A big thank you to everyone for making our UN day celebration so special! From having Lieve come in with Gopal and Gilda, to Ambassador Power, and finally our amazing brunch, this has been a week that will be hard to beat. Thank you to our class parents who helped to make our feast feasible, and to al of you for bringing your food and great spirit. Enjoy the break with your lovely learners. We will have a week off from newsletter next week due to the shortness of it all, but I will see you again on Nov. 2. In the meantime, be well!
Sincerely, Erin M. Threlfall
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Dear Parents, Today I was such a lucky teacher because it is what I call the "Classroom Magic day," the sort of day when everything just sort of brims with magical-ness. Let me tell you about what happened... By now you have probably heard that we took a trip to Borneo where we explored the rainforest, just narrowly avoiding the python; walked on the moon and glimpsed the Earth from far away; and dove deep beneath the ocean to swim with jellyfish. It was pretty amazing, and we did it all before 10:00 a.m. so while your day may have been busy, ours was... Well... Other-worldly! We were incredibly lucky to have the Google Expedition visit us. If you want to know what it was like ask your clever learner! As you can imagine, it was hard to bring their focus back to J3T after such excitement, and I thought I would never be able to top that experience, and then I gave out the new homework menu. After 45 minutes of interrogation- I mean, inquiries, the children seemed okay with the fact that they didn't have to complete "a bunch of worksheets," as they said. I really wish I had recorded the session, as it was full-on: "Is this for real? You mean, I get to choose? You mean, I get to play- WITH MY GROWN-UP? Like, THEY HAVE TO PLAY because it's homework?" When I said that they could expand the homework and do more if they wanted to, the room went a bit crazy. The interrogation turned to: Can I write stories? Well, what if I want to write LOOOONG stories, with pictures? What if I want to make a commercial or a movie? Can I make videos teaching someone how to do the math homework? What if I wanted to build TWO things that helped kids, and make a video telling about it? Can I do that? Can I write book reviews? What about a class newspaper to tell about current events? What if I want to complete the whole chart- are you going to be upset? Finn very definitively said: "This is the best homework ever!" with many children making the sign for "me too!" You are thinking that it doesn't get better than this, right? Well... There's more. I told the interrogators that I was giving them homework journals to record their work, and when I told them that they could do extra research for our unit, write stories, letters- anything connected to our learning, Dia said: "Well, if we get to do all of that great extra stuff, shouldn't it be called something better than a homework journal? Shouldn't you call it a Thought Book?" And just like that, our Thought Book was born. Anthony loved that he was assigned to play games with his Mom, and Anna thought it was super cool that she talk about current events. Dia wanted to write more stories and Adil liked having time for research. Maxime liked the idea of building and Viktor liked having choice. Leo was a bit concerned that I wasn't giving enough work, and Abby wanted to be certain that I would still give math or other work if they felt like they needed it. I think it is pretty safe to say that the home study menu was well received, and perhaps it is just their 8/9 year old big dreams and ambitions speaking, but it seems that, freed from worksheets and traditional homework practice, our learners might just start being more inventive and creative with their time. I am so exited about that, and cannot wait to see what comes back to me! Last Friday we had a visit with Sanjli Gidwaney, the US director of Design for Change. We have been asked to help model and document this innovative service learning approach to be shared with teachers in training at Harvard, and the children are excited to help out! If you would like to come in to talk about work that you do- even if it is volunteer- to help make the world a better place, please reach out! This week we will continue along in our ongoing units from last week. New is the introduction of the happiness habit: Look for the Wow. Ask your child to explain that wonderful strategy to you! Important Dates:
- All students are encouraged to wear traditional/cultural/fancy dress to celebrate their familial history and culture. Please remember to send along sensible footwear, so you child can safely play outside and move around the school. - There will be a UN Day parade for the whole Junior School and the morning will finish with a breakfast in our classroom. The morning will end at 9:40am, so the children can make it out to their play time at9:45am. - All parents are requested to contribute a small plate of food to share. - Before we start eating families will be encouraged to describe to a small group what they have brought in to share (name and ingredients) and why they have brought it in. - I'll reiterate Dr. Collier’s and Craig's words and remind you all that UNIS is an “Allergy Aware” school. Please refrain from bringing in foods that contain tree nuts, peanuts and/or seeds of any kind. I am sure you will hear from our class parents, Laura and Scott regarding what to bring!
That's it from me! I will leave you with one of my favourite TED talks that helps bring "Look for the Wow" into context. Sincerely, Ms. Erin M. Threlfall Dear Parents, Welcome to another week of learning in J3T! Last week was a busy one, filled with "tapping in," MAP testing, place value learning, letter-writing, friend-making and peace-building. The upcoming week promises to be just as full of great learning opportunities. UNIT STUDIES "Tapping in" is the first step in the Common Ground Collabortive inquiry cycle. At this stage, we are working to uncover each child's prior conceptions (both accurate understandings and misconceptions) as well as interests and wonders. I tell the children that this is my chance to get a peek inside of their brains, which they think is just hilarious. For our current unit, we used blended learning rotation stations. At the various stations, we were looking to see what the children knew about: issues in the world; the work of the United Nations; their ability to identify problems and express empathy through looking at images; and their idea of a Better World. I learned that the children are very aware, while also having some misunderstandings about the work of the U.N. One of my favourite conversations was around "That one guy who is the president of the whole world and who fixes everything- maybe his name is Bumpke?" To learn more about this process, talk with your children, look at the gallery above, and stop in to see some archives. Feel free to visit our PADLET pages (the assignment given to the children is shared below)as well to get a snapshot of the children's first thinking about issues at UNIS, in their community, and in the world. The tapping in stage helps me to plan for further learning, ensuring that we are building on prior-knowledge while also providing opportunities to correct misconceptions. The students report having thoroughly enjoyed the rotation stations, and are asking for more, More, MORE! It's a good day when the children are so excited about their learning!
This week, we will continue this work in our unit studies, working to develop an understanding of how we identify problems, and begin to define ways to address them. This will lead us into looking at organizations and the work that they do in addressing problems. As illustrative content, (a model example) we will be looking at the issues of hunger, homelessness, and poverty, zooming in on Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, and 3. As a class, we will examine the work of the World Food Programme and how this organization works with individuals to solve these big issues. MATH In Math, the students worked to deepen their understanding of the base ten place value system and how we can express numbers in different ways, including standard form/notation (978) expanded form/notation (900+70+8) , and in words (nine hundred seventy eight). This week we are working on rounding numbers to a defined place value and learning when it is best to estimate and round as opposed to being exact. All of this work is to ensure that the children have a strong foundation with the place value system up to thousands so that they can work with fluency and accuracy when adding and subtracting. LITERACY We have been practicing our voracious reading skills, reading to self and others, while identifying the key literary elements such as character and setting to help us comprehend what we are reading. As a class study, we are reading Because of Winn-Dixie, while the children learn how to respond to their reading. I am beginning running records with the children this week, and I look forward to setting individual goals with the children. The students deconstructed samples of letters, and have created their own checklist for the elements of a friendly letter. They then used this in our response to literature. Last week, the students responded to Each Kindness with a letter to a character in the story. The students followed the writing process to craft a first draft of their letters and then they evaluated their writing using a rubric, and finally published a revised letter. Their work will be on display by the end of the week. I encourage you to stop in and see what they've been working on. The goal right now is to celebrate the writer's process, and take note of each child's progress as they develop understanding of letter-writing. This week they will take a "baseline" writing assessment for our next genre: Persuasive Writing, and then we will begin lessons to craft effective persuasive writing pieces. I apologize in advance for any newly developed effective persuasive technique that come home with the children. Years past have shown that the children really take to this genre and try to apply it in allllllllllllllllll areas of their lives. SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING We have been working on developing a sense of empathy for others, and demonstrating our understanding by being caring and thoughtful to the feelings of those around us. To that end, we are doing a lot to imagine how others are feeling including practicing See, Think, Wonder routines with images, acting out scenes from our reading, and learning how to actively listen to others. We have also been working to identify our own interests, skills, and talents to help lead into an understanding of what wonderful things we offer the world. As a social group, the focus is looking at how we collaborate effectively with others. All of this work supports the Happiness Habit: Build Into Relationships. This habit includes taking care of ourselves and being self-expressed, as the first relationship we have is with ourselves. I tell the children that you have to be a good friend to yourself if you wish to be a good friend to others! These skills are developed an reinforced all day long, and are explicitly modelled and taught. We used the MAP opportunity to talk about STRESS, and how stressful moments can actually shut down our thinking and learning. This article from John's Hopkins School of Education outlines some of the impacts of stress. I have been slowly introducing meditation and breathing techniques to help with the stress management. The first technique I am introducing to the children is from the Transcendental Meditation Technique. HOME LEARNING The children are expected to read for 20 minutes each evening, and have had occasional "finishing up" work. We will begin the "official" home learning next week. Stay tuned! In the meantime, please talk with your children about your idea of a better world! ODDS AND ENDS CLASS PARENT NEEDED! A big thank you to Bella's dad, Scott Nadel, who has graciously offered to serve as one of our class parents. I am still looking for one more parent who can help out with PA events and class parties. Please email me if you are available! NUT FREE SNACKS: Please remember that snacks should be nut free to help us keep our classroom safe for those with allergies. Thank you for understanding. Have a great week with your lovely ones! Yours in Learning and Growing- Ms. Erin M. Threlfall |
SnapshotsA peek at life inside of J3T , curated by Ms. Erin M. Threlfall Archives
June 2016
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