Starting the week

2/28/2011

 
Here is some news, and some thoughts about the week.
We have two new children in class. Harold started today, and Bobo should be coming tomorrow. Thank you to all of the children for making Harold feel welcome today (and especially Jae Hun and Harry!)
Miss Mackay has asked me to say that she is very pleased that so many children brought PE kit, and especially arrived in PE clothes. This helps lessons to start quickly. However, some children still need to remember to bring full school uniform to change into at the end. They must do PE in full PE clothes, including sports shoes, and must then have full school uniform, including trouser, to change into for the rest of the day. Thank you.
World Maths Day begins tomorrow (www.worldmathsday.com)! The login numbers are in your homework diaries, and you are encouraged to play at home as much as you can. But don't worry, everybody will have a turn. Year 1 is scheduled to compete in World Maths Day on Wednesday, 9.00 - 10.15 in the computer suite.
This week, our English lessons are on fantasy worlds. We will be learning about creating fantasy and sci-fi stories. In Maths lessons the children will learn about adding, taking away, multiplying and dividing money.
This week we will be learning two songs and one story. The songs are to teach money values and fantasy animals (a strange mixture!). The story is one that I wrote myself - I hope the children enjoy reading it! We began it today, and it and the songs will be put on the website at the end of the week.
Have a good week, everybody!
Mr. Kohll.
 
We had a great day today!
The children started by singing "The Green Grass Grows" beautifully. They had lots of fun with it. Next week, we'll be learning a new song and story!
Our first lesson was Literacy, in which the children did their spelling tests - well done, they have worked hard at them this week! - and then did writing work about growing plants. The second lesson was Maths, in which the children practiced weighing things on scales, learned about grams, and used rulers to measure in centimetres and millimetres.
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Using rulers to measure objects in centimetres on worksheets and around the class.
We made a fun new display today! A wordsearch puzzle, outside the classroom. It will be good for the children to practice finding words on it, and lots of fun for them. Today, the words on it are about plants (it includes the words "cherry" and "lily," two children named after a fruit and a flower! Next week the words will be changed to a new set.
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Can you see any of our Science words?
In the afternoon, the children worked on their Projects. Many of them have already made an excellent start! This weekend they can work on the first two pages they have been given, think about the area in which they live, and the plants and people who help us around them, and look at some of the websites which have information for them.
After that, Year 1 looked at their beansprouts, which they began to grow yesterday. They observed how the beans had changed - growing bigger and changing colour - and made notes on these changes on their worksheets. Fascinating!
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Finally, the children went to the computer suite where they practiced for World Maths Day - they had fun changing the pictures on their profiles and having maths competitions with children from all over the world! Keep practicing!
At the end of the day, the children were given full-colour Rego Newsletters for you to read. I'm sorry they were only in English. The news is about a recent Polo match (the first Polo match played in the snow in Asia, as reported by Jennifer Cui, sister of Year 1 Ellen!) It also includes mentions of the Valentines Dance tonight, the Rego Swim Meet tomorrow, the forthcoming school theatre, The Wizard of Oz - and the menu for next week at school (delicious as always!)
Click here for the Rego Newsletter original. Click below the fold to see the text, which can be translated online. I apologise for the mistakes in translation!

Have a good weekend! We look forward to seeing you on Monday!

New Projects!

2/24/2011

 
This week the children started their new Projects! The Projects they made before the holidays were really excellent, and we look forward to seeing these.
This time, the children will learn about a much wider variety of subjects. When the Projects are finished, each child will get a prize, and then they will all show their Projects and talk to the class about what they have learned. We are looking forward to learning many new and interesting things!
This homework will help the children in many ways. They will practice their handwriting, spelling and grammar; they will practice their artistic skills; they will learn about research and learn a lot of science and knowledge of the world.
Most of the children have decided to do Projects on Plants (our Science topic) but some are doing projects on People Who Help Us (our Personal, Social and Health Education topic). Every child has some questions which they will work to find the answers to. When the Projects are finished they will share with the class what they have learned.
The children can write and draw and cut and glue. We want them to find interesting facts, and to share these with the class. We think it will be an excellent educational experience for them!
The children will work on the Projects in class and at home. There are books on plants and people who help us in the Year 1 class library, and below are some websites to help them find out interesting things.
Please send us a message, on this website or in the homework diaries, if you have any questions.
Thank you!
Mr. Kohll and Miss Lucey.

Websites for plants:

Websites for People Who Help Us:

A Busy Day!

2/23/2011

 
Year 1 had a very busy day today! We did lots of work, and learned a lot of things!

English Lesson: Instructions Writing

We began with an English lesson. Mr. Kohll's English class and Miss Lucey's English class worked together. The children used the plans they made yesterday to write instructions. Writing instructions is an excellent way to improve English. The children practiced their handwriting, grammar and sentence structure.
After they finished writing and illustrating their instructions, we made a summary of them together. You can listen to some of the children reading them here (click on the blue words to hear them speaking):

First, wash your hands.

Then take the plate and knife and bread and jam.

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After that, cut the bread...

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...and spread the jam.

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Finally, close the bread and eat the sandwich.

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Growing Potato Plants

In Science, we are studying plants. Today, Miss Lucey and Mr. Kohll talked to the children about how plants grow, and we learned about potatoes. We began a science experiment - growing potato plants. The children made predictions about how the potato plants would change. We're very excited to see if they grow!

Homework Projects

Today the children began working on their Projects. Almost all of them decided to do projects on plants. Their homework is to decide what they want their focus to be. Tomorrow we will talk more about the Projects, and there will be materials to help the children on the Year 1 website and in the class library.

PSHE - People who help us in school

Today the children worked in groups, with Miss Lucey, Miss Lulu and Mr. Kohll, to travel around the school and talk to the people who help us in school. They spoke to Mrs. Bingham, who told them about how the teachers worked and how she communicated with them through emails and meetings and pigeonholes. They spoke to Miss Candy, who told them how she helps children who are sick or injured; and they talked to Miss Yiki and Miss Jenny, the school receptionists, who told them how they telephone parents, write letters and print and copy materials. I hope the children enjoyed themselves, and learned a lot of new things about their school!
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(I have made some changes to the writing here so that the translations will be easier to understand).
Dear parents,
Since we came back from the holidays there have been some changes in Year 1. All new systems are now ready and I can explain exactly what they are. I am sure that you will agree that all changes will be of benefit to the children and help their education.
1. Miss Lucey has worked with all of the children this week and last week. She is an excellent teacher, and the children all enjoy working with her.
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2. The registration classes (where we count the children) have been split into two classes. This means that, for five minutes in the morning and afternoon, the children go to Miss Lucey's and Mr. Kohll's classes to greet each other and sing a song or do shared reading.
3. The Maths and English classes have been split. There are now two Maths classes and two English classes. Almost all of the children go to one class with Miss Lucey and another class with Mr. Kohll; we both teach almost all of the children.
4. Click here to see a full list of all the classes and the children in them.  
5. Miss Rhonda's classes, Miss Mackay's PE and swimming classes, and Miss Packer's Music classes are the same as before; no changes.   
6. All other classes (History, Science, Art, Computers, Geography, etc.) are taught with all of the children together in one classroom, with Mr. Kohll and Miss Lucey and Miss Helen teaching them all together.
Tianjin Rego International School has a policy of class sizes being no more than 15. This is because we want the childre to get lots of help from the teacher. Now that we have two teachers the children will have lots more help in all of their lessons.
Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, either on this website or in the homework diaries.
Thank you,
Mr. Kohll and Miss Lucey.
 
Welcome to another week full of learning and fun!
This week, Year 1 will meet people from over a hundred years ago in History lessons, learn to grow beans and potatoes in Science lessons, and meet the people around the school who help them in PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education).
Here are some games Year 1 can play to help them practice some of the things we will be learning this week.
Go to the "Songs in Year 1 page" to see the song and the story we will be learning this week. Great English practice!
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Use this game to measure in centimetres - easy, medium or hard!
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Use this game to practice using a pair of scales. How heavy are the different shapes?
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Use this game to learn about growing plants - and practice their maths!
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Use this game to learn about growing plants and names of their parts (you should remember this from the holiday homework).
Have a good week, everyone!

End-of-week news

2/18/2011

 
What a nice week!
We learned about plants in science, and homes in history. We learned to sing "the green grass grows" song.
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In maths, the children learned how to multiply by counting their fingers more than once (for example, to do 3 x 5, the children can count 5 fingers three times). On Friday, we read a story to learn about division. Here it is, if you want to read it again!

Division Ogre Story.pptx
File Size: 735 kb
File Type: pptx
Download File

And if you want to practice multiplying, play this game.
In English lessons this week, we learned about instructions. This is very useful for the children. It teaches them about verbs, making sentences, and non-fiction text. This week we practiced putting instructions in order. We played these games in class, and did activities for ordering and making things. Here are photos of the children making play cakes and giving instructions to each other.
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Miss Lucey has been working with the children this week in all lessons. Next week, she will have one half of the class for English lessons, and the other half of the class for Maths lessons, in her classroom. For all other lessons (Science, History, Reading, and so on, Miss Lucey and Mr. Kohll will teach the children together). The children will greatly benefit from having a second teacher to help them, and from working in smaller groups.

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In PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) this week we learned about People Who Help Us - our topic for this term. The children made hand puppets for the people they liked - mostly doctors and police officers. Miss Lulu made a beautiful display to show them.

As it says in your homework diaries, World Maths Day begins on the 28th of February. The website is www.worldmathsday.com, and the children can go there to practice their maths. The whole school will participate in the World Maths Day competition. The usernames and passwords are in your homework diaries so you can start practicing if you want to.

Finally, I would like to apologise for the badly translated letters about the Projects. Korean letters were sent out today, and Chinese letters will be sent out on Friday. The children can choose whether they want to do a project on plants, homes, or people who help  us; and they can begin work next week, on Wednesday. In a few weeks, the children will show their projects to the class, and talk to the class about them. This will be excellent speaking practice for them, and help the class to learn about all our subjects!
Have a good weekend!
Mr. Kohll.
 
We have had an excellent start to the second half of term!
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First, I'm very excited to say that Mr. Kohll's personal educational website is now ready, full of great learning games. Enjoy!

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The children enjoyed working with Miss Lucey.

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They started to learn about plants in Science lessons.

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Miss Lulu made a beautiful Science display to help. Soon the children's worksheets will grow on the tree!

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Here are the children's projects from last term. You can come and see them! We will make more projects this term and the children will give speeches about them at the end.

 
Hello! I hope you all had a good holiday. We have a busy and exciting time ahead of us, and I want to tell you some of the things we will be doing. Please remember that timetables are available here for you to see plans for this term and this year.
There is an exciting new development this term. As you know, the policy of TRIS is that classes will have no more than 15 children, so that the children will receive a high quality education. We now have 16 children in Year 1. Therefore, a new teacher has joined us, Miss Lucey. The children will now have two teachers, but don't worry - both teachers will teach all of the children; there will not be two seperate classes. What there will be is many new ideas and ways of teaching, and extra help for your children in learning.
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In English lessons we are going to begin by learning the English topic of Instructions. The children will learn about how to put English sentences in order, how to write neat instructions for things like recipes, making things and playing games, and how to give instructions in spoken English. After that, we will have two weeks for the children to continue learning about science fiction and fantasy stories. Lots of fun! 

In Maths lessons this week, we will be learning about simple multiplication and division. There will be more games on the website for your children to practice these at the end of the week. Here are two games they can play now to help them learn and practice.
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In Science lessons this term we will learn about plants. The children will learn to name different parts of plants, see how plants grow and learn about roots and flowers and what we can use plants for.They will learn that plants are living organisms, and the things that they need to grow and live.

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In History lessons, we will be learning about houses a long time ago. the children will learn about the history of houses in Britain and compare them to China and Korea.

 
Hello everybody. I hope you are all enjoying your holidays. I am happpy to see that people have been visiting the Year 1 website (73 visits yesterday).
Please remember to write in your homework diaries - I am going to enjoy reading them! And please remember to add a comment to the Holiday Homework page.
Here are a few things I have been doing, to give you some ideas!
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I had fun with fireworks for Chinese New Year!
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I ate Beijing Duck. It was really good!
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I made Chinese dumplings to eat.