Earth Day

On Friday we reflected on what we can do to help our planet. Children participated in a meat free lunch while they watched the grade 3 flashmob on 'Earth Day'. In class we dressed in green, completed some mathematics activities on a Earth day theme, drew posters about why we love our planet, listed action we can take using the magnetic letters, and went on a classroom scavenger hunt about nature. It was a great day.

Earth Day Action

On Friday the school is encouraging everyone to have a meat free lunch as part of Earth Day. Please discuss the benefits of this with your child. Remember to dress in green!

Unit Vocabulary

Ms Tatiana spent time with us today helping us develop an understanding of some of the vocabulary in our 'How We Organise Ourselves' unit. They explored the meaning of words that will be important during this inquiry including;

Distribution  is the process of making a product available for people.	Distribution
Production  is making or growing the food products. Pistachio production video	Production
Challenge the ​situation of being ​faced with a problem	Challenge
Opportunity a time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something	Opportunity
Resource A stock or supply of  food, goods or materials we need for people to have a good life.	Resource
Equal Having the same status, rights, or opportunities.	Equal

Learners then demonstrated their own understanding of the words using a mind map.

Thanks Ms Tatiana!

'Unity' Art Auction

G2 and G3 students are participating in an art exhibition with five other international schools
in Phnom Penh.  The exhibition is a fundraiser to develop collaborative arts programs among
international and local schools next year. ISPP students have created five art pieces about
"unity" that will be available for purchase via an art auction on April 30. 

One of these is by the students in our class! Come and have a look. See the flyer for more
information.

New Unit of Inquiry

Today we had the provocation for our new unit of inquiry.

The central idea of our unit is:

Knowing how food resources are distributed enables us to understand a community's challenges and opportunities.

 

We are lucky enough to eat every day so we had a hunger lunch to help us think about what it might mean to be in a group of people who don’t get enough nutritious food.

Through random selection (choosing coloured blocks) students were put in groups to represent three different income groups of the world’s population.

• High Income – 9 students ate pizza, crisps and chocolates.

• Middle Income – 15 students had chicken fried rice and had water from their own bottles.

• Low Income – 26 students had plain rice and had to travel for their water.

The student reflections were powerful and provoked some excellent discussion.

Below are some comments and behaviours we witnessed during the provocation;

High Income Group – comments

"Best day ever"
"I can't eat this but I'll take it home"

"Ha ha...we have pizza and you don't"

"No you can't have any...its ours, we got the red cards!"

"Do you want some of mine, I've had enough?"

Behaviours

Happy at first...a few hesitant to eat

Some hid food

some offered to share with others

Some showed off

Some defended their food when others tried to take it

Middle Income Group -comments

"I love rice"

"Why don't we have pizza?"

"No fair, they have stuff we don't"

"How come they get a table?"

"I see others taking pizza, am I allowed to take some? Is that stealing?"

Behaviours

Several ate happily

Some did not eat at all

Some sulked

Some begged the other table for food

Some stole from the other table

Low Income Group - Comments

"I've lost my appetite"

"Unfair...they get better food and chairs"

"We have no plates"

"Why do we have to sit on the floor"

"I want to eat it but it's cold"

'I can't share with others they are using their hands"

"Why do I have to walk to get my water, I'm thirsty?"

Behaviours

Several children ate the rice happily

Many complained

Several sulked

After a while many pleaded others for food

Several began to steal from other groups

Reflection

Being reflective and demonstrating empathy are important parts of our programme. After this provocation, students sat quietly and drew and wrote whatever was on their minds. Here are a few of their images.

We then used some sentence starters to prompt conversation. I was highly impressed with student's reflective comments and self awareness. Here are just a few of the comments students wrote;

"Something I found out about myself is I have never felt jealousy before"
"What I have learnt today reminds me how many people have less than I do"
"One of the things that surprised me was that I got lots of choice and others got plain white rice"
"I am still shocked by that people may have to travel for water"
"I have to think more deeply about not wasting food"
"I am not sure why we were not more thankful for what we got"
"My point of view is that everybody should have shared the food"
"My point of view is that it is not fair that some have more than others"
"I believe that we can be fair in the world and that everyone should have the same rights"
"I felt really frustrated when nobody would share their pizza"
"I didn't really understand why one group didn't have enough food or water"
"I am still shocked by that I stole pizza"
"Something that I learnt about myself is that I have to be happy with what I have"

Sun Safety Home Learning

ISPP students all received a new hat today with their name embroidered on it. They look very smart in their new gear! We looked closely at the dangers of uv rays, and reviewed some important sun safety messages. As a comment write down something interesting you learnt about being sun smart, or respond to one of the questions below.

What are the five S's of sun safety?
Why is it important to avoid getting burnt?
The sun is dangerous but it is also important to get some sun exposure, explain why!
Explain how animals protect themselves from the sun in different ways.







Feeling inspired? You could also write your own sun safety rap, poem, or song to share with us,
or make a poster for the class including the 5 S's.

Action Song

We finally recorded our fabulous Grade Two pupils singing the action song they created for our assembly. Today children who wanted to be part of the filming recorded their version of the One Direction hit.

Action is an important part of the IB programme and this song was a direct result of the children In grade two inquiring into 'action'. Students reflected on what this looks like in the PYP. They examined and shared examples of action they had taken through recent units of inquiry. The ideas they came up with were crafted into this song.

Earth Day

Advance warning...

ISPP will celebrate

Earth Day

on Friday 22^nd April 2016

To support and raise awareness of Earth Day we ask all members of the ISPP community to dress in green on this day.

Happy Holidays!

I hope you have a safe and happy holiday! Children are certainly ready for the break! This week we have been wrapping up our simple machines unit (how the world works). In writing we have focussed on poetry and children have some stunning examples they will publish in the near future. In mathematics we have been reviewing number and measurement concepts.

Today the Khymer staff spent time talking to us about Khymer New Year. The children really enjoyed the opportunity to hear traditional stories, taste local food,  and play some games.

On a sadder note...Ms Sarat (our valued teacher assistant) is leaving us, and today we had to farewell her. We will miss her kind and caring nature! Good luck Ms Sarat...you will be missed! There were a few tears as we farewelled her today! She has accepted an exciting new position in HR and we wish her well in her endeavours! We are lucky to welcome Ms Chantra who will join us after Khymer new Year.

Thank You Parents!

Thank you to all of the parents and caregivers who attended student led conferences on Friday. I was incredibly proud of the children. It was a joy to watch them interact and share their learning with you. Well done class!