TERM 2 - Where We Are In Place and Time

We started Term 2 with our second unit "Where We Are In Place and Time. In this unit, our Central Idea was "Journeys let us bring opportunities home." The lines of inquiry are as follows:

Perspective - People call different places home.
Causation - Choices and decisions involved in making a journey.
Function - How we make journeys.

The learning goal for this unit is for students to develop an understanding of the world/geography and of the culture and realize that people speak different languages. Moreover, students will demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills and attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes.

We started off with some provocations. With parents' support and cooperation, students brought their travel photos to school and we used them to ignite students' curiosity. Transportation vehicles were also introduced. Students then shared and talked about their travel photos. We started raising questions such as: Where did you travel? How did you travel? What did you bring?

As we incorporate the unit with our Maths lessons, students learned and understand that common language can be used to describe position and direction, for example: inside, outside, above, below, next to, behind, in front of, up, and down. This term wasn't smooth sailing and we did online education. Most parts of our activities were done online. It was challenging for everyone but we managed to do it and we had fun.

As we go further, we started talking about places, countries, and continents and eventually discussed animals and houses around the world. Most of the students know where their friends are from and that they speak different languages other than Japanese.

Students were also able to make a connection between the region and the related vehicle they can use to go to the place such as plane is to go to other countries, a car/shinkansen is to go to other cities like Tokyo/Kyoto and a bicycle is to go to school/park.

Moreover, students and teachers were able to say "I love you" in different languages such as; "Saranghaeyo" in Korean

"Aishiteru" in Japanese

"Wo ai ni" in Chinese

"Je t'aime" in French

"Mahal kita" in Filipino

"Ti amo" in Italian

"Te amo" in Spanish

"Ich liebe dich" in German

We capped off our unit with a pretend-play as our summative assessment. Since we've been learning about animals around the world, countries, and continents, how to travel, and the things needed to bring when traveling, the students have decided to travel to Peru in South America where students pretended to buy tickets and show their passports to the immigration officer.

It was a fun activity where students get to experience how it's like to travel abroad from buying tickets and answering questions like "Where are you going?" and "Where is Peru?"

TERM 1 - Who We Are

Welcome to Preschool Class. I am Bonebiev and I am the Preschool Teacher. Lovely to meet you all.

First-term has always been an exciting time not only for me but also for the little ones, they get to meet new faces and get to know other students, and make friends eventually. Aside from the excitement of meeting others, the first couple of weeks or months the max could be very challenging too for both students and teachers. The transition period has always been difficult for this age especially for those who just started schooling and have never been into this kind of environment where they see lots of new faces, different students, and teachers.

In this term, our focus for the first couple of months is to help them adjust. Get settled into a new environment, learn new skills, and get used to our daily routines. Once they're settled and have mastered our daily routine, we then focus on helping them build and develop their personal, social, and emotional development. We also help them with their communication and physical development. Moreover, we help them build their vocabularies by teaching them new letters and words each week. We also work on their small motor skills and have our weekly letter tracing and coloring. In term 1, we learned the letters A to M. We've also started reading the Pre-primer sight words, and the students are doing a great job.

This term's Unit of Inquiry (UOI) is all about "Who We Are" and Central Idea is "Relationship and communities build identity." Our lines of inquiry are as follows:

Change - How I am changing
Perspective - How I am different from others
Connection - Myself as a part of a group

In this unit, students will be able to use sources such as parents, grandparents, and photos to compare current and past self, to identify factors that influence change, to place events from his or her life in chronological order using photos, to identify likes and dislikes, to start recognizing areas of interests and to recognize the roles in a group.

Week 4 (Sept. 14 - 18)

WEEK 4
(Sept. 14 - 18)

Morning Circle and Free-play

The students start their day with a free-play followed by our Morning Circle where students express themselves through singing and dancing.

Morning Circle and Free-play

Language (Letter and Sound)

Right after our morning circle, we have our letter and sound where we have different activities every day.

Craft Time

B is for BUS

Tracing and Coloring

UOI (Unit of Inquiry)

Central Idea: "Journeys let us bring opportunities home".

We brainstormed, discussed and shared ideas on how we make journeys. Students came up with all these ideas as seen in the picture below. However, our supposed make-believe "Okinawa Trip" ended up in HAWAII TRIP. They had a change of heart. 😉