Dear Parents,

We had a great week at school. It started off with marking the International Day of Peace and finished with a celebration of Vietnamese culture and the Moon Festival. Please find some updates, requests, and a few photos below.

Reminders

• Next Week is Week A
• No School next Thursday, October 1 for our Learning Conversations
• Fall Break October 12-16, no school
• The SCO needs a few more Class Parents to help coordinate parents for activities that the teachers may need help with – for example, the teacher may ask the Class Parent to help recruit volunteers to accompany kids on a field trip, or organize an end of the year party. Being a class parent is a great and fun way to get involved with the school, support your child’s teacher and connect with other parents in your child’s class. Please do know that SCO is there for you to support. Because we are Stronger Together!If you’re interested in any of these roles, have any questions, and want to know more, please email sco@unishanoi.org. Thank you for considering volunteering your time this year!

UOI

This week we unpacked the central idea of our unit of inquiry: choices that digital citizens make impact the global community. We talked about how pausing and thinking when we are online can help us to stay balanced and safe when we use the internet. We also used our UOI time to reflect for our learning conversations next week.

The lessons that we are teaching at school come from these online resources. Please check out the links below if you are interested in supporting digital citizenship at home.

family engagement resources  and how kids balance their media lives and boost kids’ privacy, safety and security

Questions

How can you stay safe, responsible and respectful outside of school? (in the real world)

How can pausing and thinking help you when you are using the internet?

Math

This week we continued to learn about place value through a game called I Spy a Number. Students have to guess a number from 0-99 using their knowledge of digits and places to find the correct number. We are also learning to compare numbers using greater than and less than.

Questions

What does greater than and less than mean? How do you use it to compare two numbers?

What are the 10 digits used to show numbers? (0-9)

Literacy

Students continued to practice giving a complete retell of a story including all 5 elements. They also learned about the “description bubble” and how to use it to add adjectives and description language to their writing. 

Questions

What is the description bubble? How do you use it to improve your writing?

What was your monster like? Can you describe it?

Can you retell the story you just read to me? 

Moon Festival Photos

Dear Parents,

Please read the reminders below and updates about our learning this week. 

Reminders

Next Week is Week B

A Virtual Moon Festival Assembly will be held at school on Thursday September 24th from 9:25-10:15. Students are invited to wear their Ao Dai clothing on that day if they wish. 

Grade 2 Virtual EAL Coffee Morning on Sep 25, 2020 09:15 AM Vietnam

Zoom Meeting link

Meeting ID: 959 3313 7463

Passcode: UNISG2 

UOI

This week students began to unpack our next unit of inquiry. How We Organize Ourselves: Digital Citizenship. Students learned more about the central idea of the unit and our lines of inquiry. They also considered the questions: What is a digital citizen? Why do we use the internet? How does the internet work? We also looked at some interesting photos of connections between countries and watched sharks doing some strange things underwater.

Questions

What is a digital citizen?

How does the internet work?

Why do we use the internet?’

How do we use the internet at home?

How many devices do we have at home that connect to the internet?

Math

This week we continued to explore our math tools by using number lines and base 10 blocks to find and model numbers. We talked about the ten digits used to make numbers (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) and how those digits represent different values when they are put into a number.

Questions

What does the word digit mean in math? What are the digits?

Look at the number 351. How many hundreds? How many tens? How many ones?

Using Base 10 Blocks

Literacy

This week students continued to plan and draft their recount texts. We learned about adding time connectives to our writing to order the events and writing recounts that are funny or retell a scary story. In reading we learned about retelling a story with the five elements (setting, character, problem, solution, and events) and how to buddy read.

Questions

Can you tell me about one of the recount texts you are writing? 

Can I listen to you retell the book that you are reading?

What are the parts of a 5 Finger Retell? 

Our Dot Door!

Dear Parents,

Please find some reminders and information about our week below.

Reminders

• Next Week is Week A
• Library day for 2D is every Thursday but books can be returned any day.
• Dismissal from ASA. Students in Grade 2 are not allowed to be picked up from Gate 5 after ASA. If you want to pick up your child after ASA please go to Gate 1 (the main gate). Thank you.
• Friday, September 25th, EAL Virtual Coffee Morning, more details to come.

UOI

This week we wrapped up our four week unit, Who We Are: Our Values Shape our Communities. Students created their class essential agreements using an iceberg model and reflected on how their values outside of school and here in the classroom. This is a yearlong unit and we will revisit these concepts throughout the year.

Questions

What values are important to the 2D class?

What actions will you take in the 2D class this year to uphold those values?

What values are important to you? What actions will you take?

Next UOI

Please find information attached about our next unit of inquiry. It contains details about the unit, concepts, and vocabulary we will be learning. Discussing these units in your home language can add to the students understanding in class, we appreciate your support.

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Math

Students continued to practice our routines for math talks and began a new unit on place value. This week we learned to use a number line as a math tool and played games to find a number on the number line.

Questions

How does a math talk work? What do you do in a math talk?

How high can you count?

How many Unifix Cubes are in the box in your classroom?

Literacy

This week students learned about their role in a reading conference and continued to learn about the parts of a recount text.

Questions

What is the teachers job in a reading conference?

What is the students job in a reading conference?

How do I write an orientation for a recount? (orientations should answer the who, what, when, and where questions)

Grade 2D Class Values and Action

Dear Parents,

Please find updates and information below. There is also a list of questions connected to our learning this week that you might use to start a conversation with your child.

REMINDERS / INFORMATION

• Photo Day for 2D is Monday, September 7

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Next week is Week B.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

• What is a recount?
• What “seed” ideas did you think of for your recounts? 
• What is reading “stamina”? How is your reading stamina?
• What feelings do people have? Are there “good” and “bad” feelings?
• What math rotations did you do this week?
• What does our classroom look and sound like during math rotations? Were you able to do your personal best this week?
• What Math Practices did you use this week? 

We wish everyone a great weekend!

Thank you 2A families for attending last night’s virtual Back to School Night presentation. It was a pleasure to see you all and get to know you a little better. We are looking forward to a wonderful school year with you and your children. 

Reminders

• Congratulations to Jeesoo Kim, who is this year’s first 2D Student Council representative. 
• Students should be reading for a total of 80 minutes at home every week.
• Library Exchange day for 2D is every Thursday, week A and B. Please have your child bring a book bag on Tuesdays.
• Photo Day for 2D is Monday, September 7

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Wednesday, September 2 — no school, Vietnamese National Holiday
• EAL Coffee Morning — date for this event is being rescheduled (it will NOT be on September 27, as we mentioned at Back to School Night)
• Next week is Week A.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

• What are some communities you belong to?
• What does it mean to be “unique”? In what ways are you unique?
• What unique way would you choose to travel through life?
• What did you do in Maker Space this week?
• What hand signals do you use in class?
• What math games did you play this week?
• How do you pick “just right” books?
• What things can you write about from your own life?

Photos

Dear Parents,

What a fabulous week. We have really enjoyed getting to know your children. We have been exploring and inquiring into our learning space and becoming a connected community.

Some helpful information to get the year started.

• Lunchtime – remember to either send a lunch or order a lunch from the canteen.
• Buses. If your child is not going home on the bus you need to contact the transport manager, Mr. Lai, (transportmanager@unishanoi.org) and cc me into the email.
• Hats are required during recess breaks and PE. Please be sure to send your child to school with a hat.
• We have a snack time in the morning at around 10:05 a.m. inside the classroom. In the afternoon there is no snack time provided in class, but children may eat during recess if needed.
• Back to School Night (online) Thursday, August 27th 6:00-7:30 PM. Look for a letter from homeroom teachers next week. 
• Weekend homework – please check your student’s backpack for homework about our unit of inquiry. The directions are on the sheet. Please return on Monday.
• Student Council: Next Thursday, 2D will be voting on its Student Council representative. Please talk to your child about running for Student Council. Here is a presentation on the role of Student Council representatives in the Elementary School.

This week in Grade Two:

In UoI, Grade Two is beginning the 2020-2021 school year with a unit of inquiry into Who We Are. The concepts below will be taught in class, however, it would be of great assistance to help your child become familiar with the main unit components and vocabulary in order to maximize their learning experiences and make connections in class.

This is especially important for non mother-tongue English speaking students. Please translate the following into your child’s mother tongue in order to develop their linguistic abilities and foster their conceptual development. 

Any extra reading, websites, films or learning experiences you may give your child in their mother tongue to compliment this unit, would be extremely valuable.

Central Idea: Our values shape our communities

Inquiry into:

• What community is (function)
• How values influence our behaviors (connection)
• Skills used to thrive in a community (responsibility)

Vocabulary:  values, community, behaviors, choices, feelings, teamwork, responsibility, to affect, to cooperate, to commit

Learner Profile Traits:  principled and caring

In Math, students are developing a community of mathematicians that uses routines and shares their thinking to help their learning.

In Reading, students are exploring what a community of readers does and how the classroom will look and sound during different reading activities.

In Writing, students will consider what they value in their lives to create a heart map of writing ideas for the year.

If you need to contact me specifically about your child, my email is kandersen@unishanoi.org. You can also write Ms. Hang in Vietnamese: nthang@unishanoi.org. During the school day I do not regularly check email; for urgent matters please contact the E.S. office elementary@unishanoi.org.

Warm regards,

Mr. Kenny and Ms. Hang

Photos from the first week.