News from the Year Groups

Nursery: How we Express Ourselves

Central idea: Through play we can express our feelings and ideas and develop new understandings

Our Nursery learners returned back to school with lots of enthusiasm and were very excited to see their teachers and friends. We have had a smooth transition back in to nursery life and the learners have settled into the routine with ease. This week we welcomed two new families to our community, the learners have really made their new friends feel welcome.

Today we started our Unit of Inquiry. Our central idea is, Through play we can express our feelings and ideas and develop new understandings. We read the story, ‘The Something’ by Rebecca Cobb, which is a delightful tale of imagination, excitement and creativity. The learners were intrigued to discover a little hole that appeared in the classroom, just like in the story. The learners were curious to take a look in the hole and share their ideas. I wonder what they saw…? The learners worked imaginatively and were eager to express their ideas and drew wonderfully detailed pictures of what they thought they saw. It has been a very active and exciting start to our unit!

Kindergarten: Where we are in Place and Time

Central Idea: Journeys help us to explore

This week, we warmly welcomed three new learners and their families to Kindergarten. They have settled in seamlessly to Phase 1. We have been happy to see the learners modelling our Esssential Agreements and being great IB role models; they have been enthusiastically showing their new friends around our school and including them in their activities too.

We are tuning into our new unit of inquiry - Where We Are In Place and Time, with the central idea: Journeys help us to explore. We will be looking into journeys that we make throughout the school day, where we go after school and at weekends and reflecting on some of the amazing places we have all visited to date. Below you can see the children exploring the outdoor space as a phase, with new construction and play materials brought in to enhance our time outdoors. We look forward to a term of exploration and discovery as we make our learning a fun and interesting journey of discovery.

Year 1: Who We Are

Central idea: Choices influence our well-being

As we begin our new term, the Year 1 learners have been thinking about roles and behaviours in relationships, discussing their Essential Agreements and the Nexus Recipe. We read a book called the Bad Seed which explores how we can make good choices out of sad choices. This is a wonderful way to discuss how we can also help our friends when they are feeling sad, acknowledging that we can always turn things around. We have also welcomed new learners to our Year 1 Community and it has been warming to see so many of our learners supporting them this week.

We look forward to a wonderful and exciting term ahead!

Year 2: Who We Are

Central idea: Lifestyle choices affect health

We have had a wonderful start to Term 2. It was great to see the learners refreshed and happy to be back at school. We loved hearing all about the exciting adventures that took place during the holiday!

We are continuing our Unit of Inquiry into how Lifestyle Choices Affect Health. The learners are becoming very knowledgeable about the role nutrition, exercise, rest and good hygiene play in our well-being. We have been very impressed with the thoughtful conclusions the children have made through their hands-on investigations. Over the next couple of weeks they will be sharing the information they have learned in an explanatory text. The learners will also be looking at ways they can take action to make a lifestyle change that will benefit themselves and can be shared with others.

Year 3: How we Express Ourselves

Central idea: Culture is reflected through the arts

Year 3 learners are halfway through their unit inquiring into how culture is reflected through the arts. The learners enjoyed discovering different cultures during our amazing Year 3 Cultural Fair when they travelled across the globe exploring art and traditions all from the comfort of Level 7! Over the next week, we will begin to look at our responsibility to preserve culture and also begin to work on presentations for a socially distanced Mini Exhibition where learners will share their knowledge across the subject areas with you.

In Language Arts, we are developing our sentence structure by adding descriptive vocabulary and connecting sentences to create simple paragraphs. In Maths, learners are continuing to develop addition and subtraction skills and will begin to explore telling time on both analogue and digital clocks.

Year 4: Where we are in Place and Time

Central idea: Migration of people changes places and communities over time

Year 4 learners have launched themselves into our new Unit of Inquiry with high levels of interest and enthusiasm. We are currently exploring the meaning of 'migration' and considering reasons why people relocate to a new area. Many learners are bringing their own experiences, and those of family members, to this unit.

Over the coming weeks we will review how the original migrant groups to Singapore have transformed our island. We will develop our research, map and note taking skills as we explore some of the world's most influential migrations and reflect on the impact these movements have on people's lives.

Year 5: How we Organise Ourselves

Central idea: Systems influence the lives of people

What a great week! Year 5 learners have made an enthusiastic start to the term. We have continued to focus our learning on exploring governmental systems. This week learning has been through a deep interdisciplinary approach, as we have integrated Maths, Reading and Writing into our inquiry learning.

Learners have used their research skills to inquire into the functions of a government. They have developed their understanding of note taking by focusing on 'treasure' words and building effective skimming and scanning techniques. Learners are more familiar with how they can take notes and use these to organise information that answers their questions. Following this, we formed political parties and each group is in the process of creating their own mandate and persuading others that their policies are worth voting for. Through data handling we have analysed the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Learners completed a survey that encouraged them to reflect on their values and what policies they would support. They will now interpret their results and represent this using suitable graphs.

Year 6: How we Express Ourselves

Central idea: Experiences influence creativity

Our first week back of Term 2 has been awesome. We have continued to explore our reading within our groups and started to develop our understanding of patterns and formula for Mathematics.

As we finish our second unit of inquiry where we looked at lessons from the past, we will move forward next week with one unit which the learners and teachers are very excited about. In the next seven weeks, Year 6 learners will learn how to tell a story which engages their audience as we explore 'How We Express Ourselves'. Learners will then be challenged to make 93 individual films we hope to share with you at the 2020 Nexus Year 6 Film Festival. Throughout this process we will be developing the skills of story writing, storyboarding, script development, acting, camera and sound recording and edition, with the aim to present their vision at the Nexus Film Festival. It is sure to be an amazing learning experience for everyone!

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