Who Am I?

Dear all,

As you know every year the school chooses a theme around which all our activities unfold.

I am forwarding an email sent to us by Ms. Sue and Mr. Brian asking for:

• Your child’s input in building the theme for the next scholastic year.
• By sending in a very short presentation of your child/children at the school on the theme “Who Am I?”
• This snapshot of everyone will help them put together this theme.
• I encourage you to send in a short very simple presentation so this could happen. Thus the children once again will feel part of the so valued school ethos “we are a one big family”.
• Please send in your child’s contribution by the 15th of July.
• Presentations have to be sent to Ms. Sue and Mr. Brian via email details found below.

 

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Dear Parent/s and Students,

Good afternoon.  I trust that you are well although the end of the year brings with it the fatigue of exams or assessment times (for the older students) and the simple fatigue of the end of the year and the heat that starts visiting us.

We are currently mulling over the theme for next year (as you are aware, we choose a Theme which governs the life of the School over the academic year) and to this effect, we require the help of the students (and in the case of the younger students, that of the Parents).  

We have a project in mind but for this to materialise, we need EVERY student at our School to prepare a presentation on himself/herself.  This presentation can be a short video clip, a story, a paragraph with images etc. It should include elements such as basic information like age, class, name and surname and family composition.  

But the focus should be on talents, fears and joys, dreams and hopes – essentially, what makes that person unique.  So fundamentally, this would be a presentation with the focus on “Who am I?”

We want to get to know our students more intimately (in as much as they want to divulge obviously) because this will help us in the planning of our year with them.

So we would appreciate it if you (as a student, or with the parents’ help if the child is young or cannot work on it on his/her own) would work on it and send us this clip, story, paragraph etc by not later than the 15th July. Kindly send this via email to me on sue.midolo@stcatherines.eu and to Mr. Brian on brian.gauci@stcatherines.eu with a subject caption of the email saying “Presentation of  ……. (name and surname of child and class next year)”.

We look forward to receiving your email!

Thanks 

Ms.Sue Midolo & Mr. Brian Gauci

 

 

Thank you

 

Dear all,

Along with Ms. Corinne and Ms. Stefania, I would like to thank you all for the lovely presents you have given us.

We will surely enjoy them and cherish all the lovely memories we had with your lovely children this year.

We also want to thank you for your constant support and collaboration which made this year even more special.

We wish you all a restful summer with your family and loved ones!

 

 

 

Last 2 Presentations – Life Guards & Scientist in Class

During the last two weeks of schooling we had another two lovely presentations from parents in our class.

We had Mr. and Mrs. Mcdonald who came in to show use what safety measures we have to take and look out for when we are at the beach and out at sea.   They showed the children equipment that needs to be used such as how to put on a life jacket, how a rope is used to pull someone out of the water when in difficulty, why the life guard blows the whistle from time to time.

The children got to know that the universal colours used by the lifeguards all over the world are red and yellow.

The children even played a flag game where a few children held up the coloured flags used to give warning at the beach such as a yellow flag, a green flag, a blue flag, a purple flag and a red flag.  The presenters mentioned what each one is associated with and the children having that particular flag lifts it up.

The second presentation was carried out by Mr. Vella, Neil’s dad.  He explained the importance and relevance of science in today’s world.  How all of us are little scientists in our own way.

They were shown the lab coat, the safety glasses, the protective gloves, the pipette, flask, the wash bottle used in a laboratory.  He stressed the importance of safety during experimentation time.  It is important that whichever experiments are carried out at this age they are done under adult supervision.

The Elephant Toothpaste Experiment

He then carried out the Elephant toothpaste experiment which the children really enjoyed watching.  Here is an online version of the experiment:

The Volcano Experiment

He then carried out a simpler experiment where all the children could participate in groups on their respective tables.  The children got to handle plastic beakers, plastic pipettes, plastic wash bottles etc.  They carried out the volcano experiment using plastic cups, baking soda, vinegar, food colouring and water.  Here is an online version of the experiment carried out by a young boy   :).

We had the cups instead of the volcano and put the ingredients all in one container.

The children enjoyed playing little scientists where they measured and mixed different ingredients together and saw the small child friendly chemical reactions that happen afterwards.  They were awarded a little scientist badge which they proudly wore all day and the got home.  You can always replicate them at home with your little ones using the video clips above.

Thanks once again to the parents who contributed to the above successful presentations.  I also take this opportunity to thank all those parents who came forward and carried out interesting talks and presentations in the past few weeks.

 

 

Final Week – Important Reminders

Dear all,

These are some final points pertaining to the last week of school

• Progress report – I have sent home the display file with the last two reports.  The first report gathers the progress done during the In the Garden and Malta themes. The last and final report shows the progress done during the last theme People Who Help Us and an overview of your child’s learning journey through the year.  Please send it in by tomorrow 25^th June as we have to photocopy the reports for admin purposes and send them back to you once again at the very end.

• Graduation – Tuesday 26^th June is our awaited graduation day.  Children are to come to school as usual latest 8 am with their summer uniform and appropriate socks and shoes.  Graduation will take place at 11.30 am. You are then asked to come to class to collect your children’s belongings.  The children can come with you too.

• Fun Games – Wednesday 27^th June is our fun water games day as per Ms. Karen’s email.  I am attaching it below just in case you did not receive it.

• Last day of school – the last day of school will be Thursday 28th June.  We shall be having the end of school party on the day.  Please refer to Ms. Karen’s email attached below.  The children are expected to come to school as usual 8 o’clock latest.  They are to come in casual clothes.  The fee being collected to cover party expenses and food is that of Eur8. Kindly send the money enclosed in a labelled envelope by Tuesday 26th.

• Stationery Items – During the past week we have been returning items for you to keep home, crafts, pencils, play dough etc. Next week we will return some more items.  Please make sure that you send in the red folder with the red copybook but without the other items we already sent home inside.

 

Thank you for your constant co-operation.

 

Ms Karen’s Email

 

Term 3 Week 11 – Reading and Blending Books

In the past week during our circle time sessions we have been reading and blending words from the Julia Donaldson books I have been sending home to most of the class.

The books we managed to look at where the following:

This is the way we went about the stories:

• First we looked at the cover of the book and tried to guess what the story is all about from the picture provided.
• We then looked at the title and the author’s name.
• We also looked at the back cover of the book where we find the “blurb”. This the summary part of the book which will help the children understand what the book is all about and thus they will know if it interests them or not.
• We then moved on to looking at flashcard words that can be found in each book.
• We used the blending technique I had send on the blog way back in second term. That of saying the separate sounds, then saying the first two sounds and then joining the last sound with the first 3.  Repeating this 3 times going faster each time and finally at the end forming the word.
• We finally read the book but stopping on several pages to look at the pictures, asking questions to guess what might come next and giving our own twist to the story.

Here is the online version of the books:

 

 

 

 

Term 3 Week 11 – Number 20

The last number for this year is 20 which was associated with the questions topic we might ask around when we are interested in something.

After the usual drill of singing up to 20 song, writing it in the air, and looking at the numicon shape which pertain to this number, the children proceeded to counting beans and buttons.  They also worked in groups to draw 20 circles onto a piece of cardboard using the numicon shapes as a template.

The children also worked out these last pages on their number scrapbook and their People Who Help workbooks which they will be getting home on Monday.

Scrapbook pages – They used the rainbow technique for the 20 formation.  They also counted and stuck 20 very tiny questions marks on the adjacent blank.

People Who Help workbook pages:

For page 22 they had to use the cutting technique to count the various objects.  Then they had to compare the amounts by using the number line provided and circle the bigger number.

The children also sang and moved to the following song:

 

 

Term 3 Week 11 – Writing Letter q

Letter q is the last alphabet letter that we tackled this week.  This was associated with questions we might ask to the people around us especially our dads.

The children were very enthusiastic to come up with their own words starting with the letter q.  The words they came up with were the following: queen, queue, quilt, quit, question and question mark.  They also watched the following video clips:

 

I reminded them that q does not stand alone but it always holds hands with letter u as in queen.

As usual they formed this letter in the air, on the interactive whiteboard and in sand.  Finally they practiced writing it on their workbooks.  Here is how the pages looked like:

Success Criteria for writing letter q

• We start at the top.
• We then curve.
• Go up.
• Go down in a straight line
• Stop and kick.

Remember that the curve cannot be very big or very small.  The kick is small not very big.

Besides playing some games which included letter q on the interactive whiteboard and looking for the letter q in their class library books they also worked a mixed page.

 

 

Term 3 Week 10 – Questions and Father’s Day

Apologies – forgot to post this blog last weekend!

Our work is nearing an end so during topic work we spoke about how many questions we have posed since the beginning of the year.  We pointed out that it is very good to ask questions because that shows we are interested and inquisitive.

However there are rules to follow when asking questions.

• The questions have to match the topic at hand. If we are talking and asking questions about food we cannot pose questions like, “Where are we going abroad this summer?”
• Not all questions can be answered.
• We have to wait for our turn to ask a question not ask over someone else. That would be rude.

When we grow older we can look up answers in books and on the computer too.  These media contain endless answers to many questions.  Answers might be around us, we just need to keep our eyes and ears open.

However I mentioned that at this point in their lives they ask questions to their teachers, grandparents, friends, mum and last but not least to their dad.

These are all people who love us very much and are ready to give us a proper answer if they can.  We associated this with Father’s Day.  We said no matter if we live with our dad or not he loves us very much and he is ready to answer the endless amount of questions we might have.  The children watched a sweet story called, A Perfect Father’s Day by Eve Bunting.

They also watched another lovely story called I Love Dad written by Giles Andrej

We explored what special things each and every one of them can do with their dad to show him that they love him.  They mentioned many things such as give him a hug, help him wash the car, play together with toys, go to the beach together or at the park, read a story together,  draw a picture for him, tickle him etc.

We ended our Father’s day and question topic by creating a card which I hope you enjoyed.  The children loved putting it together.

They also created a little memento out of modelling clay with their little finger imprint for you to cherish. (It is stuck on the card and I hope it arrived home in one piece)   🙂

 

 

Tomorrow – Library Book Deadline

Dear all,

Tomorrow is the deadline for handing in the library book along with the picture homework and library card in the blue folder.

In return I will be sending home the In The Garden and Malta Workbooks for you to keep and use for revision purposes during the summer holidays with your little ones   🙂

 

Thank you for your co-operation

Ms. Geraldine

The reports regarding these two themes will be sent out shortly after we would have completed the last all through the year progress report. 

 

Happy Birthday Bernard

Happy Birthday Bernard!

Hope you had a lovely day.  I know you enjoyed the special moment when your friends cheered and sang happy birthday to you.

I have the photo to commemorate this however I cannot upload it as yet.  Hope to be able to do so very soon when we will be given the go ahead.