Year 3-4

Dear Parents and Children,

And we have come to the end of a fantastically busy, challenging and exciting term in the Year 3-4 class. As I look back on all that we have covered over the last few months I am filled with pride.

Congratulations to Seongyun and Cherry Blossom on their commendation and Citizenship awards. Your names will be up on the HFS Wall of Honour when you return.

Thank you to Lois for her thoughtful Christmas cards, it is really a touching gesture. Thank you to Logan for the candy treats. They really made the last day special.

I am so proud of the students for all their hard work this term. It was clearly visible in their biographies and news reports which everyone enjoyed. Well done to all of you! Here is a link to video 1 and video 2 and video 3

Despite it being the last week of term the students kept busy in their learning, eagerly working on their news report projects and biographies. We also had a special cultural exchange lesson with a middle school in Seoul. We got to talk to students from another school and see their presentations about their school. We  discussed ideas for what would be the perfect school. I am very glad that our students had creative and sensible ideas for creating the ideal school. Please enjoy these pictures of the learning that has taken place this week.

The students have earned a well-deserved Winter break and I hope that you have a joyous and blessed festive season. Have a wonderful holiday everyone and I will see you on for Term 2 on Monday 6 January.

Mr. Kearney More…

Dear Parents and Children,

What a fantastic week it has been. The students outdid themselves in their performances in the Winter Show last night. Well done to everyone for all their hard work in creating an amazing evening of entertainment. The students enjoyed being creative making crafts and stage props for their set.

In class this week the Year 3-4 students were still busy. We completed our news report scripts in groups and rehearsed them to be ready to record next week. They have linked this to their IPC unit to include an interview with a significant person from history in their news report.

In Math the students made pie charts from pirate treasure and reviewed fractions, understanding equivalent fractions.

In P.E. the students had fun in their cooperation games unit using the parachute to work together to control balls. What a spectacle!

There is no spelling this week but the students do have homework in the form of writing a newspaper story on one of the images provided. It should include all the typical features of newspaper articles that we have learned about. The students must also interpret pie charts as we have done in class and the Year 4 students must create a pie chart using the information given.

Please be advised that reports went home with your child today. Please review the report and complete the parent’s comments section and bring it with you to the parent teacher conferences on Wednesday. I look forward to seeing you there.

A further reminder that there will be no club activities next week (except for swimming lessons on Tuesday and Wednesday). Please make arrangements to collect your child from school at 3:30 pm if they do not take the school bus home.

That is all for this week. Do have a wonderful weekend and keep warm.

Mr. Kearney

More…

Year 3 Spelling percentage radius frequency wisdom courage believe appear breath arrive height

Year 4 Spelling percentage radius frequency wisdom courage although dough rough through bought

Dear Parents and Children,

A dynamic week of fun and learning it has been in the Year 3-4 Johannesburg class.

In English the students are working on their final group project creating a news report. They will write, rehearse and record a video news report and link with their IPC unit “They made a difference” and research a significant person from history to interview.

In Math we learned about percentages and their relationship to fractions as we continued our section on data handling now moving on to pie charts.

In IPC The students worked in groups and selected and researched a person of significance from history for their ICT class to create a fact file towards creating a biography. Next week the students will work individually, choosing a person that they feel is important in history and create a biography of that person.

We continued with our cooperation games unit in P.E. and the students had to work together to create continuous chains to carry a ball using pool noodles They also had to solve the riddle of the farmer crossing the river with a lion, a rabbit and a bag of carrots, acting it out with P.E. material. I am pleased that they could work out the complicated solution in teams.

Other than subject learning, the students enjoyed making colorful snowflake crafts for sale at the Winter show next week and we enjoyed show and tell presentations from Logan who shared his baseball medal winning with the class and an interesting presentation from Reyansh and Jeremy about the universe.

I am so proud at their hard work in rehearsing their songs for the Winter Show next week. The lyrics for the songs wen t home with their homework today so please ensure that they practice over the weekend. The lyrics for “Santa’s stuck up in the Chimney” can be found by clicking here and the words for “I hate Christmas” can be found by clicking here. A gentle reminder that students should wear a combination of red, white and black clothing for the show.

A reminder that the Parent-Teacher conferences will take place on Wednesday 11 December from 10:30 am and throughout the day. the sign-up sheet is in the office so please fill in your desired slot by Friday 6 December. That is all for this week. Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr. Kearney. More…

Spelling Year 3: Headline timeline famous caption record truly daily fully shyly publicly

Spelling Year 4: Headline timeline famous caption record attraction invention injection question action

Dear Parents and Children,

We are thirteen weeks into this term and things are going well in the Year 3-4 Johannesburg class.

Well one to the year 3 -4 class for conducting the assembly on Monday. The school displayed their creativity at the students stations.

This week the students learned more about writing a newspaper report, planning and creating one based on their favourite movies and stories. We also learned about the differences between facts and opinions.

In Math the students made line graphs showing the progress they have made in their weekly multiplication tests and we gathered data onow water changing temperature over time to represent in a time graph next week.

In IPC we learned how to create a timeline and biography showing the important events in the life of a significant person, focusing on Nelson Mandela (A personal hero of mine).

In P.E. we continued with cooperation games. this week using hula hoops and noodles and working together to complete a task.

The Winter show is fast approaching and the year 3-4 students have been practicing their class song. For the show parents are requested to dress their child in a combination of red and white and black clothing as seen in the picture below. It does not need to be exactly as in the image but rather just a combination of the red, white and black colours of the season.

We will be learning our song for the Winter Show Play “The Grinch who stole Christmas”next week. Our song is “I hate Christmas and the students can find the lyrics by clicking here and click here to see a video of the song.

That is all for this week. Do have a wonderful weekend.

Mr Kearney

Spelling Year 3 Biography connectives interview represent data actually tragically magically comically accidentally

Spelling Year 4 Biography connectives interview represent data permission possession discussion expression mission

Dear Parents and Children,

I am pleased to report that we have notched another full week of learning in the Year 3-4 Johannesburg class.

Firstly, congratulations to Jeremy for winning our Spelling bee. He performed exceptionally, spelling some rather tricky words. Well done to our runners up, Juveria and Cherry Blossom and also to our finalist, Reyansh. They all put in a lot of effort into studying the list of words to prepare for the competition.

In Class this week the learning progressed steadily. In English we learned about words with “lly” endings and “ssion” suffixes”. We also learned about coordinating conjunctions using FANBOYS (For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) and applied them to sentences which we will use for our report writing in the coming weeks. The students were also showed the song they will be performing in the Winter Show. Please click here to get a copy of the lyrics so that they may study at home.

In Math we started our unit on data handling by looking at different kinds of graphs and charts. We proceeded to learn about scaled bar graphs as the students made their own using given data and then moved on to interpreting other scaled bar graphs.

In IPC we continued our exploration of significant people from history looking at people from the past and present as well as placing them on a world history timeline across the gymnasium floor to get an understanding of how much time there is in recorded history.

In P.E. we are working on cooperation games using different equipment; balls, hula hoops and noodles as the students have to work together to overcome challenges.

We have also been hard at work preparing for our assembly on Monday. Join us at 1:35 on Monday for some entertaining activities about being creative.

We ended off the week by wishing Logan a Happy Birthday! We hope that he has an enjoyable day. A fitting end to a fun week.

That is all for this week. Have a wonderful weekend. More…

Spelling Year 3: report journalist anchor news significant gently simply horribly possibly comfortably

Spelling Year 4: report journalist anchor news significant expansion supervision suspension tension fusion

Dear Parents and Children,

I am pleased to report that another dynamic week of learning and discovery has passed us by in the Year 3-4 Johannesburg class. The students plunged straight into learning after the Autumn break without skipping a beat. We started a number of new earning units this week.

In English the students learned that the ending of words sometimes changes when a suffix is added and we looked at “ly” and “sion” suffixes. We then held our class Spelling Bee quiz. I am so happy that so many participated since the words were challenging. Congratulations to Reyansh, Cherry Blossom, Jeremy and Juveria for making it to the finals which will be held on Wednesday 13 November at 5:30 pm. Please study the word list provided last week.

We also started our non-fiction writing unit on News Reports. The students viewed some examples of other schools making news reports before understanding the structure and features of a basic news report. We had fun turning classic nursery rhymes into news reports in preparation for our trip to Ulsan Media Center today. The students had a fantastic time experiencing a real news studio and you can see their news productions soon.

In Math we ended off our geometry unit by learning how to calculate the area of compound shapes and triangles and applied this understanding to word problems.  Next week we will look at handling data and problem solving.

In IPC we also started a new unit on “people who made a difference”. We had a quiz about significant people throughout history and talked about important historical figures that we know. I look forward to learning more about people from the past and present who have made a difference.

In P.E. We started our cooperation games unit and the students had fun playing team orientated activities, learning to work together to overcome a challenge.

That is all for this week. Have a great weekend.

Mr. Kearney More…

Dear Parents and Children,

What an eventful and productive week it has been. We all thoroughly enjoyed the treats and activities for our annual scary-dress-up day event. Congratulations to the winners of the costume competition, Anna your spider costume really gave us a fright! The students hard work in creating their interactive scary choose your own adventure stories really paid off. Everyone enjoyed playing them.

In other learning this week we completed our English unit on poetry by planning a poem about chocolate and answering comprehension questions about an eye-opening poem from India. In Math we reviewed the features of polygons and regular and irregular shapes and triangles then moved on to calculating area and perimeter.

We were busy in IPC this week as we completed our unit on Chocolate by understanding the chocolate trade and what fair trade means. The students enjoyed the chocolate making activity and it was a treat for the whole school to taste the chocolate that we had made. In P.E. we had fun playing cricket as part of our unit on striking and fielding games.

Spelling Bee: I am pleased that a number of students have volunteered for the class Spelling Bee. We will do the class competition in the week that we return on 4 November. Any students who want to take part must use the break to study the list of words. You can find the list of words by clicking here.

Ulsan Media Center Trip Permission Form: On Friday 8 November we will have a trip to Ulsan Media Center as part of our new English unit on News Reports. The students will see how a news report is created from script to different media and the trip will take place during school hours. Please click here to complete the online permission form if you would like your child to attend. The form must be completed by Tuesday 5 November.

That is all for this week. Do have an enjoyable Autumn break. We will see you on Monday 4 November.  Be safe if you are traveling and we wish peace, joy and happiness to all those celebrating Diwali over this period.

Mr. Kearney. More…

Spelling Year 3: culture energy health horizontal vertical kindly safely rudely secretly

Spelling Year 4: culture energy health horizontal vertical confusion decision explosion decision invasion

Dear Parents and Children,

We have had a full week of learning and discovery in the year 3 – 4 Johannesburg class and the students have much to show for it.

In English the year 3’s learned new words with the “ly” suffix and the year 4’s learned “sion” words.  They also continued to develop their scary adventure story games in PowerPoint in preparation for the Scary Dress-up day next Friday and I am very excited to see the rest of the school enjoy playing the games on which they worked so hard. I am pleased that we have integrated our ICT lessons into our English learning and the students now know how to insert music into their presentations. We also looked at chocolate poems from different cultures, first understanding that cultures are different and will therefore have different perspectives on things. We tied in with our IPC Unit on Chocolate and learned about the unfortunate nature of the slave trade in making chocolate.

In Science this week we investigated the different rates at which various types of chocolate melt and looked at how chocolate affects our health. The students created wonderful bar graphs to show how energy from chocolate is burned-off at different rates by doing different things and how this affects our health.

In Math we concluded our unit on multiplication and division by learning the written method for short division. We applied this to solving word problems in a fun group activity. We then moved on to our Geometry unit with a review of symmetry and symmetrical patterns and the properties of regular and irregular 2-D shapes.

In P.E. this week we were indoors, utilizing our gymnasium due to the weather but the students had fun applying their throwing, fielding and kicking skills to the game of kick-baseball. They are really understanding the finer points of the strategy of the game and I look forward to them improving as we play it next week.

Finally, you will notice that the HFS Winter Uniform orders have been delivered and went home with your child today. Please check that you have received the correct uniform, label it on the inside with your child’s name in permanent marker and feel free to start using them from Monday as the weather begins to chill.

That is all for this week. Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr. Kearney. More…

Spelling Year 3: interactive flowchart ancient descriptive trade hear here heel heal knot

Spelling Year 4: interactive flowchart ancient descriptive trade meddle medal missed mist scene

Dear Parents and Children,

A short but productive week has passed us by in the year 3-4 Johannesburg class. We were all thankful for the mid-week break but the students have still been busy.

In English we continued developing our interactive choose your own adventure stories by typing them in PowerPoint to tie in with our ICT lesson. I am excited at how creative their stories are and have no doubt that the rest of the school will have fun playing them when they are finished. We also reviewed homophones, playing a fun game where the students had to create clues about the meanings of the words.

In Math we continued learning about written methods for multiplication looking at column multiplication and starting on using a number line and “chunking” for division. I am constantly impressed at the student’s calculation abilities.

In IPC this week we learned about the history of chocolate, from its earliest known use by the ancient Olmec tribe in Meso-America to the turbulent history of the Mayans and Aztecs until it was eventually brought across to Europe by Columbus and the Spanish explorers.  In groups, the students created timelines of what they had learned. Next week we will delve into the science of chocolate.

IN P.E, we started a new unit on Striking and fielding games since the students have developed their throwing and striking at targets in the previous unit. In this unit the students will understand that the basics of games such as Baseball, Cricket and softball are striking – hitting a ball, Fielding – catching a ball and pitching or bowling – throwing a ball to get points. We will develop these skills over the next few weeks. We practiced our fielding skills with a fun new game called “Chuck the Chicken”. Ask your child how to play it.

That is all for this week. Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr. Kearney More…

Spelling Year 3: climate weather halving doubling choose early learn heard rehearse search

Spelling Year 4: climate weather halving doubling choose illegal illogical illiterate illegible illicit

Dear Parents and Children,

A short but eventful week it has been in the year 3-4 Johannesburg class. Firstly, we had to bid a sad farewell to Cortney and Nikolay as they depart Korea with their families. It has been a pleasure having them in my class for the past few years and we wish them luck and happiness for their next adventure.

The students performed their assembly brilliantly, creating a wonderful play about confidence and showcasing their IPC project for the Brainwave using Augmented reality. The school had a great time scanning the cards to see what would pop up.

In class this week the students were very busy. In English the year 3 students learned “ear” words and the year 4’s learned that the “ill” prefix can also mean “not”. In grammar we learned about adverbs and the students had a great time linking our IPC lesson to our English by deconstructing a “Choose your own adventure” game to see how they can plan their own. They came up with wonderfully creative ideas today in their plans.

In Math we continued with multiplication and division learning that we can divide by 4 by halving and halving again and multiply by 4 by doubling twice. We consolidated that learning by doing some problem solving and applied it to multiplication and division word problems.

In IPC we continued our exploration of chocolate by learning about where cacao trees like to grow and why they grow there. The students had fun trying to find countries on the globe and had to think about what the regions had in common. We also learned about the difference between weather and climate. Next week we will start to look at the history of chocolate and we will link to our English poetry unit in an interesting way.

In P.E. we completed our unit on target games by practicing striking a ball for accuracy toward a target and the students had to work in groups to create their own games about throwing and striking toward a target. All in all, a short but busy and fun week. I look forward to the next one.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Kearney More…