Archives for Literacy

ES Performances

On Friday May 24 at morning assembly, there was a performance that highlighted the great collaboration between Grade 1 students and their teachers for their PYP unit of inquiry; How The World Works; All living things go through a process of change.  The students wrote and performed their stories which involved drama, music, art and language.

Here is a video on one performance called Grade 1S Baby Sea Turtle Adventure.  Afterwards the students shared reflections on how they felt about their performance.

On Friday May 31 at morning assembly, Kindergarten students performed two songs, one in Japanese and one in Korean at elementary’s weekly assembly. KP and KC took turns accompanying the singing with percussion instruments.  There was great collaboration between the students, homeroom teachers, Ms Bridgewater and a number of parents who helped them learn the songs in music class.

On Tuesday June 4, Grade 1 parents were treated to a wonderful experience when the Grade 1 Kuma Class performed their Ookinya Jyagaimo Play.   For Grade 1 PYP Unit of Inquiry, How we express ourselves, Grade 1 Kuma class made a story Ookina Jyagaimo by using their imagination. They made the story based on their favorite book Ookina Kabu. Students choose which animals they wanted to act, the foods to provide and how they would end the story.

 

 

In the play, students used many words and phrases which they learnt in Japanese class.

 

For instance, Itadakimasu, Oishii desune, and Doushi mashitaka?

 

By practicing for the play, students learnt what kind of situations they can use these phrases in their real lives.


‘Tales of Japan’ Elementary Play

 

 

 

The annual YIS Elementary Theatre production was tales about Japan. It told traditional stories from the areas of Okinawa and Hokaido. The stories drew upon the host culture and had connections to the Units of Inquiry. The actors did a professional performance that received much audience applause! The costuming and choreography were so creatively made with beautiful, musical accompaniment on the koto. Congratulations to all who was involved in this magical production! A special thank you to Mrs Leanne Erickson for her time with the elementary theatre production.

You can watch the video recording of the elementary play on Mrs Erickson’s blog.

 

Austrian Ballet Performance

On Friday March 15, all students from the ELC and elementary grades enjoyed a ballet performance of the Magic Flute, by the Austrian Ballet Company – Tokyo, hosted by St Maurs International School.

Below are two links to a summary of Magic flute, created by Ms Tasha with her KC students who shared blog posts about the story. These helped to orientate the students with some key points and most famous songs from the story, ahead of viewing the ballet performance.

Here are the links to both acts

This was really helpful  as students (and teachers!) were able to identify who the main characters were and recognized key pieces of music. The students were so engrossed with the dancers, particularly the one who played Papageno, a bird catcher who pretends it was he who saved prince Tamino.

Our students from all grades were such a well behaved and respectful audience, and judging by their laughter throughout the performance, thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Interestingly once back at school, there was much discussion as the students responded to the performance by creating their own representations of the story through dance, drawing, construction and play.

Photos courtesy of Austrian Ballet Company – Tokyo.

Elementary Play!

World Read Aloud Day

How did World Read Aloud Day look in elementary?

Kindergarten…

The children enjoyed taking part in World Read Aloud Day. They had a story in the library from a “mystery reader.” The children’s responses to the story will be displayed in the library next week.  Take a look as you pass by on the way home. KC’s Grade 10 buddies came and read aloud to them. The KC children decided to surprise their older buddies by reading a story to them. Click here to read more about Grade 10 buddies on the KC blog.

Grade 2…

Celebrating World Read Aloud day, 2R made videos of students reading some great picture books. To entertain the audience, the students focused on reading clearly with expression. The students also reflected on how they had each changed as a reader throughout their grade 2 year.

Grade 5…

Grade 5B say thanks to all of the guest readers, as it was a great day of hearing voices from around the school, the classroom and around the world.

How I’ve Changed As A Reader from YIS 2R on Vimeo.

Alan Levine


A
lan Levine has been visiting as part of his role in the Flat Classroom Conference held at YIS on March 8-10. Alan describes himself as someone who likes to “bark about and play with web tech, likes photography, guitars, storytelling and blogging”. Check out Alan Levine’s blog CogDogBlog!

During his time at YIS, Alan worked with the Grade 2 students in learning how to tell a familiar traditional story using only four icons and a sound for each icon.
Alan presented a passion talk to Grade 5 as part of their Exhibition Unit, How We Express Ourselves. Alan then worked with students in a second session using his webtool, Five Card flickr which is a great visual and creativity exercise for story telling.
Alan posed the question…

How do you construct something that makes sense from images that are not related to one another?

 

He referred teachers to his website 50+ Web 2.0 ways to tell a story which is great for guiding teachers through supporting students in making digital stories.
Alan posed a further question…

How do you come up with an idea to tell a story?
His website 50+ Web 2.0 ways to tell a story has examples such as ‘Try a story idea prompt’ and ‘Start with a Visual’, and broke down into these easy steps:
  • Spend some time thinking about the story you want to tell
  • Then find the media you want to use
  • Remember creative commons!  Use media you do not have to ask permission for.
  • Consider the possible tools you can use.
A big thanks to Alan for his time with elementary during his visit to YIS!

12.12.12

A great one day project is also coming up next week on 12.12.12. One Day on Earth Organization is looking forward to you contribution to their movie this year. A brief information about what the project can be found below:

On December 12th, 12.12.12, across the planet, documentary filmmakers, students, and other inspired citizens will record the human experience over a 24-hour period and contribute their voice to the third annual global day of media creation called One Day on Earth. Together, we will create a shared archive and a film.

Founded in 2008, One Day on Earth’s first media creation event occurred on 10.10.10. and the second on 11.11.11. The 10.10.10 collaboration was the first ever simultaneous filming event occurring in every country of the world. One Day on Earth collaborations create a unique geo-tagged video archive as well as an annual feature film.

Together, we are showcasing the amazing diversity, conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occurs in one day. We invite you to join our international community of thousands of filmmakers, hundreds of schools, and dozens of non-profits, and contribute to this unique global mosaic. One Day on Earth is a community that not only watches, but participates.

Last year 5B and our ES ICT Facilitator contributed to the 11.11.11 movie. Please find the links to our projects here:  The Day in the Life of a YIS Student and Hanging Garden

Official website: www.onedayonearth.org/

How to participate: http://www.onedayonearth.org/page/participate

If you have any questions or need help, please contact Elif Raskin raskine@yis.ac.jp

Here is the trailer for the event:
What will you do?

Collaboration!

Collaborative learning and cooperative learning.

Both involve active learning as opposed to passively receiving knowledge, however cooperative learning is more about students working together in groups to achieve a specific end product or goal determined by the teacher, whereas collaboration gives the responsibility to the students to determine what the final product will look like, with guidance by the teacher.

Students are global collaborators through online collaboration which  is proving to be a highly motivating experience and supportive of the international philosophy behind the PYP.

ELC children have discovered that they can solve problems together through collaboration.

Through their class blog and Twitter account, KC students have been collaboratively writing with other children in other schools around the world!

Students in 2c has enjoyed creating stories together. This is a story they made up together in class.  Check out the  2C Drama Story (password 2c drama).

In Visual Art, Grade 3 have been collaborating as part of their Unit of Inquiry How We Express Ourselves when reflecting on the IB Learner Profile. Read Mr Reed’s blog post.

Grade 4G were inquirers working collaboratively in small groups with science to make crystals as part of their Unit of Inquiry, How the World Works.

As part of their Unit of Inquiry Who We Are, Grade 5G has been exploring the central role that people’s beliefs play in our daily lives.  Each student is writing a “This I Believe” essay to then submit as a class to an online collaborative project.


Fabulous Friday Morning Assembly!

Friday Morning Assembly from Shanel Catasti on Vimeo.

On Friday 2nd November 2012, elementary held it’s weekly morning assembly under a clear sunny blue sky! The Grade 5 hosts did a fantastic job running the schedule. The assembly was also well attended by parents and visitors!

First, there was some birthday announcements for Ms Nanwani and Ms Quinn, and a special cheer for “Happy Halloween”.

Next, Grade 4N shared their learning from their recent Unit of Inquiry, Where We are in Place and Time; People continue to migrate for many reasons. Students shared facts about the Ainu culture through a creative “Do you know… ?” skit.

Then, Grade 2R performed an Australian story that was part of their Grade 2 Cross Cultural Lunch. The students told an Australian Indigenous story from the Aboriginal Dream time, where they sang and played Orff instruments and acted out parts of the story.  The elementary music teacher, Ms Bridgewater, had collaborated with Grade 2 on their Unit of Inquiry, Where We are in Place and Time; People can be enriched by their own cultures and the cultures they connect with throughout their lives.

Afterwards, the PTSA representative reminded the school community to come along to the YIS International Food Fair on Sunday 3rd November, from 10:00-15:30. After a few announcements from Ms. Pender, the Grade 5 hosts wishes everyone a “Freaky Friday”!

First weeks in Elementary

At the ELC, E1 are experiencing new relationships and beginnings  and E2 children are invited to explore and to belong to a community.

Kindergarten are inquiring into what a community is  and building their own community of learners.

Grade 1R have shared their experiences of Lots of Firsts and Grade 1S have already celebrated a birthday in their first days of school.

Grade 2 has jumped right into their Unit of Inquiry learning about how People can be enriched by their own cultures and the cultures they connect with throughout their lives.  The students have enjoyed  ICJC Culture Connection #1 – Japanese CookingMs Monna’s Culture visit and a Culture Walk.

Grade 3 are learning about Who We Are and thinking about the different ways of learning, how best people learn and what is a learning community.

Grade 4 have been discussing reasons why people migrate, including  People Smugglers and had the experience of “migrating” from their own classrooms in the first week of school!

Grade 5 are diving right into literacy learning  and mathematics in action.

 

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