St Patty's Day 2015

St Patrick's Day holds a special place in my heart because it also happens to be my birthday!  Belle & Kai were unwell so I had all three kids at home. 

We read The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever! and followed it up with a writing craft and drawing.  Keefe ended up colouring my leprechaun.  I think Belle's leprechaun drawing turned out so much better than mine!

Keefe & Belle did various math and literacy activities but all the action shots are Keefe's since Belle was not well enough for photos.

Printables from A Differentiated Kindergarten, The Printable Princess, Ingles 360 and Our Little Monkeys 

Kai did the activities over two days.  The poor fella has to wear an eye patch an hour a day because his right eye was diagnosed to be "lazy".  We have not been doing a lot of printables work lately since we've completed our letter of the week activities.  He is turning 4 in a few weeks' time - time to think of something new to keep him busy learning!

Printables from Our Little Monkeys and Over the Big Moon

Hello, 2015!

We rang in the New Year as a family in Marseille, France.  There were no big fireworks to count down the New Year but we enjoyed the pretty views from the Old Port underneath a clear, blue sky. 

A New Year means staying organised with a new planner!  My Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2015 Planner came last month, complete with a personalised name bookmark & metallic pin bookmark.  Love the embroidered cover with the Starbucks Siren holding a hot coffee mug!

A New Year also means new resolutions!  Belle missed school today but we managed to make a New Year's resolution craft (writing activity from The Starr Spangled Planner).  How cute are the eyes and necklace that she drew?!?

And finally, our littlest one turned 45 months old today.  In three more months, he'll be turning 4!

Happy Halloween 2014!

Halloween is not among the many festivals widely celebrated in Switzerland.  You don’t see children running around in costumes going door-to-door asking for treats!  This was a surprise to us when we first moved here!

 Kai is fortunate to be in a playgroup where a Halloween party is held every year – thanks to American teachers!  This was Kai's 2nd Halloween party since we moved.  His school was decorated with Halloween crafts which the children made throughout the week.  There were also some Halloween-themed treats like clementine jack-o-lanterns and ghost lollies.

Kai dressed as the Incy Wincy Spider at home but later on decided he wanted to be Batman so that’s what he wore to school. 

Kai's Halloween excitement went ‘poofed’ when he saw a boy dressed up as Spiderman in school.  He refused to participate in any activities until his wonderful teacher suggested that she paints Kai’s face as Spiderman.  This was a great suggestion and Kai was back in his usual happy self after his makeover!  Kai made a pumpkin collage (look at his sad face!), Frankenstein handprint art, did the 'walk the pirate plank', pin the nose on the pumpkin, colouring, and listened to two stories: Room on the Broom and Big Pumpkin.

Belle and Keefe didn't celebrate Halloween in school (due to some restrictions!) so they dressed up at home, and I made them a Halloween-themed snack and lunch for school.

That night, we did a Halloween scavenger hunt at home since there was no trick-or treating in the neighbourhood.  The first clue started with a letter in our mailbox, and led the kids to the following clues: broomstick, witches stew, bat, spoon to carve a pumpkin, spider, witches hat, and finally the BIG treat!

A Peek into 2nd Grade ~ 1st 6 Weeks

The school had an Open House last Monday so I had the opportunity to sit in and observe how learning was conducted in a second grade classroom.  The subjects I observed were German, P.E. and Unit of Inquiry.  Children are assigned to different groups according to their ability for German.  So Belle is with 12 other 2nd graders for her German class and the teacher converses only in Deutsch.  How much Belle took in - I have no idea!  

Here are some photos I took from Open House:

Inside Belle's classroom

Belle's class bulletin board display & a close-up of her work

Some posters inside Belle's classroom

Belle rehearsing her Hobby Shop presentation in front of her peers

Bulletin board display of other second grade classes

Belle during P.E. class (she forgot her indoor P.E. shoes!)

The second graders had their Hobby Shop Exhibition today.  For the past six weeks, they have been learning about their hobbies and learning styles.  The central idea was that the children's hobbies can reflect how they learn best.

The Hobby Shop exhibition is a product of the students’ research and inquiry into their hobby (something that they like to do in their free time).  The process includes identifying what they know, formulating questions and locating key information.  Each child was encouraged to consider their learning style when making their project.  For Belle’s case, she is a visual, linguistic and auditory learner.  She presented “Rainbow Loom” as her hobby and included research facts on the inventor, etc.  She also brought samples of loom bands and charms she had made to present during the exhibition. Here are some photos I took of her and other second graders’ presentation:

Some of the other children's hobbies included ice skating, rock climbing, soccer, skiing, scuba diving, dophin riding, horseback riding.

First Day of School 2014-2015

It’s hard to believe that summer vacation is over!  Where did time go?

I now have a 2nd grader and a kindergartener.

I managed to get a glimpse of Belle’s class this morning during drop-off.  She was thrilled to have one of her besties to be in the same class as her.  

Here's her first day of school interview and awesome self questionnaire: 

Keefe seemed comfortable with his teacher and classroom.  I think it’s because he has the same kindergarten teacher as Belle!

  This was the book that they read in class today:

Keefe completed a first day book after school and I helped him complete his first day of school interview.

We're off to a good start so far so fingers crossed for a great school year!

Grade 1 ~ Last Day of School

This was Belle’s first full year as a first grader, having joined the international school halfway as a kindergartener back in February 2013.  She had a fun year in first grade, and has formed very good friendships with 5 other girls.  She received an award for “Best Listener”, and a “Reading Certificate” for progressing from Level L at the beginning of year to Level N at the end of the year.

Belle's year-end portrait

Belle's last day of school special snack

Belle's portfolio from school

How cute is this end of year gift that Belle's class gave to their teacher?  

Strawberry Picking Fun in Basel

June means strawberry picking in many parts of Switzerland, including Basel.  The kids have never picked their own berries (gasp!) so we decided to head over to Wiesner's Beeriland today after lunch for some strawberry picking fun!

Red and plump strawberries!

Lots of happy smiles while picking strawberries under the 36-degree Celsius weather!

We paid CHF8.95 for 2kg of fresh strawberries and the kids can't wait to go back for another round of berry picking!    

   

Grade 1 & Preschool 2 ~ Annual Sports Day

Belle had her Sports Day last Friday morning.  This is the view of the school field.

She did a lot of jumping and running...

...pulling (tug-of-war!), balancing and crawling (obstacle courses!) with her best buddies.

Keefe had his Sports Day on the same day but in the afternoon.  He was grumpy for about an hour due to the hot weather so he did only two stations (soccer and jumping).  He felt better after an hour and participated in an obstacle course.  His favourite part was dancing to the "Hokey Pokey" song!

Kai had a lot more fun than Keefe, and did more stations than his big brother.  He loved riding the tricycle the most, not to mention dancing to "Hokey Pokey"!

Every student was treated to an ice cream at the end of the Sports Day.  Even Kai got one, thanks to Keefe's preschool teacher!

Grade 1 ~ Spotlight on Art

Belle’s current unit of inquiry is “A Work of Art”.  Belle loves art since young so she enjoys this unit a lot.  As a culmination of the current unit, parents were invited to an evening of scrapbooking to see their children’s artwork and to create a scrapbook with their children to keep as a memory.  I wasn’t able to attend the scrapbook evening so Belle’s teacher sent hers home and we worked on the scrapbook together from home.  Here's a peek at her scrapbook:

The cover page, which we decorated with stickers, ribbons and alphabet cut-outs

The first graders studied the work and style of famous artists, and created their own art pieces following the artist’s style.

(Top left) Belle’s favourite artwork was the “Japanese Bridge” by Claude Monet which she re-created with watercolours.

(Bottom left) Belle's rendition of abstract flower pictures using warm and cool colours, as inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe.

(Top right) Cupcake pop art, in the style of Andy Warhol.  She explained to me that she could only use 4 colours for pop art.

(Middle right) Belle's Picasso-inspired portrait, in the Cubist style, using oil pastels and paint.

(Bottom right) Abstract art using cut paper, as inspired by Henri Matisse. 

Belle's other art pieces where she applies different art techniques learnt from other first grade teachers.

Belle’s Elmer project from German class.  This is her story of Elmer, translated into English:

Elmer is happy.

It is colourful...it is orange, dark green, violet, pink, light green, red, blue and turquoise.

Elmer is very large.

He is spotted and floral.

Elmer is strong, funny, beautiful and kind.

Elmer has a big nose.

Elmer is very, very young.

It is a girl.

Grade 1 ~ Healthy Bodies

At the end of each unit of inquiry, first graders share their work to their parents.  For the past two months, the first graders have been inquiring into “Healthy Bodies”.  

Belle had her 4th portfolio sharing session yesterday and she shared her final project, which was a poster she made to show what she has learnt about staying healthy.  She broke down her poster (titled “How to Be Well-Balanced”) into four components: Nutrition, Germs, Exercise, Hygiene, provided facts and examples for each component.  I thought it was well done because she included detailed information and drawings in her poster.

Belle showed me her imaginary germ called “Valentine” who spreads only good germs to people.  How creative is that! J

Belle shared her portfolio folder with me but singled out her favourite activities to share in detail.  One was a glitter experiment, and the other one was hunting for germs.  I thought the germ-hunting experiment was quite interesting ‘cos each student had to take a cotton swab to collect some germs, spread the swab into a pool of tomato paste, observe how their germs “grow” after a few days.  Belle took a swab from under her chair and it turned out to be a tiny germ (but still yucky!).  She told me that her friend Bibi took a swab behind the interactive whiteboard and it turned out to be a BIG germ that she didn’t even want to touch it!

St Patrick's Day Fun

This week is review week of the letters Q, R, S and T in playgroup so Kai made an S is for shamrock. 

At home, we had some activities from this printable pack.  It was Kai's first time using the pocket chart and loves to use it for matching the vocabulary cards.  He also used clothespins for the first time for counting practice (one-to-one correspondence of numbers 1 to 4 & number recognition) and it was great practice for those fine motor skills! (Honestly, I thought he couldn't do it!) We also did an uppercase and lowercase letter Cc sort - he didn't like this as much as the other activities.

Keefe also had some activities from this printable pack.  We worked on ordinal numbers (first, second, third, fourth, fifth) and he did perfectly!  He did the patterns super quickly only to realize (after I took the photo) that he made two mistakes so he quickly corrected them.  He enjoyed the clothespin activity as much as Kai.

The leprechaun visited Keefe’s class and in Keefe's words, “made a big mess”.  The class watched the movie “Leprechaun’s Gold”, made St Patrick’s Day hats (with the different symbols associated with the celebration) and had shamrock cookies.  He had a St Patrick's Day-themed bento for lunch.  Each child in the class had to make a wish for the leprechaun and Keefe's wish was: "I wish I had a baby sister." (Well apparently, 7 kids in the class wanted a baby sister!)  He also remembered to make a birthday card for me in school.  Inside the card, he wrote: "IIU mummy".

 

We celebrated my birthday at home in the evening blowing green candles I found in Aldi (because we didn’t have cake!) and a super simple dinner.  Belle made a crown for me because I was "Queen for a day"!