HSK K2 Learning Blog (2020-21)

I hope everyone stayed safe and dry yesterday during the rainstorms! Thankfully, the rain has eased and today we were very eager to welcome the children back to school for Party Day 😀 There was a buzz of excitement in the air as children stepped off the bus and entered through our school doors in their party clothes. The children themselves planned for this last week of school, which included making party decorations for the classroom and what games and activities they could do with their friends. It was lovely to see them all enjoying their time with their teachers and friends, there were definitely big smiles and laughter shared between everyone! Please click here for more AM photos. Please click here for more PM photos. As the year comes to a close, I want to say a big thank you to all parents for supporting and contributing all things big and small to your child's time here at Hillside, from packing a healthy snack, to dedicating time to read stories to your child - every ef...

To celebrate the upcoming  Dragon Boat Festival , the K2 children participated in dragon boat races against other classes! They made flags to cheer on their classmates, and some children even tried writing the Chinese words " 加油" on it, which translates literally into "add oil" - a colloquial term to cheer on their friends' efforts! On race day, the children help set up cones to mark out audience areas for the class to sit, as well as a finish line for the dragon boat to race towards. Using connected tummy boards, children worked in teams of 4 to "paddle" with their legs (1 child was at the back as the very important drummer to keep the beat!) The rest of the class kept up with enthusiastic mighty cheers through multiple races, and I was so impressed that the teams who despite not winning, was very gracious and understood the fun competitiveness that was part of the race. Please enjoy lots of photos and videos of the K2 Dragon Boat races: AM Dragon ...

The K2 children are in the thick of the Unit of Inquiry with the central idea being " People can express ideas and experiences in different ways ". At this stage of the school year, children are now much more aware of their own capabilities and preferences as a learner, and hence exercise agency in determining how they communicate their ideas to others, and how they like to express themselves.  Through interacting daily with peers in learning and play, they are developing a conceptual understanding of perspective  - both their own, and that of others. This has enabled them to work towards one of the learning outcomes of the unit " Our experiences and imagination can inspire us to create ". Let's take a look at how children in different classes have been creating! Turtle Class In the previous blog post, we highlighted how the Turtle children created a role play area in the classroom with tent camping and bonfire cooking. As they played, the children were inspired...