Units of Inquiry Archive

Gymnastics in PE

Posted April 26, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

Check out the video below to see what 2R have been up to in PE!
Thanks Ms. Buehler!

 

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Student Led Conferences

Posted March 22, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

One of my favourite days of the year! It’s always such a pleasure to see my students and their families sharing the fun of learning experiences.

Students thoughtfully proposed a huge range of potential learning activities in a Wallwisher brainstorm. Then we developed the materials we would need to share the most popular and appealing with our families. Finally, students used their “passport” to organize themselves for the day, planning their first and second choices for each strand of learning.

On the day of the conferences, students were completely independent, enjoying sharing this time and learning with their parents… All I did was sit at my desk, give them a heads up on how their time was progressing now and then, and take a few photos!

It was great to see so much laughter, sharing and enjoyment. Check out the gallery:

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Snow Day!

Posted March 1, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

Usually when 2R arrive in the morning, they want to just curl up and chat with their friends in the classroom, but February 29th was different… As soon as each student had arrived they disappeared right back out the door to play in the snow!

We don’t get a lot of snow days in Yokohama, so the opportunity to go out and play was irresistible! Within minutes we were building snow people, snow houses and more.

Soon, Ms Page’s kindergarten class came out to join us and we have her to thank for this video! It was a great continuation of our exploration of how weather affects our lives. Enjoy!

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Book Club: Retell a Traditional Tale!

Posted February 20, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

This week 2R Book Club will look a little bit different!

Each student should click on the image below to watch a couple short videos. On Wednesday morning, during our regular 2R Book Club time, students will be retelling the story of their choice, in the first person, from the point of view of a character that they choose.

  • If you choose The Tortoise and the Hare, you could tell the story as either the Tortoise or the Hare.
  • If you choose A Lesson for Foolish Crow, you could tell the story as either the Fox or the Crow.
  • If you choose The Lion and the Mouse, you could tell the story as either the Lion of the Mouse.
  • If you choose The Fox and His Shadow, you could tell the story as the Fox.

Click here to watch the videos and decide!

Watch the videos and choose a fable to retell!

Here’s an example of one of the stories,  The Fox and His Shadow, retold in the first person, from the point of view of the Fox:

One day, at sunset, I decided to go for a walk.
The low sun sent long shadows across the sand.
Suddenly, I stopped in surprise!
I had noticed my own shadow. I had never realized how huge I was!
It made me think, I’m so big, why should I be afraid of other animals?
I’m even bigger and scarier than a lion! I should be the king of the animals!
Wow. What a foolish mistake that was.
While I was standing there thinking about it, I almost didn’t notice the even huger shadow rising up behind me. Just in time I felt the Lion’s breath on my back and ran! I heard his jaws snap shut, but he had just missed me. I ran and ran across the desert as the sun set. Eventually, the lion gave up on the chase. It was a lucky break for me to escape. But oh what a foolish fox I was to imagine I was as big as my shadow that day. I’ll never make that mistake again…

Listen to me read my story:

The Fox and His Shadow (mp3)
 

 

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2R Artists Exhibit!

Posted February 20, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

What better way to enjoy a sunny day then a walk in the park and a visit to the gallery?

Today we had an especially good reason to visit the gallery rooms of the British Residence building across the street from YIS, two 2R students had their work in the exhibit!

Students admire Sari's painting.

2R explore the work by other grades.

Mr Welk, our visual arts teacher had submitted work by most grade levels to the exhibit and selected pieces by Sari and Amber to represent 2R. Sari took the opportunity to pose next to her work too! Students were impressed to see the level of artistic achievement of some of their friends from other classes and grades as well.

Amber's painting.

Sari poses with her painting.

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Traditional Tales – Reader’s Theatre

Posted January 26, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

This week 2R Book Club took on a different shape when instead of the way we usually work in our reading groups to better understand and creatively respond to our books, we tried out a simple Reader’s Theatre response.

Reader’s Theatre is a reading response strategy that we use to deepen and demonstrate text comprehension and improve reading fluency. If a student is able to read their dialogue with appropriate expression, it demonstrates a degree of understanding.

In support of our current unit of inquiry, a study of how “stories can be constructed, retold and interpreted in different ways”, we are looking at traditional tales from across cultures and exploring ways to re-imagine and retell them ourselves.

Please enjoy our video performances!

 

The Three Billy Goats Gruff – Reader’s Theatre

Yo, Amber, Jessica and Femke give a Reader’s Theatre performance of The Three Billy Goats Gruff during a 2R book club session. From our study of how “Stories can be constructed, retold and interpreted in different ways”.

 

The Ugly Duckling – Reader’s Theatre

A reader’s theatre presentation of the The Ugly Duckling by Sari, Kota, Alona and Mikey. From a book club session during our study of how “Stories can be constructed, retold and interpreted in different ways”.

 

Androcles & the Lion – Reader’s Theatre

A reader’s theatre presentation of Androcles & the Lion by Louis, Yuki, Ellie and Elena. From a book club session during our study of how “Stories can be constructed, retold and interpreted in different ways”.

 

Cinderella – Reader’s Theatre

A reader’s theatre presentation of Cinderella by Nicholas, Dan, Braden and Airi. From a book club session during our study of how “Stories can be constructed, retold and interpreted in different ways”.

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Culture Walk

Posted January 23, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

This week’s post is from Airi, in her words…

We went to like a walking. We saw a beer place then, we went the place makes TATAMI. They were sewing TATAMI. We went to the DANGO shop and we bought MITARASHI DANGO. Then we went to the shrine. After that we saw a bakery. We were so lucky to see that they were making breads! We came back to school, then we ate little bit of snack, and we ate DANGO.

We are walking to go to a park.

 

 

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The International Lunch

Posted January 23, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

What a great event!

Second grade were fantastic performers, very effective in sharing the learning from their most recent unit of inquiry, and the food contributed by all the families was delicious!

Ms. Catasti, our elementary vice-principal wrote a great blog post about it here. The post included the video below, and more. Take a look!

Grade 2 International Lunch from Shanel Catasti on Vimeo.

Thanks to everyone for your contributions!

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I like reading!

Posted January 16, 2012 By jzraskin@gmail.com

Today’s post is from Kota, in his own words…

I like partner reading. I don’t like reading a lot but I like to see the pictures. When I make partner, we need to “SAISHO-WA-GOO” with my friend Yuki. We read. Then we see pictures and say it is fun. If it is not fun, we read different books.

 

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Kug doch mal

Posted December 5, 2011 By jzraskin@gmail.com

                                                                      

Today’s writing is from Femke, in her own words.

She wrote in her mother tongue, German.

She is saying hello to her mum from 2R.

Read below for a translation from Elena, too!


“Hallo mama!

Wie gehd  es dir?

mi rgehd es gud

ich komme ja um drei wieder nach Hause.”

von Femke

“How are you? Are you good or not?  I am going home today.”

From Femke (Translated by Elena)

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