Term 1 week 11

Central Idea: As we pursue our passions, we discover opportunities to take action.

Now, at the beginning of the second half of term one, we have all settled on exactly what our passions are. With the help of the teacher, we have thought about how we can do something to help our community. We tied our interests in the Global Goals for Sustainable Development so that our passions are related to important global issues.

This week we also linked up with our mentors. This was useful because it meant that we now have the input, ideas and perspectives of another adult. We are going to meet with them weekly. We're all keeping online exhibition journals, so our work is available for parents to see.

The field trip this week was related to our exhibition too. We visited a few businesses which are owned by parents in our community. We wanted to get some hints about how to build successful businesses. It is quite likely that some of our exhibition work could develop into small businesses.

We have begun to inquire into the solar system. We started by watching a video about the Hubble telescope. The images it has collected are really exciting. Over the coming weeks, we are going to be doing some guided inquiry into the solar system. N.A.S.A has a wonderful website for students, and so we will be giving that some attention.

English, as well as our usual ongoing routines, we have been focusing on poetry. We started by writing limericks. They are short but quite challenging to write because they follow certain rules and should be funny too. We certainly had a laugh writing about our teachers. Please have a look at those displayed outside of our classroom.

On Wednesday 6th November you are invited to visit our classroom. Please come from 8:25 to 9:55 to see an English and a maths lesson. You will also find out about our PYP Exhibition.

Maths

This week in Maths we have been looking at different types of sequences and how to identify the nth term. We are mainly focusing on linear and non-linear sequences, but the students have researched other algebraic sequences and created information posters about them.

Next week, we are creating our activities to showcase to you at the parents morning on Wednesday. The students are keen to teach you what they have learnt so far this academic year. This will allow them to be reflectors and communicators. I really hope to see you there.

In addition to next week, we will begin to look at triangular numbers and pictorial linear sequences in more detail. The students will have their sequences assessment on Monday 11th November. This will include written and pictorial linear sequences, geometric sequences and finding the nth term and rule. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Term 1 Week 10

Welcome back after the ten-day break!

This is a short week, but we've squeezed a lot in. Firstly, we are thrilled to start a new science inquiry into Earth and Space. We started by just confirming what we already know, and then Ms. Cynthia can decide how to make this inquiry just right for us. We're hoping to get involved with some of the great activities designed for schools by N.A.S.A.

We were fortunate enough to have a parent visit and teach us some basics about coding.

Our English work has been focused on writing Limericks. These are short nonsense poems. Please ask us if you'd like to hear one. They will definitely make you laugh.

Here's one about Dr. Lindsay.

Maths

Due to the very short week and a visit from our parent speaker, we have only had one Maths lesson this week. For our Maths lesson, we completed a pre-assessment on Algebra, which will be our focus for this half term. This was not a graded test. This allows me to get an understanding of what the students already know, what we need to work on and give them an insight into the learning to come.

Also, we took our measurements for our year-long height research, which we do monthly. The students are slowly growing as the weeks go by. We will use the collected data for analysis and evaluation purposes in the final few weeks of the academic year before we break up for summer.

Hope you all had a wonderful break. From, Ms.Charlie :)

Term 1 Week 9

This week we began our second unit of inquiry. The Central Idea is: -

As we pursue our passions we discover opportunities to take action.

Learners are enjoying the opportunity to ask themselves what they are really passionate about. We have also looked at the Sustainable Development Goals and talked about how we can tie our interests in with these.

Please see the video about the SDGs: 

Here are some of the issues that we are interested in:- 

• equality of education for all
• care of the local environment
• access to affordable healthcare
• responsible consumption of natural resources
• creation of affordable housing

We are learning more about the importance of 'taking action'. During this unit we will look more closely at what this means, in relation to the interests we have chosen. During the unit we will make the most of the opportunity to make a difference in our community. 

There are several ways that we can 'take action' on an issue. We are beginning to look into what it means to be a social entrepreneur. This involves  bringing improvement to a community while also earning an income. 

As we have several business owners among our parents, we have asked if we might be able to learn some important principles from them. This week we had our first visitor who explained some of the principles of operating a business. 

Much of our English work this week has been concerned with reading to support the issues we are interested in.  We were able to find good articles to read from The Bangkok Post. This was an experience of reading an article and then extracting the most obvious points from it. Stating things in our own words is a literacy objective we are working on. 

The Isaan Record is an English website about this northeastern region. This is a great resource for us to learn about how our interests are connected with what is going on locally.

Maths

I am super proud of Y7 for working so hard this half term. There have been some struggles, but we have ended on a high. A massive thank you to each of them for trying their best and striving to succeed in their learning.

Today, I sat with each student and went through their scores from the place value and fractions, decimals and percentages scores. Some key points have been brought to my attention:

1. Reading the questions carefully - it is really important that they do not rush through the assessment and they carefully read the questions. If they are unsure, they know they can move onto the next question and try the question again later on.
2. Asking for the question to be read - sometimes when we read a question, we can read it differently to what is being asked. However, if the students are unsure, they can ask myself to read it to them in English or ask Mr.Golf to translate into Thai. I am really proud of the students who asked Mr.Golf for more translations this time as they achieved an even higher mark. Don't be scared to ask!
3. Revise - the students are told well in advance when they have an assessment coming up. It does always help to revise in preparation for these assessments. If the students are unsure on what they need to revise, please send me an email and I am more than happy to advise on the things that need to be looked at. charlotte.r@udoninternationalschool.com 

Well done to all of you! Congratulations to Saoirse and Maymie who achieved 100% on their fractions, decimals and percentages assessment!

This half term, please make sure you are covering content on the Maths Homework Grid or recapping the Maths content we have covered this half term. Next half term, we will be moving onto Algebraic Thinking where we will look at:

• Sequences
• Understanding and using algebraic notation
• Equality and equivalence

Have a fantastic break! Ms.Charlie :) 

Term 1 Week 8

Central idea: We all mature throughout life and need to take care of ourselves as we change.

We have now come to the end of our unit of inquiry about growing up and taking care of ourselves. We've looked at :

The physical aspects of growing. This involved learning about puberty. It was great to have time to talk about it openly and research from books and websites. We've certainly found some great resources that we can turn to when we need more information. Click here

This week we looked back over what we have learned in unit one. This involved writing in a recount style, recounting events that have happened. Much of this writing was done in the online portfolio. It was a good chance to discuss how exactly past simple and present perfect tenses work. We're looking closely at how verb tenses work, beginning with the most obvious ones - present simple and past simple. 




Maths


This week, we have been focusing on fraction, decimal and percentage equivalence and finding the simplest form. The students have worked hard on this but it is definitely an area they can revise over the weekend. This will be good preparation for their Fractions, Decimals and Percentages assessment, which will be on Thursday next week.

Next week, we will be looking further into equivalent fractions, how to find a fraction of a shape and how to interpret pie charts. 

Reminder- if there is an aspect of Maths that we have covered in school and your child is still unsure, please discuss this with your child at home. Alternatively, your child can send me an email with any Maths related questions on charlotte.r@udoninternationalschool.com. This is an opportunity to self-manage their learning and help with any misunderstanding. Also, if you have questions of your own, please do not hesitate to contact me via email. 


Thai Language

This week students had presentation about thai history, They are have studied the issues that they interested in Thai history. They used 5 steps of the inquiry data information about thai history. Such as setting questions, What they would like to know. The collecting data, analyzing data at the last presentation. This's showing they did a great job and good teamwork.