Term 2 Week 5

Sharing the Planet

This week we started a new unit of inquiry: 

Central idea: Conflict resolution requires patience, compromise and negotiation. 

Concepts:: Peace, Reconciliation, Exploitation

Lines of inquiry 

• Causes of conflict (local and global)
• Human rights and equity
• Strategies used to resolve conflicts

We began this by thinking about three kinds of conflict. 1: Personal conflict, the things that we struggle with. 2: Conflict in our community. Do we know what is going on around us? 3: Conflict in Thailand. What are the big news stories and issues. This was was a warming up exercise to see how much the students know. Next week we'll come back to this and think about issues even in the wider world. We will move into the issue of conflicts caused of sharing of natural resources.

This unit is going to have a strong link with both science, as well as Personal, Social Education: 

Science - Sharing of energy sources can be a source of conflict

• identify and describe different forms of energy

• demonstrate how energy can be stored and transformed from one form to another 

• explain the impact of diet in providing the body with energy

• assess renewable and sustainable energy sources

• local community improvement in relation to conservation of energy.

 Personal & Social Education

Techniques of mediation and negotiation within the class and/or school community 

Comment on examples of conflict (local and global) and identify the causes 

Reflect on his or her own strategies in dealing with situations of personal conflict

English 

We were very lucky to  be visited by a professional author, Mr. Paul Shepherd. He has recently had a book published, and so he was the perfect person to teach us how to create a story. We learned about how to create strong characters, settings and a climax for the story. 

 After we had written the plan with him, there was time during the week to develop the story into something quite special. Next week we will continue writing these so that there is a complete product to share.  

Speaking and listening 

On Tuesday everyone was required to stand up and talk for one minute about what they had learned during the previous science unit. This was quite a challenge, but everyone did a great job!

Maths

The students have been working very this week, especially with short and long division. This week, we continued with our subtopic 'Problem Solving with Multiplication and Division', focusing on:

• Formal methods to multiply and divide integers and decimals
• The order of operations (BIDMAS)

*Originally we had planned to also focus on calculating areas of rectangles and parallelograms, but this has now been moved to next week due to students needing additional time on division with integers and decimals. I have strongly advised the students to do some practice with this at home in preparation for their assessment. hit-the-button

Next week. we will focus on:

• Calculating areas of rectangles, parallelograms, triangles and trapeziums. 
• Solving problems involving mean.

Please remind your child that the date of the next assessment is Wednesday 19th February 2020. This is the first day back after the long weekend break. Please ensure that your child is revising at home in preparation for this assessment. If you would like me to email the Term 2 Revision List again, please contact me: charlotte.r@udoninternationalschool.com.

Our next focus, starting on Thursday 20th February, is going to be 'fractions and percentages of amounts'.

Exhibition
Please work wih your child on their exhibition journal. You might discuss the issues with them and extend their thinking.  Encourage them to keep the journal going. 

Global Play Day