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 :)