Expressing Ourselves in Grade 2

The busiest time of year is upon us now as the end of the year quickly approaches! The last few weeks have been really busy with preparations for the International Kids Day (IKD)last week and the upcoming Student Led Conferences (SLC) and End of the Year Party (and new member joined Mr. Brabant's family on May 23rd)!

Student Led Conferences - June 10-14

Coming up next are the SLCs between June 10th and 14th. For the second grade students, we will offer SLCs on Tuesday, June 11th, Thursday, June 13th and Friday, June 14th. Please follow this link to a Google Form to sign up. Complete the form by choosing a couple possible times by next Monday, June 3rd and Ms. Rose and I will arrange the schedule and get back to you with a confirmed time for your child's SLC early next week.

International Kids Day / Lion King Preview

Thanks to all that took part and supported the performances at the IKD last Saturday, the kids put on a great show this year with a mix of songs and club performances.

If you joined the IKD you had a sneak peak at some of the songs that the Grade 3 and 4 learners will be presenting in their performance of The Lion King as the culminating project for their year-long drama unit (How We Express Ourselves).

All DSKI learners and staff will have the opportunity to attend the full dress rehearsal assembly on Wednesday 19 June 2019.

The main performance will take place on Thursday 20 June at 19:00 (doors open 18:45). This production is open to DSKI parents, friends and previous learners. If you would like to join us please complete this Google Form to support our planning.

End of the Year Party

From 11:55 am you are invited to join other families and staff for a buffet style lunch. Each class will be responsible for bringing food to share. Look at the list below to find your child's class. Please make sure you provide enough food for 4 - 5 people. If you are bringing more guests, kindly provide an extra portion for them. Your child can bring the food to school in the morning and hand it over in the hallway to the PTA members who will be in attendance. Alternatively, parents can bring the food with them before the start of the program. Please bring a picnic mat to sit on in the outside area too.


● Pre-K & Pre-school Drink(2Lx2) & fruits

● Kindergarten Rice or bread

● G1, 2 & 3 Main dishes

Final Unit of the Year - How We Express Ourselves

Our final unit of the year has us focussing on the different ways we can express ourselves so it has brought out the artist in all of us! We have had several special art lessons with guest teachers, for example Ms. J worked with Grades 1 and 2 for dance lessons, Ms. Faye taught them how to do watercolour painting, I covered mask making and we have two more special guests coming in to teach photography and sculpture. You'll be able to see all of the art we've been creating at our mini-exhibition during the Student Led Conferences, but here's a fun preview of what we've done so far!

Someone New in Grade Two

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Golden Week holiday and is ready for the final month and a half of the school year. This is an incredibly busy time of year with many events popping up as the school year starts to wind down.

Although the year is coming to an end, we actually had a new student start last week. We are extremely happy to welcome Miller to our class! She has been busy getting to know the other members of our class and has been making her presence felt in by actively joining in the lessons and she hasn't been shy to share her thoughts and ideas.

Before the holidays, we had completed our unit on shelters, and the students demonstrated their learning by creating some shelters of their own out of materials found in different environments. Their amazing models are on display at the top of the stairs on the second floor, please take the time to check them out if you happen to be in the school.

Last week, we also began our 6th and final unit of the year under the transdisciplinary theme "How We Express Ourselves." Throughout this unit, the students will be inquiring into how "Our uniqueness is expressed in creative and artistic ways." We began by defining the word uniqueness, and then drew self-portraits and wrote about what makes each of us special. Then we compared ourselves to a classmate to find similarities and differences between us, to truly uncover what it is that is so different and special about each of us.

Sleepover

On the evening of April 25th, one of the highlights for Preschool, Grades 1 and 2 took place: The Annual Sleepover Event!

After a quick trip home to get washed up, students arrived back at school at 6pm. Once they were done setting up their bedding for the night, they had the chance to play with friends out on the school playground.

For dinner, we ordered some pizzas and the students helped make delicious salads with lettuce, carrots, mini-tomatoes and salad dressing. While we ate, the students watched a couple Magic School Bus episodes! One was even related to the Grade 1 & 2 unit about Homes!

After dinner, it was game time! After a few rounds of "Flashlight Tag" out on the dark playground we moved indoors for Hide and Seek in the dark school! This is everyone's favourite game each year (including us teachers!!) and this year was no different!

Once we were all dressed in our pajamas and ready for bed, Preschool and Grade 1 joined Grade 2 in the multipurpose room for a story around the campfire! It was getting late and most of the two younger classes were ready for bed, but not Grade 2! We listened to a few more stories, played a game of Cowboy! Ninja! Bear! and Mr. Brabant tried to make the students sleepy by putting on a nature documentary, but it was no use as most of the second graders were too excited and were still awake past 11pm. Around midnight, most of the students started to doze off and finally all were asleep by about 12:15am.

Despite the extremely late night, the first student woke up somewhere around 4am and then slowly the domino effect woke the rest of the class up within the next hour. Brandon was the only one who managed to sleep until about 6:30, lucky him! I wish I knew how he did it!

After packing up our things and moving out of the multipurpose room, we ate a nice breakfast of cereal and juice together with Preschool and Grade 1 and then got to enjoy some extended playtime out on the playground before the other classes arrived. We managed to make it through our morning lessons and then finally headed home after lunch. I imagine that everyone slept as well as I did that night back home in my own bed!