SES Blog

Our busy two weeks started with a visit from Garda Pangan, an organisation involved in food distribution, as part of our Earth Day activities. They introduced the children to the concept of single use plastics. Through an interactive presentation, the children learned how they can help reduce waste accumulation by avoiding single use plastic.

In Religion Studies for Indonesian nationals, the children learned about the meaning behind different celebrations. Christian and Catholic children celebrated Easter by listening to the story behind the occasion through engaging storytelling. Buddhist children learned about kindness towards all beings in preparation for Waisak and participated in releasing live birds at the playground.

World Book Day was a highlight of the past weeks, as both children and teachers dressed up as their favourite book characters. After the parade, each child had the opportunity to share their costume and the character they represented. A heartfelt thank you to Mrs Nicole and Mrs Hyosun who came to read lovely books for the children during our circle time.

Units
The children explored village life and community, while gaining an understanding of the diverse customs and cultures found across Africa. Through a range of engaging activities, they used their creativity to design African huts inspired by Ndebele patterns. They also took part in traditional games such as Okereke Okereke (passing the sticks) and Okoso, a spinning game. The children created Maasai-inspired pasta necklaces, which proved to be both highly effective and an enjoyable activity for them.

In addition, the children learned about traditional clothing, landmarks, environments, and the variety of foods enjoyed across the continent. This rich learning experience was beautifully enhanced by a thoughtful presentation from our parent community, Mrs Pam, Mrs Tsue, and Mrs Niza. The children experienced African music and dance, discovered the cultures and traditions of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, and enjoyed tasting a variety of foods. It was a truly enriching and memorable experience for everyone involved.

Year 1 additional learning covered – Week 32 and 33

Phonics 
To identify sounds represented by more than one letter, for example /ch/, /th/, /qu/, /ng/, /ay/
Some children are learning about alternative sounds such as /ee/ can also be written with ‘ea’, ‘e-e’, ‘y’.

To use phonic knowledge to read decodable words. Reading and writing CVC words,words with adjacent vowel / consonants using sounds covered, words with double consonants such as bell, mess, mitt, back.

Language / Literacy – Reading. Guided Reading groups – Practising fluency of reading and gaining the confidence to recognise sounds and blend them to read words and sentences.  Reading comprehension, to be able to answer direct questions about the book and work on understanding inferential questions as well.

Language – Story telling and Writing
The children have been putting great effort into completing their retelling of Handa’s Surprise.

Maths –
Ordinal numbers
To recognise and use ordinal numbers from 1st to 10th.

Complements of 10
We reviewed which two numbers add up to make 10.  1+9, 2+8 etc..

Statistic and Probability
The children are learning to organise, record and represent categorical data using: list, venn diagrams, pictograms and graphs. Using the African animals from our unit on Africa, we sorted the animals into categories. For example, herbivore and carnivore animals. Animals who have tusks and antlers and those that do not.

Important dates for Semester 2

Further information will be shared closer to each date. Please note that unless otherwise stated or indicated as ‘parents are invited,’ these events are for children only

22 May – Fun day
2 Jun – First dress rehearsal for the End of Year Performance
3 Jun – Second dress rehearsal for the End of Year Performance
4 Jun – End of Year Performance (parents are invited)

Kind regards,
Montessori Team