Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday.  Thank you for your support during this first semester.  Looking forward to teaching your children in the next half of the school year.  

The children made some beautiful gingerbread houses during their last week of the first semester.

Culture Presentation

I want to thank all the parents for attending the Cultural Presentation.  The children were nervous but because of a combination of practicing and your kind encouragement, the children performed well.  

Thank you to those parents who also brought in some traditional food from their home country.  It was a nice reward for the children for having the courage to talk in front of a group of adults.  

Please enjoy some pictures of the event below:

Stand tall and deliver!

Cards help to work out what comes next.

There is no running away now!

Nice job.

Question time.

Colorful clothes and brave boy.

Mr. Confidence.

An interested audience.

Professional.

Handling herself well.

Good job!

Preparation was the key.

Looking good!

A strong clear voice.

Commands respect.

Team Ingrid.

Here it is.

Emphasising a point.

Remembering.

Good luck at your new school Benjamin.

Culture Presentation

Culture

 

Dear Parents,

 

This Friday, 13^th,  children from our class will give a short presentation about their culture.  The topic areas are:

 

 PLACE, BELIEFS, FOOD, CELEBRATIONS/TRADITIONS and FAMILY LIFE. 

 

The presentations will be presented as a power point.  The students have been practicing in class what they will say.  We have been using small cards with KEY words on it to help the children remember what to say.  Could you please listen to your child present at home tonight and Thursday night?  I will attach a checklist to use as a guide.  The children are aware of this list.

 

There will be 5 or 6 students presenting at the same time (4 total groups) – this means the rest of the students and parents will be the audience for these children.  We will then change the  presenting group.

 

Group 1 – Jeremy, Cordelia, Cindy, Tulio, and Farrah

 

Group 2 – Trent, Cailey, Paul, Ethan, and Karen

 

Group 3 – Ashley, Yuzo, Andrew, Derek, Marvin, and Adele

 

Group 4 – Matthew, Benjamin, Amber T, Chloe, Amber W, and Ingrid

 

The presentation will begin at 1:00 and conclude at about 2:00.  Some parents have asked how they can help.  Both ways are only optional.  Please do not feel any pressure.

 

1.        Your child could wear their traditional clothes on this day.

2.       You could bring in a small plate of some traditional food from your culture.

 

Again, this is not necessary but if you would like to, or have the time, it might be nice.

 

Kind regards,

 

Marcus Wolak

 

Name ___________________________

Cultural Project Practice Checklist below:

Skill	3 – I did it!	2 – need more practice	1 – I forgot!
I made eye contact with my audience
I spoke slowly and clearly so people could understand
I spoke loud enough so my audience can hear me
Make sure audience can see my presentation
Smile so my audience knows I am enjoying my presentation
Focus on what I am saying
Ask for questions?

 

 

Culture

What is Culture?

 

Our current social studies unit is focused around the word CULTURE.  Culture is sometimes difficult to define.  One definition is: 

 

Culture is the characteristics of a group of people. 

 

Another definition:

 

People that share the same culture as someone else share similiar beliefs, values, customs and behavior.

 

Some of the big questions we as a class will be discussing over the next few weeks are...

 

What is culture?

 

Does everyone in Taiwan have the same culture?

 

Why are differences in culture good?

 

Why are similarities in cultures good?

 

Do you carry your culture wherever you go?

 

Does your culture change when you move to a new country?

 

Do cultures ever change?

 

Our work will culminate with the children designing a power point highlighting their own culture.  The presentation will take place in class on Friday 13th.

Dear Parents,

 During our social studies unit, the children have begun learning about a person’s culture.  We are reading books and watching short videos that highlight different cultures from around the world. 

 Teaching this unit is always interesting, especially for children in the classroom that may have a mix of cultures in their family.  It is something that many children do not think about but upon reflection and discussion, a greater understanding is born. 

 On Friday 13^th December the children will present a short power point presentation in class.  There will be a number of presentations going on in the class at the same time.  The students from other grade 3 classes along with parents will be the audience.  Each presentation will go for about 5 minutes. 

 In preparation I have asked children to begin bringing in photos that would be inserted into their power point.  Photos are not essential, but you might have some excellent ones that will add to the effect of the power point.

 The categories that we have decided to present are:

 PLACE

 

BELIEFS

 

FOOD

 

CELEBRATIONS/TRADITIONS

 

FAMILY LIFE

 If possible could you please help your child find some photos that could be matched to any of these categories?  A USB drive is a good idea.  The children could bring it in and start to insert some pictures.  If you do not have any, this will not be a problem.  We can search for some appropriate images online.

 The presentation will begin at 1:00 on Friday 13^th December.

 It would be great if you could join us!

 Kind regards,

 Marcus Wolak

Engineering - Solar Ovens

Over the past few weeks the children and I have been learning about how engineers solve problems.

The engineering process that your children should be familiar with:

IMAGINE - What would the world be like if we used less power?  What could we do to use less power and energy?  Maybe we could use the power from the sun to make a solar oven?

PLAN - What materials will be useful?  What impact will these materials have on the environment?  Write down some materials we could use.  Draw a picture of what it could look like.

CREATE - Make it.

TEST - Try it out.  Write down the results.  Analyze and discuss.

IMPROVE - What could I do differently to make it work better next time?

After planning their design, children went about creating their solar oven. 

Team work was important.

Everyone had a job to do.

Putting the plan into action.

Make it the best you can.

A few finishing touches.

It is easy for the children to be focused on a project like this one.

Finding some material.  Think about the impact on the environment.

Taking shape.

Let's use the sun to make our ovens as hot as possible.

Warming up!

Recording results.

Getting the angles right.

Discussing the results and thinking about how we can make it better.