The Week of January 15th

NEWS
Welcome back everyone! It was such a joy to have our students back and to hear about all of the travels, fun times with family, and special events.  We welcomed four new students to grade 2 this week! In our classroom, we welcomed Mingyo who is coming from Korea.  This brings our total up to 20 (10 boys and 10 girls).  The students have been very welcoming and I know the rest of the ISKL community will help reach out to these new families, organize play dates and make them feel welcome as they settle into their new lives in ISKL and Kuala Lumpur.

In terms of curriculum, we had a busy week launching our new units and doing some community building activities!

As readers we dove into our nonfiction reading and unit this week. We reviewed features of nonfiction texts and discussed how authors use certain features to teach their readers. Students learned how to read diagrams, maps, charts and models by paying close attention to the details of what those features were teaching them.

As writers we started brainstorming ideas for some wonderful nonfiction books. We have started planning out topics, subtopics, creating a table of contents to guide their book, and will be busy in the coming days writing them all out. Next week we will spend a lot of time studying mentor authors and strategies that authors use to teacher their audience all that they can in an engaging way. 

In science we have been tuning into our new unit “Healthy Choices” this week and brainstorming what kinds of choices we make everyday that are helpful or harmful to our bodies. Students will learn about the importance of good hygiene, proper sleep, 3 forms of exercise, healthy eating and water consumption and even mental health. This usually has lasting effects throughout the year, so please help include your child in grocery shopping for healthy food, doing fun and active things as a family and help them track their sleeping habits.

As mathematicians we have started our Geometry unit this week and students have reviewed 2D shapes and some attributes. This unit will cover both 2D and 3D shapes and attributes as well as fractions.

UPCOMING
January 15th-ASA registration opens on Powerschool
January 29th- Mini Academies
January 31st- No School

IMPORTANT
Linked here is the home learning menu for January.

DINNER QUESTIONS
1 - What is something new you hope to learn this year?
2 - What are some healthy choices that we can make as a family at home this year?
3 - What are some ways you can show kindness at home and at school this year?

Week of December 4th and Looking Ahead to the end Semester 1

NEWS
We had a busy week! Christmas Around the World was so much fun! It is always a privilege to see how other people celebrate this festive occasion with commonalities and differences. The concert was a roaring success!  The math learning celebration was well attended and the swim carnival ended the week on a high note! Thank you to all the parents who came to volunteer, support and cheer on your children during all these special events!

UPCOMING
This week will be a short week with lots of cooperative learning opportunities across classes. We are not digging into any new curriculum but tying up loose ends and having a week full of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) perhaps a little baking, and some winter cleaning to get our library ready for the upcoming Non-Fiction units when we return! There will be lots of reading, writing, science and math weaved in during these times.

IMPORTANT
Monday, 11 December - No school. Sultan of Selangor’s Birthday
Wednesday, 13 December - Field Trip (Royal Selangor Pewter Factory)
Friday, 15 December - Last day of the semester
Monday, 8 January - First day of second semester

DINNER QUESTIONS
* What was the best part of your first semester?
* What did you learn during Christmas Around the World?
* What are you most looking forward to in the second semester?

Have a safe and wonderful Holiday and see you all back in 2018!

The Week of November 27

NEWS

As readers this week we have focused on the author’s message.  Is there a message in the stories we are reading?  If so, how do we know, what evidence do we have from the text?  This is complex work around reading comprehension, laying the basis for inferring from texts (or understanding what is not explicitly stated in texts) - and it is work that we will be continuing next week as well.

Our science and writing were integrated this week.  We planned and prepared for our experiments and then independently wrote up a full lab report.  These will be shared with you next week. A time lapse of a portion of our lab for your viewing pleasure is included below:

As mathematicians we continued working on adding and subtracting two 2-digit numbers within 100 using various strategies such as base-ten models, number lines, and various other strategies.  This work will also continue into the coming week.

UPCOMING

Christmas Around the World is scheduled for Monday, December 4th.

For those with children performing in our elementary school holiday concert, the performance is next week on Thursday, December 7 at 7:00pm. ISKL will be live streaming this event at this URL: https://livestream.com/iskl

Swim Carnival is scheduled for Friday, December 8.  Please follow the links below with details about the event:

ES Physical Education Website

Swim Carnival Schedule   

Grade 2 Learning Celebration is scheduled for Friday, December 8 from 10:10 – 10:45 (before the Swim Carnival).  Students will have the opportunity to share with you some math games, addition and subtraction strategies, and problem solving strategies that they’ve been learning this semester.  Please let us know whether you plan to attend by completing this Google invitation form so that we can plan our groups accordingly.

REMINDERS

Our Home Learning is posted on our blog under the "Class Documents" tab.  While these activities are optional, students are encouraged to complete one activity of their choice each week.

DINNER QUESTIONS

Tell me about your science experiment?  What were your results?  Do you have any other questions?

What is your favorite addition and subtraction strategy?

Tell me about a favorite book you read this week?

Week of November 20th

NEWS
Thank you to the parents who came in this week to help us make Christmas tree ornaments to kick off the holiday season at Melawati.  Another big thank you to all the parents who came out to lead a Mini Academy session - I know the students always look forward to them with much excitement.

As readers this week we’ll continue reading and discussing books with partners.  In addition to asking questions about the book, students will also begin thinking about the author’s message.  They will review comprehension strategies (Making Predictions, Asking Questions, Retelling, Rereading, Visualizing, Making Connections), and will practice finding evidence in the story to support their thinking.

Our science and writing are integrated this week with students preparing and conducting their own science experiments.  We will generate a question to investigate and we will then have the opportunity to go through the scientific process as we each conduct our own experiments.  The students will form a hypothesis, conduct the experiment, make observations, record the results, and form a conclusion based on the outcome of their experiment.  Each step of the process will be written up in their final lab report, which is the assessment for our writing unit.  Teachers will be on hand to help students with their experiments, but the writing of the lab reports will be done independently without teacher support.  The writing of the lab reports will be done over several days spread throughout the week. 

As mathematicians this week our focus is on subtraction two 2-digit numbers within 100 using various strategies such as base-ten models, number lines, and various other strategies.  We will not be teaching the standard addition and subtraction algorithms (where you "carry over" the one, etc.)

UPCOMING
No School on Friday, December 1st.

Grade 2 Learning Celebration is scheduled for Friday, December 8 from 10:10 – 10:45.  Students will have the opportunity to share with you some math games, addition and subtraction strategies, and problem solving strategies that they’ve been learning this semester.  An invitation with an RSVP will be sent closer to the date so we can determine how many parents will attend.

REMINDERS
Our Home Learning is posted on our blog under the "Class Documents" tab.  While these activities are optional, students are encouraged to complete one activity of their choice each week.

DINNER QUESTIONS
Tell me about a science experiment you would like to conduct?  What do you expect to happen? 
What have you learned about writing science lab reports?
Do you prefer writing personal narratives or science lab reports?  Why?

Week of November 13th

NEWS
Thank you to the parents who are coming in this week to help students make their Christmas tree ornaments.  This is a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season at Melawati.

As readers we have started reading partnerships to grow our comprehension skills by discussing books with partners and using note taking strategies to help us jot down our thinking about books.  Students will practice writing their ideas, questions, and thinking on sticky notes throughout the book and at the end of chapters.  These notes form the basis of collaborative conversations with their reading partner.

As writers we have continued our work writing like scientists this week by documenting some experiments we have been doing in the lab.  Our focus now is on the importance of using exact measurements, science vocabulary and detailed steps as we write our procedures.

As scientists we continue learning about the differences between physical and chemical changes.  Through our readings and experiments, we explored how chemical changes are irreversible and create a new substance.  During our experiments this week, students will have an opportunity to see matter go through both physical and chemical changes.

As mathematicians we have started to write and solve multi-step story problems with same and mixed operations including multiple addends.  During our work on these problems, students have been encourage to be flexible in their thinking in order to combine or take apart numbers to help their accuracy and efficiency.  As with all story problems, students are expected to show their thinking with a picture, equation and answer that includes the unit.  Our upcoming focus is on double digit addition and subtraction using base-ten models, number lines, and various other strategies.  The big idea is to be able to demonstrate understanding of place value on a conceptual level as opposed to merely solving an algorithm.  This might look very different from the way many of you know how or  have been taught how to solve addition and subtraction equations, thank you for your patience and understanding and we will be happy to explain this all to you during our Math Learning Celebration (read on).

UPCOMING
Swimming during PE is this Thursday, November 23rd.

Mini Academies is scheduled for Thursday, November 23.  Thank you to the parents who volunteered to lead an activity.  These are always special events and the kids love learning from our very talented parent community.

Grade 2 Learning Celebration is scheduled for Friday, December 8 from 10:10 – 10:45.  Students will have the opportunity to share with you some math games, addition and subtraction strategies, and problem solving strategies that they’ve been learning this semester.  An invitation with an RSVP will be sent closer to the date so we can determine how many parents will attend.

REMINDERS
Our Home Learning is posted on our blog under the "Class Documents" tab.  While these activities are optional, students are encouraged to complete one activity of their choice each week. 

DINNER QUESTIONS
What are some chemical changes that you might see at home?  How do you know?
Practice a reading partnership with your parents.  What are some questions you can ask them about the book you read? 

Week of November 6th

NEWS
Visiting author and illustrator Bryn Barnard came to visit grade 2 this week!  He shared some ideas about gathering information for his nonfiction books and illustrations and told the students about some interesting sea creatures!  This link has more information about him.

International festival both at Melawati on Friday and at Ampang on Saturday was a resounding success and always a great reason to gather and celebrate the many nationalities at our school. 

As readers this week we did some hard reading work taking our comprehension skills to the next level. Students learned how authors use literary language to help the reader picture things in their minds, describe characters and help give them a better understanding of what is happening. We noticed similes, alliteration sound words and some playful idioms that made students stop and question and have a few giggles.  We also worked on our fluency by practicing some reader's theater.

As writers we continued working on our lab report procedural writing with a few more science experiment. Students were testing ways to make liquids turn into gases with different heat sources. This week they wrote their lab reports independently applying the things they have learned as Science writers: detailed steps, using their senses to record observations and sharing their findings in their conclusions.

As mathematicians we continued our work into story problems. We continued practicing how to set up an equation with the known information and a symbol for the unknown with a focus on subtraction problems. We then used strategies such as number lines, drawing base ten blocks, manipulatives or other equations to show our thinking and writing the answer with the units.

As scientists we tried different ways to change matter from liquids to gases week. Some ways that the students explored were putting it on a bunsen burner, on the stove, and in the oven. We used a fixed amount of time (7 minutes) as a control and observed and recorded our results for how much water evaporated from each beaker and compared findings.

UPCOMING
Mini Academies (Monday, November 23rd) at 1:30pm - there is still time to sign up!

DINNER QUESTIONS
What was one interesting thing you learned from the author presentation?
How else could you try to make liquid evaporate?
What was something you did this week that was challenging? How did you figure it out?

x

The week of October 30th

NEWS

This week we celebrated Halloween and Deepavali.

As readers our focus was on fluency, specifically adjusting our voices to match the mood of the characters, "talking" like the characters, and making sure we are reading at a "just right" pace. The big idea behind this is that when read fluently we help our comprehension and this is really the reason that we read books in the first place. Next week our focus will be on identifying and understanding special language author's use to make their writing more interesting, basically similes, idioms, metaphors, and the like.

As writers we have continued writing like scientists to describe our science experiments in a guided fashion. The focus this week was on identifying a question and coming up with a hypothesis. The focus next week will be on analyzing the results and coming up with conclusions. The end goal is that we will be able to put all the pieces together independently in a few weeks (namely coming up with a question, hypothesis, procedure, results and conclusion) with an independent investigation.

In math we are continuing our work on word problems, with the focus this week on "change unknown" problems. This means you start with something (say 10 apples) then Mr. Alex gave you some more (change) and in the end you had 15 apples. How many apples did Mr. Alex give you? We solved problems and created our own focusing on understanding the problem, making a model or picture, writing the equation, and identifying an answer with a unit representing the amount. Next continue this work with "start unknown" problems, as well as starting "take-away" problems which are basically the beginning of subtraction before switching gears to addition and subtraction with regrouping and borrowing double digit numbers in the coming weeks.

In science we are linking closely to our writing unit making links to the different states of matter and how matter can change states through the addition or removal of heat through a series of experiments melting an ice cube (and coming up with hypothesis as to how we can make it melt faster). More experiments coming up next week and we encourage you to support your child's curiosity at home by asking "why" and allowing them to explore and create their own experiments at home. If you are curious this time lapse is "the control" group time-lapse in our classroom. Total time to melt as 1 hour 32 minutes!

UPCOMING

Friday, November 10th is the International Flag Parade day. Your child can come to school wearing their traditional outfit from your country. Parents are welcome to watch the parade from 8:15 - 9:15 a.m.

Saturday, November 11th is International Fest at the Ampang campus.

DINNER QUESTIONS

Can you tell a story/word problem with start/result unknown?

Practice saying “I’m hungry” in 3 different moods, happy, grumpy, sad.

What are some transition words that you can use when you teach someone something?

What wonderings do you have as a scientist?