Term 1 Week 17

UDIS inspires internationally-minded, balanced learners who thrive and become active, global citizens 

English -
We are enjoying 'Kensuke's Kingdom'. It's a classic story for young readers. It's been an enjoyable way to build our vocabulary knowledge, as well as enter into someone else's world. We'll continue reading after the break and learn more about how to structure a story. Our writing involved producing a discussion about our feelings towards the main character. He is an eleven year boy who goes off to sail the world. This inspired us to write about how we feel connected to him and his experiences.

Here we were having a discussion about what our new middle school uniform could be. It was a time to express ideas, take turns and explain preferences. These are all good communication skills in any language.

Maths

We have finally reached the end of Term 1 and the students have worked immensely hard. They definitely deserve a big well done! 

This week due to rehearsals, we have only had three Maths lessons. On Monday, the students completed their final assessment in our Algebraic Thinking topic, which was based on Equality and Equivalence. The students were given their scores and their overall average for the term on Tuesday. The rest of the week, we have been playing Christmas related Maths games, including solving a Christmas mystery using our Maths skills. 

Next term, as outlined previously, we will be focusing on Applications of Number, which has three sub-topics. The first sub-topic is 'Solving problems with Addition and Subtraction'. All parents were emailed a digital copy of the Term 2 overview and the students were each given a paper copy. 

Quick note - If anyone has any questions or queries over the break, please do not hesitate to contact me. However, I will not have access to my emails until Monday 6th January 2020, but I shall reply as soon as I can.

Lastly from me, it has been a pleasure teaching the students this term. I am thoroughly enjoying teaching Maths to your children and very much look forward to next term. I hope each and every one of you has a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!  

Ms.Charlie 

Science 

We've been inquiring into natural resources of the earth, and this included finding out about matter. This week went by especially quickly, and so there wasn't quite enough time to look at the earth just outside our school. We are interested in reasons for farmers burning the land. We'll look more into this when we get back. There are a lot of new concepts to learn in this area, and so we will return to it in January. 

Christmas Event  Photos

We worked well together. It was a valuable experieince to speak in front of a large audience. We all remembered our parts and did our best to take speak loudly and clearly.

During the holiday please support your child with doing something towards their exhibition work. All of them have things they should be making, places they should be visiting and people they should be contacting. Please remind them that on January 7th they are expected to have something physical to show. Children will be asked to talk us through what they achieved during the break. Please keep it enjoyable and realistic.

Term 2

The science unit of inquiry on natural materials will continue. We're going to look into the minerals that come from the earth around this area. We're interested in finding out how they are mined and what needs to happen to them to make them useful. 

This science inquiry relates to English because we will be reviewing how to structure an information report. This will then be presented as an e-book to share with one another. 

Enjoy the long break!

Term 1 Week 16

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UDIS inspires internationally-minded, balanced learners who thrive and are active global citizens

PSPE

On Monday we gave a lot of attention to Personal and Social Education. Our focus was on diversity. This is important to us because it is central to our mission statement. We watched an international news report about the indigenous people of Bolivia. They enjoyed fourteen years of having their culture respected and openly celebrated. The president, Evo Morales,  is actually an indigenous person himself, and so he improved the situation for those who had suffered because of discrimination prior to his presidency. Now, however, he has been forced out of his homeland. This gave Year Seven students some good material to discuss. New vocabulary was learned and lots of thoughts were expressed. Please continue to talk to your child about issues of diversity as they arise. 

Reading 

We've been enjoying the work of a well-known British author, Michael Murporgo. We read and discussed the storyline together. We are learning to record words we encounter as we read, so that they can be used in our own writing. This book certainly has enough new vocabulary to stretch us. 

Taking turns to read around the circle was an activity that gave everyone a chance to practice bringing the text to life through use of intonation and occasional  exaggeration of tone.  

Unit of Inquiry / Science 

Central Idea: Natural Materials can undergo changes that may provide challenges and benefits for society and the environment

This week we have been inquiring into what is actually meant by 'materials'. We've considered concepts such as matter, states of matter, reversible and irreversible changes, chemical changes and physical changes'. There are many good online resources to illustrate these aspects of science. Here are some that you could discuss with your child:

They are obviously very simplistic, but they serve as a review of the main ideas and were used as a place to begin from.

Writing
One of our goals is taking notes as we research. The scientific videos and books this week have provided good opportunities for this.

As the central idea states, we will move on to inquiring into how societies can make use of the advantages of the particular properties of the various materials. 

The English work has been integrated into the science work, We've done a lot of reading on the above scientific concepts. Ask your child to show you the books we have read on 'Get Epic'. It would be a good idea to read them together. 

Maths

This week, we have looked further into one-step equations using the four operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The students have been identifying like and unlike terms, and considering the characteristics they may hold. In addition, we have looked at the similarities and differences between equality and equivalence in mathematical terms.

The students have their Equality and Equivalence assessment on Monday 9th December. It is important that the students revise over the weekend in preparation for this assessment. They should be focusing on:

• Fact families, including bar modeling
• Solving equations using the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division)
• Creating equations from given solutions
• Identifying like and unlike terms
• Finding equivalent expressions
• Simplifying expressions

I would also suggest that if your child is unsure of their multiplication and division facts, that they practice this.

Next week, we only have two lessons due to rehearsals for the Christmas performance, which are Monday and Friday. On Monday, it will be the assessment and I hope to give the students their results on the same day. On Friday, it is the last day, so we will be doing fun Christmas Maths games.

Please contact me if you have any questions on charlotte.r@udoninternationalschool.com.

Please come to our Christmas event on Thursday evening.