29 Sep 2017

Year 1 Update – Wk 7

Monday 9th October – School reopens.

Tuesday 17th October – Reading workshop for parents

Friday 20th October – ESF CPD, school closed.

Provocation

This week our second unit of inquiry started off with a provocation. The children arrived in class without teachers and Educational Assistants being present in the classrooms. We were all standing at the end of the corridors where the children could not see us. Miss Chung, Mr Harrison and Mr Thompson were walking all along the corridors to make sure that all children were safe. The provocation was to encourage the children think about and reflect upon their responsibilities as learners in the classroom.

Participating in all the action

Thank you so much to all of you who sent in money for all the special activities this week. All the children enjoyed the lunchtime events in the hall. It was fantastic to see all the children dressed in their house colours today. Please send in any sponsorship money after the half term holiday.

Mid-Autumn festival buying

Yesterday many of the children bought in money for the Mid-Autumn festival stall which was organised by the Mandarin teachers. The children all enjoyed buying a lantern and some fruit. This week has seen many of the children take responsibility for their own money. It has helped them decide on what to buy as well as think about the change that they may receive when purchasing their goods.

Central Idea:

Individuals contribute to the way communities function

After the holidays, we will continue to tune the children into this unit by encouraging then to inquire into the roles and responsibilities within our school community. They will be building upon the questioning work that Ms Jeves has done with them by formulating who, what, when, why, where, how questions that they would like to ask people within the BHS community.

Hair

If your daughter has long hair we would like to ask that you tie her hair up before school. We are finding that when some girls wear their hair down or untied at school it gets in their way when they are working. Also with the heat many girls are coming back from the playground with very sweaty hair.

Mother Tongue Story Telling

Last year a group of parents told stories to our students in their mother tongue during lunchtimes. As you can imagine this was very popular with our students and a great way to share the range of languages we speak within our community. If you are interested please click here to add your details. Any time you can give and to any year group is really appreciated. For those interested we can meet to discuss logistics in more details. If you have any questions please email me at andy.thompson@bhs.edu.hk.

Parent workshop on reading

On Tuesday 17th October at 6.30 pm the B.H.S English team will be holding a workshop for parents about reading. This will be a chance to learn practical ways to help develop your child’s comprehension skills. Please look out for the information on how to sign up. We would like to encourage all parents of year one children to attend.

Scholastic International Book Club

Don’t forget to visit our unique BHS Scholastic website to browse and order from a great selection of well-known and good quality children’s books!

20% of everything you spend is ‘rewarded’ to the school to be spent on new books to supplement the students’ learning.

Order deadline: Friday 13th October

maths

Next week our addition and subtraction maths unit will continue.

Central Idea: Numbers can be added and subtracted

The children will explore different practical activities and games based on number bonds to10. These are otherwise known as fact families or “Friends of 10”.

0 + 10 =10, 1 + 9 = 10, 2 + 8 = 10, 3 + 7 = 10, 4 + 6 = 10, 5 + 5 = 10, 6 + 4 = 10, 7 + 3 = 10, 8 + 2 = 10, 9 + 1 = 10

We will also be developing the children’s understanding of 1 more than and 1 less than using numbers up to 100.

Mathletics: Please spend some time each week exploring the different activities that we have set for the children. After half term we will open more topics for the children to complete. Please use the half term holiday to ensure that children have completed some of the ‘set tasks’. Under the ‘play’ section, children can practise their basic facts by playing games with partners from around the world. It is not intended that the children will do these tasks totally independently so please help your child to become familiar with the layout of Mathletics and how to go about completing the tasks. Have fun!

Next week we will finish up our unit about writing to socialise. Children will be writing letters to people in our school community to find out more about what their role is. We will be encouraging the children to use language such as dear, from as well as use appropriate question words.

Our reading focus for next week will be retelling. When children retell or tell a story in their own words we encourage them to talk about how the story started, what happened in the middle, how the story finished, what the problem and the solution are and what the main idea and key details are.

Part of our readers workshop is children choosing a stack of books that they would like to read throughout the week. Children will use their selected books to read when focusing on and practising skills that have been taught in our mini lessons. The books that children choose each week will vary depending on our reading focus. Books chosen could be from take home reading books, class book corners, group readers, current units books or from a teacher chosen selections. Next week the children will be decorating their book shopping bags with fabric pens.

Phonics

After the half term holiday we will begin our second phonics unit. Children will then begin to work with 8 new sounds as well as the sounds from unit one during our phonics sessions in class. Please look out for the unit 2 bookmark which contains ideas of how you can support your child at home.

Phonemes: r l d b f h i u

Camera Words: day of a he today for

Not all words can be decoded phonetically. We call these tricky words, ‘camera words’ because children must learn them as though they were taking a photo of the word with their ‘mind’s eye’. They are encouraged to memorise the part of the word which is tricky.

Congratulations to the following children for their Golden Book certificate on Monday.

1W – Felicity Chan

1P – Brandon Fong

1L – Jana Hau

Information Literacy – Ethan Yang 1W

Growth Mindset

The beliefs that children have about intelligence, effort, and struggle impact on the choices they make about learning. Children with a growth mindset believe that they can try new things, persevere at challenging tasks and understand that intelligence is not fixed. These students see school as a place to develop their abilities and think of challenges as opportunities to grow. At B.H.S we encourage children to have a growth mindset by seeing their learning as a journey on which they can grow and achieve their goals if they put effort in and persist.

Researcher Carol Dweck puts it this way: “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.”

One easy way to encourage growth mindset is through engaging, purposeful stories. Here is a list of books about children who overcome obstacles and labels to develop extraordinary talents and capabilities.

1. How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers

In this inspirational story, a young stargazer wishes to catch a star of his very own. Despite his many creative attempts, he learns in the end that sometimes having your dreams come true requires a little flexibility. A great story for encouraging kids to dream big and never give up.

2. Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

“Oh, how Willie wished he could whistle …” begins this beloved classic. Young Willie longs to be able to whistle for his dog, but try as he might, he just cannot figure out how to do it. We follow along as Willie goes through his day, trying, trying and trying some more until finally his efforts are rewarded with a tweet!

3. Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle by Chris Raschka

This sweet tale follows the course of a little one trying to learn to ride a bike, a milestone to which younger students will surely relate. With determination and practice, as well as a fair share of frustration, her trials ultimately lead to triumph.

4. Flight School by Lita Judge

Penguin has big dreams of soaring through the sky with the seagulls. Although his body is not remotely designed for flight, Penguin’s creativity and ingenuity, not to mention his persistence, lead to the fulfillment of his dreams. A wonderful story for encouraging kids to think outside the box.

5. A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant

This whimsically illustrated story tells the tale of a talented artist who grows up immersed in the joy of creating art until he is tragically injured in a war. Very patiently, with great determination, he slowly regains some of the control in his injured right arm, and although his abilities aren’t exactly the same, he goes on to become a celebrated artist.

6. Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty

When Rosie’s attempt to build a flying contraption for her aunt doesn’t turn out quite as she plans, she feels like a failure but learns that in life the only true failure is giving up. A story of pursuing one’s passion with perseverance.

7. Emmanuel’s Dream by Laurie Ann Thompson

Although he was born with one misshapen leg, Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah pursued life with a tenacity that helped him accomplish all that he set his mind to. Encouraged by his mother, who told him to pursue his dreams regardless of his handicap, this story is an inspiring true story of triumph over adversity.

8. Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn’t Sit Still by Karlin Gray

Nadia Comaneci captured the hearts of the world with her skill and grace as a young Olympic champion. This story shows that her triumph was the result of years of practice and dedication. Even through difficult times, Nadia worked hard, picked herself up when she failed and persevered.

9. Brave Irene by William Steig

Irene, the loyal young daughter of a dressmaker, must forge through a dreadful storm to deliver her mother’s work to the duchess. She must brave the howling wind, the freezing temperatures and many dangerous obstacles in order to complete her mission. An inspiring story that teaches that with proper motivation, there are no age restrictions on accomplishing great things.

10. Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle and Rafael López

An inspiring true story about a girl who dared to dream of being a drummer in a culture that said girls could not. She practices in secret and never gives up on her dream. Ultimately, her perseverance and belief in herself change a culture and reverse a long-held taboo.

11. Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin by Chiere Uegaki

Hana’s worried about playing her violin in the talent show. She longs to play beautiful music like her grandfather in Japan, but she’s only a beginner. She is determined to play her best though, so she practices every day. This inspiring story offers hope and confidence to all children who are yearning to master something difficult and teaches that sometimes there is more than one way to be successful at a task.

12. Ruby’s Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges

Ruby is a young girl filled with curiosity and a hunger for learning in a time when schooling is traditionally a boy’s privilege. Her hard work and courage result in her skills being recognized by her powerful grandfather, who breaks with tradition and clears the way for Ruby to further her education. This is a great story for inspiring kids to break down barriers in their pursuit of the love of learning.