Year 2 get Sporty and MAD!

Wow! This week has certainly been MAD!

KS1 Sports Day

The children were fantastic on Tuesday when they ran, jumped, stepped, threw and worked as a team during Sports day.

We have so many photos that we cannot add them to this blog. If you would like to view them, click on the following links

2JS Sportsday photo's

2KG Sportsday photo's

2CC Sportsday photo's

The sports day results were:

1st - Red with 114 points

2nd - Blue with 89 points

3rd - Yellow with 78 points

4th - Green with 70 points

IXDOS Fundraiser

On Thursday we had our great IXDOS Fundraiser where the Key Stage 1 children paddled an amazing distance of 228 lengths.  So far we have raised around 60,000 baht.  This is a huge amount and we are very grateful for your fantastic support as well as the enthusiasm of your children to take part.  A special thank you to Hayley and Cameron's dads for their help in the water and Hayley's mum for the organisation. 

Here are some photo's of the great event:   IXDOS Fundraiser photo's

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today the school celebrated Chinese New Year with a Dragon Dance. 

Chinese New Year will be celebrated in many countries on 19th February. We would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy Year of the Goat!

Well Done to our Year 2 Stars of the Week

Next Half Term

Next half term will begin with a focus on the emotional aspects of learning linked to the brain. We will be finding out about our feelings and emotions and how we act when we feel these. 

Our theme for next half term will be based upon Habitats and Food Chains. We will be finding out how animals are adapted to their surroundings, where food comes from and how animals are dependent on each other to survive.

Reminders for next half term:

Swimming is back on!  
2KG will have swimming  on a Monday and PE on Wednesday.  
2CC will have PE on a Monday and swimming on  Wednesday.  
2JS will be split between both of these days, see the information below.

If your child is swimming on Monday's they should come to school wearing their swim clothes. If swimming on a Wednesday they should have their swim clothes in their bag.

2KG Assembly

2KG will be preparing for their assembly which is on Friday the 27th February, at 1:45pm in the Primary Hall.  All 2KG parents are invited.

The Amazing Maths Race

A big Thank You to all the parents who came along to our Maths Workshop on Thursday. It was great to share our methods for Maths with you and hope it will help you understand and help your child.  We have some information booklets available for those of you who could not attend so please ask your teacher for one.

Whilst the teachers were running the workshop the children were busy competing in a Maths Amazing Race. This involved them working together in teams to read grid references on a map, figure out where the references related to and then, once finding their location solving a Maths riddle. The children did very well and showed that they are able map readers.

Also this week the children began their team effort to show natural and man-made features of Phuket on a whole class map. The children had the idea to turn this map into a 3D map. The children are researching the location of a feature and interesting facts about it before creating a painting and representing it on the map.

A Big Well Done to our Year 2 Stars of the Week

Next week is the final week of this term and it is a very busy one! Here are some reminders of what is happening.

KS1 Sportsday  - From 8:15 - 10:10 on Tuesday morning.

Children should come to school wearing their colour team shirt and sports shorts and shoes. All children will need a hat and water bottle too. Parents are invited to come along to the field behind the sports hall to cheer on the children.

IXDOS Fundraiser - Thursday 8:15 - 12:10

Children should arrive at school wearing their swimming clothes.

This is going to be a fun and exciting event so please come along and support us as we set sail in the swimming pool to try and raise money for the IXDOS project. Year 2 will be sailing first between 8:15 and 10:10 followed by Year 1. Snacks and refreshments will be available. 

Will we be able to reach our target of 100 lengths of the pool?

Chinese New Year - Friday 13th February

Children should come to school wearing red or Chinese style clothes. There will be a dragon dance for the children to watch in the morning.

This is the last day of school before the holiday. School finishes at 2:35 as usual.

Big Buddha trip

Our trip to the Big Buddha

We had a wonderful trip to The Big Buddha on Thursday. The children were amazed by the size of the Buddha and used lots of adjectives to describe it. They made sketches and located it on their maps of Phuket after looking down to Chalong Pier and over the other side of Phuket to Kata. We were very proud of how well the children behaved and their politeness to others who were also visiting the site.

We took lots of ipads with us on the trip and the children were responsible for looking after them and taking photographs. They did a great job! You can see the photo's here:

We will now be learning about other man-made and natural features of Phuket and presenting our learning in different ways.

Next week we will also be reading and giving co-ordinates to find specific locations on maps and will use these skills to take part in a Maths Treasure Hunt in the school grounds.


The IXDOS Challenge

Today we sent home a letter with a sponsorship form on to raise money for the IXDOS Project. Since visiting the boat the children have been very interested in this cause and have been thinking of ways that they could Make A Difference to this project. They suggested that we could give money to pay for work on the boat to be done. After lots of ideas of what we could do to earn money we came up with a fun idea of doing some sailing ourselves!



So, on Thursday 12th February all the children in Years 1 and 2 will be working in teams of 6 to paddle a small boat (IXDOS Junior) across the swimming pool. Each length of the swimming pool will represent 1 nautical mile that the IXDOS could sail. We are aiming to paddle enough lengths of the pool (100 or more!) to send the IXDOS 100 miles to one of the Burmese Islands. We will chart it's progress on a map.

We have asked the children to ask up to 5 people to sponsor them to do the sail. People can give one amount of money for the event or sponsor an amount for each length of the pool we sail. Please only send money to school after we have done the sail.

You are all welcome to come along on the Thursday morning and cheer the children on. Year 2 will be setting sail first from 8:15 - 10:10 and Year 1 will take over after that until lunch time.

I wonder how many lengths the children will paddle?


Year 2 Maths Workshop

Next week, on Thursday 5th February at 8:30am we invite all parents to attend a Maths workshop. This will be held in the Year 2 classrooms. We would like to show you some of the different methods that we use to calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Make sure you have all had your coffee as we will be asking you to join in and solve problems!

Well done to this weeks stars!

As we have been learning our 2X tables, this week we have 2X the number of stars. 3 X 2 = 6!

Multiplication, Mapping and MAD

This week the children have been busy making arrays to show their understanding of multiplication. They have also been applying their multiplication skills through going shopping in the Pod vegetable shop, calculating how much multiple items would cost, showing their working out, selecting coins and giving change. When calculating using multiplication we use lots of different vocabulary for example;  'groups of', 'times', 'sets of' and  'multiplied by'.

Calculating using multiplication

Making an array with rocks

The children did some peer teaching, thinking how they could help their friends learn about arrays. This meant they had to explain their methods. Next week they will apply their arrays to work out division problems.


The children have also been busy mapping the classroom and playground and giving directions from one location to another using language such as; right, left, quarter turn, half turn, anti-clockwise, clockwise, forwards, straight etc. They discovered that directions need to be precise and need to include turns and measurements. We will be continuing this by measuring using metres and centimetres. It is not only teachers and children who are following directions-the pro-bots are also being directed to follow a route. To do this the children need to program them accurately using code.

Creating maps of the playground

This week as part of our MAD project each Year 2 class teamed up with a Year 1 class to visit the boat-IXDOS which is being renovated on the school grounds. The aim is for the boat to sail to islands to give vaccinations. The children observed the boat closely creating detailed sketches and of course went on board to see the work being done. This may lead into some interesting projects where the children can Make A Difference!

A huge WELL DONE to our Year 2 Stars of the Week this week!

Year 2 Trip

Next week, on Thursday morning we will be taking Year 2 on a trip to visit The Big Buddha. As part of our learning we will be finding out about natural and man-made features on Phuket and mapping their locations. The Big Buddha is a great man-made feature for us to observe and the views from the Big Buddha will help the children plot it's location.

Please make sure that you have signed and returned the permission letter so that your child can attend the trip.


Dates for your Diary

Thursday 29th January - Year 2 trip to The Big Buddha

Thursday 5th February, 8:30-9:30 - Year 2 Parents workshop - Maths strategies

Tuesday 10th February - Key Stage One Sports Day

Friday 13th February - Chinese New Year celebrations. Children should come to school wearing Red clothes. Last day of half term. School finishes at 2:35. Mid term break begins.

A kind start to the year!

Happy New Year!

We have had a lovely start to this half term as the children have been using kind words and doing kind acts during Kindness week. We used the story of 'The Rainbow Fish' as our stimulus for thinking about what it means to be kind and the children designed their own list of kindness challenges. In our school assembly on Friday the children rocked the school with their song 'Light it up'- they performed this so well!. Our focus on being kind will continue throughout this term.

The Year 2 Kindness superstars.

Our learning this Half Term
We have a geography focus for our theme this term and will be asking 'What do we use maps for?' and 'How do maps help us understand the world?"

Children will be involved in following and creating their own maps and routes, using coordinates, giving directions and locating places on maps. We will be focusing on Phuket and learning about it's features, both natural and man-made. This theme will also involve the children in programming robots to follow routes. We will be reading the texts 'What the Ladybird Heard' by Julia Donaldson, Juk's Adventures in Phuket by Lin Chen Meng and Michael Kirjon and some of the Katie Morag
Stories by Mairi Hedderwick.

If you have any photographs-paper or digital, of different places around Phuket,  we would love to use them. Children can bring these in over the next two weeks or they can be emailed to the teachers. jsherlock@bisphuket.ac.th 
ccarey@bisphuket.ac.th 
kgriffiths@bisphuket.ac.th

In Maths the children will be learning about multiplication and Division. They will be asked to memorize their 2x, 5x and 10x tables. We will be using money to go shopping and applying our multiplication skills to buy multiple items. We will also be learning directional and positional language.

Maths Workshop for Year 2 Parents
We would like to invite you all to a Maths Workshop on Thursday 5th February from 8:30-9:30am. In Year 2 Maths becomes more complex for the children and we use a range of strategies to teach calculating skills. We would like to share some of these strategies with you and look forward to seeing you there.

Homework
A new Homework Grid will be sent home on Monday. We are trying to encourage the children to be creative in how they present their homework tasks, understanding that there are many ways we can present, record and respond.

Some Reminders

PE and Swimming
For the next 5 weeks (this half term) the children will continue to have two PE lessons per week (Monday and Wednesday) with NO swimming lessons. Swimming will begin again after the mid term break.

Hats and Water Bottles
Please can you ensure that your child has a hat and water bottle in school every day. This term is likely to be very hot!

Chinese New Year
This will be celebrated on the last day of the half term-Friday 13th February. Children should come to school wearing red clothes on this day.

Important Dates
Please check the 'Important Dates' page on this blog to keep up to date with what is happening. This page also has a link to the school's live calendar so you can see all the events happening across BISP.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

This week has been so much fun! We have taught each other how to create simple videos and trailers in iMovie and have learned how to speak to computers using code.

The children have been creating and completing pictures and patterns which have one or two lines of symmetry.

And we celebrated Christmas with a Year 2 party. We played silly games such as 'Catch Rudolf' and 'Funny Faces'. The next day we took part in the Christmas Music concert. The Year 2 children performed brilliantly with a special mention to all the Year 2 singers who sang individually.

Next term begins on Tuesday 6th January. The first week back we will be having a 'Kindness' Week to focus the children on the behaviour expectations, setting the scene for the new term ahead. There are no teacher -led activities during this week.

We wish you all a fun filled holiday and best wishes for the New Year.
See you all in 2015!

There's an App for that! But which one?

Educational Ipad Apps for Younger Children

Children’s educational Ipad apps fall into 2 categories

• Apps that are open-ended and allow a child’s mind endless opportunities to create and explore.
• Apps that target a specific skill through games or repetitive questioning and answering.

There is a time and a place for both types of apps, however, it is invaluable to the growth of a child’s brain to allow them as many opportunities to use open-ended educational apps as possible.

Open-Ended Ipad Apps - Although these apps have been put into categories it is important to note that they could be used in many ways and part of the fun is children doing their own exploring and discovering about different ways and reasons to use open-ended apps. Prompting children to think outside the box while using these apps is encouraged!

Storytelling

My Story - Book Maker for Kids

• Children can create multiple page e-books by typing the words onto each page and recording their voices to tell the story out loud. They can use photos or drawings as the illustrations.
• This could be used to write fiction or nonfiction stories. Great for children who struggle with writing, but would love using their imagination to create stories.

 Toontastic - Create & Share Cartoons

• Children can create their own cartoons with step by step instructions to help remember the elements of a story, such as characters and setting. They have the option to use already made settings and characters or to draw their own. A storyhill sequence is then followed to remind them to create a beginning, middle and end to their story. Their voices can be recorded, to make the animations talk as they are moving them around the screen. Just like in a real cartoon.
• More suitable for KS1 unless supported by an adult.

 Adobe Voice

• Children can turn photographs into story movies with their voice telling the story.
• This could be used to make fiction stories by taking photographs of their drawings and describing them. It could be used to make a movie to recount their holiday or a fun day they had at the beach. It could also be used to describe and show some of their favorite toys or something interesting that happened to them recently. Anything that children can take photos of, they can turn into a fancy movie with their own color and music choices.

Drawing - Children would benefit from sometimes using an ipad stylus instead of their fingers to help with their fine motor control and to be more precise with their drawings.

Doodle Buddy for Ipad

• Children can draw, sketch, print and write and be endlessly creative with all the different tools in this app. They can draw onto a blank canvas or choose from many backgrounds or take their own pictures as the background. It is a fun way to practise math, by using the stamps to count, make sums or make patterns.
• It could also be used in literacy to practise writing and spelling words or using symbols to help write sentences.

 Kids Doodle - Movie Kids Color & Draw

• Another app for children to use to draw and create using many different tools. This app has a feature that can record their drawing from start to end and then turn the creation of their art into a movie.
• Children having the ability to go back and watch their drawing is valuable to their thinking and reflecting skills as it helps them think about and remember how they made different parts of their drawing, and what they might do differently next time.

 neu.KidsDraw

• Children make their creations on a larger canvas and this can be zoomed in and out to work on smaller details or see the whole picture. There are some interesting drawing tools that allow for layering pictures on top of each other and which force children to have to think more carefully about where they are placing their pictures. Photos can also be taken and used anywhere on the canvas.
• This app could be used for making mind maps about a topic or drawing pictures of a sequence of events. When using a stylus they can also write words to go along with their pictures. This app can be turned into a movie to watch the drawing process at the end.

Skills Based Apps

Phonics

 Chicktionary

Children have to make as many real words as they can with a pile of jumbled up letters.

Bitsboard

A wide variety of vocabulary activities and games.

   Bitsboard Preschool

A wide variety of sound and vocabulary activities and games.

Maths

Math, Age 3-5

Engaging activities covering a variety of Math Topics.

Math, Age 4-6

Engaging activities covering a variety of Math Topics.

Sumdog

Fun Math Games using different topics. Each child’s individual progress is saved by using their login and password. KS1 children are currently subscribed. Please ask your classroom teacher for login details if you do not already have them.

THANKS Jess Lobel for your advice!!