dee was in our class this week to help us with Gecko's Choice. In small groups we picked one of the strategies from the Gecko wheel and did role plays. The rest of the class had to guess which one they were using.

Take a look at each of our videos and ask your child which Gecko Choice they are using.

A highlight of our week is always spending time with our Grade 5 buddies. This week we had such a great time making puppets with them. They came down to our class and all the students were delighted to be doing a self portrait puppet. They all looked fantastic and I know everyone had a blast reconnecting with their buddies after a few weeks break.

Next time with our buddies we will be make a puppet show of both a positive interaction and a negative interaction. Then with the negative interaction the buddies will have to pick a Gecko's Choice to solve the problem or conflict and act it out. We will use the iPads to video these and share with you on the blog.

Check out our awesome puppets:

To end our Fabulous Fun Friday we helped Quinn celebrate her seventh birthday. A very happy birthday to you Quinn, hope you had a great day and enjoyed your celebrations! Thanks for the delicious rainbow cupcakes :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

School Photos

This week we are having both our class photos and individual photos taken. These photos will be used for both the ISPP yearbook and you will also have the opportunity to purchase the photos. information regarding the photos and how to buy them will follow at a later date.

The schedule for the children this week is as follows:

Tuesday 20th October - Grade 1 KD Individual Photographs

Thursday 22nd October - Grade 1 KD Class Photographs

Our class is really lucky as both our individual and class photo times are early in the morning so hopefully we will still be looking our best :-) 

Tuesday we have swimming so if you would like your child to wear something special, please dress them in those clothes for the morning, then after swimming they can get changed into other clothes. Also on Thursday we have PE, if you would like your child to wear something else for the photo that is perfectly fine. I will give the children time after the photo to get changed into their PE kits.

A few weeks ago we were very excited to have Anna's mum, Erin, be our first mystery reader! We still have many spots free! If you would like to sign up please click on the link and find a time that suits you best.

Mystery reader - Sign Up

If the time doesn't suit, but you would really like to read to the class please contact me and I'm sure we can work out a time that suits your schedule.

I hope you all had a fun and restful holiday. Looking forward to hearing all about the children's adventures tomorrow.

A great week before the holidays!

This week I am lucky enough to be going to Singapore for three days to attend a IB professional development. The conference will focus on IT and concept based learning. I had a chat to the children about not being at school on Friday but, I will be bringing lots of new ideas back to share with them after the Pchum Ben holiday. 

In class we have been making sure we can remember how to count all the way to 100 and some of us are even going beyond. Also how to count in twos, fives and tens to a hundred. We have lots of fun songs to help us remember. Not only have we been counting forwards but we are also working hard on counting backwards from 20 -0. It is a bit tricky!

Our Maths centres have all had an activity aimed at understanding the concept of subtraction. We have been using number lines to solve equations within 20, hopping and jumping our way to 20 and back, reading and solving words problems with both fish and apples. Finally making sure that all our written numbers are correct and facing the right way :-)

On Thursday afternoon we had a special treat. All of the Grade One teaching assistants organised a presentation to help the children understand the celebration that is happening in Cambodia next week - Pchum Ben. Ms Maden, Ms Chark Rya and Ms Nhoep put together a role play with some photos on the big screen to help set the scene. We saw them preform many of the different rituals that people do at the pagodas and were shown the kinds of offerings they make. The children had lots of questions and were really interested about the Cambodian people's beliefs.

The children had a great time and really enjoyed experiencing some of the culture that comes with living in Cambodia. Special thanks to the fantastic Grade One teaching assistants!

After our Pchum Ben celebrations we had a bit of fun creating and expressing the way we can feel. We made play dough expressions and then we had to try and match the same feeling on our own face. We had a great laugh doing this!

Thursday night was our Art and Music spotlight hosted by Ms Leigh and Ms Dana. Sadly I couldn't attend due to my travel to Singapore but by the look of the pictures from Ms Paula, it looks like the night was a great success.

Wishing you all a very happy holiday!

Last week at a glance.

Due to my very quick departure for a family emergency last week the children had Ms Vicki teach them for 6 days. On my return I was so happy to see all the children and I have been very lucky to have received many hugs, kind messages and beautiful drawings from all of the children. I think we missed each other very much :-) Very happy to be back and once again into our classroom routines.

Thanks to Ms Nhoep who took many photos from the week of the different activities the children did. I am very grateful to have such a fabulous teaching assistant in our class. 

Please see the slideshow of the weeks activities:

Art & Music Spotlight!