GRADE 3-4-5

TERM 1 BLOG

Welcome to the school year. I hope you had a nice holiday break with your family.

This is the first blog entry to the new school year.

Captions will be written and photos selected by students and teachers throughout the year.

There will also be samples of students written pieces.

Blog will be updated every 2 to 3 weeks.

Ibu Hasanah and myself will be teaching 12 students in the grade 2/4/5 class this year.

On the first day it was interesting to listen to some of the stories students shared about their adventures over the holiday break. One student went to the BBC and got a strike 2 times. YAAAAY. While another saw a 1.5m lizard which bit them. My highlight was my golf approach shots being applauded by the gallery of kangaroos.

We worked together to make some classroom essential agreements. These will be reviewed at the end of each term. In the past this may have  been termed "Class Rules". We made an effort to keep our language positive and include no negatives like, no, don't, not allowed or never.

Grade 3, 4, 5 Essential Agreements

1. Use an inside voice
2. Please pick up abandoned pencils
3. Just close the door after you come inside the classroom
4. Please listen when someone is presenting
5. Tidy up the class when it is messy
6. Try as hard as you can
7. Please respect other people's work, opinions and efforts

After viewing the class schedule you may be aware of some changes to last year.

• Swimming will be every Monday and Thursday morning at VIP pool with Grade 6-9 class. Mr. Sigit, Mr. Tallis and myself will be teaching the students. Swimming will be only held in Term 1 and 4.
• Students will need to wear their swimming clothes underneath their school uniform. Please make sure everyone brings a towel, goggles and sandals or flop flops.
• P.E. will be once a week on Wednesday morning for Term 1 and 4. In Term 2 and 3 it will replace the swimming time and be three times a week. Students will need to wear their P.E. uniform on these days.
• 20 minutes before lunch will be times for goal setting, reflection and independent IT work using "Studdyladder.com.au", with a specific focus on mathematical concepts.
• Co-curriculum will now be called Personal project. Today browsed through a list of possible choices. This will start Week 2. These may include art, design, media, drama, music, IT and sports based projects.

Homework will start next week and be every Monday to Thursday. Students should be aiming to read their personal novel independently at least 30 minutes each night. Written 20 to 30 minutes tasks will relate to work covered relating to the current UOI with a language or Maths focus.

Our first unit for 7 weeks will provide students an opportunity to explore our own and others learning

styles.

Transdisciplinary theme – Who we are Central Idea: Exploring different learning styles helps individuals understand each other better.  Lines of inquiry:  Different ways of learning  How people learn best            Exploring learning communities  Transdisciplinary Skill Sets - research  Key Concepts - form, function, reflection  Key learner profiles – knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators  Key attitudes – appreciate, confidence, respect

On Friday morning Mr. Scott told us to go to the field and he sometimes says if you are wearing.....run!
The purpose is for being fit and awake because sometimes when you arrive at class you're sleepy.
We felt like we were doing a victory run (but personally I felt like I was doing wind sprints and I hate wind sprints) after winning a marathon!

In the morning we sit in the circle and sometimes Mr. Scott told us to say something about the weekend. We enjoy sharing stories. What I recall from those pictures  I think we were writing something about about learning styles (you can look at them at our classroom) and I like having nice classmates as well!

Open house

Mr. Scott was telling about the activity in the classroom to the parents.

We were demonstrating a fun game related to reaction time!

After that we played "Studyladder" with my account and I got 180 bonus points! 

Mr. Scott gave us the questions to answer and in the picture we were looking to see if we have the same answers.

Design and technology

Our design and technology challenge was to build a krupuk stand to play the original Indonesian game on Independence day. We would eventually use this to demonstrate the learning style of a kinesthetic learner at assembly.You have to try to eat the krupuk without using your hands.

If the krupuk falls to the ground it means you're out. The winner is the one who finishes the krupuk first. Everybody enjoyed this activity. 

Concentric circle art

In art we worked together to construct concentric circles. Twice a week this term the grade 3-5's will be involved in learning and teaching playground games to their peers. For the first week they focused on circle games. There was lots of fun to be had and some challenges taking on the role as a teacher.

Hosting assembly

In week 2 it was our turn to host the school assembly. We each have a role to play as presenter and we usually have some items to present. We demonstrated the three learning styles VAK. (Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic learners)
We painted the Indonesian staff with a different career path they may choose and matched this with their learning style. e.g.  A fire fighter,actress or athlete for kinesthetic, zoo keeper or farmer for naturalist, poet for linguist and musical for a music teacher 

We were introducing the Indonesian teachers to the new ISB families using pictures.
Some of the people laughed because of the funny drawings.

Reading

In the classroom we were reading each others journals.
Mr. Scott announced who had the scratch & sniff stickers!

I was reading my journal book with my friend.
We had to check whether any mistakes and to see how interesting the stories.
We were sharing our stories in journal book.

Mr. Scott was explaining that we had to write a journal. After that some of us get scratch and sniff stickers. This was to show if students can be motivated to learn by an external (reward) factor. Six stickers were given, two for the neatest and four for the most interesting story.

Independence Day

On Independence Day we had many games to do. Everybody got turn to do games.
My favourite game was Balap Karung (sack race). At the end we also had tug of war between teachers and students. The teachers won the game. The students tried hard to pull the rope but they loose. I like Independence Day because it has so many games.