World Maths Day is over! I know many of the children played at home, and the whole class played today in the ICT suite, against children from all over the world.

I'm quite proud of this - I've written an exciting story that can be played as a game. The children have to travel around the world in search of new plants. Unfortunately, this morning their ship was sunk in a sea storm, and they had to stop. But they began again, and will hopefully finish by Friday!
The game is called "The Great Plant Expedition" and will be available on the website next week!

This afternoon we looked at all of the children's Projects. Well done for the work on them! Each child has now been given a new question to answer. Next week they will all show their projects to the class and talk about them.

Today in PSHE we talked about the people who can help us when we or others are sick. We talked about doctors, nurses, vets and dentists. The children had fun roleplaying them, and learned a lot about what doctors and dentists do.

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.

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.

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!

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!

What a nice week!

We learned about plants in science, and homes in history. We learned to sing "the green grass grows" song.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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! This will be another exciting week, In Year 1, we will:

The children will learn what science fiction and fantast stories are. We will read stories and have fun acting them and writing about them. The children will learn about characters and settings and how to describe them. We will read stories like Sleeping Beauty (a roleplaying game book), Dr. Xargle, and will read the online books The Princess and The Dragon and The Cold Planet.

This is linked to our work in Science, using materials like cardboard, plastic, glue and sellotape. And it is linked to our English work, reading magic stories about castles. the children will begin their castles this week, working in groups. I would be very grateful for any cardboard or plastic - boxes, bottles, etc. - you could donate for the children to share and use.
 Click here to watch a video of how to make a castle.

This week we will learn a song to practice English and learn about Chinese New Year customs. You can watch a cartoon of the song here (click on the picture).

Our maths topic this week is measuring - fun with clocks, rulers and weighing scales.