Dear Parents,
Unit of Inquiry - Sharing the Planet
Concepts - Reflection, Causation, Responsibility
Related Concepts - Biodiversity, conservation, ecosystems, resources and sustainability
Lines of Inquiry -
Class of the week - 2RY
Meet the Staff
Specialists in the Spotlight - PE
Year Two CCA News - Web Design
Dates to Remember
What a wonderful end to last week with the Musical Journey Expo and performance workshop by visiting artist Bruce Rogers. Thank you to Mr Hayes for organising Mr Roger's visit.
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| Mr Rogers with his Didgeridoo |
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| Children performing dance to the didgeridoo |
A large thank you to our music teachers, Mrs Winton and Mr Elliott, PE teachers Mr Barnes and Mr Knight as well as the Year 2 teachers and assistants for the preparation for the Expo. I'm sure you will agree it was a very worthwhile event in the Year 2 learning calendar.
The Kais Kids Read a Thon has been an outstanding success. Sophie Aitken's vision for her project has culminated with many children igniting their love of reading and taking action to support children in a neighbouring country. The money raised from this action is at present approximately $18,000. The final amount will be tallied by the end of next week and presented to Mrs Marsden, a representative from Kais Kids, at our Year 2 assembly.
Congratulations to Sophie, Year 2 children, teachers, assistants and parents for your wonderful support of this event!
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| Sophie reading to 2CO |
A letter from Sophie
The Read-a-thon was a great success. A total of 170 students participated in the Read-a-thon and have worked incredibly hard to raise more than $17,500! This is an absolutely fantastic effort, that money will significantly benefit KaisKids. I will discuss exactly how these hard earned funds are spent with the director of KaisKids when I visit the orphanage in October. I will be taking all the students’ letters too.
Some of the results from the survey included:-
· 73% increased their reading capacity during the Read-a-thon period.
· The most popular response to the question 'What do you think you gained from being in the read-a thon” was ‘getting better at reading by myself’ followed closely by ‘becoming more confident’ followed by’ having fun reading with my family.’
· More than 60% achieved their reading goal
· The most popular response to the question ‘ What did you like most about the Read-a-thon was ‘reading’ followed by ‘learning and feeling good about donating to an orphanage.’
· The largest group of students were in the category ‘ I tried really hard with my reading.’
· 98% enjoyed doing the Read-a-thon
These results were great but were backed up by adorable letters written to KaisKids from your children. These showed genuine care and understanding of the community and service at this young age. Some of the quotes include the following:-
“ I really hope that you are being looked after well .I feel worried about you……I am doing my best to get money for you….one day I am coming there to help you when I am older……the best thing about the Read-a-thon was that every book I read will be giving more money to you….I had lots of fun doing this because I felt proud that I was helping you….one day I would like to visit you in Cambodia…I tried my best to donate as much money as I can, I have a question – how is your life?
The teachers and I were also thrilled to see the effort students made with their reading. Many booklets had extra pages added which showed how many books the children had read. Others tried to advance to chapter books, some got into the habit of reading more regularly. Some took great pride in completing and decorating their booklets. Thank you to the many supportive parents who gave me useful feedback.
Next Friday (16th September) there will be an assembly to award prize winners. The prizes awarded to the students are based on effort and fundraising. All of your children have tried really hard and I congratulate all of them on their efforts!
Thanks so much,
Sophie Aitken.
Unit of Inquiry - Sharing the Planet
Central Idea - The choices we make can help or hurt our environment.
Related Concepts - Biodiversity, conservation, ecosystems, resources and sustainability
Lines of Inquiry -
- Consequences of the choices we make for the environment
- Rights and responsibilities to the environment
- Actions we can take
The children will be inquiring into environmental problems and the role they can play to look after the environment.
An important global event taking place this weekend in Singapore is the 'Clean up the World' campaign run by the ANZA association.
Where: Tanah Merah beaches. When: Sunday 8.30am onwards
This is certanly one way in which parents can assist their children to learn the values of responsibility and conservation.
Class of the week - 2RY
2RY have had an extremely busy term so far. We were excited to meet David Downer and Kirrily Nolan who are actors. They are friends of Lottie and were visiting in Singapore. David, a graduate from NIDA who has over 30 years acting experience in theatre and television, read to the children, Roald Dahl's classic, 'The Magic Finger'. http://www.roalddahl.com/
The children were captivated by the use of voice that David projected while reading. They were able to make connections with the UOI Expressing Ourselves in the use of voice projection for poetry and reading.
We enjoyed dressing up for Book Week, playing and performing for the Music Expo and connecting with Year 9 students for their Project 'Make a Difference.' The Y9 students decided to involve Year 2 to help make our school more connected.
The children were captivated by the use of voice that David projected while reading. They were able to make connections with the UOI Expressing Ourselves in the use of voice projection for poetry and reading.
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| David Downer reading to 2RY |
We enjoyed dressing up for Book Week, playing and performing for the Music Expo and connecting with Year 9 students for their Project 'Make a Difference.' The Y9 students decided to involve Year 2 to help make our school more connected.
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| Caitlin, Niamh, Piper and Stephanie dressed for Book Week |
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| Georgie, Jo, Dominic and Megan -Y9 sharing with 2RY |
Meet the Staff
5 Facts about me - Marissa Cohen
1. I love eating Thai food
2. I hate the cold weather and snow.
3. I spent 4 months last year travelling around South America and still my Spanish skills are very basic!
4. My favourite hobby is to dive and the best dive spot I have been to is in the Perhentian Islands, Malaysia.
5. This is my 2nd time that I have lived in Singapore, I was here working and living for 6 months in 2005.
5 Facts about me - Emily Gravina
1. I’ve lived in Singapore for 15 years, studying and working during this time in both local and international schools.
2. I taught for five years before joining AIS in 2009
3. I love spicy Malay and Indonesian food, especially rendang with sayor lodeh during Hari Raya.
4. My favourite restaurant in ‘The Rice Table’
5. I have 2 cats at home.
House Leaders
Every week at assembly, House points are awarded to the 'Gotcha' award winners and Star award winners. 'Gotcha' awards are worth 50 house points and Stars are worth 10. Murray gained an extra 70 points this week to keep them in the lead while Derwent caught up 30 points to nearly reach Fitzroy.
The Athletics carnival is coming up this term. This could change the house points leader. The House with the most points wins the House Cup at the end of the year.
Murray - 429 points
Lachlan - 310 points
Fitzroy - 299 points
Derwent - 282 points
Specialists in the Spotlight - PE
Year 2 students have started on their athletics unit in readiness for the carnival in week 10 (22/9). The activities include sprints, relays, javelin, wet sponges (Rob the Nest) and an obstacle course. The activities are set out so that the groups are required to show a level of independence and students are encouraged to use discussion to eliminate issues that may arise (whose turn it is, etc).
A new intake of web designers has been working hard on the student run website AISS Funline. This CCA is all about communicating with an audience on a large scale. Technology allows the children to reach many students, but it does not tell them what or how to communicate. So it has been interesting to see the transformation of AISS Funline. This semester there is a sense of pride as many articles are geared towards our school and what makes it special. New features including Star Teacher, Our School, and Class of the Week indicate a shift in focus. All students have been working hard to catch up due to the many interruptions so far this term. Look out for the link for the first publication soon.
Dates to Remember
| Thursday, 15 September | AIS Foundation Day celebrations |
| Friday, 16 September | Junior and Primary Fathers’ Day Breakfast |
| Monday, 19 September | Year 1 Athletics Carnival |
| Tuesday, 20 September | Prep Athletics Carnival |
| Wednesday, 21 September | Junior International Peace Day Celebrations |
| Thursday, 22 September | Year 2 Athletics Carnival |
Parent Education
A friend of mine sent this to me the other day. I don't usually take much notice of these emails, however, this one caught my eye and I thought I would share it with you. With Father's Day upon us, this is a timely reminder to look after yourself and the people you care about.
Recently I overheard a Father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'
The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough.. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'
They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'
'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'..
'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'
He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone...' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them...' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more...
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger..
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
He then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.
TAKE TIME TO LIVE.....
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'
The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough.. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'
They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'
'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'..
'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'
He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone...' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them...' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more...
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger..
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
He then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.
TAKE TIME TO LIVE.....
Ms Elle Ryan and the Year 2 Teaching Team.
What do you think of the Year 2 Newsletter?
What can you do this week to help the environment?
Please leave a comment below.
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