Science & Numeracy Week

This was a busy and productive week. We started by rearranging the furniture in the classroom. We were all happy with the new arrangement.

Inspired by an activity at Edcamp Tokyo, the students wanted to to try a challenge. They tied ribbon to their wrists so that two people would be stuck together. It is possible to escape, but it takes creativity and cooperation.

Bushra and Suheda even tried staying tied together until they solved the puzzle, but it was a bit too inconvenient.

The Science & Numeracy Week activities were a hit as usual. I was working in the 'volcano balloon' room and captured pictures of Miray and Safiye working together on a fun chemistry experiment.

On Thursday, our class schedule cooperated with the weather, and we took our field trip to Yoyogi Park to conduct the students' Fashion Perception Survey. If you have a few minutes, please complete the survey!

It was inspiring to see all of the students acting with great confidence and enthusiasm! We published the survey online and were excited to see that Julia, from last year's grade 6 class, had responded!

In the next weeks, we will be completing all of our inquiry tasks so that we can 'kick off' the Exhibition. Please visit our Exhibition website for details!

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Finished ISA!

I was very proud of the Grade 5/6 'Uniters' efforts on the International Schools Assessment. For several hours on Monday and Wednesday, they applied great concentration and thinking to the test and I hope that their results reflect their commitment.

They have also been very committed leaders! During Japanese Culture Day, they hosted the school assembly and taught new Japanese games to the younger students.

I was impressed by their confidence and tolerance while working with younger students!

Miray volunteered to help with a special project for Edcamp Tokyo, a conference of teachers being hosted at JIES.

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Identify yourself!

Happy New Year!

As the students organize and present their personal history research findings, we are also starting a unit in the theme of 'How we express ourselves' called Identify Yourself!. The central idea for this unit of inquiry is 'Identity is expressed through daily choices.' On the first day of the term, students wrote their initial impressions of this statement.

I was particularly impressed with the different strategies used. It's exciting to see everyone thinking in original and creative ways, something that will be extremely important when they prepare their PYP Exhibition!

Another important element of the Exhibition is engaging with the school community. We have been including the other students at school in our learning by sharing our work in the corridor.

 

Younger students have enjoyed changing their perspective with Suheda's periscope.

Sule tried to explain how to play a new game to a Kindergartener, but discovered that it may have been too difficult and complicated for him to understand and enjoy.

It's also exciting to see students taking more responsibility for themselves and our classroom.

Miray noticed that a box that had been used weeks earlier was simply sitting around doing nothing. She decided to take action. She emptied the box, sorted the rubber bands and straws she found inside, then returned them to the art supply room.

(The information below was also sent in an email to families' school email addresses.)

Our class wiki contains much information and many links related to our learning, including our daily warm ups, homework chart, and weekly schedule. Please visit!

Please continue to enjoy the weekly posts on the JIES Grade 5/6 Blog.

Kidblog is where we publish and share our learning with you and the world. Please follow our posts and add your comments!

Please join the 'Uniters' Grade 5/6 Google+ Community using your JIES email. It will be a convenient place for us all to share our learning and inspire each other. We also have a G+ Community for Performing Arts at JIES if you would like to join, as well.

Be sure to check your child's gradesheet regularly to stay updated on her progress and achievement in Reading, Spelling, Mathematics, and Homework. View the gradesheet in Google Sheets to leave comments or ask questions.

Thanks for reading!

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Smile Week

This was a busy and exciting week for engaging with our school and local communities. First, we began receiving Peace Cranes and Peace Doves from other classes. Our first package arrived from Massachussets, USA. It was strong motivation for us to pack our own envelopes and send them around the world!

To share with the Shibuya Ward Office about what we did for Peace Day, the students created a fantastic poster describing the project. We entrusted our work to the Grade 4 class to deliver to the Mayor of Shibuya.

In Tuesday's school assembly, Suheda told everyone that Friday was Smile Day. I had an idea to put little smiley faces all around the school. This led to the class making necklaces with smiley face pendants on Friday for everyone at school.

For one inquiry period, they became a smiley face factory!

Because of the caring action of the Grade 5/6 students, this Friday truly was Smile Day at JIES.

The students have also been busy collaborating on our Class Rights and Responsibilities.

There are still a few details to sort out, and I'm very proud of how they worked together, both in face to face discussion and on Google Docs, to synthesize their ideas into meaningful essential agreements for our expectations for the school year.

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Peace Crane Club and Suheda's snack tries to eat her

Last week, the Uniters officially started the Peace Crane Club for the Peace Crane Project. I have contacted five other teachers in the USA and South Africa and we will exchange cranes and wishes for peace with them soon.

The class enjoyed teaching the younger students how to fold origami cranes.

Sule drew this lovely illustration to represent our class and I thought it was so fantastic, I just had to share. This kind of independent and inspired work is exactly what we want to encourage and celebrate this year!

I'm glad to see the students getting so busy on their research, writing, and creating. Please visit our student blogs at kidblog.org/JIESGrade562014-15 and leave a comment as a 'guest'. We have had a few teachers around the world leave comments, and look forward to more interaction with students in other schools.

Of course, it's also important to have some silly fun once in a while. Evidently, Suheda's snack was hungry and bit her before she could eat it!

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Inspired & Independent

Activities this week were designed to inspire the students to pursue their inquiries with independence. While we maintain rigorous routines for language and mathematics skills building, we also use plenty of time for research, making, sharing, and reflecting.

Sule used some of her independent inquiry time to refine her sewing and doll making skills. She was very shy at first to discuss her project, but we were all excited to hear that she was making toys for her brother!

After school on Wednesday, Bushra and Suheda were joined by Busra from Kindergarten for some dance practice! Fantastic to see our 'Uniters' enjoying learning and setting a positive example for younger students.

We took our first trip to the public library. After exploring the 'pop up' books, Miray also visited the third floor to research about animals.

Suheda works on a blog post about human rights with her notebook on her lap. 

One of my goals for this year is to see the students actively following inquiry models, use their notebooks to gather ideas and research, then transfer their learning into digital format for editing and publishing.

Another addition this week is our ACTION organizer. This chart helps us to think about and share our actions in different ways, and use a model to turn our ideas into meaningful action that has an impact on the world around us.

Of course, we have been utilizing our ActivBoard extensively, especially in Mathematics. There is something special about a two meter long virtual ruler!

It seems my efforts to get the class inspired to pursue their interests are working! On Friday, they decided to build a small stage in the front of the class out of cardboard and PET bottles. Of course, they need to ask for donations of plastic bottles, so they are conducting a marketing campaign with posters and planning to make an announcement in the school assembly on Tuesday morning.

Next week, we look forward to hosting the school's Peace Crane Club. The Uniters will read aloud Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and teach younger students how to fold origami cranes to exchange with other schools around the world in the Peace Crane Project.

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