Grade 2

November 2013
Gr. 2
ISB Lower School
Specialists’ Newsletter
From the Principal
Welcome to the third edition
of our Specialist Newsletters!
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 ele-
Inside this issue:
French
2
Art
3
Spanish
4
SFL/SMT
5
Music/EAL
6
ments 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. A great example of this
is our upcoming Winter Performance, “A Menu for December” where all our
students will have the opportunity to showcase their artistic abilities through
art, music, and dance. Our specialists teachers work alongside our classroom
teachers to develop lessons that are both interesting and connected to the
classroom Units of Inquiry.
For this reason, we think 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 newsletter six times during the school year. As always,
if you have any questions about your child’s education, feel free to contact us.
Enjoy your holiday season and travel safely. School resumes for all ISB students
on Tuesday, January 8, 2014.
Happy Ney Year to all,
PE
7
Brian H. Lettinga
Lower School Principal
Newsletter Title
French
Dear second grade parents,
Here is the third newsletter for the French class in order to keep you informed
about the things we have been learning during the last period.
Dubravka Kostanjsek
French Teacher
After finishing our Unit about artistic provocations, we started talking about different ways to communicate with other people. Our focus is on writing to socialize,
therefore we are observing and analyzing letters and greeting cards. We will write
a letter to Santa Claus and greeting cards for our friends and families.
Right before the holidays, we will get the opportunity to bake, which will allow us
to review some of the food vocabulary and, at the same time, practice understanding written instructions in French. Making some of the New Year’s decorations will also be a good occasion to develop our reading skills, since we will also
need to follow precise instructions.
Thank you for your time and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
I hope you have great holidays and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!
Page 2
Art
In the previous weeks, students continued to work on the unit of inquiry How We Express
Ourselves – Provocations, while responding to the works of Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring.
They were drawing and painting, depending on their choice. Students were working on their
individual projects and in groups while inquiring into the styles of the famous artists and the
use of line, shape, color, and movement for expressing their feelings. Also, some of the students chose to use cut out letters in order to create their pieces of art as close as possible to
the style of Roy Lichtenstein, and some of them wrote while exploring the ways of incorporating the words into the images.
Students went on a field trip on which they inquired into the difference between the artworks
of the famous Serbian artist Jovan Bijelic at the National Museum and the Street Art images at
Sava Mala. Inspired by the street art images, students made their street art in front of the art
room upon return from the field trip and worked on group projects while inquiring into the
style of Keith Haring.
Recently, we have started working on the use of pattern through weaving as frontloading for
the next unit.
Students reflected on their learning in the first trimester; they chose their favorite piece of art
and reflected on their choice. Students reflect in many ways during the school year, formally
and informally. At the end of every trimester, students reflect formally and their reflections go
into their portfolios.
I wish all the ISB families a restful break!
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 third Spanish newsletter! In this letter you will find out all the exciting
learning activities taking place in the Lower School Spanish class.
Sonja Spasojevic
Spanish Teacher
After the art unit, the grade two students continued improving their Spanish skills working on the new unit related to the school. We started with reviewing and expending the
classroom vocabulary taught last year, before introducing the new expressions and
words. The students learned to name classroom objects, to talk about an object´s color
(¿De qué color es tu mochila? – What color is your backpack?), number (¿Cuántas sillas
hay en el aula? – How many chairs are there in the classroom?) and purpose (Las tijeras
sirven para cortar la hoja de papel – The scissors are for cutting the paper). As they
learned to use the appropriate place prepositions, the students took the time to practice
localizing classroom objects in place (La pizarra está delante de las mesas. – The board is
in front of the tables). In Spanish classes they also learned to talk about the things that
they like and they don’t like to do in school or in the classroom (use of the verb such as
“to study, to listen to music, to talk with friends, to write, to draw etc). By the end of
December, the students will be practicing vocabulary regarding upcoming Christmas and
New Year Holidays.
All grade two students demonstrated great enthusiasm for Spanish language learning
and acquisition. They are encouraged to keep it up!
Page
Newsletter Title
Serbian as a Foreign Language
Ivana Jovanovic
Serbian language Teacher
The second graders were very excited about learning the poem”Lav“(Lion), so we decided to extend our study of poems with the poem “Fifi”. The poem is about an old
lady and her dog, who is expected to have good dog manners and flawless appearance. “Fifi” was a good opportunity to practice imperative, as well as to review our
unit about animals and their body parts. Then, students created animals from their
imagination. Each animal was a combination of at least four different animals. We
wrote descriptions of these creatures and practiced oral fluency by presenting our
work in class.
Upon completing Provocations unit, we started working on writing invitations,
greeting cards and short letters.
The last week of school is reserved for winter and holiday vocabulary, as well as for
learning how to wish happy holidays to our friends and family.
Serbian Mother Tongue
Milena Jovanovic
Serbian Language
Teacher
Page 5
Ovih dana na časovima maternjeg jezika privodimo kraju nastavnu jedinicu o
dramskim tekstovima koju smo radili i kako konekciju sa nastavnom jedinicom
Provocations. Naučili smo da su dramski tekstovi pisani da se po njima glumi i da
sadrže likove, tekst koji oni govore i uputstva za glumce koja se nalaze u zagradama.
Pisali smo dramske tekstove na osnovu priča i pretvarali dramske tekstove u priče.
Uradili smo dramatizacije tekstova „Tužibaba“ i „Dve ruke“ Dušana Radovića, „Neće
uvek da bude prvi“, Aleksandra Popovića i „Car i skitinica“ Laze Lazića. Ukoliko još
niste imali prilike da pogledate naše predstave možete to učiniti na Moodlić stranici
predmeta Serbian Mother Tongue, u odeljku Zavirite na naš čas. Iz gramatike smo
vežbali obaveštajne, upitne i zapovedne rečenice i naučili da pored značenja, rečenice
možemo deliti i po obliku i to na potvrdne i odrične. Trenutno smo na početku nove
nastavne jedinice u okviru koje ćemo se baviti pričama.
Music
Led by the themes of interconnectedness, unity, and compassion we worked together on creating a performance that will include all the elements of music we studied
this year. The product, “December Menu”, will be presented in our traditional Winter performance that will be held in the upper school gymnasium on December 17,
at 6:00 pm. In it, our singers, dancers, actors, band members, and others will bring
you an array of songs, musical accompaniments, choreographies, as well as few special surprises. All of this and more, done across all grade levels in one unified performance.
Ljudmila Janicijevic
Music Teacher
We look forward to seeing you at the best dinner party of the year!
P.S. Please make sure that our performers arrive to upper school gymnasium, December 17, at 5:30 pm dressed in black pants and white shirts and report to me or
their homeroom teachers. It is important to be punctual as students need to receive
props and costumes before the concert begins.
EAL
High Beginners/Low Intermediate Group
In November we continued supporting the trans-disciplinary theme How We Express Ourselves – Artistic Provocations unit, and its central idea: The arts provoke personal responses. We read leveled stories focusing on new vocabulary, comprehension and retelling, paying close attention to the sequence of events.
As we read fiction books, we talked about characters. We described their physical appearance as well as their inner traits as we talked about their actions. We introduced and
discussed the concept of perspective – retelling the same event through the eyes of a
different character. We read two versions of the same story - “The Three Billy Goats
Gruff” and “Just a Friendly Old Troll”, which led us to using Venn’s diagram in expressing
what the characters had in common and what was different. In writing, we focused on
using a complete sentence instead of fragments or phrases. This unit provided ample opportunities to role-play scenes from stories we read and liked most. EAL students were
very creative as they improvised and changed story endings. We practiced our reading
fluency and comprehension skills as we read and discussed a number of iPad books.
Page 6
Divna Stakic
EAL Teacher
Physical Education
Dear Parents,
Second graders practiced their climbing wall skills during November.
We started our unit with simple climbs across the wall using all three hold colors, but
then increased the challenge by excluding particular colors.
Later, when we felt more confident on the wall, we practiced as individuals, in pairs or
in groups creating obstacle courses to go over, under or through with the use of ribbons, poles and hoops. We also played “Ring toss” which is played by tossing rings onto
poles while moving across the wall to earn points for our team. We also drew numbers
for our partner to find on the wall.
Communication and cooperation are of great importance while climbing the wall, we
practiced traversing the wall with partners whilst linking arms through hula-hoops.
All of these activities helped our students increase their self-confidence, self-awareness,
sense of fair play and positive sporting behavior. Students improved their cooperation
skills by working together towards a common goal. They took positive risks and used
good judgment on the climbing wall, while working on their body coordination, balance
and strength.
Page 7
Marija Dimitrov
PE Teacher