International Online Learning

During the last two weeks our International teachers have been creatively addressing the situation of online learning that we have found ourselves in. The classroom has been adapted to a virtual setting with a combination of video lessons and live sessions.

01

Prep Dinosaur

Many engaging activities have had our Prep students thinking about different dinosaurs, how they moved, how they looked and where they lived. Our students have enjoyed sending video responses to their teachers along with pictures they have drawn and posters they have made and labelled.

Click here to watch the video

Prep students were able to use their knowledge of adjectives to write simple sentences about a dinosaur that they created themselves after being inspired by ‘Dinosaur Rap’ by John Foster. Throughout their online learning journey, Prep students have continued to recap their single phonics sounds, distinguishing between bouncy and stretchy sounds.

02

G1 Retell stories and Make eco bricks

Using these two texts: ‘The Curious Garden’ and ‘The Giant Turnip’, Grade 1 students have explored different characters in stories. Revisiting prior learning on adjectives, they were able to describe the characters and retell the narratives using puppets.

‘Question of the day’ has been a wonderful way to open dialogue between the students and their teachers. An example of a question of the day is: ‘You’re at the beach. What is the first thing you do?’

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G1 students also engaged in a fun activity of making eco bricks, a building block made from plastic, and when we return to school, will use these bricks in a construction.

03

G2 Writing and Studying plants

Grade 2 students have been writing stories. Some children have used the book ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ as a stimulus, and some have looked at different types of characters: ‘Spyfox’ a good character and ‘Hammerhead Shark’, an evil character and then created their own character.

Looking at the actions and features of these characters, the students were able to identify what made each character good or evil. They also looked at various problems that the characters could encounter and brainstormed ways that these problems could be solved. Students then used their prior learning to practise writing speech correctly and to use synonyms for the word ‘said’.

In science, they have been recapping prior learning on plants and have created posters to label the different parts.

04

G3 Pirates and Food Pyramid

Grade 3 students have continued with their theme of ‘Pirates’. After designing a treasure map, they copied their maps and instructions for finding treasure onto tea-stained paper, which they made by following instructions themselves.

After reading a pirate adventure story together, the students sequenced and summarised the events and created story maps before retelling the story.

Much fun was had designing a new pirate character for their own stories. The students have worked hard on building their vocabulary banks and focusing on new words. They have been able to take new words from the text and up-level adjectives in their own writing. They are now practising their writing skills by beginning to write their own creative pirate adventure stories.

Click here to watch the video

Science work introduced the topics of ‘Nutrition’ and the students started to look at the different food groups using the food pyramid model. 

05

G4 Anti-bullying and Teeth protection

Grade 4 students started with watching the short film ‘For the Birds’. This animation looks at how a group of birds sitting on a telephone wire does not want to befriend a large bird that has joined them. The students used this film as a point of discussion for anti-bullying posters that they created. They also wrote their own version of ‘For the Birds’, revisiting writing skills that they have already learned. In doing so, they were able to reflect on any experiences of bullying that they had themselves experienced.

In science, the students examined the effects of different liquids on eggshells to simulate what happens to teeth. Using their scientific skills, they were able to plot on a graph, the extent to which the different liquids (water, coffee, cola and milk) decayed the eggshells, thus being able to draw conclusions on how we should look after our own teeth. 

06

G5 Argument writing and Respiratory system

G5 students were able to practise their writing skills through expanded noun phrases and building compound sentences. Using persuasive techniques, they were able to write an argument on either ‘FOR online learning’ or ‘AGAINST online learning’.

In science they learned about the respiratory system, focusing on inhalation and exhalation and what the job of our lungs is. They then did their own home experiment to measure the capacity of their lungs.

Whilst this online learning has been going on, the students have also had an opportunity to engage in live conversations with their teachers. They were very excited to talk about all the different things that they had been doing at home and we are immensely proud of their commitment and the quality of work that they have been producing.