15th May – 26th May 2023
Unit of Inquiry
Students inquired into different forms of water transport namely, cruise ships, speed boats, kayaks, yacht, ferry and jet skis. They engaged in a scavenger hunt game, where they had to hunt for the model of a ship known as ‘Cutty Sark’.
Students embarked on a virtual trip aboard a cruise ship. They investigated ways in which people commute to school. They interviewed different faculties and created a data graph(pictograph). A pictograph gave the students an opportunity to see what information might be represented visually. The data suggested that most teachers preferred to drive in their private vehicles.
Students were led through a discussion about the history of transport (from bullock carts to electric vehicles), and benefits of electric vehicles.
To showcase their understanding on the 3rd line of Inquiry, how transport has evolved over time, a formative assessment was undertaken with a sorting activity. Students had to colour, cut and paste different pictures independently under the columns marked then and now. It helped them to develop critical thinking skills of observing , analysing and forming decisions.
Using a Venn diagram, students explored similarities and differences between cars of today and those that were first invented.
As a unit reflection, a VTR (visible thinking routine) traffic lights strategy was used. It helped students reflect upon what was their favourite part, and could be easily remembered (green light), what they found challenging to comprehend(red light) and what they thought was difficult initially (yellow light).
English
- Phonic sounds of the CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words and sight words were recapitulated with various activities like mystery box and singing.
- Vocabulary enhancement was undertaken through various engagements.
- Reinforcement of all the letters of the alphabet and ‘o’ family words were undertaken with dictations, reading lists and a spell-bee.
Math
Introduction to subtraction was undertaken with hands-on activities.
Facilitator began the session by making students aware of the addition ‘-’ sign. Facilitator also explained subtraction meant to take away from a group or a number of things and then the group reduces or becomes less. Later, students were asked to practice with class materials/toys using plus ‘-‘ and ‘=’ signs. Students were encouraged to solve sums using various cut-outs for better understanding.
Formative assessment on addition and time was taken.
Reinforcement of place value was undertaken with hands-on material.
Hindi
Reinforcement of vyanjan, swar and two letter words was undertaken, wherein students practiced writing the same in their journal. As a follow up a spell bee of two letter words was conducted.
Students enjoyed watching the story ट्रेन का सफर. Later they shared their experience of
travelling and learning
- What precautions need to be taken while travelling?
- Essential things to carry on a journey ?
- The level of alertness while travelling.
Music
Students played different rhythmic patterns to improve their sense of rhythmic independence. They learned the similarities and the differences between Solfege and natural notes.
They sang Mr Sun song in groups to make it more meaningful in collaboration with others.
ICT
In the ICT class, students used an educational math game called “Addition and Subtraction” on iPads to improve their understanding of these concepts. By engaging in this enjoyable activity, they were able to enhance their problem-solving abilities. Participating in entertaining activities such as solving puzzles online and using a drawing app was fun for them.
Visual Arts
Students used poster colours to make designs of their choice. They engaged in making paper craft to improve fine motor skills and creativity. They first practised to cut along a straight line, later on they got trained in cutting along curvy edges. They made beautiful and colourful flowers by folding and cutting along a curved outline.
PHE
Students actively participated in learning various skills such as dynamic stretches
forward and backward bending and yoga poses. Various obstacle courses were performed during their class such as agility ladders, zig zag cones, and jumping across objectswhile maintaining balance and proper footwork.
Dance
Students of Joey have developed motor skills in dance by performing a variety of steps and movements. They learned how to control their bodies and coordinated their movements to music. They also developed their spatial awareness, balance, coordination, and flexibility
SEL
Watching a story of people behaving responsibly helped them understand what responsibility looked like in action. Whilemaking connections, they understood ways to help remember what they had learned. They were also engaged in fun responsibility taking activities like use of magic words that encourage teamwork.
Library
Students listened to the story “The Little Engine That Could”. It was an uplifting and timeless classic story about the power of self-motivation, determination and positive thinking. They were also introduced to the idea of “grit”- that we can grow our perseverance and know that we can accomplish more than we think.
Circle time
Crowned Owl Ceremony
Birthday celebrations
Farewell Celebration
Dearest students, sending happy holiday wishes for you all. We hope you enjoy your holidays in good spirit and come back refreshed and rejuvenated.
1st May – 12th May 2023
Unit of Inquiry
Students revisited the road safety signs and participated in a role play. They understood the importance of wearing a seat belt with a demonstration.
To develop their critical thinking skills using observation and analysis, they were involved in an ‘I spy’ transport scenery activity.
Discussion on public and private transport was undertaken with real life examples of metro, buses and cars. Students were apprised about the impact of transport and factors like efficiency, climatic conditions, capacity, and financial viability that impact choice of an appropriate mode of transport.
Inquiring further upon air transport, they enacted ‘at the airport’ scenery. They demonstrated their self- management and social skills as they engaged in pretend play – checking-in with their luggage, passports which they had crafted earlier, security check protocol and finally boarding and deboarding a plane.
They also inquired into the timeline of the evolution of air transport with a presentation. As a reflection, they had to colour, cut and paste hot-air balloon, aeroplane, helicopter, passenger plane and a space shuttle chronologically, by numbering them 1,2,3,4, and 5.
English
- CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words were recapitulated with hands-on activities like puzzles and a roll the dice game.
- Reading skills were developed by writing phrases and reading with sight words and picture cues.
- Vocabulary enhancement was undertaken through various engagements such as a guess the rhyme game and weave a story.
- Reinforcement of ‘ot’ and ‘op’ words was undertaken using reading lists.
- Language was integrated with the Unit of Inquiry as students watched a story ‘George builds a boat’ through audio-visual presentations.a A VTR (visible thinking routine)- agree, disagree strategy, was used to understand what is required to travel by a ship. They revisited things that float and sink.
Math
Introduction to fractions was done with hands-on activities. The teacher showed live objects such as banana cut into halves, full and half glasses of water, and folding of different shapes of paper into halves etc.
Reinforcement of metric conversion was done. The facilitator poured liquid into a glass, and students were encouraged to make it (full/ half/ almost full) as instructed.
Students created pictographs. The facilitator demonstrated the activity. Subsequently, students were given a picture and were encouraged to count the number of objects and write the same. They were provided with paper cutouts of the modes of transport and were encouraged to create a graph of the same to demonstrate their understanding.
Introduction to addition was undertaken with hands-on activities.
Facilitator began the session by making students aware of the addition ‘+’ sign. Facilitator explained what addition is, i.e. counting all things together with the help of manipulatives. Later, students were asked to practice with class materials/toys using plus ‘+ and =’ signs. Students were encouraged to solve sums using various cutouts for better understanding.
Students were introduced to the relative position of objects using the following terms: above, below, besides, in front of, next to, and behind.
Facilitator demonstrated various positions of a toy with absolute reference. Eg. My toy is on the table. There is a pen next to the toy. There is a piece of paper under the pen.
Subsequently, students were encouraged to paste the cutouts on the image of the table as per the term used (above, below, beside, in front of and next to).
Hindi
Introduction of vyanjan ‘ग and च’, were undertaken using real life objects. As a follow up, students practiced rainbow writing in their journal with a craft work. Subsequently they practiced writing vyanjans in their correct zones.
Music
Students reinforced terms (i.e forte, piano and mezzo)used for dynamics wherein they were shown flashcards of different terms and were asked to identify the same.
ICT
During ICT lessons students progressed in their learning journey and used different elements like shapes, eraser, and stamps to create drawings using an iPad app Tux Paint. They also learned to save their drawings.
PHE
Stretching exercises were performed in the warm-up session and this was followed by yoga. This comprised of forward and backward bending stretches and various postures such as cobra, child, mountain, and chair pose. They also did an eye warm-up that involved focus shifting, palming, and meditation.
Dance
Students talked about the basics of dance and how it’s a fun way to move and express themselves. They have learned some new words related to movement in dance, like step, turn, and slide. It’s been important for them to explore different ways of moving and expressing themselves through dance, to improve their physical development and creativity skills.
SEL
Short stories were narrated to children to identify emotions and feelings and manage them. They saw the effect of the character’s emotions through body language, facial expressions, and actions. They created feelings by drawing to explore different feelings.
Visual art
Children used the paper folding technique to fold and create unique shapes. This activity included various patterns, sequences, shapes, and calculation. The main objective of this craft was to improve concentration and eye – hand coordination.
Library
Students listened to the hilarious adventure story which began in Hong Kong, where the royal family was enjoying their winter vacation and Princess Easy Pleasy refused to drink the milk because it wasn’t like the milk she had at home. The Royal Packer was summoned, a diligent list was maintained and a cow was added to the next vacation to China. But, again, the food wasn’t like the food she had at home, so for the next vacation to Singapore, a chef with a pressure cooker, rice, and vegetables were added. And so, it went, vacation after vacation, till Princess Easy Pleasy asked for the same elephant from back home. In an absolutely inspiring sequence of story and illustration, the elephant was stuffed into the airplane, the airplane struggled to breathe, and then it bust open, with exasperated adults and animals spilling out. Ultimately, the Queen agreed to vacation only on one condition, so Princess Easy Pleasy learned to appreciate and adjust to different cultures.
The story also focused on creative thinking, problem-solving, imagination, and caring for each other.
Circle time
17th April – 28th April 2023
Unit of Inquiry
Inquiring further into the unit on transport, students inquired about the significance of the invention of the wheel. Before the wheel was invented, people had to walk and carry very heavy things. Now it revolutionized the manufacture of cars, bicycles, wagons, cargo ships, airplanes and many modes of transport. Students understood that people who can’t walk, rely on wheelchairs. Without wheels everyone would be walking to their destination.
Students explored different types of trains, namely- steam, diesel and electric trains. Students took turns to be the engine and stopped at imaginary railway crossings and slowed down at stations during role play.
Students were apprised about different companies that manufacture cars, identified the logos for the cars. They geographically marked the flag of the respective countries location on the map of the world.
To showcase their understanding on the 1st line of Inquiry, a formative assessment was undertaken, using the ‘show and tell’ strategy. It helped students develop their vocabulary and communication skills.
Guest Speaker Session
To provide an opportunity to the students to learn more about their fourth unit on transport, under the transdisciplinary theme ‘How we organize ourselves’, Capt. Md Ghani Khan, a parent, was invited as a guest speaker to share his role as a pilot.
The April 19,2023 session was an enriching experience where students were informed about the genetic traits that define a pilot, namely his uniform, need for discipline, punctuality and alertness. He spoke about the role and responsibility of a pilot and what training is needed to fly a plane. He showed some pictures of the cockpit and informed students about the presence of a lot of buttons in the cockpit which help in the functioning of an airplane. It was an informative and interactive session where students learnt about different parts and types of airplanes. Capt. Khan also discussed the procedures at the airport and explained roles and responsibilities of other crew members.
Guest speaker session ended with many questions from our young inquirers like how did a plane fly without any visible signs outside and what he carried in his suitcase.
The timeline of the evolution of air transport was undertaken with an activity sheet, where they had to colour, cut and paste the pictures. It helped them to develop their bilateral co-ordination and thinking skills.
As an integration to English Language- students were narrated a story about Amelia Earhart. VTR – ‘what I knew before and what I know now’ strategy was used as reflection.
English
- Phonic sounds of the CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words were recapitulated with hands-on activities like puzzles and a roll-a-dice game.
- Vocabulary enhancement was undertaken through various engagements such as a picture reading.
- Students also talked about activities they liked to do on a weekend. They displayed their feelings and used an emotion chart to relate to the same.
- Reinforcement of ‘an’ and ‘ag’ words were undertaken using reading lists and a spell bee.
Math
Introduction to time was done with hands-on activities. Students were shown a clock and the time. The facilitator demonstrated, and subsequently, students were encouraged to make the face of the clock by arranging numbers 1-12 for better understanding.
Also, students were encouraged to look at the time given and place the minute hand and the hour hand on the clock correctly. Students also wrote numbers on the clock and drew the time given in the box in their math journals.
Reinforcement of 3-dimensional shapes was done wherein students were encouraged to illustrate pictures of 3-dimensional objects found in their surroundings in their math journal.
Subsequently, a formative assessment of 3D shapes was done to assess students understanding.
Reinforcement of the understanding of patterns was done with numbers wherein students were encouraged to extend the given number patterns.
Hindi
Introduction of vyanjan ‘प’was done, wherein students practiced rainbow writing in their journal. This was followed by a craft work. Subsequently they practiced writing vyanjan in the correct zones.
As an integration with the on-going unit of transport, students listened to a story ‘सहयोगी इंजन’ and were encouraged to predict the possible outcomes . As an extension ‘take and talk’ was conducted wherein students selected their favourite transport and described it. Through this activity they honed their speaking skills.
Music
Students were introduced to the terms (i.e forte, piano and mezzo)used for dynamics wherein they were shown flashcards of different terms and were asked to identify the same.
ICT
In ICT, to reinforce the ability to read three-letter CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant ) words, students worked on an iPad educational phonics reading game. Students practiced using the sounds they have learned so far. It also helped them to practice the oral blending of sounds and the segmentation of words into their individual sounds.
PHE
Students avidly participated in learning various gymnastics techniques such as full split and jumping over the vault horse, obstacle challenges, which primarily led to the development of their balance, muscle strength, agility, and body coordination. Students also went through a football kicking assessment, where they demonstrated the skill while maintaining proper stance and technique.
Dance
Students talked about the basics of dance and how it’s a fun way to move and express themselves. They have learned some new words related to movement in dance, like step, turn, and slide. It’s been important for them to explore different ways of moving and expressing themselves through dance, to improve their physical development and creativity skills.
SEL
Students were encouraged to foster self-confidence and positivity with a picture book, story called “Too shy for show and tell”. The story was used to spark discussions on Sam the giraffe who was worried about a talk he had to have before his class. It spoke about how he made it through without a glitch and his classmates even applauded him. The story inspired students as they are currently revisiting self-confidence skills. The entire class was encouraged to take part in show and tell, to build self – confidence and self –esteem.
Visual art
Visual art was integrated with the unit on transportation and the targeted line of inquiry was kinds of transport (Form). They covered different modes of transport art activities in art classes, and delved a little deeper into forms of transportation used on the land, air, and water. This fun transport art activity helped them to develop their thinking skills as they combined many techniques: drawing, pasting, and shaping with paper, painting and composition of all three kinds of transports.
Library
Students celebrated World Book Day, with a Book Character Parade. The parade was organized by the primary school librarian, who encouraged students to dress up in their favourite character costumes. The parade started with an introduction by students about who they represented from their favourite book which could have been a classic story, traditional tale, science fiction, or any other. The global concept of International Mindedness and Sustainability was deemed as the underlying theme of the parade where students were encouraged to put together a costume out of reused or recycled materials. Each one of them received a badge of appreciation that awarded them the title of either the most innovative, extravagant or environment-friendly friendly character. Students paraded around school to bring much joy and colour to onlookers and adults. Spiderman, Cinderella and Red riding hood were some of the much showcased hot favourite
27th March – 14th April 2023
Unit of Inquiry
Students revisited their yearlong unit under the transdisciplinary theme ‘who we are’. A guest speaker session was conducted by Grade III students on the third line of inquiry- ways to reflect on growth. Students showcased their self-management and social skills by listening carefully and participating enthusiastically.
Formative assessment on the third line of inquiry was undertaken using the VTR (Visible thinking routine) – I used to …but now I can …strategy .
They commenced their unit under the transdisciplinary theme ‘how we organize ourselves’ with the central idea- Transportation can connect places and people near and far
Targeted lines of inquiry: Kinds of transportation (Form)
How transportation has changed over time (Change)
Provocation of the unit was done with a guess the sound game which helped them to develop their listening and thinking skills.
Prior knowledge assessment was taken up with a sorting activity. Students had to classify land, air and water transport pictures on a mat.
Critical thinking skills were also developed as they had to participate in an activity where they had to choose the most appropriate form of transport when travelling from one place to another.
A field trip to the National Railway Museum was engaging and informative. It also helped to understand how the modes of transport have evolved over time.
Various hands-on activities helped them to understand land transport- Show and tell on parts of the car with a real car, traffic lights game and role-play on road safety signs.
Language was integrated with a story ‘Drivers in a Hurry’, using the VTR- Pose Pause Pounce Bounce strategy. As a reflection they understood the significance of traffic signals.
English
- Introduction to phonic sounds /y/ and /q/ was done with a rhyme, craft, and picture cards. Formation and zone writing of the same was undertaken using sand paper, sand trays and slates.
- Phonic sounds of the CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words were recapitulated with hands-on activities like identifying the picture and writing on the slate.
- Vocabulary enhancement was undertaken through various engagements such as a mystery bag, dumb charades and scavenger hunt.
- Reinforcement of ‘at’ and ‘ap’ words were undertaken using reading lists and a spell bee.
- Vowels were reinforced through the missing sound in the name game.
- Language was integrated with the Unit of Inquiry as students were narrated ‘Sam goes on a road trip’. A VTR (visible thinking routine)- agree, disagree strategy, was used to understand what is required to travel in a car. Students were asked to make a checklist of some key points to be followed like where to put the luggage, put on the seatbelt, lock the doors, check and fill the fuel.
Math
Reinforcement of 2-dimensional shapes was done wherein students were encouraged to name 2-dimensional shapes and define the attributes of each shape. Subsequently, students were encouraged to make 2D shapes with Play-Doh.
Introduction to 3-dimensional shapes (cube, cuboid, sphere, cone, and cylinder) was done with real-life objects like dice, box, birthday cap, ball and can etc. The facilitator showed the objects and explained to students about 3D shapes. Students were explained that 3-dimensional shapes are not flat. Subsequently, students were encouraged to sort an image or object by its attributes and put it under its corresponding shape.
Students were also encouraged to trace cube and cuboid shapes in their math journals to understand the relationship between 2-dimesnional and 3-dimensional shapes.
Students wrote numbers 17 and 18 in their math journals.
Hindi
Introduction of Swar ‘अ and आ’ was done, wherein students practiced rainbow writing in their journal. This was followed by a craft work. Subsequently they practiced writing swar in the correct zones.
Students were given pictures in mixed pool of swar ‘अ and आ’ they had to sort and stick them in their journals accordingly.
Music
Students learned about dynamics and their usage wherein they listened and differentiated between loud and soft sounds, later they learned the Italian terms for each dynamic.
ICT
In ICT, students worked on an iPad educational math game ‘even and odd numbers recognition’ wherein they identified odd and even numbers up to number 20. They strengthened their understanding of numbers by doing this activity.
PHE
In their warm-up session, students performed callisthenic exercises such as crawling, jumping over cones, hoops, and crossing hurdles with single leg or double leg jumps, as well as balancing drills, which helped them improve their gross motor skills and overall physical fitness.
They understood the purpose of warming up and cooling down in the context of health-related fitness. They watched a video and performed warming up and cooling down exercises.
Dance
The class focussed on understanding vocabulary related to movement in dance, children began to develop their cognitive skills by expanding their vocabulary and understanding different concepts. They also began to understand how movement and expression can be used to communicate ideas and emotions. This is an important foundation for learning dance, as it helped children become more comfortable with the basic terminology and movements.
SEL
A story on kindness helped students to connect with others in a better way and enhanced relationships. At the end of the story, students were asked to focus on identifying if characters were feeling comfortable or uncomfortable. Kindness shined through when they listened to each other as they shared their thoughts and feelings. They discussed how to make the connection between the words, actions and feelings. They talked about how they created a kind, caring classroom as they reflected on classroom essential agreements.
Visual art
Art influences children’s communication and their general well-being. Children often have opportunities to conceptualise their own art by completing their drawings of free expression using water colours and crayons. In another art class they combined many techniques: drawing, pasting, and shaping with paper, painting waves and composition. They created ocean waves using water colours and tissue papers.
Library
Birthday Celebrations
GSS by Grade 3
Field trip : Railway Museum
13th March – 23rd March 2023
Unit of Inquiry
Moving to the 2nd line of inquiry- Stories that influenced me, students enjoyed the opportunity to share information with their teachers and peers. A ‘Take and talk’ always brings value to learning. Students spoke about ‘My favorite story/storybook’. Some of them opted to dress up as their favourite characters while others used relevant puppets/props/picture cards during the presentation.
Going further with the last line of inquiry- How to construct an effective story, the elements of a story were reinforced. Students picked up 2 stories from the unit and brainstormed on different aspects such as characters/setting/problem and solution. They used a VTR story quadrant to change the elements for example: Adding a character to the story/changing something in the story/keeping something you want in the story and deleting something which is not required in the story.
English
Students were introduced to sight words- ‘I’, ‘’can’, ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘am’ with various strategies such as ‘password of the week’, chanting, forming sentences orally, air writing and writing in their journals with picture cues.
Introduction to phonic sound /z/ was done with a rhyme, craft and picture cards. Reinforcement of zone writing of long letters j, p, g, were undertaken using manipulatives . Phonic sounds of the vowels were recapitulated with hands-on activities- earbud dabbing, painting, finger printing and colouring.
Formative assessment on listening, observation and analyzing skills was undertaken with a presentation. Each slide on the presentation had two similar images. The students had to select one image based on the specific attribute called out by the facilitator.
CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) /o/ and /a/ family words were recapitulated with various engagements.
Language was integrated with the Unit of Inquiry as students were narrated ‘Red Riding Hood’. A VTR (visible thinking routine)- agree, disagree strategy, was used to understand different perspectives. Students were asked to express the different elements of the story- setting, characters, problem, solution and moral.
Math
Introduction to symmetry was done with hands-on activities using class manipulatives (blocks or lego blocks). Subsequently, students were encouraged to complete the symmetry by drawing the other half of the pattern on paper.
Reinforcement of forward and backward counting was done. Subsequently, they were encouraged to write the same in their math journal. They also practiced representing numbers 1-15 in their graph book.
Student understanding of odd and even numbers up to number 15 was built using the place value concept. Students were encouraged to choose a number between 10-15 and create the number on the place value mat.
They were encouraged to look at the number in the ones place. They were encouraged to use pairing strategy to identify if the number was an odd or even one. If the units place was odd then the entire number would be odd was the understanding that emerged.
The concept of what comes after/before was also reinforced with the use of the number line.
Hindi
Reinforcement of vyanjan ‘त’ was done, wherein students practiced rainbow writing in their journal. Subsequently they practiced writing the vyanjan in correct zones.
Students practiced writing all the vyanjan which they had learnt in their journal.
A formative assessment of two letter words was undertaken wherein they identified the picture and formed words using large moveable box (LMA).
Music
Students were exposed to different Indian and Japanese instruments i.e. Koto, Biwa, Tanpura, Tabla, etc. wherein they differentiated between the sounds of each instrument.
They sang the song “Doe a deer” to improve their intonation.
ICT
Students solved tangram puzzles on the iPad app. They put together various polygons to form shapes of houses, animals, birds etc. Through this activity, they built skills of visual reasoning, spatial awareness, and logical reasoning.
PHE
Students performed various obstacles courses which included crawling , jumping over the cones ,hurdle races with balancing drills which helped them to enhance their gross motor skills and overall physical fitness.
They also performed yoga stretches and poses to improve balance and stability.
Dance
Dance class started with students describing ideas and feelings communicated through body movements. This approach is known as expressive or interpretive dance, where they use movements to express emotions, thoughts, and ideas. It’s a form of nonverbal communication and can be a powerful tool for self-expression. FA freestyle dance routine on a song name Rasputin followed with specific focus on posture. The class combined both expressive dance and technical elements, with focus on posture is a technical aspect of dance. Incorporating both expressive and technical elements helped students develop their skills and express themselves creatively.
SEL
Students learned how to be responsible for their belongings and manage their belongings. With a story and an activity, they understood that they are responsible for picking up all their things, and keeping their classroom material in order. To develop self-management skills, they were able to practice heartfulness and discussed how they can be caring through correct use of words and deeds.
Visual art
Students got creative and explored making different animals using hand gestures. Later on, they made an adorable addition by using popsicle sticks to make puppets. They had fun creating and playing with these puppets.
Library
Book fairs are a great way for little learners to explore the joy of reading. Students explored different types of books, ranging from picture books to classic favourites. They also discovered new books that they would like to read. They were excited to take books home to explore them independently.
Circle time
Birthday celebrations
20th February – 3rd March 2023
Unit of Inquiry
Moving forward with the 1st line of inquiry, students were narrated stories that reflect cultures of different places- Russian folktales-‘Bella and the bear’ and ‘Baba Yaga’.
Students brainstormed and stepped into the characters of the stories and predicted what may have happened next. As a follow-up, the elements of the story- characters/setting/problem, and solution were discussed. Students were apprised about Russian culture with respect to costumes, food, festivals, and lifestyles through the read stories. For a better understanding of the culture, students explored related artifacts like Matryoshka dolls.
Moving ahead, two African folktales were also read to them- ‘The fisherman and the magic fish and ‘Handa’s hen’. Students gained knowledge about African culture and festivals, clothes, types of foods etc.
Students located the different continents on a world map, hence, building their spatial awareness skills.
English
Students developed their research skills by analysing and interpreting picture cards during an ‘explore and express’ activity.
Introduction to phonic sound /x/ was done with a rhyme and real-life x-ray film. Reinforcement of zone writing of tall letters b,d,f,h,k,l,t was undertaken using sensorial manipulatives and their journals. Phonic sounds of vowels were recapitulated with an action rhyme.
Formative assessment on decoding the phonic sounds of the letters was conducted with a painting activity.
CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) /a/ family words were recapitulated with various engagements.
IB learner profile attributes were revisited with a brainstorming session. Students decoded the pictorial depiction of these attributes displayed on the class boards and comprehended the attributes given to them.
Language was integrated with Unit of Inquiry as students were narrated a folktale from China ‘The Most Beautiful Thing in the World’. A VTR (visible thinking routine)- Circle of viewpoints, was used to understand different perspectives. Students were apprised about Chinese culture. They used flashcards to sequence and retell the story in their own words. It helped them to develop their social, communication and self-management skills.
Math
Recapitulation of the concept of the place value of numbers (11-15) was done using a place value mat and manipulatives. Subsequently, students were encouraged to create the numbers (1-15) on the place value mat.
Students were encouraged to build their understanding of odd and even numbers up to number 15 and identify if the number was odd or even using manipulatives and hands-on activities.
Students wrote numbers 13, 14 and 15 in their math journal.
Students were introduced to ascending order wherein they were taken for a nature walk and were encouraged to collect twigs and leaves of different sizes and arrange them in ascending order (smallest to biggest) as per their understanding.
Hindi
Integration to the 1st line of inquiry- Stories that reflect cultures of different places, was undertaken with the story ‘Idgaah’. Students were apprised about Islamic culture and its traditions. As a follow up they participated in a role play using stick puppets.
Reinforcement of two letter words was done wherein students matched the picture cards with their name cards and vice-versa.
Introduction of vyanjan ‘त’ was undertaken using real life objects.
Music
Students integrated music with the UOI on stories wherein they were exposed to different Indian instruments such as Tabla, Mridangam, Harmonium, and Tanpura and how each of them sound. Later they were introduced to a Japanese instrument named “Ghuzeng” and were shown a video to understand it better in terms of sounds and visuals.
ICT
Students reiterated the fundamental programming skills through an online educational game on iPad. Gradually, students were given higher-order problems to solve which helped them develop their computational and critical thinking skills. Later, they applied their skills to solve puzzles using Bee-Bot, an educational floor robot. They used forward and backward movements and left and right turns to give commands and direct the Bee-Bot to its desired destination.
PHE
The students participated energetically in all warm up exercises and fun activities including various obstacle courses which enhanced their body balance and coordination. They also performed dribbling and ball handling skills in basketball focusing on taking proper stance and posture.
Dance
The dance class started by learning about different types of music. They then discussed the beat, rhythm, and tempo of the music. After that, they explored different types of music and movements. They tried to match the movements with the different types of music. Next, the students practiced a freestyle dance routine to the music name Rasputin. They tried to move their bodies to the beat of the music, while also exploring new movements and footwork. The students also learned to count and match the beats.
SEL
The SEL lesson focused on how to be kind and generous and at the same time feel better about themselves. They shared when someone was kind to them how they felt.They explored the relationship between kindness and happiness by using an activity step -in and step -out. The activity kept them engaged and they were excited to express they felt happier when people were kind to them.
Visual art
While furthering the current drawing of stick figures, students used water colours to make background of their self-portrait. An assessment on the stick figure was undertaken to assess students understanding of drawing representing a human or animal using circle for head and lines for all other parts. All the students were able to draw stick drawing using simplistic style.
Library
During library lessons, students listened to the story “Amma, tell me about Holi” and joined Klaka and his family, who were gearing up for Holi, the festival of colours. They also inquired about the significance of the colour-filled Holi celebration. They were able to form personal connections and exchange ideas about how they would commemorate the festival.
Story link: Amma, tell me about Holi!
Circle time
Holi celebrations
Birthday celebrations
INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY CELEBRATION
6th February – 17th February 2023
Unit of Inquiry
Moving forward with the 1st line of inquiry- Stories that reflect cultures of different places, students were narrated two Indian folktales-‘The 7th Sun’(from Odisha) and ‘The Pot of Gold’ (from Maharashtra).
Pause and predict- The students brainstormed and predicted different ending to the stories. As a follow-up, the elements of the story- characters/setting/problem and solution were discussed. Students were apprised about different cultures with respect to costumes, food, festivals, and lifestyles through both stories. For a better understanding of these cultures, students explored related artworks and created a beautiful piece on Warli art.
Moving ahead, two Japanese folktales were read to them-‘The Child Gods’ and ‘The Grateful Crane’. The students gained knowledge of Japanese culture and learned about their festivals, clothes, types of foods etc.
The students located Japan on the world map, hence, building their spatial awareness skills.
English
Introduction to phonic sound /w/ was done with a rhyme and real-life objects. Students traced the letter on the tactile manipulative, and wrote them in the correct zones in their journals. Reinforcement of the phonic sounds v, j, and w was done with colour, cut, paste and sort activity. They enhanced their bilateral coordination by manipulating the scissors, cutting the pictures along the dotted lines, and their thinking skills to sort and paste them under the correct letters. A fun-filled painting activity was undertaken where students had to identify the phonic sounds called out. They coloured the consonants in pink and vowels in blue on a sheet of paper that had the lower-case alphabet.
Few games were played in groups to understand the CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) ‘a’ family words. Students had to prefix a consonant to ‘ap’ and ‘at’ and form words and express it’s meaning, using manipulative.
Language was integrated with the Unit of Inquiry as students were engaged in a roleplay of the story ‘Jarvis the Jelly’ using props. They identified the different elements of the story- characters, setting, problem and solution in the story. They were also encouraged to distinguish the different learner profile attributes displayed by the main character ‘Yasmin’, in the story.
Students learned the names of the seven continents with an action rhyme. They made small paper flags of India, China, and Japan. With these flags they could locate these countries on a world map rug. They played a game in small batches, where they hopped onto the specific countries of the Asian continent and placed the correct flags.
Math
Students were introduced to the numbers 11- 15 on an open number line. This was followed by building their understanding of place value of number (11-15) using a place value mat and manipulatives. Subsequently, students were encouraged to create the number on the place value mat.
Students were encouraged to build their understanding of odd and even numbers up to number 15 and identify if the number was odd or even using manipulatives and hands-on activities.
Students wrote numbers 11 and 12 in their math journal.
Students were introduced to symmetry wherein they were encouraged to complete the given shape or image.
Hindi
Introduction of vyanjan ‘व’ was undertaken using flashcards. As a follow up they enjoyed making the vyanjan using play dough. Subsequently they practiced rainbow tracing, pasted the associated pictures and practiced writing the vyanjan in their journal.
Concept of two letter words was reinforced using Hindi letter box wherein students formed the words associated with their picture cards. Consequently they practiced the words using sand tray. Lastly they practiced writing in their journal.
Music
Students were introduced to dynamics and its usage in music wherein they learnt what is dynamic and how it is connected to the volume of any sound. Later each one was asked to sing Doe a deer song using basic dynamics (loud and soft).
ICT
Students were introduced to coding and computational thinking through an educational robot ‘Bee-Bot’. They learnt to direct it to move forwards and backward to turn 90 degrees left and right using directional keys given on it.
Students developed the skills of sequencing, estimation, and problem-solving in a play way method.
PHE
Students performed various obstacles courses which included crossing the tunnel, crawling, jumping over the cones ,hurdle races and hopscotch which helped them to enhance their gross motor skills and overall physical fitness.
In basketball they learned to take stance and dribble using both the hands.
Dance
Dance class started with describing students’ ideas and feelings communicated through body movements. This approach is known as expressive or interpretive dance, where they use movements to express emotions, thoughts, and ideas. It’s a form of nonverbal communication and can be a powerful tool for self-expression. This was followed by a freestyle dance routine on a song name Rasputin, where the focus area was posture. This class combined both expressive dance and technical elements, as the focus on posture is a technical aspect of dance. Incorporating both expressive and technical elements helped students develop their skills and express themselves creatively.
SEL
Students understood about showing kindness and consideration towards others after they listened to a picture book story about a young girl reflecting on how she could help a classmate feel better after something embarrassing happened to her. Post-discussion students shared a time when they showed kindness.
Visual art
Students could easily draw lines and circles to draw stick figures. They identified the basic structure of the stick figure and the different elements of the face and body. This activity also included how to give actions to the stick figure, and personality as well. In order to achieve the best image representation, they used paper stripes to see each structure of the stick figure, that is, the head and the body separately.
Library
“The Rainbow Fish shared his scales left and right. And the more he gave away, the more delighted he became.”- The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
During library lessons, students listened to the story named “The Rainbow Fish” which was a lovely, heart-warming story of sharing and the happiness that sharing can bring to oneself and others. They appreciated reading the story of the under-sea world and looked into how sharing might affect friendship. They also discovered that while sharing can be difficult, it creates happiness in those who receive it and thus themselves become happy. Through this moral story, they explored the learner profile attribute of being caring towards others.
Circle time
16th January – 3rd February 2023
Unit of Inquiry
Joeys commenced a unit under the Transdisciplinary Theme – Where we are in place and time.
Central Idea: Stories help us learn about cultures and enrich our beliefs and values.
Lines of Inquiry:
- Stories that reflect the cultures of different places
- Stories that influenced me
- How to construct an effective story
Provocation of the new unit on stories enabled students make real-life connections wherein they took turns and talked about their favourite stories while focusing on favourite characters from tales. As a follow-up, to their story narration, they discussed the importance and why they love listening to stories.
Moving forward with the 1st line of inquiry- Stories that reflect cultures of different places, students were introduced to terms like cultures and beliefs. They were narrated 2 different versions of the fairy tale ‘Cinderella’. As a follow-up they carried out a ‘compare and contrast’ activity using a visible thinking routine in the form of a Venn diagram, to understand two different cultures in terms of their costumes, food and lifestyles. To have a better understanding of the same, students used various methods of storytelling such as story narration through a storybook, role play, puppets and flashcards.
The students marked India and China on the world map, hence, building their spatial awareness skills.
English
An icebreaker activity using ‘Spin the Wheel’ game, where they shared how they spent their holidays was played. This helped them to develop their social and communication skills. Recapitulation of the phonic sounds was undertaken. Introduction to phonic sounds /v/ and /j/ were done with stories, flashcards and real-life objects. As a follow-up activity, students traced the letters on a sand tray. They also practiced writing letters in their journals.
A VTR (Visible Thinking Routine), using Zoom in- strategy was used to enhance their thinking and vocabulary skills. Another VTR, ‘Step in’ strategy, allowed students to step into the main character’s shoes and share their different perspectives.
Learner profile attribute of being an inquirer was discussed. Students brainstormed and came up with examples of how they were inquirers and what more they could do to develop this attribute.
Language was integrated with Unit of Inquiry as students identified the parts of a book and shared their favourite stories with their peers. They also tried to identify the different elements of a story- character/s, setting, beginning, middle end.
Students took turns to portray the character of the caterpillar from the book ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. They enjoyed it thoroughly and understood the meaning of role-play. Facilitator demonstrated storytelling in three other ways, namely, reading a book, using props and with audio-visuals. Students voiced their choice of their favourite mode of storytelling.
Resources used:
Math
The concept of number line was reinforced. Forward and backward counting on the number line was undertaken using different class manipulatives. As a follow up, they practiced writing the same in their journals.
Recapitulation of the concepts of greater than, smaller than, odd, and even numbers were done through various activities.
Hindi
Concept of Ginti and colours were revisited in an online session in a fun way. Reinforcement of vyanjan(ब/स/न/ल/घ/र/क) was undertaken using flash cards. Subsequently students practiced writing them in their journal.
Students enhanced theirthinking and communication skills through a picture reading activity.
Music
Students learned the concept of solfege wherein they listened to each solfa sound and identified and named it.
They sang the Doe a deer song to reinforce their understanding of solfege.
ICT
Students were welcomed into online mode ICT class with warm hearts after the winter break. They honed their numeracy skills by doing an activity on iPad where they represented the number on ten frames, counting, identifying the numbers before and after, and doing a number recognition task.
To further deepen their understanding of forward and backward counting students practiced the concept through an educational app on iPad.
PHE
During their PHE lessons students of Joey practiced flat races, hurdles, obstacles and balancing races for the upcoming athletic meet.
Dance
Dance class started with describing students’ ideas and feelings communicated through body movements. This approach is known as expressive or interpretive dance, where they use movements to express emotions, thoughts, and ideas. It’s a form of nonverbal communication and can be a powerful tool for self-expression. Followed by a freestyle dance routine on a song name Rasputin, where the focused area was posture. This class sounded like it combines both expressive dance and technical elements, as the focus on posture is a technical aspect of dance. Incorporating both expressive and technical elements helped students develop their skills and express themselves creatively.
SEL
During SEL lesson students reflected on their understanding about words like rights and responsibility. They watched a video to further enhance their understanding of how rights and responsibilities are related. Facilitator discussed various rights they have at school and at home and corresponding responsibilities, for example the right to use different materials/ resources provided in class comes along with the responsibility of taking care of those materials/ resources. The discussion led to recap of essential agreements and taking responsibility to follow them for smooth functioning of classroom routines.
Visual art
Students enjoyed play dough and paper folding activities in their online classes, it developed their fine motor skills as they used their hands to shape play dough and paper. For marking Republic Day, students celebrated by making some tricolour crafts using paper fan, hand craft with a little assistance in folding paper. They had fun making this national flag colour circle.
Library
“Reading is the gateway for children that makes all other learning possible.” – Barack Obama
Reading aloud is one of the most powerful tools for change that we have. When we read aloud with others, we are not just strengthening our literacy skills and bringing communities together. We are also creating a culture of confident, engaged learners who know the power of their own voices.
During library lessons, students celebrated World Read Aloud Day by choosing a book of their interest and exploring the first picture book section in the library. They also enhanced their language skills by reading aloud the books with their class.
In an extension, a book named “The milkmaid and her jug of milk” was read aloud to them by the librarian. Through this moral story, they explored the learner profile attribute of being balanced and learned that “Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.”
Circle time
Birthday celebrations
12th December – 22nd December
Unit of Inquiry
Students delved into the second line of inquiry ‘Abilities change as we grow’ by revisiting timelines of growth from birth till date. A small display corner was set up with things that they wore, played with and ate when they were younger and what has changed now.
They compared their pictures as an infant and expressed the changes that were visible, such as they ate mashed food, wore diapers, used a bib, used a stroller, crawled etc. An assessment was conducted, where they spoke about their characteristics and abilities. They also segregated different pictures and pasted them under the right sense organ wheel.
Students were read a ‘Flip-Flap Body Book’, to understand the human body with the help of fantastic fold-out flaps. A discussion was undertaken on what happens to the food that we swallow, how a baby grows inside it’s mother and how we use the five senses, using the book. As a reflection, they visited the senior wing science laboratory, and examined a skeleton and a few major internal organs such as the heart, lungs and stomach.
A VTR (Visible Thinking Routine), using a Hear, Think, Wonder- strategy was used to partner each student up with a buddy to listen to each other’s heartbeats with stethoscopes. Facilitator asked them what they heard, what they thought it was and what were their wonderings.
An assessment was taken up where they had to enact a body-parts rhyme or talk about the major body parts and their basic functions.
Students also explored their auditory sense using their bodies. They learned about body percussion whilst stomping and clapping to the beats of the song ‘We will Rock You’. It helped them to internalize their ability to feel the music and stay in time.
A short story on healthy/junk food was narrated and students listened to a rhyme that reinforced why healthy eating is necessary for a healthy body and mind.
As an integration to language students narrated the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ using props, and age-appropriate vocabulary. This activity was their reflection that they comprehended that growth not only happens in the human body but in animals and plants as well.
Math was integrated with the unit as students identified patterns created by sounds using their bodies to specific rhythms.
Resources used-
We Will Rock You- Body Percussion
English
Introduction to phonic sound /u/f/ was done using flashcards and real-life objects. As a follow-up activity, students traced the letterson a sand tray.They also practiced writing letters in their journals.
Story on learner profile was revisited. Students reflected on which learner profile fits them best and shared it with their peers.
Formative assessment was taken wherein students listened to the instruction given by the facilitator and drew them accordingly.
Math
The concept of: greater than, lesser than and equal to was introduced using different class manipulatives. Students were encouraged to use symbols (>,<,=) for appropriate number cards. As a follow up, they practiced writing the same in their journals.
Students explored capacity through hands on activity making them aware of the concept of measurement. They were familiarized with new terminology such as empty, half and full.
Concept of before after and in between numbers was revisited.
Hindi
Introduction to two letter words was undertaken with flashcards and real life objects.
Formative assessment of vyanjan (ब/स/न/ल) was conducted wherein students matched the pictures with their initial sounds.
Take and talk was conducted wherein the students spoke about fruits and vegetables enhancing their communication skills.
Students were familiarized with the names of birds and animals through flashcards enhancing their vocabulary skills.
Music
Students participated in carols singing wherein they learned to sing “Jingle Bells” (in English and Hindi) with the enactment, they also did some vocal warm-ups before signing to enhance their voice quality.
ICT
Students recapitulated numeric concepts of backward counting to strengthen their understanding of numbers through an iPad app. They also enjoyed working on an online puzzle app wherein they put together the pieces to form pictures related to Christmas.
PHE
Students participated enthusiastically in learning different skills of cricket and football .They worked through various obstacle courses during their class which mainly led to the development of balance, coordination and agility .In cricket they learned to grip the bat and hit the ball by taking proper stance, they even performed throwing and catching the ball whereas in football they performed drills involving kicking and receiving the ball with the shoelace part. All of them portrayed a dynamic sportsmanship spirit by communicating their challenges and by working as a team.
Dance
Students of Joeys developed their motor skills in dance class by performing a variety of steps and movements. They learned how to control their bodies and coordinate their movements in time with music. They also developed their spatial awareness, balance, coordination, and flexibility.
SEL
In continuation of the story the The Bernstein Bears and the ‘Joy of Giving’ students extended their learning by celebrating the joy of giving, by making cards for their peers and appreciating them for the different learner profile attributes they displayed.
Visual art
Students created a triangle shaped Reindeer. They cut and glued the triangle for the face; they completed it with paint and glued a small white shiny nose made of foil and used a black marker to draw the eyes. Students were able to make it independently and managed their time effectively. They created a colourful Christmas tree. They traced shapes and coloured the shapes with paint and pasted ornaments. They explored different objects, textures, shapes and colours while creating a colourful Christmas tree.
Library
“Be like the Christmas tree; evergreen, shining, full of lights and full of gifts.” – Shri ShriRavishankar
Students inquired about sustainable Christmas trees during the library lesson. The book tree was displayed to them by the librarian. They also talked about finding responsible ways to dispose of trees once used.
As an extension to the discussion, students listened to a truly beautiful and heart-warming story of ‘Panda’s Christmas Gifts by Tara Jaye Morrow’ and learned about the importance of kindness. They also shared how they would celebrate the festival at home.
Circle time
Christmas Celebration
28th November – 9th December
Unit of Inquiry
To further deepen their understanding about their physical characteristics and refine student olfactory sense, they were asked to smell different jars and identify if the smell was aromatic or malodorous. An exit game was played where they had to name a new item they had smelt.
A story about Helen Keller was narrated to students. As a reflection, and to empathize with missing senses in terms of abilities, students experienced how it felt when they could not use their auditory and visual senses. Blindfolded, they were asked to spin and stop, and point to the whiteboard, doors, tables, and walk a few steps without bumping into things. An audio-visual song ‘Baby Shark’ was played and muted after a few seconds. They were then asked how they felt when they could not hear their favourite music.
A few sensorial activities were conducted to draw attention to their tactile sense. They had to feel the different temperatures with their hands and identify them as hot, cold, and tepid.
A field trip to a dental clinic was undertaken to make our students understand the importance of positive oral health care, by demonstrating good toothbrushing techniques, dental check-up and giving lessons on sugar in food and healthy diet, or simple good day-to-day advice on oral health routines.
As an integration to Math, two pictographs were created. Students pasted their pictures to represent tastes that appealed to them and tastes they disliked the most. They then interpreted the data on a graph. Venn diagram was introduced to the students.
Resources used:
English
Introduction to phonic sound d/o/g was done using flashcards and real-life objects. As a follow-up activity, students traced the letter on a sand tray. They also practiced writing letters in their journals.
Reinforcement of the sound‘d’ was conducted with an alliteration ‘David donald doo dreamed a dozen of donuts – Dr Seuss
Students participated in the formative assessment of decoding the initial sounds of letters.
Math
Formative assessment on 2D shapes and number quantity association was taken up. Students had to identify the shape cutouts and create a meaningful image.
The concept of number line was introduced. Forward and backward counting on the number line was undertaken using different class manipulatives. As a follow up, they practiced writing the same in their journals.
Concept of odd and even was revisited using the pairing strategy.
Hindi
Introduction to vyanjan ‘घ and क’ was undertaken with flashcards and real life objects. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter on a sand tray. Subsequently, students practiced tracing the vyanjan using colours and wrote them in their journals.
Students were encouraged to adopt a healthy hygienic lifestyle with a story दांतकीसफाई. They also enjoyed the song अच्छाखाएंस्वस्थरहें
Music
Students participated in solfege exercises wherein they sang the ascending and descending pattern of solfege, later they sang “Family Song” in groups.
ICT
This week students celebrated ‘Computer Science Education’ week by participating in ‘Hour of Code’ programme. The primary objective of the programme was to teach students computer science for at least an hour. There was a wide range of coding lessons and activities from which students learnt the fundamentals of coding. Students participated in coding games in which they arranged blocks of code to complete an assigned task. Through this activity, students developed their computational thinking skills.
PHE
Students participated energetically in warm up exercises and fun activities including various obstacle courses which boosted their body balance and coordination. They were also introduced to cricket where they learned new skills for batting, bowling and how to take stance.
Students were actively involved in learning different skills of cricket and football where they worked as a team and enhanced self management skills.
Dance
Joey started their dance class with a basic stretching routine where they performed some simple stretches and jumping jacks. Thereafter, students danced to their routine. Students have started to follow the teacher’s lead and are performing the dance moves in sync with each other. Basic walk across the floor was also included to improve footwork and coordination.
SEL
Students listened to the story of The Bernstein Bears and the Joy of Giving to understand that giving and sharing bring greater joy in life. They also understood that the joy of giving can go the whole year round and should not happen only during festival times.
Visual art
In visual art classes students had fun creating cozy winter art. They explored watercolor resistant mitten art. They used crayons to fill in the mittens with patterns, shapes and designs and painted over their drawing using watercolour to reveal the resist. They also created a reindeer craft for Christmas. They made a triangle shape cutout of three brown paper strips to make the face and made eyes and antlers using finger paint. Lastly they attached silver foil ball as the nose.
Library
Students listened to Faustin Charles story titled “Selfish Crocodile.” In the story, they came across a large, frightening crocodile who bragged about how the river belonged to him and how he would eat any creatures that he saw near the pond. A pained cry coming from the pond was one day heard by the creatures of the bush. They all went to look because they suspected it might be an animal the crocodile had caught. They observed that none of the animals were injured when they got to the pond. Nobody wanted to assist the self-centered crocodile despite the fact that he needed it. A little mouse scaled his head and peered into the source of his suffering. He had a toothache! It was removed by the mouse. The mouse said that everyone needs a friend who will support them when they are in need. The crocodile was criticized for his arrogant behaviour toward the other individuals in the pond.
Students spoke about the idea that sharing equals caring as a continuation of the read-aloud session. They were aware of how important friendship is to everyone. The need for social skills was also discussed at the end of the story.
Field trip
14th November – 25th November
Unit of Inquiry
Delving further into the unit, students were taken on a nature walk wherein they observed their immediate environment and inquired using their five senses. Subsequently, they were engaged in an activity using the VTR (Visible Thinking Routine) strategy Think, Pair and Share. They identified birds, fishpond, school gate, goats bleating, cows mooing, cowbells ringing, smell of lemon leaves, basil leaves, rough texture of the bark on trees, etc.
To enhance learning with the senses, an apple was used to explore the five senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight. Blindfolded, students took turns to touch, feel and smell the apple and received a tactile experience of the round, hard and smooth surface. Later students tasted the apple and were asked to observe the sounds made when they chewed the apple while covering their ears.
Students participated in a sensorial activity where they relied on their visual sense. They mixed primary colours to create secondary colours. A scavenger hunt game was played, where they created a colour wheel using objects from their immediate environment as a reflection. A discussion was led by the facilitator on how we can take care of our sense of sight.
Students explored various taste buds (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami) present on their tongues by tasting various food items and solutions during another hands-on activity.
Resources used:
English
Introduction to phonic sound – ‘b’ was done with flashcards and real-life objects. As a follow-up activity, they traced the letter using the sand tray. VTR –NDA (name, describe, act) strategy was used to enhance their vocabulary skills with illustrations. They also practiced writing letters in their journals.
Students honed their language articulation and prediction skills by predicting the outcomes of the story by looking the cover page. Parts of a book were reinforced.
Reinforcement of blending 3 sounds was done using moveable letters of the alphabet.
Math
Reinforcement of 2D shapes was undertaken wherein students had a choice of choosing 2D cutout shapes and creating something out of them, enhancing their creative thinking skills.
Introduction to number 10 was done using different class manipulatives with focus on place value mat. As an extension children wrote the number in their journals.
The concept of odd and even numbers was introduced using number rods, number cards and counters. As a follow up, they practiced the same in their journals.
Hindi
Students were introduced to parts of the body with action rhymes सिर, कंधे, घुटनेऔरपैर
Introduction to vyanjan ‘र’ was undertaken with flashcards and a story. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter on a sand tray. Subsequently, students practiced tracing the vyanjan using colours and wrote it in their journals.
A class discussion was done on the story मेरापरिवार. Subsequently, students illustrated their family members.
Students were encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle with a story स्वस्थ्यकौन
Music
Students were introduced to basic dynamics wherein they learned about soft and loud music.
They also sang ‘Family song’ and ‘Honeybun’ songs in groups with actions.
ICT
Students were introduced to an iPad app ‘Tiggly Draw’. They made beautiful patterns using shapes in the ‘Tiggly Draw’ app. They used their imagination and created imaginary creatures of different emotions like angry monsters, using different tools in the app. Students had fun exploring the app.
PHE
The students participated enthusiastically in learning different skills of cricket, gymnastics, and aerobics.Various obstacle courses performed during their class led to the development of their balance, coordination, and agility. In cricket, they learned to grip the bat and take the proper stance. All of them portrayed dynamic sportsmanship spirit by communicating their challenges and by working as a team.
Dance
Joeys started their dance class with a basic stretching routine where everyone did some simple stretches and jumping jacks. After the stretching routine, the teacher played some music for the class to start dancing. Joeys have started to follow instructions and are enthusiastically performing their current dance routine. Basic walk across the floor was also included in class to improve footwork and coordination.
SEL
Students were introduced to breathing exercise which helped them settle down. Further to understand how being different is unique and makes things special, students were engaged in a hands-on activity. Initially, they were shown blocks and paper cut-outs of the same shape and colour and asked to create something out of those which led to reflections like ‘it is not fun’. After that, the class was divided into two groups one group got a set of lego blocks and another group got paper cut-outs in different colours and shapes. They were encouraged to display their creativity by using the given material. After a while, both groups swapped their manipulatives to develop their social skills for sharing. Students could reflect when there were manipulatives in different colours and shapes, the fun factor was more and they could create more things. This helped them understand how being different is important.
Carrying forward the engagement from the previous week, students understood that differences are an important part of growing up. They were engaged in a craft activity to create a poster for their class saying “We Celebrate Differences, Everyone is Welcome Here”. They were given white paper cut-outs to make a colorful pattern of their choice. They also did hand-printing on the colorful background. Their artwork was collated into a poster.
Visual art
Students were pleased to learn about the stunning art of thread painting. By dipping a thread, piece of yarn, or thin string into paint and folding it between the halves of a page before pulling it downward, they created patterns and images. They felt confident to create patterns and colour combinations all on their own. They also enjoyed free expression using paint and brush.
Students learned the process of painting a background with watercolours using the wet-on-wet technique. Before making objects, students learned to make coloured backgrounds first. They could very easily blend into the two background colours to avoid any clear boundary lines between two different colours
Library
“Washing your hands is the best way to stop germs from spreading.”
The class started with a discussion of when are the best times to wash your hands with the help of the following questions:
- when your hands are dirty
- before eating or touching food (like if you’re helping cook or bake, for example)
- after using the bathroom
- after blowing your nose or coughing
- after touching pets or other animals
- after playing outside
- before and after visiting a sick relative or friend
As an extension of the same, little learners listened to a story named “I don’t want to wash my hands” by Tony Ross. The Little Princess in the story preferred not to wash her hands. She had cleaned her hands numerous times after all. But in the end, she found that the best way to be safe and healthy was to routinely wash her hands.
It motivated students to exercise health and safety. Their self-management skills and learner profile trait of being “Balanced” were also enhanced by this. They also found joy in crafting a stick puppet of the little princess.
Circle time
Children’s day celebration
31stOctober – 11th November
Unit of inquiry
Targeted lines of inquiry: Our characteristics and abilities
How abilities change
Students arranged their old photographs ranging from their infancy to toddlers and created a timeline. A discussion was undertaken on;
- How they have grown and changed
- Developed a range of fine and gross motor skills
- How their bodies change as they grow.
Students observed their own physical characteristics by looking into the mirror. They then illustrated and expressed their likes and dislikes.
This helped them to develop their critical thinking skills by analyzing and observing closely.
The facilitator showed a presentation and explained different stages of growth as seen in an infant, then a toddler, a teenager (adolescence), an adult and finally old age. Furthermore, rhymes and stories were enacted and narrated for vocabulary development and enhancement of listening skills. Rhymes – Growing and Changing , Scrub-a-dub-dub
English
Introduction to phonic sound – ‘r’ and ‘m’ was donewith flash cards and real life objects. As a follow up activity they traced the letter using the sand tray. VTR –NDA (name, describe, act) strategy was used to enhance their vocabulary skills with the illustrations .They also practiced writing letters in their journals.
As a reinforcement of sounds a bingo game was played, this helped them to enhance their listening skills.
Resource used: Rosie rabbit’s radish, Phonics Story M
Math
Integration of math was done with Halloween celebrations. A dice was rolled. Students drew hands/ eyes/ mouth/nose corresponding to the number of dots that appeared on the face of the dice.
Students were familiarized with 2D shapes (square, rectangle, triangle and circle) with objects from the immediate environment. A scavenger hunt game was played too.
Reinforcement of number sequencing was done wherein students pasted the numbers (1-9) in sequence in their journal.
Hindi
Students were narrated a short story ‘चालाकलालमुर्गी ‘. This was followed by a class discussion on the moral of the story.
Introduction to vyanjan ‘‘स’’ was undertaken with the help of various activities. The facilitator showed images of objects beginning with the same vyanjan for vocabulary development. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter using a sand tray. Subsequently, students practiced tracing the vyanjan using colours to understand letter formation.
As reinforcement, students wrote vyanjan ‘न’ in their journal.
Students were familiarized to secondary colours with manipulatives and were asked to get the corresponding colour objects to the teacher.
Music
Students of Joey learned the concept of solfege wherein each one was asked to sing the solfege syllable (Do Re Mi) using Kodaly hand signs to reinforce their understanding of solfege.
ICT
PHE
Students performed various obstacles courses which included crossing the tunnel,crawling, jumping over the cones,hurdle races and hopscotch which helped them to enhance their gross motor skills and overall physical fitness.
They even walked on the balancing beam and performed various stretches and warm up exercises which helped to improve balance and body stability.
Dance
In this week students started their class with just dance activity for full body warmup for example- toe touching, roll, twist and jumps.
Students learnt a new pop style routine on the song named gummy bear. These routines are also related to pop music songs from pop music groups
Classes then were followed by basic walk across the floor to music.
Library
“Friends are the people who make you smile brighter, laugh louder and live better.”
The class started with a discussion of the following questions:
What is a friend?
Why do we need a friend?
Who is your best friend?
How do you feel when you are with your best friend?
An extension of the same saw little learners listen to a story named “I want my friend” by Tony Ross. In the story, the little princess was tired of playing with her younger brother and was thrilled to be starting school the next day. However, when her first attempts to make friends with other children failed, she was left all alone. Fortunately, she soon found other children with no friends, and they decided to play together, sit together, eat together…
This outstanding narrative concentrated on the challenging process of creating friends. It demonstrated a deft comprehension of a child’s perspective.
It inspired students to face their concerns and make new friends. Their social skills and learner profile trait of attempting to be “Courageous” were also enhanced by this.
Circle Time
10thOctober – 21stOctober
Unit of inquiry
Culmination on the unit play was undertaken with students reflecting on their favourite experiment/activity and expressing their opinions.
Students commenced their second unit under theTransdisciplinary Theme – Who we are.
Central Idea: Identities change as we grow
Key concepts and Lines of Inquiry
· Form – Our characteristics and abilities
· Change – How abilities change
· Responsibility – Ways to reflect on growth
As provocation to the 1st line of inquiry ‘Our characteristics and abilities’, students played a game ‘who was the baby in the picture?’ .They actively participated and identified various items such as diapers, teethers, rattles, onesie and feeding bottles, used by them as infants.
English
Reinforcement of beginning, medial and ending sound was done with interactive presentation.
Introductionof phonic sound – ‘e’ was donewith flash cards and real life objects. As a follow up activity they traced the letter using sand tray. VTR –NDA (name, describe, act) strategy was used to enhance their vocabulary skills with the illustrations .They also practiced writing the letter in their journals.
Students honed their critical thinking, communication, observation, and social skills with picture reading activity while answering questions related to the pictures shown to them.Reinforcement of blending of 3 sounds was done using ‘Large movable alphabet’ (LMA).
Math
Tuning into the concept of weight, students were introduced to the concept of heavy and light with different class manipulatives. To strengthen their understanding of the concept, students compared two objects and sorted them into light or heavy. They understood that big objects could be lighter and small objects could be heavier. They also developed vocabulary related to weight – light, lighter, heavy, heavier.
Introduction to numbers ‘8, and 9’ was done usingnumber rods, spindles and class manipulatives.Furthermorestudents practiced formation using a sand tray, tactile number cardsand subsequently wrote the number ‘9’in their math journal.
Hindi
Students formed the vyanjan‘ब’, ‘न’ and ‘ल’using play doh as a reinforcement. Introduction of vyanjan ‘स’ was undertaken with a story. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter using a sand tray. As a follow up activity they practiced writing ‘ल’ from red crayon in their journals.
Music
Students in Joey sang “A Gift to You” song in groups to enhance their singing and listening skills.
They also played dance freeze in their class to make it more interesting.
ICT
Students loved working on the laptop. They learned to hold and move the computer mouse through a Mouse Control game. It helped students to develop fine motor skills in order to control a computer mouse. They found it a little challenging to hold the mouse but quite enjoyed working on the laptop.
PHE
Students enthusiastically participated in the warm up exercises and different drills performed during their class .They were encouraged to use their loco motor and non locomotor skills in order to develop rythmic responses therefore enhancing their balance, posture and coordination.
It also led to the enhancement of their social skills as they were focused to remember the activities, and communicating with each other led to the development of interpersonal relationships by portraying the characteristics of true sportsman.
SEL
Students were taught to manage different emotions and feelings using the metaphor of Lion and Sheep. They identified the traits of a lion and how he roars and compared it to a sheep who is calmer. They connected these traits to situations where they might have felt the same. Further as school celebrated Mental Health Awareness month, students were engaged in reflecting on different feelings and the effect of these feelings on their mental and physical health. They brainstormed how mental health is equally important as physical health. They also discussed the importance of sleep,food, physical activities and routine in our daily life.
Visual art
For Diwali art activity, students learned a traditional method of decoration.They practiced connecting dots to make rangoli.They explored the colourful Diwali patterns as they learned about India and Diwali. They also learned to make paper lanterns in their online classes.
Library
“Diwali is a symbol of hope for humankind. May it bring universal compassion, an inner joy of peace, love and the awareness of unity to all.” Happy Diwali!
During library lessons, students listened to the story “Hurray for Diwali” and joined Gittoo and his family, who were gearing up for Diwali, the festival of lights. The whole family was involved in clearing the house, removing unused and old stuff for upcycling, making sweets, and gearing up to receive family from outstation for the festival. They also listened to Gittoo’s mother, who explained the story behind Diwali and the Laxmi Puja that marked Diwali. They were able to form personal connections and exchange ideas about how they would commemorate the festival
19th September – 7thOctober
Unit of inquiry
As a part of the unit on play, a take and talk activity on ‘This is my favourite play corner…/ My favourite play is… ’ was scheduled. Students chose relevant puppets, toys, props, and games to showcase their understanding on play as they spoke about their ideas.
Students learnt about important points to be considered while buying toys and keeping them safe at home.
Delving deeper into the 2nd line of inquiry -Imaginative use of everyday material, students enjoyed creating animal puppets using paper, stick and toilet roll.
As a formative assessment, students will be creating
Moving ahead into the 3rd line of inquiry- How new understandings develop through play
students were familiarized with different materials which they touched, felt and in the process also enhanced their vocabulary skills.
English
Reinforcement of phonic sounds was done for play with a VTR – Think, Pair and share
Introduction of phonic sound – ‘c’, ‘ k’ ‘t’ and ‘h’ was done with flash cards and real life objects. As a follow up activity they traced the letter using sand tray and were encouraged to illustrate few things that began with the /h/, /c/ and /t/ sounds in their journals. They also practiced writing the letters in their journals.
Students also enjoyed practicing the phonic sounds on the light table. Beginning, middle and ending sounds in three letter words using the letters s, a, t, p, i, n, c, k, and h was introduced.
Math
The concept of non-standard measurement was undertaken using body parts and objects like blocks/ bottle caps and dominos. Students measured length of table, carpet, laptop, notebook etc. using body parts like hand and foot span. They enhanced their estimation skills and learned new vocabulary -hand span, foot span, cubit, arm span. In another session, students traced their hands and measured and compared their hand spans using cutouts in their journal.
Introduction to numbers ‘5, 6, and 7’ was done using number rods, spindles and class manipulatives. Furthermore students practiced formation using a sand tray, tactile number cards and subsequently wrote the numbers in their math journal.
Hindi Introduction of vyanjan ‘ल’ was undertaken with a story. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter ‘ब’ and ‘न’ using a sand tray. They enjoyed listening to the storyand also understood the importance of ‘दशहरा‘ festival.
Music
Students of Joey learned to sing solfege using Kodaly hand signs wherein each one was asked to focus on the articulation of these solfege syllables.
ICT
In ICT, students worked on strengthening their logical thinking skills by making patterns through an iPad app. They also created patterns on their own using their creative thinking. Students were introduced to the fundamentals of coding with drag-and-drop blocks.
PHE
Students enthusiastically participated in the warm up exercises and different drills performed during their class .They were encouraged to use their gross motor and balancing skills and developed them through activities performed individually and as a team.
It also led to the enhancement of their communication skills as they were focused to remember the activities and communicated with each other during the task given by strategizing and portraying the characteristics of true sportsman.
Dance
Students were commenced with a thorough warm-up and flexibility development exercises.
A garba dance routine was also done to celebrate Navratri. Activity-based on identifying feelings of the movement was also done. A basic walk across the floor was also introduced.
SEL
In this session, the students discussed how gratitude is one of the many positive emotions that we have. They understood that by focusing on what is good in our lives and being thankful for the things we have, we enhance our mental health. The students heard the story “I am Thankful” by Todd Parr to celebrate all the little things they are thankful for. They showcased their understanding by drawing one thing they are thankful for on a leaf cut-out which was showcased on a gratitude tree display.
Visual art
Students were involved in a creative process of finger painting. They painted with their fingers ona cut-out .They also made a small paper bag using finger painting technique. Finger painting was a great way for our children to explore, learn and indulge in sensory play.
They had fun painting with their fingers. They started with painting their background using blue colour for sky .They practiced newspaper cutting on lines to create a tree stem. Pasting stems and using finger-painting techniques for leaves assisted them to create colourful masterpieces.
Library
Little learners listened to the story about Alan, the crocodile from the book ‘Alan’s big scary teeth’. Alan was famed for his big, scary teeth, for every day he sneaked into the jungle to scare the jungle animals …” I’m big, scary Alan! Fear my razor-sharp teeth!” But after a long day of scaring, Alan liked nothing better than to run for a warm mud bath and take out his false teeth, which was a secret that only he knew about! That was until his teeth went missing. What will Alan do now? When he lost his teeth he did not know what to do as he only knew how to scare other animals and now no one would be scared of a toothless crocodile. The animals felt bad for Alan and returned his teeth to him along with the job that he can do with his razor-sharp teeth like cutting the grass, trimming animals’ hair and cleaning everyone’s teeth.
The whole plot of the story was enjoyable and the children loved what happened after the other animals found his teeth and gave them back to him. Alan became a great helper in the end.
Session on ‘Good Touch and Bad Touch’
Students attended a session conducted by Ms. Kamal Shah (Primary School Principal) and Ms. Sanam Edwards (PYP facilitator) on ‘Good Touch and Bad Touch’. Both teachers discussed some awkward situations which could make students uncomfortable and also shared what needed to be done in such situations. This session helped students understand what can be categorized as good touch or bad touch.
Circle time
Dussera Celebrations
5th September – 16th September
Unit of inquiry
Inquiry into the on-going unit theme, students used their research skills to explore different materials in their environment. They investigated the physical changes in a material (plastic, wood and metal) through simple experiments that tested solubility, science behind a string phone and sink and floatability of materials.
Taking the unit further, students enhanced their scientific vocabulary by observinga balloon experiment wherein they were amazed to notice how the balloon was inflated without blowing air in it.
English
Introduction of phonic sound – ‘n ’was done with actions. As a follow up activity they traced the letter using sand tray and were encouraged to illustrate few things that begin with the /n/ sound on slates.
Formative assessment of the phonic sound of letters‘/s//a//t//p//i//n/’ was undertaken with a dice, wherein the students rolled the dice and called out the sound corresponding to the number of dots that appeared on the face of the dice.
To improve pincer grip and prehensile strength, students practiced tracing, writing and illustrating on a slate using chalk. They also practiced pattern writing: slanting line and circle in their English journals.
Math
Introduction to numbers ‘3’and ’4’ was done using spindles and class manipulatives. Furthermore students practiced formation using a sand tray, tactile number cards, and subsequently wrote the numbers in their math journal.
Students were introduced to the timeline of the day by recalling all the activities undertaken by them from morning till night. This allowed them to observe that everything in nature isfollowed by a pattern. Furthermore they explored different patterns in their surroundings during nature walk. To make it fun they participated in a quiz wherein they were shown the image of a pattern and were encouraged to guess the animal.
As a follow up activity they were encouraged to recognize and create patterns with class manipulatives such as blocks, colours, tangrams and subsequently created them in their journals using different cutouts.
They also followed the body action pattern with a song ‘Ram Sam Sam’ and made sound patterns using their body parts like clapping, patting on their thighs, stomping.
Students enhanced their thinking skills and revisited the concept of pattern with the story ‘The Graffalo’
Hindi
In their Hindi classes, students celebrated ‘Hindi saptah’ to mark the importance of Hindi Diwas. They listened to a story ‘शेरऔरचूहा’ and made puppets for retelling the same story in their own words. Through this activity, they honed their speaking skills. They enhanced their comprehension skills by doing an activity ‘रंग पहचानो गिनती जानो’ where they learned the names of the colours and number names in Hindi.
Music
Students of Joey learned an action song named “Peace Like A River” wherein each one was asked to sing on the mic. Later they explored different rhythmic patterns to improve rhythmic independence. They were also introduced to rhythm and its basics.
ICT
In ICT, students worked on sequencing activities that helped them to recognize number sequences and reinforce their knowledge of ordering the numbers using an iPad app.
They also played online jigsaw puzzle games using the iPad to build skills such as visual reasoning, special awareness, and logic.
PHE
The students participated energetically in the entire warm up exercises and fun activities performed during their class which boosted their endurance and agility. Students played obstacles related fun games and relay races to develop their motor skills.
Dance
Students commenced a thorough warm-up and flexibility development exercises.
A freestyle dance routine was also started on the song name Toca Toca that focused on posture. Activity based on identifying feelings in the song was also done.
SEL
The students were introduced to the concept of Empathy as they participated in an activity while listening to the story of a small mouse called Chrysanthemum. They were asked to crush a heart cut-out whenever they heard someone being unkind to her, in her new school because she had a unique name. They understood the effect of words and how unkind words can leave our hearts wrinkled and discussed what they could do to make the scars go away.
Visual art blog
Students were involved in a creative process of finger painting where they painted with their fingers on given cut-outs. They also made a small paper bag using finger painting techniques. Finger painting was a great way for children to explore, learn and develop through sensory play.
Library
Joey enjoyed Hindi Saptah in their library lesson as part of the celebration for the home country’s popular language.
On the street, there was a lot to see. As they listened to the story “Colours on Street/गली के रंग “. They followed Sonu, Monu, and Rina on their colourful walk down the street. For them, colours were not only fascinating but also beneficial for learning. As they looked at what they could see on the street, this story gave them visual and cognitive stimulation. The story enhanced their vocabulary by discussing their surroundings.
In an extension, students discussed different colours of fruits and vegetables. They also shared their preferences with their classmates.
National nutrition week
National Nutrition Week was marked at school from September 1-7, 2022. The theme for this year celebrated International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction.
Students were engaged in weeklong activities that covered
· Analysing data for areas of food wastage
· How wastage can be reduced by storing food items in their correct spaces in the fridge.
· Bingo and memory game to enhance their understanding of eating healthy food.
Circle time
22nd August – 2nd September
Unit of inquiry
Going back to the first line of inquiry -expression through play, students expressed their feelings about what makes them happy, sad, or scared while engaging in symbolic play. They were encouraged to share their experience and came up with some strategies that helped them manage these feelings.
Learners enjoyed creating different animal faces using hand and finger prints to promote student agency as they were given to choose any animal and colour as they please.
Delving deeper into the inquiry of the on-going theme, students used their research skills to explore different materials in their environment. Through a simple experiment, they predicted attraction of the magnetic field of objects around them, and tested their hypothesis.
English
Introduction and recapitulation of phonic sounds – ‘p, a, t, and i’ were undertaken with real objects and visual presentations.
Students played a game of ‘I spy’ during their nature walk as an integration to the unit. Sound cards were hidden strategically and they had to find them whenever the facilitator called out ‘I spy’.
To improve pincer grip and prehensile strength, students practiced tracing, writing and illustrating on a slate using chalk. They also learned writing: sleeping, standing and slanting line patterns in their English journals.
Explicit teaching of critical thinking skills was done wherein the students were shown 4- 5 real life objects and they had to choose the odd one out and explain the reason for their selection. Furthermore they enjoyed playing the game of odd one out
Resources used-
Math
Reinforcement of number sequencing was done with the dot puzzle game.
Introduction to the writing of numbers ‘2’ was done using class manipulative. Furthermore they practiced the formation on the sand tray, slates and subsequently wrote in their math journal.
Students enhanced their counting skills and revisited the days of the week with the story‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.
Hindi
Introduction of vyanjan ‘न’ was undertaken with a story. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter ‘ब’ on sand. They recognized names of birds in Hindi by playing a game.
Music
Students of Joey learned an action song named “Peace Like A River” wherein each one was asked to sing on the mic. Later they explored different rhythmic patterns to improve rhythmic independence.
ICT
Students enjoyed the pattern tracing activity using the iPad app. They learned to trace standing lines, curve lines, and zik-zak lines. They also learned to trace the number 1.
Students worked on an interactive colouring activity that improved their number recognition skills as they identified and matched each number with its corresponding colour using a number-colour key to colour the picture according to given directions. This game reinforced children’s understanding of numbers as well as developed their artistic abilities.
PHE
Students fervently participated in warm up exercises and performed different drills during their class .They were encouraged to use their fine motor skills and develop them through activities performed individually and as a team.
It also led to the enhancement of their Thinking skills as they were focused on remembering activities and performed tasks given by strategizing and portraying characteristics of true sportsmanship.
Dance
Dance lessons started with a brief introduction and development of the warm up routine to help hone motor skills and agility based movements especially the larger body parts like arms, legs and head.
SEL
The students understood the meaning of celebrating diversity after listening to the story ‘Lovely’ by Jess Hong. Big, Small, curly, straight, loud, quiet, smooth, wrinkly; the book helped them explore a world of differences that all add up to the same thing which was- We are all Lovely. Students engaged in creating self-portraits, to identify what they thought was lovely in them and shared it with their classmates.
Visual art blog
Students were asked to explore their emotions in their reflections while standing in front of a large mirror. They were also asked to make different faces, such as sad, happy and angry. They understood how their face changed as their emotions changed. Then they tried to draw a self portrait and also made faces with various emotions.
On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi students used crayon to draw lord Ganesha on a blank paper using stencil, later they painted over the top of the image with watercolour and were happy to watch their wax resist painting. They decorated their painting with colourful borders.
Library
Students listened to the story named ‘Dear Zoo’ authored by Rod Campbell, where a little child writes to a zoo to send a pet to him and the zoo in return sends a series of unsuitable pets hidden behind the flap which the students tried to guess. After a variety of animals were sent and returned to the zoo for being unsuitable, the zoo finally sent a dog, which was just ‘perfect’.
The story enabled students to identify which animals live in a zoo and raised questions about the characteristics of animals and their suitability as pets. The story prompted discussion on pets the children may have or would like.
Circle time
Birthday and Teachers Day Celebrations
Ganesh Chatrurthi celebrations
Blog (1st August – 19th August)
Unit of Inquiry
Students commenced their first unit under the Transdisciplinary Theme –How we express ourselves.
Central Idea: We use play to express our feelings and ideas in order to come to new understandings.
Lines of Inquiry:
●Communicating through play
● Imaginative use of everyday materials
●How new understanding develops through play
Students were given time for unstructured play in different corners of the classroom and corridors. VTR (Visual Thinking Routine) – Observe, Wait and Listen (OWL) strategy was used to gain insights into student interests and preferences.
They were shown audio-visual presentations on Play. This was followed by discussion on some questions asked by the facilitator:
- What did you see?
- What were the children doing?
- What did you think they were using to play?
- Where do you play?
- What do you play?
- How do you feel when you play?
- What is your favourite game?
Students enjoyed an outdoor picnic on school campus which helped them to enhance their communication and social skills as they learned to play in groups and express their opinions.
Students indulged in singing a song -‘Pillow land’
Taking some ideas from the song, students were ecstatic and created something interesting in class using pillows and bed sheets.
Based on their voice and choice, students co-constructed what they wanted as play corners with their teachers.
English
IB Learner profile symbols were introduced to students with a presentation and story. Symbolic representation of the profiles helped them to recognize and relate to the attributes while using visual descriptors.
Introduction and recapitulation of phonic sound – ‘s’ ‘a’ and ‘t’ were undertaken. To strengthen the recognition of phonic sounds, students chanted sounds with actions demonstrated by the facilitator. This method using TPR (Total Physical Response), pairing of movement with sounds was done. Students honed their speaking skills with alliteration related to sound /a/and /t/. Furthermore, they were encouraged to guess the names of their classmates whose names began with s, a or t.
They enriched their communication skills by adding new words (axe, pat, sap, ant, sit, sat, etc.) to enhance their vocabulary.
To improve their pincer grip and prehensile strength they practiced tracing, writing, and illustrating on a slate using chalk. They also learned writing: sleeping and standing line patterns in their English journals.
Students were given a print of their names, which they coloured and embellished with stars and glitters. To promote student agency, they were given a choice to colour and decorate as they pleased. This activity allowed them to take pride and ownership of their work as they pasted it in their cubby holes along with their passport photographs.
As an integration to the unit, students were involved in symbolic play where sheets and chairs were set up to represent a day at the camp. They then played out their daily routine thus enhancing their vocabulary and imagination.
They also enjoyed playing odd one out game with real life objects using their reasoning skills.
English resources used:-
AlphaTales: The Adventures of Abby Alligator
Math
Students were introduced to number rods, to enhance the development of numeracy skills like seriation, sequencing, and quantification.
They demonstrated an understanding of numbers, using concrete materials to explore and investigate counting, quantity, and number relationships, wherein they read the number cards and built a corresponding tower. As a follow up activity, students enjoyed the game of scavenger hunt wherein the facilitator called out a number and students were asked to associate it’s quantity with objects from the class.
The concept of subitizing was introduced to students with fun games like rolling the dice, quick counting of fingers shown by the facilitator. Students learned to recognize sets of one to five objects without counting. They understood that numbers can be represented by objects/dots/ fingers.
Visual subitizing was reinforced using dice game, dots, objects, wherein the students guessed the correct number of dots and objects.
Students enhanced their vocabulary and listening skills with the ‘Zanele sees numbers’ story about numbers.
They indulged in picture sequencing activity by sticking the template in their journal in sequence to create the correct picture from a mixed pool.
Introduction to quantitative nature of 0 with VTR – See/ Think/ Wonder was done. Subsequently, students were shown the video Concept of ‘zero’ for better understanding.
Students were introduced to the tracing of number 1 in the correct zone.
Hindi
A story, ‘कबूतरऔरचींटी’ was shown with an audio-visual presentation and dramatization. Rhymes and stories were enacted and narrated for vocabulary development and enhancement of listening and thinking skills.
Physical Education
Students participated enthusiastically in all fun games and exercises for development of fine motor skills and endurance. They portrayed dynamic sportsmanship spirit by communicating their challenges and by working as a team.
Information and Communications Technology
Students worked on a tracing application. They learned how to count numbers from 1 to 10. Children counted the objects displayed on the screen and tapped on each one to learn numbers individually.
They honed their numeracy skills through this app.
Students were introduced to digital citizenship education, where they were apprised about when, where, and how much to use technology. They also understood the importance of screen break time.
Students practiced pattern tracing using an iPad app.
Dance
Class began with introduction and fun games for warming up to help hone motor skills and agility-based movements especially for the larger body parts like arms, legs and head.
Music
Students of Joey learned about rhythm and it’s usage wherein each one was asked to play a pattern to show their rhythmic independence, later they sang their favourite songs on the mic.
Visual Arts
To mark the festival of rakhi, various activities related to the festival were conducted that brought out their creativity. Students were engaged with hands-on learning experience- a tri colour activity of our national bird, peacock was done to celebrate Independence Day. They were familiarized to the colours of our national flag. It gave them an opportunity to understand culture and celebration.
They also decorated a template of peacock feathers with colours in their art files to mark Janmashtami. They tried using oil pastels to draw line painting and loved decorating the peacock feather with a festive theme. This activity promoted fine motor skills and creativity.
Social Emotional Learning Edited from KGS
Students explored and identified different feelings by playing a peek-a-boo game. They were shown a series of colour blocks where they had to take turns and choose a colour to be removed. Removing the blocks revealed a feeling which students had to identify. They were encouraged to share an experience and had think of some strategies that help them manage these feelings.
The students explored and celebrated their individuality and uniqueness after listening to the story ‘Elmer the Elephant’ by David McKee.’ They understood that everyone is unique, and they should not worry about being different or try to disguise their true self. The students discussed how being different is a good thing and identified one unique trait about themselves that makes them different from others.
Library
The story “A Colour of His Own” by Leo Lionni served as inspiration for teaching young students about colours. The character of the story was a lone chameleon who discovered that he didn’t have a unique colour as other animals. He was distinct from the others because he lacked his own colour. He was able to find a place where he belonged by the end of the story. There, he made a friend and led a happy life.
The connection here between colours in their environment and the students’ learning was positive. They also discussed the value of friendship for everyone. By simply learning the word “camouflage,” they improved their vocabulary.
Circle time
Independence day celebration
Janmashtami celebration
Free play
Blog (21st July – 29th July)
Learn to Learn week
We would like to extend a very warm welcome to early learners in the nursery classroom. Like the young joeys, they are energetic and inquisitive by nature. Students began their journey of settling down into a new academic year with a wide variety of learning engagements. They witnessed many activities that fuelled their curiosity to explore their surrounding and enhance their language, social, communication and creative thinking skills. They engaged in
- interactive sessions, wherein they introduced themselves thereby enhancing their communication skills.
- finger painting of dandelion creating a welcome card for themselves.
- exploring their school surroundings with a school tour- nature walk
- listening to a story from Eric Carl’s book ‘Head to Toe, ’which made them aware of their body parts in a fun way.
- a discussion on etiquettes (classroom, dining room, washroom ) using flash cards, audio visual aids, role play helped them to create essential agreements which they would like to follow.
- mystery box/bag games wherein they had to identify objects that were taken out of an opaque box by the facilitator.
Students were narrated a story ‘The Crayons’ Book of Numbers’using puppet fingers.As a follow up activity they were encouraged to engage in free expression in art using their favourite crayon colours.
Images of optical illusion and those with slight differences were shown as brain teasers to enhance visual and cognitive thinking skills.
Facilitator sang the rhyme- Incy Wincy Spider with students using actions. This was done in Hindi as well, to promote multilingualism while developing international mindedness. Later they enjoyed listening and singing some of their favourite songs.
Students were introduced to learner profile attribute of being ‘caring’ with a story- Jarvis the jelly .This was followed by a discussion on how important it is to take care of oneself, family and the environment.
Circle Time
A wide range of activities to strengthen pincer grip, eye hand coordination and concentration were undertaken-
- Students performed activities of transferring rice grains from one bowl to another using a spoon.
- Finger aerobics were practiced with spider push-ups and finger lifting exercises.
- Shaping play dough – They made a ball and molded it into different shapes strengthening their fingers and promote sensory skills.
- Brain Breaks’ to support natural cognitive function, develop their gross and fine motor skills by enacting rhymes, balancing, finger and eye exercises, breathing exercises, jumping and stretching with the facilitator were incorporated at regular intervals. Sensory breaks were also given between classes to promote motor movement and social connect amongst students.
- Students enjoyed tracing different shapes using metal insets to enhance their fine motor skills.
Hindi
Students learnt how to greet each other with a namaste’ and ‘Suprabhat’. Various scenarios in which they could use the word ‘namaste’ were discussed. During their Hindi lesson, students listened to the story of Hathi raja where use of puppets added to the visual effect. Rhymes and stories were enacted and narrated for vocabulary development and enhancement of listening skills.
Physical Education
The students were introduced to new dynamic stretches and exercises for warm up. These were followed up with the activity called HAT ON THE TOP, to develop their fine motor skills, for it also motivated them to work as a team and build sportsmanship.
Music
The students of Joey had a fun session after a long summer break wherein each one was asked to share their favorite songs on the mic. They also played different games to make it more interesting.
Information and Communications Technology
The new academic year started with a fun-filled ice-breaker activity where students got to know each other’s names, likes and dislikes.
The week began with a discussion on essential agreements to create a better learning environment. They were introduced to iPads and worked on a drawing app.
Dance
Class began with introductions and fun games for warming up to help hone motor skills and agility based movements especially the larger body parts like arms, legs and head.
Visual Arts
In the first two weeks there were many fun activities during the day to help build the relationship with each child in class. Students made an outline of their palm, later they shared their positive memory of see, hear, smell, touch and taste.
To mark International Tiger day, various activities were organized. Children enjoyed drawing, colouring and pasting on a tiger face cutout.
Social Emotional Learning
In their Social Emotional Learning session, students were encouraged to build connections with their peers through a colouring activity. They had to actively listen to instructions from the facilitator to complete the given task. They then had to communicate with their peers to find similarities with each other helping them find common ground and help build relationships.
Library
Students enjoyed listening to the rhyming story named ‘Where is my Teddy ?’ by ‘Jez Alborough’. The story is about a child who lost his bear in woods. The story highlighted the importance of friendship and courage. Introduction of rhyming words was taken up with the story.
Free play
Joey A 