A busy week ahead

As we move into the last week of term there are many events happening so here is a round up of what's on next week.

Parent-Teacher-Child Consultations - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
We look forward to sharing your child's progress and targets with you on these days. Children are invited to attend to join in the discussion and to help them to recognise their learning and how they can develop.

Swim Gala - Tuesday
On Tuesday 31st March Year 2 will have their swim Gala. This will start at 9:30 and finish around 10:40.  Parents are invited to come along and support us. Children need to wear their swim clothes and bring a towel. They will need to wear their PE shorts and  colour team shirt over their swim clothes.  They can either come to school wearing these or change at school.

Trip to Phuket Aquarium - Wednesday
On Wednesday 1st April Year 2 will visit the Aquarium. We will leave school at 8:15 and return around 11:30. Children should wear their normal school uniform for the trip. Children who have PE in the afternoon can change when we return.

Wear Purple - Thursday
To show respect for H.R.H Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on her birthday we ask all children to wear a purple item of clothing on Thursday 2nd April.

Silly for Songkran - Friday
Year 2 will be celebrating Songkran on Friday 3rd April by taking part in traditional activities with the Thai teachers. They will be bathing the Buddha, making sand Jedi and blessing their teachers. 
Also, there will be a 'Silly For Songkran' fundraiser on this day which has been initiated by one of our Year 6 students. Please read the poster below.  Children may wear a Songkran shirt and for a donation of 20 Baht can have their hair done-in a silly style! There will be a cake sale and a toy sale after school and we are asking for donations of cakes and unwanted toys to support this. Please take any donations to the Primary Office.

To view this in a larger format click HERE

Oliver! - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

The Secondary and upper Primary students have been rehearsing hard for the show which they will put on on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We have some very talented students in the school so we encourage you to go along and see an amazing show. Tickets are on sale in the Community Support Office in the Primary Foyer.

'The Goblin Next Door'

Watching this show may inspire your child to be a performer! In Term 3 Year 2 children will have the opportunity to perform in a show themselves as we put on 'The Goblin Next Door'. If your child is interested in being part of the main cast for this show they will need to sign up for the KS1 Production After School Activity on Thursdays next term.  All children will be part of the show with the rest of the cast rehearsing during music lessons.

After School Activity sign up sheets will be sent home during the week.

Phew!-What a busy week ahead!

WELL DONE to this week's Year 2 Stars of the Week!

International Day

We had a fantastic end to a busy week with our International day celebrations. Many thanks to all our parents who ensured that the children were dressed up to represent their country and for cooking some delicious food for the stalls. We all enjoyed it very much.

Mr Carey looking very British!

What a colourful and multi-cultural school we have.

The Year 2 children performed a lovely Thai dance. Here is a link to the video of their dance.

Parent, Teacher and Child Conferences

Many thanks to all parents who have already signed up for an appointment to meet with us during the last week of this term to discuss your child's progress. This year we invite children to attend along with parents as we believe that they should be involved in reflecting upon their successes and targets for development. If you have not yet made an appointment please sign up  HERE     Instructions on how to sign up are in last weeks blog post below.

Year 2 Trip to the Aquarium

This week your child will have brought home a letter informing you about our trip to Phuket Aquarium on 1st April. This will support out learning about how animals are adapted to survive in various habitats. Please return the permission slip with 30 Baht as soon as possible if you wish your child to attend the trip.

Respecting and celebrating H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's Birthday

2015 is considered a significant year for Thailand, as it marks the auspicious  fifth cycle, or 60th, birthday anniversary of H.R.H. PRINCESS MAHA CHAKRI SIRINDHORN.

As a mark of respect and celebration.of the Princess's birthday all staff and children are invited to wear an item of purple clothing on Thursday April 2nd.   (otherwise normal school uniform)..

H.R.H. PRINCESS MAHA CHAKRI SIRINDHORN graciously presided over the Opening Ceremony of School <Dulwich International College> on Wednesday 26th April 2000.

WELL DONE to this weeks STARS OF THE WEEK!

Also WELL DONE to the Year 2 Library Best Borrowers! They were awarded with a book and certificate to congratulate them on their interest in books and using the library so regularly.

Remember the library is available for you to visit and borrow books from every day after school. Children do not just have to take out books on their scheduled Library day-they can borrow books every day!

Dates for your diary

Tuesday 31st March - KS1 Swim Gala

Monday, 30th March, Tuesday 1st April, Wednesday 2nd April - Parent, Teacher Meetings.

Wednesday 1st April - Year 2 Trip to Phuket Aquarium

Friday 3rd April - Last day of Term 2. Term Break begins. School finishes at 13:00.

Monday 20th April - Term 3 begins. NO AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES DURING FIRST WEEK.

Measuring and Communicating

This week the classes have swapped around their measuring equipment so that 2CC are measuring length, 2KG are measuring weight and 2JS are measuring capacity. In all our weighing activities the children ultimately need to read a scale which can often be a challenging exercise. A scale is really just a number line but we need to find out how we are jumping along the number line.

Measuring Madness!

We are communicators!

The children have continued to research animals this week. During this process they have been using a variety of information texts and looking carefully to discover how information texts are arranged to make them interesting. The challenge for the children now is to communicate what they have learned through their own informative and interesting text.

The children will also be considering other ways they can communicate their learning-perhaps using an ipad.

We have been encouraging the children to communicate with their teachers and peers through Edmodo and have challenged the children to share interesting information by adding a post. This only needs to be short and shouldn't take long. The children, once having contributed a post may recieve praise and feedback from their friends online. They may also receive an Edmodo badge!

Here is a video showing you how to login and logout of edmodo on an ipad. The Edmodo app is free to download. Edmodo can also be accessed via the internet at www.edmodo.com  Please make sure that you Login (NOT Sign up!)

A big WELL DONE to this weeks Star's of the Week

IMPORTANT - information about Parent-Teacher and Child Conferences

At the end of this term we will be holding conferences. This time we invite children to attend the conferences with parents and teachers. Booking a conference time slot needs to be done online. Please read the information below which will explain how to do this.

Dates for your diary

Friday 20th March - International Day. Children should wear National clothes or in the colours of       their flag.

Tuesday 31st March - KS1 Swim Gala

Monday, 30th March, Tuesday 1st April, Wednesday 2nd April - Parent, Teacher Meetings.

Friday 3rd April - Silly 4 Songkran Fun. (More information will follow)
                             Last day of Term 2. Term Break begins. School finishes at 13:00.

Monday 20th April - Term 3 begins. NO AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES DURING FIRST WEEK.

We are researchers

This week the children have started their research to help them to create their own information texts about animals and habitats. They will need to use many different features as they can to make their information texts interesting and easy to use.

Edmodo
The children need to login to Edmodo to find useful texts and websites to help them research. This provides them with a safe platform in which to research online. Edmodo is also a place where children can create and reply to posts, share pictures and information. It is a safe first social network as only the teachers and children in Year 2 can view them. We have asked the children to add a comment to a post from Ms Sherlock so please allow the children to access Edmodo at home if possible.

In Maths we have been busy comparing, estimating and measuring. 2JS have been measuring weight, 2KG have been measuring length whilst 2CC have been measuring capacity.

2JS comparing, estimating and measuring weight.

D.E.A.R

On Thursday we celebrated World Book Day by 'Dropping Everything And Reading'. In Year 2 we are now reading chapter books with the whole class. This means that the children have to focus on listening rather than rely on pictures.

A Big WELL DONE to this weeks Stars of the Week

Also CONGRATULATIONS to our Year 2 Swimmers who represented our school at the Swim meet in Singapore before the holidays. Here they are after receiving their medals in assembly.

Dates for your diary

Friday 20th March - International Day. Children should wear National clothes or in the colours of       their flag.

Tuesday 31st March - KS1 Swim Gala

Monday, 30th March, Tuesday 1st April, Wednesday 2nd April - Parent, Teacher Meetings.

Friday 3rd April - Last day of Term 2. Term Break begins. School finishes at 13:00.

Monday 20th April - Term 3 begins. NO AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES DURING FIRST WEEK.

READING LEVELS

This blog post (What K-2 teachers want parents to know about reading) is a terrific read for all KS1 parents.

Please check it out.  It will give you valuable insights into the ways to support your child as a reader.

Enjoy
Karen

Brain Week

For our first week back we have had a "Brain Week' where the children have been learning about the Emotional Rooms in their brain. They have learned about different emotions and the difference between emotions in the Orange Room-where we mix emotions with thinking, and emotions in the Red Room- where our emotions take over with impulsive behaviour.

The whole of Year Two got together to act out different situations which make us feel different feelings. They have also considered different strategies they could use to keep them out of 'The Red Room'.

We read the story 'Dogger' by Shirley Hughes and made an emotional map to show how the characters feelings changed through the story. Many children commented that it was like a 'Rollercoaster'.


Learning this term
We have also introduced our new Topic for this half term. The children seem very excited to be learning about how animals can survive in their different habitats. By the end of the unit we hope that children will understand that plants and animals are affected by their environment and that habitas, plants and animals are interdependent.

There are lots of research materials on Edmodo that the children can look at at home so please don't forget to Login. The usernames and passwords are inside your child's Reading Diary.



In Maths this term we will have a focus on measuring length, weight and capacity.We will also be continuing our work on calculating and relating calculation to real-life problems.



Drop Everything And Read
On Thursday, to celebrate World Book Day we will be 'Dropping Everything And Reading at 8:00-8:15.  If any parents are still in school at this time please could you bring a book and join in, simply stop wherever you are and read!

A Huge Well Done to 2KG for their fantastic assembly on Friday. We all enjoyed it!
Here they are pictured with our other Stars of The Week.

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.