Dear Parents,
We can't believe we that have only three weeks left at school for 2011. Our current and last Unit of Inquiry for the year is progressing well. We are all enjoying the opportunity to learn about different communities and making connections to our own.
Book Covering
A huge thank you to the parents that came to assist with book covering last week. What a massive job! There are still a number of books to be covered so if you can spare some time this Thursday from 1pm or any afternoon, please drop in and we will set you up to help us.
Work Experience Students
For the past fortnight, Year 2 have been fortunate to have Year 10 students who have selected teaching as their Work Experience with us. The presence of these students in our classrooms has been very positive.
Book Covering
A huge thank you to the parents that came to assist with book covering last week. What a massive job! There are still a number of books to be covered so if you can spare some time this Thursday from 1pm or any afternoon, please drop in and we will set you up to help us.
Work Experience Students
For the past fortnight, Year 2 have been fortunate to have Year 10 students who have selected teaching as their Work Experience with us. The presence of these students in our classrooms has been very positive.
Christmas Book Fair
Next week, we will be hosting a special Christmas Book Fair outside the Junior School Library. This fair will feature books from a local book vendor Mr Hubert Seow and will include both fiction and non-fiction titles that make wonderful Christmas presents for children as well as fun project ideas for the holiday period. Mr Seow kindly donates 10% of the proceeds to the Library to enable us to purchase new books. The Fair will be open from Monday 28 November to Friday 2 December from 8.00am – 4.00pm. Children will have an opportunity to purchase books in their Library times and parents may also attend at any time to make purchases. Please note that all payment will be by cash or cheque only. For further details and a list of some of the available titles, please see the flyer in this week’s newsletter.
Return of Library Books and Home Readers
The last day for Library borrowing for this year will be next Friday 2 December. All books must be returned no later than Monday 12 December. Home reading books will continue to be sent home until the end of Week Nine and must all be returned by Monday 12 December as well. Now is the time to start looking under beds and amongst the children’s toys to make sure that you are able to return all outstanding books by the due date.
Early Departures
Families who are planning to commence their Xmas holidays prior to the last day of Term Four are reminded that permission for such leave for their children must be sought in advance. Such requests can be emailed directly to me at sue_pike@ais.com.sg. Please be aware that reports for students will not be released prior to Wednesday 14 December (the second last day of term); hence, if you are leaving before this date, you must either leave a forwarding address so that reports can be mailed to you over the holiday break or, alternatively, you can collect them from the Junior office at the beginning of Term One, 2012. It may be possible for Learning Journals to be collected early; however, if these are not ready for collection, they will also need to be collected at the beginning of next year.
Unit of Inquiry
Central Idea
Communities are organised into systems and structures to meet the needs of the people.
The Year 2 classes have been engaged in, and excited about, learning about Medieval communities over the past three weeks. The doorway to Year 2 has been decorated as a castle and the classes are buzzing with news of Knights, Kings and Queens.
Want to try making your own coat of arms? Here are two sites shared by Ms Kennedy that the children have really enjoyed this week.
http://www.anonymous-movie.com/coatofarms/
http://www.alnwickcastle.com/flash/heraldry.html
AIS Feudal system! with King Bond |
2LE Feudal system |
Year 2 IT Challenge Day
All Year Two classes have now completed their IT Challenge Day. The completed movies can be found at this weebly site created by Darren Campbell.
http://yeartwochallengeday.weebly.com/index.html
All Year Two classes have now completed their IT Challenge Day. The completed movies can be found at this weebly site created by Darren Campbell.
http://yeartwochallengeday.weebly.com/index.html
Meet the Staff - Mr Andrew Holmes
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Mr Holmes with his niece Emily |
I have lived in Singapore for the past three years.
Morocco tops the list of countries which I have had the opportunity to explore so far.
I have never read any of the Harry Potter books, but have sold hundreds upon hundreds of copies of them! I worked in a bookshop during my university studies and seem to be suffering from some sort of association issue with this series!
I grew up in the Lower Blue Mountains which is about a one and a half hour drive West of Sydney.
A bucket list mission I have is to climb at least one mountain on every continent in the world – even Antarctica. Three continents down!
Y2 Learning - Caught on Camera
Images from Sharing the Planet - How we can help the environment.
Bridie 2HA shows her poster on ‘Saving the Planet’ |
Noah, Ella and Olivia from 2HA with recycled materials brought in from home. |
Bridie, Charlotte and Max from 2HA with their posters for action. |
Year Two CCA News - Chinese Calligraphy
The students in this CCA have shown impressive commitment and determination to learn this style of writing. After much practice in holding the brush with the correct (and very unique) grip, the children have worked hard to perfect basic strokes such as heng, shu and dot. The students are to be commended upon displaying excellent focus and discipline. Mr Andrew Holmes
House Leaders
1859 | 1748 | 1790 | 1505 |
DERWENT | FITZROY | MURRAY | LACHLAN |
Dates to Remember
Friday, 2 December | Year 2 lunchtime CCAs conclude |
Wednesday, 7 December | Year 2 Medieval Day |
Wednesday, 14 December | Presentation Day Concert 9am - 10am Class Parties 10.30 – 11.30am Semester 2 reports distributed |
Ms Elle Ryan and the Year 2 Teaching Team.