Hello Everyone!
Warm greetings from the Milky Way Class! We had another exciting week filled with curiosity, reflection, teamwork, and lots of opportunities to learn and grow together.
🔤 Phonics: Learning the ai and ay Vowel Teams
This week in Phonics, the students explored the ai and ay vowel teams. They not only practised reading words but also developed an understanding of how these vowel teams are commonly used. The students learned that ai loves to stay in the middle of a word, while ay loves to stay at the end. Their understanding was reflected in a worksheet task where they filled in the missing letters. Many students carefully looked at the position of the blank and used this clue to decide whether to write ai or ay. It was wonderful to see them applying their understanding rather than simply guessing!
🤝 Provocation for Our Next Unit: Teamwork
We began an exciting provocation for our next Unit of Inquiry on Teamwork. The class participated in a Gallery Walk featuring pictures of people working together, such as a family preparing a meal, firefighters putting out a fire, students cleaning the classroom, and a medical team. As the students observed the pictures, they shared what they noticed and wondered. One student commented, “People are cleaning up,” while others added, “Everyone helps,” and “They are working together.” As the discussion deepened, one student paused to think more carefully and finally exclaimed, “Teamwork!” The classroom was instantly filled with excitement as everyone made the connection. It was a joyful “aha!” moment and a wonderful beginning to our new inquiry. Following this exciting discovery, we officially introduced our new Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Organize Ourselves, with the Central Idea: “Teamwork enables people to achieve common goals.” We also introduced our first Line of Inquiry: “There are roles and responsibilities in a team.” As we begin this new unit, students will explore what teamwork means and develop a deeper understanding of the different roles and responsibilities people have when working together toward a shared goal. Then, we talked about the KWL Chart: What do we know? What do we wonder? What did we learn? Students shared some of their current ideas about teamwork. One student explained that teamwork is when people work in a group, help each other, communicate, and share ideas. Another student added that teamwork is a group of people making something and working together. When asked, “What do you wonder?” one student thoughtfully shared, “I wonder how I can help more in the group.” It was wonderful to hear the students express not only what they already know about teamwork but also meaningful questions that can help shape and guide their inquiry. Throughout this unit, we will focus on developing the Learner Profile attributes of Open-minded, Communicator, and Reflective. Students will have opportunities to listen to and respect different ideas, express their thoughts and feelings clearly, work with others, and reflect on what worked well and what they can improve. We will also draw on other Learner Profile attributes when they naturally connect to the students’ learning experiences. We will continue to revisit the KWL Chart as our inquiry develops, adding new questions, wonderings, and discoveries along the way. We hope to gradually fill our classroom wall with the students’ own thinking and learning, making their progress visible as the unit unfolds.
♻️ Inquiry Fair Preparation: Teamwork in Action!
We also continued preparing for our upcoming Inquiry Fair, which has been a wonderful opportunity to put teamwork into action. Students are working in teams for their role-play presentations on Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, with each child taking on an important role and responsibility in helping their team achieve a shared goal. This experience has also created a meaningful connection to our new unit, as students are already beginning to discover how roles, responsibilities, communication, and cooperation help a team work successfully. The students especially enjoyed creating their own character headpieces to represent their roles, bringing creativity and excitement to the preparation process. As they worked and practised together, they developed as Communicators by sharing ideas, listening to one another, and expressing themselves with growing confidence. They also showed Open–mindedness by considering their teammates’ ideas and accepting suggestions. During practice, students focused on remembering their lines, speaking clearly and loudly, showing emotion, looking at the audience, and using actions and movements to make their presentations more engaging. They also grew as Reflective learners by using the Role-Play Presentation Assessment to think about what they were doing well and identify areas they could continue to improve. We will continue practicing, supporting one another, and growing together until Inquiry Fair day. It has been wonderful to see their confidence, communication, reflection, and teamwork continue to grow!
🏊♀️🤸♂️🎾 Active Learning and Water Play
This week, the students also enjoyed Swimming, Gym, and Tennis lessons. We were especially excited to begin our school pool water play, which the students had been eagerly looking forward to! A gentle reminder: Please indicate on your child’s card whether they are able to participate in water play or not. Thank you for your support in helping us ensure safe participation for everyone.
🎂 Looking Ahead to Next Week
Next week will be another exciting one! We will celebrate a Birthday Party for all ISN students across classes who were born in July. We are also looking forward to our much-anticipated Inquiry Fair at the Gojo Campus, where students will proudly share their learning through their role-play presentations. We can’t wait to celebrate this special day together—see you there! Students will also continue with their Gym, Tennis, and Music lessons.
🎵 Attached are the songs we are currently singing in class. We hope you enjoy listening and singing along together at home!
Thank you, as always, for your continued support and encouragement. We look forward to another wonderful week of learning, growing, and working together in the Milky Way Class!
Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!
