What makes up a good friend?

  In this activity, the Grade 1s reflected hard on their ideas of a good friend. Each of them chose six important qualities of a good friend. They glued those descriptors on their 'good friend' template.

Afterwards, they moved around and shared their work to their friends. They were asked to explain their own opinion about the qualities. 

When we were done, we had a class reflection. Some of them found out that their ideas of a good friend are similar. But one thing came out unanimously, everyone in the class wants a friend who does not hurt, instead takes good care of others.

How about you? What qualities are you looking for in a friend?

Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

 This week, we listened to the read aloud of the story, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

As a class, we discussed about Bucket filling and bucket dipping. We cited ways on how we fill in other people's buckets and how that helps fill in our own buckets too. We also talked about different ways on how we empty other people's buckets, and how that makes our buckets empty too. (bucket dipping)

Afterwards, they made their own buckets (cups), decorated them, displayed them in the classroom.

Everytime somebody makes them feel really happy, they will write a happy note to that person and place it in his/her bucket.

They will collect all the messages by the end of the week, take them home and read them. This they did today.

I wonder how the messages will make them feel as they read them over the weekend. :)

Working in Teams

 This week, Grade 1s were given a challenge to accomplish. The class was divided into 4 groups. Their challenge is to build the strongest and tallest tower. They were all given equal number of plastic straws, one roll of tape and a generous amount of clay. To make the challenge more interesting, they have to complete the tower within a given time limit.

During the process, a lot of conflicts between and among members came. Some were taking the lead and not giving others the chance to share their ideas. A couple of members were just letting the others do all the work while they read books or draw on a paper.

The main purpose of the activity is not really to build the tower, but to see what problems may happen and different ways they applied to solve the problems.

Next week, we will reflect on this activity and see how this can help us with building relationships.

Show and Tell Week 2

 This week, three of our Grade 1 learners shared information about an interesting object they own or a certain favourite item that they have. They brought the item in the school, sat in front of their classmates and shared at least 5 interesting facts about them.

Our Grade 1s truly are great communicators! They are confident speakers too. Great job, Grade 1!

How to deal with problems with friends

 In one of our unit activities, the students worked in groups, looked at the picture prompts and discussed possible actions to solve the problems.

After sharing of ideas, they drew and write ways on how to handle situations in a positive way. Together as a group, they shared their work to the class.

The next step is, how they will put these ideas into practice when they face these types of challenges.

WHO WE ARE

 Our first unit of inquiry falls under the theme, Who We Are.  Before introducing the central idea to them, we looked at the theme and gathered their prior understanding of it.

It is surprising that our Grade 1s came up with these words. It is like speaking to adults. Look at the picture below and be amazed with how wide their thinking is.

WHO WE ARE talks about...

- what we think

- what is in your heart

- about our actions

-what we feel

- what we like

- family

and others...

Show and Tell

 This week, we had soft launch of Show and Tell. As Anton has some pictures about his trip, he was given the chance to show the pictures to his classmates and share with them memorable events he experienced during his trip over the summer break. Rosa volunteered to go next. She showed her new watch that she got from her Dad and explained to the class why she wears watch now and how it is going to be useful for her.

Show and Tell is an activity that is very helpful in the development of a child. It gives them an opportunity to stand or sit in front of their friends and speak about a topic that they find really interesting. This activity boosts their self-esteem and improved their communication skills. Through this, they also learn the concept of significance and value of objects. experience, people, and others.

Starting next week, we will conduct Show and Tell daily. A child will be assigned each day to do this.