The CATS communities !

Dear Cats families,

 

This week, we continued exploring our central idea:

Community spaces can have positive effects on people’s lives.

We focused on community spaces and thought about how different places help people in different ways. We looked closely at places such as wadis, parks, schools, shops and other spaces in our communities.

Using a Wadi in Oman as an example, students became observers and writers!

They thought about what they might:

👀 SEE
👂 HEAR
💗 FEEL
💭 IMAGINE

We used these ideas to build vocabulary and help us write descriptive sentences about community spaces.

Students are beginning to understand that a good writer doesn’t just tell the reader what a place is. A good writer helps the reader imagine being there!

WRITING

Our writing this week connected closely with our Unit of Inquiry.

Students used their senses to collect ideas before writing. We practised adding describing words and details to make our writing more interesting.

We are working on:

• Thinking of ideas before writing

• Using our senses to add details

• Writing complete sentences

• Choosing interesting vocabulary

• Reading our writing back and improving it

We especially enjoyed using our SEE, HEAR, FEEL and IMAGINE word banks to help us get our ideas onto paper. 📝

PHONICS & READING

In phonics, we continued practising our sounds and applying our phonics knowledge when reading and writing words.

We are also continuing to work on:

• Blending sounds

• Reading familiar words

• Building our sight-word vocabulary

• Reading with greater confidence

• Using new vocabulary when speaking and writing

Our goal is to become more independent readers and writers every week! 🌱

MATHEMATICS

In Mathematics, we continued developing our understanding addition, subtractions and place value. We are working hard to explain our mathematical thinking using complete sentences.

LANGUAGE

This week gave us lots of opportunities to develop our English vocabulary.

We practised sentence starters such as:

“I can see…”

“I can hear…”

“I feel…”

“I imagine…”

“People use this space to…”

“This community space is important because…”

These simple sentence structures help us communicate our ideas clearly and confidently.

LEARNER PROFILE & ATL

This week we were especially:

🔍 INQUIRERS
We observed our surroundings and asked questions.

💭 THINKERS
We used our observations to develop new ideas.

🗣️ COMMUNICATORS
We shared our thinking with our classmates.

🤝 CARING
We thought about how community spaces can help people and make communities better.

• TRY IT AT HOME!

  When you are out with your child this weekend, choose one community space together.

  It could be a:

  🌳 Park
  🏫 School
  🛍️ Shop
  🏥 Hospital
  🕌 Mosque
  🌿 Wadi
  🏖️ Beach
  📚 Library

  Ask your child:

  What can you SEE? 👀
  What can you HEAR? 👂
  How does this place make you FEEL? 💗
  What can you IMAGINE happening here? 💭

  You could even challenge them to write 3 sentences about the place!
  
  WHAT A WEEK!

  It has been lovely to see the children becoming more confident at sharing their ideas, using new vocabulary and putting their observations into writing.

  We are learning that the world around us is full of things to notice, question and wonder about. 

  Have a wonderful weekend!

  Ms Cami