Creative Building!

We introduced a new manipulative in class- No Ends Building Pieces. The children loved trying to create different things.  Over the past couple of days they have figured out how to make 3D buildings!

No More Germs!

In class we did an activity about hand washing together. We talked about how we cannot see germs but that doesn’t mean they are not there.  We were inquiring into factors that influence a healthy lifestyle, and part of being healthy is not spreading germs!  Mrs. Katie pretended to sneeze into her hand and used glitter to represent the germs.  Mrs. Katie then shook hands with Retal, who then shook hands with Ahmad, and they kept shaking hands.  The germs spread across 7 students.  Then Mrs. Katie pretended to do a big sneeze without covering her hands.  The germs (glitter) spread all of the students.  This allowed the children to see how quickly their germs can spread.  We then practiced washing our hands properly so that we won’t spread any more germs.

Update from Mrs. Marwa

Arabic Studies

Dear parents,

Ahlan wa sahlan! My name is Ms. Marwa Gadry and I am really looking forward to teaching K2 Arabic and Islamic studies with my assistant Ms Zeinab Farhat. I have been teaching Arabic in International schools for 5 years.  It gives me great pleasure to deliver my mother tongue language in a useful practical way to both Arabic speaking and non-Arabic speaking K2 children living in KAUST.

This month we have explored the “How we express ourselves”, we introduced simple ways to name ourselves – esmi (my name is), sabah al khair (good morning), marhabn (hello), ma’a al salama (good bye).

We also looked at the “Who We Are” unit and have been using words associated with physical movement - run, jump, swim and play football. To encourage children to use these words our lesson was held outside so children could use these words in context. From this activity we introduced other words like colors and other movements. We continued inquiry by introducing Arabic names for healthy food e.g. strawberry, apple, orange, lettuce, banana and carrot.

We have had lots of fun as every child was able to draw their self-portrait, write their name, paint and enjoy discovering the different corners and activities around the classroom.

Hello	marhabn
Good morning	Sabah al khair
My name	esmi
Bye bye	ma’a al salama
Big	Kabeer
Small	Sagheer
Strong	Qawi
Swim	asbah
Run	ajri
Jump	Aqfiz
Banana	Mauz
Apple	Toffah
Lettuce	Khas
Carrots	Jazar
Orange	Bortoqal

Best regards

Marwa Gadry

Our Whole Class!

Today our whole class was in school!! We have such a great group of students! 

Healthy Eating Skype with Amaya's Aunt Ann

On Monday we had the great opportunity to talk to Amaya's Aunt Ann who is on the east coast of the USA!  She got up at 1:30am to talk to us! We were so lucky!
She shared with us a lot of information about what foods should be everyday foods, and which should be sometimes foods.  She was very informative, and interactive, and the kids LOVED her!  Amaya's mom brought in healthy snacks for us to make with the help of Ann.

 Ann had a big display of healthy foods ready for the children to see. 

The presentation was interactive- we were up jumping, dancing, and enjoying ourselves. 

We were given a rice cake, peppers, hummus, carrots, cheese and cucumbers to make food faces to eat.

We were all risk-takers and tried all of the healthy food!!

News from Mr. E

Dear Parents,

My name is Eduardo Regula and your child may know me as Mr. E. I’m the K2 Performing Arts (PA) teacher and this is my third year in TKS teaching PA. I’m pleased to introduce you to Babushka, who has been with us since last year in K1. Before moving to KAUST I was working back in my home country, Portugal, at the National Conservatory of Music in Lisbon.

The PA program consists of Music, Drama and Movement. I’ll be happy to let you know more about the curriculum if you are interested.

During the first weeks we revisited some of the children favorites songs from last year, such as Going on a Bear Hunt, The Big Great Spider, Alice the Camel, Wind the Bobbin Up and the Elephant songs. In the first unit we are focusing on musical skills such as keeping a steady beat as we play an instrument, move in place or move in space. Children have been singing, moving and playing to Johnny Works With One Hammer, Rum Ba Da Dum Bum Bum (Drum Song), The Synconpated Clock (Clock Song) or Little Horses.

After the Eid break we will start a new unit on Songs and Games around the World. I would like to invite any of you who wants to share with the class any song, dance or game that you know and/or your child enjoys to contact me. You can send me a link or we can arrange a time for you to come and share it with the class. We welcome songs in all languages - we are open-minded, communicators and risk-takers!

We will soon start sharing songs around the school, with some classes getting together to perform a few songs for other classes. Stay tuned for more information about what is happening in the Performing Arts classes. If you have any question about PA lessons, please feel free to contact me at eduardo.regula@kaust.edu.sa

Week Ending September 18th

Hello Parents!  

We have had a great week inquiring into what being healthy is, and what we can do to take control of our health.   We are encouraging the children to bring in healthy snacks.  Have a look at the healthy habits link on our blog to get some ideas.  

Juwana and Roaa have been writing, and role-playing being teachers. They have created different lists, and have enjoyed creating different words. 

We opened up a new resource- Geo Boards. The children loved using the elastics to create different pictures and shapes.  

Hajar loves the rice table.  She will create different pretend meals with it, and practice measuring. 

The boys have been working hard today at creating different train tracks.  They have been using their social skills and problem solving skills to figure out the best train track. 

We have been exploring what we want to have for our physical goals.  The children have been testing their skills on the playground and seeing which they think they would like to improve.

A lot of the kids enjoy trying to climb up the play structure and swing.  They are counting to see how long they can hang before they have to let go. 

Azka and Hajar have been working for days on this project- they have been mixing wet sand and dry sand to get the right consistency for their sand castles. 

Amaya and Sean have been creating a fairy garden, and have been using their imaginations on how they can make pixie dust. 

Ahmad loves to play basketball.  He has been practicing getting it in the hoop!

These girls were loving "driving" their car!

Azka has been practicing her balancing skills.  She can now walk all around the sand box without anyone holding her hand. 

Iman has decided she wants to work on her hoola-hoop skills.  She is counting how many times around she can go. 

Hamudi decided to use seeds to see how high he could count. He was using the shovel to count each of the seeds. 

Today we had two special guests come to our class- two nurses.  They were talking to the children about what is means to be healthy.  Nurse Malissa asked the children "what does a nurse do?"  Amaya responded with "they help you feel better!" and Sean said "they put injections into your body".  Nurse Malissa explained to use that being healthy means feeling good and not being sick.  We talked about the importance of going to bed early, and having at least 10 hours of sleep a night.  We also talked about having a healthy breakfast everyday before coming to school.   Nurse Malissa asked us what we should do before we eat? We agreed that we need to wash our hands!

It has been a great week! The children have been active inquirers.  Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Katie

Yoga!

Part of our unit of inquiry on how we develop new skills as we grow, the children have been investigating different ways of exercising.  Sean said that yoga is a form of exercise, and wanted the class to learn how to do yoga.  The last two days we have tried different yoga routines, and the students love it!

This week we have started journaling.  Each child has their own book, and they find their own space to write in their journal. We talk about things they might want to journal about, but for now, it is up to them what they want to write about.  

Journaling is not just for children who have developed writing skills.  This is a way for emergent writers to express themselves however they feel best- whether it is through drawing pictures, pretend writing, or writing letters that they already know.  Sometimes the children will want to dictate to me what they have put in their journal, and I will document this on a post-it note and stick it on their journal.