Good afternoon,
Thank you to all who attended the Student-Led Conferences with your child. Each child had thoughtfully prepared in advance, planning how to share some of the activities they enjoy in class. It was a lovely to see and hear those who had the opportunity to proudly and enthusiastically give a glimpse into their school life. This is a meaningful and important experience for the children—and we hope for the adults as well—as it offers a unique snapshot of school through your child’s eyes.
This week we launched our new unit of inquiry, centered around the idea: ‘Many different people help to keep our community working well.’
We began with a small mystery to spark curiosity. One by one, we pulled objects—clues—out of a bag and invited the children to think about what each item was and who might use it in our school community. For example, the children correctly identified that Mr Manik, our custodian, would use a mop and bucket, while one of our gardeners might use a hose! We then looked at a series of photographs showing some of the people who work within our school. Each person was connected to one of the objects we had just explored. The children were asked if they recognised each individual and what role they thought that person played in our community. Together, we identified our security guard (Mr Hussein), one of our school bus drivers (Mr Mahmood), our nurse (Ms Amina), our building custodian (Mr Manik), one of our school gardeners (Mr Shreebash), and Mr Sekar (who cares for our school farm animals). We followed this discussion with a fun and thoughtful activity. Working in pairs or individually, the children looked at the photographs again while I posed imaginary dilemmas—for example, “Oh no! I’ve spilled my juice all over the floor. What a mess! Who can I ask for help?” The children enjoyed matching each scenario to the person best suited to help, showing understanding and enthusiasm as they made their choices.
Our favourite class saying is, “Teamwork makes the dream work!”
The children often demonstrate their understanding of how working together can lighten the load and make tasks more enjoyable and often come over proudly saying, “Look, we did teamwork!” as they show us something they’ve worked on together. This week, we decided to bring several learning goals together in one activity. The children have been working collaboratively to create artwork for a display celebrating our class motto. With support, each child had one arm and hand outlined on paper. They then decorated it using wax crayons followed by a watercolour wash. Next week, we’ll assemble the beautifully designed hands and arms into a display, with all of them reaching inward to visually highlight and remind us of our motto. This creative activity of course gave the children a chance to express themselves artistically while also developing their fine motor and mark-making skills. We look forward to sharing the finished display—a wonderful celebration of collaboration and teamwork. You can see some photographs of the artwork below.
Wishing everyone a good weekend,
Kristina, Rahma and Buthina
