WEEK 29

In 1PTh, we have been looking at the Investigation element of the “Five Stages of Service Learning.” In the photos below, you can see how we have started to warm up to the broader idea of service - children spent an afternoon writing down their thoughts on each of the posters. We have also started to brainstorm ideas and researching possibilities for Service initiatives at Happy Lodge.

During our reading and writing workshops, we have been looking at different kinds of non-fiction text features and their purpose. Our research into the features of non-fiction books and strategies to extract the most significant information from them are proving invaluable when it comes to composing our own books. We are being careful not to merely reproduce what we are reading in our writing but, instead, are taking the ideas and adapting them to make them our own, using our own language to say things in our own way. This week, we have found that using a variety of graphic organisers is very helpful when it comes to arranging our thinking around a particular subject. The children are really enjoying writing and reading Non-fiction material and the class is abuzz with conversation! 

On Wednesday, we watched Elephant and Piggy’s “We are in a play” at the Ulu Pandan Theatre. It was based on a book by the famous children’s author, Mo Willems. It was an excellent production and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone! The experience certainly reinforced many of the key ideas from our previous Reading Workshop unit around the power of expression and character voice to impact the listener.

We have been learning about the artist Laurel Burch. Laurel Burch was an American artist who was born in California in 1945 and left home at the age of 14 with a paper bag of clothing and a rare bone disease called osteopetrosis. This left her with multiple fractures in her life time. She started designing her own jewelry and this got noticed on the streets and people wanted to own jewelry designed by her. She saw herself as a folk artist, telling stories. “In our fast-paced, changing world,” she said, “we need symbols that are a reminder of the ongoing world of the spirit." Laurel Burch loved animals and a lot of her art was based around the theme of animals. She used vibrant colours and lots of bold lines and shapes in her art. On Friday, we made initial sketches of cats using white board in the style of Laurel Burch. The children did a great job! We will be sharing our art work in next week's blog so watch this space.

Reminders and Requests

Career Dress-up Day - Friday 18th March (some ideas from our children are: doctor, vet, banker, engineer, teacher, diver, horse trainer, pilot, army…)

*Family Festival 2016-Saturday 19th March-11.00am–3.00pm-East Campus