Primary Years Update (2/2020-2021)

School Update

Primary Years Update G4 Who We Are Assembly

G

4 had a very successful Chinese-led Assembly on September 28th, 2020.

G4 students were learning about the Transdisciplinary Theme of Who We Are in their first unit of inquiry. Students needed to understand that; “Leaders possess personal qualities and beliefs which may impact society.”

Students explored 6 famous leaders from different times and places. They were Mulan, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King , Rachael Beckwith, Steve Jobs, and Nick Vujicic.

Students used their research skills to explore their timeline, personal qualities, changes, and influences on society. They then created a display board to share their findings and conclusions. Students also took ownership of their learning and shared what they had learned with the school community in an assembly.

Some students also took ownership and action related to leadership by joining class representative elections for student council.

In the Assembly, students dressed up and applied their communication skills to take turns and confidently present on the 6 leaders the class inquired into. At the end of the assembly, students changed costumes and demonstrated a complex Mulan performance that included sharing poems, actions, and flag and sword dances. While watching these performances the audience had an exciting time learning the story of Mulan and also experienced the beauty of Chinese Culture.

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Ms. Flora G4 Homeroom Teacher

School Update

Grade 2 and 5 Science Carnival Collaboration Grade 5 students hosted a “Science Carnival” to share their knowledge of forces in the real world.

By building prototypes, the students were able to demonstrate how forces and motion act on different rides.

They reinforced their knowledge of forces by teaching these concepts to their Grade 2 peers. To add to the festivities, Grade 5 students hosted DIY craft stations and carefully taught the Grade 2 students how to follow procedural instructions.

As the carnival PY Chess Tournament music played in the background all the students celebrated the end of this exciting science On Nov. 14, Concordian Chess held our 4th unit, working together they developed new Annual Concordian Intramural Chess understandings about how our world works!

Tournament. There were 19 remarkable participants from G1 to G5 competing in three Grade 2 students were invited to Grade 5’s categories; G1U, G3U and G5U. “Forces and Procedural Writing Carnival.” Grade 2 students were able to “see” the many forces G1U Results that take place by viewing and learning about 2nd Runner Up: Lynn (G1I) different carnival rides and the steps needed 1st Runner Up: Thi (G1S) in procedural writing by making crafts. Many Champion: Sisi (G1D) connections were made to the grade 2 UOI, How the World Works where students had been G3U Results: learning about Forces, Simple Machines and 2nd Runner Up: Kevin (G3D) procedural writing as well. The learning across 1st Runner Up: Hymn (G3C) grade levels was evident through positive Champion: Mangkorn (G2I) Approaches to Learning where grade 5 students displayed great communication and research G5U Results: skills and grade 2 displayed wonderful social and 2nd Runner Up: Kenny (G5D) self-management skills. Thank you to all of the 1st Runner Up: Zen (G4S) grade 5 students for modeling how to show your Champion: Kan (G4I) knowledge.

Ms. Chalain G5 Homeroom Teacher & Ms. Shari G2 Homeroom Teacher

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All of the players exerted exceptional effort and sportsmanship throughout the day. We’d like to thank Nina in G5I for her help as an arbiter, the parents for their support, the IT staff, Khun Peanut, and all those who helped us organize the event. Awesome work everyone!!!

Ms. May Tournament Organizer and Facilitator

School Update

PTA Serpentarium Outing The PTA organized an amazing adding to the Siam Serpentarium. The day was filled with fun and education for parents and children alike. As families arrived at the serpentarium they were greeted by a troupe of clowns who constructed a variety of balloon animals and figures for anyone who wanted one.

Once entering the serpentarium, families were given guided tours. The tours began by showing Life through the eyes of snakes and an interactive gallery walk where parents and children learned about snakes. Following that, families were able to see a variety of living snakes as well as the venom collection room. An opportunity to interact with a constrictor was offered to all of those brave enough to participate.

Once the tours were complete, all families assembled in an auditorium for an educational and entertaining snake show. As families learned about the life of snakes and snake venom, they were also thrilled by exhibitions from the snake handlers.

Throughout the day a number of activities such as snakeskin button making, stick coloring pages, and snake bag painting were also offered.

The day concluded with a delicious lunch by the river. The PTA did an excellent job of organizing this event and everyone had a wonderful time.

Mr. Craig Dean of Students

Grade 1 Worm Farm

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Grade 1 has been inquiring into Sharing the Planet and brainstorming ways to take positive action for our environment. They began this unit by thinking about all the negative environmental things that are happening in our world, asking questions, and trying to research the reasons these things are happening. For example, why do people throw trash on the ground? Where does trash go? What happens when animals eat trash? From these amazing questions, we agreed that there is too much trash on our planet and we needed to look at ways to reduce it. They learned that one way is to create a compost to decompose fruits and vegetables. By creating a compost, we can reduce the amount of trash in bins and landfills.

School Update

Grade 3 How The World Works Assembly Grade 3 students were very excited to find out at the beginning of our Inquiry unit that they would be putting on an assembly for their families.

Their Unit of Inquiry theme was How The World Works, focusing on Energy. “People use their scientific understanding of energy to uncover how things work.” This was a very big concept as students investigated what energy actually was, where we get in from (sources) and how energy can be changed (forms).

But the Grade 1s came to understand that humans needed help in creating a compost! The Grade 1s invited Uncle Ree’s farm to come to our school and share the most important creature necessary for a nutrient rich filled compost: worms!! Scientists explored the life cycle of African worms and compared them to Tiger worms. Students gave the worms a bath and created “worm water,” which is necessary for strong future plant growth. They observed how worms move, grow, and function in the compost. By learning about worms, students realized how vital they are for creating soil for growing plants, and ultimately our food source, but also reducing the amount of trash. Worms are awesome!

Grade 1s also discovered an amazing little insect called the Black Soldier Fly. We used our senses to describe the various stages in the fly life cycle from egg to larva to pupa to adult fly. They learned that scientists harvest these flies because they are an excellent source of protein, but also do not have a negative impact on the environment. Instead of raising cows and chickens for meat consumption, which requires a lot of land, we can consider protein from insects, which does not.

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After the exploration, Grade 1s added the worms to our classroom composts, where Grade 1 scientists will continue to add food scraps and observe how the soil changes. Then they will use their composts to help grow plants in the spring. By changing some small choices in how we dispose of trash, we can have a big impact. What about you? How will you impact the Earth? What can you do to Share the Planet?

Ms. Heather Grade 1 Homeroom Teacher

This was a English led Inquiry and Miss Tina and Ms. Angela came up with the idea of allowing students to share their learning through an assembly. Teachers gave students a basic assembly structure, explaining that they would break the show into 3 parts as they were working with 36 students each. The students then decided what part they wanted to participate in and what specific energy learning they wanted to research and share. Well, everyone except Sun-Sun. The whole class voted that Sun-Sun simply had to be the sun.

This was a 4 week process of researching and note taking, deciding what information they wanted to share, writing the script and making the digital visuals to compliment their findings. G3S and G3D implemented their debating and reasoning skills from their weekly in-class challenges. G3I and G3C included GreenScreen technology which allowed them an insight into TV production.

Overall this was a very successful viewing and presenting exercise that gave our students the opportunity to interact with science in a variety of ways whilst still participating in the more traditional approaches of investigations and experiments.

Grade 3s hope our audience enjoyed it as much as they enjoyed performing.

Ms. Angela G3 Homeroom Teacher