FS2 Continuing Student Learning W/C Monday 20th September
Sophie Riley
Welcome to Week 6
Click on your class to see your 'Weekly Celebration Video'. Take a sneaky peek at some other classes too, can you spot any of your other friends?
FSE
FSH
FSK
FSP
FSS
FSD
New Resource Packs Available
Delivery Outside of Bangkok
The PTG has arranged with Kerry Express to deliver learning packs for those families within Thailand but outside the Bangkok Metropolitan Area and/or more than a 25km radius away from the school.
Please complete this form by Friday 17th September for delivery between 22nd – 29th September.
This week we will be joining the school - and the globe! - in celebrating the International Day of Peace. We’ll explore a few different ways to find peace in our lives.
Session 1:
We will spend some time thinking about the people we love. To let them know how much they mean to us, we’ll make and mail a card to them! To prepare, please have:
Paper
Mark making tools (pencils, pens, crayons, etc.)
Envelope
Address of your special person
Stamp
Session 2:
We will be looking after our environment and making sure it stays nice and clean! To prepare, please have:
Please come to our PD sessions in clothes that allow you to move freely. We suggest either wearing your FS2 PE kit, or shorts/trousers and a t shirt. Skirts and dresses, although lovely are not practical for these sessions.
Guidance- English
Let’s be superheroes! Dress up as your favourite superhero and come and dance along. We will need to rescue some soft toys for our soft toy challenge. Make sure you have these ready to go!
For our second lesson, we will be creative drawers. Drawing is a fantastic way to develop our fine motor skills. We will draw to music, and play a colour drawing game. It’s going to be so fun!
What will you need for our lessons?
Lesson 1-
A superhero costume (if you have one)
4 soft toys to throw and hold in between your feet
A big basket to throw the toys into (washing basket is ideal)
This week, our children will celebrate World Peace Day on Tuesday 21st September. Due to the current pandemic, we believe it is the perfect time to explore superhero play with our children. The young children we are working with are surrounded by stories of heroism in real-life – hospital workers, refuse collectors, supermarket employees and delivery drivers to name a few. As these heroes are ordinary people, we can explain to the children that they can also be brave, resilient and strong.
Playing at superheroes should not be limited to those with superpowers or extra-human strength. In addition, children can explore heroic abilities relating to real-life scenarios too. We want our children to develop a growth mindset where the sky’s the limit, or rather, where there are no limits! Children will pick up on these themes in their play and as early childhood educators, we can encourage this. There are some great books available to help us, such as Real Superheroes by Julia Seal and we can role model and share stories about people overcoming adversity and problem-solving in everyday scenarios.
When discussing heroes with young children, here are a few questions which may be useful:
What is a hero? Focus on all heroes, not just superheroes. (Ordinary people who do extraordinary things?)
How can someone act like a hero? What does heroism mean to you? (Doing good, being the first to help, putting the needs of others before yourself?)
What do heroes have in common? (Amazing at what they do? Help us? Brave? Overcome problems?)
Do you have any heroes?
How can we be kind-hearted and caring heroes to our friends?
We also need to teach children how small actions are also heroic in their own way and might make a big difference to others. For example, asking someone to play with you if they are on their own or smiling at a sad friend and asking if you can help. These everyday acts of kindness can make a huge difference to someone’s day and even their life! We can explain that heroes come in all shapes and sizes – men, women, boys, girls, all nationalities, all ethnic groups, all socio-economic statuses and so on. Everyone can be a hero when they show compassion or care for others.
Top tips for supporting our superheroes!
Allow children to lead the play and try not to take over their play and storylines – it’s their play and we should be interacting and helping to construct their ideas.
Find out about the characters that our children are most interested in and do your research – read their back story as context (our children may not know this – but it might be helpful).
Support the children as they set the scene and help them to make any props that might be useful.
Talk about who the goodies (and baddies) are and what they do.
Problem-solve and use conflict resolution techniques when difficulties arise.
See this play as an opportunity to openly talk about more difficult issues like good, bad, power etc..
Join in with the children’s play, role-modelling how to be respectful, kind, powerful and resilient and find your own superpowers to resolve conflicts without judgement and how to bounce back after difficulties.
We very much look forward to World Peace Day on Tuesday and seeing all of the children in their superhero attire!
In your Resource Pack, you will have noticed a large art book. This is your child's, 'Me and My World Book'.
Guidance- English
Research into communication, language and emotional development tells us that young children need opportunities to talk about and share their interests and family life with others. Once back in school, this book will help to create a sense of belonging and will encourage children to talk to their friends and teachers.
This book will come home from school many times throughout the year to be updated.
What we would like you to do now:
As this is a prompt for talk, we would like you to help your child to include some of the following:
Photographs of family members and other special people
Particular interests and hobbies
Holiday photographs
Special events (cultural or family celebrations)
Pets
Favourite foods
Favourite music, TV shows, toys, characters etc..
You do not need to print everything. Children can draw their favourite things or cut out snippets from magazines or leaflets. Your child can decorate the front cover of their book anyway they wish!
We suggest, that at this time, you don’t use more than 4 or 5 pages. This will ensure there is plenty of space for your child to add and reflect upon their experiences and interests throughout the rest of the school year.
Enjoy starting to create this special book together!
To see how powerful the 'Me and My World Book' can be in supporting and prompting communication, watch the way these students engage over some family photos:
Music
Join Mr Charlie for a Music session at 1pm on Thursday.
For now, listen to Mr Charlie sing the Peace Song!
Child Initiated Resource Pack Learning
Take a look at some of the ways you can explore your Learning Pack this week. Remember, these are just ideas and should your exploration take a different direction, GO FOR IT!
We really love to see videos and photos of what you have been doing at home. The best way to share this with us is via the Seesaw App. You should have received communication about how to download and login to the app. If you have not received this, please email the ISIT helpdesk- helpdesk@patana.ac.th.
Birthdays
Aoey in FSS and Ing in FSE are celebrating birthdays this week. From everyone in FS2, we hope you have a fabulous day!
Home- School Communication
We hope that you have enjoyed engaging with the FS2 Blog this week.
If you have any concerns or queries about your child’s learning, please do not hesitate to contact your child's class teacher via email. They can then arrange a mutually convenient time to meet via MS Teams. Our class teachers always welcome the opportunity to discuss your child’s needs and progress.