Blog #14- September 13th, 2019 🌄

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Grade 2- Blog #14- September 9th- September 13th, 2019

Haruhito came to visit and say goodbye. We are sad that he's leaving, but happy to give him some going away cards and gifts!

LOOKING BACK
Bo and Rima attempt to magnetize a needle to use as a floating compass.
This week in UOI, students learned more about maps, including how to use latitude and longitude to find a location. They also tried making their own compass, which we used to determine which directions were north, south, east and west in our classroom!
Yua observes which way the magnet swings to find magnetic North.
Kyle and Aiya created a floating magnet using a needle and a piece of cork.
We also began learning about our first famous exploration- the exploration of Mt. Everest! Students shared what they already knew about mountains and Everest, and then jotted down many interesting questions about what they wanted to know, including:
"How many people have climbed Mt. Everest?" "Why is there snow at the top?" and "Can you even breathe air at the top?" We watched videos, read books, searched images and discussed our ideas to find out the answers, and more!

Additionally, we began preparing our classroom for this year's ICF. In connection to Mount Everest, our classroom will be doing Nepal as our country! We began to brainstorm ideas about Nepal, and then started working on various projects to the classroom decorated and filled with activities.

In math, we had more time to practice using a grid to find things on a map. We then practiced grids without maps, playing games like Battleship and Find the Treasure. We created homework for each other based on secret patterns on a grid. Finally, we practiced using a coordinate grid to plot various points and connect the dots.
The girls face off against another team using an online Battleship game.
Practicing using a coordinate grid by playing the classic game of Battleship!
For English, we learned how to choose an expert topic, then brainstorm all the many things we know about that topic! Then, we decided on different chapters to write All About Our School. We planned out what we would write using a box plan, then started to write the chapter. Students made sure to include many details in their chapters!

LOOKING AHEAD
Aiya draws herself into an arctic exploration background.
Next week in UOI, we will continue to learn about Nepal, and the various cultural games, art, music, food, and nature that we can incorporate into our classroom for ICF. We will also continue to learn about other famous places that have been explored, asking WHY people would explore these places, and what sorts of problems they may have encountered!
Rima creates space explorer art.
For math, we will begin to learn about shapes- we'll practice counting angles and sides to be able to identify and sort various 2D polygons, including triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons and octagons. We will also learn what counts as a polygon- and what does not! 
Kirato's underwater exploration art!
In English, students will start to brainstorm and plan for their first teaching book! They will start to plan their chapters, forming a table of contents to keeps themselves organized. If time, they will also start to write their first chapters!

LOOK OUT
(Announcements and Important Dates)
*This week 10 students earned a merit for 100% homework completion. Thank you for your hard work all week long!!

*Monday, September 16th- NO SCHOOL- Public Holiday
*Friday, September 20th- ICF- International Childrens' Festival (at AIS)
*Monday, September 23- NO SCHOOL- Public Holiday
*Friday, October 11- Sports Day (at the Edion Arena in Namba)

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