6A is getting back to their classroom routine after a truly memorable camp. For many of us, it was one of the best camps ever. Please check your email for a blog post notification from your child. We aim to have our camp posts completed before Friday. In the meantime, here is the link to the G6 Camp photo folder. Please note it is only accessible with a CDNIS email address. Look for the folder name after your child’s teacher leader!
So far, we have had a lovely start of the week …Ask your child about our buddy class meeting with 2A on Monday, our media workshops yesterday and our lovely time with the pre-reception students this morning.
Here are a few snapshots…
Helping 2A making their products for their Xmas charity market
Prior to camp, we spent time in class analysing three media texts to support our report writing: Whiteboard Animation, Magazine Article and Infographic. The G6 students then had the opportunity to choose two media to explore.
Two more sleeps and we will be on camp. And we won’t let the rain stops us from having a good time!
We will be talking about camp tomorrow in class and inform all the students in G6 of their groups for camp.
Sharing here again with you the camp kit list; a printed copy was distributed this week.
Can you make sure the children are able to locate their raincoats easily in their backpacks? The children do not need to bring their sleeping bags, as Outward Bound is providing them. However, if your child prefers it, that is fine, as long as she/he can fold it.
The children should be wearing their PE uniform on Tuesday and kindly note that we will be leaving for camp at 8am sharp on that day.
As for Friday, we should be back to school around 1.30pm. If you wish to take your children before dismissal on Friday, come and get them from the classrooms (NOT from the 7th floor as we are getting off the buses) and kindly stop by 9th floor reception office before you leave.
Please contact Mr. MacPherson directly (NOT the homeroom teachers), in case of personal or family emergency during camp. During the day, kindly contact him through the reception office at 2525 7088 or you may wish to email him at donaldmacpherson@cdnis.edu.hk. Again, we ask you to only contact him in case of personal or family emergency.
Note that throughout camp you will be able to follow us on Twitter, #CDNISG6camp2018, to get a glimpse of what the Grade 6s are up to. However, due to the location of the camp, teachers may not always have access to data. They will update their Twitter photos when they can.
While we will try to post photos of as many student engagements as possible, please refrain from contacting teachers or Mr. MacPherson directly for photos of your child. The students will be in mixed groups throughout the duration of the camp.
How are you? In our current unit of inquiry, under ‘Where We Are in Place and Time’, 6A have become economic historians recruited by the World Economic Forum for a very specific assignment: inquiring into past economic events (their causes and effects) and making connections to the present in order to come up with recommendations for the future.
This inquiry started with a few selected videos, such as the ones below, to generate excitement and curiosity and to getthe class think what might be the transdisciplinary theme, the conceptual lenses, the attributes of the Learner Profile and the ‘approaches to learning’ skills for this unit.
This led to many wonders and thinking from the children
What are tariffs and restrictions on trade?Zara
How much money does India have now? Darren
What is a free market and trade?Alexis
What does China produce to be the top producing country in the world?Morning
Why do counties that don’t have free market don’t thrive as much as countries that have free market?Trevis
How much will Hong Kong’s GDP increase or decrease in the next century ?Coco
How did the British empire take over Hong Kong?Alexis
I still think it relates to where we are in place and time.We should aim to become thinkers. The approaches to learning we should use are analysis and collecting data. JamesI think some PYP concept words are thinkers because we have to make correct and ethical decisions. And we have to be knowledgeable in order to make right decisions.Ben
We are under ‘Where we are in place and time’. We aim to be researchers. Jayden
As a result of this first engagement, we had a great discussion about the different themes that could apply, but overall, most students guessed that we would be working under ‘Where We Are in Place and Time’ and that we would aim to develop as inquirers and knowledgeable learners. We then discussed in groups what this might look like in this unit and came up with the following.
6A was then informed of their big assignment for the World Economic Forum (WEF). From there, we spent some time gathering our thoughts, feelings and questions about this project, on large sheets of paper. Together as a class, we had to figure out what we needed to know in order to be able to resume this challenge.
It appeared to us that we needed to find out about the World Economic Forum (WEF) so as to make sure we understood our audience and what they needed and identify what research topic we were interested in.
The world economic forum is a group of important people that come together each year at the end of January to discuss about world problems and how to solve them. It was founded in 1971 and it’s based in Geneva, Switzerland. Their mission is “committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas”. Currently they have headquarters in New York, Beijing, Tokyo and San Francisco. Ava
The World Economic Forum wants us not to use opinion but use facts from our research. It wants it to be related to politics and economics.My report should include facts about the Japanese earthquake and how it impacted the country economically and create suggestions for the future. Ryder
I think they asked us to write a report for them because they want a report from young people so they can see different perspectives from different types of people, like kids, senior, and others from all over the world. Here are the success criteria I think I will need on my report: cite sources/proof, detailed and organised report, Gives data and information, Pictures, Used more than 3 sources, Uses economic vocabulary and ideate suggestions. Shannon
At this stage of our inquiry, everyone in 6A has identified a topic of interest and has started their research.
Please contact Ms. B, should you have any expertise or know someone who has in regards to any of these past events: The Great Depression, the history of currency, the history of banking, Brexit, the Japanese Earthquake, the Industrial Revolution and the financial crisis. It would be wonderful for 6A to be able to conduct interviews. Also, Ms. B really would like to send 6A’s informational reports to the World Economic Forum and would appreciate any contact you may have,
See below our Home Learning Grid for the next three weeks. All activities are to be completed by Friday, November 23rd.
6A spent some time today planning what activities (and on which day this week) they would complete. They also decided what tasks they would do next week and the week after that.
What a wonderful we day had! Thank you very much for all the food and beverage you generously contributed today. You went out of you way to provide us with delicious and spooky treats.
A massive thank you to Vivian and Lucy for their creative and efficient organising. We are very lucky to have you as our class Mums.
A big thank you to Matilda, too, for being with us this afternoon.
The most original costume in 6A and Grade 6 goes to….Zara!
The most environmentally-friendly costume in 6A goes to …Agatha
How are you? We just had Mr. MacPherson in the classroom talking to us about the Young Americans’ s visit in January (Grade 6: Tuesday 8 January to Saturday 12 January & Grade 5: Saturday 12 January to Wednesday 16 January ).
We are very excited that the Young Americans are returning to CDNIS this year again. It promises to be an exciting and memorable experience, even though I know that some of our students are a little bit apprehensive. From past accounts, apprehension is often replaced by pride, excitement and joy.
In order to minimize cost, we seek support from CDNIS families to provide homestay arrangements for the Young Americans cast, who are typically university-aged students of the Performing Arts. Feedback from CDNIS hosts in the past has been overwhelmingly positive! This year, we will split the Young Americans’ time between Grades 5 and 6. We ask that you consider opening your home for the dates above.
This is not a requirement but your help would be greatly appreciated. Staying in the homes of CDNIS families is really one of the most rewarding aspects for students, their parents and the Young Americans themselves.
The expectations are quite simple:
Sleeping accommodations for the allotted nights (air mattresses on the floor are suitable)
Meals: breakfast and dinner
As per Young Americans’ policy, you must take a minimum of two
Specific information about arrival and departure will be shared at a later date.
If you are interested in being a homestay family, please complete this form.
The children looked very refreshed and relaxed this morning and we spent some time, in our morning meeting, sharing what we did over the break. We also reviewed our Class Essential Agreements as we felt adjustments were required in order for us to continue to grow as a community of learners.
Before the break, we concluded our inquiry into the states of matter and how their transformations (stay tuned for a post on how we wrapped us this unit) and next week, we will be resuming our third unit of inquiry of the year, under Where We Are in Place and Time.
So what about this week?
As explained at Parents Nights, the PYP Exhibition, this year, is an ongoing unit which runs from August until May, under the transdisciplinary theme, Who We Are.
Once a week, usually on Friday afternoons, we hold Exploration Time, during which students explore their own interests and passions, and as issues they are worried or interested about. It is also a time during which we work on building strong skills in order to become independent inquirers.
Throughout the year, we have scheduled checking-in weeks to exclusively work on WWA/Exhibition, in addition to the intense period from April 1st to May 7th.
This week is one of those checking-in-weeks with a particular focus on helping the children identify a more specific focus and start developing inquiry proposals. We have also planned for guest speakers to come in, throughout the week, to share their experiences, perspectives and personal journey into exploring issues, interests and passions.
Today, we had the pleasure to welcome to school multi-Paralympic fencing champion, Yu Chui Yee.
Should you be willing to share, with 6A or the whole grade, your personal story into exploring your interests, passions or an issue, please contact Ms. B to organise a time in the future.
Tomorrow, the children will be coming home with CDNIS camp permission form, Outward Bound (OB) enrolment form and medical form as well as OB Participant Handbook, which includes the packing list. We kindly ask you to complete all the necessary forms and return them, together with the camp cheque, on or before Oct 26.
As announced on Parents Night, the camp information session will take place on Fri Oct 26 in the library pit from 8:00-8:40am. Outward Bound will be leading the session and share with you the camp objectives and programme.
In our first Maths unit, we explored geometrical and number patterns. It has come to our attention that many children would benefit from additional practice in exploring patterns in division. Here is a simple game for students to play and practise their divisibility rules. Enjoy!
