Grade 2

September 2013
Gr. 2
ISB Lower School
Specialists’ Newsletter
From the Principal
Dear Lower School Families,
Welcome to the first Specialist Newsletter of the 2013-14
School Year!
Our specialists teachers, also
referred as single-subject
teachers, play an integral and
important role in the Primary
Years Program. The arts,
physical education, and language study are essential elements to a comprehensive and holistic primary school education. The content of these subjects is
transdisciplinary in nature, meaning that the skills and concepts developed by
specialist teachers have relevance throughout the Lower School curriculum and
our students’ lives beyond school, providing balance for all our learners.
French
2
Art
3
Spanish
4
For this reason, we believe it is important that we keep our parents informed
about the teaching and learning taking place in our specialists’ classrooms. You
will receive our specialist newsletters seven times during the school year. As always, if you have any questions about your child’s education, feel free to contact us directly with your concerns or questions. Teachers and administrators
are available each and every school day before and after school to address any
questions or concerns you may have regarding any of our programs.
SFL/SMT
5
Looking forward to another exciting school year filled with learning and fun,
Music
6
Mr. Lettinga
Lower School Principal
EAL
7
PE
8
Inside this issue:
Newsletter Title
French
Dear second grade parents,
Here is the first newsletter for the French class in order to keep you informed
about the things we have been learning since the beginning of this school year.
Dubravka Kostanjsek
French Teacher
After revisiting some of the vocabulary and structures covered in grade 1
(introductions, greetings, colors, numbers, body parts, singular/ plural, genders),
we started exploring the world of animals. We reviewed the vocabulary we covered last year before introducing the new one. The students have been working
on establishing relationship between animals and their habitat (forest, sea, river,
savannah, pond, desert, farm), as we have been covering wild animals and pets.
We have also learned how to say what different animals eat and have introduced
different animal body parts in conjunction with the verb to have (a bird has wings
- un oiseau a des ailes). We have been practicing describing various animals while
adding actions related to them (a bird flies - un oiseau vole). Our summative assessment will be to make posters or booklets about different animals (each student will choose five animals, write short texts about them, illustrate their work
and present it to the class).
Throughout all of these activities, the children are practicing and understanding
basic instructions given in French and are encouraged to use that language themselves and practice the structures we have been learning.
We are learning through illustrations, drawings, colorings, listening activities,
while reading and writing activities are being included step by step. I would also
like to remind you that none of the activities include explicit grammar at this
point, but only sensitization in order to enable the students to use correctly some
of the basic structures.
Thank you for your time and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Page 2
Art
In the previous weeks, students were working on the single subject unit of inquiry Who We
Are – Artistic Journey, while inquiring into the differences between the artistic styles of Leonardo da Vinci and Marc Chagall.
We started the school year with a pre-assessment for the use of line, shape, and space, and
a pre-assessment for work in groups while students were creating an impossible world. The
aim of this group work was to provide me with information of how children collaborate together and to give students an introduction into their learning about the work of Chagall.
My aim is to provide children with many opportunities so that they can start learning about
the difference between representational art and non-representational art. The expectations
for students consists of the following elements: to start to learn observational drawing, to
realize that imaginative combination of representational/figurative elements could lead
them to understanding Marc Chagall’s poetic style, to continue expanding their creativity,
to continue expanding their knowledge about the use of line, shape and space, and to start
learning about the use of color in order to create contrast (warm and cool colors).
Students inquired into the styles of famous artists through a variety of activities and reflected on their learning while selecting their own works to be displayed under the works of the
famous artists. This also allowed them to analyze the differences between the artistic styles.
Grade 2A students have classes on Thursdays.
Grade 2B students have classes on Wednesdays.
Page 3
Svetlana SpasicGlid
Art
Newsletter Title
Spanish
Dear second grade parents,
Welcome to our first Spanish newsletter! In this letter you will found out all the exciting
learning activities taking place in Lower School Spanish class.
Sonja Spasojevic
Spanish Teacher
We started by rivisiting some of the basic greetings (los saludos: ¡Hola / Buenos días /
Buenas tardes / Buenas noches!) and goodbye expressions (las despedidas: ¡Adiós / Hasta mañana / Hasta luego / la vista!). Then we followed up on the introduction dialogue
(Hola, ¿Cómo te llamas? / Me llamo…., ¿y tú? / Mucho gusto / Igualmente… - Hi, what´s
your name? / My name is…, and yours? / Nice to meet you / Me, too…). Grade two is
also revisiting colors and numbers (0 – 30) which were covered in grade one. Then we
continued with numbers, and we learned to count to 100. The students are able to recognize, say and write all numbers and also the numbers that are out of order. We also
practiced the numbers 0-100 by using basic mathematical calculations. After numbers,
we began to learn how to say what time it is in Spanish (¿Qué hora es?), as well as expressions “de la noche / de la mañana / en punto/ del mediodía / de la media noche
etc.” We are learning all of this through different interactive activities, illustrations, games, coloring activities, while reading and writing activities are being included step by
step.I would also like to remind you that none of the activities include explicit grammar
at this point, but only sensitization in order to enable the students to correctly use some
of the basic structures.
All grade two students have demonstrated a great enthusiasm for Spanish language
learning and acquisition.
Thank you for your time and please, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Page 4
Newsletter Title
Serbian as a Foreign Language
Ivana Jovanovic
Serbian language Teacher
Our goal this year is to learn how to read and write in Serbian Latin alphabet. We have
already started to work on this and we practice letters of Serbian Latin alphabet on a
daily basis. We quickly reviewed colors and numbers, and started the unit about animals. As students improved their writing skills, we classified animals into different
habitats and wrote their descriptions and eating preferences. Currently, we are practicing letters through reading and writing.
For additional information, a copy of this newsletter and photos of our class projects
please refer to Serbian as a Foreign Language (SEFL) Moodle page.
Serbian Mother Tongue
Milena Jovanovic
Serbian Language
Teacher
Page 5
Drugi razred je počeo školsku godinu nastavnom jedinicom koja je posvećena
pesmicama za decu. Ovog meseca smo čitali pesme „Mišin pas“, „Sa mnom ima
neka greška“, „Ja sam čudo video“, „Mnogo zvukova“, „Šaputanje“, „Zavrzlama“
itd. Kroz ove pesmice smo saznali šta znači „smejati se kao lud na brašno“, kako na
više načina da kažemo da se neko smeje (kezi se, kikoće se, cereka se), kako
komuniciramo pokretima i kako od slova gradimo reči, a od reči rečenice. Naučili
smo da se pesme sastoje iz stihova, da nekoliko odvojenih stihova čine strofu i da
se u pesmama određene reči rimuju. Oprobali smo se i u sastavljanju sopstvenih
rima i pisanju stihova. Kao deo pravopisa vežbali smo upotrebu velikog slova na
početku rečenice, prilikom pisanja imena i prezimena, nadimaka i imena naselja.
Music
Second grades showed a high level of curiosity and engagement in all activities this
month which enhanced their learning experience and contributed to a positive classroom atmosphere. They began this year focusing on creating the accompaniment on
xylophones and small percussion instruments (Clavas - shakers) for variety of songs
from different styles and genres. Our goal was to familiarize ourselves with different
rhythmic and melodic patterns in order to accompany familiar tunes. Our songs of
the month were "Be kind, be gentle, be grateful'', ''Get up'' and "Shorting bread''.
Composer of the month was Antonin Dvorak and his famous "New World Symphony". This year we are working in a newly renovated and expanded classroom. Our
doors are always open and we love visitors.
Page 6
Ljudmila Janicijevic
Music Teacher
EAL
High Beginners/Low Intermediate Group
We started the school year with excitement and joy, as we shared our summer adventures, and we smoothly transitioned into supporting the PYP trans-disciplinary
theme “Sharing the Planet”, and its Unit of Inquiry “Biodiversity”. EAL students
were actively engaged in language building activities related to the Unit, and its
central idea: “All living things depend on each other for survival”. We reviewed
naming domesticated and wild animals. We also focused on singular/plural of the
nouns, words with opposite meaning, and learnt some new vocabulary related to
animal body parts. Apart from building oral language, special focus was on developing literacy skills. We started reviewing and enforcing basic reading strategies
that were introduced last year, as we read and analyzed “The Giant Carrot”. We
talked about the story, paying attention to the sequence of events, and wrote sentences about characters, setting, problem and solution. The EAL students made
connections with the similar stories in their mother tongue. We also enjoyed
writing and solving riddles.
Divna Stakic
EAL Teacher
EAL
I would like to extend a warm welcome to new students to ISB who are also new
to English. We began the school year learning some basic school vocabulary and
setting up class routines. The first few weeks were also spent getting to know each
other and assessing their basic knowledge of the language. We have been working
on the present continuous tense through working with pictures, playing games
and developing sentences. We have also spent some time doing basic reading and
writing but most of the instruction has focused on oral language development.
Keep up the hard work!
Page 7
Kelly Campbell
EAL Teacher
Physical Education
Second graders started their P.E. classes with great enthusiasm!
We enjoyed games such as Ice-man, Band-Aid Tag, Builders and Bulldozers, Sharks and
Sailors and Dodgeball.
Students displayed knowledge of how to be fair players and how to respect or help each
other while playing by the rules.
Through our September activities we worked on improving our fitness. Besides keeping
our body active, we discussed more ways to be healthy and fit (eating habits, hygiene,
positive thoughts and having enough sleep).
We know that the doctor can tell us if we are healthy, but how will we know if we are
fit?
We found, after a group discussion, that there are a variety of physical fitness tests that
can tell us what shape our body is in.
Naturally, we were curious to find out how fit we are so we decided to test each other.
Working in pairs, using meter sticks and stop-watches, we took part in tests to find out
the following: How fast we can run short distances, how fast we can run 5 laps around
the red top and how strong or flexible we are.
This was a fun way for our second graders to try some new exercises and work on improving their fitness abilities. Although they gave their best, students are aware that if
they practice, they can be even better by the end of the school year. Having this in
mind, students decided to commit to regular exercise throughout the school year, during P.E. classes and outside school, in order to increase their fitness level.
GOOD JOB Second graders and KEEP ACTIVE!
Page 8
Marija Dimitrov
PE Teacher